The Hanson Adventures

Playing hookie

2011-11-20T21:07:00.000-08:00

Every year McDonald Elementary has a race called the Turkey Trot. It's always close to Thanksgiving and the winning team gets a turkey. The kids are put into teams and a lot of times they're running in the snow. Nicole has always loved the race but Ashley has different feelings so last year we changed the plans and took Ashley out of school for lunch. This year she skipped the whole day and as luck would have it, it was the first real snow day day of the year. We took Ashley and her friends Grace and Rachel out for lunch at Winger's then Ashley and Grace went to Grace's and made a fantastic snowman.

Coeur d'Alene visit

2011-11-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

We went to Coeur d'Alene to visit Paul's uncle who was in town with his wife.

Mimi with all the Great Grandkids

The beauty of Fall

2011-10-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

I'm always amazed at this time of the year that God creates such beauty for us to enjoy. We are especially blessed this year that we've had so many nice sunny fall days without a lot of wind to blow the leaves off the trees. We actually made it out this year to take Fall pics. Here's some of my favorites...

Halloween

2011-10-28T16:29:00.001-07:00

Nicole decided this year that she would just sit and watch us carve pumpkins

(the guts were grossing her out too much).

Ashley's cute face and my polka dots

Our attempt at making Halloween cookies this year...

Getting ready for the monster mash at school. McKenna the lamp, Ashley the peacock, Grace the Twister girl and

Rachel the Cookie Monster.

8th grade volleyball

2011-10-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

Nicole made the A team again for MJHS volleyball. All but 3 of the girls were returning from the 7th grade team so they were able to pick up where they left off last year. They had a fun season and really improved. It was so much fun watching them play.

Team warmups

We decided that we needed evidence that we're at (almost) every game.

Getting ready for the jump...

jump!!!The fan club that comes with the team

Team building for Italy

2011-09-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

The group going to Italy in June got together and participated in a challenge course on Paradise Ridge (south end of Moscow). The adults going on the trip joined as one group and the kids were separated into their individual groups. We had a great day on the course and were completely exhausted when we got home.

Nicole & Olivia

The adults "getting to know each other"

Last weekend of summer - Labor Day

2011-09-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

So sad to see it go!! We spent our last summer weekend at the cabin with B & Jonalea, Keith and the boys and Ashley's friend Rachel.

Nicole and Mason "pretending" to be asleep.

The girls really wanted to bury SOMEONE in sand so I volunteered... I thought about staying there all day... best sunscreen out there :)

First day of school

2011-09-01T18:48:00.001-07:00

So a little background is required for this story... Ashley has always loved all of her teachers but this year she was a little nervous having her first male teacher. She came home from school yesterday and said "Mom... I LOVE my teacher!!" I was so thrilled. She told me about how funny he is and all the fun things they get to do. The other perfect part is that she has Grace and Rachel in class with her.

Nicole started her first day with getting her schedule at 8 am then trying to find her new locker then volleyball tryouts. She doesn't find out which team they're on until Friday afternoon.

Ashley and Grace at the back-to-school picnic

Ready for their first day.

All of our neighborhood friends

Goodbye sweet Grandma

2011-08-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Back in May, my sweet Grandma, Bernice, passed away. I remember her always making crafts for us, including two very special cross stitch pieces that are hanging in my home. She always made sure to send us $10 for our birthdays and loved getting her annual family calendar. She loved visits from everyone and we'll greatly miss her.

Paul was asked if he would fly her ashes over the Priest River mountain area which is where they lived for a long time. Paul, my dad, my brother Mike and I flew up to Cavanaugh bay to sprinkle the ashes, had dinner and flew home.

the runway at Cavanaugh BayDad, Mike and I

The gold Palouse hills from the air.

When does school start?

2011-08-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

So this is what you do in the last weeks of summer when you can't think of anything else to do... hey, at least they're wearing helmets right? Nicole is in the wagon that Aliciana is pulling and screaming all the way down the hill.

Nicole and Aliciana

Cabin retreat

2011-08-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

We have spent more time at the cabin this summer than every other summer combined I think!! It's been fun playing in the water, getting more work done on the cabin and having friends join us. We've been able to host a work BBQ and slumber party, and lots of weekends with friends.

Nicole and her friend Trinity

Nicole and Ashley

The floor is almost done!!

More summer

2011-08-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

At the end of July we headed down to Orofino for our friends', Mark & Ashley's wedding. Ashley has been one of our favorite babysitters when the girls were little, then one of Chukar's favorite dog sitters. Mark is a good friend from church that became an college intern for our office this year. What a special couple!!

When it came time for the bouquet toss I told Nicole she should go up since she's single :) She was not having any of it. Our table was right behind the toss and when Ashley tossed it, it went right over all of the single girls and landed on the floor right next to Nicole :) Then she had to go up with Ashley and take a picture with EVERYONE watching!!

Another thing I really wanted to do this summer was ride the Hiawatha Trail. Natalie, Neil, Cassidy and Gabriel were in town so we went up to Cd'A after the wedding and spent a few days with them riding the trail, going to Silverwood, going on a boat tour of the Spokane river, mini golfing and taking more pictures.

The "complimentary" Hiawatha stripe

Coming out of the 1.6 mile tunnel that is PITCH black

the wave pool at Silverwood

Every year that we get together with the cousins we try to do a photo shoot... sometimes professional, sometimes not.

Gada and Bapa with the grandkids

Riverboat tour of the Spokane river

Ahhh summer...

