Adventures of Kris & Leah

Wednesday - day 6

2012-01-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Hapuna - Day 5

2012-01-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

Harbor & Luau - day 4

2012-01-17T10:37:00.004-07:00

The other side of the island - day 3

2012-01-16T01:17:00.005-07:00

Kona - day 2

2012-01-14T18:44:00.002-07:00

Aloha - day 1

2012-01-13T14:41:00.005-07:00

These videos are kind of dorky but thought you would enjoy. The first two are goofed up but I can't edit them on my phone...sorry for the neck ache.

It's 11:46 a in Kona. We are at Costco...Kris is shopping and Ruby is napping so I thought I would take advantage of the down time.

More later...

Xoxo

Holiday Recovery

2012-01-08T22:34:00.004-07:00

Yes we are in holiday recovery mode! Getting back in the swing of things and back to the old routine! I realized tonight when I went to download the camera and my phone there are A LOT of photos…I know I have a problem!

So…here are the rest of the photos from Christmas (we enjoyed our time with Papa Pro and all the family and friends we were able to see), Thanksgiving (yep that’s right…back in time), many visits to the park (Ruby LOVES the park…we can’t even say “park” or we are in trouble…she loves the swing and the slide), New Year’s, our first ride in Papa Bear's jet boat and then whatever random misc pictures I could find :)

2012-01-08

Ruby is also making great strides (not sure if the pun is intended or not :)) in walking on her own:

Just for fun...

Pictures!

2011-12-24T10:35:00.002-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Kris' birthday dinner and a few of the Christmas festivities we've taken in over the last few days.

xoxoxo

12/24 Post

November

2011-11-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

Gosh…my intention is to post more often than once a month! But these days seem a little busy. Hmmm the holidays?!? On that subject…Happy Thanksgiving to all. Unfortunately these pictures don’t include Thanksgiving…those pics are still on the camera. I’ll probably get around to posting those at Christmas..haha. Really, I will get on top of all of this!

Anyway, here are the remaining Halloween pictures, pics from our visit to our family in New Mexico (we even got to meet the newest member…sweet little Nathanial), Grandma Gene’s birthday and last but not least the Boise tree lighting ceremony.
Hugs and kisses to all…

October Post

The day before, the day before, the day before Halloween

2011-10-29T14:08:00.001-06:00

We got a head start on Halloween yesterday visiting Ruby’s local GREATS! We started off at Granny & Gramp’s and had a special visit from their good friend Lynn. Then off to Nampa we went to visit Grandpa Ford and Grandma Melva.

Now, when I went to download pictures from the camera I was shocked to find I hadn’t downloaded Auntie Tiff’s birthday from September 10th! MAN time flies! So we have some Halloween pics, Auntie Tiff bday pics, Uncle John’s Eagle fire station open house pics, etc, etc, etc. Whew…caught up for the moment!!

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funny videos..

2011-10-14T21:29:00.002-06:00

Just a couple fun and goofy videos...I'll hopefully do a picture update tomorrow. Ruby and I went to the Botanical Garden's this morning and visited the scarecrows...

Crawling!!!

2011-09-27T21:59:00.001-06:00

Can’t believe I am finally writing this blog! Whew! This video is about attempt 3 by Ruby this morning. Just out of the blue she decided it was time to cover more ground! I wondered if this was a fluke but she has proved that it was not! She has been a crawling maniac all day.

We did have the wonderful ladies from the Idaho Infant Toddler Program visit today to observe Ruby since we were concerned she hasn’t been progressing as fast as she should with her large motor skills. They were very pleased to report that everything looks good and got a good chuckle out of the fact that Ruby decided to crawl moments before they arrived. Needless to say they will be back in a month to check on Ruby’s progress.

Once again we are grateful for answered prayers! Goodness knows how much I love this kid, can’t imagine how much He does!

Leah

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-15T05:48:00.001-06:00

Well, Ruby survived her first visit to California wine country! She was quite the trooper and really did quite well given all the starts and stops, naps in the car, etc. We were grateful to have some extra hands available as well. Bob (Papa Pro), my mom (Grandma Gigi) and dad (Papa Bear) met us in Sonoma. Needless to say Ruby was well attended.

The weather was great (even a little hot) and the wine was even better. We enjoyed great food as well. I’ll have Kris write more details on both when he has the chance. Our special dinner out to Madrona Manor was very special and amazing!

Labor Day 2011

Pictures

2011-08-24T16:26:00.001-06:00

Just a few (hahaha)...

8-24 Post

It's official...she is ONE!!

2011-08-11T22:49:00.001-06:00

I think the photos say it all! Love to you all....Leah, Kris & Ruby!

8-11 Post

Ruby's 2nd First Birthday

2011-08-09T23:03:00.002-06:00

Yep…that’s right we celebrated Ruby’s first birthday with Grandma Linda, Grandpa Bob, Auntie Heather, Granny & Gramp, GiGi & Papa Bear Saturday night. Two down, one more to go!

A special thanks to Grandma Linda and Grandpa Bob for taking the long way around on their way to Montana to stop and celebrate with our little Ruby! As you will see from the pictures and the video Ruby entertained us all quite a bit. Hard to believe it has been a whole year…but this has been the best year yet!

You will also see a few extra misc pictures…we celebrated Grandma Melva’s 88th birthday with Grandpa Ford, Grandma Gigi, Auntie Tiff & Uncle John.

Happy Birthday to our little Ruber Duber!!!

Click on the picture to view all:

Post - 8/7

One of those quick updates....

2011-07-24T21:57:00.001-06:00

Here are pics from Father's Day, 4th of July and everything in between!

post 7-24

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T14:37:00.001-06:00

Ruby celebrated some her own independence of sorts this weekend:

1.First fireworks. We headed up to the cabin on Saturday where Ruby took in her first ever fireworks. Much to our surprise she did really well. Once the adrenaline wore off she actually fell asleep half way through.

2.She swam in a swimming pool for the first time and LOVED it. She made it look like she knew what she was doing!

3.She pulled herself up onto her knees, on her own, in her crib. Still no crawling…

4.And she’s added some new words to her vocabulary…not real words but Ruby words. We actually caught this on video yesterday.

As you can guess she is a busy girl accomplishing all kinds of “firsts” these days. Oh and she does have 3 teeth now and 3 more that will come through any day!

Like the dumb parents we are we actually forgot our camera this weekend. Thankfully Grandma Gene and Papa Bear were prepared so we do have some photos to post (not that we need to actually take more pictures…we know…we are those parents)…once I get a copy! I also just realized I’ve never posted the pictures from Father’s day…so more to come…

Happy 4th of July!
Love,
Leah, Kris & the Rubster…

The first 1st birthday...

2011-06-26T15:45:00.002-06:00

Whew I am behind on posts! Papa Pro was here a couple weeks ago and we celebrated Ruby’s first 1st birthday! At this point we have plans to celebrate Ruby’s birthday 4 times this summer! Maybe by the fourth time she will actually put the cake in her mouth!

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Memorial Weekend

2011-06-04T14:41:00.001-06:00

Last weekend we had the opportunity to fly over and spend some time with Grandma Linda & Grandpa Bob in Alder, WA. We had a great time trekking around the family homestead and honoring the memory of family and friends at the Alder Cemetery. It was a great time to catch up and hang out…which we don’t get enough of! Thank you for a wonderful weekend…and thank you to Granny and Gramp for the use of their wonderful trailer!

I’ve included picture from our trip and from John and Grandpa Ford’s birthday. We enjoyed a special celebration for Uncle John’s Big 3-0!

A quick update on Ruby. A little over a week ago she weighed in at about 24lbs and is 29 inches long. Her newest trick is that she has finally caught on to drinking out of her sippy cup! We are still not crawling…but that isn’t stopping her from getting around. She does plenty of rolling and scooting backwards to get to where she wants to go. Her doc commented on her abs…I’m guessing that’s from all the rolling around. Hmmm…maybe I should try that…

Click on photo to view all...

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Pictures, pictures, pictures...

2011-05-24T19:13:00.002-06:00

Prepare yourself...there are a lot of pictures here. We are doing a little catch up...Easter, Mother's Day and a little misc.

Click on picture to view all:

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And we're back...

2011-05-13T13:41:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. We’ve had some PC problems and it took us a bit longer to overcome them. I took these videos on Monday. Monday’s are my long days. I work in the office in the morning and at home in the afternoon. Since the day requires so much focus on my part and Ruby is still so easy (meaning non-mobile) I typically lay her on the floor in the office and she has the freedom to roll around and explore. Since I burry my head in my PC I always have at least one ear on her! It cracks me up how I will be working along and then all the sudden I realize Ruby is making a funny noise or no noise or whatever. You will see from these videos it’s a noise that caught my attention this time.

In the first video Ruby was right behind me. The second one is the perfect example of where her rolling and scooting often times gets her. Out in the middle of nowhere! I should mention Ruby is not crawling yet. She desperately wants to but she is very cautious…

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-26T14:15:00.001-06:00

Love,
Leah, Kris & Ruby

One happy Tooth Fairy

2011-04-19T22:25:00.001-06:00

Yes, Ruby's first tooth just broke through today! It looks like there are three more soon to follow...

Papa Pro…

2011-04-17T21:48:00.002-06:00

Last week we had a surprise visit from Papa Pro! Ruby enjoyed her time with Papa even though she was fighting a little bug. So far this kid amazes me…even when she doesn’t feel well she just powers through and does her best to be happy no matter what. We enjoyed our time with Papa and can’t wait to see him again in June!

The pictures include our birthday dinner with Kelly and crew. Ruby was a hit at the restaurant so much so that our waitress took care of Ruby while we ate! The lounge singer (yes we found the one restaurant in Boise that actually has a lounge singer) was having so much fun with her he sang her a few songs.

Click on the picture to view all (I'm not sure why but the pictures from the last post uploaded with the new post...sorry for the repeats)…

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It’s official…

2011-04-17T20:55:00.001-06:00

Winter is over. We celebrated spring Saturday…opening day of the Downtown Boise Farmers Market! AND it was 65 out! Wow!!!

The Wocket Update

2011-04-08T17:54:00.003-06:00

My apologies for another “quick” update. This video was taken a couple weeks ago when Ruby and I were at the cabin. Ruby got a kick out of Grandma Gene and the Wocket playing paddy cake. Other than a quick trip to the cabin we’ve been enjoying our spring weather (when it’s here) as much as possible. Unfortunately over the last 6 weeks we’ve been battling allergies (thanks to spring), the flu, ear infections, hives and our first trip to the ER. The ER was uneventful but gave me peace of mind…which was worth it!

Papa Pro is in town for a suprise visit and Ruby is enjoying his wiskers, glasses and love...

Click on picture to view all....

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Play date...

2011-03-16T16:12:00.003-06:00

Ruby had a play date with her best bud Max. Max is just a little over a month older than Ruby so its fun to see what is in store for us over the next few weeks!

Click on the picture to view all...

3-16 Post

Lights, camera, action...

2011-03-15T21:40:00.001-06:00

Here is what Ruby has been up to...

Pictures!

2011-03-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well while I’m at it tonight I thought I would post a few new photos. The bath photos are from a few weeks ago…Ruby LOVES to take a bath. I promise we don’t always bathe her in the kitchen sink...but it sure is a handy way to do it!

