Coeur d'Alene

Last week Scott and I got the opportunity to sneak away on a 4 day trip without the kids. His work invited us to attend the Governor's Cup again this year. This is the 4th year we've gone, but the other three times it was in Sun Valley. This year it was in Coeur d'Alene. For those of you who have never heard of the Governor's Cup, it's an event they hold every summer to raise scholarship money for Idaho students attending Idaho colleges. They charge a whole bunch of money to attend the event, then fill it with fun activities and great food--and all the money goes to scholarships. And since Scott's work always sends us with all expenses paid by them, it's one of our favorite things to get to go to.

Thursday morning we hopped on a plane and got to Spokane by 10. We then rented a car and drove to Coeur d'Alene (it's about a half hour drive). Scott Mom came and stayed with our kids Thursday and Friday, and then my parents came on Friday night and stayed with the kids through Sunday. Once we got to Coeur d'Alene, I dropped Scott off at the famous Coeur d'Alene golf course (it is known for it's floating green out on the lake). Thursday was a practice round of golf, then Friday and Saturday were a golf tournament. Scott had brought one of his clients from Alberton's with us, so while he and Mike golfed, Mike's wife Marie and I headed over to the resort to pick up all our stuff from registration. We always get lots of great gifts as part of our Governor's Cup regestration--shirts, jacket, chocolate, luggage, etc. After picking up our Governor's Cup bags, we went and checked into our hotel.

After getting settled into our hotel, I headed back to the resort. Marie met me there and we had lunch together at one of the restaurants inside the resort. Then I headed over to the resort's spa. Scott had scheduled a pregnancy massage for me at the spa. It was wonderful! I felt so pampered and relaxed. After my massage, I called Scott to see when he would be done golfing, and he had just finished, so I headed to the golf course and picked up him and Mike. We went to the hotel and had about an hour to relax before dinner. Dinner was with Scott's boss and two other insurance guys (Greg and Nate) that Scott's office had invited to come to the Governor's Cup. We had dinner at the Cedars Floating Restaurant (it's built on stilts out in the lake to give it the appearance of floating). We had great food and an amazing view of the lake.

Friday morning Scott left bright and early to go golfing. Marie and I had breakfast together, then I headed back to my room and napped and watched TV. In the afternoon, I headed back to the resort and attended a cooking demonstration at the restaurant Beverly's. We all sat at a long table in the back of the restaurant (overlooking the lake) and watched as the head chef cooked a full course meal in front of us. Then they served all of us the food (they had it prepared nicely in the back and would bring it out as he finished each recipe's demonstration). It was amazingly good. Most of it was stuff I'll never attempt to make again on my own, except for the sun dried tomato parmesan soup--it was very good and seemed relatively easy. I'm planning to make it for Scott for his birthday. After cooking, I met up with Scott and we went back to the hotel until dinner. Dinner was an elaborate buffet at the resort with live entertainment (a great local country band).

Saturday Scott left early again for more golf. I did the same things as the day before--had breakfast with Marie, then napped, then went for my cooking demonstration. That day I sat next to the Lieutenant Governor's wife and got to know her pretty well. At the end of cooking class and golf, Scott and I met up again and rested till dinner time. First we attended the award's ceremony at the resort. Scott got a trophy (crystal vase) for taking 3rd net in the low handicap category (which is quite an accomplishment). Then we boarded boats and rode across the lake to the golf course for another elaborate buffet dinner. I made it through the entire trip without taking a single picture, except for this one that Scott took on his cell phone of our desert. It was all edible, the chocolate cup filled with cream and even the gold foil on the chocolate bar. It was so perfect, we had to take a picture.


Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast, then loaded up everything and checked out of the hotel. We drove to Spokane and stopped to visit Steve and Debbie. Steve used to be the head HR guy at Tech (Scott's client that has all the mines in Alaska). Steve and Debbie had always come with us to the Governor's Cup in the past, but Steve retired last year. It was fun to see them again and for Scott and Steve to talk about all the changes at Tech since Steve retired. We stayed a bit too long visiting and left us with only an hour to get to the airport and get on our plane. We were cutting it pretty close, but we made it in time to board the plane. Once we got to Boise, we hurried and got our luggage and drove home as quickly as we could. We stopped at our house for just a minute to throw on church clothes, then went to church. Josh had been assigned to give a talk in primary, and we told him we'd do our very best to get there in time to see him. We walked into primary just as he was walking up to the microphone. He did great on his talk, and he was so excited we made it to see him give it. It was fun to see the kids again--they all were so excited to see us pick them up from their classes at the end of church. We missed them so much, but had such a wonderful time while we were away. And even though they missed us, I think they had a pretty good time with their grandparents while we were gone. Thanks Grandma Jo and Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen for making it possible for us to get away on such a great little vacation!!!