"Explorer Spirit…Servant Heart…"
May 1st, 2012 by leigharev2
13.1 miles in Sacramento!
Waiting at the starting line with Crystal and Elyse…
The Capitol in the distance…
Crystal kept saying that I would need to carry her over the threshold. I told her that if I had enough reserves at the end, I would!
My sweet boys were all waiting for me at the finish line. They surprised me!
Post run picture with running buddies, Shanti, Tina, me, Crystal, and Carrie
May 1st, 2012 by leigharev2
The following week the Cheneys left, the Carson family from Seattle joined us for their Spring Break!
The weather had turned and for the most part was rainy, something that could have been a major downer for sun seeking Northwesterners. However, Tim had just agreed to a book deal with a very short deadline. The poor weather made it easy for him to buckle down and get a good chunk of writing completed. His boys and our boys get along so well, the weather did not matter.
I took the boys to the Discovery Museum. There was a little break in the weather and the turtles in the pond were soaking up as much sun as they could before the clouds re-convened.
Buddies for life!
‘R’, ‘J’, and ‘A’ as Roy Chapman Andrews, the real life “Indiana Jones”…
TJ looking at salt and sugar crystals, etc…
The human sundial…
Rollin’ with the homies!
John’s Pizza twice in one week…I am SUCH A GOOD MOM!!!
Roller skating with our homeschool group…
On our last night, Tim recorded a bunch of karaoke songs and we sang the night away!
Apr 29th, 2012 by leigharev2
I was down sick, so David stepped up as the Easter bunny and decorated the table with treats. We spent a nice day in PJs, watching movies. I am so glad we were able to attend service on Friday. I would have been so sad to have missed out worshiping our risen Lord with the church body!
Apr 29th, 2012 by leigharev2
We have had a wonderful whirlwind of friends and family visiting. I have a few moments to try to catch up on the blog.
Upon returning from our WA/ID trip on a Friday, Antee Sara came for a few nights. Later that week, friends from our church in North Bend came down to spend their Spring Break with us!
Playing on the statue of Claude Chana, while on a country drive through Auburn…
Hanging out…
Kirsten and I broke away for a little while to visit Pottery World. I love wisteria, and was delighted to see it in bloom!
We took a field trip up to Empire Mine in Grass Valley.
The Empire Mine is the site of the oldest, largest, and richest gold mine in California. From 1850 to its closing in 1956, it produced 5.8 million ounces of gold.This 5.8 million ounces of gold would fill a box 7 feet on each side. It is estimated that this represented only 20% of the available gold…80% remains. The Park contains many of the original mine buildings, the owners cottage and the restored gardens and grounds as well as the entrance to 367 miles (the equivalent of a round trip from Grass Valley to San Jose) of abandoned and flooded shafts and tunnels. The park consists of 845 acres of forested back country and 12 miles of trails for hikers, bikers and horseback riders.
In this picture, the boys are looking at pieces of gold that came from the mine. This mine may possibly be reactivated now that gold is up in value.
We toured the beautiful grounds, Bourne ‘cottage’, and clubhouse.
Going into the mine…
Jam-man, catching up on some reading, and snuggling with Chelan 🙂
The boys running the golf course…
When David and I moved from North Bend, at the same time, a young couple moved into North Bend to serve as interns for our church. They became good friends with some of our friends, and that included the Cheneys. Topher and Kelly have now moved to our area and Topher works for William Jessup University. They joined us for dinner one evening. It was nice for everyone to catch up with each other.
Crazy children in an unheated pool…
David was so sweet and took the boys for an afternoon so I would take Jay and Kirsten to some local wineries. This is the Mt. Vernon Winery in Auburn…
Next stop, Vina Castellano in Auburn. Check out the door!
Cool cave 🙂
On the last night with the Cheneys, we all went to an early Easter service (on Friday)…
All dressed up in Easter finest! When we went shopping for a new outfit, I was planning on a Polo type shirt and slacks, but the boys wanted tuxedos. When I said no tuxedos, ‘A’ asked if he could at least have a tie, so this is the compromise. I joked that we are raising either Republicans, Mormon missionaries, or Souther Baptists!!
Worshiping with another set of North Bend friends who live here now, the Noes…
…then dinner at John’s Pizza.
It was hard to say goodbye, but great memories were made.
Apr 9th, 2012 by leigharev2
We returned from our WA/ID and the very next day, Antee Sara arrived, visiting from New York City. She could only stay a couple of days, and we maximized our time together.
It worked out that she was able to visit during ‘R’s birthday.
‘R’ chose a breakfast of Lucky Charms and orange juice.
