A Birthday on a Budget!

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

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...

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...

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....

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

Happy Birthday Mom!

Freaky Friday

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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...

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

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!