Brett and Hailey Cahoon

'Spam'ly Home Evening

2012-02-07T09:51:00.001-08:00

Last night was the first big event. . . the first ever 'Spam'ly Home Evening. Brett decided his idea was so good that we should see just how long we could go eating Spam meals on Mondays. I'm not so sure just how long I'll hold out, but I've got to be honest, last night was pretty great.

Considering the fact that it was a SPAM meal, it was pretty darn good. I made my first ever homemade buns & Teriyaki sauce and we had Flyin' Hawaiian Burgers topped with a roasted, caramelized pineapple relish & sri acha mayo. I was quite pleased!

Our House

2012-01-23T08:13:00.001-08:00

Here it is! These pictures are a long time coming . . . which provided plenty of time to take pictures. Hard not to do when you are so excited about your first house!

Front of the house. There aren't too many pictures of the outside. Maybe next summer after we spruce it up a bit.

These Hollyhocks are amazing! They grew over 6 feet tall in just this one summer.

Brett loves our archway covered in summer greens.

Nothing was painted in the house when we got it. I'll show the interior pictures with a before and after as much as the pictures allow.

FRONT ENTRY

Looking back at the front door.

Looking into the Living Room.

LIVING ROOM

(Master Bed, Bathroom & Nursery are off to the right)

Looking from the doorway of the kitchen into the dining room, living room & entry. Nursery to the right, Noah's room/Brett's office to the Left. Stairs to basement to left.

MASTER BEDROOM

My great grandma's vanity. It used to be a light blonde wood. I refinished it over the summer/fall.

Upstairs Bath

I love these old door knobs!

KITCHEN

(Think country, chickens, checkerboard green)

Before . . .

After . . .

(Not a great pictures, but it's the general idea.)

NURSERY

(Off the dining room, door into bathroom)

NOAH'S ROOM/BRETT's OFFICE (eventually)

Before & After

BASEMENT

Before . . .

After . .

GUEST BEDROOM

NOAH & FINN's Room when they get bigger

PLAYROOM

Not Pictured: Laundry Room, Good Sized storage room (I'm afraid I'll never get this post off if I try to get those pictures on here too). If you come and visit I'll show them to you.

Our house warming gift to ourselves. Yep, this guy is out of the cage. It's happened a few times already, the crowning moment being when Finn pulled the cage over on himself and the cage and contents went flying everywhere.

We'd love to have you come stay with us!

My Boys

2011-10-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

I love my job. I'm so glad Brett lets this be my job. I realize not everyone is so lucky to get to stay at home and mother their kids. I'm grateful I am.

ORANGE. This is Noah's favorite color. What a cute boy.

This guy has up and started crawling AND eating solids (and lots of 'em) in just about a week!

Me, doing my job.

I'm secretly hoping you think I'm a better photographer than you thought before seeing this picture. Magical things happen when you get a SLR. I'm working my way into one!

The existence of digital photography happens to add to my skill. You're bound to get one or two good ones for every hundred you take :)

Girls in Noah's Life

2011-10-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Most every time Noah prays he prays for Aliza. I still find it so adorable.

Ashton lives 2 houses down and they are buddies too, though I don't have any pictures of her.

Heidi & June-ih-turr (Juniper) are who Noah sees most. I started watching them in the mornings. They are both cute girls.

A View From Up Here

2011-10-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

This is for the rest of us who will probably never hike Mt. Whitney. Brett made the climb this summer! What a stud, right?! He's on another big adventure right now, pheasant hunting in St. Dakota. Ain't that living!

Three Years...

2011-06-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Two Kids...

Things is work'n out mighty right fine.

All the Budges together for grandpa's 60th birthday and Brigg's & Finn's Blessings.

Sweet Finn.

This is what makes my life go around. And boy, don't I love it!

YAAY! Norah came to visit Noah (and Hilary and Andy came to visit us!)

That's our backyard and that's my cute hubby.

The boys.

Cool Kat

2011-06-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

Brett's always giving me a hard time about being OLD (since I'm a cougar). Looks like it's coming back to bite him. He's the one GETTING old. . . . bye, bye good eyes.

What good grandparents!

A Sneak Peak

2011-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we bought a house. I make that sound simple but it was a short sale (code name for LONG...and hold your breath with a little hope it might pan out). This is it. We're still fixing a few things up before we move in but we're hoping to be there in just a couple of weeks.

I'll put some more pictures on when I can do some before and afters.

Not like most kids

2011-01-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

So, most kids like to watch cartoons and other kid things. Not Noah. His ball fetish has become about more than just throwing them.

Noah asks for 'bas-ball' when we've got the computer open (Brett watches the top ten plays with him from nba.com), wants me to turn 'bas-ball' on the TV (sometimes getting mad when I won't), and...

...finds 'bas-ball' in the newspaper (and everywhere really). He picked up this paper from the woodpile and brought it to me to make sure I knew that it was 'bas-ball'

What a crazy kid. You'd think we were fanatics. It's mostly just him.

yep, this is ball.

Buddy Beckett

2011-01-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

We have been watching Beckett while T.J. & Heidi are in Disneyland with their other kiddos. It's been fun to watch these boys play. I'm excited to see these boys grow up together.

Grandpa and his boys.

Grandma reading these guys a book.

Duck Hunting

2011-01-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

The boys went out for an early morning COLD duck hunt...and Brett loved it!

This is the one he shot. Looks like he rung its neck pretty good, with bullets.

My cousin Justin came up to hunt & showed Brett how to breast the duck.

There it is.

Christmas

2011-01-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

We had a nice time in SLC for the holidays. It was nice to relax and take it easy.