David, Dan, and Chris (friends in our small group) led worship at Chris’s church on this day. It was fun to spend time worshiping together with almost our whole small group…
Dan, David, and Chris (AKA ‘Dizzy’)
Some of our small group young ladies…
The boys, with AC…
A little reverse psychology here… I wanted a picture of the two of them, but just when I took the picture, ‘A’ (boy), stepped out of the picture, leaving ‘E’ (girl) alone. He said ‘yessss’ when I told him that he was not in the picture. So, I responded, ‘that’s OK, ‘A’, really just wanted a picture of ‘E’. Then, when I went to take a picture of just ‘E’, he popped back in…
Back at home, the boys placed the Spring themed gel clings on the window…
‘R’s choice for dinner was ‘Mary’s Pizza Shack’. David accidentally knocked over his glass of water, so the waitress brought him a cup with a lid! We all had a good laugh…
Pizza coma…
On the way home, we noticed a greenbelt was inhabited by transient sheep. This is common this time of the year in the area. We often see a herd of sheep or goats chomping down on the public greenbelts…
David and I teamed up to create a fun evening for the family. The party after included the following…
Apr 6th, 2012 by leigharev2
The drive from WA to ID was lovely. The roads were terrific and the mountains, snow-capped.
This is a rest stop in Eastern WA…
Wind power in Eastern WA…
We arrived around dinner time to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. The next morning, we woke to snow!!
A little homeschool session…
Turkeys!
Spent an afternoon in downtown Sandpoint. It’s a fun place to explore boutiques, restaurants, and coffee shops.
Coldwater Creek’s flagship store is in Sandpoint. They have a wonderful bistro above the store. The boys were THRILLED to get to have lunch on the couches. They asked me to track down a restaurant in our hometown that has couches.
My hubby and his mama!
Their first Italian Sodas…
Nom, nom, nom…
Grandpa Randy is a master carpenter. He has a shop on his property and spends a good part of his free time in the shop…
‘R’ helps contain the sawdust…
‘R’s drawing of Luke!
Deer visit the backyard…
We enjoy visiting Eichardt’s Pub. They have an upstairs that rarely has visitors. Makes for a great family place to spread out. David purchased a couple of yo-yos for the boys. Grandpa is practicing as well…
Grandma made ‘R’ a birthday cake, and we had a sweet party celebrating our big guy!
They gave him a really need Lego set that actually creates a variety of contraptions. Here is the ‘noise maker’…
Grandma, enjoying her boys!
Mar 29th, 2012 by leigharev2
It is rare to get the whole family together. What a blessing to have my dad’s side together to celebrate my grandather’s 90th birthday!
Grandpa Jerry is the perfect example of growing older well. I often halfway joke that he will outlive me. I am so glad that I have his genes in me. There is hope that I can live a long, full life as well.
My wonderful aunt and uncle hosted the celebration at their condo. It was an intimate affair with just the nuclear family. We had a professional photographer come and chronicle the day. I don’t have those shots yet. Here are some personal ones…
We had a competition between my dad’s side and aunt’s side of the family of who knew more about Grandpa. One of the questions was how many of his descendants were taller than him. Here are the guys all lined up. My grandfather is far left, then my dad Gary, my brother Devin, my cousin Robyn’s husband Dan, my uncle Bob, my cousin Terry, and my hubby David…
My auntie had a lovely bouquet on the food table…she had Whole Foods cater the lunch. It was delish!
Me and my precious brother, Devin. He is an awesome LITTLE brother!
The great-grandkids patiently waiting for great-grandpa to blow out his candles!
As a family gift, we made a group graphic tribute. I had the daughter of a friend create the art and type. I love how it turned out.
Grandpa gifted us his printed autobiography. We had him sign them. I was able to read it in its entirety while riding from WA to ID. I loved it!! He covered not only details of family history, but also specifics of early 20th century farm life, and WW2 from the eyes of a pilot. He added his views of education and politics, and a little custom poetry! It is something I will always treasure.
Mar 29th, 2012 by leigharev2
Scott and Liann had us to dinner. The Potoshnik clan joined us. It was such a sweet night of pizza, wrestling, and baby chicks!
They had the living room and dining room cleared out for some remodeling. This created an ideal wrestling arena for Jordan and the boys!
The Smiths purchased a bunch of baby chicks and kept them in their sunroom, or as what ‘R’ calls it, the ‘glass room’.
The ‘babies’ got in on wrestling Jordan. Six to one were the odds…
The boys with Laura and Jordan…
Our fam, with the Potoshniks!
…and the Smiths!
Such a fun night! Love you all!
Mar 26th, 2012 by leigharev2
New umbrellas 🙂
Our favorite pizza place. We ate here twice.
Me and mama…
Freshly shorn. Note the red highlights 🙂
Cheesecake Factory with Ama and KK
‘R’ decided to try calamari again…
…still doesn’t like it…
Mar 26th, 2012 by leigharev2
My good friend friend, Lacey, is stepmother to one teen, one college student, and one twenty-something out of the house. She and her husband, Rob, are also parents to 4 year old quadruplets. whom we always refer to as “the Babies”.
Well, we paid them a visit and I can say they are babies no longer! Talk about bundles of energy and articulation! Three girls and one boy. We spent a few hours with them and had a great time playing. ‘M’ loved to mug for shots, so I have a bunch of pictures of her stored away…
‘M’….
They use the counter to do gymnastics….
Here is ‘R’ attempting the same thing to no success…
…and ‘A’ tries. ‘W’ in the foreground…
‘T’ :)….
Lacey is going to hate me for posting this because she has no makeup on, but I think I turned out pretty good…
