Notes of the week

* Butter knives are sharp, just ask George, and his ER Dr. Super glue, did the trick, but I was worried about the depth, and nerves in the bend of his finger and what not. Of course this was last Sunday, at 7:30 when Kevin has meetings at 8 and is the only member of the bishopric in town.

* Not having a working sink is a big thumbs down...make that a huge thumbs down. Also, we now have a greater knowledge of the properties of spray foam.

*Also worthy of note: If you should get said spray foam on your fingers the following items do not help remove it. dish soap, vegetable oil, WD-40, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover, or several other things I can now not remember. However, Mr Clean magic eraser? Yup, that works, at least so that your fingers don't stick together anymore.

*We have terrific friends. It is not many people that when your sink clogs up will pack up the dishes from a dinner party of 12 and take them home to wash. Also, not many sisters in law let you show up for a play date with a box full of dishes. Thank you so much Hannah and Jana.

*Our family owns an obscene amount of books. I've packed 10 boxes and still have 5 bookcases to go.

* We have a wonderfully supportive extended family! Dad is here with us for the week. He took the time off to come help us prep the house for sale. Chuck took one of his only days off to help us too. More friends were over this evening, and have offered to come again. Love you guys!

*Garage Door openers are tricky, ask Kevin, and his ER doc. That one required 3 stitches and a wrist brace for any time he is working. And I think the doc completely numbed his hand on purpose to keep him from working that night. I must say it was only somewhat effective in that regard. Hence the reson people were over today instead of Saturday.

*You can make a date night out of anything, even sharing a seat on a hospital bed, listening to the guy in the next curtain drug seeking. One nurse walked by, did a double take through the window, and laughed so hard at us sitting there. Oh and best line of the night, ER Physical Therapist to drug seeking patient, "You seem to be having some dysfunction" It was SO hard not to laugh out loud.

Next week starts fresh!!
With lots and lots of packing to be done.

Happy Birthday Kevin

George pinky swore Kevin that he didn't have to have any more birthdays and could stay 29 forever. :) I think he plans to remind me of that next year.

It has been 10 years since we met, since I first made him a birthday cake. This year was far from perfect, I had planned to make a great cake, but a week of no kitchen sink made that hard. However I think I did better with a candle stuck in the top of a stack of steaks than the coconut monstrosity I made that first year. Kevin hates coconut flakes, and there were A LOT on that first cake. He ate it like a champ though!

Happy birthday sweetheart!

Kevin,
At 19 I don't think I totally understood how lucky I was. I do now, and I'm so glad to have you in my life. As the years have gone by, I stop sometimes and think about all the memories we've made, the good times we've shared and the love between us that keeps growing. You are not only my husband, but my best friend You are a blessing - one that I do not take for granted. I thank you for all the things that you've done for me and the kids. Not only are you a wonderful husband, you're a terrific father, provider and caregiver. You are one of the kindest people I know. You would give everything you have for someone, I know because you have done that for me. The last few years have been rough, especially on you. Thank you for toughing it out with me. I love you, Hon ... more than words, more than life. I'm forever grateful for your love and proud to be your wife.

Love,
Melissa

Our News

We are moving!

It has taken 3 long years but Kevin was finally offered a position in his preferred line of work again.

We are moving to my hometown in NE Nevada. It was a great place to grow up and will be a nice place to raise our kids. The department is small, but not tiny. Kevin starts very soon and I will be following after selling the house. Change is always hard, but very exciting. Kevin has been like a kid in a candy store shopping for his needed equipment.

Now off to declutter the house and pack a few boxes. Yikes!!

Ohh.. know anybody that would like a house on the Boise Bench?

Jamie

George had a certificate to Build a Bear and a couple of more birthday dollars. I waited until after school started to take him to the mall and spend them. He picked out Jamie.

Jamie is a swimmer!

Jamie also likes spaghetti and had to have a bath to get sauce off his shirt.

Grandpa's Girls

Pops was in heaven with both babies on his lap. I don't think he could have smiled any bigger if he had tried.

After a bit Lily wiggled away and Bri fell asleep.

Weekend Fun

The boys were not the only ones to have fun. Mom and I took the kids up Lamoille Canyon to play in the creek. This time of year the water is very low. the kids had a blast scrambling around on the rocks.

George trying to catch fish

Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the back yard

Hunting Report

Kevin and Dad both carried over 80 pound packs off the mountain. Lee had 60 and Amanda I think had 30, they both had smaller internal frame packs or I'm sure the weight would have been more evenly distributed. Dad had indeed shot his deer the day before and it spent the day in a giant plastic bag sunk in the alpine stream. Lee and Amanda took a shot at a deer at the same time. One shot went in behind the shoulder and one between the eyes. After cleaning up the deer they played CSI to determine who had the head shot. Amanda won.

George was supper excited to have them back and help with the unloading.

Mom and I bagged and wrapped.
I got a little punchy at the end and started labeling rump roasts "Tender Tushie"

Pops was totally tuckered out.
They all got a good nights rest in warm beds then back up the mountain in the morning to break camp. It was a much lighter load the second time.