Christmas Eve

The wooden rocking horse T.J. & Heidi made us for Christmas.

Daisy helping Noah open his gift from Grandpa Fieful.

The little baller with his new hoop.

...and his cell phone.

Graduation

2011-01-20T19:28:00.001-08:00

He did it! Brett made it through Law School & an MBA program.

Brett was the only law student to walk in December. It was pretty cool to have it be just him behind Dean Seamon, who hooded him.

My mom & dad came up for the big event & helped us move back. It was fun to have them there one last time.

Look at this little grad to be.

The Big Update

2010-11-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

I just did my very periodic picture posts. Look back through November to see them all.

Our little Fall Buddy

2010-11-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Here he is in some fall pics.

A Visit From Grandma

2010-11-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Yaay! We love family with us in Moscow. Grandma Jayne came up over her fall break and we had a great time together. We all went to the farmers market then she and I went for a nice bike ride.

Noah's picking out his squash.

We tried some of the yummiest squash! I'm excited to grow some one day.

Grandma & her boy & his boy. Thanks for coming to visit!

Hiking Kamiak Butte

2010-11-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

These are a few of my favorite people. It's so great to have good friends to get together with. We share lives, kids, adventures, spiritual insights and the bond of women. How great!

So here you have it: Hilary & Norah and Katie & Lincoln. These are my buddies and Noah's little buddies too.

The view of the Palouse.

Sometimes Noah's a little cry baby around Norah. He doesn't like her touching him & getting so excited to be around him. We've decided she's going to be all over the boys and Noah's probably going to be a little slow to catch onto the whole girl thing.

Cute little Lincoln.

Hilary & Norah.

Lake Chatcolet

2010-11-14T11:18:00.000-08:00

We spend the night in a little cottage by the edge of Lake Chatcolet at the Southern part of Lake Coeur d'Alene. The next morning we rode our bikes to Harrison & had lunch.

Noah Bug

2010-11-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

Boy, we love this kid! He is all sorts of fun.

He loves looking at himself in the mirror with these glasses on.

And this hat.

He took all the books out of this basket then climbed in to do a little reading.

Playing out behind our house.

Check out this focus. He will sit for 20 minutes putting the car keys into the screws at the door hinge. It's like he's trying to unscrew them.

The Hiawatha Trail

2010-11-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

The Hiawatha Trail is built on the old railroad tracks that ran West from Chicago. We rode from the bottom to the top and back down again. It was about 30 miles all together.

Noah & Brett feeding some BIG fish on the way to our campground.

Avery, Idaho. A major train stopping place back in the day.

Camping out and eating some chili. It was cold! But so beautiful, too.

Look at this happy camper! He slept great!

Waking up his dad. What a funny guy.

Biking over some of the train trestles.

Some of the tunnels are so long you have to use headlights. The longest is about 2 miles.

This is how far we are from Chicago.

Noah turned one!

2010-09-09T08:30:00.001-07:00

He's officially a big guy, though he's still only in the 10th percentile for height and weight. We had some friends over to celebrate his big day with a little cake and ice cream. Hilary made fresh blackberry ice cream to add to the event. AND...they all brought a gift. Too nice.

Hilary said this looked like a Dr. Seuss cake. Pretty cute, eh? I was glad it turned out so well.

He loved everyone singing to him. I think he'll be just like his mom - a social guy, happy to be surrounded by friends.

The crew: The Warrs, Jorgensens & Lowrys. And grandma Jayne there on the computer. All these kids made for a good time.

Noah was a little slow at digging in so his dad helped him out a bit.

The Cahoons.

Thanks for your birthday wishes and gifts!

Fall fun...in August & September

2010-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Since fall seems to have come a little early I might as well note that our adventures are very fallish feeling.

The Paul Bunyan Festival in St. Maries. Chillin' with the Jorgensens.

Noah picked this meal out of the fridge himself. He really likes anything that looks like a ball and this avocado qualified.

He loves music too.

His friend Hannah came over to play for a bit. Fun friends.

Yep, he's mischievous. He JUST learned to lift the toilet lid. Mmmm...I'm not sure what to do about that now.

Swinging out at Laird Park. He's a smart cookie. As soon as I got him in there he started pumping himself back and forth!

He liked our fire grilled corn, as did Norah.

And loved the tinfoil dinners.

Noah's New Hobbies

2010-07-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

He loves bangin on the piano with Grandma

AND...he loves getting into both toilet paper and toilets.

I guess TP's okay fiber, eh?

Needless to say, there's no TP on rolls in this house right now, toilet lids stay shut, and garbage cans are up on counters.

Cahoon Reunion

2010-07-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

It's always fun hanging out with the Cahoon's. We spend a weekend together with no big plans and have a good time together.

All the siblings talking with their mom.

Swimming at the pool. Michelle & Reynolds.

Ollie, whom Noah loves.

Beach beauties: Dani, Esther & Madison

Madison hanging out with Noah.

Kennecott Copper Mine

2010-07-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

On my life time 'to do' list is visit Kennecott Copper Mine. (check.)

I met Lindsay & the girls for this adventure.

Will let Noah use his stroller and was loving pushing him around.

Dinner on the Deck

2010-07-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Another summer favorite is eating dinner out on the deck.

Noah decided to share his carrot with Sadie.

He took it back a time or two for another bite himself before letting her actually have it.

This is par for the course for my mom. She's always got some great food on deck.

Camping at Bear Lake

2010-07-25T15:05:00.002-07:00

Bear Lake with the Procter's

Grandma & her two grandkids

The kids & Spouses

Noah's first time camping. He did great!

