October 08 - FLOORS!

Two days before we left for Michelle's wedding we decided to have our hardwood floors refinished while we were gone. This meant we had two days to pack for the wedding and to move everything we owned into the kitchen and garage! We took our plants to Chad's mom's house and Grandma and Grandpa Morris watched Nali while we were away. It was a lot of work at the last minute (literally), but it was absolutely worth all the work and the money! Have a look:

Before - Corner in one of the bedrooms

After - Corner in one of the bedrooms

Before - Hallway

After - Hallway

Before - Livingroom

After - Livingroom

Sara - showing off the beautiful floors.

Out of all the projects we've done on the house this is the one and only one we've paid to have someone else do for us. We debated beforehand about weither or not it was going to be worth it, but after coming home and seeing the beautiful floors (and smelling the intensity of those refinishing chemicals - yuck!) we decided it was well worth every single penny (and really nice to have a break from at least one of the projects...)

Michelle and Kris Gomez Wedding!!!

On October 4, 2008 we celebrated the wedding of two of our favorite people in the entire world!

Chad's sister Michelle married Kris Gomez in an absolutley beautiful ceremony in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. She officially became a 'wife' to Kris and 'mom' to Kristian, Cerah, and Shaun. The whole occasion was beautiful and we had an amazing time with friends and family while we were there. Here's a 'few' pictures.

The Wedding

At the altar: Michelle and Kris

Michelle giving the kids gifts during the ceremony.

The Gomez Family!

Kris, Shaun, Michelle, Kristian, and Cerah

Millie, Kris, Michelle, Woody

Millie, Larry, Kris, Michelle, Woody, Nancy, Chad, Nicki

This handsome guy gave the bride away.

(no, he did not hold the beer while he walked her down the aisle)

(...but I'm sure he would have... if we'd have let him)

Us.

Let the fun begin!!!

Singing Karaoke! What a catastrophe!

Kim dancing with her son Jordan.

Jordan and his newfound girlfriend Naomi dancing it up!

Jordan and Grandma Karen dancing.

(He's probably looking for one of those really good 7-ups you order at the bar!)

Shaun, getting his groove on!!!

And showing us how it should be done!

Look what Chad did to his Grandma Millie after a few glasses of wine!

The happy mother of the bride!

Nicki and Grandpa Woody!

What a beautiful place for a wedding!

Look how happy they are!

Sunset!

Pre/Post Wedding Fun!

Andi, Nicki (and Kris)

Nancy and Larry enjoying good food cooked by Kris' CRAZY brothers!

Grandpa Woody, Chad, Nancy and Larry - hanging out in the rain!

Cerah, Kristian, Nicki, Nevaeh, and Kim.

Way too much fun!

Michelle, Nicki, Chad, Kris, Kristian.

Jim and Grandma Millie at Herb's Tavern.

Having a morning drink.

At the Lavender Farm.

In the lavender field. It sure smells good!

Hiking to the lighthouse.

Andi, Kim, Michelle, Nicki, Nancy.

The Alpaca Farm.

It was a beautiful occasion and a fun time had by all!

September 08 - Catchup!

September took us back out to Roz's house in Sweet to help her reattach some of the metal roofing that the wind was trying to blow off the barn again. It was a good day's work, but we had fun... and we got the job done too.

Sara - keeping the ladder steady for Grandpa.

Chad, Jason, and Cliff.

Goofy Sara! The rope bearer.

Me holding Chad up. (Gosh I'm strong!)

Or perhaps its the fact that I'm tied down to the truck behind me.

I like to think it's all me...

Two helpful young boys - Xander and Dawson.

They caught and tamed the wild fence while we were busy with the roof.

Catchup - August 08

Wow... it's been a while to say the least. I'd like to take the next severla blogs to catch you all up on the highlights of things over the past few months. Here goes...

The long and the short of it:

August 08: Chad, Nali and I took a trip to Hells Canyon with our friend Sharene and her dog Maliae. It was supposed to be a three day backpacking trip, but Nali injured herself (nothing serious, just old bones and muscles that don't work the way they used to) and we had to turn around. We car camped instead. Seems like Nali is beginning to show her age this last year (she turned the big 11 in December). No more carrying her own pack it seems. We still had a great time hanging out and hiking around. We saw 4 snakes, lots of hawks, and a bear - Oh My!!!

Nicki and Sharene on the trail.

Hells Canyon. Beautiful.

Three Amigos.

Chad

Tour-de-Fat Aug 23rd

On Saturday the Tour-de-Fat strolled through Boise yet again for a fabulous day of fun-filled-folly. If you enjoy bikes, beer, and utter foolishness, you'd love the Tour-de-Fat! This is a bike loving, fun filled beer festival, held by New Belgium Brewing company. It moves around the country to select cities each summer and Boise just happens to be one of those lucky cities. We're very grateful for that too as it's so much fun! Each year the festival is started with a massive bike ride on which everyone is encouraged to dress up in ANY crazy costume they can think of (without getting themselves arrested that is). After this, everyone congretates in a park to drink beer, and listen to good music and to promote the New Belgium lifestyle. Unfortunatley this year, Chad and I missed the mass bike ride (we both had to work), but we each left work early in order to attend the last several hours of the festial. Here's what it looks like...

The stage and some performers down below (between bands playing).

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Here's what Chad looked like. Sweet hair and beer goggles sweetie! I'm a lucky woman!

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Me, and yes that is a beer in my hand. Okay, so it's Chad's beer, but I did sip on it occasionally.

At the center of the festival is a corraled off area where they've designed a bunch of funny bikes for people to ride. Here's Chad testing them out:

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A scooter bike.

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Yes, that is a bike with shoes for wheels. Doesn't everybody have one?

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Chad in background (some unknown guy in foreground) -there were lots of red shirts and pink helmets in the bike corral.

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This was the point where I wondered if it was wise to leave the insurance card at home...

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And finally...

Chad on a true fat-tire bike!

We've easily established that after a few beers, Chad likes riding goofy bikes in pink helmets, sticking his tongue out and flashing devil horns at everyone. In New Belgium style... 'Follow your Folly.' For that afternoon, that's exactly what we did.

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Can't wait until next year!