Art Museum of Eastern Idaho

I had passed the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho (300 S. Capital) multiple times on my way to and from different places downtown. It's located right by the river, next to a park. Finally we decided to go. Because it was family day we decided to take our daughter, but it would have been just as nice going on our own. 

The museum has three different galleries, a project room, and a kids center. They have different exhibits. Currently they are featuring works of art made with wax. Starting Feb 19 they will have a watercolor show. 

Because it was family day they had a free craft project for everyone to do. It was painting in wax. We had a great time looking at and sharing our thoughts on the art but we also liked doing some together. I would consider in the future taking a class there together. 

Although the museum regularly charges $4 for adults, the 1st Saturday of each month is free, so that's a good chance to experience it without the cost. 

Idaho Falls Public Library- Children's Books, Movies, and Reading Programs

One of my favorite things to do in the winter is to cuddle up and read a good book. It makes an outing to the Idaho Falls Public Library a favorite thing to do with my husband.

The first time I went into the Idaho Falls library I was surprised at it's size. It seems huge and has a great selection. As you walk in the doors from the parking lot you come right into the Children's section which is perfect. You may wonder why the Children's section is perfect for a date, but it's good for a few reasons.

One of the things my husband and I did when we first started dating is go to the Children's section of the nearby library and choose books to read together. I love to find books I haven't read since I was a kid, especially if my husband isn't familiar with them and share them. Shel Silverstein is a great choice to read out loud.

Another thing that the Children's section is good for is to find a chapter book for you guys to read together. I   know some couples that seriously read books together, big classics like Crime and Punishment. My husband and I occasionally read books together but can't finish them if they aren't pretty short and real cliff hangers. We have found our best bet is to pick a book from the Children's section. On our side bar we have a few of our favorites, but the one I think we had the most fun reading has been The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It was a quick mystery that we wanted to solve. Even though we had both read it when we were younger we had forgotten the ending and couldn't help but be drawn in.

Up the stairs from the Children's section, on the main floor, they have a great selection of movies. We have often spent a lot of time picking out movies or even tv shows that we want to watch.

The top floor has the adult, young adult, and non-fiction section. We have read a few books from upstairs, including Sherlock Holmes. Winter and Summer they have adult reading programs, this winter the program is Tresspassing Time- if you read a book from (either written in or about) certain time periods you get rewards. The main reward is an invitation to a dinner and party the library is putting on, I am excited for a night without cooking.

The library also plays host to classes and discussion groups. Coming up is a discussion group on the Civil War, for more information you can check out the library blog. To get a library card and you live in Idaho Falls you just need a piece of mail with your name and current address on it as well as a form of ID. Also, little fact you may not know- you can check out e-books through the ifpl.org website.

Preston, ID

We did this a while ago, I didn't mean to be so slow posting it but here it is anyway.

At the beginning of April and October, the LDS church holds a general conference. It's two hours in the morning and afternoon, with two hours in between. We like to listen to it on the radio while we drive somewhere, this year we didn't really plan, we just got in the car and drove. We ended up in Preston, ID- which is where the movie Napoleon Dynamite takes place and was filmed.

The first thing we did when we got to town was hit up the DI, where Napoleon got his awesome suit. We couldn't quite find one that good.

Along main street we also saw the Cuttin Curral, and the studio he goes to for Karate.

There were some stores with Napoleon merchandise, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look.

We ate lunch at the New York Deli, it was really good sandwiches, right on main street as well.

We also went by the schools and the playground from the movie, and we were going to see Napoleon's house but ran out of time. Here is a map of the places you can see from the movie if you want to go explore as well. 

Soda Springs, ID- Man-made Geyser

For those of you who follow this blog, you will notice that I haven't been posting every week. My goal was a year and I got almost there before my husband and I decided we want to repeat some things, we will be posting still whenever we do something new, which I hope will be pretty often.

On to last weekend! We went to Soda Springs. Each year the first weekend in October and April we listen on the radio to the LDS general conference which has two 2-hour sessions on Saturday with 2 hours in between. It is the perfect time to go explore somewhere new. Last Saturday we drove to Soda Springs, ID.

Soda Springs has a man-made geyser. It goes off every hour on the hour and the spray lasts about 7 minutes. It's not that exciting just to watch but if you are willing to deal with the sulfur smell you can get right up into the spray, which is really fun.

Between sprays we walked across the street to Main Street Diner- we weren't sure what we were going to think but the food was so good. My husband got hand battered chicken strips and I had a hamburger. It was a really good place to eat and the timing was perfect to go back across for the next hour's spray.

Further down Main Street they have a great park that we also stopped to play at. It seemed to have everything, swing sets with baby swings, merry-go-rounds, volleyball nets, basketball courts, a big gazebo. It was a fun place to stop and play too.

