Special Latham Thanks

Sarah and Zach,
I wanted to thank you both for putting me up in your home for the last few weeks. I have had a wonderful time. You guys are the best hosts and I am very thankful to be so close to each of you. I'm sure it was not easy not only having me, but my dogs and Cayla for a couple days. It was a packed house, but you both were always so gracious and caring. I only hope that I can return the favor some time.
Love you both very much!!

Idaho Adventure with my great friend Cayla

Well, to bad the weather had to turn right when Cayla came to town, but we still made sure to have a good time. The first day we met Sarah for lunch and took one of the official Latham tours. Sarah and Zach are notorious for giving great tours and Sarah did not hold back for Cayla. She took us to Sun Valley Resort and gave us the Grand tour of the hotel, the inn, the pavilion, etc. Afterward Cayla and I managed to go for a hike with the dogs, grab some coffee and then later go to dinner with S & Z and their friends at Wise Guys Pizza. Their friends own the place, so it is always a very friendly atmosphere walking in.

The next day I was going to take Cayla to see the spectacular Sawtooth Mountains, but we got rained out. It was a huge bummer, because this area is so amazing and something one should not miss while visiting. At the least we drove up to Galena Lodge, where S & Z got married. There was already about 4 inches of snow on the ground. We decided to head back to Ketchum to meet up with Sarah. She took us to lunch at a very prestigious restaurant called Cristina's and then hit the town for some shopping. Luckily Cay and I are pretty frugal, so we did not spend to much. For the evening we decided to go to the must see places in Ketchum. We went to the Pio (Pioneer Saloon) for dinner. A great restaurant with an old style hunting theme and then on to Grumpy's, famous for its Schooners (large beers). We had a blast catching up, laughing and enjoying each others times. Grumpy's has a lot of character. All types of beers line the walls for decoration.

Cayla, it was so great traveling with you, you are an amazing friend.  And thanks so much to the Latham's for holding not only me and my dogs up, but my very good friend as well. You guys are awesome. Love Ya!!

Halloween 09

Coming back to Reno is always fun. This week was filled with Halloween Hoopla. I met up with some friends on Friday and we did the Zombie Crawl. This is an event that you go from bar to bar downtown Reno and each bar has a different special. Everyone was dressed as a zombie or in their Halloween costumes. To bad it was so damn packed that it was impossible to order a drink. We made sure to have a great time anyways!

The next night, I dressed as a baseball bat (play on words) and went out with some old friends. It was so much fun dancing the night away. My friend Nik was Rod Stewart. We had the best time picking out his costume at Junkie, a local thrift store. He was hilarious acting out the part. Rod was the hit of the night.  The night was filled with a lot of dancing, singing and having the time of our lives. I loved every minute of it.

Thanks everyone for the great memories and the fantastic laughs! I had the best weekend!

Attempt #2 = Success

Ok, this time S, Z and I did it the right way. First thing Monday Sarah went and got a wood chopping permit. Then, Saturday morning we woke up early, got our stuff together and headed out to the same spot we did the weekend before. This are proved to be very successful, because we had about 4 trees down in a little over an hour. Chopped and loaded. We ate a little lunch and then back to work. Zach fell another 3 trees in actually one sitting. It was pretty rad! Nice work team. We weren't without injury though, Sarah managed to smash her fingers a couple times, luckily nothing to bad.

After all of the falling, chopping and stacking was complete we headed home. I was so hoping that ranger would pull us over, just so we could show him we were legal, but to my disappointment we weren't. When we got home Zach had to hurry and pack for his upcoming hunting trip the next day, but he made sure to split the wood in record time. I unloaded the trailer, Zach split and Sarah stacked. This system proved to be very successful, because we were done with about 2 cords of wood in about an hour. Zach rocked it. He reminded me of mighty mouse. It was like he wasn't even fazed by the heavy hitting he was doing with that axe.

For the price of two loads and two trips we got one, but hey... I think it was worth every minute of it. Love ya guys!

