Just a Few More Pictures

August 26

Lyndsi's first grade teacher, Mrs. Kuchenbuch, offered to let Lyndsi come out and ride a horse this summer. Last Thursday we were finally able to coordinate our schedules. Lyndsi rode Sparky and Dylan came out to ride Schultzy. It was a fun afternoon for the kids. Thank you Mrs. Kuchenbuch!

August 27

We haven't spent much time with the Morrison-Nelson family this summer and Lyndsi and Reily haven't been together at all! So Lynell and I decided to get the kids together for pizza lunch and bowling. We picked up a spare kid who was at the alley with his grandpa. Fun afternoon!

August 28
OK - I broke down. I let the kids get another pet! They've been bugging me all summer for hermit crabs. I told them I would buy them the little critters but they had to live with the Cheesemans....hee..hee! The kids asked Amy (who would have taken them to her classroom) and she kindly agreed to let my kids keep their pets at her house! So, we got them, and now I can't let them go! They're kind of cute! Flower, belonging to Lyndsi, is on the left and Tigger, belonging to Dylan, is on the right.

August 29

This is Dylan's room remodel! Steve did a great paint job, going for those tiger colors! I love the floor and the bed. Dylan loves the tigers!

Reality Check

This morning I woke up at 4, not really feeling sorry for myself but not happy either. I'm not sure why, it's just something I do once in a while. I can blame it on gluten or on forgetting to take my "happy meds" or on migraines but it's really none of those things. It's just who I am and what I do.



Not being able to sleep I thought I might use the extra hours of quiet time to finish up some homework. Instead, I got on Facebook to see who else might be awake. That led to thinking, again, about people I've been thinking about all summer. Which then led to looking them up to see where they were. Last time I did this I discovered the death of a college friend's husband due to melanoma. I'm so sorry, Mari.



This time, I know a little about what's going on so I was pretty sure I wouldn't be shocked by what I read.



I can't even put into words what reading these blogs has done for me today.



Dori Greenaway

Joey Reed

And Now I'm Finally Caught Up - Until Tomorrow!

August 25
Migraine sufferers view for ....oh....8 hours or so! The toilet looks really dirty in this picture but I swear it was clean! By the way, did you notice the pretty green color and the green and yellow floor? Yep - next summer's project!

Slowly but Surely

Summer is fading away!It took so long for us to have summer like weather that we're all feeling a bit let down with school starting in one week! We've played hard this summer, especially in the last month, and its tough to let that go.

The plus side of all this is that Dylan will be in fifth grade this year and Lyndsi will be a second grader! They are very excited about their upcoming school year, as am I. I get to be the luckiest mom/teacher alive again this year and have my second child in my class. Not many people are so lucky! Hope we both survive!

August 17

Have you ever seen a Jerusalem Cricket? Well, now you have. We have these guys around here - yuck! The first time I saw one I thought it was some kind of alien ant creature. They're huge! This monster is a bit smaller than the first one I ever saw but he was big enough! I found him wandering the halls at school.

August 18

Steve took off on a backpacking adventure with a couple of guys from work. They had a great time despite the ups and downs of their chosen trails. I think Steve was in bed by 8 the day they got home and he didn't get up until 10 the next morning! Sounded like an excursion I would not have enjoyed but it was fun listening to Steve recount the experience. They even ran into a couple bear!

August 19
Amy and I wanted to experiment with some Vietnamese cooking to share with Dennis and Julia so we put our heads together and came up with a couple of recipes. We invited the neighbors and told them to come with open minds! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the wraps and patties we came up with. The food was fabulous - just not plentiful enough! Next time we'll know better.


August 20
Welcome Snell family! We rarely get Spokane visitors, other than our devoted families, so it was exciting to hear that our friends Rick and Kara and their 3 children, Kiela, Matthew and Andrea, were driving over to pick up a puppy. The kids and I spent the day with this lovely family and even got to help them choose little Buddy! You may recognize him - he's in the photo of Dylan from July 22!

August 21

Grandma is such a good sport! She was coming to visit for a couple of days and Lyndsi really wanted her to sleep on the bottom bunk. So she did! She says she slept well but I'm not sure how comfortable she was!

