Sunday June 29, 2025
Morning prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for my children.
- Thank you for food.
- Thank you for laughter.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I awoke at 4:45 AM. I made breakfast and got ready to go. I woke Angel up and she ate while I made tea and a smoothie. My son Scott, his wife Delany and my daughter Savana had stayed the night at my older sisters and they drove over and picked us up to go whitewater rafting. We had to drive all the way to Horseshoe Bend to meet at the Cascade rafting company, which was a 2 hour and 15 minute drive.
The drive was uneventful and I think I might have napped a little. When we arrived at our destination, we went inside and got checked in. Then we were bussed all the way up near Cascade to our starting spot. The rafting trip guides got the rafts ready to go while we all stood around talking. Then we were off on the Payette river for our whitewater rafting adventure.
We had great fun going down the river. The rapids were only up to class III, so we got some good waves without it being too challenging. Midday we stopped for lunch and I ended up eating crackers and some bread that were provided. Immediately I felt tired and sluggish and got another stomachache. I didn’t let that stop me from having a good time though. The last couple of rapids I decided to sit on the front of the raft and “ride the bull”. I fell inside the raft during the first time I “rode the bull”, then I couldn’t get back up on the edge before going through the last rapid and so I just flopped around with my legs in the air 😂. I bet that was a funny sight.
When we finished rafting, we got out at Cougar Mountain Lodge at Smiths Ferry. We waiting while the guides loaded up the rafts and we bussed back down the mountain to where we were parked. Before we got to Banks the highway traffic came to a stop. The weekend traffic going down to Boise from McCall was backed up all the way from Horseshoe Bend. One of the rafting guides informed us that this was called the McCall crawl. Highway 55 is a 2 lane highway and it would be an incredible amount of money and work to widen the road to 4 lanes through the canyons in order to improve traffic conditions. The best option is the avoid that part of the highway on weekends.
We crawled down the mountain to where we were parked at the rafting companies headquarters. We looked at professional pictures taken during our rafting trip in case we wanted to purchase them. Then we headed back up the mountain to McCall. I napped on the drive and it felt good to get more sleep. When we got to McCall everyone wanted to get something to eat. I called Aaron to see if he would let Little Bit out because he had been inside for 12 hours. Aaron said he would be happy to do it and I thanked him.
We ate at Lardos and I had a soup and salad. Yay for me! When we finally made it back to Council it was after 8 PM. Scott dropped Angel and me off at our apartment before going to my sisters where they were staying the night since she had enough beds for everyone. Aaron had taken Little Bit to his house to play with Blitz and Buster and he brought him back home. Little Bit and I were excited to see each other. Aaron and I were glad to see each other too. We chatted a few minutes, then he left and Angel and I went to bed. I read some of The Vaster Wilds and went to sleep at around 10:30 PM.
Monday June 30, 2025
Morning prayer:
Good morning God,
- Thank you for this day.
- Thank you for dirt roads.
- Thank you for traffic jams.
- Thank you for love.
I love you!
Dear Diary,
I awoke at 3:30 AM and wrote my blog until 6 AM. Then I slept more until 7:30 AM when Angel woke me up and was hungry. I was still so tired but I got up and made her breakfast and made myself tea and a smoothie. Then I walked over to my neighbors and helped her vacuum her rental house. When I finished, I ate strawberries from her strawberry patch while we chatted about this and that.
Angel and I met Scott, Delany and Savana at the Seven Devils cafe. It was Savana’s 25th birthday. We had fun hanging out together and goofing around. I didn’t eat and only had some tea. I didn’t want to get another stomachache and had my smoothie waiting for me at home.
After everyone ate, Scott and Delany left to drive back to their home in Salt Lake City. Then Savana, Angel and I hearted (headed) back down the mountain to Boise. I wanted to skip all the road construction happening on highway 95 (there are 2 seasons in Idaho…winter and road construction) and drove the dirt roads from Indian Valley to Emmett. It was a great drive with lots of beautiful scenery. Then we got to Emmett and got in line with traffic going to Boise.
In Boise, I dropped Savana off at her godmothers and went to Savana’s dad’s house to get some camping gear I had left there a couple of years ago. I chatted with Savana’s dad and step mom and got the camping gear. Then I drove to Caldwell to my mom’s house. I thought about taking the back roads there but I was tired and took the interstate so I could get there sooner. That was a mistake because 2 miles away from my exit, there was an accident I was stuck in traffic at a standstill for an hour. I was so tired it was hard to stay awake sitting there. It was really hot out and my little truck a/c wasn’t blowing cool air while sitting in one spot, it was lukewarm air. I was so glad when traffic started moving again and I was able to finally get to my mom’s house.
I was in bad shape when I arrived at my moms. I felt dizzy when I got out of the truck and thought I was going to pass out. I think I got over heated and over tired. My mom tends to get upset when I’m not feeling good and wants me to pay attention to her, rather than take care of my needs. I wanted to sit and rest for a while and my mom didn’t seem to like that. I asked her why my needing to rest bothered her. She didn’t give a clear answer but got softer after that and I rested in the guest room until I started feeling better.
Savana’s Dad arrived to start getting the BBQ ready for Savana’s birthday party. Then Savana arrived with her friend. My nephew Christoper came with his 10 year old son and Angel was happy about having sometime her age there that she likes to play with. Everyone hung out and ate and played cards. I ate tomatoes rolled up in lettuce and it was actually really yummy. At some point different people got upset with each but I wasn’t following what was happening and stayed out of the family drama as much as possible. I kept reminding myself and others who came to talk to me, “let people be how they want to be”. It’s difficult with family sometimes.
I cleaned up the kitchen for my mom and eventually everyone left. Angel went with Christopher and his son to stay the night at their house. My mom and I sat in lawn chairs in the front yard and read our books. It was really nice and peaceful out and we read until it was too dark to read anymore. We went to bed and I wrote my blog notes. Then I read some more and went to sleep at 11 PM.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I appreciate you.
Love, Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit
P. S. S. This was Sunday and Monday. A lot has happened since then. Stay tuned.