2011-08-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

For the 4th, we spent the weekend playing in the sun, hanging out with family, watching fireworks, making our annual flag cake, biking and of course,

taking lots of pictures.

The beginning of a masterpiece. This year we decided to make a fruit "pizza" and use cream cheese frosting to avoid the deflation of previous years' cakes. It turned out great and was super yummy. We even had enough frosting after
all the kids were done sampling :)

Before...

During...

After...

Cooling off in the kiddie pool.

Ashley will somehow figure out how to do tricks on any bar she finds.

Muffin and I

And if the frosting isn't sweet enough for you, we also have whipping cream
that we can spray directly into your mouth.

All of us

One thing I've wanted to do for many years was ride our bikes on the "trail of the Coeur d'Alenes". The four of us and Gada started at Heyburn state park and rode into Harrison, ate a yummy lunch, got ice cream, listened to some music in the park, then rode back.

Ohhh Chukar... whenever we spend time at my mom and dad's in Cd'A in the summer, Chukar decides to use their really cute and slightly fragile fountain as a watering hole. After this episode, we borrowed a kiddie pool for him to cool off in.

For the first time, Nicole went to the UI Volleyball camp. What a new experience for her. She got to stay in the dorms with friends Katie and Berlyn for three days and spent 8 hours a day practicing volleyball.

I picked up Nicole at noon and she quickly crashed on the couch for four hours. She was completely exhausted!! I imagine they weren't getting much sleep.

Ashley and friends Megan and Hannah headed off to Camp Four Echoes (Girl Scout camp) for three days. She had a great time and said
"the food was much better than last year" Ashley's camp t-shirt that all of the counselors signed.Inside their teepee (which they received an award for being the cleanest)

The new lodge at C4E built with money donated by the Schweitzers.

Family vacation

2011-06-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

For the first time since we've had property on the river, we are able to spend more than a few days up there, since we now have a fridge. We decided in lieu of going on a big vacation this year that we wanted to spend a week up at the cabin. The girls got to bring a friend with them for the first few days, then we had a day and a half by ourselves (which happened to be our 16th anniversary) then had our friends, the Baddeley's from Liberty Lake come up for the weekend. We were able to get carpet installed upstairs and get a lot of the flooring on the main floor done while we were there. On our day by ourselves, we decided to hike up the opposite side of the river to an abandoned mine. It took us 3 hours round trip and it was full of adventure. We got about 1/4 of the way up and Ashley started having allergy attacks, complete with sneezing every two steps, itchy eyes, nose and complete misery. At one time we were afraid that she had gotten into the poison oak that is EVERYWHERE on that side, but after we got back we realized that it was only allergies. We reached the mine and went in a little ways but it was slightly freaky to Ashley so we cut that part of the adventure short.

Berlyn, Nicole,Rachel & Ashley hiking

Learning to drive a stick shift

Mowing the lawn

Who has the best goofy face???

The opening to the mine

Ava, Olivia, Abby, Ashley, Nicole, Ellie

Little Ava Baddelely LOVED Chukar from the moment she saw him... She continually told us that he was "her doggy" and would get so upset every time he went somewhere without her because she thought he missed her.

Paul & Joe

End of school year

2011-06-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that with Nicole being in the Junior High there aren't as many end of the year activities and I will really miss that when Ashley gets to that point so I decided I'll need to really enjoy these last few years with Ashley (really only one, since she'll be the first class of 6th graders in the reconfigured "Moscow Middle School" snif snif.

Her class spent the last couple months of school working on an Oregon Trail simulation that culminated in an Oregon trails day where they sewed pouches, ate somewhat authentic trail food, read plays and made other crafts.

Ashley received a blue patch for her presidential physical fitness test... again!! This is one of her biggest goals throughout the year and she takes it very seriously.

For the last day of school, Ashley invited friends Grace, Rachel and McKenna over for games and yummy snacks.

Ashley, Rachel, McKenna & Grace

Grace and Ashley enjoying the sunshine on the deck.
How fun to be 10 and sitting under umbrellas!!
It's been a REALLY LONG... WET & COLD spring.

The countdown to Italy

2011-06-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Nicole came home a month ago to tell me that there were two teachers at the Junior High that were organizing a trip to Italy for the kids. My first response was "do they need adults to go too?" Of course I was excited for her to go but I couldn't contain my excitement that I might be able to go. The first process was to apply. They told us there was only space for 20 students and around 7 adults so I prepared Nicole that we might not get in. The lists came out about a week after we applied and the email said "Congratulations you made it!!" so we both got SOOO excited that we were going to Italy. I then started thinking that I should check the list for my name since they might have sent me the email just to let me know that my daughter was going. When I checked the list my name was not on it!!! There was, however, a Tina Hansen and I thought, in the back of my head, "hmmm, I wonder it that's a mistake" but didn't do any checking. So, I had to reroute my excitement to focus just on Nicole's experience. A day before the deadline to sign up online, her teacher asked her if her mom had gotten registered yet and she said "no, she didn't get it" and he said "yes, she did!!" Woo hoo, I promptly went online to register.

Our lift off date is June 10th ish, 2012. Let the fundraising begin!!!

What a fun experience to go to Italy with all of your good friends when you're 14!! She'll be traveling with friends Berlyn, Katie, Trinity, Maddy, Olivia and several others.

