May 2008 Family Visit Part II

Alright--here comes part II.
And for clarification purposes for those not apart of our family, here are the names of those who came to visit us "Idaho Holloways" in mid-May:
Ohio Holloways: Travis' older brother Brandon, his wife Rachel, and their kids Jenna, Kaden, and Spencer.
Wyoming Blacks: Travis' older sister Cassie, her husband Mark, and their kids Gavin and Megan.
Alright, here goes...

Here are Travis and I at his parent's house in Blackfoot:

Me chillin' with Spence on the couch. I just can't get enough of this kid! He's just sooo darn cute! (Plus, this was Trav's and I's first time meeting him, so I had to try to catch up on all of the time I've missed with little Spence. =))

Travis feeding Spencer. Aww...

Cassie hanging out with Spencer, as he plays with Megan's shoe.

Rachel and Kaden, sharing a cute mommy-son moment.

Kaden helping Rachel make some hair bows for Jenna. Good choice on the ribbon there Kaden! (He then proceeded to wrap a sheer pink ribbon around him and walk off down the stairs. Don't you just love little boys?!)

Kaden playing a peek-a-boo game with Spencer. What cute brothers they are!

Earlier in the day of "Part I", we spent some time at one of the kids play area's at Jensen's Grove. The kids had a blast there, and we had fun watching them and visiting with family.

Here's Cassie and Megan at the park...

...now going down the slide. What cute girls!

Here's Travis on Kaden patrol...that kid has no fear!

Kaden smiling at "Grandma Lita" as he plays on the playground. This guy has the CUTEST smile around.

Dave bonding with Spencer on the grass.

The three "big kids" playing in the water at Jensen's Grove. (Notice Kaden's hands--he would flap them with excitement as he went in the water--sooo cute!)

Our very adventurous nephew Gavin. What a cool kid!

Gavin with his dad Mark on the dock. I love how everything is so exciting and new to little children!

Me bonding with Kaden at the park. (Got to get my Kaden time in too ya know.)

Thanks again everyone for coming to visit! We love you, miss you already, and hope to see you again soon!

A Family Visit at Jensen's Grove

This is Part I of the Holloway's and Blacks visit to Idaho. So, for now, here are some pictures from our afternoon at Jensen's Grove. We had so much fun with Travis' parents, siblings, and neices and nephews there.
Here we are at Jensen's Grove:

Our neice Jenna Holloway with her "magic feather." She was very enamored by it. =) And what four year old wouldn't be, anyway?

Travis' mom with her grandbaby Spencer:

Travis' dad hanging out with the Grandkids in the water. You can tell what fun Grandparents Dave and Anita are!

Travis and his brother Tyler (with Spencer in arms), helping with kid patrol. What good loving uncles these guys are!

Travis' older brother Brandon Holloway (visiting from Ohio) and his younger sister Tia.

Tyler chillin with Spencer in the water.

Travis exploring the water with our nephew Kaden.

Our fun and imaginative neice Jenna.

"No, you're Stinky Pete." "No, you're Stinky Pete!" (But really, brother Brandon is Stinky Pete.)

"Grandma Lita" hanging out with her two grandsons.

Thanks Holloways and Blacks for a fun time at the beach. We loved being with you!!! Come again soon.

Christmas 2007 Slide Show

Hello, All. This is Travis again. I've been working on putting together slide shows of things we've done and I have one ready to post. This is of our Christmas last year so it's not quite recent...but better late than never. And its kind of long...Enjoy.

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Mom and Dad and Tyler and Tia came up from Blackfoot and took us up to the cemetery in Cedron and Victor so we could see all the sights up there. I hadn't been there since I was really young and Jenny had never been. It was fun to see my ancestors' graves and watch the ceremony they did at the Cedron cemetery with the 21 gun salute and a bugler playing Taps(that's the main thing I remembered from going when I was a kid). And Jenny, being the diligent photographer that she is, captured six generations with her camera. We'll start with the youngest. Here we go...

1. Me and Tyler (Tia went to the car to stay warm)
2. Dad
3. Grandma Larson and her brother, Asa "Junior" Drake


4. Asa Merritt Beecher Drake and Gertrude Olga Ripplinger (Grandma Larson's Parents)


5. Richard Asa Drake and Martha Rice (Grandma Larson's Grandparents)


6. Richard Drake and Phoebe Lovina Beecher (Grandma Larson's great-grandparents)


It was good to go up there and see and feel a little piece of our family's history.

Arizona Vacation Part II

Our last night in Tucson, my parents took us and my Grandpa Roger (my dad's dad) to Trail Dust Town, a mock pioneer-era village, with a free admission, lots of fun little shops, and a rodeo show. It was a blast; probably Travis' favorite part of the trip.

Here's the map of the town:

This was a little train that you could ride on around the village for a $2 fare. How could we resist?

Trav and I on the train. What a cute couple we are. =)

My mom, dad (the former train electrician), and Grandpa Roger riding behind us, and having a grand ol' time.

I locked Travis up in the jail after we got off (but I let him go, so don't worry).

Travis as an old miner, with his "noble steed". (The weird thing is that there was a guy who I think worked there who looked like a miner from this era...literally. Scraggly beard, dirty clothes, an old hat, yellow teeth...the works. Travis thought he was a statue at first, sitting on a chair just to the right of and behind Travis (outside of view here). It was crazy.)

Me as a cowgirl:

Mom as a fair maiden:

Dad as a fair maiden...?

After looking at the sweet shop and the general store (joke shop), we went to the Pinnacle Peak Restaurant and had some dinner. Here are the boys at the beginning of our meal. What a handsome bunch!

Now, this restaurant has one rule and one rule only: No ties! (My dad had warned the guys of this beforehand, but they all wore a tie anyway to see what the waitress would do. (They actually knew what she would do, but this makes it sound more dramatic).) Anyway, when we had finished our meal, our waitress came and shouted for all the boys to stand up and put their hands in the air!! And what do you think happened next?

She cut their ties in half!!!! (Not too much of a waste really, because the ties were hideous =).)

The waitress holding the bottom half of Trav's tie triumphantly in the air:

Two halfs, but not whole.

The boys mourning the loss of their ties:

The waitress then gave each of the guys a card to put their name on and stapled the bottom half of their ties to the wall (as is tradition there). The guys even got to choose where she put them. But really, it was a fun little joke, and they all had a good time.

And the food was delicious! We enjoyed a scrumptious meal of BBQ ribs and pulled pork!

And after dinner, was the show! There was a guy who roped, and then a shoot em up show that followed, which was super funny and entertaining. The roper asked for a volunteer to help with his show, and I raised my hand, so in the video below I am entertaining the crowd while he R-U-N-N-O-F-T to get a bigger rope. It was fun. Then after the show, we got an old time picture taken, which I have always wanted to do, and which turned out really well. You can see it when you come visit us. We had a really good time at the Trail Dust Town, and would recommend it to anyone visiting Tucson. =)

When we got home, we met up with my Uncle Jim who had just gotten back in town, and opened up our belated wedding gift from him: Religious Experience Salsa (from an old inside joke), and then ate some of our wedding gift! Yum.

We were also so happy that my Grandpa Roger was able to come over from San Diego to visit with us for a few days while we were there. This was Travis' first time to meet people on my dad's side of the family, and I was so happy that he was able to, and that he got along with them so well. Thanks everyone, especially mom and dad for a wonderful vacation!! We love you!!! Hope to see you all again soon!