Kaydra’s Birthday

Kaydra turned 11!  I am not sure how that happened because I am not old enough to have an 11 year old BUT… she tells us that she is 11 – and she’s pretty smart!

We had a little family party out on our deck.  The biggest thing she wanted was to make her own cake – so she did!  She made (with a little help from me) an Oreo cake.  It looked like one big giant Oreo.  It was made with devil’s food cake and filled with cream cheese and smashed Oreos.  Then topped with a little of the filling and some actual Oreos.  It was actually pretty good and she was happy with her creation!

She got some wonderful gifts from family.  We got her bedding and curtains for her new room that will hopefully be finished soon! 

I think she was happy.  Kaydra is such a great daughter.  I feel like I can always depend on her.  She makes good decisions and is so helpful to me and her dad.  I know we don’t tell her enough how much we appreciate her and love her.  I know what it is like to be the oldest child and she works hard for our family without complaint.  She is smart and talented and we are so blessed to have her in our family.  She is starting middle school this year and I know that she will grow up so fast.  The past 11 years have seemed to fly by, so I can’t imagine how fast the next 11 will be.  I feel so lucky to be her mom.  She teaches me so many things.  We love you Kaydra and wish you a very successful year!

Happy Birthday!

Baby Steps

I am pretty sure that there is nothing in this world more adorable then a baby's first steps.  Especially if that baby has a little personality.  Timberlyn took her first steps today and we caught it on video.  It won't be long and she'll be cruising around the house.  How I love that girl!!  Enjoy!

End of Summer

Lots of catching up to do!  One of our final family summer activities was to take the kids camping.  We had been talking about going camping with them all summer long and we almost made it out one weekend in July, but other things came up.  Soooo, we finally took them up the Coeur d’ Alene River and spent Friday and Saturday there.  It was a beautiful weekend.  We camped at Bumblebee campground and had a great campsite that we shared with they Reynolds!  We were excited that they came along.  Our kids all get along really well so it was a great weekend for all. 

We started off by playing in the river Friday night.

We even had a visit from a bald eagle!  They are so pretty!

Timberlyn was happy to be outside!

That night we sat around the campfire and roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and had cast iron pies with homemade cherry pie filling.  They were delicious!

We were a little worried about Timberlyn sleeping in a tent.  Our experience with Miranda sleeping in a tent at this age was NOT good and we were pleasantly surprised that as soon as it was dark, Timberlyn went right to sleep!!  Much better then a screaming baby all night long.

Plus we had the added benefit of a happy baby the next morning!

We cooked breakfast over the campfire and then we wandered around the campground for awhile before we headed to the river again.  This time we put our tubes in about 3 miles upriver and floated down!  The river was cold, but the sun was hot!  I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t want my camera to get wet.  We spent about 3 hours on the river.  It was calm and all the kids had life jackets on, so it was an easy float.  Even a little relaxing.  We had a great time and hope to be able to do it again next summer.  Thank you Reynolds for a great trip!

Boardman, Oregon

We were able to travel to Oregon to visit Markell and Andre and their family and see little Aika get blessed.  We were so glad to be able to be there for that special event.  It was a three hour drive for us.  A long three hour drive.  I think our mistake was telling the kids that it was not as far as Idaho Falls.  They assumed the drive was short and after about an hour were ready to get out.  We managed to make it safe and sound!  Leonard had been at scout camp and wasn’t going to come with us.  They ended up leaving camp early and he made it back just in time to throw a few things together and come with us.  It was great to have him along. 

Andre’s family was awesome and his mom, Sheila, served us a fantastic dinner.  The kids had a great time at their place.  They set up a pool and pulled out a HUGE tarp.  With a little dish soap, the tarp became a giant slip and slide.  The kids played for a couple hours in the water and had a great time.  Andre’s sister, Arianna, also took the girls on a horse ride. 

They were in heaven and now want a horse of their own.  

We then went to Hermiston and watched the parade they have to start the yearly fair.  Small towns are awesome because there aren’t any crazy parade rules.  Everyone throws candy – some were even giving away watermelons and cantaloupe!  Sheila joked that between all three kids I should have enough candy to pass out at Halloween.  Seriously….So…Much…Candy!!

Then we headed to the hotel where we stayed with Mom, Dad, and Jake.  Mom, Dad, Markell, and I  took the kids swimming while Andre, Leonard, and Jake went fishing.  All my kids loved the pool and we stayed there for awhile before we headed to our room for the night.  Everyone slept through the night – even Timberlyn—so that made it even better.

The next morning we went back to Boardman for Aika’s baby blessing.  She was given a beautiful blessing by her father and she looked so pretty in her white dress.   I stole this picture from Markell’s blog – I think she is so cute and this picture makes her look like Markell did as a baby.

She looks so much like Andre, that I was surprised to see this picture.  There must be some Fuller in there somewhere!

Here is the beautiful family after the blessing:

What a HAM!!

Thanks Mom and Dad for sharing your hotel room – it was perfectly huge!  Congratulations Markell and Andre and thanks for having us.  It was great to see you and be there for Aika’s blessing day!