3-1 post

Ruby in action...

2011-03-01T22:23:00.002-07:00

Here is a video from a couple weeks ago…Ruby playing with Granny. Up to this point Ruby had been working on her “sitting up” and decided to pretty much sit on her own throughout this visit. Now she’s an old pro…

This video was from a couple nights ago. Ruby is becoming more and more aware of what Kris and I are doing…especially when we are eating or drinking. She’s been reaching for our glass when we take a drink for some time. At the last doc appointment we were told we could give her about 2 oz of tap water in lieu of fluoride supplements. And she loves it! Why haven’t we bought a sippy cup yet? Who knows! I’ve been looking for glass or metal ones…harder to find than I thought!

Happy Valentine’s Day

2011-02-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it’s been 6 months? Boy everyone says it goes by fast and they weren’t kidding. Ruby celebrated her 6 mo birthday by visiting her pediatrician, Dr. Kim. Dr. Kim had nothing but wonderful things to report…Ruby is doing everything developmentally that she is suppose to be! She weighed in at 18lbs (90th percentile) and measured 27.5 in long (95th percentile). Its official, she is growing.
I’ll keep this short…it’s late and I’m exhausted! The little guy you see in these pictures is our little Landon. He belongs to my cousin Lyndsay. He is the little one I’ve asked many of you to pray for. Landon was born with a major heart defect. He has been through two heart surgeries and a number of different procedures. We had the opportunity to celebrate his first birthday with him a couple weeks ago. And he is so amazing! You wouldn’t know that he has been through what he has been through this last year. So thank you again for the prayers. Our family is beyond grateful!

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Food!

2011-02-06T21:23:00.002-07:00

We started Ruby on cereal tonight...we both are learning how to do this! Unfortunatly Kris covered up the mic a few seconds in. Probably a good thing since we just end up sounding like dorks...

Best news ever…

2011-01-29T17:50:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update on Ruby’s doctor appointments…we saw Dr. Bettis (neurologist) a week ago Friday to review the results of the 2nd MRI. Little did I know it was the first time he was seeing the 2nd MRI. The radiologists reviewed them right after the MRI and since there was nothing alarming (thankfully) they just reported back that there were no new strokes. A huge relief!

Nothing sounds sweeter to your ears than the neurologist sitting next to you saying things like, “wow, this looks great…not nearly as much brain damage as I thought there would be. I’m surprised.” Basically the two small strokes that showed up on the first MRI were completely gone. The damage from the big stroke was not as extensive as predicted. We hope to get images of both scans in the next week or two to show everyone but I’ll try to describe it in the meantime. In the first scan the large stroke shows up in the back on the left side and it is just a big white triangular area. Dr. Bettis explained that it shows up white because there wasn’t any blood gong to that area in the brain. In the second scan, that area looks completely different. It’s not white anymore and it actually looks similar to the other side of the brain. You can see where there is brain damage but from what we expected looking at the first scan the brain damage is minimal. We couldn’t be happier. We will see Dr. Bettis again in about 6 months!

Later in the day we saw Dr. Lee, the pediatric ophthalmologist. They did a few tests to make sure Ruby’s eyes react the way they are suppose to. She also held up objects to get an idea as to Ruby’s field of vision. From what she can tell so far there isn’t a blind spot on the right side. She told us what to look for if we think Ruby is doing things to compensate but feels very confident that Ruby’s vision will be normal. We have another appointment in 6 month and hope that the results of our visits don’t change!

It amazes me that five and half months have gone by. I can’t even begin to describe the fun we are having. I feel like God has totally spoiled us with such a sweet baby girl. And it has been amazing watching God work in Ruby and heal her brain. I continue to give thanks to God for all He does and the wonderful people He has put in our lives.

The Rubester....

2011-01-19T22:19:00.005-07:00

A couple weeks ago I caught Ruby looking at herself in the mirror that hangs from her play yard and laughing at herself…too funny.

I think Ruby is officially the cutest 49er’s fan ever!

Click on picture to view all:

1-19 Post

She's a mover & a shaker...

2011-01-09T11:32:00.002-07:00

Ok, not really but she is a roller....

Kris caught Ruby on video midroll. This is the first time she has rolled over (on Friday). Yesterday we visited Granny and Gramp and she showed off by rolling over numerous times!

Happy 2011

2011-01-09T10:51:00.003-07:00

Whew…we made it to the New Year! I’m posting the rest of our pictures from Christmas-to-date. Prepare yourselves as usual there are a lot! We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed a visit from Grandma Linda and Grandpa Miller. It was wonderful seeing them but as usual their visit was much too short! Thanks to all our friends and family that spoiled us. We truly are blessed to have all of you (the readers and the non-readers of our blog) in our lives.

Love and Happy New Year!

Oh and there will be more blogs today (hopefully). Ruby rolled over for the first time on Friday and Kris actually caught it on camera!

Click on the photo to see all....

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2010-12-25T12:06:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas
Love,
Kris, Leah & Ruby

Doc update…

2010-12-23T17:36:00.001-07:00

Ruby visited Dr. Kim last Thursday (I guess that would be a week ago today…geez) for her 4 month check up. We are weighing in at 15 lbs 13 oz and we’ve grown to a full 26 inches. This puts Ruby in the 95th percentile for both weight and length. I always forget her head measurement but it is in the 75th percentile. Dr. Kim continues to be very pleased with Ruby’s progress and says developmentally she is right where she needs to be!

On Friday (last week) we also made it through our second MRI. And as predicted Ruby was quite the trooper. Of course she didn’t like the anesthesia…the nurse said it smells like stinky feet, so can you blame her? But once she was out of the MRI it took her about 15 minutes and she was back to being the little Ruby we know. It’s good to have that behind us and it’s even better that we haven’t heard from the neurologist! They only call with bad news! So, we will be seeing Dr. Bettis (the neurologist) on the 21st to compare this MRI with the last one…we can’t wait to see what has been going on in that little brain. We are thankful for modern medical technology! We’ll keep you all posted on the results!

We’ve been busy with all that comes along with the Christmas season. We were able to celebrate Christmas a week early with Grandma Melva…pictures below…

12-23 post

Some new tricks

2010-12-11T09:07:00.004-07:00

Ruby is starting to giggle a lot…

Ruby’s other new trick is rolling onto her side…she can almost roll all the way over. She’s got to figure out how to get past the arm that is in the way! Warning…this video is a little long!

Thanksgiving and then some...

2010-12-03T09:34:00.001-07:00

My apologies that Kris hasn’t finished the last blog. We went to Moscow for the U of I vs BSU game. Rumor has it this is the last one to be played in Moscow. Apparently the Vandal fans are just too mean and hurt the BUS fans feelings. Whaaaaa. We had a great time and our BSU friends and family members were great! And we didn’t hurt their feelings….

Anyway, since the big game we’ve been busy taking in the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Boise Capital, Thanksgiving dinner and watching little Miss Ruby grow.

Ruby is due for her 4 month check up in two weeks so we are excited to see how much she has grown. Her second MRI is scheduled for the 17th. This time they will have to sedate her, which has me very nervous, but she is a tough ol’ bird (that’s what we tell her) and she will do great. We can’t wait to see what the neurologist has to say after comparing this MRI to the first one…we’ll keep you posted. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Love,
Leah, Kris, Ruby, Judd & Elway

PS - more video on its way...

Click on the photo to see all...

12-2 Post

U of I

2010-11-21T22:32:00.001-07:00

I'll let Kris write this one...verbiage to come...

Click on the photo to view all:

11-21 Post

New Mexico or bust…

2010-11-11T14:23:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we had the chance to visit the Provencio family in New Mexico. Ruby was able to spend some quality time with Papa Pro and meet all of her extended family. We were honored to be a part of Grandpa’s 90th birthday celebrations.

I wish I could write more but I am off to pack for our weekend in Moscow….gooooo IDAHO!!! But I would like to thank Bob, Aunt Marty, Uncle Ray, Grandpa and the whole clan for such a wonderful weekend. You guys spoil us!

Click on the picture below to view all:

11-11 Post

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T22:26:00.003-06:00

I know…some of you may be wondering why I would bother dressing up a 3 month old but we had the opportunity and we took it! My sister-in-law, Tiffany, threw together a party last night and Ruby went as Curious George. Since you can’t have a Curious George without the Man in the Yellow Hat Kris humored both of us and played along! Thanks Tiff for the party…we look forward to next year!

Enjoy the pictures…

10-31 Post

The following video is a little long (about 3 min)...but Grandma Linda has been curious about Ruby's growth and progress. Ruby will sit in her Bumbo and actually grab her toys now...which she was doing with these spoons up until I grabbed the camera, of course!

Whew…

2010-10-20T10:59:00.001-06:00

Well, I’m getting to this post much later than anticipated. Since the last post we’ve had a few doctor appointments. I’m happy to report all the Doc’s had great things to say about Ruby.

We started off with some lab work on Wednesday. Watching Ruby give blood is still not any fun…in her case I don’t think giving it is either! But this was the best blood draw yet! It actually went pretty fast which was a huge relief. This lab was to retest her Protein C levels. As of Monday we are happy to report they are at 35! This is still a little on the low side as they would like to see her levels in the high 30’s to low 40’s at this point. Thankfully the levels still do not justify having to put Ruby on medication. Dr. Hansen is confident we don’t need to retest until she is a year old. Yea!!!

Thursday was a marathon day for me! Ruby’s hearing test at the Elk’s was at 10am. I needed to take her in hungry and tired. The hungry part I knew I could do because I just wouldn’t feed her…the tired part made me a little nervous. Ruby is pretty good about falling asleep just about anywhere…so my concern was how in world I would keep her awake. Thanks to my mom giving me several ideas to keep her stimulated we made it. It got a little rough around 8:30am as we were both exhausted, hungry and ready to just throw in the towel and go to bed but we managed. Amazingly Ruby stayed awake until we walked into the waiting room. At which point I proceeded to strip the poor child and start tickling her to wake her back up! Once we were in the testing room I was able to feed Ruby (what little she was willing to take due to her exhausted state) and then she went right to sleep. She slept through the test…which was what we needed!

They ran two tests. The Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) and the Otoacoustic Emission (OAE). Here is the Wikipedia definition of each. I could try and explain it myself but I can’t do it as well as the mighty internet!!!

ABR - Auditory brainstem response (ABR), also known as brainstem evoked response (BSER) is an electrical signal evoked from the brainstem of a human or other mammal by the presentation of a sound such as a click. Auditory brainstem response audiometry or Brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA), is a screening test to monitor for hearing loss or deafness, especially notable for its use with newborn infants. It is a method employed to assess the functions of the ears, cranial nerves, and various brain functions of the lower part of the auditory system, prior to the child developing to the point of describing a possible hearing problem. The procedure is to generate a brief click or tone pip from an earphone or headphone and measuring the elicited neuronal action potentials by surface electrodes, typically placed at the vertex of the scalp and ear lobes.[1] The potential of the signal in microvoltage is averaged and charted against the time (millisecond), similarly to an electroencephalography (EEG). ABR audiometry is a safe and painless test of auditory pathway and brainstem function in response to auditory or (click) stimuli.

