Happy Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Nate today! He is not too excited that he is (do I dare say it?)...30!!!! But it's been pretty fun to remind him of that fact for the past few weeks!

"How'd I get such a lucky guy?"

Relay for Life

Last Friday we attended our fourth annual Relay for Life in Idaho Falls. Nate was part of the Cancer Center team and their theme was: "Kick Cancer in the Boot." Hence the cowboy gear. As always we had a great time supporting an even greater cause. It was a pretty windy night but it didn't keep the spirits down. We stayed until 10:30pm and Nate got back up at 2:30am to walk around the track for an hour or two. It was a great event. Next year Nate got nominated as team Captain. He'll do a great job.

Here's Nate in his cute cowboy outfit on our way to the event.

Saying hello to Ed.

The cowboy and cowgirl.



Nate finishing up some salad. He is always good to clear up the food.


The Luminaria Ceremony.


We wish and pray that a cure will be found soon!

Family Fun

Over the 4th of July weekend my whole family was able to get together. It was great seeing everyone and spending time with the brothers, sister-in-laws, and the nieces and nephews. We started off the festivities with a little ice-blocking with cute Blaine. Nate and Blaine had fun times racing each other down the hill.



Ryker checking in on Skip.

Celebrating 3 birthdays. A 60 year old, a 30 year old, and a 1 year old. Can you guess which is which?

Paige and Blaine enjoying the festivities.

Nate and Jake getting ready for a water fight? By themselves?

Skip wouldn't leave us alone for a picture.

Blaine the Chef. He made his hat and mustache all by himself. Cute!

Nate hanging out with little Ty.

We had a lot of fun but wished we had more time to spend with everyone!

D.C. Trip

Not Washington, but Diamond Creek. We just got back from 4 days of camping with Nate's extended family. It's an annual reunion every year with some years getting close to 100 people in attendance. Nate gets so excited to go each year. He is like a little kid when we are getting ready to go. But I must say this year definitely stood out. Why you ask? Well we just so happened to rent a camp trailer. Best decision ever. It was actually Nate's idea and I have the suspicion he wanted to rent one so I would realize I couldn't live without it and that would give him more leverage to make an "RV" fund. Let's just say he is a step closer. I especially enjoyed the flushing toilet. I didn't have to hold it until my stomach hurt. I could go anytime I wanted and I also was also able to shower. That is camping in style!Our cute little RV. I like how you can see Nate's reflection in this picture. The trailer is actually a lot bigger inside than it looks. It can sleep up to 7. Nate and Brigham on the last day of camp...climbing one more tree.

The views around Diamond Creek.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. In fact, all of the picutres I took were on our way out of camp. We just had too much fun playing every day. Some of our highlights were as follows:

1) Getting lost on the way there. Nate's been there for the past 29 years and I am still confused on how he gets us lost every time. But we did make it eventually.

2) Playing a lot of volleyball, baseball, and kickball. But thanks to the baseball I rolled my ankle pretty bad and it is quite large. I look like I have cankles. Not my favorite.

3) Watching Skip getting mauled by all the little kids. They loved him.

4) Playing steal the flag Rambo style with marshmallow guns. Very fun.

5) Running 4.5 miles in the mountains with Nate's cousin. I about died. I was not use to the altitude and the trail we took was a a gradual incline. Not my favorite, but it ended up being really fun with Nate trailing behind us on his bike letting us know how far we were running.

6) And of course eating lots of snacks and delicious food and sitting around the campfire in the wee hours of the morning laughing our heads off with the family.

Until next year!!

One Last Adventure...

...in the Jeep that is. Yes. Sadly we are trading in our Jeep and old car for something bigger and better. It was sad to get rid of such a fun toy, but we realized it really hasn't been that practical since we live in an area which only sees the sun 2 months out of the year.

Which brings me to our fun adventure. The other night I was craving some good ol' tin foil dinners made right in the camp fire. (Don't ask why...I just love them!). So we packed up the Jeep and trusty Skip and went for a quick trip up into the mountains just to eat dinner. I wasn't ready to rough it overnight in the cold mountain air just yet. Thankfully we had the Jeep to get over this river. It was a road but because of all the flooding it has now turned into a small stream. It was a beautiful spot that no one else could get across with their camp trailers.

Nate with the Jeep. (Good thing he loves me more!).

Our View.

Getting a bit uptight because we were hungry and our fire was not putting out the hottest of coals.


Just being....Nate and Kayla. Need I say more?

Haiti...There and Back Again

On a very quick notice, Nate had the opportunity to go to Haiti again for 1 week with Haitian Roots. Unfortunately I was not able to go since it was such a short notice and pretty expensive to send him over. It was disappointing staying in cold Idaho while he got to see some of the same children we worked with last year. But I was happy he was able to go and have such a great experience. He spend most of his time interpreting like crazy for anything and everyone. He also spent a lot of time helping to unload supplies and distribute them out to the Haitian Roots children and their families. Here are a few pictures of his experience.

Still a lot of tent cities.Some re-building is going on, but unfortunately you can still see so much of the distruction from the earthquake everywhere you turn. The beautiful country amongst all the rubble.Some of the group Nate went with all piled in a tiny truck getting a ride somewhere.A typical Haitian kitchen.
Kids at the orphanage eating a typical Haitian spaghetti breakfast.

A cute little girl asleep at church.

Couldn't keep his eyes open!

Belinda and her little sister at one of the orphanages.
Nate with two of the boys we worked with last year...Stephenson and Kendi and their cousins. They are getting adopted!

I am so glad Nate is home safe and sound. Technology is pretty amazing these days and it was fun to talk with him on Skype a couple of nights he was over there. But the next time he goes he is not leaving me behind again!

Happenings

It seems like we have been really busy these last few months and then I think again and ask, "What have we been busy with?" I really don't know. Here is a little of what has been going on:

1. In March we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Wa-hoo!

2. Nate won the March Madness bracket for the Post Register and got to invite 20 friends and family members to Lucy's Pizzeria for all you can eat pizza.

3. We celebrated Easter. Can you guess which basket is from Nate and which one is from Kayla?

4. We did a little re-model project and tore out our front entry-way carpet area and sanded and stained the wood that was underneath it. It looks much better! Nate did a really good job.

5. And last but not least...Nate is going to Hait next week with Haitian Roots again. Crazy. It was a spur of the moment decision and I wish I could go with him this time but since it was a quick decision we couldn't affort both of us to go. I'm sure he will have great pictures and stories to share.