Trinity, Katie, Maddy & Nicole

Memorial Day festivities

2011-05-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

We headed back to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend. This time we had our four (five counting Chukar), Bryan & Jonalea, Muffin, Keith & the boys and friends Catherine and Boyd and their girls from Coeur d'Alene and Nicole's friend Aliciana. 15 people total at the cabin and it was so fun!!

The Taylors, Bryan & Jonalea, The Hansons

Paul, Bryan, Muffin

The hikers, Miles, Ashley, Grace on "Ashley's rock"
Paul & Mason

The worn out doggers Chukar & Ringo

We had a great time hiking behind our cabin, although Ashley was a little embarrassed that we were wearing matching vests :)

Nicole & AlicianaMason and his favorite past time - vacuuming

Packed up and ready to head back down the river.
It's been a long time since the boat has been this full!!

Fun Times

2011-05-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

We've been spending quite a bit of time at the cabin these days... getting things finished on the inside and cutting a hiking trail into the side of mountain. We've had quite a few visitors and have thoroughly enjoyed having people down to spend time with us.

The cedar going up on the walls

The water has been so high this year that we don't have much of a boat ramp so far this year.

Paul suited up for weed wacking

Nana getting a pedicure from Nicole

Nana and Ashley hiking

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

My sweet girls planned a very fancy breakfast for me all by themselves (Paul was out of town). They made waffles and a very special mocha. Nicole even peeled a clementine and decorated the plate with it. I'm such a lucky mom.

Our first teenager!!

2011-04-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Nicole is officially a teenager. She decided to have three of her friends up to the cabin for the weekend. They had a great time hiking, playing badmitton, riding the 4 wheeler, and of course falling into cactus.

Olivia, Nicole, Berlyn, Aliciana

It looked so pretty but was not very friendly

Yikes...I'm behind!!

2011-04-07T16:23:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it's April, 2011 and I haven't blogged since November. The only thing I can attribute this to is that I've been working down at Paul's office since January and have never (until now) appreciated my freedom. Well, now that my house is a disaster, I hardly go grocery shopping, my poor puppy is very unhappy with his lack of exercise and my body is very happy with the lack of exercise and none of my "projects" including blogging have gotten done in a long time, I'm finally starting to appreciate that freedom. I'm looking forward to the day when I get more streamlined at work and can only work 2-3 hours a day. :)

Bryan & Jonalea's wedding

2011-04-07T06:33:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come... Bryan and Jonalea tied the knot on April 2nd at the Elks Lodge in Moscow. Nicole and Ashley finally got to be flower girls and Miles and Mason were the handsome ring bearers.

It turned out to be crazy weather that day. It went from rain to sun to wind then back to rain.

Talent show

2011-02-16T14:51:00.000-08:00

Ashley and Grace decided to do a gymnastics dance for the McDonald talent show.

Nicole's volleyball

2011-02-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

In February, Nicole started Club Moscow volleyball. She was on the red team with friends Katie and Bailey as well as several 8th graders. It was a good experience for her and helped her get more confidence with volleyball.

Nicole, Katie, Bailey

Group shot at the Pullman tournament

Gymnastics mini meet

2011-02-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Ashley and her friends Grace, Hannah and McKenna participated in a gymnastics mini meet.

No more single digits... 10!!!

2011-01-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

Our little peanut Ashley has officially graduated from single digits. She still seems so little that it's hard to believe.

One of Ashley's favorite presents... a Pillow Pet!

Nicole participating in her new favorite sport... texting!!

So much water

2011-01-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe, but the creek that hasn't flooded in the last 7-8 years has flooded three times this year! This is down the hill from us. Completely submerging the street.

New Year's Eve

2010-12-31T14:24:00.000-08:00

Spending New Year's eve at the cabin was so different than in past years. We are in the new cabin and everyone had a bed to sleep in (although some of them were still cots), a bathroom to use and a kitchen to cook in. We promptly set up a puzzle and started working on it. The girls all hiked up the hillside and we put together an impressive fireworks display for all our neighbors on the bar. Mom and Dad were able to come up for the first time.

Woo hoo!! We finished the whole thing.

The girls both invited friends - sisters Aliciana and Ella Fowler. Having two sets of sisters at the cabin was interesting but I think everyone had fun.

Ashley and Ella

Nicole and Aliciana

Ashley and Ella having fun on the 4-wheeler.

Ashley and Ella getting all the fireworks ready.

Nicole, Aliciana and Jonalea pulling all the cactus out of Chukar.

And Chukar very quickly claimed his resting place after a long day of running the hills.
Our bed!!

Christmas blessings

2010-12-25T13:44:00.000-08:00

Ashley helping me put up the tree. Unfortunately, it seems Nicole has lost interest in decorating for Christmas :( I guess we're going to have to spice it up a bit for her in the future.

All done

Trying to get a good Christmas photo.

We decided to switch things up for Christmas this year and had Christmas eve dinner and Christmas morning at our house with the four of us, Bryan and Jonalea and my mom and dad. Then we went up to Cd'A and opened more presents and had dinner at Muffin and Keith's. It was nice to have a change this year.

Bryan and Jonalea

Mom and Dad

Ashley decided that Chukar needed a treat for Christmas dinner so she assembled a combination of red and green treats to put in his bowl with his food for dinner.

Ashley's crazy haul of Zhu Zhu pets... hmmm
Nicole decided she didn't want her picture taken after just waking up... too bad. I guess she has officially entered teenage years. :)

Ashley very excited about her new sled.