August 22

School shopping madness! Between Grandma, Nana and mom I think the kids are ready for school! There are even a couple of things in there for Steve and I!

August 23

Grandma was taking the kids to Loon Lake for a couple of days. This is their parting shot just before driving away leaving Steve and I alone!

Still way behind....

but catching up.....

August 12

The horse barn at Bull Hill. The kids and I (and I'm pretty sure everyone else!) enjoyed just walking through and watching the horse/human interaction. These horses are so well cared for and loved!

August 13

This is the cabin we stayed in. There were enough beds for all 6 of us in the quaint little thing!

August 14

The Omak Stampede Kids Parade. Dylan and the other Cub Scouts were the colorguard for the parade. It's a great honor for the boys and they love doing it!
Later this day we floated the Okanogan River with kids and friends and then hit the beer garden at the rodeo with just the adults.

August 15
World Famous Suicide Race - see the horses coming down the hill? Today we stood in the river to watch the race close up. Something I've never done and so glad I did! Friends called us up saying theying were doing this and invited us along. We then went to one of their homes and bar-b-qued. It was the perfect way to end a busy week.

I am way behind......

August 8

We promised Dylan a remodeled bedroom if he could keep his room clean for a month. He did so Steve has taken on the project. Dylan wanted orange and black paint. I convinced him to do orange and gray. We'll see!

August 9

The kids are all packed up for Bull Hill! They leave in the morning with Nana and Papa. Boots and hats are ready!

August 10

And off they go! Nana, Lyndsi, Papa and Dylan set out for their Bull Hill adventure bright and early this morning.

August 11

And today, Steve and I get to go to Bull Hill! This is Steve and my mom sitting on the porch of the cookhouse. What an incredible view!

Bull Hill......

Last week my parents took the kids on a vacation they'll never forget! AND they let Steve and I come for a couple of days! Dylan and Lyndsi spent 3 full days at a working dude ranch near Kettle Falls, called Bull Hill. Imagine real cowboys riding real horses wrangling real cows and allowing real people to help out. That's Bull Hill! The family owned guest ranch is also a working cattle ranch. Guests are allowed to help out on the cattle drives, though our family opted out of the long working days. We chose, instead to go on the trail rides offered twice each day.

The ranch is located on top of a mountain so the trail rides presented beautiful views of the surrounding land. My favorite part of the whole thing was sitting on the cookhouse deck, watching the horses graze in the green grass surrounding me. There's something about horses feeling so free and wild that gives me shivers!

The kids, feeling very experienced due to their arrival a day earlier than Steve and I, had us on horses within 10 minutes of us getting there! Apparently the ranch hands don't worry about those of us who are skeptical and inexperienced as I was put on my horse, Bill, and told to have fun. Hmmmmm.....I learned very quickly how to 'steer' a horse! Steve acted like an old pro on his frisky horse. Dylan was able to apply his knowledge in a true riding setting and Lyndsi was given free reign on her horse, Lurch. My dad, suffering from no feeling in his feet, had several successful rides and my mom was a trooper, going on every ride offered, despite an aching bum!

Our first ride took us down rocky hills and through grassy meadows. The horses worked very hard to keep us upright! This is Dylan and Nana coming down a hill behind me.

Papa and Lyndsi in the horse barn

Sunset with a cabin and the cookhouse deck in the background

"Red" grazing outside the cookhouse

The horse corral with other guests. I'm waiting impatiently and anxiously on top of "Bill" for a trail ride.

Nana and Papa sitting on the deck of the cookhouse on our first night.

My mom has many good pictures of all of us on the horses. When she sends them to me, I'll post them here.

Too Much To Do To Go Back To School

Two weeks from today I will be back in school. Big sigh......I've had such an exhaustingly fun and busy week that it's hard for me to imagine working!

Last week we had a great few days, which I will write about tomorrow (much too late tonight to do it justice!)and this weekend we spent lots of hours outside.