And woke up happy, of course!

Look at that cute little frog guy with his dad.

2010-07-25T15:05:00.001-07:00

Fun at Home

2010-07-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

Home is where we spend most of our time. Here's what happens:

This little guy smiles and laughs like crazy. He has been SO much fun lately!

Who knew laundry was so fun?! not me.

Loving the swing chair out on the deck.

Hanging out with his two good buddies, Beckett & Grandpa.

How about this? This young moose was LOST & wandered down our street then out onto the golf course. Crazy!

Our two year anniversary.

Happy traveller. Well, this day he was. He's pretty good but longer trips aren't the best.

So we pulled out of the neighborhood to the gas station across the street and found out Noah wasn't buckled in. He was on his belly smiling up at us. Funny boy.

Abby came up and spent some time at Grandma's. We had all sorts of fun & even made home made pretzels.

One of my new favorite faces of Noah's.

Bear Lake Cabin

2010-07-25T14:32:00.001-07:00

Bear Lake is one of my all time favorite places.

Here's Noah & Grandpa smiling after church.

...and our little family.

O's. I'm sure Noah will grow up doing this in pictures, just like his dad. Who knows why :)

Handsome little mister!

We went for a little walk up Fish Haven Canyon and took a look at all the work Fish & Game are doing on the little stream. They're trying to restore the Bonneville Cutthroat spawning grounds up there.

All the fam chillin at night.

William playing a little rougher than Noah's used to :)

Look at these cute cousins!

Beckett, William & Noah

Summer's Beginnings

2010-05-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Our summer started out in SLC but I didn't get out the camera. As always, Grandma Jayne was nice as ever. Naturally, she gave us her bedroom. She's always so great to accommodate us (and everyone else). Thanks Jayne!

Here's Noah hanging out with Grandpa Randy and Sadie...

...who has become one of his favorites.

Lil' Rock Star

Exploring the outdoors.

This was way better than being inside fussing over sore gums.

Look closely at his mouth.

Yep, you guessed it. Eating a little dirt. This was his first time diggin' his little hands in and he liked it.

Well...maybe except for that.

Say, 'Ahhh.' Okay, so I didn't really let him get ahold of too much but he had to get a taste.

First Swim

2010-04-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was real rainy and cold so thanks to Katie we got together to go swimming. There is an indoor pool in Pullman and it was so nice.

Me & Noah, Hilary & Norah, Katie & Lincoln, and Katie & Adah

Cute little swimmer. The water was okay but the toys floating around were the real hit.

We live on your desktop.

2010-04-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Tell me this doesn't look like the standard windows desktop image. We love these rolling hills of the Palouse.

This was my nice 15 minute Sunday drive to get Noah to sleep during church. He's too social & distractible to fall asleep in church.

My BIG craft for this school year

2010-04-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Actually, this is by big craft of 2 years. That's how long it's taken to actually initiate it, get motivated enough to do it AND get it done. It was actually mostly because of my good friends who set a date for a 'planning meeting.'

At any rate, in true Hailey fashion, I didn't just do one but two. It was under the guise of having one for older & younger kids. The truth is, though, that I tend to do (attempt really) too much of a good thing. This time it worked out and I love how it turned out.

THE OLDER (and more elaborate) BOOK: It's based on nursery rhymes

THE YOUNGER book: For the 'lil tots

A little Pullman Bike Ride

2010-04-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Alex Wong - This is a friend from Brett's MBA program. The Warr's are always doing nice things for people and this day they were nice people to Alex. They lined up a biking 'hang out' and equipped him with both the bike and the adventure.

He is so fun & funny. I want to try to always be happy like him.

Look at that cute dad pulling his little boy.

The ma and the pa.

And the CUTEST little rider. We looped around the campus, stopping at the grizzly bears. Man, what a cool creature. I like them. And though I'd like to pet them and be friends, I like that they are behind a couple of fences. I'm pretty sure they don't want to be the same kind of friends I want to be.

The Weather we Love!

2010-04-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Saturday! Thanks to the Warrs we got out on a little hike up Moscow Mountain.

AND...Thanks to Bonnie & Aaron Contreras we have this SWEET baby backpack! Noah loved it. Okay, so he liked it and loved Adam & his beard.
Here we are.

Jon & Pleasy Wayas

Susannah & her Mountain Man

Oranges

2010-04-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Brett gave Noah a taste of an orange the other day and he was hooked. Brett set the rest of the orange on the coffee table and Noah found it and couldn't take his eyes off of it. On the sly Brett grabbed it and hid it in the kitchen.

Yesterday I got out an orange and Noah, who was playing in an activity center honed in on it and remembered (that smart cookie!) what it was all about. He started fussing so Brett pulled him out and set him next to me while I peeled it. He was getting so mad because he could see it and wanted to eat it though I hadn't even peeled it yet. It was really cracking us up. He went to town on his little piece and again, we hid the rest.

It goes about like that. He pretty much just wants to eat what we eat. Baby food doesn't hold a candlestick to whatever is on our plates.

Yum!!

Look at these two cute friends. Hannah came over for a couple hours the other day. She's so darling and fun to tend. Noah just watched her seeing what it's like to be bigger than he is.

Two teeth became four

2010-04-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

It is quite the task to get some pictures of Noah's teeth. He loves the camera, gets focused on getting it then gets ticked (as you can see) when he doesn't get it.

Reaching for the camera

Yelling at me to let me know he wants it.

"Uuuh! Give it to me."

"You didn't give it to me. That makes me mad." This worked, though, because you get to see the teeth.

The next day it went a little better.

Thanks to dad distracting him. Cute little teether, though.