OAE - An otoacoustic emission (OAE) is a sound which is generated from within the inner ear. Having been predicted by Thomas Gold in 1948, its existence was first demonstrated experimentally by David Kemp in 1978[1] and otoacoustic emissions have since been shown to arise by a number of different cellular mechanisms within the inner ear.[citation needed] Studies have shown that OAEs disappear after the inner ear has been damaged, so OAEs are often used in the laboratory and the clinic as a measure of inner ear health. Broadly speaking, there are two types of otoacoustic emissions: spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs), which can occur without external stimulation, and evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAEs), which require an evoking stimulus. OAEs are considered to be related to the amplification function of the cochlea. In the absence of external stimulation, the activity of the cochlear amplifier increases, leading to the production of sound. Several lines of evidence suggest that, in mammals, outer hair cells are the elements that enhance cochlear sensitivity and frequency selectivity and hence act as the energy sources for amplification. One theory is that they act to increase the discriminability of signal variations in continuous noise by lowering the masking effect of its cochlear ampliﬁcation.

Ruby passed both tests with flying colors! At this point we are not scheduled for any further hearing screenings!!!

Thursday afternoon Ruby had her 2 month check up. Dr. Kim is very impressed with how well Ruby is doing…she is developing normal and is right on track. Neither Dr. Kim nor we have noticed any weakness on Ruby’s right side…something we will continue to keep an eye on. Ruby also received the first of a few vaccinations. We’ll go back in this week and next week for her last two shots (my choice!!). But she weathered her first shot quit well…we had a little fever on Friday but with the magic of Tylenol she bounced right back!

Oh and before I forget she is 24.25” long and she weighed in at 11lbs 14oz.

Click on photo to view all:

10-20 Post

Ruby on the move…

2010-10-10T17:07:00.001-06:00

Miss Ruby has been busy these past few days. Last weekend we spent up at the cabin. It was wonderful to just kick back and relax, go on a few walks and see the progress on cousin Faye’s build job. It was Ruby’s first significantly long car ride…she did fantastic! Which means our trip up to Moscow in November is looking good!

Yesterday we went to Uncle John’s fire station in Eagle for an open house. It was pretty amazing! I may have toured a fire station as a kid but if I did I don’t remember it being quite this impressive. John gave us tours of the station and the fire trucks (Ruby and I missed most of it since we were running late). It was really cool. The station had all kinds of demonstrations and information for those of us that stopped by. The best demonstration was the one John did toward the end of the day. I can’t remember if there is a name for the demonstration but basically it is the test that they make all volunteers pass in order to, well, be a volunteer. I’m probably going to mess up this description a bit but here goes:

Dressed in full gear (I don’t know how much his gear weighs but he let us feel how heavy just his coat was…holy cow), John started off hauling fire hoses up 3 flights of stairs. Once at the top he pulled more hoses up the center that were tied to a rope then came back down the stairs and hammer this thing that weighed 165 lbs. Next, he had to haul another hose (full of water) and spray it. To finish, he had to drag Rescue Randy (I believe that’s his name), who weights 175 lbs, the length of the fire station. Hopefully I got the description and sequence of events right but ether way I think it gives you an idea. There is video footage below of most of the drill. I got snap shots of the first part…the video picks up once he comes down the stairs…it’s pretty cool.

Click on the picture to view all:

10-10 Post

Just for fun...

2010-10-04T18:19:00.003-06:00

This is a little long...but I thought for those of you that don't see Ruby very often you might get a kick out of seeing her in action!

Another overdue update…

2010-09-28T14:10:00.003-06:00

We saw Dr. Bettis, the neurologist, last Thursday. I intended to make a blog post Thursday evening and all the sudden it is Tuesday! The appointment went great and Dr. Bettis had nothing but positive things to say. He reminded us that out of all the neonatal stroke victims he has seen over his career, zero have had additional strokes. After examining Ruby he mentioned had he not known her health history he would look at us and ask why we had brought a perfectly healthy baby in to see him. Because Ruby is doing so well he asked that we put off the second MRI until December. Apparently the longer we wait the more information the MRI will give him.

Next month we will have Ruby’s Protein C level tested as well as her hearing. Dr. Kim will set us up with the ophthalmologist over at the Elks Rehabilitation Center in November.

This weekend we are headed to the cabin to introduce Ruby to the Great Outdoors! It will be nice to go play around in the mountains! Papa Bear has a lot of fishing stories he is ready to share with Ruby…well actually he’s just ready to take Ruby fishing and as willing as I’m sure she will be we will have to hold off until she can actually hold a fishing pole!!! I think Grandma Gene has some hiking spots we might check out…if nothing else we get to sleep in and get some good rest (and take a million pictures of Ruby)!!

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9-21 post

Check up…

2010-09-17T08:11:00.000-06:00

Ruby’s check up with the pediatrician went very well yesterday. She weighed in at 10lb 4oz (75th percentile), her head is the 75th percentile (I didn’t catch the actual measurements) and her length is 23.5in which they say is off the charts…

Dr. Kim was very encouraged to see how well Ruby is doing. They do a neurologic exam (I can’t really explain all that they do) but Dr. Kim was very happy to see that Ruby is doing everything she is supposed to be doing. Dr. Kim is following up with some of the folks over at Elk’s Rehab just to see what their recommendation is for additional early hearing and vision screenings. Since the big stroke occurred in the visual cortex Dr. Kim wants to catch any affects that might have had on Ruby’s vision or hearing early…the sooner we catch these things the better outcome Ruby will have with therapy.

Busy baby girl...

2010-09-15T13:47:00.002-06:00

Over the last few weeks Ruby has been busy continuing to meet all the friends and family that we are blessed to have in our lives. It just dawned on me last Thursday when we were visiting with Grandma Melva (one of Ruby’s GREATS) that Ruby has quite a few Great Grandparents! She’s had the opportunity to visit with her Great Granny & Gramp a couple times. She just met Great Grandpa Ford on Labor Day and saw Great Grandma Melva again last Thursday. Ruby is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to meet her Great Grandpa Provencio later this Fall as well as her Great Grandma Bolton!

This last weekend my cousin Lindsay and Aunt Jamie hosted a little shower in honor of little Miss Ruby. It was great to see a lot of the family and family friends we don’t see often enough. Ruby was surprised to see her Grandma Linda who flew in from Montana…an unexpected surprise! But, she wasn’t the only baby attending…we had Cousin Landon (almost 8 months) and one of Ruby’s best buds Max (2 months).

Ruby has her 1 month check up tomorrow with the pediatrician. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of progress we are making in the growing department! Next week we have a check up with the neurologist and we will be scheduling her 2nd MRI. From what we can tell she is doing great. She hasn’t shown any signs of seizures or any new strokes. She’s doing all the little baby things she is suppose to be doing…eating, pooping and wiggling both arms and legs a lot! I love every minute of it…

Love,
Leah

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9-15 Post

Willie Nelson

2010-09-08T12:43:00.002-06:00

was awesome! Ruby did great and for the most part slept through the whole thing!

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9-8 Post

4 weeks today!

2010-09-07T17:34:00.001-06:00

Ruby is officially 4 weeks old today and weighed in at 9lb 12oz. To celebrate we are taking Ruby to the Willie Nelson concert tonight! Of course when we bought the tickets we had no idea that Ruby would be born on Tuesday, Aug 10th…but it just worked out that way! I can’t imagine a better way of celebrating being 4 weeks old (all the other Willie fans know what I’m talking about..)!

Ruby and I enjoyed having her daddy home this past week. It gave us an opportunity to get use to getting out and about a little more. I also had a visit from my dear friend, Teresa. Ruby is slowly but surely getting to know everyone!

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9-7 Post

Overdue update…

2010-08-29T16:34:00.001-06:00

Just a quick update…Kris hasn’t had time to do a post so it’s up to me (the non-worder). This past Monday we visited the hematologist, Dr. Hanson. He had relatively good news to share with us. All of Ruby’s blood tests came back ok. Her Protein C retest still came back low but not as low as it did the first time they tested it. Protein C is a substance that helps prevent clotting. The first test came back under 5 and this second one came back at 22. Dr. Hanson said the level she should be at is about 30…which is better than we were originally told which was 75-80. Because her levels weren’t as (extremely) low as originally tested, Dr. Hanson doesn’t feel it is necessary to put Ruby on any medication! Another prayer answered! We will do a follow up blood test in a couple months (about the same time we do the 2nd MRI) just to make sure her Protein C levels keep going up. If her levels remain low we may have to put her on medication eventually…we will continue to pray that this is not the case.

We also had our first big outing this week (other than to the doctor’s office). On Friday I was able to take Ruby in and show her off to all of Kris’s coworkers. As most little babies do, she got quite a bit of attention as her proud Papa introduced her to everyone. We were also able to make it to the downtown Boise Saturday market for the first time (with Ruby) and out to coffee with friends. Later in the afternoon we visited her Aunt Heather and made it to Target to pick a few things up. We also took the dogs for a walk this morning! Its official…she is mobile!

Thanks again to all of our family and friends. Your love and support through all of this has been tremendous and means the world to us. We also give thanks to the Lord for all the answered prayers and the love He shows us every day. It’s pretty awesome…

Love,
LPro

8-29 Post

Whirlwind (epilogue)

2010-08-22T10:25:00.002-06:00

We would be remiss in not mentioning how much support we have received over the past couple of weeks. We have been very blessed by so many different people since this whole adventure started two weeks ago tonight. While we couldn’t possibly hope to mention everyone who has helped out, we certainly want to send out our most sincere thanks.

From all of the gifts, to the people who were there for the delivery, to the people who had meals brought to the house, to the folks who have watched the dogs and the house, to the people who made sure that we had a nice anniversary dinner on the night we came home from the hospital, to the people who have visited from out of town – we appreciate all of you and all you have helped us with.

It has been overwhelming to experience such an outpouring of love and support. If we have not had the chance to personally thank you, we definitely apologize, but we will get to it, as we appreciate all of you a great deal. Ruby is very lucky to come into a world where so many people are there for her and her family.

Sincerely,
Kris, Leah, & Ruby

Whirlwind (pt. III)

2010-08-22T10:14:00.001-06:00

Sorry this last part is so late in coming – things have been busier than we expected as we get back into our daily routines.

We were able to spend a couple of days back home with Ruby after they initially discharged us from the hospital. We knew that we wanted to be home with her, but we didn’t realize how nice it was to be in familiar surroundings and have all of our things available until we got there. We really enjoyed just spending time with Ruby during these couple of days.

On Friday, 8/13, we took Ruby in for her MRI. They were kind enough to use highly concentrated sugar water to sedate her instead of any kind of narcotic, so we were very thankful for that. Unfortunately, we could not be in the room with her for the MRI, so it was a difficult 40 minutes to wait – I don’t think that she had been away from both of us for that long at a time since she had been born. Of course, she probably didn’t notice at all, but it made for a long wait for us. At the end of that 40 minutes, the MRI technician brought her back to us and said that they had been able to get all of the pictures they needed and that they would get the images to her neurologist (Dr. Bettis) as soon as they could. We were very relieved to know that at least they would be able to see whatever they needed if something was there.