Day in the life of Zach Latham and the Hadley Stewart House

Yesterday I spent the morning with Zach (my brother-in-law). He is a hydrologist here in Idaho and he was doing some field work out at Sun Valley Ranch, so he invited me along. I took him up on his offer and off we went. Of course, we brought the doggies along. I gotta tell you it was like dog heaven. Creeks everywhere, ponds, tall grass, little rodents running around. They were lovin' every minute of it. The morning was spent testing underground water levels. There were about 40 white tubes placed in the ground around this property and Zach new where each one was. Although we did spend some time looking for one that was buried under some tall grass. This is a fairly large piece of land. I think he said it was about 3 square miles. Zach was the best tour guide, he knew about everything. We saw many many hawks, a bald eagle, herons, and some ducks. We even saw some duck decoys. Sally thought they were real. She swam out to them grabbing them, then realizing they were fake and letting them go. It was pretty hilarious!

After we were finished with the field work, he took me over to this house that sits on the property. It is called the Hadley Stewart House. Apparently it was built by this err to the Carnation fortune a while back. Sarah actually did a photo shoot in it last summer for Scott USA. This house it crazy! It is the most eccentric house I have ever seen. Definitely meant for parties in the 60s, with an overly large main room and the most outlandish designs. The house has been empty for some time and is only used for things like photo shoots. It was really eerie walking in there. I told Zach I felt like I was walking into a horror movie. The kitchen is a bright pink, there is a bathroom with frog wallpaper, one with (it looked like) aluminum foil for walls, a gigantic rabbit fur ottoman, and really odd fixtures and carpet all over the place.

All in all it was a great day of adventure! Thanks Zach for taking me along.

You can check my blog for more photos of the house and the ranch we were on.

gallery.me.com/eweed/100259

Idaho Fall = Productive

Since I am visiting Sarah and Zach for a bit, I decided I needed to help around the house to earn my keep. They don't mess around. On the first day of the weekend, we finished painting their house and did some repair work on the roof. I wasn't to much help on the roof section with Zach. That was a little out of my league, but I did learn a couple things.

The next day we headed out the the mountains to chop some trees down and make some firewood, the good ole' fashioned way. With the dogs in tow, we managed to find a couple spots. Sarah and Zach have both done this a few times, so they both were sure they had found the perfect tree a couple of times (disagreeing on which tree was better). It is all good though, Sarah and I were laughing how this activity is a good test of ones marriage. It doesn't help that everyone is a chief in this family and we all try to take the lead. I did my best to stand back and just be told what to do, because let's face it I had know idea what I was doing.

After rounding up about a cord of wood, we headed home. By the end of the adventure I was feeling a lot more confident in my axe skills and ability to carry as many pieces of wood as possible. (Mountain girl in the making) One small note... on the way down we got pulled over by the Forest Service because they wanted to check our permit. Well, we didn't have one because the place was closed to get one that day. We didn't really worry much at the time, because it is FREE to get wood from the area we got it from. The Ranger was not having it, he said it was like Hunting without a deer tag, which is ridiculous if the wood is FREE. Anyways, he confiscated our wood. ALL OF IT!! and he gave us a ticket even more ridiculous. So we came home empty handed with absolutely no wood and a fine. What a bummer!! Poor Sarah and Zach couldn't believe that this happened to them, because they are the real mountain peeps. Now, there will be another trip out to the mountains to get more wood and more tests of marriage for S&Z.

Even though the day ended as bad as it did, I had a great time in the woods, playing with the dogs, hanging with the fam and enjoying the fantastic scenery. Next time, we will just make sure we have a permit.

Sarah and Zach's visit

Mom and I were lucky enough to have the Latham's visit this weekend. They drove down for a wedding in Yosemite and stopped by on their way back. We ended up going downtown to the Italian Festival which happened to be very uneventful. Luckily the weather was spectacular, so we sat outside at the Wild River Grill and enjoyed some appetizers and wine. It was great to see the Lathams. I always enjoy it when they come down. Mom cooked up a fantastic meal for dinner, chicken kabobs, steak, spinach, some Idaho potatoes and a gigantic Idaho squash. They headed out this morning back up to Sun Valley. To bad we don't live closer, I love having them around.