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hooray, we finally got to go skiing in 2010! Couldn't have asked for better weather. We had so much fun skiing some nice groomers & spring snow with family.

Lunch on the deck. Picnic lunches are the best when you're skiing.

Even Noah got a little lunch.

Check out those bluebird skies!

A nice clear view of the Tetons!

Yay! We're having some real fun!

Cousins back in Poky. It's so fun to watch these boys grow together.

This picture warms my heart. Carver and Indie were playing and laughing and Noah just started cracking up. It's so fun to see these kids together.

6 mo. old Noah

2010-04-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

Look at this sweet little an. Those are two teeth on that bottom row.

That sweetness is true to this guy but he's also got a mad streak. He's recently developed a nasty scream. Boy, oh. I'm already ready already for that high pitch madness to go away.

Doin what he love and lovin what he do. Catchin some air.

The wide mouth. Wouldn't it be funny if we all smiled like that.

Just now this little guy let out one of his signature toots. Yep, the ones that led the lady at the Targhee day care to check his pants 3 times in 2 hours. Well, his dad happened to be holding him and about dropped him handing him off to me so he could head to the bathroom to gag. What a show. Needless to say, I gave Noah a well deserved hi-5.

My latest Creations

2010-04-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

Look at this cute piece of work. I'm real proud of it. It's mostly scraps and turned out way cute.

AND, in 2nd place and equally cheap, a little bit of color is now in our room.

Birthday Boy turns 28!

2010-04-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here's his dessert pick: JELLO!

As you can see, he's pretty happy about it.

Like father, like son. OR...'Two of a kind" as Brett calls them. Brett wore an identical outfit when he was little.

AND...a little fake blowing over the breakfast candle. He humored me at least.

Grandma Jayne comes to visit

2010-04-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Yay! We love visitors. Grandma Jayne came into town and spent a few days. We had a great time.

We tried our hand at fondant. We made an early b-day cake for Brett and I must say it turned out well.

We are loved!!

2010-02-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines to us too! Well, we never get too old to be racing out to the mailbox. We've sure had some fun surprises lately. Our family has been sending love our way. Thanks ya'll!

This great book and yummy treat from Jayne.

This great book (w/grandma's voice included) from Grandma Becky, along with some real cute sugar cookies (they were far cuter than the ones I made).

AND this adorable alligator for Noah from Grandpa Don. He wrestled it right out of it's packaging. Tough little guy.

McCall & Winter Festival

2010-02-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

We spent a long weekend down in McCall with the Warrs at Brandon Hanks cabin. It was so much fun.

L-R: The Cahoons, Tierney (my old roomie/good friend who came up from SLC), Brandon, the Warrs.

Love this sweet little bear.

There were some really cool ice sculptures there.

Day 2 crew going snowshoeing out on Cascade lake, which was just out the back door!

The boys.

The girls.

Back Home - Moscow 2010

2010-02-22T09:32:00.001-08:00

This little love is what captures our attention most every moment. Boy, do we love him!!

Little love bug! He loves all his 'friends.'

Mom & the little bear going walking to do some errands.

Chompin on dad's nose.

My two handsome guys. "Two of a kind," as Brett says.

Christmas 2009

2010-02-22T08:44:00.000-08:00

Look at these cute little guys!! Missy came up with Boston and Beckett was out so we had to capture the moment. They are all within about a month of each other.

Me & Noah, Brett & Beckett, Missy & Boston

Indie LOVES her cousin...maybe a little too much. We had to keep an eye on her.

Cute boys! They're going to be best buds.

Playing together already.

All the grankids in the 'magic room' watching a show.

Brett holding William while sledding. It was REALLY cold!

Mom & Cesar sledding on Christmas Eve.

The 'First Christmas' boys.

The Cahoons

North Pole Cruise

2010-02-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

The North Pole made it to Coeur d'Alene over the holidays, so we went up to see it.

It just so happens, it was FREEZING that night. Noah didn't last too long outside, but I'm pretty sure he loved all the cool lights.

This is on a cruise ship across lake C d'Alene to the North Pole.

with the Jorgy-Jorgensens

and the Warrrrrs.

Super cool lights around the resort

Whomever did these lights also did Disney's lights.

And then there was santa

In his little house one the lake. What a jolly ol' guy he is!

Sushi

2010-02-15T07:59:00.001-08:00

The fact that I had a part in this impressive spread is pretty amazing, considering I used to be a fish HATER. I'm leaning on the 'lover' side of things these days.

Heather Heward inspired us to learn this fun meal. We all had a great time putting it together.

The baby couch. This place is full of babies & I love it!

Brooke & Me. What a good friend she is. It's her house where we had this good time.

Barber-ess

2010-02-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

That's right. To any who dare, I love to cut hair. I've got a no guarantee policy but I'm always willing to try.

Before...

...and after.

April was very daring. She let me to a pixie cut on her. I'll be honest, I was sweating bullets while cutting it, but it worked out. This 'non-styled' shot doesn't do it justice. This girl's got style, and style it she does, and styles it well. Let's tell it like it is, though: April could pull off ANY cut. She's got the style and cute face to make anything work. I'm pretty sure she should be on a magazine.

Thanksgiving & the Placervilla

2010-02-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

Here's Michael & little Noah. She's so great with him.

And how about that favorite Aunt. Noah sure loves her. Who wouldn't with all that energy!!

Grandma Jayne loves Noah and he loves her right back!

Next to the awesome meal, this was the other favorite event: Rockband. Nobody can rock the drums quite like Shree.