And her DSi
Nicole finally got the iPod touch she's been waiting for SO LONG for.

Chukar getting a much needed Chritmas morning belly rub.

The Christmas morning aftermath. What special memories.

Carol, Mimi & Muffin - 3 generations

Another tradition we've started is to pull apart little poppers (for lack of a better word) that have a little prize and a crown in them.

Mom, Nicole, Me, Ashley... A very rare 3 generation picture.

Thanksgiving in CDA

2010-11-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

This year, we went up to Coeur d'Alene for Thanksgiving. Collin, Christina and her husband Jack were there and it was really fun to have everyone around.

The whole Thanksgiving clan

Mason REALLY got into the hand mixer. We had to take the beaters off and he enjoyed that for a long time. Nana was worried that he'd burn up the motor but all was fine.

Keith and Carol

Keith and Mimi

Paul & Jonalea

Every year, it's a big joke that my jello salad either has a hard time coming out of the mold or I submerge it for too long and it melts on the platter. This year, was a little more successful but Muffin still wanted to preserve the moment.

Happy 40th!!

2010-11-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

SURPRISE!!! For my 40th birthday, Paul organized a huge surprise party for me at Winger's in Moscow. I was shocked to learn that he's been planning it since August. The girls even knew and never spilled the beans once!! My sister even flew out from Nebraska (which made me cry)!! I am so blessed to have so many special friends and such a fantastic husband and really appreciate everyone coming to celebrate with me. Since I was not in charge of any of the cameras, this is the only picture I was able to rustle up... but it's a special one to me... me, my mom and my sister.

School pics

2010-11-12T21:26:00.001-08:00

Growing up soooo fast!!

Family elk hunt

2010-11-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Our family was very blessed this year to get elk tags for Paul, Bryan, Jonalea and myself. Paul started out the season with a very successful hunt with the Bentz's (7 bulls in 2 days). Jonalea got hers not too long after. Then we teamed up with the Bentz's again and rode their horses in to find a pretty large herd that Bryan and I both shot our elk out of.

Halloween and fun run

2010-10-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Ashley, Grace and McKenna participated in a 1 mile fun run to promote exercise for kids. The goal of the race is to run a marathon (26 miles) over the next several months (ending on April 1st). They got pedometers to count their steps to reach the total.

For Halloween, Nicole and Berlyn dressed up as LARGE babies. They spent the evening trick or treating and went out to a haunted barn the night before.

Ashley dressed up as a basket full of laundry. She got many laughs and lots of compliments.

Volleyball season

2010-09-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

While we were in Alaska, the girls were starting their second week of school. Nicole in her first year of Junior high was a little nervous with the new schedule, new school, new teachers and 120 new 7th graders. She also had volleyball tryouts during the first two days of school and found out she made the "A" team. She really didn't expect it but was very excited. They had a good season and it was great to see their progress from the beginning of the season to the end. What a wonderful confidence builder.

Alaska

2010-09-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of September, Paul and I went on a cruise to Alaska with 9 other couples from our company. We made stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and finally Victoria. It was my first time in Alaska and the scenery was breathtaking. We took a trip to watch whales, saw the glaciers and ate delicious seafood.

Formal night on the ship
Glacier from the deck of the ship
Our ship - the Sapphire Princess

The cute little town of Ketchikan

On our whale watching trip, we saw several whales but weren't close enough to get good pictures. We did see these fun sea lions though.

Then stopped to see glaciers up close with our friends Jade and Thomas and their cousin Tor. We called it the Tor Tour - how quaint huh!!

The harbor in Juneau

August activities

2010-08-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

After a busy July, we were able to stay close to home for August.

Camping/Huckleberry picking with the gang.

Ashley had a tennis camp that she loved despite it being very hot.

We went down to the cabin to check on the progress and play in the river.

Tami with friend, Charity

After the river, we stopped in to visit Chukar's daughter, Brittany. Isn't she a cutie!

Our attempt at taking our own family pictures... what fun!!

Sometimes the best pictures are the unexpected, funny ones...

Milwaukee/Chicago

2010-07-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

For our company's annual meeting, we went out to Milwaukee for three days then took a train ride down to Chicago for three days.

Dinner at Mader's German restaurant
We rented a condo in downtown Chicago and loved the location. We could walk to any of the downtown sites and ended up taking a bus tour around the city. It was great, because we saw all ends of the city then we were able to go back and see what really interested us. We ended up going back to Navy Pier and visited the BRAND NEW American Girl store. I know, most people wouldn't consider that an attraction but IT IS!! Three full floors of AG stuff. The girls have a very patient daddy :)

Okay, so I HAD to take a picture of the bathroom... it was super cute. They even had hooks in each stall that you could hang your doll on while you're busy.

Sites from our bus tour:

Trump tower

Dinner at the famous "Ginos East". No reservations, no waiting list, just a line that stretches down the street a little ways... it actually moved very fast and we were eating by 8:00. The girls had fun looking at all of the writing on the walls and furniture and the deep dish, Chicago style pizza was great too!

Colorado Hanson reunion

2010-07-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

From Nebraska we flew to Colorado. Paul's side of the family gets together every 2 years in someplace different. This time it was Snow Mountain Ranch, near Winter Park. We spent three very busy days rafting, horseback riding, going on the alpine ride.