Our neurologist appointment was scheduled for 2:45 that same day and we were hoping that he would be able to walk us through the MRI results. Much to our surprise, we received a call directly from Dr. Bettis himself at about 10:00 that morning. He asked us to bring Ruby into the hospital as soon as we possibly could, as he saw evidence of multiple strokes on the MRI. Naturally, we were fairly concerned, so we got her to the hospital and up to the pediatrics unit within about 5 minutes of Dr. Bettis’ phone call. They found us a room quickly and proceeded to examine her and run her through multiple tests. At first, they ran through an echocardiogram to look at her heart, and then tried to collect enough blood to run a whole battery of blood tests. Collecting the blood was extremely difficult – they brought in 4 different teams of nurses before they could get anyone to find a vein, and even then, they had a hard time collecting blood because she was so dehydrated (as most babies her age are), so they had to settle for a small subset of blood tests to run. This was a fairly scary time, as lots of things were happening, but we didn’t have a lot of information to help us understand everything.

Thankfully, Dr. Bettis was able to come talk to us late that morning to explain what was going on. We were going to have a cardiologist look at the echocardiogram to make sure that Ruby’s heart was working properly, then have a hematologist come look at the results of the blood tests to make sure that she didn’t have a condition that caused her blood to clot more easily than it should, then they would keep her overnight to run a longer EEG test to take a larger sample size of her brain activity in order to determine how much seizure activity was still happening.

After the flurry of initial activity, thing slowed down a bit as we waited for the different doctors to come talk with us. First, we spoke with the cardiologist. She had taken the time to look a the echocardiogram, and she said that everything looked very good. The heart was their main concern, as she could have some sort of growth that was sending fragments up into the brain, or maybe it was passing blood clots that did not get absorbed by the lungs back out into the body. Thankfully, neither were true and everything seemed to check out with the heart.

Next, we talked to the hematologist, Dr. Hansen, about blood clotting and the possible causes of clotting in the body. It was very informative, but we didn’t have any hard results to discuss at the time, so we talked mostly about what could happen. He made us aware that it may be most prudent to go on anticoagulant medication even before we received any test results, but that he would talk to some of his colleagues and do some additional research before he actually made a recommendation.

We spent most of the rest of the day watching some more folks come and try to take more blood for the tests and just waiting for results. They sent us to the Pediatric ICU so that they could more closely monitor her heart rate and see if it was dipping too far if/when she had seizure activity. They brought in the EEG machine and hooked her up so that they could take readings throughout the night. While it is never fun to spend time in the ICU, I will say that at least they have rooms large enough so that it is easy for two people (in addition to the patient) to spend the night (albeit on chairs of one form or another).

The next morning, Dr. Bettis came in fairly early to review the results of the EEG. After looking at them for only a few minutes, he mentioned that they looked much better than the results of the initial EEG only a few days before, and that it showed that her brain had already started healing itself. This also meant that he felt comfortable not putting her on seizure medication unless/until we got new information that would cause us to re-think that decision. He was also kind enough to show us the actual MRI images and walk us through what he had seen. It turns out that two of the strokes she had were fairly (very?) insignificant, and should have no lasting impact on her whatsoever. The third stroke was definitely more significant, as in one image, it had affected about 1/6 of a cross-section of her brain (the area dealing with vision, and even running somewhat into the area that dealt with motor skills). After walking us through the images, he also discussed with us the resiliency of an infant’s brain. He said that she could potentially recover from these strokes with little or no impact to her everyday life as she gets older. Her brain should re-route many of the functions that normally reside in that part of the brain to other, healthy parts of her brain. This was very encouraging and really helped us to relax somewhat.

We also saw Dr. Hansen that morning, and he mentioned that he had only seen the results from one of the blood tests. It had came back negative, so that was good news, but we still had many others still pending. He also told us that after consulting with multiple other specialists in the area, he recommended that we do not put Ruby on anti-coagulant medication. The consensus was that unless they received results from a test that showed that she had a significant need for such medication, it did not make sense to take on the risk associated with anti-coagulants for the chance that they may solve a clotting issue. This was yet another relief for us, as we really wanted to avoid regularly giving medication to Ruby this early in her life if at all possible.

We spent one more night in the hospital as they wanted to be sure that she was eating well and her heart rate was still not dipping too far when she rested. They wanted us to see a lactation consultant and a physical & occupational therapist to make sure Ruby was breastfeeding well before they let us go. As with some other things in the hospital, this took longer than expected and we ended up waiting until nearly 2:30 in the afternoon the following day before someone was able to see us. Somehow there was a miscommunication about what had and had not happened, so we may have stayed another night if we had not followed up fairly often with the nurses to figure out what still needed to happen. Of course, when we were able to see the physical and occupational therapist, she said that Ruby was eating very well and she really had no need to even follow up with us at a later date. While we probably could have told her that, it was nice to hear her say that, and we were on our way home.

After all of this, we are finally at home and enjoying our time with Ruby. She is doing very well and continuing to do all of the things that newborns do (she has already gained a full pound over her birth weight). We love her very much and we look forward to continuing to spend time with her as she grows. In the meantime, we are still awaiting the results of her blood tests to see if anything else needs to be done. In talking with the neurologist on Friday, he said that it is entirely possible that we do not find the cause of the strokes and won’t be able to exactly explain what happened. While that is somewhat frustrating, it is also very encouraging that they would have looked at all of these potential causes and everything would have checked out. If that is the case, we fully expect Ruby to grow up and function like a normal child and deal with all of the issues that most kids have to endure. Dr. Bettis mentioned that she may end up having blind spots in her vision, but that may be the worst that she has to experience. If the blood tests do turn something up that we haven’t yet seen, we will work closely with Dr. Hansen to determine the best course of action to treat that. From the best that we understand, Ruby is doing very well right now, and unless she suffers another stroke, she should be able to grow up and function fairly normally throughout her life. We still need to keep an eye out for some of the warning signs of seizures or strokes, but we will just keep praying that she will be able to avoid any further damage to her little brain.

I hope that helps to bring everyone up to speed. We will continue to try and post information as we get more. This has been a long couple of weeks, yet we are very excited to have Ruby and look forward to her spending time with both us and all of you as she continues to grow.

[One of my favorite quotes from Kris - "I always wondered why people took so many pictures of their kids...now I get it."]

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Day 3-7 post

Whirlwind (pt. II)

2010-08-17T14:39:00.002-06:00

After Leah gave birth to Ruby early Tuesday morning, the nurses put Ruby through their standard series of tests over the course of the first few hours of her life. Even before she was examined, the hospital staff was marginally concerned about infection. Because Leah started labor from home, and her water broke several hours (~9) before she received any antibiotics, they were continuously looking and checking for infection. I think this is just one of those things that hospitals respond to very conservatively, as the last thing they want is to deal with an infection, but I also doubt that they would be nearly as concerned about it if Leah would have been in their care from the beginning. In her initial examination, the main issue they discovered was that Ruby rhythmically moved her right arm for almost 15 minutes. They mentioned that sudden twitches or strange movements from babies are normal, but that rhythmic movements such as these could actually be a form of seizures. We somewhat dismissed this, as the nurse downplayed the significance quite a bit, but it turned out that this would be more important than we had ever imagined.

The other issue we had to fight in the hospital was Ruby’s blood sugar level. The hospital will test a baby’s blood sugar a few times shortly after she is born. They initially tested her blood sugar about 2 hours after she was born, and she had a very good reading - a 108. A couple of hours later, they came back to test her again, and she only tested out at a 48 (they always want a baby’s blood sugar reading to come back > 50). Well, unbeknownst to us, that triggered a series of 7 follow-up tests to make sure that she can maintain her blood sugar levels. The problem with this whole situation is that the second test is to determine whether or not she can maintain those levels after she has been fed, yet Leah had not had the opportunity to feed Ruby yet, so it seems like that would invalidate the test, or at least they would postpone the test until she had fed Ruby. Unfortunately, neither were the case, so Ruby had to endure 7 more tests throughout the course of the day (all coming out > 50 since she was actually able to eat by that time). This was fairly frustrating, as it seems that no one used any context to make many of their decisions, so you were somewhat at the mercy of hospital protocols regardless of the true nature of the issue.

As a result of the rhythmic movement in her initial exam, they also put her through an EEG test (measuring the electrical impulses in the brain), some blood work (to determine if she had any infections), and an ultrasound of her brain (to see if they could find any structural issues). Thankfully, both the blood work and the ultrasound came back showing no issues. We were not so lucky with the EEG. The EEG showed significant seizure activity going on in her little brain, and all but confirmed that the movement she exhibited in her initial exam was in fact a seizure.

This was obviously very difficult information for two brand-new parents to process, given that all we could see was our near-perfect baby girl. It is just not something that you prepare yourself for mentally. Thankfully, we had a wonderful neurologist come and explain the implications to us, which helped to put some information behind the initial news. It was still a little scary, but he said that this can obviously happen with newborns, and that many times, they will actually outgrow it to the point where we wouldn’t even need to worry about it a few years down the road. As a result, he scheduled an MRI for Friday and said that he would follow up with us that afternoon to discuss the results. Until then he felt we would be just fine heading home and watching for any more signs of seizures instead of having to wait it out at the hospital (hallelujah!).

That is kind of the scary part of those first few days, but on the other side of things, it sure was great to have so much family and so many friends come by to see Ruby. I think all of the grandparents were able to hold Ruby within a couple of days of her birth, and they all beamed from ear to ear, just as you might expect. In addition to the grandparents, Ruby was able to meet several of her aunts and uncles for the first time and many of her “inherited” aunts and uncles. It was also great for us to just see her and hold her and generally take everything in. Those first moments are so precious, and I am glad that we were able to savor them with her. Despite the knowledge that she had experienced seizures, she really displayed no outward signs of behaving unlike any other newborn, and we enjoyed every moment we spent with her.

I hope to get everything up to date with pt. III, coming shortly…

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Days 1-2 Post

Whirlwind (pt. I)

2010-08-17T13:15:00.002-06:00

Whew!

We are finally catching our collective breaths after the birth of our beautiful daughter, Ruby, enough to post something on our blog. We had hoped to do this much sooner, but as you will read below, we have all had to deal with a little more than we initially bargained for. In a nutshell, we are very happy to finally be back at our house with Ruby and starting to establish our new routines with her as part of the family. She seems to be doing very well, as she is prolific at doing all of the things that new babies do (eat, sleep, poop). We are ecstatic to have her, and we are really looking forward to seeing her grow and develop over the course of many years to come.