The PLACERVILLA

On our way down to Boise we stopped in Placerville to spend some time with the Warrs at their cabin.

Susannah keeping Noah warm on a walk. She's his favorite friend!

The cemetery was the perfect, quaint mountain burial plot. This place is the ideal spot for a movie.

Neat tombstones.

Most of the graves are surrounded by iron fences.

Brett got off the 4-wheeler and walked as Noah didn't like the noise & speed. Looks like he is his father's child.

The Cahoons.

The Warrs.

(This may look like we spent a lot of time outside. Truth is, we spend a lot more time inside playing rook. You might say we're addicted.)

A little more from SLC

2009-10-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Daisy didn't mind Noah being on her play mat until he tried to knock her out :) (for the record it was barely a tap)

Grandpa Fieful with his two new grandbabies.

Aunt Jillyn. I really connectd with her this trip.

All the roomies, getting together to catch up.

The Weddings

2009-10-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Check out this handsome little devil! Grandma Jayne bought him this cute outfit. People have raved about it ever since! Thanks!

Our fun little family!

Siblings and cousins. Fun to have playmates.

Grandma and Daisy, both looking so good.

Grandma Jayne comes to visit

2009-10-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Grandma loves her grandson!

Cute dad!

Momma loves that boy!

Bringing him home

2009-10-28T22:52:00.001-07:00

The Shakes

2009-10-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

I'm smiling here, but boy am I shaking! It's crazy how your body shakes.

Grandma Becky came in just as Noah was making his arrival. What great timing!!

Sweet, sweet little man!

Oh....a teeny tiny.

Making his arrival

2009-10-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Noah wasn't making up his mind on getting here, so we made him come.

Raar! Since I wasn't coming in to the hospital in pain I got a little attitude going on my own.

Look at the new daddy and his little boy.

Noah, getting weighed and measured.

WOW! What a miracle. We did it.

Mom came to town

2009-10-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

Hanging out in Pullman. A little car mishap just became an adventure.

Still have my cup holder.

So our little guy didn't come when we thought he would. My mom's trip was different than I thought it would be. Instead of taking care of me we played more.

Hiking on Moscow Mountain

Susannah, my hiking buddy.

Roasting dogs at the reservoir with the Jorgensens

Me & Hilga-Bilga

Hiking Boulder Creek

2009-10-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Susannah, Me & Kjarsta

My friends are nice to hike with the prego girl.

Pretty evident as to why this is called 'Boulder Creek.' The creek is filled with Crawdads too!

Fishing St. Maries

2009-10-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Warr's showed us their spot on St. Maries

Lunching on a log.

Brett...fishing for Brett is like a kid in a candy store. He sure loves to fish!

Prego mama....still castin' that rod.

The fish he caught. No one else got more than bites.

More fun

2009-10-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

The Joshua Radin concert on campus.

Fun friends.

The Lentil Fest in Pullman. Brett rode his bike 7 miles over with friends and I rode. Love the lentils & love the small town festivals.

The Reservoir

2009-09-18T21:19:00.001-07:00

After swimming in this reservoir we had tin foil dinners and camped out.

Brett & Adam chowing down.

Girls roasting mallows.

Me & Susannah

Adah, learning young. Tip it back baby, tip it back.

So I didn't think I got that big but this picture sure begs to differ.

Rainbow Storm

2009-07-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

This great storm is what kicked us off the deck where we were eating dinner.

The light through the darkness was awesome.

The New Me

2009-07-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

The weather this summer has been quite interesting. This hail/rain storm came on in a hurry and beat down.

Looks like winter if you ask me.

Ooohh, lah, lah. Once my prego cheeks start getting big and I got a nice double chin I was looking for something to make me feel cute. This seemed to do the trick.

Heidi's sister gave me the same cute A-line that Heidi has. Now we're really twinners: same hair and a big belly.

Wildflower Festival

2009-06-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

We went up to the ski area and enjoyed some good music and pretty flowers. AND...the best of what Pocatello has to offer: quite the variety of people.

A view from the little hike we took up the mountain.

Pretty wildflowers.

Our First Fishing Excursion Together

2009-06-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, after two years we finally got out to fish together. Our little man was the first to catch a fish. I'm pretty sure he liked it.

My dad is still good to set me up with all the right flies and knots. I guess we had better get that down because soon enough that is going to be our job.

Brett fulfilling his dreams from the night before. He got three nice size fish in a row.

Nothing like fishing on private property.

The three fishermen.

Fun in Poky

2009-06-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

It really has been great living with my parents this summer. We've had lots of good food and all sorts of fun adventures. Something is always going on.

Heidi Budge, my sister-in-law, is due with a boy 3 weeks before I am. We'll have some fun little man cousins to play together with.

Carv learning about T-ball. He had lots of good teachers and loved hitting the ball.

One of the yummy meals we tried. Salmon over cheesy grits with a caper cream sauce.

Indie...who makes the greatest kid faces.

Out relaxing on the lawn, watching the kids ride bikes on the path.

Cahoon Fun

2009-06-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Grandma & Dani, celebrating Grandma's Birthday. Josh & Geneal got married the day before.

Me & Heather and our Big Bellies (hers is empty now and she has the most beautiful little girl, Daisy Jayne)

SEATTLE Adventure

2009-06-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

We took a break after school got over with Andy & Hilary Jorgensen. A few relaxing days out in Seattle were just the right break from the daily grind of law school.

Met up with my friend Shelby at a Mariners game in Seattle.

The game definitely ended with a bang...thanks to a young'n who jumped out onto the field at 3rd base and sprinted all the way across the outfield and up into the stands before getting caught.