This was Stampede weekend so the population of the area tripled! Friday night we rushed home from our few days away, gathered up some friends of the kids and hit the rodeo. I'm not a huge rodeo fan but I have to admit, I enjoyed this one! The bull riding was so exciting!

Saturday we sat through the kiddie parade then floated the Okanogan River with the Cheesemans, the O'Connors and their friends. I've never done this before so it was a new adventure for me! What a blessedly, glorious day Saturday was! The sun was warm and the water was cool. Aaaaahhhhhh!

Saturday night, the kids stayed with Max and Zoe while the adults hit the Stampede Beer Garden. I'm never bored when I'm people watching and the beer garden does not disappoint! What a lot of different characters come out on Stampede weekend!

Sunday seemed to come too fast when we got up to get to the Grand Parade. Not a very exciting parade but, once again, lots of great people watching!

We spent Sunday afternoon with some lovely friends watching the Suicide Race from the close vicinity of the river. Another new adventure for me this weekend! I've never watched the race from that vantage! SO....I now know what to do when people come to experience the Stampede with us! After the race we all went back to Lee Ann's for an end of weekend bar-b-que. Beautiful!

Today was a perfectly normal day........

Check out all the people in the river! It was hot today and we all had the same idea about watching the Suicide Race. If you look closely enough, you can see the racers crossing the bridge to get to the hill.

The racers hit the water!

One rider falls off his horse so he swims the river to get to this horse. The horse was well taken care of by the other racers so I thought it was pretty cool that the racer continued the race despite his obvious loss!

Two Weddings and a Reunion Concert!

We've been lucky enough this summer to attend 2 weddings, 2 Saturdays in a row. The first was for one of Steve's soccer "girls" he's been coaching for 4 of his last 5 years of coaching. She is also the daughter of one of my co-workers. I found myself taking a trip down memory lane as I remembered the 'kids' in attendance at the wedding as smaller children who I taught to read and write! Yep - I'm getting old! Anyway, Lyndsi and I both worried about what we'd wear (for different reasons) for months ahead of time, while Steve and Dylan didn't worry at all about their clothes and pulled an outfit together in about 10 minutes! Despite the wind, rain, thunder and lightening, this outdoor wedding was a pretty and relaxed (for the guests anyway!) event.

The second wedding took place last night - outdoors again, this time amidst a few sprinkles and cloudly skies. Let me sidetrack a bit here - Do you remember our August wedding? August should be hot and reliable, right? Not so! The night before our wedding, during our outdoor rehearsal dinner, we were bundled in winter coats and garbage bag raincoats! Trees fell across the road because of heavy winds and rain! The day of our wedding was a bit tempermental but Mother Nature cleared the skies and let the sun shine through right in time for the ceremony. Ahhh.....This wedding was for the daughter of my principal, whose family I've grown close to over the years. This group of 'kids' were a bit older so I didn't have any of them as students but I recognized many faces. The bride's niece, Jenna, is one of Lyndsi's best friends so this was a very special wedding for Lyndsi. She and Jenna have been making plans about what to wear, how to dance, how late to stay up, etc. for months and months and months! And they weren't disappointed - except when it was time to take little girls home an hour earlier than they had planned! They danced the night away, along with Dylan, Jenna's brother, the Cate boys, the Laffery girls and several of Jenna's young cousins. In fact, this very young crowd (the oldest being in 8th grade this year and the youngest being around the age of 2). In fact, this group got the dancing going and didn't stop all night!



If you follow me on Facebook at all, you know that I skipped out on a reunion concert of my all time favorite band (yep, even more than U2!), Black Happy, to attend this wedding. I wouldn't have been missed if I hadn't gone but Lyndsi would have been SO disappointed! So I made the very tough decision to stay in town. Tough but right! Thanks to Amy (and Jeff?), I heard pieces of the concert throughout the evening via cell phone :)

August 3

Steve, the kids and I joined Amy, Jeff, Zoe and Max at the Breadline, one of my favorite restaurants, for our anniversary dinner. This bike is so cute - as well as the little girl in front of it!