As many of you know, Leah intended to give birth to Ruby here at our house under the supervision and guidance of the wonderful people at Treasure Valley Midwives, and with the support of our incredible doula, Molly. After waiting nearly 2 weeks past her projected due date, Leah finally broke down and decided to try some castor oil to get her labor started. To her relief, the castor oil did exactly as she had hoped and actually kick-started active labor around 8:00 PM on Sunday, August 8th. After a few hours of contractions, we gave Molly a call and she was kind enough to come over and join us in the middle of the night. Leah continued labor throughout the evening and into the morning, so we finally called Paula, from Treasure Valley Midwives, at around 7:30 AM. Paula arrived shortly afterward, and she brought Kathleen and Jill along with her to help us all through the remainder of the labor process – we all became very close (both literally and figuratively) over the course over the next several hours. I won’t go into any of the details of the labor here, but I do want to make a few quick comments about the labor experience at our house:

1) Leah was amazingly impressive. I really can’t come up with enough superlatives to describe what she accomplished/endured – I definitely have a new appreciation and respect for my wife that I didn’t even know was possible until then. She displayed such a determination and resolve to deliver the baby the way she wanted, yet such a sense of calm and control throughout the process that it could have only come from a combination of her faith in God and her love of Ruby.
2) We appreciate Molly so much – I don’t know how we could have made it through without her. She spent 30 hours of her life continually waiting on us hand and foot to make sure that Leah had everything she needed to make this experience as positive as possible. We are extremely grateful that The Lord brought her into our lives, and we hope that we can continue to keep in touch as Ruby grows.
3) Paula, Kathleen, and Jill were awesome! They brought a collective experience and guidance that we leaned on heavily throughout the day. It feels like the used nearly every tool in their considerable toolbox to help Leah try to deliver Ruby at home. Every time it felt like we may be getting close to a roadblock, they would find a new way to potentially get around it. We also very much appreciated their honesty and candor when it became fairly obvious that Ruby was turned in such a way that it would likely be best for everyone involved to go to the hospital.

At around 8:30 (24 ½ hours after active labor began), we made the decision to finish the delivery at St. Lukes Hospital. Leah was extremely grateful for both the epidural and the pitosin at the hospital, and after a few minor heart rate issues and a brief discussion of a c-section (which ended up being unnecessary), she delivered Ruby without issue at 5:30 AM on Tuesday, August 10th.

I was going to make this all into a single posting, but after seeing how much I have already written just about Ruby’s birth, I will follow-up with subsequent post(s) to talk about the rest of our week.

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post

Bathroom video

2010-08-02T21:07:00.001-06:00

Before & After

2010-08-01T10:18:00.002-06:00

House Remodel

Progress...

2010-06-07T12:54:00.005-06:00

Our progress report is way overdue. I have more pictures I could post but I'm not sure they are all that exciting! We now have fresh paint in the master and in the new bathroom, a vanity, linen closets and molding...

The tile guys are comeing Wednesday so by Friday I should have some very exciting pictures to share. We are also working on finding a better way of sharing photos...so stay tuned!

Overdue post...but making progress!

2010-05-13T13:03:00.005-06:00

Here are a few pictures from the last week or so. Most of the changes taking place are inside...we've had the plumbing, electrical, HVAC and framing all pass in spection! The insulation was blown in the new bathroom last night. Phil and Phillip are putting siding on today!

Oh and we had 10 can lights installed in our dining/living room area. Makes such a WONDERFUL difference. I'll try to include some pictures on that in the next post!

On Monday they will be sheetrocking the bathroom and over the next few weeks Phil will start installing the new windows. It's going to be strange living in a house where we have doors that work, lights we can turn on and windows we can actually open. To say the least we are incredibly thankful we have the opportunity to do this.

Progress!

2010-04-25T21:01:00.009-06:00

I took the first two pictures on Thursday (or Friday...can't remember!) and then the last few tonight! I'll post an update next weekend...can't wait to see what happens this week!

And so it begins...

2010-04-16T11:16:00.005-06:00

It is Fall...

2009-10-12T21:56:00.000-06:00

It is Fall…and one of the many, many goals I wake up to every day is to blog more.

It is Fall and I love it.

It’s much cooler than I remember at this point last year…the cold came fast this year but that’s ok…the Vandal’s have won more than one game and the season isn’t even over, Kris and I are currently employed and we are headed to San Francisco this weekend where I will run 13.1 miles, meet up with old friends, eat really good food and enjoy a change of scenery. Can’t complain!

All done...

2009-07-28T13:16:00.003-06:00

For Kris again...

2009-07-20T21:09:00.012-06:00

I didn't get as far as I wanted but at least I made good progress!

For Kris

2009-07-20T17:49:00.008-06:00

The pictures don't quite do it justice...but you get the idea. I'll try to post my progress later tonight...

good intentions...

2009-06-23T08:45:00.003-06:00

Well, you can now see where my good intentions have gotten us as far as more frequent blog posts.

Needless to say, completing our summer weekend in Boise (2 1/2 weeks ago) was a lot of fun. Saturday meant the annual Boise Capitals golf tournament for me, while Leah attended a couple of different parties for friends. That night, we went to the martini mix-off gala and met up with Mom, Bob, and Heather for dinner at Bungalow (in Hyde Park). On sunday, we started our day by walking the dogs (one of our favorite weekend activities), and then spent the afternoon just hanging out with Mom, Bob, and Heather before the the out-of-towners had to leave the next day. It was nice to be able to spend some time with all of them, as it is rare that we have the chance to all be in the same place for more than a few hours at a time.

Since then, we have been pretty busy doing other stuff. Leah spent the following weekend running (literally) between Stanley and Ketchum in the Sawtooth Relay, while I was up in Riggins with Brad catching a few salmon. I will let Leah fill you in on the relay, but the salmon fishing was great. Unlike last year, we were actually able to wear springtime clothing and not have to worry about thawing out every hour or so, which makes the fishing that much more enjoyable. Of course, Brad and his good friend, Bruce were awesome in helping me out and guiding me through the ins and outs of catching salmon. I ended up with two adult fish and three jacks for the weekend, and it is in no small part because of the two of those guys - I really appreciate their help and patience with me. We had a great time on the river, and on top of that, we have fresh salmon to eat for quite some time now.

I am sure we will post some pictures of the fishing trip and Leah's relay as soon as we upload them to the pc, but I am trying to stay on top of things and not let those types of issues get in my way of the posts.

That is all the time I have for now, but look for posts on Leah's half marathon (she is amazing), and iphones coming up soon.

Kris

Summer Weekend in Boise pt. 1 - Friday

2009-06-08T21:32:00.004-06:00

Well, this isn't exactly as real-time as I was envisioning when I said that we would do this more often, but I guess that this is better than in the past. At least we are making progress.

I wanted to blog about all of the cool things we had going on this weekend as an example of all the great things that go on in Boise on a typical summer weekend. While we were able to do most of what we set out to do, the weather didn't exactly cooperate, as it rained for a while on friday, off and on all day saturday, and briefly again on sunday. All in all, we had over half of our typical June rainfall in one 24 hour period this weekend. Undeterred, we still got quite a bit in, so on to friday...

Our weekend got an unofficial start at lunch friday. We attended the 28th annual Greek Food Festival, hosted by Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. This is an event that I have heard so much about over my years in Boise, but have never had the opportunity to attend. I believe it is their main fundraiser for the year, and I will say that they raise a lot of funds between friday and saturday. Even with the overcast weather, and going at a time when most were still at work, it was absolutely packed.

As the name indicates, the festival revolves mostly around the greek food that the congregation cooks up for the event. We tried to share the food in order to get in as many dishes as we could, and we still didn't get to half of what we wanted. We ended up with a Gyro, some Pastitsio (Macaroni layers with cheese and ground beef, topped with Bechamel sauce), a piece of Spanikopita (Spinach tirangles with Feta Cheese), and Dolmathes (Stuffed Grape Leaves with ground beef and Greek Herbs), and aglass of greek wine. While most of the dishes were quite a bit different than what we usually eat, they were all very good. About halfway through the meal, Leah was trying to figure out a way to get back for lunch teh next day. Of course, after the main dishes, we went to the pastry house portion of the festival, where they had all kinds of greek desserts. We went with the Karithopita (a walnut cake), a Galatobouriko (a flaky pastry outside with custard inside), and a baklava. All of them were wonderful, and we wish we had room for more.

In addition to the food, the offered tours of the church (which we missed) and quite a bit of greek music and dancing. They started with some of the younger members of the congregation performing the dances, but by the time we left, they were bringing up anyone who worked up the bravery to dance in front of hundreds of their closest friends. It was quite a scene, and I am really gald that we were able to make it this year. This will definitely be an annual event for us going forward.

After lunch, we both went back to work to finish out our days and try to digest our food as quickly as possible to make room for our next meal.

Our next meal came at The Melting Pot that evening. We had been lucky enough to see some posters downtown for this meal when we went to the Farmer's market the week prior. The Melting Pot was hosting a dinner centered around Rogue beers (one of Leah's favorites), and we knew that we couldn't miss it. We called our friends, Jadd and Tracy to ask if they would join us, and they signed up nearly as quickly as we did.

Unfortunately, Leah and Tracy got cuaght up with things that would keep them occuppied long past our 5:00 reservation, so Jadd and I decided that in order to keep the restaurant happy, we would head down and 5:00 and just try some of the offerings from the bar until the girls were able to join us. We both started with a martini, but also looked a little bit at the wine list. The owner of the restuarant cuaght us checking out the wine list, and he started asking us what we thought. The Melting Pot has a very good wine list for my tastes, but it is a little on the spendy side. Of course, I told him just that, and he actually took it in stride pretty well. We ended up talking about wines for about 15 minutes straight, and he later brought us a taste of some of the new wines he was bringing in. He is a great guy, and I think I will want to go their more often just because of his hospitality (and despite his prices on wine).

Leah and Tracy finally joined us at about 6:00, and we started our dinner. They did not prepare anything special food-wise, as the menu for the evening was fairly typical for a meal at the Melting Pot (artichoke dip, followed by a caesar salad, followed by a cheddar cheese fondue, then a meat fondue, and then finally the chocolate course for dessert). Also, like other visits to The Melting Pot, I was too full to enjoy the chocolate fondue at the end. That being said, they did do a good job of pairing the beer with each course, where both the beer and food complimented each other well. They served the Brutal Bitter with the spinach artichoke dip, the Morimoto Soba Ale with the salad, and the Dead Guy Ale with the Cheddar Cheese fondue (that beer was also actually mixed in with the fondue as well). The most unique pairing came with the meat course. The meat was all season with Cajun spices, and they served it with the Chipotle Ale. If you have never tasted the Chipotle Ale, it is definitely worth the experience - you may or may not like it, but I can almost guarantee that you haven't tasted anything like it before, and it went really well with the spicy meat. Lastly, they served the Chocolate Stout with the chocolate fondue to cap off the night. In addition to all of the good food & drink, they sent every couple home with two Rogue pint glasses and coupons good for a free drink the next time you visited for happy hour. We had a great time, and considering all that we got, we got a great deal as well.

We really enjoy doing this kind of thing from time to time, and fortunately, we get many opportunities here in Boise - the local restaurants do a good job of keeping things interesting for the most part. We definitely ate too much, but it was cool to try some new things that we may not have had before.

Unfortunately, we were exhausted and full after dinner, so instead of staying out with Jadd & Tracy, we went home, like old people do, to go to bed.

Quick Catch Up...

2009-06-02T22:11:00.032-06:00

Ok this won't be terribly exciting but it will be quick!

Morgan and Heidi spending the day with Aunt Leah. This picuture was taken at the top of Camel's Back Park...

Dad's Big day...

Capital winning State!

Bob - Here is the garden! Reminds me of the pecans!!!!
And the topsy turvy...I'll let you know if it works!