BUTCHART GARDENS in Canada. Spring is a fabulous time to see all these flowers.

A pretty boy in pretty gardens. (ha,ha)

Yep, it's getting bigger.

The ferry over to Victoria.

An awesome waterfall right by the great house we stayed in.

Me & A Bump.

2009-05-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

I feel a whole lot like me but when I look in the mirror there's a bump.

I'm 6 months big. I'm not sure how I can physically get bigger but I guess I will?!

I swear I'm bigger than these pictures make me look. I feel much bigger anyhow.

That's our little boy I'm holding.

I borrowed Brett's bike shorts to go for a road ride with my friend Hilary.

A SHOWER!

2009-05-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Kim Thacker threw me a baby shower up here before we all left for the summer. It was so much fun!! She did an excellent job.

She even made a website: http://www.babycahoon.com/ WOW!

I received lots of great things. As the song goes, 'Shower the People you know with Love.'

I sure felt loved!

My friend April MADE this awesome dinosaur!!

It's hard not to be jealous, I know, but try.

Hilary, Brooke & Heather

Heather, Corina, and KIM, the shower thrower.

Corina, me & Heather

Katie & April (peas in a pod)

Erika, Kathryn, Nicole, & Megan

Spring Break Ski Trip

2009-03-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Montana, which means the Mountains.

We spent our break between Missoula & Whitefish and had some fun skiing and great food!

The crew: my mom and dad and Brett and Me

Looking out into Canada - It was close and Glacier was closer.

A nice spring ending at Snowbowl in Missoula. Dad's new truck got dirt-dirty on the unpaved road up there. It was a cool little resort, though.

Brett & Abe on the way back home.

Me and these two padres who had some serious gas!

Law School Bell Choir

2009-03-27T13:46:00.001-07:00

ding, ding..

Our big show, at the Law School Talent Show.
Brett's favorite part was probably the sweet vests. He was adamant about them.

Chinese New Year

2009-02-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

It's the year of the ox and we celebrated with a bunch of friends and lots of chinese food over at our house. All the girls pitched in to get the cooking done, which was a lot more fun than doing it all myself.

Andy & Hilary Jorgensen

Mmmm...goood!

Brooke & Mike Lowry

Mike & Heather Heward

Michael & Laura Hales

Bruce & Emily Hinchey

Ted & Annette Larsen

The whole food-filled table & crew

White Trash Dinner & a Movie

2009-01-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

Brett and I came up with this genius dinner idea after having meatloaf awhile back. SO...here it is, a bundt pan of meatloaf with green beans erupting out the middle, surrounded by a moat of overly runny mashed potatoes. Mmmm....mmmmm.

Though we called it WT, it was actually really good.

Bruce & Emily Hinchey and Andy & Hilary Jorgensen joined us in the affair.

We watched 'The Lonestar State of Mind,' one of Brett's favorite shows as our evening feature.

Moscow Sunset

2009-01-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

I get the best views of the sunset from where I work. It happens around 3:30-4pm as the nights are so long here. Long nights mean that around eight, when it feels about midnight, we feel like we should be getting ready for bed. We usually manage to put that off for another hour or so.

The place where I work, 'Now and Then.' The owners are great and Pat gives me leeway to do whatever I'd like, including painting the windows?! You'd better believe I love that!

College Roommates

2009-01-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Kimmy's planning and Leslie's good cooking, we had a great get together over the holidays. It is so fun to get together with old friends and see how they have 'grown' in life. I love these girls!

Leslie A. McNaughtan, Me, Jamie Prince, Kendra Stowell, Kimmy Bair, Alli N. Copier, and Carrie N. who already left.

Christmas & Winter

2009-01-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

Over the break we enjoyed Christmas with Jayne & Jim and Brett's siblings. We spent time in and around SLC as well as Logan and Pocatello for New Years.

Brett and I at the Beav.
The Budge family skiing the old family resort, Beaver Mountain.

Heidi and Carver, who loves to ski.

Grandma Becky and Abby, who isn't so sure about it.

Lunch in the lodge. Beef stick and oranges...doesn't get much better than that.

The 'Blingin' Christmas party up in Moscow. We definitely showed up in style.

Fall in Moscow

2008-11-12T14:16:00.001-08:00

This is our fall. Trees full of apples and cheap ones to boot.

Washington State University sells apples on the weekends through the fall. There are lots of different apples and you can sample them all. We have been a few times and I have dried apples, made apple sauce, an amazing apple pie (it's not my recipe so I can say that).

Brett at the sampling table.

Me in front of crates of apples. By the way, there are thousands of varieties of apples. Another piece of trivia: Apples crunch because they are made of 75% water which is in cells that burst when you bite into them.

This bin of pears is for my BFF, Missy Hone Herbers. She is sweet if you were wondering.

Our Halloween pumpkin.

Enrichment mini classes are mostly a means to get together and have a good time. I 'taught' this class on chocolate covered caramel apples. I never had actually made them but figured we could pull it off regardless.

Brett seemed to like them too.

A fall bike ride along the miles of paved trails around here.

Halloween

2008-10-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

After our ward trunk-or-treat we changed our costumes into dancing gear and hit up the law school party. Dancing was a blast!

Our original costume was from the TV series Pushing Daisies, one of Brett's favorites. He is Ned, the Piemaker and I am Chuck, his childhood sweetheart.
This was at a party that the Hinchey's had.

And this is the real deal. Note Brett's ackward face...it looks just like Ned.

Seattle

2008-10-17T12:21:00.001-07:00

We took advantage of a long weekend and drove over to Seattle. By the time we ferried across the bay and got to the Racine's place on the Olympic Peninsula it was 1 am.