Art on the Green

Every year, the first weekend in August, Coeur d’Alene has an awesome party downtown that they call “Art on the Green”.  It’s actually three events going on simultaneously.  “Art on the Green” is at North Idaho College in the park where they have live music and many, many artists that set up booths and try to sell their wares.  There are some truly amazing people that have intensely creative minds.  We saw metal sculpting, painting, photography, woodworking, and even a guy who makes fish out of bottle caps. 

At the city park there is “Taste of Coeur d’Alene” where various food vendors set up shop.  Finally, down the main street of Sherman Avenue there is a huge street fair that stretches 11-12 blocks or so.  We only made it to “Art on the Green” this year – but we made the most of it!  We met Neil, Kay, Kelly, Sara, and Bridger down at the park for dinner and to listen to the music.

This guy has been coming to Art on the Green for 14 years and builds a different sand sculpture each time.  Mostly castles.

He was carving near where we ate dinner and was pretty impressive to watch.  Kanyon especially thought it was cool.

We wandered around the park looking at all the booths and finished up by eating ice cream.  Timberlyn was pretty thrilled with her first ice cream cone.  She only got the end of mine but she would NOT give it back. I think it’s safe to say that she likes ice cream!

It was  a great evening with even better company!

The Throcks Rock Coeur d’Alene

Where has the summer gone?  I can’t believe it’s  August – I have a lot of blogging to catch up on.  We spent most of July with the Throckmortons!   When we returned from our visit to Idaho Falls, they were patiently waiting for us at the farm.  The kids were so excited to see each other.  They change so much over the year but it only takes a few minutes and they are back to all their old tricks.  Miranda was so happy to have Juniper and Anna there.  She looks up to Anna so much and has a great time bossing Juniper around.  Luckily, Juniper is used to it, I think, (because of her three older sisters) and didn’t really seem to mind.  Kaydra and Cora were like peas in a pod and Kanyon bounced between Emily and Dillon, depending on what was going on.  It was so fun to have them here and we wish they lived close all the time.  Although, it was tough to get any real housework done because nearly every morning was planned with cousin activities!  Who  needs to do housework in the summer time anyway?!

Here are some of the activities we enjoyed:

• Bunce family reunion July 6-8 – as a side note, I was bit by a dog and spent most of the reunion with my foot up on a chair after I got 6 stiches!  Not fun!
• Boating with cousin Troy’s boat on Lake Coeur d’Alene – all the kids were able to tube.
• A day at Silverwood with cousins Tom and LuAnne and their kids.  Extra fun because we left Timberlyn with Grandma and Grandpa for the day!  For those that don’t know, Silverwood is a theme park with some really great rollercoasters and a fun water park – the kids loved it even though they look kinda scared in this picture!

Emily and Kaydra in back --Anna and Kanyon in front

• Playing with and tormenting the new baby chicks that Grandpa is raising – hopefully they all survive!
• Slip and slide and run through the sprinkler days at home

Kaydra

Kanyon

Miranda

Cora

Emily

Anna

Dillon

**Notice my flower bed in the background.  Isn’t it pretty?  Unfortunately the deer have now eaten my rose bush but otherwise it’s still a beautiful sight!  The petunias just went crazy and they are gorgeous!

• Swimming lessons EVERY morning in the lake for two weeks straight July 9-20.  The kids learned a lot and had a great time too.
• Fishing at Grandpa’s pond.
• More swimming most days again at Valhalla – a private beach owned by friends of ours that are SO kind to share!

DillonMiranda

Juniper

Timberlyn

Bridger – who was very tired!Anna

Dillon and Kanyon

KanyonCora, Emily, and Kaydra

• A viewing of “Brave” at the theater.  Good show with good messages.  Kanyon said, “I think it was about mothers and daughters and how they need to listen to each other better.” True.
• Art lessons with Aunt Sara and a special Tea Party – delightful!
• Discovering Cora’s knack at finding stray cats.  I think she found three while she was here – where did they come from?
• New Zip line tryout. We had a few accidents but it seems to be working pretty good now, and thankfully, no one was injured permanently!  As Miranda said, “I did it! It was SO fun – And I didn’t even DIE!”  Thank goodness!

Miranda

Dillon

Anna –

She had a tough fall at the beginning but she was a trouper and hopped right back on – what a tough girl!

Kanyon

Emily

Kaydra

• Many nights of bonfire with S’mores and cast iron pies.  If you’ve never had a pie, you should.  They are awesome!
• A LONG hike up the creek behind the house.  We packed a lunch and made most the day of it.  The kids were troupers and we all made it back in one piece.
• Birthday’s galore – We celebrated Dillon’s 6th, Timberlyn’s 1st, and Aunt Jodi’s 29th + a few!   
• We became experts at devouring cake!

• One big cousin sleepover on the deck at our house.  All of their sleeping bags lined up reminded me of my days growing up in the cabin sleeping next to my cousins.  What memories…

I am sure there was much more, but these are the highlights.  See how much fun we can have if people come visit for more then a few days?!!  Come stay for awhile!  Thanks for coming Throckmortons and spending your summer with us.  We love you all!