August 4

These turkeys were wandering past my parents' house. The kids and I were in Spokane for a quick visit

August 5

I know, horrible picture! But, it's all I got! My mom and dad took the kids swimming at a friends' house. It was a nice, cooling off for a hot day.

August 6

I think I already have this shot posted somewhere in my year but I couldn't resist the almost finished product! This is Erin's house. She has done a total remodel of the attic to turn it into a gorgeous bedroom. It is so airy and light up there and I think she's going to love it!

August 7

Now how many little girls can say they've danced with their principal? Not many kids would really want to dance with their principal but this guy's pretty cool! Lyndsi's in the red dress on the left.

14 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Steve hiking down the mountain and the mountain we climbed. Beautiful!

Yep - Steve and I have been married 14 years. Hard to believe! Our friends Amy and Jeff share our anniversary date so we've been celebrating together for the last couple of years. Yesterday, the four of us took a hike up a nearby mountain. I have some pictures to share but, let me tell you, they don't do the adventure justice! The hike up was challenging - we gained 1500 feet in just under a mile - but the hike down was treachorous! At one point I thought maybe Jeff and Amy were trying to kill me off! Hiding my body wouldn't have been a problem because the biting flies would take care of me in a matter of minutes.......

Anyway, I made it down the rocky cliff and the car was still parked where we left it and Jeff, Amy and Steve were all there, too, so I guess we're still friends. Maybe we'll just go out to dinner next year!

July 25

What a gorgeous lake! This is my dad in his fishing pontoon and Dylan and Steve in the canoe. All three of these guys tried all weekend to catch some fish but the fish just weren't biting.

July 26

Lucy went for a canoe ride with Steve and I! She got a bit bored by the whole thing!

July 27

Gluten free camping pancakes - aren't they pretty!

July 28

Dylan, Max and Lyndsi at the Sounders game - fun!

July 29

Amy and I sampled tea at a market near Pike Street. It was all so pretty.

July 30

It's a busy summer for gift buying. At one point I had 2 wedding gifts, 2 baby gifts, and 3 birthday presents ready to be given!

July 31

Being the procrastinator I am, I forgot to take a picture earlier in the day so this group agreed to let me take their photo. We were at Dayla's birthday party. So here we have Steve, Brett, Dayla, Jon and Jeff.

August 1

Lyndsi and Jenna made this yummy dog food doggy cake for Lucy's first birthday. They worked so hard and made such a mess! Ruth and Lucy hovered under the girls' feet during the whole process!

August 2

Steve at the top of Baldy Mountain. What a view! It was gorgeous and worth the extreme effort to get there!

Another Week Gone By

And what a fun week it's been! Last Sunday we drove to Bonaparte Lake where we camped with my parents and my sisters and all my doggie nieces. It was a beautiful couple of days full of floating the lake, fishing (and not catching a thing!), canoeing, kayaking, eating, being silly and on and on .... I really didn't want to leave!

Bonaparte Lake camping - breakfast around the campfire, yum!

We came back home on Tuesday to do a few loads of laundry and to repack so we could head out again Wednesday for Seattle with our good friends, the Cheesemans. Steve had managed to get some Seattle Sounders (soccer team) tickets for a good price. None of us had ever been to a professional soccer game. I'm hooked! I can't wait to go again!

Quick stop at Snoqualmie Falls on the way to Seattle

I was so excited to get my scarf!

Rather than turn around and come back home on Thursday, we spent the day with the Cheesemans and Robyn and Kim. Dylan and Max planned out a bus route for us to get to Pioneer Square so we could take the underground tour of Seattle.We learned what an interesting history Seattle really has! The day was beautiful so we walked through town, stopping at a childhood favorite toy store, Magic Mouse toys, and Pike Street Market. Along the way, Amy and I were lured into a tea shop for tea sampling while the big boys sampled the brew at the nearby Pike Brewery. The kids entertained themselves in the hat shop next door.

Magic Mouse Toy Store at Pioneer Square in Seattle

Dinner that night was at the Tamarind Tree. Yum! So exciting to be able to take some friends to one of our favorite restaurants!

I'm still clicking away on my daily pictures so those should be posted sometime soon!