Janell had placed a basket of fruit & nuts by our bed and doded on us all weekend. She was so much fun to be around.

WE...rowed an old boat out on the water and saw some seals, saw a bald eagle while clamming, picked more huckleberries than Brett wished, went to a fish hatchery, to a nice seafood restaurant, and stopped at Pike's Market on our way back home. Brett bought me some flowers there for our 3 month anniversary. Is that a good husband or what?!

The Bald Eagle

His lunch which we interrupted.

Janelle's Place

Morning from our balcony

Chillin' out in the bay

Clamming. They were just a few inches below the surface.

Brett dug'em up and I picked'em up.

Some of the cool stuff we found afterwards: this crab, starfish, sand dollars, and cockles

Janelle

Huckleberries...like I've never seen before.

I'll be honest, I went a little hogwild

Pike's Place

That's Seattle behind us...but with the zoomed picture that's all we got.

The car on the ferry.

A Night to Remember

2008-10-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Pullman Stake put on a dinner/date night for couples. Not only was it a good deal ($5), it was really fun. My favorite part was the band of the cutest old people playing 20's & 30s music. Of course we had to dance!

Dancing with my husband...I love it!
Try & tell me they aren't great. I wish you could have heard them sing!
Our landlords, Paul & Elaine Miles ended up going too.

Our House in Moscow

2008-10-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

This small town of 21,000 people is just the escape we were hoping for from the city, traffic, and such. It only takes ten minutes to get from one end to the other. Still there are three grocery stores which surprises me. Some of the things we have done are go to the farmers market, cliff jumping where the Snake and Clearwater Rivers converge, and played volleyball and basketball with wards up here.

The town is surrounded by rolling hills where wheat and legumes are grown (Moscow is the home of the US Pea & Lentil Commission). Fall has been here since August and is nice. Bike trails connect the neighboring town and the 10 minute drive from one end of town to the other is a nice break from the 30 minutes it takes to get about anywhere in Salt Lake.
Brett is excited to be almost half way done with law school and is doing well. I never found a full-time job so I spend M-W-F at an antique store and try to sub the other days.

Our place (we live downstairs)
The fields around us.
Pretty, huh?
The main room
Looking down the hall.

Bathroom into bedroom

Our bedroom

Our guest bedroom/study room

the kitchen

with a view out to the backyard.

Blackberries

2008-10-17T10:04:00.001-07:00

T.J. & Heidi tipped us off to a place we could pick blackberries here. What we found out is that though they are free you’ve got to fight to get them. They are the stickiest bushes we’ve been around. The thorns seem to grab at anything and dig in before you can get them out.

After sharing with our neighbors and making syrup for pancakes we still ended up freezing 18 cups!

Berry Picking

The Tetons

2008-10-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Before heading up to Moscow we did a nice two day hike through the Tetons. We started on the Idaho side near Victor and hiked up Fox Creek Pass for a great view of The Tetons. We camped on the way down Death Canyon. The flowers were beautiful! Being outside is always rejuvenating.
The ‘pre-game’ show was quite the event. Brett and I decided to be the shuttle for the group. We drove up a day early to set up a tent and drop off the gear before heading over to Jackson. We left the truck where we were going to come out and got our unconditioned bodies on our road bikes to ride back to the trailhead.

The first 14 miles to the bottom of the Teton Pass were cake. Brett led the way and I drafted until we got to the climb. It was a bear! Brett couldn’t figure out how 5.5 miles could seem so long. We got about 1.5 miles up before we were off our bikes for a break. Breathing hard, all Brett could say was, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” The summit was so far away and there were no easier gears and no flat stretches of road to give us any respite.
We rode (and walked) a ways before we decided to hitch-hike. The truck that stopped to pick us up said they weren’t going far but we were grateful for any help. They weren’t lying. They drove us .4 miles to the trailhead of their mountain bike ride saying that it would only take 10 minutes to get to the top. Twenty minutes later and one bloody nose and we were at the top.
Coming down was fast and windy and we were glad to be back in Victor. We ate a good meaty meal at The Knotty Pine then rode the remaining eight miles to our tents as night was falling.
Needless to say, we slept well.

Mom & Dad Budge

T.J. & Heidi pumping water

The flowers were beautiful!

The Tetons are behind us.

What up?

Our camp.

The crew at the top of Fox Creek Pass

The girls

San Francisco

2008-10-17T09:18:00.001-07:00

Andrew & Shelby approached us about going on a little road trip with a free hotel room on the other end. It was a cheap trip and we had a good time.

At the temple, which happened to be closed for cleaning

AT&T park, watching a Giants game

Redwood trees up at Muir Woods forest

The Golden Gate bridge

Shelby & Brett on the railway cars

Seals...what hilarious creatures!

Summer Fun

2008-10-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Brett spent his summer as an intern at Bonneville International downtown Salt Lake. I think the hilights were probably printing off the summary of the plethora of contracts he read and the ‘benefits’ of the job: Bee’s tickets and a work day at Lagoon.

I spent a week doing landscape, until I realized I didn’t want to work that hard and be so tired all summer. I jumped ship with little hesitation to be a sub at a Montessori school. I forgo the satisfaction of working hard and being exhausted for $2 more an hour and less of a commute. A good trade, I say.