This one one of Elway is for Aunt Marty...the dog lover of the family...Elway on her throne.

blog update

2009-06-02T09:38:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how much time can go by between posts. It seems like we are always posting catch-up entries. Of course, I think Leah is cooking another one of those up, but I would like to start making a point to make these more regular so that they are more valuable for those of you who still check this out. We'll see how that works, but I am hoping to do more of this during the summer since our travelling may be a little more limited this year due to available time off. I cna say that they probably all won't contain pretty pictures, like Leah typically includes with all of her posts, but they should provide more regular information on what is going on with us.

I think the first of these regular entries will come this weekend, as we try to capture a busy summer weekend in Boise. It seems like we have quite a bit going on this weekend, and hopefully it will help everyone understand why we love living here so much and why this is such a great time of year to live in Boise.

And here is to a bit of catch up...

2009-01-23T21:01:00.030-07:00

We are grateful to have celebrated the New Year surrounded by friends. BerryHill as always was wonderful...and of course we couldn’t pass up an evening playing a little guitar hero.

The following weekend we headed up to the cabin with Mom, Dad, John, Hanna, and Madalyn. Saturday we headed up to Brundage to snowboard and it was the first time out for all of us.

It was a beautiful day that started off with sunshine and ended with heaving snowing. But by the time the lifts stopped running we were in the lodge enjoying a beer and French fries.

Madalyn got the chance to hang out with Grandma Gene and Papa Bear. I think they all enjoyed one another quite a bit. I think Maddie might be up for some more cabin/GG & PB time in the future.

We hope to get up there this summer and get a few rounds of golf in with family and friends.
Bob, Marty and Ray…I hope you enjoy these snow pictures…since you had the chance to see Idaho and the cabin this fall…

This last weekend we got the chance to hit Bogus…which was nice since we are experiencing one of our infamous inversions. Thankfully you can count on Bogus always being above the inversion layer. By 11:30 am it was 47 degrees at Pioneer Lodge…we were sweating like crazy…it was like skiing in March! But I can’t complain because it was wonderful to see the sun! It was also amazing to see how fast the temperature dropped as we came down the mountain and through the clouds…it was a good 15 degrees colder at home! Only 16 miles away!

Here's to a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a little catch up...

2009-01-05T19:29:00.012-07:00

First off Merry Christmas to all! Christmas in Boise this year was white (as it should always be) and joyous. Kris and I ventured over to Nampa for a little Christmas celebration with the family. We kicked things off Christmas eve at Grandpa Ford’s house. We took in some fine looking decorations and sat and had a very nice visit with Grandpa. John and Tiffany joined us and we got in some of our families traditional “stand-in-front-of-the-Christmas-tree” photos.

Next, we maneuvered our way over to mom and dad’s on slick and snowy roads. Grandma, Uncle Greg and Tiffany’s parents, Ted and KanDee, joined us. Ted and KanDee drove all the way up from “snowy” Las Vegas to take in some Ford Family Fun.

This year we decided to add an additional element of fun and conduct an ornament exchange. This was exciting. There were some tremendously good ornaments brought to the table which resulted in a few steals and a few trades. I think everyone ended up with something good…especially Uncle Greg and is pretty little tea cup ornament. All I know is I hope we get to do this again next year and someone can find some more of the Fisherman Santa Clauses…they were a hit! (Uhm not to mention the balls I loved that Kris made me trade so he could get what he wanted).

As the evening came to a close and we headed out to get in the car we found it snowing like crazy. We buckled in and with seat warmers on we were off on our slow treck home...30 mph all the way. But we made it! Heather met up with us at our house and after opening a few gifts we found Santa had brought Kris the band version or Guitar Hero (I know there is a proper term for the game but I can't remember). Anyway we busted out the new guitar, the drums and the mic (the best part of all) and proceeded to reign in the early hours of Christmas day to rock music.

Did I mention we got a White Christmas this year...so great!

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. By afternoon we were back in the car, heading over to Granny and Gramp's. The commute wasn't nearly as slow as the night before and we enjoyed and nice Christmas visit with the both of them...complete with (some) of

our traditional Christmas goodies!

And for those

of you who were suppose to be with us this year we missed you very much but know we will see you in the very near future.

We give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ and we are thankful to celebrate His birth, His presence, His grace and our salvation in Him.

A Birthday on a Budget!

2008-12-27T12:42:00.004-07:00

This year for Kris's birthday we celebrated on a budget. The reason this is unique and kind of funny is that this is not how we typically celebrate his birthday. Kris is someone that appreciates fine dining...well, I should clarify, he appreciates really good food. I’m the one that loves the fine dining that sometimes accompanies the really good food! In past years we’ve celebrated by visiting one of Boise’s fine dining establishments – The Milky Way (now closed…very sad really), BerryHill, Café Vicino, Chandler’s, etc.

Well, since the economy took a turn for the worse right around Kris's birthday we thought we would be responsible and celebrate on a budget. So, we decided the best place to celebrate on a budget is one of Boise’s less fine dining establishments, The Pie Hole. Now, let me clarify, The Pie Hole is good food. It’s a pizza place tucked into a small venue…probably not even 500 sq ft. It’s decorated in a very eclectic manner; a punk/skater/heavy metal meets retro, if you will. Either way, it is a great place to get a very tasty slice of pizza when you are on a budget…they even offer $1 PBR during happy hour!

We had a good time laughing about the whole situation. And it was good. We’ve decided we need to celebrate at the Pie Hole more often…it’s a good way to save $200+ on a celebration dinner.

After a couple slices we headed on over to Cool Hand Luke’s to meet up with Heather. She treated us to some of the best beer in town!

Happy Birthday Kris!

25th Anniversary

2008-11-19T11:08:00.012-07:00

Happy 25th Anniversary,

Mom and Dad

An Irish Anniversary Blessing

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon the fields.

May the light of friendship guide your paths together.

May the laughter of children grace the halls of your home.

May the joy of living for one another trip a smile from your lips, A twinkle from your eye.

And when eternity beckons, at the end of a life heaped high with love,

May the good Lord embrace you with the arms that have nurtured you the whole length of your joy-filled days.

May the gracious God hold you both in the palm of His hands.

And, today, may the Spirit of Love find a dwelling place in your hearts.

Amen.

We are honored and blessed to celebrate a very special milestone with mom and dad. Love you both…

I-D-A-H-O, Idaho, Idaho Go-Go-Go...

2008-11-19T10:19:00.008-07:00

Yep that's right folks, it is that time of year again...This last weekend was spent with some good people…Vandal fans! Moscow was full of energy as fans from all over the state converged on campus for the big game. The Corner Club was rockin’, the Garden was packed and every joint in town was buzzing.

Then the game was played. Could have been better. The Vandal football team has no where to go but up at this point…and all the tride and true fans will be there every step of the way!

Pullman knew Rico was comin' to town and gave him his own bar...I wish I was as cool as Jadd.

This is going to be our Christmas card this year...
The best looking fans in the crowd...

Good friends...good times...

2008-11-19T09:51:00.006-07:00

Kelly and Jennifer invited us over for an elegant evening. Fancy hors-d'oeuvres comleted the menu paired with fine wine and special bottle of Champaign....mmmm gotta love the bubbly!

Jennifer's sweet spread...and I don't say that just becuase she had a can of whipped cream in her hand...

The McGee's...

The Algers...
Thank you to Kelly and Jennifer for a great evening...loved it!

Ahhhh Fall....

2008-11-19T09:16:00.005-07:00

Just a few fall photos that John and Tiff took of us at Katherine Albertson Park

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-11-19T09:03:00.005-07:00

Freaky Friday

2008-11-19T08:06:00.015-07:00

On Friday the 31st (Halloween), our very own Mario and Luigi had Kris and I (grown up Lucy and Charlie Brown) over as well as a number of other “characters”. The evening was complete with good food, Pyramid Hef, and playing a little Beirut (beer pong).

We are looking forward to next year…we don’t know yet what we will be dressing up as but I do know it will be good!!!!

Idaho Visit

2008-11-02T10:40:00.011-07:00

This past weekend we had a very special visit from Bob, Aunt Marty, and Uncle Ray who traveled here from New Mexico. This was Marty and Ray’s first visit to Boise since I joined the family but if I remember right they’ve been to Boise before.

They all arrived on Wednesday on-time and with all luggage accounted for…even though there was some question as to whether some of the luggage carrying our typical fine New Mexico favorites would pass security. I’m not quite sure in what quantities we received the following items but non-the-less our orders were complete: tamales, green chili, New Mexico Pinon coffee, and instant Mexican hot chocolate. This is a pretty standard request from our visitors down south or is the typical grocery list of items we come back with when we go down there.

We kicked off the visit with a trip to the Pair. One of Boise’s finest establishments best known in our family for their martini’s and cheese plate. Whenever Bob comes to visit, the Pair has become a traditional stop. And this visit was no different. We all had a few martinis, a cheese plate and a couple dishes we had never tired before. Uncle Ray ordered the fish ‘n chips that came with a very unique cowl slaw. And Aunt Marty ordered a steak (can’t remember the cut) that came on a bed of sweet potato fries (loved ‘em) and a cheese sauce on top (again can’t remember the cheese…I’m sure Kris will since this is his department and he should be the one writing about the Pair!).

Thursday morning Kris and I headed off to work and Heather came to hang with the crew. They relaxed, ate breakfast and received a tour of Heather’s new school and apartment. Kris and I played hooky that afternoon and met everyone at Harry’s in Hyde Park (now known as Hyde Park Pub) for lunch. After lunch we gave everyone a walking tour of downtown Boise and managed to squeeze in our first Liquor store of the trip. Uncle Ray collects the liquor miniatures and was able to find a couple mini’s from some of the Idaho distilleries.

Thursday evening Marty and Ray were sweet enough to bring some of the red chili from New Mexico and make us some authentic New Mexico enchiladas…I say authentic because until I married Kris I had always been served enchiladas that were rolled up…in New Mexico they prepare them and serve them flat. with layers of chili, cheese and onions…delicious!

Friday morning we were up and at it again. This time we were able to squeeze in two more liquor stores before hitting the road. Once we hit the road we were on our way to McCall/New Meadows. Bob, Mary and Ray had never seen much of Idaho north of Boise or south or Moscow. We took them up Hwy 55 where they were able to take in Horseshoe Bend, Smith’s Ferry, Cascade, Donnelly and McCall. In McCall we did a little looking, a little shopping and a little eating. We met my dad at the McCall Brewery where we filled our bellies with some good food and good beer.

After dinner we made our way down the road and stayed the night at mom and dad’s cabin in New Meadows.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and hit Hwy 95 north making our way to Moscow for the UI vs. NMSU football game. This was quite the event filled day! We stopped in Riggins for a few pictures next to the river. The fall colors on the drive up were brilliant and beautiful. We cruised on into Moscow and ran to the ticket booth hoping we weren’t going to be watching the game from the Corner Club…seeing as it was U of I’s homecoming game. As luck had it we got tickets and were set for the game.

Kris being die-hard Vandal that he is made sure to take us all to the Corner Club for a “tub”. We were fans! Ok, maybe not all of us since the NMSU fans we were tagging along with stuck out like sore thumbs! But they were good sports and so were all the U of I fans… even though we got a lot of funny looks J

We made our way back to the cabin after the game and woke up early Sunday in order to make it home in good time. For dinner we hit Cool Hand Luke’s, a new restraint downtown Boise, where Heather works part time. We love the fact that they have good food, Pyramid Hef on tap and my all time favorite the Rouge Hazel Nut Brown Nectar in the bottle. The perfect end to a wonderful visit. We love you and can’t wait to see you again soon!

