For the 5th year in a row we packed up and flew to Spokane to spend the 4th of July with my entire family in the historic town of Wallace, Idaho.
Why Wallace? Good question. Once upon a time in like 1997 we went on vacation there and my parents fell in love with the town and decided to buy a house there when I was in college. It's now become a family hub!
Not much has changed in Wallace since we visited in 1997 :)
Back to the present, this year I decided to entice people to come check out all that Wallace has to offer by teaching an in-person 4th of July Scrapbook Event. You can read the recap about the fun event HERE.
Gi DeMello made the exclusive & custom flag sequin albums for the event and made me the cutest matching tote to carry all my 4th of July scrapbooks!!
Off we go!
It was a beautiful day at the Denver airport. You never know what kind of weather you'll get in the summer.
Hello fam!
Flying up and out of Colorado then landing in Spokane, WA.
We made it to Spokane, rented a car, then drove to my parent's home in Greenacres where my little brother and his family and my little sister and her family were already hanging out. Love this piece of patriotic decor.
My newest niece, Eric & Tanya's baby Isabel, is such a doll.
Even Fox got in on her cuteness. This might be the very first time he's ever held a baby (aside from Jane).
Another one of my nieces, Allie's littlest Zula, is such a hoot. We have a lot of fun together.
The house came with a mature cherry tree and they were ripe for the picking.
Allie, Tate, Jude, Chris and I picked all the cherries we could reach.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
They were delicious! How fun to have a cherry tree, I'm jelly :)
Each of the families takes a turn preparing a meal for the entire family and the Litchfields were up first. They made lettuce wraps which were yummy. I actually made the rice! Go me :)
Dald made his signature chocolate chip cookies and I did partake. I probably ate 24 cookies over the course of our vacation, oopsies lol.
The first evening a photographer came over and we got family photos taken which I will forever cherish. I already scrapped them in the mini album I taught how to make at Lovely Lane Weekend.
Then we all headed over to Wallace. We made our annual pitstop at the Walmart in Smelterville to pick up groceries and of course get some fireworks.
Wish we could get 1 of each!
As we exited the freeway and drove into Wallace this sign at the hotel where I was teaching my event greeted us! OMG hahaha how fun! I took a picture and texted it to my family and the replies were hysterical.
My sister is my biggest fan and as soon as her kids were asleep we walked over to the sign to take pictures and also marvel at the beautiful sunset.
Gorgeous first night!
Everyone stays at my parent's house (well, one of their houses, but we don't talk about the second house...) except my little family unit we rent the pink house next door.
Early the next morning, Chris and I went for a refreshing jog.
We came upon purple wildflower fields and of course I needed some pics.
When in Wallace!
There's a new neighborhood cat named Grey which is a funny name because he's black.
Every single day I would walk with my sister to the 1910 Coffee Co stand so she could get some "Mommy's Energy" hahaha. Caffeine is the best.
Zula was having a bit of a "threenager" moment. Been there, done that!
As soon as she got her hot cocoa she was an angel again. Such a ham.
We got tickets to do the Sierra Silver Mine Tour, minus the mine tour part, so just the trolley ride through town.
The driver was in such a big hurry for some reason, he had the petal to the metal and we did the full circuit in less than 15 minutes.
Speeding through town - see my hair FLYING!?!
We dropped off a few people at the mine tour - the guide is the same one who led our tour a few years ago and he is the absolute best. So entertaining with zillions of stories from his time working the mines.
Any time we (me, Allie & Tanya) can, we take pictures! And of course, I always take lots of flower photos.
Back at the houses, Malm handed out a $20 bill to each person in memory of her dad (Grandpa Tedder the Gooder and Better) doing the same thing.
Woohoo! I'm going shopping!!
Snuggling Isabel.
With so many people to entertain, there is never a dull moment. Off to the Wallace Pool!
We tried to move some chairs and an umbrella to accommodate our large party but got in big trouble by the employees. Apparently the chairs that move cannot be moved.... because it was so busy??? Seriously, give me one good and valid reason why we couldn't move the chairs... I'll wait... We were really upset by how rude the employees were but whatever.
Despite the rudeness, we still had fun splashing around.
My intestines (colon? stomach? bladder? uterus? I should probably figure it out...) had a random spasm which hurt really bad so I had to bail early.
I'm so glad this pool is still open and functioning after all those years of it being closed.
It was our turn for the family meal so we picked up a bunch of Domino's pizzas. Love this moment of Daisy loving up on Isabel.