Some of the summer hilights were:
• Getting married, of course
• A cruise (our honeymoon) which we both loved
• Swimming at the pool at our complex (an almost daily event)
• Hanging out with friends & family (MarioKart on the Wii was a big part
of this)
• The Odgen rodeo - with Jane & Amanda
• Weekly Family Home Evening with cousins & friends
• American Gladiators (where FHE originated from)
• A road trip to San Francisco, where there’s definitely a lot to see,
especially when people watching!
• Visiting our mission presidents
• Three other weddings - fun to be a part of the festivities
• Bear Lake - always a favorite & both families were there at the same time
• Road biking on the SUPER NICE hand-me-down bikes
• Real Soccer Game (free tickets!)
• Meeting up with the Lim’s, a family from Singapore

President & Sister Larkins

Jon & Doreen Lim

The Ogden Rodeo with Jane & Amanda

Jane and the sister

The Jason Budges

Lily & new brother William

Bear Lake - 4th of July

Camping out with the Proctors

Our first big bike ride - 50 miles around the lake

Brett & the girls (who love him!)

Real Salt Lake game

Napping at Bear Lake

Brett out with the twins

Brett's first time up on one ski.

Honeymoon

2008-10-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

I guess the going thing is that some mishap has to occur during your honeymoon. For Brett’s cousin it was totaling their car. For us it was forgetting our passports for the cruise we had booked. We didn’t figure it out until we got to our hotel in Las Vegas.

After researching overnight carriers at the cheapest rate of $350.00, plane tickets to Vegas, bus fares, shuttles, and the like, Jayne and Scott, Brett’s mom and brother, drove them down to us. What saints!

We boarded our 4-day cruise to Ensenada at a port out of LA. The cruise was great! The people totally take care of you, there’s always something to do, and the food is EXCELLENT! Brett managed to get on a gameshow onboard (which made us famous as he was a familiar face and all the other Mormon’s on board found us, obvious we were LDS from Utah). On board we swam and layed out, played ping-pong, miniature golfed, danced, and of course, ate.

Catalina, our first stop, was small and touristy (I guess that was us). We rented bikes and rode around the island then bought a $4 fishing ‘pole’ (it looked like a kite string holder) and $1 of squid and fished off the dock.
Some little boys taught us what to do and Brett caught a Bass.

Ensenada was just as our bishop told us, “A glorified Tiajuana.” We bartered for a hammock then stumbled over an American talking down a taxi driver to take he and his family to ‘La Bufadora’, the Blow Hole. We jumped in on it and got a ride 40 minutes out of town for about $40 cheaper than the cruise offered it for.

At the little village we ate tacos, churros, bought a few souvenirs, and watch water get shot from the ocean up 100 feet in the air.

Before leaving the LA area we spent a day with my aunt and uncle in Mission Viejo and went North of LA to see my mission president.

Vegas

biking on Catalina Island

Brett's sweet fishing set up

La Bufadora - the blowhole

some real fish tacos

tide pools in Cali.

Venice Beach...as weird as they say.

Blogging...way harder than it looks

2008-09-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, working on this blog is really on my mind most every day. WHY the giant picture at the top of our blog? And why are there no other pictures on here? Well, that's because blogging is more difficult than I had expected.

One of the complications I have had was poor internet access. Next to that, maybe, is indifference. I seem to 'blog' with as much enthusiasm as I email. That said, take no offense if I'm slow to respond to one you have sent me. The biggest reason, though, is that I can't figure out how to get pictures on in an orderly/timely fashion, even with coaching from Heidi, my sister-in-law. I'm used to the ease of Facebook and how it connects you to people with so little effort. I'm not as sold on blogging just yet, but I haven't given up.

In the mean time I still have something to write (I'm full of words like most girls are) and for some reason feel compelled to share, so here's to a meaningless entry. Hopefully there will be more and better words to come.

Getting Hitched!

2008-08-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

June 14th, 2008

A few weeks after the wedding my three-year-old niece Lily said to Brett, "You were a Prince!" still enamored that they got to see a live fairy tale. That's really what it was.

Brett was a little nervous until he got to me in the morning. He was okay once we were together. Your wedding day only comes around once so you don't really know what to expect. At one point in the temple Brett said to me, "This is so much fun."

The ceremony was simple and beautiful, as it should be. Everything went just how it should: family and friends greet you as you come out of the temple, take pictures, go to the evening celebration, etc.

We were married at 2:40pm in the Salt Lake Temple and had a dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building that evening. We pretty well went straight from pictures to the dinner. As we walked in everyone was already arriving. It was so fun to see our close family and friends. As we walked into the Empire Room the Joe Muscolini jazz band was playing and the tables looked great. It was fun to see the result of months of preparation.

We mingled a bit then sat at the head table and began eating. My dad welcomed everyone then Brett and I went around introducing each table. The food was great! Our dads said a few words (mine actually said 2 or 3 times a few), we thanked everyone for coming, then we got to dancing. My dad had spent several mornings learning how to dance, thanks to my mom. He went to the church after aerobics at 7am and practiced up. It was a success. He danced me half way through the first song before he started asking where Brett was, ready to turn me over.

My prince cut in and we lived a fairytale, dancing in the big dress and sharp tux. Mmmm...I really did dream that up as a kid. Everyone joined in and danced until the band packed up. Oh, and somewhere in-between I sang a song to Brett. I had spent my voice lessons (birthday present from my parents) practicing up. I was nervous as could be but excited to surprise Brett, so sang I did.

We cut the cake which his grandma had made (which was delicious) and threw the bouquet. I didn't really know how the garter was supposed to work but Brett's cousin Dwighty wanted it so bad that I pulled it out of the box and Brett gave it to him. Gotta love that kid!

And that's where it ended. We walked out into the warm June air, leaving the fairytale behind. We passed more people who had no idea that we were at the end of the biggest day of our lives. Smiling at our secret we strolled peacefully back to the car.