Wine Country

2008-09-22T14:35:00.003-06:00

Here is the link to our pictures from our trip to San Francisco and wine country. You still have to use the e-mail and password I sent out to view these pictures. We're working on that little glitch. Also, Kris will write more about this later...since he rocks at it!

http://winecountry10.snapfish.com/snapfish

Here we are at Pier 39...Golden Gate is in the background.

Summer Update

2008-09-12T10:28:00.010-06:00

My how this summer has flown by. So fast we haven't kept up with our blog at all...so here’s to catching up!

The summer started out with Kris catching his big salmon on the Clearwater which was blogged about previously. The big event for me in June was running the Sawtooth relay with 5 other friends. The Sawtooth relay is the 60 miles between Stanley, Id and Ketchum, Id. Each person on the team runs roughly 10 miles...5 miles the first leg and 5 miles the second. I however have an awesome team of experienced runners and since I am a beginner they were nice enough to only make me run a little over 7 miles. I'm grateful that Jadd and Tracy talked me into it. I was very apprehensive about running but I'm still enjoying and currently training for a 1/2 marathon that takes place in October. Pics can be found at: http://junerelay.snapfish.com/snapfish.

Our big trip for the summer was a visit to Bob and Linda in Globe, AZ and then a hop-skip-and-jump over to New Mexico to visit Kris' dad, Bob, and the Provencio family. Globe was great and it was fun to see Bob and Linda's new house. Not to mention Linda's new school and all the amazing things she is doing. Linda has been in Arizona since February where she is the dean of a college prep school...Bob joined her in May and they have been taking Globe by storm ever since.

We were in New Mexico for the 4th...and let me tell you, the Provencio's know how to celebrate Independence Day! Our visits down south are always full of fun, food and festivities...and seriously they are! But this visit was special for me...it was the first time I've been with the Provencio's for the 4th...it was great. I loved the fireworks (but I'm not going to tell you what "kind" they were). I can't wait for the next 4th of July we get to spend there...I'm so addicted to the fireworks I'm trying to talk Kris into getting me some for New Year's. Of course we didn't leave until our bellies were full of Chico's Tacos and a little fondue, we sported some bowling, celebrated my birthday with an awesome birthday dinner at an Italian restaurant (a new find by Aunt Marty and a new favorite of mine), and 2 pairs of cowboy boots. Pics can be found at: http://krisandleahvaca2008.snapfish.com/snapfish.

The next big event of the summer was Jennifer's mile-stone birthday. We hosted a surprise birthday party for her and did our best to turn out backyard into a little something you would see in Austin, TX, complete with bbq, Shiner bock beer and of course live music! I can't tell you who the musician is yet...I have to get the ok from his attorney (let me know when I can disclose this information Kelly) but here are a few pics from the evening. I wish I was better with words and could describe the evening a little better but it was just great…and not to sound corny or anything but it was pretty magical...everything you would want in a summer bbq to honor a great friend on her special birthday! Pics can be found at: http://jennifers40th.snapfish.com/snapfish.

Next came the birth of Kellen, Joy and Jake’s little guy…he is quite the addition and I can’t wait to meet him! It’s killing me!

On Aug 22nd I headed up to the cabin with Morgan, G.G. and Papa Bear. It was fun to hang out with my little guy (not so little anymore). We did a little golfing on Saturday and Morgan shocked us with is golf skills. At 11 he golf’s really well! I hope we can help encourage him to continue to work on his game. Pics can be found at: http://cabinwithmorganaugust08.snapfish.com/snapfish.

Over Labor Day weekend we headed to San Francisco and the Californian wine country. We’ll blog about that in more detail later. BUT we had a nice little surprise on Saturday the 30th when Madalyn entered our lives earlier than expected! John and Hanna welcomed little Maddie into the world…all 6 lbs and 21 inches! Another addition to the extended family I’m dying to meet face-to-face!

Update soon!

2008-09-09T09:49:00.002-06:00

Leah and I just got back from California on a trip for our 10th anniversary, and we had a great time! I won't include the details in this post, as I need to take off shortly, but I wanted to let you know that a full report will be coming soon (although I have to admit that this is more for us so that we are committed to making a post than it is for anyone else). Either way, we hope to blog about our trip soon.

Salmon Fishing on the Clearwater!

2008-06-11T10:17:00.009-06:00

Kris holding his first catch of the day!

I don't know that there is a lot more to say about this trip - this is truly a case where the pictures say much more than words could.

Brad and I made a mad dash up to Orofino friday evening so that we could get in some sleep before fishing early saturday morning. Saturday was a pretty good day for fishing according to many of the folks there. The two other guys we fished with, Bruce (who owns the boat) and his friend Matt, were very gracious to give me the first fish of the day and Brad the second since they had caught their limit the day before. I would say that within 30 minutes of putting the first line in the water, we caught this fish. Reeling it in was quite the experience, but I just can't say too much about the help I got from the other guys - it makes it so much easier when you have three other guys in the boat who had done this so many times in the past. Bruce netted the fish for me, and that was that. Brad caught his first fish shortly after that, and you can see the result below - it was huge! We weighed it in at 18.5 lbs., and when we went to check in with fish and game at the end of the day, the guy said that it was one of the biggest fish they had seen to date this season. After that, it was every man for himself and each of us caught one more fish, giving Brad and I our limit by about 1:00.

Sunday was a little bit slower as far as teh fish are concerend - it seemed like everyone on the river was struggling to catch fish. I ended up getting shut out on the day, but the other three guys caught 5 fish between them, so we actually did pretty well, all things considered.

We headed home saturday evening, tired but happy. Brad took the fish to a butcher to get them fileted sunday afternoon, and while I didn't find out the total weight of the meat, I can definitely say that we will have some salmon in the freezer for quite a while.

I really want to thank the other guys for helping out the new guy so much - I would have been lost without them. They were all great and really made my experience that much better. Of course, Brad must have more patience than could reasonably be expected of any individual for continuing to take me fishing with him, adn I can say that I am very thankful for that. I am already looking forward to heading back next year (Bruce said that we should get a good run next year, as indicated by the large number of Jacks we ran across over the weekend).

Dad and the huge-kahbungus!

Happy Birthday!

2008-05-26T18:04:00.003-06:00

Our birthday celebration with Bob on his way through town. Ruby River was a good find by Granny & Gramp and we had a great time catching up and celebrating with all who could attend.

The Big Two Seven...

2008-05-26T17:33:00.014-06:00

This Memorial Day weekend we celebrated John's 27th birthday up at the cabin...here's the birthday boy... The view from the 14th green...Granite Mtn. in the distance.
The gang...

Hoser feeling like one of the big boys...

On Sunday mom, Kris, dad & John played another round of golf. Tiffany and I relaxed, went for a jog and were almost attacked by Bobcats...not kidding!

The birthday dinner. Mom's famous briskett for the birthday boy!

Tiffany putting the final touches on John's birthday cake. John loves Skittles so we made a special Skittle cake. Mom made the cake from scratch and Tiffany and I got crazy with the Skittles.

Some of the wildlife...a baby fox.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Mother's Day 2008

2008-05-21T17:04:00.010-06:00

This year we had the opportunity to host a little Mother's Day BBQ at our house. The weather was beautiful and the lilac's decided to do a little showing off of their own. These pictures don't quite do them justice but they give you the idea!

Our honored guests: Granny, Grandma Melva and Mom. In addition (but not pictured) Gramp, Dad and Uncle Greg were there to help us kick up our heals and really celebrate!

Granny and Judd having a "moment"...

And to the mom's that couldn't join us in person...with love, gratitude and thanks to you for your love, encouragement and most of all that special gift you have of being a wonderful mom.

Last but not least, to Grandma Ford who passed away just a year ago. We honor you today and hold you close to our hearts and cherish each and every memory. I miss your smile, your spunk, your spirit, your energy, your encouragment and most of all your love. Happy Mother's Day!

Good-bye Milky Way...

2008-04-20T22:15:00.005-06:00

The Milky Way officially closed it's doors on Saturday April 19th. Kris and I were join by Jadd and Tracy for one last harrah!

Kris will write more on the Milky Way later and I'm sure share with you the details of the wonderful food we had for our last meal at the Milky Way. This was Kris's favorite restaurant so it made for a very bittersweeet evening!

Good-bye Milky Way.....

Leah is right - this was a difficult time as my favorite restaurant faced the alarmingly frequent fate that awaits most Downtown Boise restaurants. For a downtown area that always seems very active and engaging (especially during the warmer months), it sure seems like too many seemingly successful restaurants are forced to shut their doors. I don't know if the lease costs are just too much for even the moderately successful restaurants, or if the slow migration of people to the genericized communities of West Ada County are hurting businesses downtown, or if it is the influx of the national chain restaurants that are taking away from the locally-owned establishments, but this sucks. Fortunately for us, new people seemed to be convinced that they can come downtown and open a restaurant and enjoy success that few others have experienced, so we continue to have numerous quality options that exist nowhere else in the state, but it would be nice to find a place that you enjoy and not have to worry if it will be around two years from now.

Ok, I am off my soapbox for now. The main reason for this post is to extol the virtues of the Milky Way and talk about how much we have enjoyed it over the years.

I am not sure that it is entirely logical to have this much of an attachment to a place where we really hold no stake, but it seems like we have been visiting the Milky Way on special occasions forever (even though it has probably only been 5-6 years). Whether it was to toast a new job, or a raise, or a bonus, or maybe to celebrate a birthday, or Valentine's Day, or an anniversary, or maybe something as simple as wanting a great meal with a nice bottle of wine after a long day at work, we always seemed to end up at The Milky Way. We went other places for those types of occasions as well, but usually after much deliberation, we knew we would always enjoy ourselves there, so we made our walk over to tenth st. to enjoy what Chef Milky had to offer that particular night. We had actually discussed going there once my most recent project here at work reached a significant milestone, but once it reached that particular milestone, I thought we may still put off our visit because we were both so busy and we could save a little money in the near-term. The very next day, I got the e-mail saying that they would shut their doors after dinner service that saturday, so I scrambled to ask Leah if she could make the reservations. It seems like many others had that same idea, so we were lucky to get in on their last night. Jadd and Tracy were kind enough to join us that evening, and all four of us savored our meal for our last celebration at The Milky Way.

I am not quite sure what one thing really drew us to this place over so many of the others. The food was always wonderful - I never had to settle for an even average meal, and maybe that consistency is part of the allure. I always thought that they were able to make some very special dishes with what seemed like relatively ordinary food - I am not big on the high-end restaurants that try to do all sorts of special things with really fancy ingredients to the point that the end dish doesn't even sound good (whether it tastes good or not, I will never know, as I don't want to spend $50 on a meal that I may or may not enjoy). I could always look at the menu at The Milky Way, and while I may not think to put together some of the flavors in their dishes, I would know that the flavor combinations would always be good and the food would be prepared very well. However, if for some reason, I wanted to make small changes to the dish, they were always happy to accommodate my requests with great success. I think my sister, Heather, hit it on the head when she described their food as "gourmet comfort food".

