Father's Day 2009

Father's Day 2009

A few gifts from the kids at home

I can't see what the envelope says, but I thought it was picture worthy at the time...

The kids are growing up way too fast! Brandon is 11 and Sarah is almost 14!

Little Sarah and I made these mosaic bird baths for Blake - this is before the grout.

We went to the Nampa airport to see the plane Blake has been flying - a Cessna 120 - small, slow and sturdy. But while we were out there we heard these Apache helicoptors and ran to get a look.

There were 4 or 5 of them doing take off and landing procedures - it was so cool to watch them! A definite highlight of the day!

Blake and the kids in front of the 120.

Having fun in the plane!!

Scary site - Brandon as PIC??? (That is pilot in command :))

This may be an even scarier scenario!!

After the airport, we went to my brother's for a Father's Day BBQ.

Brother Ben's ginormous burger!

I love my fam!

Little Sarah got herself in this predicament somehow. Mom and Angela sure had a good time torturing her. But if history is repeating itself - she instigated it and probably when given the chance to give up, didn't! Hummm - sounds eerily familiar.

I think I can see her adenoids!

LOVE the eyes on Little Sarah - also an eerily familiar look. I must have rolled my eyes a million times during my teenage years and according to Blake, I still do!

Will she EVER give up?? Not a chance - stubborness must run in the family!

Airshow

Earlier this summer we went to the Caldwell Airshow. It was pretty chilly and overcast, but we had a great time together.

Here we are at the airshow - while not planned, we were all wearing green this day!




Releasing of the doves - it was beautiful

Some cool, fun planes...

Mother's Day 2009

For Mother's Day this year, we flew to McCall. We had to drop the kids off too, so it worked out and was a lovely day. Blake doing the pre-flight

Kids patiently waiting and entertaining themselves.

Our passengers

The flight crew. I got to fly most of the way back home - which was fun and brought back a lot of great memories.

Sarah, me and Brandon

Blake, me and Brandon

Blake, me and Sarah

The passengers posing

While we were waiting for the drop off, McCall had this cool Super Goose on the ramp.

Blake in front of the Super Goose.

BBQ with the Mucklers

We had a BBQ with our good friends and had a great time. We love playing with the twins and the twins love playing with our dog Maddie.

Jordan throwing the tennis balls for obsessive Maddie

Hannah and Jordan love their uncle Blake. Here they are looking at bugs :) Probably a roly poly. I used to love those things when I was a kid.

Sweet Hannah

Looking for more bugs with uncle Blake

Hannah petting Maddie. Nearly everytime I see or talk with Hannah and Jordan, they ask about Maddie and ask where she is and talk about playing ball with her. Hannah loves Maddie.

No Doubt Road Trip

For those that know me, it is no surprise when I say that I LOVE Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. Blake and I went to their concert several years ago when they were here in Boise, but since Gwen went solo, they had not toured together in years. When I found out they were doing a comeback tour, I just had to go. I mean, who knows if they will ever tour again - right? So we took a road trip down south to Salt Lake. It has been years since we took a road trip, but with the economy, it was the most practical and economic choice, plus I thought it would be fun for us to spend several hours in the car together :) Blake was betting on me mostly sleeping, since I have to take Dramamine, not to mention, I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere!

We are on our way!

I can't even tell you how excited I was! We had floor tickets and I was part of the No Doubt Tour Club which gave us perks. The best one being, we got special access and didn't have to stand in line to get into the concert PLUS we got in over an hour before the general public, so I got front row seats! (Well, not seats, we were standing, but at the railing!)

Thank you Blaby for going with me - so glad to have you with me!

The next morning - tired eyes! One major blessing was the fact that I had enough Mariott points saved up, we were able to stay overnight for FREE!

My tickets to scrapbook. Notice my "Gwen" rocker nails :) I think I am getting too old for the floor though - more like a mosh pit with crazy young intoxicated and rowdy people. Blake had the worst of it as he acted as a guard around me keeping people from trampling me and pushing there way in front of me. It was insane - I don't know how many people I had to brace for and keep from pushing up in front of me - they would seriously put their hands on the railing under my arms and try to bully there way up or use there 4 year old kids as bargaining chips to make people feel bad and let them up. No place for children if you ask me! I had to hold my frame with my arms and use my elbows just to stand my ground. But I did it! Blake really didn't get to enjoy the show - it was more like a 3 hour workout for him. Needless to say, my floor days I think are over. I will get a seat up a level next time :)

On the road again - quick trip, but loved every minute. I didn't sleep on the way there, but have to confess I slept a lot on the way home! What can I say hun, you were right!

Mother's Day Celebration 2009

Since we were all together for Brandon's BD, we decided to celebrate Mother's Day after the birthday festivities. Blake's mom and Les were there, my mom and Dave, Angela and Ben and their two cuties, Blake's sister, Jennifer, and her family and us. It was really nice and we were glad to all be together to celebrate both special occasions.

We decorated this flower pot for mom, clearly she was excited about the red geranium :)

For Blake's mom, we decorated a coffee mug (she also got a geranium, but we didn't put it in the mug :)

My neices are so darling - I just love them! All was going well...

And then...

(I don't know how Blake caught this on camera)

I guess it is something I better get used to!

Angela's girl was doing a great job holding Chloe and talking to my mom.

Beautiful girls!

Ben and Ang's sweet boy playing with one of Brandon's cars on the stairs.

Ben and Angela