Fun with Christie

My fabulously talented friend Christie made this absolutely adorable bike basket. She was working on it for an online contest and we were lucky enough to be the ones with the style of bike she needed for her photo shoot.

We also happen to have Audrey, who is always a cutie. Christie decided to use her for her pictures too, the result: total cuteness!!

Christie has a website that contains all sorts of awesome tutorials and a link to her Etsy shop. Here's the website: http://alemonsqueezyhome.blogspot.com/ Enjoy! and Great Job Christie!!

Christie graciously gave us this adorable basket for our help. Audrey absolutely loves it! Not to mention everyone else who sees it loves it too! Thank you Christie! You're awesome.

Home Sweet Home

Sam and I both love our hometown so much, and anyone could see why. We loved being there even though the circumstances weren't the happiest ones. We'd love to move back someday but have been very happy here with all the great friends and neighbors we enjoy. For now, we'll keep on enjoying the best of both worlds as often as possible.

Sam's sister and his cousin came along for our little stroll.

Elle kept insisting on being carried but was too cold to let go of the blanket, the result: limited visability.... at least no one ended up in that ice cold water!!

Here's some quick shots I took of the kids at the Country Club after Grandma's funeral. It was a beautiful setting to celebrate the wonderful life that she lived.

Til next time CdA, we'll miss you!!

Shamrocks and Silly String

"Carn-Beef n Cabbage!"

A St. Patty's staple at the Kienow house

Spry lil leprechauns

Elle wasn't too pleased at first but was soon ready to execute her revenge!

St. Patty's Day Parade - Cd'A style!

Had to include the bagpipes, every summer bagpipers walk around the college down by the Lake. There's something so magical about the sound to me, it just feels like home.

Hope you all enjoyed your St. Patricks Day with friends and family!

Love, Always

Recently we've experienced heartache in our family. We've found ourselves unexpectedly saying goodbye to one of the most interesting, loving women anyone could have the privilege to know, Sam's Grandma Jeanne.

This picture is from a few years ago and I thought it exemplified just exactly how she was, a happy, hard worker who made the best of things in any situation. The Lake house has a septic system, so when the tank was in danger overflowing, Jeanne would simply take the dishes out back and wash them on the stump with the hose. Sam and I both owe his Grandma so much. She was instrumental in who Sam is as a person, husband and father. She taught him faith in God, to study the Bible, the value of work and how to think positively. Sam remembers getting up each morning to her "to-do" lists that were lovingly written as reminders for Sam, signed with her signature smiley faces. She also did her part to help him enjoy health food and all kinds of crazy vegetables, to enjoy reading, and acclimate him to musicals, ballets, plays and road trips.
Granny, always trying to keep everyone hydrated at the lake.

Anyone who's met Jeanne knows what force of energy she is. She's been a wonderful example to me of living life fully and trying new things. Just some of her interests were, (but not limited to) Dancing, singing, drumming, (she had a set of drums in her bedroom), pottery, learning new languages, being physically active, theater, travel and of course her family. Jeanne has for many years made the trip to Alaska each Feb/Mar to be a volunteer at the Iditarod. She truly was a woman who grabbed life fully and looked to what she could make of it.

Some of Sam's memories include traveling through Yellowstone with just the two of them, also driving up into Canada sightseeing. She was fearless in her little Subaru as long as it was stocked with plenty of water and healthy snacks. Sam also remembers her coming to his swim meets wearing her specially made T-shirt that read "Sam's Gram". He remembers her always believing in him and telling him he could've been a dancer or singer (or anything in the world he wanted) with his long legs and beautiful voice.

She also loves her great grand kids very much and would often refer to them as her lambs. She was quick to praise and made it a point to tell me how thankful she and Grandpa were that I had come into their family. Through each of her life's trials and those of her children, Jeanne has been an incredible example of unshakable faith. I don't know if there could be a mother who's prayed on behalf of her children as much as she has. Jeanne has been an amazing example of endurance and keeping her faith throughout her life. For this we thank her.
We love you Grandma, and we have no doubt we'll see your smiling face again.

Ke-no Conundrum

And... here's the conundrum. How can we bring home awesome things from our awesome trip and keep our kids from getting not-so-awesomely impaired/broken/cracked, etc?.... Why are all the fun things this way? Maybe that's what makes them so fun. I never expected that my children would try to do acrobatics ala hammock, but then again why not? I'm a mom, I should've expected it. Duly noted.

New hammock from Belize = Broken colarbone for Elle

Other miscellaneous happenings and catch ups: We ate an awesome banana cream pie for Sam's birthday - see below.

P.S. I also got a fabulous new white coat that inspires Elle to call me Doctor Mom. She's also taken to calling me Mama Obama. I really didn't know she'd ever heard the word Obama, but obviously, she has and enjoys the fact that it ryhms with mama.

Elle had a great time at her preschool field trip to the Dinosaur park; swept the sand away from the "bones" and ran around in every direction yelling, "mom look how huge their necks are! " It was very cute.

Lastly, we went to my sisters and upon arrival following a nice dinner out, found Audrey and her cousin Lindsey awkwardly bounding around the front yard in Moon shoes with Audrey wearing these:

She says she loves them.