There are other historical parks and things throughout Soda Springs but we didn't take the time to go see them all. We really enjoyed our day, the drive was nice and the time there was really fun.

Also, as a note for an upcoming event, Events 4 Idaho has a short description of the Annual Chocolate Fest in Idaho Falls which will be held on October 22 this year.

Bisch's RV Challenege- Free Dinner

Sorry, I did't get this up earlier but this week is Bisch's RV Challenge. Throughout the week there are competitors staying in campers without acess to cell phone or showers and every evening they compete in challeneges. Players get elminated throughout the week and the winner gets a new camper. Each evening they have a free barbeque open to the public during the nightly challenege. We went tonight and the dinner was great (hamburgers, philly cheesesteak, steak bites) and the challenege was super fun to watch. They had to milk goats and then drink the milk.

It's worth going over if you have the time. It's through Friday, 5:30 PM dinner starts and the challenge is at 6 PM. Bisch's is just off of Holmes past the Highway.

Hiking "R" Mountain

Saturday we went with my sister and brother-in-law to climb the mountain with the R on it near Rexburg. We brought the baby because we heard it wasn't too hard of a hike but it was really pretty steep. Once you get to the top you the walk is pretty even and the veiw is amazing. The hike up is about 15 minutes but around the top you can spend lots of time if you wanted to walk around the top.



Directions to the trail head: if you head out of Rexburg on main street and about 8 miles out of town turn left on N 3700 E, the first road that crosses it should be Twin Butte Road, turn right. The parking for the trail will be on your left.

Dixie's Diner

The other morning we stopped into Dixie's Diner for breakfast. It was such a fun retro place. I had waffles with ice cream on them and a vanilla root beer. It was good and a fun atmosphere, if we go back I think it will be to try some milkshakes or malts.

McCowin Park and Ammon City Pool

The other night we went to McCowin Park in Ammon. Heading out of Idaho Falls towards Ammon on 17th Street, turn right on Midway Ave. and the park will be on your left. This park has a lot of playing fields- soccer, baseball, football, tennis. It has a nice playground and a gazebo. It also is the home of Ammon City Pool. The Ammon pool is an small outdoor pool, they have swim lessons there but also have open swim most summer afternoons. It was a fun play to spend some time.

Smitty's Pancake and Steak House

Smitty's is grandparents favorite place to eat and we had never tried it. We went the other night and saw why. It was a Thursday so it wasn't very busy. The atmosphere seemed quiet and comfortable. We took forever looking over the menu because it was so good and a lot of things sounded good. They had a great breakfast selection but we had things off the dinner menu. I had a steak and my husband had chicken tenders. We also tried a burger that we got off the kids menu for our daughter (we don't usually order anything for her because she doesn't eat much but we were trying to use up a gift card). Everything was good- the dinners come with tons of choices for sides, and I was full by the end of my salad. We got a lot of food for our money, including free desserts that come with anything on the dinner menu.

My husband's favorite part is that everything comes with things on the side rather than on it. The burgers and sandwiches are that way and even the salads had the carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers all on the side so we could use what we wanted. My grandparents recommend the fish but we didn't try any.

The waitresses were so helpful with our little girl and nobody seemed to mind when she just wanted to walk around our table while we ate.

Rainey Creek, Square Ice Cream in Swan Valley

We lived in Ririe for a little while before we moved to Idaho Falls and people that weren't even from around here would always ask if I had been to Swan Valley for the square ice cream cones. The week we moved from Ririe was my first time and last weekend my husband and I went back with some of his siblings.

The square ice cream is inside a gas station at the split between going to Jackson or going to Driggs, just look for a sign like this and lots of cars.
They have such fun flavor choices I had a birthday cake kind- which doesn't taste like usual cake batter ice cream, it tasted like cake and had pieces of yellow cake mixed in it. It was so good, I also had huckleberry. My husband's two flavors look the same but one is a Rainey Creek Mudslide which had caramel, and some nuts in it and brownie nut.
The prices are as follows:
Single Regular Cone: $2.50
Double Regular Cone: $3.50
Single Waffle Cone: $3.25
Double Waffle Cone: $4.00
Float with root beer, sarsaparilla, or huckleberry soda: $4.75

You can buy huckleberry soda there and I love it. They have a record of people served on holiday weekends and it was tons so I think it would be pretty crazy to go on a holiday. Also, my husband had trouble keepings his top layer from falling off so watch out for that on hot days.

Blackfoot Pride Days and Ririe Days

This weekend you can go North or South for some fun events in different cities.

Blackfoot, Idaho is hosting their annual Pride Days Thursday, July 14 - Saturday, July 16.

