This last weekend we had our very first Taft family reunion, even through the majority of us now are no longer Tafts.

We spent the weekend at the Snake River in Heyburn, Idaho and any of you who know us at all can guess that my husband, Jake, picked the spot. Besides Jake and myself the rest of my family are not what you would call boaters. However, I am happy to say that just about everybody there got behind the boat to either ski, wake board, knee board or tube. The grandkids had a fabulous time playing in the water and running around with their cousins. Personally I think it was a great success and can't wait to do it again.


Now it is time for the brag photos.
I would like you all to know that after 9 years of marriage I can now slalom ski. (that is me to the right). Below is my sister Jenni doing a 360 on the knee board. I would like to add that even though I do not have a picture of my sister-in-law, Michelle, she did do a 360 on the knee board.

Lava Hot Springs

We went to Lava Hot Springs in June for a weekend with friends. We camped along the Portneuf River. About every 45 minutes throughout the night, a train came rumbling by and decided it was a good place to "toot" his horn in three bursts, each lasting approximately 20 seconds. Needless to say, it wasn't the best sleep we've had.

The first day we went to the hot spring pools and the Olympic pool. The hot spring pools have gravel bottoms where the springs come up from the earth. These pools were too hot to stay in longer than 10 minutes. The Olympic pools were a blast. There were two tube slides that began 35 feet above the pool. The girls went down time after time. There were no lines, since it was overcast with a chilly breeze. As long as we were in the water, it was comfortable. Elizabeth was the first to go off the high dive in the group. She climbed up, walked to the end, and jumped in without any hesitation. After her, Sydney and the other older kids began to jump off.

The second day we decided to tube down the Portneuf River. We rented the tubes and asked the gal where we should go to tube down back towards our camp. She gave us directions and we piled in the cars and headed upstream. At the top, we asked another tube rental place where to go in and they directed us to the same spot. One hundred yards into our float, we all went over a 4 foot tall waterfall and flipped over. Everyone was scattered about and scraped up from the event. For the rest of the expedition, approximately 20 minutes, we had screaming and crying children who were fearful for their lives. When we came back from the trip, Sydney told her friends and their parents how we almost died in Idaho.

It was actually a fun weekend. We had a great time enjoying each others company, playing games and just hanging out.