Old Salt Designs and Press launch party

On Saturday, we went to our son's business launch party. It was held at Penguilley's Saloon in downtown Boise, ID.

 

It was awesome to see our son's and his girlfriend's dreams being realized.

 

 

Here is a shot of one of Old Salt's men's t-shirts. The original artwork up for raffle and limited edition prints.

 

Here is a shot of the jewelry Old Salt produces. This is all handmade. The designs are my son's work. The findings for the jewelry are made in Boise and Andrea does all the epoxy work to set the designs into the jewelry.



 



Here is another shot of the auction



 

My pinups!

I love these girlies!

Hannah (our youngest daughter), Andrea (Brady's sweetie), and Erin (Andrea's sister)

They are modeling Old Salt Designs items.

 

Rick took me out to eat at the Taphouse in downtown Boise on Saturday night.

We stayed at a really cool downtown hotel named Hotel 43.

On Sunday morning, we ate breakfast at Rod's Diner. A really cool old-style diner with waitresses on roller skates. Really good food, and really awesome prices.

 

If you ever make it to Boise, Idaho please support our local businesses.

 

Can't give you a favorite moment of the weekend, but riding our Harley up might come close to favorite!

 

Have a great day!

 

Donnelly

 

My daughter Cassie and our granddaughter Isabel

My daughter Cassie is having a baby.

 

A baby girl.

 

 

Our new baby girl will be named Isabel.

 

Izzy for short.

 

I am so excited for this little one to get here. Her due date is October 10th. We won't get to see her until Christmastime, then we are flying Cassie, her hubby Chris and our Izzy home!

 

We will have all 5 of our children, their sweeties and all 5 of our grandchildren. Lots of photos will be happening.

 

Have a great day!

Donnelly

 

 



My Pita Kitty

During the 4th of July weekend last year, we inherited a cat.

 

We live in the country, so this happens all the time. Rick went up to shut down the irrigation water and heard the cries of a small kitten. He went to investigate and came home with a Tortoise Shell kitten.

 

She joined our brood of outside cats. She was constantly under our feet when we were outside. And she was such a sweetheart. But, we were not in the market for an inside cat.

 

I came home from my first day of school in September of last year to find her still being a sweetheart, but with her insides outside of her body. Something had gotten hold of her and hurt her. I called Rick in a panic, and he said to take her to our vet. I was expecting the vet to tell me that she would have to be put down. He said he could save her!

 

She has been an inside cat ever since. We have had her a year, which is hard to believe. She stands up for herself with our 3 inside dogs. As far as she and the dogs are in concerned, she is in charge.

 

 She still resembles that little kitten, only she is huge. I took her to get her shots in March and she had gained 9 pounds from the time we had found her, and she hasn't gotten any smaller since then.

 

 She believes everything in the house is hers.

 

Last night she decided to burrow in my laptop bag.

 

 Rick is responsible for her name. PITA is an acronym. Her full name is Pain In The A**. He called her that because she cried non-stop for weeks after he found her, and if he stood still, she would climb his body.

 

She is one of the many animal loves of my life. I can't imagine life without her.

 

Have a great day,

Donnelly



Old Salt Designs and Press

My son and his sweetheart, Andrea have launched their own business. Their business is called Old Salt Press and Designs. People can find them at www.facebook.com/oldsaltdesignsandpress.

 

 On Saturday, July 20th their ETSY site will launch. They are having a launch party at Penguillys Saloon in downtown Boise that day as well.

 

My son is a self-taught graphic artist. His passion is old-school "Sailor Jerry" tattoo art.  

 

Here is a sneak peek of Brady's artwork:

 

 

Here is a sample of their earrings, hair clips, bracelets and necklaces

 

Here is a sample of their belt buckles

 



Here is a sample of their clothing on actual people.

 



 

This photo is my favorite, my son hard at work

 

Andrea modeling one of their t-shirts 

 

 

Brady, modeling another of their t-shirts

 



 

The awesome logo for Old Salt Designs and Press

 

I am so excited to get to see their launch party and Penguillys Saloon in Boise on Saturday. If you are in Boise, Idaho on the 20th at 8:00, stop in.

 

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Thunder Mountain Line train ride

On Saturday, July 6th, we took a train ride from Horseshoe Bend to Banks, Idaho.  We rode on the Thunder Mountain Line train with our son Jake, his wife Becky, Becky's mom, Jake and Becky's friends and their parents, and our three youngest grandchildren.  The train ride took 3 1/2 hours, and it included a melodrama and dinner. We had so much fun! It was the first time I had ever ridden on a train. And thanks to Becky's mom and dad, our granddaughter, Sophie, got to go with us!

 

Here are photos of Sophie with both Rick and I

 



 

Here is Lilly showing that she didn't want to have her picture taken



 

Lilly and Sophie

 

 

Our grandson Jackson (in the cowboy hat) and his best friend Hayden



 

 Lilly and Hayden's little sister, Taylynn

 



Sophie enjoying the views

 



Some of the scenery next to the tracks

 



Once we got to the end of the line in Banks, Idaho and had our dinner, we panned for gem stones in the sluice. For $7.00, you got a bad of semi-precious stones mixed with sand and the kids were able to pan for their own treasures. All three loved this! Here is Jackson and our son Jake.





 Sophie, panning for her gems

 



Lilly, helping Sophie

 

Here are Lilly and Jackson playing Woody and Jesse

 

Sophie as Jesse

On the ride home, we sat in the outside, uncovered car. We got to see lots of wonderful scenery, cows, horses and Sophie even spotted a deer. This is one of my favorite photos. Jackson wanted grandpa to wear his cowboy hat like he did. 

This is the Payette River. The railroad tracks run right along it. People raft this river. All along the route, the rafters waved at us. Next summer, we plan on doing the Ride and Raft package, where you ride the train up and raft the river back down. I can't wait!

 



Here is an eagle nest that Rick and Sophie spotted on a telephone pole



Here is the view of the train coming around the bend on its way back to Horseshoe Bend from Banks

 



Pulling into the train yard at Horseshoe Bend

 

This was a really awesome experience that I hope we get to repeat with more of our children and our grandchildren in the years to come! If you are ever in Idaho, in the Treasure Valley, you ought to look into this tour. The ride is amazing, and the staff and actors on the train are awesome.

 

Have a great day!

Donnelly





I have decided to quit neglecting my blog! It has been a really long time, almost 2 years. I am going to start by sharing some photos that I took on the 4th of July. We always start off the holiday by attending the 4th of July parade in a little town about 15 minutes away from us.

 

This is our granddaughters, Sophie and Lilly

 

 

This is our grandson, Jackson showing off his patriotism

 

Later in the day, we head to our local college campus and set up a bbq party for friends and family. This year there was a pretty large thunderstorm that passed through and we were afraid that we would not get to see the fireworks. Thankfully, the storm died down just in time for the fireworks to go off.

 

 

The storm made for a pretty impressive sunset

 

And I even caught the double rainbow in the sunset!

 



 

My daughter, Hannah, and my granddaughter, Sophie, entertained themselves by being superheroes in the wind.

 

 

The grandkids had just enough time to make and eat one s'more before the storm hit

 

 

Hannah even got a bit of time to hoop at sunset

 

 

The grandkids got to light their sparklers

 

 

 And we enjoyed the fireworks!

 

 

Have a great day!

Donnelly