Needless to say, we did make it to the game, enjoyed it, and the children were well behaved, and didn't ask for concessions or shirts, etc. at the game :)
We found our way to brother-in-law's house in Eagle. Emmalee took right to Uncle Ken--we did see him at Thanksgiving, but before that it had been almost 1 year!!
The Stewart side of the family is quite goofy (I guess so is my side :) I guess we are just a goofy family!
Uncle Ken made a yummy meal for us--chicken cordon bleu, mashed tators, and green beans. Nicer than the hamburgers I was planning on buying!
We had 1 bed room and the living room for the 7 of us. Rusty decided that he would camp out in the living room with the boys. Emmalee heard the word "camping", saw her cute Sesame Street sleeping bag, and parked herself next to Dad (after all, she is a daddy's girl).
Surprisingly enough, the all snuggled into their sleeping bags and watched a cute dog movie "Good Boy".
Brienna and I shared the bed and I put Ben in his car seat (no wonder he hated his car seat!!!)
Since the Friday game wasn't until 6:15 pm, we had a whole day to spend in the city. Now, if any of you know my hubby, he HATES crowds, shopping, and big cities. But he was a trooper (keep reading--lol) and we headed to the state capitol building. We knew it was still under renovations, but Zane had never been there before (or Benjamin) and we wanted to give him the opportunity to see it.
It had snowed overnight (a cold front had just moved in) so we bundled up and started walking around the capitol building.
First picture we were still warm from the van ride, so everyone is smiling!
Next picture--not so warm anymore, so Emmalee is clinging to Brienna, hands in pockets, and earmuffs on.
This is one of my favorite photos with the capitol building.
I had to add this one because I am in it--Rusty and I took turns taking pictures. (No wonder the kids got tired of pictures because they had to stand through so many)
Emmalee had borrowed my gloves my now, and ears are all covered! They liked these bronze statues of Lewis and Clark and a chief & his son.Now--remember how much Rusty hates shopping? So definitely no malls or Factory Outlet for me, but we had to go to:
First, Zane has never been to one before (yeah, I know--poor, deprived Zane). We love the Lehi Cabela's, but the one in Boise is still nice. Zane couldn't believe how big, amazing, and wonderful it was. He loved all the animals, and the fish.
While we were there, we saw a family from our town, visited the General Store (and of course we had fudge samples). And we bought some fudge. I was planning on buying 2 pieces ($5). But they had a special, buy 4, get 2 free. So we got 6 pieces for $10. Yum, Yum :)
Then we heard it--the rumbles of our hungry tummies. I told them no fudge until after lunch. So we were just heading to the van to find a place to eat, when we some of the basketball team walked in the door.
The children wanted to see Ethan, since we hadn't got to talk to him after the game Thursday. Zane and Callum went to the African animals and the others went to the fish tanks, but we couldn't find him. Zane finally said, "I bet he is in the general store!" Duh--Food!! (sweet food). And he was right.
After visiting for a few minutes, we looked at the time (12:40) and decided to wait for the 1 pm fish feeding. Emmalee thought it was funny that the big fish ate the little fish, but Brienna didn't think it was funny at all.
After seeing those fish, Rusty decided he wanted a fish sandwich from Jack in the Box. We took off in the direction of the Boise LDS temple, in search for a place to eat lunch. But the minute Benjamin was strapped in the car seat, he started wailing. And I had just nursed him, so he wasn't hungry!
So after 10 minutes of his crying, we decided to head back to Eagle to let Ben out of his restraints and relax for a couple of hours. Benjamin definitely has a great set of lungs--he wanted out, there and now. We pulled over 2 times and I tried to pacify him (by nursing). And it worked as long as he was out of jail--I mean his car seat. So we had to endure the crying for another 15 minutes. And on top of that, our little angel (right) decided it would be fun to hit her brothers. Whoever screamed loudest got the next slap. Lovely---what was I thinking????
We did find a Jack in the Box, ate fish sandwiches and tacos (hot dog for Emmalee from the convenient store), and made it to Uncle Ken's. Benjamin loved stretching and being out of that prison we strapped him in.
We sent the boys to the game w/Uncle Ken, so the ride to the game was actually quite peaceful.
INTERMISSION (I know--this is like a 3-hour play!!)
Uncle Ken took Brienna, Zane & Callum home immediately after the game, but we waited for Ethan to finish up so we could get him a sweat shirt. And I needed to nurse Benjamin. We left at half time of the 2nd game.
Now, I wish I could tell you the ride home was peaceful--we only had Benjamin and Emmalee. Right away, Benjamin started crying the minute we put him in the car seat. So I sat next to him (middle seat), and I couldn't even console him. We pulled out of Caldwell High School parking lot, and crossed an intersection, when Rusty pulled over. I thought "Are you hungry or lost?" That's when I noticed the lights. And that's also when Benjamin stopped crying.
We knew we weren't speeding, we had stopped at the intersection for over a minute, so we had no idea why we were pulled over.
A very young-looking officer came to the van, and told us our brake light was broken. I pictured it as a burned out light, so Rusty told him we would fix it in the morning. He explained how we were from out of town, etc. Rusty had to dig through the jockey box looking for insurance and registration (I really need to clean that out!!) since I was in the back seat.
The whole time I thought--come on, Benjamin. Cry, Cry!!! But of course--he didn't make one peep. (I must be a terrible mommy--wanting him to cry??).
As soon as we pulled away from the curb, Benjamin decided he was unhappy again and cried Emmalee to sleep. All the way back to Eagle (about 30 minutes) we looked for cop cars, hoping not to be pulled over again. Once in Eagle, Rusty had me look at the brake light. Surprised me--it was working. So Rusty said--is the red light broken? I would have thought a broken tail light would look like this:
(Not our van) On closer inspection, I saw a nickel-sized hole near the top of the tail light, but it was small! I couldn't believe that is why we got pulled over.
(I hope you are all enjoying your popcorn--the show is almost over)
Saturday morning we pulled out of Eagle at 9:02 am. Thankfully, we were not in a hurry to get home, so we planned on taking the whole day. We had to stop before Twin Falls to put Emmalee in a time out. We found a truck stop, and I put her in the cold wind on a cold fence. (Again--what was I thinking??) After that, we only stopped a couple other times (for lunch, to check out some historical sites, & to nurse).
Isn't that the face of an innocent angel??
So Emmalee thought it was fun to pull that off him and scratch his face! 
And it was calm when all 3 of the children in the back covered their heads (although it was only for a short time.)
She had 
Well, Pamela--hope this holds you until Sunday. I plan on posting lots of pictures from our adventures at state basketball!
Since he was already going to bed, I (being the awesome mom that I am) agreed to stay up and get them washed and thrown into the dryer so they will be ready for him 1st thing tomorrow morning. (Alright, the truth is that little Benjamin wasn't asleep yet--he just went to bed a few minutes ago). They leave for Boise (state basketball tournament) tomorrow at 10 am. But he leaves for seminary at 6:30 am and needs to have everything ready by then.
