Another Reunion- Palmers

It isn’t too often that we get together with the Palmer side of the family for an extended period of time, so this was an important reunion to attend. We went up to Island Park, our old home from last summer, and camped at Riverside campground. There was really nice weather for the first day and a half but then there were thunder and lightning storms the rest of the time. It was still a great time to be out together. Mom and Dad yet again provided amazing meals. Like our brother-in-law Andrew says “We eat better camping than in our apartment.” We had stuffed green peppers, sweet and sour chicken and rice, sloppy joes and hoagie sandwiches, and to top it all off Mom made an amazing Huckleberry Cheesecake to die for!!! Wow!

How nice! Dad willing to share his watermelon with us.

We stopped by our old job at the Angler’s Lodge to say hi and check up on how their summer is going. It was great to see the old place, but great to have the night off from work in Island Park. We both found ourselves checking the time in the mid afternoon worrying about being to work by 4:00. Not this time! The cook that Peter worked with for 2 summers, Irvin, has recently been diagnosed with pretty severe lung cancer so we wanted to see him most of all. It was fun to chat with him like old times about all the sporting and professional athlete news and the local drama. He really admires Peter and considers him family. They are quite a pair.

It is difficult to keep clean out in the woods. It had been a while since I had my hair washed so I asked Mom for assistance to freshen up.

But Peter was also wanting to keep clean too. Cute smile Peter!

We spent a lot of time enjoying one another’s company around the campground. We also made several float trips down the Buffalo river which Michael wasn’t too sure about. It’s a slow flowing river and doesn’t get deeper than 3 feet. We used to float it as kids every summer.

The hardest part about family reunions is planning a time when everyone will be available. Sometimes we try to plan a year in advance and think that will be plenty of time to schedule. But poor Shane didn’t know a year ago that his soccer team would be in tournament that same weekend. So we went and supported Shane in Rexburg. His team ended up getting 2nd place in a late 10:30pm game with the lightning storm creeping in all around us. He had played 3 games in 24 hours. Come on, the world cup doesn’t even expect that much from the top athletes. It was still fun none the less. He also scored his only goal this season at the game we were at. He plays defense so that is why it was his first one.

It was a cold night watching soccer so Peter and I snuggled up into one of our sleeping bags to keep warm. Two peas in a pod literally!

Peter has wanted to register and participate in Relay for Life but hasn’t been able to. Mom was excited to give Peter a shirt that she picked up for him; he didn’t even have to run.

Aunt Suzy also celebrated her birthday the weekend of our reunion so we made sure to enjoy some of the German Chocolate cake Grandma made special for her. It was a great time, well spent with another amazing group of people. Everyone agreed to schedule the same weekend for next summer, but we’ll see how well our planning goes. Thanks to everyone for making the sacrifice for the great memories!

Sage Hen Reservoir

We’ve been wanting to blog about the things we have been doing out here in Boise, but we’ve been so busy doing them that we haven’t had time!


For Father’s Day weekend, we rounded up our camping gear and took to the mountains of Idaho for a weekend camping trip. After consulting local specialists and doing some research of our own, we set out for Sage Hen Reservoir. We got an early start Friday afternoon, inched our way up the hills, through pastures, up to the tree line and finally caught a glimpse of the picturesque lake. Unfortunately, the thing we were hoping we wouldn’t see was visible in abundance: other people! One reason we chose Sage Hen Reservoir was because we thought it would be far enough in the country that there wouldn’t be many people. However, probably due mostly to the fact that it was Father’s Day weekend, all six of the campsites were full! There were trailers all around, four wheelers rumbling to and fro, and families packed in the sites like sardines. I was appalled—this was not at all my idea of camping. Luckily, in talking with one of the camp directors, there was a camp site farther back that was “tents only”. It’s amazing to me that “camping” no longer implies sleeping in a tent. Anything more than sleeping under the stars, on the rocky ground, breathing the cold air isn’t camping to me. So, we were able to get into a camp site that was nice and quiet, isolated from the craziness that was the other six camp sites.




Each year we try to add an item to our camping equipment, and since it’s winter in Idaho eight months out of the year, it had been a long time since we’d used our equipments. Since last year, we have added a water purifier so we were excited to try it out. The water looked clean, but it still tasted kind of fishy.





Of course, we had to have roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner and dessert (no camping trip is complete without them).

The next morning, I got up bright and early to do some fishing on the reservoir. The fishing was better in the morning than in the afternoon, but I didn’t have our camera with me to prove it. That afternoon, we hiked all the way around the reservoir and did some fishing along the way. It was a beautiful area and we’d recommend it to anyone wanting a pleasant place to camp.