Riding up to the alpine slide

4th of July festivities

2010-07-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

For our 4th of July fun we stuck with our traditions... painted toes, parade, flag cake, BBQ but also added some fun new activities. Our friends Todd and Zetta Stam invited us to their new housing development on Hayden Lake where we watched fireworks, took a boat ride, a helicopter ride and visited with friends.

Getting ready for the parade

The finished product

Getting ready for the helicopter ride

It's looking like a real house!!!

2010-06-22T21:16:00.001-07:00

Wow!!! the outside of the cabin is almost complete minus a railing and other fun touches. The inside will take a little while to get completed but we're excited to sleep in it in the near future.

Our summer begins

2010-06-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

The weekend before school got out we had our annual weekend with our friends the Baddeleys.

Having a backyard campfire, complete with s'mores.

Enjoying some huckleberry ice cream after our Elk River falls hike.
Olivia, Abby, Ellie, Ava, Ashley & Nicole

We began a very busy summer with flying out to Nebraska to visit Natalie and her family and my dad, step-mom and brother.

We took a road trip to Iowa to visit the Amana colonies.

Dressing up as Amana children

My sista Natalie and I sitting outside one of the shops.

One of the original farmhouses.

After stopping for gas we HAD to have the girls pose in front of the extremely tall corn fields.

Then we came back and celebrated my dad's birthday.

Dad & Becky

Dad, Becky, Mike and the grandkiddos.

Then we went to downtown Omaha to check out the new sculptures in Pioneer Park

End of the year festivities

2010-06-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

The end of the year is always packed with fun activities. With our crazy wet weather this year, all of those activities were consolidated into three days...

Monday - Balloon Launch in the morning, then 5th/6th grade track meet for the rest of the day.

The 6th graders make hot air balloons every year and launch them the last week of school. It's so fun to see how far some of them go.

Nicole's 1200 meter team came in first!!!
She was so excited to get her blue ribbon.

--------------------------------

Tuesday - Ashley's 3rd grade field day at Mountain View park

Ashley and Grace

Figuring out clues to the scavenger hunt with Grace, McKenna, Jack & Cole

--------------

Wednesday - Assemblies in the morning, then Nicole's 6th grade graduation in the afternoon. Then Nicole had friends, Berlyn and Tiffany spend the night.

Ashley and Grace with their blue Presidential fitness awards and their
student council awards

Nicole's Graduation

This is what 3 days of non-stop activity will do to 6th graders... well maybe it had more to do with the fact that they stayed up until 5 am. Never say these girls aren't creative... they built a bed platform out of tables and tv trays to sleep on. I don't think it was very comfortable, but it accomplished a goal.

Ashley's Court of Awards

2010-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ashley's Girl Scout year culminated with her Court of Awards ceremony. As a third year Brownie, bridging up to Juniors, she got to hold one of the flags for the flag ceremony.

With friends Megan and Hannah

Cabin update

2010-05-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

The newest changes on the cabin... the roof is being worked on as well as getting fully extended over the deck. It will be so nice to have the protection from the sun and weather while sitting on the deck.

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am so blessed to have a wonderful family that loves me!! I wasn't allowed to do ANYTHING on Mother's Day except enjoy my family. We decided to go mushroom hunting... one of our favorite spring pastimes. The weather has been so wet here that we thought it would be a perfect year for them. We had such a good time hunting for them. I love hearing "we found some" through the woods and the excitement of bringing back a bag full to saute and eat with steaks... YUM!!! Ashley's goal this year was to find one on her own... in the past we've always "guided" her to them, but this year she was able to find them all by herself.

Nicole doing the "slalom" I love seeing her be goofy.

This is what the mushrooms look like in the wild...

A very exhausted puppy dog. He was so tired that he would NOT move so that the girls could get buckled. Of course, they are sitting on a bench seat and the three of them still didn't have enough room. Can you say
SPOILED DOG!!

More progress

2010-05-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well, you can officially "see" the cabin from the river now. The roof is up and the loft is built. Here's the front of the cabin...

A view from the back...

Nicole turns 12!

2010-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that our little girl is now 12!! I've been told that there is a big change from here until they turn 18 :) I'm just hoping that I recognize her!!

Nicole invited friends Berlyn, Tiffany and Matthew over for games, a neighborhood scavenger hunt and even a mini spa party (yes Matthew was a very patient friend).

On the hunt for clues..
The end of the hunt... at last!!
In the middle of their spa treatments we had to take a picture to document their shiny faces.

Progress

2010-04-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

The cabin is coming along. It seems to be going up so fast... probably because we only see it once a week at the most.

Some of our friends that have come up to help us with the cabin.

Cabin project

2010-04-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

Well, what began as a quest to add on to our existing cabin, turned into a full-blown new building. When it's complete we'll have a full kitchen and bathroom with a toilet that FLUSHES. Boy, are we going to feel spoiled. We're excited to be able to have more people up to the cabin.

Breaking ground....

Bringing concrete up to the cabin... one bucket at a time. The buckets are taken up by boat, then poured into a front loader which travels up the hill to the cabin then dumped into the foundation forms.

Bringing the lumber up the river, of course by boat!!

Eventually, to cut down on helicopter time, we sent the lumber up the river on the boats then had the helicopter take it from the boat to the cabin site.

Paul and Bryan standing on the walls

Volleyball star

2010-02-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

Nicole decided to try out volleyball this year and ended up having so much fun!! She turned out to be an excellent server and even scored 7 consecutive points for her team by serving. Her team ended the season winning several games and even one match which was wonderful considering most of the team was playing for the first time.

