She's Wild !!

What is quickly becoming an annual tradition for us is to go to the Lewiston Roundup with Chris and Jill, Jacob and Madeline Wuthrich. This year we ran into friends, the Konens and had a blast watching the bull riding (our favorite).

Labor day rafting

For the second year - we went down to Riggins with our friends, the Leachs, and rafted the Salmon River. We were a little more adventurous this year and actually went through Time Zone rapid. Everyone LOVED it and wanted to do it again... and again... and again. We had to stop though to allow for time to return to Moscow and reality, but not before we stopped at the fruit stand on the way home and picked up a BUNCH of peaches that I decided I would try to can (from memory of when I was little) uh oh!!! Fortunately, it worked out and they're delicious.


Getting started for the day
A Chukar photo shoot. Notice how he turns his head into the wind to show off his handsome profile!!



Picking blackberries on the side of the road.

It's always fun to show off the hands


The bear that we saw (he was actually quite close)


Our beautiful scenic hike


For those of you who like to see a little action.

School starts !!!

As usual, the summer went too fast and the first day of school attacked us when we weren't looking. The first day was quite cold (and raining) so Ashley decided that she'd like a "first day of school" picture the next day as well, when it wasn't so cloudy and cold. They are both very happy with their classes and their teachers.



Ashley and her friend, Grace.


Nicole and her friend, Berlyn. (notice the coats)

The second day of school (quite a bit warmer)

Our last trip for the year

We flew ourselves down to Pocatello where we met up with our friends Ryan & Trissa then drove with them to the Wind River range in Wyoming.  We spent the weekend hiking, canoeing, fly fishing and roasting marshmallows.

Ryan and Trissa's girls Ellie, Claire and Meg

Summer's almost over !!!

How sad that it takes me two months (or more) to update this; but here it is :)

June:

Summer started off great - Paul and I went with some friends to Joseph, Or. then on to Wallowa Lake where we indulged our inner child with parasailing, go cart racing and a fun train ride.

Paul's friend Larry caught this "monster" salmon.

The girls and I ended June with a trip out to Nebraska while Paul went to Alaska for his annual fishing trip.  The fishing was outstanding and he thoroughly enjoyed his trip.  Our trip out to Nebraska was to see my sister, Natalie - husband, Neil and niece/nephew/cousins Cassidy and Gabriel and also my dad, step mom and brother.  We had a great time visiting and even got to experience an "almost" tornado while we were shopping - Wow - Mother Nature is awesome.

sitting on the HOT bronze sculptures at the Omaha Zoo.

July: From Nebraska (and Alaska) we flew directly into Coeur d'Alene where we celebrated the 4th of July with parade, BBQ and fireworks.  

Our second annual "patriotic pedicure"

Nicole, Ashley and Miles

Another tradition that "Nana" assists with; our flag cake made with 

strawberries and blueberries.

even Chukar had fun playing with "cousins" Ringo and Colonel and "friend" can't remember the name :)

Watching the fireworks from a friend's dock on Hayden Lake.

We took our annual trip to Milwaukee then took an Amtrak train to Chicago where we spent a couple of hours at the American Girl place and the Sears tower.

From Chicago we flew to Nashville and went into Pigeon Forge, TN 

where we met up for Paul's family's reunion.

We took the girls bungee jumping and indoor skydiving and go kart racing.

Summer's almost here!

Wow - has it really been a month since I've been on here? Apparently so. The kitchen is finally finished (well, almost). We just have the backsplash to do (which has been ordered) and carpet (also ordered) then little things... but yeah !!! so happy to have it done. In true Tami form I promptly started another project; painting Ashley's room. She's been very patient to have the same decor since we moved in (she was 1, she's 7 now). We went with a pottery barn green on the walls and pink and green bedspread. We still have a few things to do in there as well before I start on their bathroom (again). I'm pretty sure I'll get it right this time.

The girls get out of school on Wednesday and they're SO EXCITED!! Nicole had a fun field trip last week to the Nez Perce national museum outside of Lewiston and then went to play in the park for the next 2 hours. It was such perfection for them.

FUN FUN FUN

The girls and I went up to Coeur d'Alene this weekend. Nicole and I had tickets to a Carrie Underwood concert (so good) and Ashley chose not to go - her reasoning was "I'll just listen to one song then I'll want to go" so true and I'm glad it was her that made that decision. Then on our was back to Moscow we stopped at a friends' cabin (oops... house) on the lake for the first time and they invited Ashley to stay the night, which of course she was happy to do. It was so cute to watch her "fish" with her friend, Grace. We've been fortunate to be getting a lot of alone time with the girls which has been nice.

Beth Moore

I drove down to Boise this last weekend to see Beth Moore's conference. Every time I listen to her it just brings me to tears (in a good way). I went with many people from our chuch and rode with 3 friends that I got to know even better and thoroughly enjoyed the drive. The little Salmon river was so full of water it was amazing and water was gushing out of the culverts from the hillside. Wow!!

High School musical fun

The girls and I went up to Spokane to see High School Musical. What a fun night. There were 20 of us.

Ashley with friends, Grace and Kindra

Nicole and Berlyn

The day for hiccups

So today was the day set aside for hiccups, speed bumps or problems, whichever you want to call them. I guess I missed that memo otherwise I might have wanted to take a vacation today. I lost count of how many "problems" after the plumber had been at our house for 6 hours today. Luckily, I have a very wonderful and creative cabinet man who was able to solve all of the problems even though they had nothing to do with his cabinets.

I'm still praying for patience. So far God hasn't let me down in that area.

Tomorrow the electrician and cabinet man come back to finish the pony wall and hook up my dishwasher and disposal. I might just have Paul take a picture of me doing my "dishwasher dance". I finally got to do dishes in the kitchen sink today after 3 months of doing them in the laundry room sink. At least I had a laundry room sink to do them in eh?

Kitchen updates

It seems like when things get rolling - they really get rolling. Yesterday, the men came to install the granite. It took them 4 hours (and a lot of dust) to get everything done, but in the end it looks perfect and there were only a few hiccups (at least no dropped or cracked granite).