The wine was also a big part of our experience at The Milky Way. We had two of our all-time favorite wines recommended to us during meals there: The A. Rafanelli zinfandel, and the Dunham Cellars cabernet. Their servers were always very knowledgeable about the wine, and while they didn't always suggest all-time favorites, their suggestions always met our expectations and fit well with our meal. I am amazed at how difficult it is to find servers that know enough about their restaurant's wine selection to pair it well with your meal every time - I have somewhat struggle to find that here in Boise, but have even had experiences at high-end steakhouses in Vegas where the server could not give good advice on wine. To make the wine experience even better, The Milky Way had exceptionally reasonable prices on every wine in their library. Most restaurants here in Boise will have about a 2x markup over retail for any of their bottles of wine, and it can reach as much as 2.5x for some restaurants (Chandlers and Barbacoa come to mind). The Milky Way kept their markup at about 1.5x from the time we first dined there to the last day. While that doesn't seem like a big deal, or maybe it just sounds like me being cheap, it really allowed us to try wines that we wouldn't have the opportunity to try at the other places. This made a huge difference and really opened our eyes to some of the nicer wines we have tasted.

Of course, you have a hard time saying something nice about this restaurant without talking about their martinis. While their original bartender had moved on by the time they shut their doors, he was responsible for making the best gin martini I have ever tasted. While you may not believe that one gin martini would differ much (if at all) from another martini made from the same gin, you would be wrong. His 10-minute martini really is that much better than any other gin martini out there.

Well, I will wrap it up here. However, this whole situation got me to thinking - I need a new favorite restaurant. I am in the process of coming up with the criteria, and once I have it finalized, I will be sure to post all of it for you to see. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, please feel free to pass them on - I am starting with a clean slate for everything, so I will be considering all entries.

The Camp Sawtooth Adventure

2008-04-04T17:57:00.029-06:00

Over the weekend of March 28-30th Kelly invited me to join him and his Youth Group on an adventure into the Sawtooth Wilderness. Ok, that sounds a little more exotic than it actually was…we didn’t have to venture into the wilderness too far…but it was just right since it is still “winter” there!

Once we made it to the National Sawtooth Recreation Area office we parked and strapped on our snowshoes. After we had our gear in place (most of it on our backs) we hiked a mile and half into Camp Sawtooth…

Mr. Tim and Wyatt had to snowmobile our food in. Wyatt wasn't real crazy about the snowmobile but give him a year or two and I think he'll be diggin' that kind of thing. Tim grew up visiting Camp Sawtooth and has helped build and care for the property.

And we're off....

Once we got into camp and settled our things we headed over to the main hall to warm up around the big fireplace...

After dinner we met for Chapel and Kelly shared his message with the kids.

We didn't have any running water but the girls made due when it came time to beautify and brush teeth!

Our cabin...

The lodge where we ate our meals, hung out and met for Chapel.

Saturday after lunch was free time...we headed out on snowshoes to find a sledding hill...

Mr. Tim coming through on his promise to "white-wash" Kelly....

Jennifer getting in on the action and coming to Kelly's rescue!

Too cute for words...caught Wyatt mid scentence...hard to believe.

Sunday morning....

Me, ready to pass out, after Josh challenged me to race him the last 100 yards...with snowshoes and a pack on...

But what a great weekend and to have spent it in such a BEATUIFUL area in the middle of winter. Good times. Props to Pastor Kelly and crew for putting together such a great trip. I can't imagine the kids appreciating what went into this weekend or the experience they had but one day it will sink in. Kelly shared a great message with the whole group and really got us all thinking about God's will for our lives. A priceless and worthwhile pursuit!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2008-04-04T17:53:00.003-06:00

Fishin' Trip

2008-03-04T06:53:00.024-07:00

Jennifer joined us this year for the Women With Bait '08 Steelhead tournament. This is a picture off the back of our boat on the Salmon River.

My first catch of the day...29"!

Jennifer and I at Mackay Bar...

Dad and I at Mackay Bar...this is where dad stayed for his big-horn sheep hunting trip a few years ago.
The girls...me, mom, Jennifer.

This was my 2nd catch of the day!

My 3rd catch of the day...Bruce helped me with this one....

All of us fine looking ladies after a day on the river - (from Left) Kristina, Audra, Glenda, Mom (GG), Me, Jennifer.

On Friday, February 29th, Jennifer and I rented some snowshoes and explored the golf course!

Brundage Mt. in the background....

Kelly brought the boys up on Saturday...Wyatt thought all the snow was pretty cool!

We found a hill to do a little sledding on....

Wyatt da bomb....

Kelly showing us all how it's really done!

The Barbs...

Wyatt on mom's lap and James on dad's lap racing down the hill. Dad and James won.....

James diggin' the speed!

Anther ride down the hill on mom's lap.

The 3 Women With Bait in 2008!

December Update...

2007-12-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few events that made up our December....

Morgan's piano recital...he is becoming quite the accomplished pianist and we are very proud of his commitment. This year’s recital was held at a retirement home where many of the residents joined the audience to enjoy the holiday music. Some even sang along.
Morgan and I enjoying the recital after-party!

This fall my women's volleyball team won first place in our league tournament. We celebrated at Harry's where our team name originated! The Big Fat Tire's look forward to dominating this Spring as well!!

Jamesy turnes One!!!

2007-12-11T12:29:00.001-07:00

James Duke's 1st birthday!

I hope Kelly and Jennifer don't mind but the next 5 pictures are comical. I think that any one of these would make for the perfect Christmas card photo. 2 boys, a dog, the holidays and chaos!!
As you can tell James wasn't diggin his birthday hat at which time Bluebell walked by and put the candle out with her tail.....
I'm not quite sure how many drinks Jennifer and Kelly have had at this point?

We almost got this one but I got part of Anna's head in the shot and I think Wyatt was done taking pictures.

This one speaks for itself.....

James did like his birthday hat...just not when it was actually on his head.

Big brother!

A man after Uncle Jadd's own heart. I believe I have a picture of Uncle Jadd with the same chocolate induced coma look (if there really is such a thing) in his eyes...I believe it was in front of the chocolate fountain at Aunt Kate's wedding.

The birthday boys....

Since I couldn't get everyone to look at the camera at the same time here is a shot with Anna...

Here is the same shot with Nanna looking at the camera...

Gee are you guys related?

Say cheese!!!

This is James coming down off of the sugar high and showing off his vocal talent.

Happy Birthday!!!

2007-12-11T11:27:00.001-07:00

Here is the birthday boy!! And his cake does not have a pink flower on it. That was my attempt to make a red poinsettia...buttercream frosting doesn't do red well.

A few friends joined us for dinner at the Barbacoa.

Kelly & Jennifer

Tracy & Jadd

Something about the El Grande was spoke of here (more about that once I have copies of Jennifer's photo's).

Jennifer reliving her allergic reaction to parsley!

The 3 steps to milk tasting: Look, Smell, Taste. Kelly is our very own, in-house, milk connoisseur. This particular glass was a very nice vintage.

Jennifer's reaction to my dessert! It WAS good.

The gang full of good food!

After dinner Jadd & Tracy "shared" their gift to Kris...a very nice bottle of wine.

There is a very good story behind this one that Jadd is still feeling a little guilty about.
On Sunday we kept celebrating...joining the fam at the Ram...I am such a poet. Gramp sat next to Kris to keep him in line!

The best part of the meal!!! The mile-high mud pie!

Gramp, Kris, Granny, Mom, Dad and Grandma Melva joined us in celebrating!

The Game...the pictures say it all.

2007-11-20T23:26:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Mom...

2007-11-20T23:24:00.001-07:00

Mom's bday party...love you mom!

La...La...Las Vegas!!!

2007-11-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

Man it is about time we get back to blogging...we come back from Italy and just fall of the face of the earth....so we are back!! Just thought we would give you a quick update on what we have been up to.

A couple weeks ago we spent the weekend in Las Vegas with a few good friends. Thanks to the McGee's we stayed in some very nice accommodations...this was due to their support of (Albertson) College of Idaho. You guys were extremely gracious to extend the invite! Kris and I flew in on Thursday with Hanna and her sister Abby. Jadd and Tracy rolled into town the same day...well actually very early in the morning the following day...brave souls drove! We did our best to stay up and wait for them but our old bones were dragging!!!

Friday morning (ok well like around noon) the girls hit the shops. By late afternoon we were exhausted BUT thanks to Abby we decided to roll on down and catch the "Thunder From Down Under". For those unfamiliar with the TFDU...they are male strippers. Yep, first time ever seeing male strippers...I don't really have the words to describe the experience. Other than to say male strippers know they have nice bodies and therefore really don't care about actually performing (in a theatrical sense - of course). But the one thing that saved the evening was Abby...lets just say she put on the performance of a lifetime...surprised all of us...and I think maybe herself...

The rest of the weekend was full of good food, a little gambling (John was on fire Saturday night), and just all around good times with great friends! Tracy and I were able to squeeze in the Body exhibit...I highly recommend it and can't wait to go again.

As Sunday rolled around we had to say our farewell's to Abby, Jadd and Tracy. The McGee's stuck around for one more night. Hanna and I caught Zumanity...very good...and met up with they guys after for an awesome dinner at the Delmonico (one of Emeril's find dining establishments).. So it was a wonderful end to a great weekend.

Here are a few pic's from the trip:

Kris and I at the Paris

The always lovely Ness sisters...Jadd's awesome injury - Thursday morning Jadd fell off a ladder and sliced his arm open...hopped in the car later that afternoon and came to Vegas. Dedicated. Tracy was very sweet and helped him change the bandaid everyday...paid off....looks great now.

The boys and all their shopping bags...they look thrilled.

Abby, Hanna, Tracy....and uhm, who let John take his shirt of again???? Seriously.

Abby and Hanna with Abby's new boyfriend on the bigscreen in the background.

John doin' his thing at the (ACI) C of I game.

Pictures (finally)

2007-10-07T15:59:00.000-06:00

For those of you interested in seeing more of the pictures we took on our trip, you can visit http://krisandleahinitaly.snapfish.com/snapfish. If you don't already have a snapfish account, I think it will ask you to create one, but I think that should be fairly easy. Please let us know if you have any issues seeing the pictures. Enjoy!

We're Back!

2007-09-30T07:55:00.000-06:00

We are back home and recovering from our trip.We had a wonderful time in Italy, but we are happy to be back. It is nice to sleep in our own bed and see our dogs again (who seemed to be just as happy to see us). It is also nice to start seeing familiar faces again. I was able to play in The Ralph Zaragoza Memorial golf tournament yesterday, which was a lot of fun ( not that I played all that well, but it was nice to see everyone there. BTW, Tony and the rest of his family do a great job putting that tournament together - if you are looking for a fun golf scramble to play in that does not cost an arm and a leg, but is still a lot of fun and supports a good organization, you should definitely consider "The Ralph").

We have also been catching up on our rest. Friday night, Leah decided to take a quick nap at about 4:00, but instead of waking up later that afternoon/evening, she slept all the way through 5:30 the next morning! It is amazing to realize how tired you can get after going so hard for so long.

Other than that, we are just catching up on all of the stuff we need to have in order before we start our "normal" lives once again tomorrow morning. Hope things are well with all of you.

Kris & Leah