Time for the Idaho Statehood Parade! We get dressed up in patriotic attire and bring bags (or in this case, Boggs) to catch the candy!
Our cuties, Fox & Jane.
Waiting for the festivities to begin.
Don't blink or you'll miss the parade ;)
Jane caught a necklace, woohoo!
Me and my love.
Eric and his cutie patootie Isabel.
Me and my darling daughter.
Some of the girls.
We cute :)
Malm joined in the striking of poses.
Time to chillax at the house.
Except there's no chillaxing for Grandpa, all the kids want to ride with him.
Me, Allie, Tanya, and my mom hopped on the ATVs and went on a quick ride up the road.
I'd never been up that road before and it was the perfect little outing. Wallace is so beautiful.
The next morning, the 4th of July, we all got dressed up for even more family photos in front of the huge flag that a local resident puts up every year.
We took a big family photo and then broke up into our individual family units.
All the cousins.
The girls.
Everything in Wallace is walkable which is so nice on warm summer days.
Wild daisies.
Happy 4th of July!
Today's 1910 visit. I took this group photo so I'm not in it. But shortly after someone from my scrapbook event who was in line at the coffee shop got out of her car and offered to take our photo so I could be in it. Several times as we were walking around Wallace someone/a group of ladies would say hi to me. Some people I recognized from previous events, some were new friends. It's all a bit surreal to be honest :)
We drove up the freeway to check out the activities at the Crystal Gold Mine.
Zula Mae.
Again we opted out of the actual mine tour but we did decide to do some panning for minerals and shooting. I'll always remember Jude asking, "Mimi, can I get the Motherload?" (The biggest bag of minerals).
Fox has had a thing about stuff being on his hands since he was a toddler so he was being slow and not very into the panning process.
Daisy grabbed his tray, shook it around, got the minerals clean & exposed from the sand, then put her hands on her hips and very loudly stated, "THERE!". So flippin' funny.
Comparing their minerals to the legend.
Malm in her element surrounded by family.
Then we headed over to the shooting range.
We all took turns trying to blow out the red star.
Some of us got pretty close but no one was able to win a dingy plushy, too bad lol.
We had so much fun!
Another tradition: McDonalds for lunch! We know how to live it up :)
Back in Wallace, a few of us walked over to the hotel to set up for my event. This is what it looked like when we arrived and what it looked like when we finished for the day:
I love scrapbooking!
Thanks so much for all the help family! Love you!
Back at the house, everyone was prepping for our annual 4th of July BBQ.
It started to rain, as it does in the Pacific Northwest, so unfortunately we all had to move inside, but it's all good.
Tate and Chris on the grill.
Moving all the food and stuff inside.
Another tradition: new matching jammies! I love comparing these photos through the years.
Fox and Jane declared this will be there last year wearing jammies though, they're simply too big. Why are my kids so big?!
Time for sparklers!! Chris doled them out.
The smiles on all their faces put a big smile on my face.
Time for the big kahunas! This firework was almost as tall as Zula!
I don't like loud fireworks (think of all the poor animals and those with PTSD!) or ones that last a long time, so we opted for the quietest ones and only had a few. Perfect!
Daisy was INTO it.
Watching the fireworks.
This is my cousin Cat and her husband Abs and my aunt Natalie and uncle John. Cat & Abs live in the heart of New York City and work as pathologists. Such fascinating lives they live! Natalie and John live outside LA and we would visit them when we lived there. They also have a beautiful house in Wallace so they're part of our annual 4th of July festivities.
Happy 4th of July 2025!
The next morning: rain rain go away.
Our entire family walked over to The Brooks Hotel for breakfast. They were a little bewildered when I asked if they had seating for 16, but said to wait for a few minutes and then they could seat us in the bar room.
A sign at the nail salon. Typical Wallace lol.
Breakfast was yummy!
After breakfast I had just a bit of time before my event began.
25 ladies came from near and far to scrap in-person with me and another 40 or so joined in virtually. I taught the first class on Saturday July 5th.
On Sunday July 6th I taught 2 more classes and my family popped in towards the end.
Teehee!!! This was such a fun event! You can read the recap HERE.
I'll always remember Chris bringing me these sweet potato tater tots and fancy mac'n'cheese from The Fainting Goat for dinner. Soooo scrumptious!
We packed up and cleaned up then drove back to Greenacres, slept a few hours, then caught a 5am flight back to Denver. Such a fun vacation and event!!
I'm not sure if we'll be back for a 6th year in a row??? If everyone decides to go back, I don't want to have any FOMO so we probably will. Only time will tell!
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