Mom cooked up one of the roasts for Sunday Dinner. Yumm! Very tender and not gamey at all. Dad said that is the difference between the low country sagebrush deer and the alpine deer.

Hunting II

The mighty hunters have returned. 2 nice size bucks now need to be cut and wrapped.

Hunting

So this weekend we are in Nevada for Kevin to go hunting with my dad, brother and sister.

By hunting I mean helping hunt. Hiking around and then helping with the pack out. Out of state tags are more expensive. Besides Dad, Lee and Amanda all ended up with blackpowder tags this year so it is not like we would need a 4th dear. Dad and Lee hiked up on Saturday and set up camp. Dad went back up on Wednesday for opening day and has been scouting around. We talked to someone at the trail head and they said they had heard a shot in the morning. No way of knowing if that was dad or not though.

We drove in on Thursday night. The plan was to come Thursday evening but when we got the car packed and the kids all buckled in I attempted to start the car. Yup, I used the word attempted. An hour and a half and a new car battery later we were on the road. When I had the oil changed earlier in the afternoon the guy had mentioned that we would need a new battery soon. By soon I thought he meant in the next month or two, not a few hours. Grrrrr.

We took Kevin up in the morning and dropped him off to hike the remaining couple of miles.


Dad drove in about another mile. The road was good up to the trailhead, but after crossing the creak it was pretty rough, you can see the steep hill and big boulders behind Mallory. No way was I attempting to take the suburban on that.
The kids played in the creek for a bit before we headed back into town. Yes, Courtney is playing in a skirt.
Amanda drove in after her classes. She and Lee hiked up after she got in and Lee got off work. Poor things had to hike in the dark.

With any luck we will be eating lots of venison this winter!

For the Moms

This is powerful, I know I needed it. I hope you enjoy it too.




A special thank-you to all the moms I have watched, and still watch, I hope you know someone sees you.

Mother of the Year

I grabbed the camera before I rescued her. Pulling herself up has become easy peasy. Stopping from going up and over is another story.

Hiking

Saturday, Izzy came into town and we immediately stole her and pushed her to the top of Tablerock. It was a really fun hike. Boise has so few shaded hiking areas that it makes hiking in the summer hard. I really hope to do more this fall as the weather cools off. Lily slept almost the entire time.Starting up the hill

Checking out the scene

A little farther up

She's out!
This is barely 5 minutes into our hike.

Takin' a break

Showing off my skillz ;)

Baby hikers!

Big kids just below the top

Windy Izzy at the top

OK so this one is completely over exposed, but I love it!

Growing!

Lily is quickly learning how to pull herself up. She can pull up on to the hearth pretty easy, of course her toy box makes quite the incentive!

She can also pull her self up and peak out the screen door.
She had sat back down by the time I pulled out the camera here.
However, you can almost see her teeth. :)

Greenbelt

George and I went for a walk along the greenbelt last week. I wanted to scout some photo locations and it was a great excuse for a walk. It was a lovley, if a bit chilly morning. I love the greenbelt, it is such a great asset to the community. We ran into so many people walking, biking, running. Photo scouting or not, we are going to have to do this more often!

All New Stats

George and Lily had their well child checks today.

Lily is 17 lbs 1oz

George is 39.8 lbs

I forgot to write down their heights, but both are on the tall side.

Both are totally healthy! Both also had to get shots. :( George was great about it right up until the shot went in. Then he SCREAMED. A Slushie at Sonic made it all better afterward. Lily cried, but nursed and calmed right down.

George is good for another year, and we'll be back with Lily in a few months. I was really worried about this visit. Our previous Dr. moved and this was out first appointment with her replacement. Dr. O is fresh from her residency. I was worried about how that would go, whether she would be trying to prove herself. I HATE being talked down to by Doctors. It went great though. She was great with the kids, and genuinely seemed interested in George's chatter. YEA!

Ice Skating

Round 2 of our labor day weekend adventure was ice skating. Brrr... it was chilly in there especially since I left Lily's blanket in the car and had to give her my sweatshirt. Pictures again courtesy of Dad.

I love the look on his face, he is concentrating so hard.

Taking a bow

Bowling

Photos courtesy of dad

Tag Sale

JOYS
1. Dark Chocolate
2. The silence after the kids go to bed
3. Hearing my kids laugh

FEARS
1. Not ever getting it "figured out"
2. Calling people, reaching out in general
3. Gemilins, that movie seriously scared me.

CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. Counting down the days until school starts, oops I started this post over a week ago
2. Teaching Lily to give kisses
3 Blogging, well mostly blog reading.

RANDOM/SURPRISING FACTS
1. I have only been shooting once, with Kevin on a date.
2. I cannot operate an electric can opener, nope can't do it.
3. All the time I spent in Alaska I never made it above the Arctic Circle. :(

I don't know what is up with the random changes in font size. Lily helped me type parts, I tried to go back and fix it with no luck.

I tag Amanda, Beth and Mandie