The Idaho Potato Museum will be doing tours each day of the event, and there will be an open house at the Historical Museum at 190 N Shilling on Friday and Saturday. Friday there is also free swimming at the Blackfoot Pool and free Bouncy Houses at Jensen's Grove.

Events on Saturday are mostly all at Jensen's Grove in Blackfoot. The best schedule we could find listed the events as following:

8am	Triathlon
8:30-9am	Sprint Boat Races
8-10am	Free Breakfast
9am	3-on-3 Basketball
9-11am	Sidewalk Chalk Art Tournament
9am-4pm	Car and Bike Show
10am-3pm	Helmets and Safety Demo
10:30am	Plane Fly-by
11am	Snowmachine Races
12-4pm	Free Potato Feed
1-4pm	Motorcycle Rodeo
4pm	Sprint Boat Demo

Ririe is hold its third annual Ririe Days this year on Saturday, July 16th. You can sign up for some of the events online at the Ririe Days Festival website.

7:00am	Kelly Canyon Run
8:00am	Family Bike Ride
8:30am	Flag Ceremony
9:00am	Golf Scramble
9:00am	Car Show
9:00am	Family Breakfast
11:00am	Craft Fair
11:00am	Food Vendors
11:00am	Archery Shootout
11:00am	Dutch-Oven Cook-Off
11:00am	Carnival Games
11:00am	Plane Fly-by and Bag Pipes
1:30pm	Fire Dept. Hose Down
1:45pm	Big-Boy Tricycle Races
4:00pm	Adult Pitching Machine Tournament

It sounds like the two events will be somewhat similar, so you may just want to go to the closest one to where you live. Unsure as to which we are going to yet, but we hope you enjoy your time!

Frisbee Golf- Freeman Park

On Saturday we decided to go play Frisbee Golf at Freeman Park. Freeman Park is off Science Center Driver across from the ISU campus. The disc golf course has 18 holes, we only played a few of them. You can rent official disc golf frisbees at Play It Again Sports (behind the EITC campus) but we just took the frisbees that we had around our house. You may want to be familiar with the map of the course and bring something to keep score with but we had a great afternoon playing. Have fun!

Lincoln Park

Saturday we went over to Lincoln Park, which is on Lincoln Road between Woodruff and 25th (Hitt), to play some tennis. This park is small but it has two tennis courts, two baseball diamonds, a shelter, bathrooms, and swings. We were surprised to find that there was nobody there so we were able to have the whole tennis courts to oursleves. If you want a good place to play on the tennis courts or baseball fields this is a good place.

Feeding the Ducks and a Walk by the River

*Now I'm sure that this is not encouraged but I didn't see I sign that said it was not allowed.*


Down by the river downtown (on the west side - closest to the highway) there are a whole bunch of ducks and geese you can feed. We took some bread down and walked along the river front. Even if you aren't there to feed there is a paved walkaway all along the river front that is a beautiful, easy walk.

Wallace's Ice Cream and Sandwichs

My husband and I have driven past this place (it's on Sunnyside between Woodruff and Holmes and the left) a million times saying sometime we will have to go there. Last weekend we had my sister-in-law hanging out with us and we decided to go for it. It was so so good. They do sandwiches, pies, ice cream and shakes, and also have local milk, cheese, and eggs that you can buy. We just opted for ice cream.


As you can see the kinds of ice cream here are not like the kinds you would get somewhere else. They have crazy combinations like grasshopper with caramel swirls or marshmellow in a chocolate and peanut butter one. Between the three of us we tried the monster cookie, the huckleberry cheesecake, and the black tie cheesecake- all were wonderful. We highly reccomend going to Wallace's.

Costa Vida

Similar to Cafe Rio and Bajios (which Costa Vida incidentally just bought out), Costa Vida is a fresh mexican style restaurant. I'm not sure what the official name for this kind of place is but it's fast food, high quality.

The menu is pretty simple- a few different kinds of meats and you can choose to have it as a burrito, a quesadilla, tacos, enchiladas, nachos, or as a salad.

Usually I think places like this are just so, so, but Costa Vida serves up a few things that I really love. First is the sweet pork- I have a recipe to make this at home and it is one of my favorite meals to make. Even if you don't usually like pork it's worth a try. When we went last weekend I decided to try something I had never had before: the Raspberry Chicken. It was super good. I had it in a quesadilla and loved every bite. My husband had a shredded beef burrito and it was good but to me tasted almost exactly like similar restaurants.

Costa Vida is now open in Rexburg (by Deseret Book) and will soon be open in Idaho Falls (on Hitt Road)- I recommend it, but, a little bit of warning, they charge extra for sour cream and other little extras.

Thrift Shop Reviews

For our date this week we decided to visit a few different thrift stores and give you some reviews of them. We had a great time going around and seeing what we could find.

