Mother's Day and School's Out!!

Mom and all her girls.

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! We sure did!

I just finished school,yesterday. Kalli is almost done. Mostly because that's all there is to do here. I'm more than ready to come home. Well,bye for now. Oh, let me know if you like this post, please.

Easter and Birthdays!

Me and cute little sisters! I hope you all have had a good Easter. We did. We went to a little church,that my mom's friend attends. They were very nice, and the service was good. We had a yummy crockpot dinner at the hotel. Kaite turned 2 last Saturday! She is so cute, and talking like crazy! We went to the park,but it was too cold,so we went back to hotel for cake. I am homesick and more than ready to go home.Kaite is asleep on the sofa beside me. Well,good-bye for now.

Kaite with her cake and Dora doll she got for her birthday. She was sooo happy with Dora!

Idaho History -- Religion

Along with all the others who came to Idaho, were those who came bringing faith and coming to share the Word of God. We would call them missionaries. Religion played an important part in Idaho's development. As we already stated, Idaho's oldest building is a mission, the Caltaldo Mission. It is currently located right off I-90 at Cataldo. Cataldo is in Northern Idaho.photo source: sondahl.com
Some time before the early settlers began to come to Idaho, Circling Raven, a powerful chief of the Cour de Alene tribe had a vision foretelling the coming of the "black robes". He felt that these peopl would bring new spiritual power to his people.
In 1831, four members of the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes went to St. Louis looking for someone who could teach them about the Bible. This would cause us to think that there was a hunger for the Word of God. The first church service in Idaho was held at Fort Hall in 1834. It was a funeral, conducted by methodist minister Jason Lee. Lee had planned to start a mission among the Flathead tribe, but they did not accept him because he did not wear black robes.
One of the first missions in the west was built by Henry and Eliza Spalding. Henry and Narcissa Whitman were nearby as well, though further west toward Washington. The Spaldings did a lot in Idaho. They opened the first school, their daughter was the first white child born in Idaho. They printed a song book and parts of the Bible in Nez Perce. The Spaldings also worked to teach the natives how to farm. Up until then, the natives were mostly hunters and gatherers. Some of the natives did not like the changes and all the new settlers. In anger, a few of them killed the Whitman's and destroyed the Spalding's mission.
A few years later, Father Pierre John DeSmit arrived. Father DeSmit wore the black robes of the Catholic priest and was accepted by the descendants of Circling Raven.
Mormons came west in the late 1840's. Their leader was Brigham Young and they came not as missionaries, but seeking to escape religious discrimination. They were looking for a state of their own, one they could rule themselves. Though most of them settled in the Salt Lake area of Utah, a few crossed the border into Idaho. Franklin was Idaho's first permanent settlement, consisting mostly of the Mormons. Trouble came when other religions began to disagree with the Morman way of life, especially the practice of polygamy. Eventually the leaders of the Morman church urged their people to obey the law and marry only one wife. Lawmakers, however, denyed the Mormons the right to vote when they first wrote the state's constitution. In fact, it wasn't until 1984, that they changed that law, although it had been ignored for many years.
The first Jewish governor in the United States was Moses Alexander elected in Idaho in 1914.
Idaho's religious history was shaped by many people of many different faiths.

Valentine's Day and more!!

I trust you all had a happy Valentine's Day. We celebrated by a GREAT supper cooked by my GREAT mom. Then we went out for Starbuck's Coffie-yum! We got suckers too.

We are at my grandparent's house now. We spent the night because today is Mom and Dad's Anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!! Last night Kaite was HORRID!!!!!!! She kept me up reading books, drawing pictures,trying to keep her quiet,rocking her, watching her and more until midnight or later! She FINALLY fell asleep with me rocking her. I took her to bed and she woke up, I gave her the bottle and went back to sleep and slept until 2:30 a.m. Then I got her back to sleep and she slept until about 9. Grandma and I are both worn out. It's a good thing I have the day off of school! Well I'd better go now.

McCall Winter Carnival

My family went on a little vacation to McCall, Idaho. They were just getting ready for their annual Winter Carnival. I am taking Idaho History, so mom had me write a report. She is typing it for me below. It is interesting. There are also some pictures of our trip.
The first carnival took place in 1924. It began with the largest train ever to enter McCall. It had 248 people on board and one of them was Idaho's govornor C. Moore. The very first carnival was called, "Payette Lakes Sports Carnival. It lasted three days. One of the biggest events was the dog sled races. They also had ski joring, which is when a skier is pulled by a horse! They had toboggan races and raced homemade snowmobiles on the frozen, snow-covered lake. These 'snowmobiles' were actually vehicles set on steel runners and driven by an airplane engine and propeller. Eventually, the carnival turned into an "ice break-up contest." People would buy tickets and guess what day, hour and minute the ice would break up on the lake. The person guessing the closest, won a prize. The last contest was in 1941 at what time gambling had become illegal. In 1965, the "Winter Carnival" began again and has continued to this day.

McCall can get up to 400 inches (33.3 feet) of snow each winter. One of the coolest things about the Winter Carnival these days are the fantastic ice sculptures. They might be animals, disney characters, Christmas or winter scenes. Whatever they are, they have amazing detail and are very beautiful!

They are on nearly every corner and in front of nearly every store and shop. The sculptors work hard shaping the snow and pouring on water to maintain the icy surface. Awards are given for what judges say are the best.

The town of McCall is beautiful with trees and snow. It is right on the Payette Lake. McCall has a population of 2,554. It is about 2 1/2 hours from our house on clear roads.

In January of this year, my family went to McCall. We stayed January 25-26. We stayed at the Western Mountain Lodge. We had a lot of fun! We looked at all kinds of sculptures, and since we were there a few days before the carnival began, we got to watch them working. There were bears, trains, trees and all kinds of other stuff all made out of snow!

We were wondering why there were dragons, so we did some research and found out about the legend of "Sharlie." Some people say that they have seen a huge dragon, or sea creature and think it lives somewhere in the lake. Other people say there is no such thing and that it must be a log, a giant sturgeon, or even a herd of moose crossing the lake.

This year, McCall is 100 years old, so we saw lots of sculptures with the number 100 as well.

McCall is a beautiful little town. It was founded in 1911 by Tom McCall. There was an article in the newspaper while we were there that talked about McCall's history. Tom McCall's daughter was McCall, Idaho's first schoolteacher. His son later became the first forest ranger. They were alone when they first came to McCall. They traded with an earlier setter named Denver, his homestead for their best harness, team and wagon. Someone asked Louisa, Tom's wife is she was lonely or discouraged in those hard early years and she said, "No, I had my family."

We also went sledding at Bear Park while we were there. The sledding hill ends in the lake, but don't worry. The lake freezes over every winter.

What's new?

My little sister Kammy got a puppy for her birthday! His name was Winston, but Kammy named him Rancher! He was only 7 weeks old. She really likes him and she shares him with us (especially she shares the chores). Haha! Kammy is pretty funny. She gave me a note the other day that was all scribbles and letters, so I asked her to read it to me. She said that it said, "I love you Kayla, you are a LITTLE bit of fun!" Here is a picture of the 2 things. :)

Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! We spent time together and get many nice gifts. We had some time off school and went sledding. We also had a church Christmas party and a program.
We kept busy and enjoyed it. Now we are back in school and working hard!