(picture taken my dad)

In August we drove out to Donnelly, Idaho to spend the week with my family.  Our first nephew was born in July, so we wanted to all get together so we could spend as much time holding him as possible.  We chose Donnelly because it is in the middle of where we all live and because it is a really pretty area close to a few different lakes.

We spent a couple of days at the Payette lake near McCall swimming and relaxing on the beach.  The second day we rented a kayak and paddle board and it was so fun to paddle up the nearby river.  It was the perfect spot for it, nice smooth water in a wide river, and my sister and sister in law even saw a moose and baby.  I really like that lake, it is so pretty with the mountains and trees surrounding it.  My dad took a little hike up one side while we were on the water, and got some great views of the lake. We also went zip-lining at the nearby resort which was really fun.  It was only my second time zip-lining and it had beautiful mountain and lake views.

We had lots of time together at our Airbnb to hold the baby and hang out on the back porch, and play with both of my brother’s dogs.  The house had darts, ping pong, foosball and pool tables and we had a fun game tournament all week also including bocce and badminton.  Our bedroom had a huge private deck off it, and each night I went out and laid down to see the stars.  Our last morning there, I woke up super early, so I also got to watch the sunrise from our porch.  It was a great week!