So, we aren’t the only refugees hanging out north of CO. Our great friends are hanging in Idaho, just a few hours away from us. So, when bestie has a birthday, you load up the crew and head over some very steep passes to celebrate!
We woke up Tuesday to pouring down rain. It is hard to get moving on a cool rainy morning, especially when our furnace feels so good. We were slow to get going, but eventually made it happen. At one point, Trista came in and asked for a phone to take a picture of the low clouds over the mountain (which were really cool to see).
While she was at it, she grabbed a couple of selfies with her main squeeze!
Once we were on the road, we may have stopped and turned around a couple of times to take in some breathtaking views such as this:
We finally made it to Nicole’s and it was so good to be together again!
We got there kind of late in the day, so we hung out for a bit, ordered some pizza for dinner and headed to our hotel to get some sleep!
Wednesday was Nicole’s birthday, so we started by picking up some goodies to help us celebrate. Her son “earned” some toys from his grandpa’s toy closet and already gifted her some Barbies, no way we could compete with that, but we still want her to know how much we love her!
After this, we of course had to visit the Idaho Potato Musem!
Birthday lunch!
Yum! 
Lady K hiding from the group shot!
Also, had to try some potato ice cream (berry flavored with chocolate, but they put potato flakes in the mix to make it creamier…SO GOOD) and the spoon is made from potato starch.
After we had had all of the fun that we could have with potatoes, we headed back to Nicole’s. It. Was. SO. HOT. We chilled for a bit and then ordered some birthday dinner and celebrated with cake and a glow party!
Thursday morning was hard to get up and we didn’t even party that hard!!
We ate some breakfast and decided we ought to try the signature Idaho candy bar. It is made of chocolate, coconut and marshmallow, which sounds ok, but I promise you it is not! It’s a texture thing. The “marshmallow” has a texture most reminiscent of tofu. Not good. (and it’s hard to get past the fact that it looks like a turd).
A very unfortunate factor in this adventure was the fact that one member of our party had a broken arm and couldn’t get his cast wet. Did I mention that it was like heat advisory hot the entire time we were there?! Before heading back to Nicole’s we had to make use of this fabulous pool… Seriously, how could we not? And we totally would have shared!
We eventually made our way back over to Nicole’s and walked around the property. Pulled out a trap to catch some crawdads and it got kind of stuck, so John (who hates the water) came to the rescue and recovered the trap.
It was so hot, so so so hot, we went inside and turned on a movie. John fell asleep on the couch and the cat came and curled up and slept on his lap (I am not even sure John knew he was there!)
After a lazy afternoon, we loaded up in our car and took a tour of the town. It was fun to see the area! We grabbed some snacks and headed back for more birthday cupcakes and to rustle up the chickens and say our goodbyes!
The kids had to sign the cast before we could go…
Friday morning, we had not planned to see them, but Levi left a shirt there, so we made a quick stop back for one more round of hugs and to grab the shirt. What I love most about Nicole is that we have the kind of friendship where we just enjoy hanging out. We don’t need big adventures to enjoy our time together. Thank you, Nicole, for a great visit! We look forward to the next time!
An interesting dynamic here is that the older kids are 6 months apart and have been very close friends since they were 1. Levi is almost 6 and Lady K is 3.5. Poor Levi is kind of stuck in the middle and Lady K thinks the world of him. He gets exasperated talking about how much he hates the way she always follows him around, but they are the CUTEST together! Levi finally said, “I guess I will just have to break up with her right after we get married!” Fun fact: Friday morning he was asking (ahem, begging) for more time to go and play with her! (Nicole and I *might* be saving pictures of the older two and the younger two in case a need to make a wedding slideshow might someday arise).
Showing her Minecraft (she just turned her head) 
Levi asked for more time and K looked at him and said, “They are going to leave without you!”
On the way home, we stopped at this place that totally brought back memories of a similar place that I used to go with my parents when I was a kid.
We also made a stop at Dutch Bros. Dutch Bros is pretty new in CO and we stopped at one once before we left. The man at the window said something and we aren’t yet hip to all their lingo, so John made a comment, “This is our second time here.”
The guy says, “Today?” (like that would be normal)
And John goes, “Uh, EVER!”
It was so nice to have some tasty coffee drinks as we took in the spectacular views on our way back to Dubois. What a drive!
