Seattle-Part 1

Wednesday, May 25th we began our trek to Seattle. I had to work that day, and the girls had gymnastics, so it was around 6:00 before we left town. After a quick stop at Dairy Keen we were on our way to Boise. The weather wasn't looking so good so we stopped about halfway there to buy some garbage sacks for the stuff on our hitch hauler. It was a downpour the rest of the way, luckily we had sent Matt to Cabela's for a waterproof bag that day so that we wouldn't have to worry about it the rest of the trip. We got to Matt and Jenna's at about 1:00 in the morning. Grandma, Grandpa and Joe were already there. After some unpacking and visiting we went to bed for a few hours and were back up at 5:00 to head out. We did our best to try to embarass the rest of the Balch family by wearing matching shirts. Aren't we cute!?

 I took this picture just as we entered Oregon, my first time ever.

 We broke up the trip from Boise to Tacoma by stopping at a Denny's for breakfast, a fish hatchery, and the McNary Damn.

We checked into our hotel, went to dinner, and took a little tour of Tacoma before crashing for the night.

Some Random Pictures

So these are just a couple of random pictures that I liked. Chuck found Jacob's hunter guy strangling a polly pocket on the bathroom counter. Should I be worried?

 My cute boys playing on the iPad

And wrestling with each other

Jacob and his dad

Concrete at Grandpa's

 Saturday, May 21st, we spent the morning at grandpa's house pouring cement for his new shed. I will say, it was pretty entertaining. The boys loved watching the cement truck and the pump truck. Here is Caleb checking it all out.

Grandpa, Duane, and the cement guy.

Sharece and Erica

Suzanne with Jason and Caleb

Everything went pretty smoothly until the end. My dad told Charles to step into the cement to pull a stake and his boot got stuck. He almost fell into the concrete but was able to save himself. He stepped out of his boot and reached in to pull it out and the top ripped right off of it. We were cracking up. Sorry about your boot Ken!!!

The little boys found a cement mixer of their own and had a blast playing together.

Things picked up again when Grandpa tried to put the bolts into the cement. We almost lost him a couple of times.

Once we were finished working we went to Taco Time for lunch, a Carlile Saturday tradition. Nolan and Erica were here, and Anne and her family came up Saturday night, so we got together again for a BBQ that night, and again for Sunday dinner and a movie the next day. We are all trying to get our fill of Nolan and Erica while we can because they leave for Iowa on Wednesday! So sad for us, but so exciting for them!! Jacob LOVES this little baby, he especially loves to rub his head. No idea why. And he tells everyone he sees that baby Thomas is a  boy, and has a GIRL blanket!

We also celebrated Charles' Father's Day that Sunday. I know, a month early, but I wanted him to have his new iPad for our trip to Seattle. He likes it!

This is a totally random picture, but I thought it was funny. Jacob threw his frog on top of the garage door while it was open and I shut it hoping it would just fall out, it didn't.

Boise

The weekend of May 13-15, we made a quick trip to Boise, Idaho. Charles' brother Matt and his awesome wife, Jenna, live there, so when we heard Wicked was there we jumped at the opportunity and bought tickets. We left around lunch time and got there in time to meet them at Cafe Rio for dinner. Then we did a little shopping and hung out at their house for awhile. Saturday morning Charles and Matt went golfing, and then we went shopping for a new iPad for Matt. After lunch it was off to Wicked, and it was amazing! I absolutely LOVED it! And not only was the play great, but Jenna found the most fantastic babysitter for our kids. They keep asking for her to babysit again. Too bad she lives so far away!

We have sort of made it a tradition to go to Chuck E. Cheese when we are in Boise because it is so much nicer than ours!! My kids love it.

Once we ran out of tokens we went to Panda Express for dinner. Chuck E. Cheese pizza just didn't cut it. We had  a great weekend, thanks for letting us bombard you  guys! We love coming to visit, find some more great tickets for us Matt and Jenna. We love you!!