Climbing the wall

2010-02-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

During a day off school in February, we went to the UI climbing wall again (one of our favorite past times). The girls had a great time, as usual, and what great exercise!!

Mason's First birthday

2010-01-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

Our nephew, Mason, turned 1 right before Ashley's birthday so we celebrated both of their birthdays with a joint party in Coeur d'Alene. What fun to have a 1 year old gently diving into his first birthday cake.

Ashley turns 9!!

2010-01-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe our little Boo Boo is already 9!! She decided to invite several friends to a party at Bumpers in the mall for arcade games and bumper cars.

Grace, Ashley, McKenna, Emma & Reanna

Ashley asked for a "group present" from all of our family. She really wanted the Elizabeth American Girl doll and she was so excited to get her. She also ended up with a new bike since she had outgrown her old one.

More skiing!!

2009-12-27T21:55:00.000-08:00

After Christmas, we took a couple of days to go skiing. Poor Nicole got the flu on Christmas day so it took her a couple of days to recover but after that, she was a trooper. We went to Schweitzer one day and had a great sunny day, then the next day, we skied at Lookout Pass. The skiing was great, but it was very cold and windy.

Mom & Dad came with us just in case Nicole didn't feel well enough to ski.

The next day at Lookout... brrr

Christmas Fun

2009-12-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

Nicole got a Nintendo DS and was SOOO happy. I think Ashley was just as happy to not share her DS anymore.

Ashley was so excited to get her first NEW ipod... she's had hand-me-downs for a couple of years.

Taking the "Santa Cruise" out to Santa's workshop on lake Coeur d'Alene.

the lights in Lewiston... unfortunately, we didn't stop to take good pictures but here's a glimpse.

Ashley and Grace at their winter party at school

Ashley and her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Thompson

Christmas cookies

2009-11-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

Our annual tradition of making Christmas treats had to get bumped up a couple of weeks this year since we all got so busy. We decided to do it on Black Friday which made for a long day since we also, for the first time, decided to do the early shopping. We made it out by 7 for some special deals and back by 9ish to start on cookies. We survived!!

We give thanks

2009-11-26T20:30:00.000-08:00

We were so blessed to have lots of our family come down to Moscow for Thanksgiving as well as be joined by our friends, Mike, Colleen and Ashley Hinson. We had such a nice relaxing day and the food turned out wonderful as always.

The whole group of us...

B, Miles, Nicole, Jonalea, Ashley

Me and Muffin (Paul's sis)

The inaugural meal at our new 10 ft table... yay, the kitchen transformation is complete!

Paul and his sweet mom
The cousins... Mason, Miles, Nicole, Ashley

Playing in the leaves

2009-11-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

Ashley and her friend Grace were so excited to rake up our meager amount of leaves to jump in. They really like to wear matching clothes so they made sure both of them wore one of Ashley's ponchos and and since they didn't have boots to match they decided to each wear one of two pairs of different boots (confused anyone?) Ohhh to be 8 again.

Halloween fun

2009-10-31T21:16:00.000-07:00

We had a crazy Halloween this year considering the number of trick-or-treaters we have at our house (about 250) and Paul being out of town hunting. The girls ended up going with friends so I could stay home and answer the door.

Halloween at School

2009-10-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

For Ashley's "Harvest" party at school Ashley and Lauren had a great time wrapping Grace up as a mummy with toilet paper. They didn't end up being the fastest because they wanted it to look PERFECT. There's something to be said for being proud of your work :)

Last warm day on the river

2009-10-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

Ashley had been asking to have her friend Grace go on the boat for a long time and we finally found time to make it happen. All of the girls (and Miles) had fun fishing and playing on the beach.

Grace landing her fish, unfortunately it was wild so we had to let it go.

Halloween preparations

2009-10-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Our annual pumpkin carving... which Nicole conveniently was absent from. How sad that the girls are getting old enough that they don't enjoy this tradition like they used to. This is the happy smile before the cleaning of the guts started.

The finished product... an Ashley Hanson original

Growing up so fast!!

2009-10-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

School pictures have arrived...

Nicole - 6th grade

Ashley - 3rd grade

Our family baptism

2009-10-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we decided to get baptised as a family. Paul and I had both been baptised as kids but felt like it was something we wanted to do with the girls. What a great experience!! There were eight people all together and lots of others witnessing. What a great testament to God.

Our beautiful Palouse sunsets

2009-10-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are always so blessed with our gorgeous sunsets that we get to enjoy off our back deck.

Doggy swim

2009-09-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

We took Chukar to the "Howlin' at the Hamilton" event to benefit the Humane society. It was such funny chaos which Chukar added to.

the funniest video ever!!

Palouse Sprint Triathlon

2009-09-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

For the second year, we competed in the Palouse Sprint Tri. It was really fun and we managed to get a better time than last year.

Best Laid plans

2009-09-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so sometimes good intentions don't work out so well... We drove out to Elk River Falls to hike down to the falls. When we got there (hour drive) the road was closed :( Soooo... we went into Elk River and got a huckleberry ice cream cone and decided to go see the GIANT cedar tree. Well, it's quite a long windy drive so we found out. We changed our minds and instead went hiking at Spring Valley reservoir.

