A visit to my parents' June 2013 (a LONG post)

We went to my parents' house on June 8th, 2013.  It started out to be just a normal trip.  We visited people, helped my grandma with her computer, pretty routine.  The original plan was the Nate, Jared, and I would travel to my parents' house and stay with them, and then when we came back, my parents and brother (Brad) were driving with us and we were going to meet my sister in Boise where my cousin was having a party for his graduation from West Point.  All of the Seeley (my mom's side) cousins except one would be present.  It was going to be great!  However, the day we were supposed to leave, my brother passed away in his sleep.  I will post more about this later when we have the full results of the autopsy back, but basically he was a healthy, strong, intelligent, and hard-working 22-year-old and there is no known cause of death.  Anyway, here are some of the happy pictures from the trip.

My mom thought that Jared's hair was too long so one of the first things we had to do when we got there was give him a haircut.

His hair is so pretty and curly.

My Dad got a full-sized teepee for Christmas.  It is his man cave.  He has it set up in the woods.

Jared in front of the teepee.

 

Nate and Jared in the teepee.

Nate and Jared walking back to the house from the teepee.

Jared loved the dog, the dog, didn't love him, except when Jared fed him!

I used to swing in this swing when I was a kid!

Buddies.

Jared really likes the tractor, until it gets turned on.  Then he gets scared.

These next few pictures are from when most of my mom's family came up after Brad's funeral.  I wish it had been under better circumstances, but it was nice to have a family get-together.

Brett hasn't been around of lot of babies.  The baby is Keatin and he is my cousin Kylie's son.

Lisa and I with the babies.

Mommies and babies.

All of the female cousins on my mom's side.

In the teepee.

More teepee.

Jared and Keatin

Jared got Roseola while we visiting, so he wasn't very happy letting other people hold him.  I laugh when I look at this picture because of Jared!

Lisa, Jared, and I right before Lisa headed back to Seattle.

The last Sunday we were visiting was my parent's anniversary.  Because of the circumstances, we didn't necessarily feel like celebrating, but we did want a distraction so we went for a drive on the back side of Teakean Butte.  We even found Dworshak Reservoir!

I have a bad squint

We even found RIPE huckleberries!!!!

We stopped at the driveway of a family friend and hiked up to their cabin that they used to live in.  It is exactly like I remember it as a kid.

On the hike up, we saw a frog!  I haven't seen a frog in the wild in a long time!  It just shows how remote it is out there if there is a frog!

We never make the full 12 hour drive in one shot, so we always stop in Boise and spend the night with one of my Aunts that lives there.  This time we stayed with Aunt Lori.  She has a dog that is just Jared's size.  They became good friends.

I think we need one of these.

Jared acquired one of Brad's old (like 8-years-old) digital cameras.  He loved it even though he broke it within the first hour.  He fell asleep in the car like this.