OBB Scrapbook: Kate’s Visit to Idaho!

Although most long-time readers of our blog know our story, we still get loads of people who assume we’re neighbors, or at the very least, live in the same town.  But the truth is, Kate and I live about 2000 miles away from one another.  I’m up in Boise, Idaho, and Kate is way down south in central Louisiana.  We’ve actually never lived in the same city (at least at the same time!)  When we have work events, like speaking tours or book signings we sometimes get to meet up in random cities but even those are few and far between.  Although we’re really close friends, we’ve never even been to each other’s homes!   That’s why it was SO much fun this past week when it worked out for Kate and her kiddos to take a jaunt up here to spud country and visit my family.

bloggers sara and kate

They arrived bearing gifts, including some southern classics: mini Tabasco bottles and gummy gators.

Hot sauce and gummy gators

Annnnd since they had come up from Utah, a bag of cookies from Logan’s Old Grist Mill (Kate’s home town) that literally weighed as much as a human baby.  There are like 47 cookies in there.  It was awesome.

Cookies

And in return, I impressed her with my mad cooking skills and best dishes.

Fancy Lunch

Even though our kids don’t get to see each other in person very often, they absolutely love each other.  They’re kind of like cousins!

Kids on Tramp

Our oldest boys are close in age, and so are my middle son and kate’s daughter.  Then to round it out, I have a 2 year old and Kate has an almost 1 year old.

Yes, we’re related to these people.

Weirdo Kids

The dark haired kiddo in back is Kate’s and the blondie is mine, then that’s Kate’s cute daughter (so fun to have a little girl around in my house of all boys!) and the other 2 blondies are mine.  Kate’s baby was here.  I promise.

Kate and Sara's Kids

Our oldest boys in particular are really good buddies.  Kate and I kept talking about how we wished we had a recording of all of their conversations together.  They were random and funny and totally entertaining.

C and T in Ties

That photo was taken right after church on Sunday, and we had to sift through about 400 that looked like this first:

C and T

Sunday afternoon we headed over to one of our favorite parks,

Park

Mostly in attempts to drain them of their energy.

Park Time

On that note…

funny stuff from Our Best Bites

Monday morning we did slip in a little bit of work.  And what we found out was that it is freaking amazing to work on a blog project with 4 hands and 2 cameras.  And a babysitter/extra helper.

photographing food

When the little kids went down for naps, my boys begged and begged to go to a local place called Dart Zone.  It’s a play land for Nerf fanatics (both old and young).

nerf boys

When we first arrived there were a few other older kids and as they got shot off the playing field we kept hearing them warn each other about the sharp-shooting girl out there.  Yeah, that would be Kate’s 5 year old.  After she scared off the big boys, we had the entire place to ourselves and the epic Jones vs Wells battle began.Dart ZoneEarlier that morning I dragged Kate with me to the gym to work out with my trainer.  It was good he left us in a pool of sweat because we ate those calories right back up that night.

Workout and DinnerEver since we’ve lived here in Boise, I’ve heard people talking about a restaurant called Fork.  Appropriately named because no 2 forks there are alike!

Sara and Kate at Fork

We filled up on deliciousness like my prime rib French Dip (fun fact: no matter what restaurant I’m at, if there’s a French Dip on the menu, I order it.)  My husband’s slow-cooked, fall apart ribs (yes, we took a big bite of those potatoes before snapping the pic) and Kate’s burger with Parmesan-Rosemary fries.

Fork Food

We decided we were too full for dessert, until someone from the kitchen walked out with their signature Butter Cake and gave it to us for free because the kitchen cranked out an extra.  I have a personal rule to never, ever be too full for free butter cake.  It was amazing.

butter cakeWe came back home to the kiddos that night for some back yard play time.  See, I told you the baby was here!  He’s the sweetest darn thing I’ve ever seen.

Kate and Baby

And he has THE funniest scrunched-up-nose look that literally appeared in 99% of the photos I took of him.  Yep, there it is:

Baby W and the stink eye

He’s a sweetie pie, scrunched-nose and all.  As soon as the sun went down, we busted out some sparklies.

M with Sparklers

Our little project that morning involved celebrating the 4th of July that day so our kids were expecting fireworks, lol.

Sparkler

We got some super long sparklers in the wedding section of the party supply store, and made a tunnel of fire.

Kids and Sparklers

It was very popular.

tunnel of fire

There’s nothing like a warm summer night, good friends, and things that sparkle.

kids running through sparklers

We decided now it’s our turn to visit the south before Kate and her family are outta there!  When we make it down there, you’ll be the first to see us stuffing our faces with beignets.

instagram_logo

Last but not least, news flash: we’re on Instagram!  I just got my first iPhone (hello lover) and convinced Kate to jump on board when she was here. If you’d like to peek into our worlds, you can find us as sara_ourbestbites and kate_ourbestbites.  We use it less as bloggers and more for just every day life, so feel free to follow our random photographic journey 😉

 

woman in denim shirt holding a salad bowl
Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. I’m drooling over that restaurant! I have to try it!! …um, some day. When I happen to be in Boise. Looks like a fun little time y’all had. Your kids are adorable!

  2. Just had time to sit down and read all about your trip! Fantastic! Happy you had the time together!

  3. Boise is great, but nothing is better than good times with friends and family! So fun to see pictures of your families, and I love the tunnel of fire — great idea! One question — if you’ve never lived in the same town, how did you meet?

  4. Love this post! It is readily apparent that you all had such a great time 🙂
    Thanks for sharing so much with all of us, you ladies rock!

  5. Oh yay! I am SO going to follow ya’ll on Instagram (love my iphone, too!)! Thanks for sharing us you guys’ fun time together. Wish we lived closer~I wanna party with you all! haha Can’t wait for more delicious recipes! 🙂

  6. You gals are lot of fun. I miss the parks in Boise…I lived there for 4 years but never heard of Fork. I’ll have to hunt that little restaurant down when I get to visit my family in Boise this weekend. I also miss this little Snow-Shack up the road from where we lived…good ole college days.

  7. loved this post…. even though there was *only* one recipe this week, this post made up for it. as a long time blog reader, i already knew your story but love to see how the blog continues to grow this friendship!

  8. Why is it that the craziest one of the bunch (in the silly face picture) has the most calm pose of them all? Will we ever figure her out?

  9. What a fun time with friends and delicious food! I’m from Logan too and cookies and cinnamon drop bread from Grist Mill are a must when we visit. Which is coming up in a week. I can’t wait to have some!

  10. Yeah, for fun Idaho visits with friends and Yeah, for Instagram and iPhones!
    I like this post. 🙂

  11. What a wonderful treat for both of you. I count my dear friends as some of my choicest blessings and don’t know what I’d do without them. Loved, loved, loved the picture of Kate’s adorable scrunch-nose baby! I wanted to kiss him right through the screen! Thanks for sharing!

  12. We JUST moved to the Boise area, so THANK YOU for sharing DartZone and that restaurant! Can’t wait to check them both out 🙂

  13. Love it! Thanks for sharing. My daughter, as many out there probably do, has the same dress as Kate’s daughter. It’s her party dress and she loves wearing it. Sara, you need to go visit Kate. Thanks for sharing ladies!

  14. I’m so glad ya’ll had a good time. That is such a sweet picture of Kate and the baby!

  15. What a fun visit! Thanks for sharing it with us, and what cute kids you gals have!

  16. It looks like you guys had an awesome time together! All of your children are totally beautiful! I love, love, love the baby’s scrunched up nose face….that is the cutest little face ever! Thinking of that sweetie will make me smile all day! Thanks for making my morning! 🙂