The first place we went was the Bonneville Humane Society Thrift Store (444 North Eastern Avenue, just down the street from the Museum of Idaho). It closes at 5pm; we barely made it, so be aware of that. We didn't have much time to look around but it seemed clean and well kept. The selection was a little bit sparse but it seemed good quality. They also only take cash or check.

The 2nd place we went was Idaho Youth Ranch downtown on Shoup (which is open until 6). We were really impressed with some of the things here. If you are on the search for some furniture or home appliances this is for sure the place. They had some beautiful furniture. We left here with a game, some fabric, and a video. When you come in here take a look they usually have a certain colored tags that mean 50% off. It makes for some great deals.


I'm not sure what the official name is but there is a little thrift shop across the road from Deseret Industries (DI) which is where we headed next. It seems tiny when you go in but make sure to head downstairs. If you are doing something like a date where you pick out funny clothes for the other person to put on this is the place to go. Everything downstairs is $4 for everything you can fit in a bag- definitely the best deal on clothes, but you may have to do some searching for the quality that is at some of the other stores. They also only take cash or check here.

Last stop, DI (450 E Street). We by far spent the most time here- but I think it was because we knew we could take more time because we didn't have to make it any other store. Clothes here can cost anything from $1 up to $6 for a t-shirt or pants. I have found that Deseret Industries is pretty hit and miss, I always check out the games section and I look for sheets to sew with. The amount of clothes here almost overwhelms me and I tend to not take the time to look through them. We did find some great deals though!

Happy Hunting!

Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!- free things for your birthday

Last week was the husband's birthday so we did a weekend full of stuff that we got discounts for because we signed up for birthday emails and such. It was really fun to get to do all sorts of things on the cheap. Here are a bunch of ones I know about. If you don't like your inbox getting cluttered you can get a different email address to use just for mailing lists, just make sure to check it every once in a while for discounts.

Red Robin: if you sign up for their email list you get a free burger when you sign up and also one on your birthday. The coupon that you print is good for a week before and a week after your birthday. If you go on your actual birthday you will also get a free ice cream sundae.

Cold Stone Creamery: On your birthday (if you sign up on their website) you will get a free 'like it' size with one mix in.

IHOP: again with the email, with their coupon you get a free Rootie Tootie breakfast or something of equal or lesser value. My husband said that although it didn't look like much theh Rootie Tootie filled him up.

Denny's: Free grand slam on your birthday- no sign up required, just prove it is your birthday. (I'm not 100% sure on that, you could sign up for the email club just in case)

Arby's: email club, you get a shake- but you have to buy something else when you go to get your shake

Old Navy: when you sign up for their email club you get $10 off when you spend $50, on your birthday you get the same deal

Kmart: only kids can get this deal but if you sign up for their emails and input your kids birthdays they will get $5 to spend at Kmart for their birthday

Krispy Kreme: most locations give you a free dozen dougnuts on your birthday, you can call ahead to double check, but no email needed

Noodles and Company: with the email you get a free noodle bowl

Texas Roadhouse: with email you get free appetizer or a sidekick of ribs

If you have any other favorite place to eat or shop check online ahead of time and see if they have an email club it is pretty set that you will get something for your birthday. Happy Birthday everyone!

Love at First Bite Bakery

Love at First Bite bakery is located in Snake River Landing.When we walked in everything looked so so good. We had planned on getting cupcakes but it wavered when we saw all the other delicious choices. They had candy, drinks, and treats (like cheesecake) that you could get dipped in chocolate. We did get cupcakes though, we tried chocolate raspberry and animal cookie. They were super good and priced around $3. Love at first bite also had candles, decor, and jewelry on sale. It's a great little place to stop into for a treat.

Even baby loved them!

Olive Garden and Panda Express

This past week we went out to dinner twice- I'm sorry that neither were locally owned but we had reasons for going where we did.

Thursday we went to Panda Express because it was my sister-in-laws birthday and that's where she wanted to go. Again my problem with restaurants kicked in and I ate before taking pictures, but here is a picture from their website of one of my favorites- Beijing Beef.

We had a good time at Panda Express and enjoyed the food there. My husband loves the orange chicken and there were a lot of options that we could give our little baby pieces to try. I wouldn't say that it's traditional Chinese Food by any means but very good none the less.


Saturday to celebrate Valentine's Day we went to Olive Garden- it's another one of our favorite places but we don't go there very often (we happened to have a gift card). It is very good. The meals come with unlimited salad and bread sticks and I would defiantly take advantage of that so you are full enough to have plenty of leftovers to take home.
I had the chicken alfredo pizza (shown above) and it was so so good, the alfredo dipping sauce that came with it was amazing, it looked small but I could only eat 1/3 of it after all the salad I had eaten. My husband's favorite is the Ziti but he tried something different (lasagna rolls) but still reccomends the ziti.