Labor Day fun

2009-09-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

For our annual Labor Day rendevous we took the Leachs into Hell's Canyon to play on the river. Ann had never been up the canyon and Paul is such a great guide. We were having a great trip until we decided to pull Nicole on the tube for a little ways and OOPS I didn't get the rope in fast enough when we stopped pulling her and the jet pump sucked it in and shut down one of our engines. Luckily, we have a twin engine so it only took us twice as long to get down the river. I'm always glad when Paul is driving the boat because I have such confidence in him (especially when we're coming down in the dark, oh and the fog :) ) What a sweetheart, I never once heard him get frustrated with me.

David & Ann
Adam & Eric

Brad
Nicole tubing

First Day of School!!!!!

2009-08-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah... we were ready for school. I think Ashley could have gone to school all summer and was definitely excited to start 3rd grade, especially because she has Mrs. Thompson, in the BIG hall. It makes me sad to think I'll never be in the little hall of McDonald for one of my kids again :(

Nicole wasn't as excited... I think the nerves were playing a major role in her reluctance to go back to school. She had a great first day of 6th grade though and loves her teacher Mrs. Parce.

It was sooo nice to have warm weather this year. Last year the girls started the first day in winter coats.

Berlyn, Nicole and Tiffany

SOME of our cute little neighborhood kids that come to our house every morning to walk with the girls. Ashley, Jessica, Grace, Erica, McKenzie, McKenna

Summer's last blast

2009-08-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

We told the girls that we would take them and their friends out on the boat sometime during the summer and it never worked out so we finally found an afternoon/evening and took them out. We forgot the tube to tow so we used a rope and got inventive with it.

Ashley and Hannah

Berlyn, Nicole and Tiffany

A fun video of our rope tow. Like I said, we had to get pretty inventive.

Nicole's weekend

2009-08-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

For Nicole's weekend, we took her down to White Bird and put our raft in for a little float trip. The weather was great and we really enjoyed the sunshine. Nicole got to row the boat a long way.

We got to see this really cool beaver.. UP CLOSE!!

Ashley's Mommy/Daddy weekend

2009-08-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

For the last several years, we have taken the girls separately to do something for a weekend. This year we took Ashley camping, complete with 4-wheelers and BB gun. We discovered that Ashley is a VERY good shot.

The puppies are growing!!!

2009-08-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Nicole went up to spend a weekend with Nana and was able to see the puppies while she was there. They are about a month old in these pictures.

My 20 year HS reunion

2009-07-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

At the end of July, I went down to Layton, UT for my 20 year high school reunion. It was SOOO much fun seeing everyone after 10 or more years.

HS BFF's Kris, Staci, Me

More BFF's Tammy, Tobie, Brooke, Jill
The whole bunch of us...
Quinn, Me, Jill, Pat
Me & Tammy
Tobie, Angie, Jill, Tammy, Me

Playin' with cousins

2009-07-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

While Natalie, Cassidy and Gabriel were here we went to the gold mine in Kellogg, Id (never even knew it existed). The kids had a great time touring the mine and panning for gold.

Next we went to Silverwood (another summer MUST) and got completely SOAKED on the rafting ride, which was a welcome relief to the heat. We all planned well with our clothing choices... light weight fabric that dries fast, but not too thin that your underwear shows through :)

The Puppies are here!!

2009-07-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

We headed up to Coeur d'Alene to visit with my sister and her kids who came in from Nebraska for 3 weeks. They had planned on coming down to Moscow for a week but Nicole ended up with pneumonia and was down for the count for the week. Who gets pneumonia in the summer? I guess it was God's way of slowing us down for a week. When we got up to Cd'A, we went to see Chukar's new puppies... 4 girls and 2 boys. They are 8 days old in these pics... eyes still closed and everything.

Happy 4th!!

2009-07-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July, we continued our tradition of watching the Coeur 'd Alene parade and BBQ'ing at Carol's house then making our "flag" cake.

our other tradition - 4th of July toes
Nicole with baby Mason

visit from family

2009-06-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

At the end of May, my dad, step mom and brother came for a visit from Nebraska. They stayed for a week and joined us for the track meet and a campfire in our back yard, among other things.

enjoying a campfire in our backyard complete with s'mores.

my brother Mike with the girls.
Paul with my dad and brother

5th grade track meet

2009-06-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

All of the 5th graders in Moscow participated in a track meet at the Jr. High. It was so fun watching them and Nicole's relay team placed first in their race. She also placed third in her individual race.

Playin' on the river

2009-05-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

Also in May, we spent the weekend at the cabin cutting down all of the grass and brush. The water was so high that there wasn't much of a beach so the girls and Nicole's friend Tiffany played on the 4-wheelers and played down by the water.

Chukar and Abbie sittin' in a tree... K I S S I N G...

2009-05-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

In May, we had a guest puppy at our house, her name is Abbie and she was staying with us with the intention of welcoming puppies into the world within 8 weeks. The date week was successful... although very funny and informative - who knew that dogs get stuck together sometimes for almost 20-30 minutes - I sure didn't. Abbie became a quick member of our family - if only for the week and was soon cuddling with Chukar on Ashley's bed.

Nicole's birthday

2009-04-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Nicole decided this year to have a few friends over for a sleepover and games. Her friends, Berlyn and Tiffany and Matthew joined us for lots of fun and Ashley got to invite Grace over for the sleepover and festivities.

We borrowed a few ideas from our good friend Kecia (thanks!!) and they did a "blind-folded lipstick" game and "find the chocolate chip in the whip cream" game. We also did a scavenger hunt which was fun but WAY TOO SHORT. They could have gone on for an hour with that.