Oh, and I just remebered, at the store Reese informed me, "Mom, I've got a tight schedule today."Me - "oh really?" Reese- "yeah, I need to get home, eat a PB&J with white bread ( a victory in begging skills for Reese, I never buy the stuff ) , play with Nigel, play ballooon tower defense on the computer and play with my legos." Me - "Wow, you better get on that".

Oh, Nigel

I think one of our better decisions has been to get a dog who's prone to laziness and is too short and stubby to jump up on the kids. The only thing he really excels at is barking, that and being full of Charisma! We were just looking at these "younger years" pictures and I thought they were too cute not to share. The one in the collage with Elle is of course more recent, I like to call that one, "The Spectators".

This was Nigel today, Saturday, basking in the sun. We're always amused at the poses he deems most suitable for sunning. The kids so enjoy having him as part of our family and I thought it was about time to introduce him to the blogging crowd.

His face has begun to show a little bit of his age, but that's ok, he's not the only one.

Nerds Rejoice

Well, I know she's got several years before entering the dating game... (thankfully), but I just thought this picture was such an oxymoron. A really cute girl who likes Star Wars. Could it be possible? You're so cute Audrey, we love you

And we love Reese too of course. Awesome you are, young Padawans.

Could I be so Lucky?

I was SO excited the day I met this boy: And even more excited when he came into my life to stay. It didn't hurt that he happened to treat me like I was the best thing to hit the planet since sliced bread. It's been one of the greatest privileges in my life to grow together with my sweetheart who's become an amazing man, husband and father. I'm so grateful for him and our sweet kids; it makes celebrating his birthday so much fun. I love you Sam.

How did our kids get so big?

The years have gone by so quickly but I know there's no one I'd rather celebrate each one with more than you!!


I love you. I love you because you're fun to be with, you make me (and most others) laugh, your a wonderful Dad, a great husband, you're honest, you have a different point of view than most and I think you use it well, you're kind, you honor your priesthood, you're adventurous, you're a hard worker, you know how to make me feel loved, you're interesting and smart, our kids adore you, you're handsome, and Oh, I love that you cook delicious food, especially since cooking's not my favorite. Happy Birthday Honey, You're amazing!!

Love Always,

Your BIGGEST fan, ever.

On Our Way

Wow, where to start?

We had a phenomenal trip to Guatemala and Belize. I want to take the time to journal about it more, but for now, I 'm just going to get started with some of our pictures and short explanations.

We got into Guatemala City at night and were able to swing by the temple. It wasn't lit up but the guard saw us trying to take pictures so he turned on the lights. Nice guy, he even opened the gates to let us in on the grounds.

We've been on reward trips before and I've got to say Sam's company tends to not disappoint. This time was no exception. Our first Hotel was so beautiful, all the large flower arrangements around the lobby were REAL and smelled amazing! Too bad we were only there one night!

Looking up from the reception desk

Before we headed out to a more remote location, we stopped by this pretty little spot for Breakfast in Flores. The colors were so bright and beautiful! The sun was also bright so they hung white, flowing fabric to shade us. Pinch me now if this was a dream! :)

I'm hoping anyone reading this will be able to get to the bottom! My photo program can only fit four collages into one post, so there's going to be several posts. We had such an amazing time learning and seeing new things and I love to feel like I can share it with my family and friends! Happy reading and you can click to collages to view closer. To see all the trip posts, you'll have to click the "older posts" at the bottom of the last one, for some reason all of them wouldn't show up on the main page. More pictures are also on facebook.

Welcome to the Jungle

First stop, La Lancha. It's one of three resorts owned by the same owner (Francis Ford Coppola) and is outside of Peten, Guatemala. It sits above a large natural lake about the size of Lake Coeurd'Alene. Can't beat a hammock outside your front door.

Our first day out was to Yaxha. A famous Mayan site that was occupied from 600 BC (that's right, I said BC) to 900 AD. The site has more than 500 structures. We were absolutely blown away by the huge scale of these buildings and the amazing achievement of the Mayan people to build something so lasting.

Here we were feeling like we were at the top of the world! Imagine how the Mayans felt so long ago, it's no wonder they thought they were pretty amazing stuff. I decided I'd flex, to show my toughness, since I was at the top of the jungle and all. :) There was a monkey must've been curious and decided to swing in the tree parallel to us. Everything in this place seemed like it was straight out of the movies. Just incredible.



Howler Monkeys and Spider Monkeys were pretty common to see. When we first started heading into the jungle on the trail, we heard a group of howler monkeys fighting over something. Our guide said it was most likely just a spat over territory. The sound is so intimidating, they really do sound fierce. I'm bummed, because I have video and couldn't get it to load to the blog... I'll keep trying, the sound really is amazing.

I was so surprised to see this sprite in a bottle. It brought back memories of my Grandma's homemade rootbeer. She would save old glass bottles and use them again and again. Our guide had a couple of local guys carry up big heavy coolers to the top of one of the towers for us. It was funny because all of us were out of breath from climbing to the top but then got spoiled with drinks and cold rags. Meanwhile, these two locals did the climb with a relative piano on their backs; but no drinks for them. Looking back I should've offered them mine. This was just my first experience noticing the inequality that I soon became very aware of on this trip. It didn't seem fair, and I guess lots of things never will be. I haven't figured out what to do about it yet, but I do know that I feel very thankful for my blessings and feel motivated to help out where I can.

Sunset view from the top of Temple 219 in Yaxha