Wrapping up the evening were, make your own pizza, sundae bar and finally a "bawl fest" with the movie "Marley and Me". Paul and I unfortunately couldn't stay up late enough to see the movie.

Nicole is the first victim of the lipstick

the start of the scavenger hunt

Matthew dives into his whip cream
Nicole and Tiffany find their chocolate chip
the oh-so-fancy fruit kabobs that I saw on the food network the day before Nicole's party and decided to duplicate. I'm all for duplicating other people's good ideas, can you tell?

Bapa and Gada with the girls
Nana with the grandkids

Grampa B with the grandkids

EASTER

2009-04-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

What a fun Easter... since we made it back from our Tucson trip in time, we were able to celebrate Easter at Carol's house. The girls had a blast hunting for Easter eggs with their cousin Miles and since Mason wasn't old enough to hunt, we'll just have to wait until next year. This year, the girls decorated their eggs with Gada while we were in Tucson and boy did they turn out BEAUTIFUL!!

Happy Birthday Nana!

2009-04-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

For Carol's (Paul's mom) 60th birthday, we celebrated at the Coeur d'Alene cellars (which she loves) and Paul's sister Muffin did an outstanding job of organizing everything for it. It was somewhat of a surprise... she knew something was happening but not the details.

SURPRISE!!!

Paul, Me, Carol, Muffin, Keith
Keith, Paul, Carol, Bryan, Craig

Mimi, Muffin, Carol

Fly Fly Away

2009-04-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Every year, Paul and I go to a warm location for our company's conference. This year, it was Tucson and being somewhat close, we decided to fly ourselves there. We had such a great adventure getting there and almost not making it back it time and enjoyed every minute of it. Paul especially had fun planning the whole trip. We flew over the Grand Canyon and stayed the night in St. George, UT and even contemplated having to stay in Cascade because of weather. In the end, we made it home in time for Carol's 60th birthday party.

The BIG fluffy clouds that we flew over on the way down... the picture DOES NOT do it justice.

our planeflying away from St. George (that is the landing strip on the bluff)

ha ha ha... no this isn't our plane... just a dream we saw at the St. George airport :)

What!!!??? Snow??? But it's April

2009-04-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

I know... every year we can't believe it snows in April, but it usually does. I think we're just so sick of it by then that it shocks us. Here are some crazy pictures of the morning before it melted off.

Moscow's Got Talent

2009-03-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Every two years, McDonald Elementary puts on a talent show for the students to participate in. This year Nicole and her friend, Tiffany chose to do a version of "Evolution of Dance" They were quite a hit and really had fun doing it.

You can check it out at

http://www.youtube.com/v/dQW0Lyqhiwc&hl=en&fs=1

Basketball time

2009-03-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

We signed Ashley up for her first season of basketball and had such a great time watching these little girls play. They had fun coaches and Paul even got to coach one game.

Of course, there was only one girl on her team that had ever played before (her friend Grace) so the point spread was a little skewed. Luckily, they didn't seem to mind losing every game by at least 20 pts.

FUN AND SUN IN HAWAII with the girls and Nana

2009-02-10T21:57:00.000-08:00

For the first week of February, we took the girls and Paul's mom to Hawaii for a week. We stayed on Maui and it was the first time for the girls and Paul's mom. It was so fun watching the girls get comfortable in the water with their snorkels and fins and seeing the fish. I really thought once they saw the whales out in the ocean, they might think twice about swimming in it but they didn't seem to have any fear of that. We also had to spend some time shopping, what would a vacation be without it !!
Here we are getting ready for Paul's mom to take a picture of us and....

WHAM !!! big wave comes and almost knocks us over. Funny how the girls don't seem affected by it... could it be that they're already used to the temperature?

Just waking up...
whale watching off the deck of our condo.

The famous "Black Rock" where we went snorkeling.The girls and Nana head back to Idaho... gonna miss them.

Happy Birthday Ashley

2009-01-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

For Ashley's 8th birthday, she wanted her friend Grace to spend the night so we bought a couple of craft kits and the girls had a blast "creating their masterpieces"

Nicole and her friend, Berlyn.

Ashley and Grace dancing with their glow bracelets... who knew you could have so much fun for $1 ??

First ski day of the year

2009-01-19T11:58:00.000-08:00

Last year, the girls got one lesson in before the season ended so we were very excited to be able to spend the Martin Luther King weekend up at Silver Mountain with our friends, the Clevengers. We spent two days skiing and the next day stayed at the water park all day and had a blast.
It was so fun watching the girls pick up the skiing. They were very nervous about getting on the ski lift but by the end of the weekend they were so confident about it - Nicole was even riding them by herself.

Pat and Will Clevenger

Will tried to hold on as long as possible but just couldn't make it any longer.

Nicole did a great job "surfing"

Welcome Baby Mason!!!

2009-01-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

We welcomed our newest nephew into the world on January 14th. He's a beautiful little boy and already surrounded by love.

We celebrated Ashley's birthday with Muffin, Keith, Miles, Nana and Mimi while we were visiting baby Mason.

More snow!!!

2009-01-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the snow "hanging" off our roof.

Back to School... or not!!

2009-01-05T13:30:00.001-08:00

In what was supposed to be the girls' first day back to school after the Christmas break, we got over a foot of snow and huge gusts of wind which resulted in our first SNOW DAY of the year.

Here's Ashley on our deck that had about 1-2 inches in it yesterday.