A Hard Working Man

What do you get when you combine this guy and these trees?

Major yard improvements!

Before

After

Before

                                                     

After

I have one very hard working man who takes after his dad when it comes to yard work.  Despite non-spring like weather, Chris got out there and tackled some yard projects that we have been talking about all winter.  We have a long backyard with a lot of fence line that was in need of some privacy blocks, but by the time we got into our house last year, everywhere in Boise was out of the kind of tree that we needed.  So we were sure to get an early start on it this year.  After two trips to Costco to get trees, two trips back to Costco to return trees when we found them half price at Home Depot (accompanied by a very disappointed, loyal Costco customer), two trips to Home Depot, three trips to get dirt, and a lot of Chris' sweat, our backyard has begun its transformation.  One of the reasons that we bought our house was because of its yard.  It had a great start, but it has been fun to see our vision for our yard start to become a reality. Now we just need the sun to come out and we will really be on our way.  More big yard changes are on their way!

In between Chris' yard work and my miscellaneous weekend errands, we had the chance to have our niece and nephew over for a BBQ.  I cannot believe how big these kiddos are getting.  I was a senior in high school when Brad was born and this year or next is probably the year that he is going to surpass me in height.  Not a huge height achievement, I know, but it is still crazy to me that he is soon going to be towering over me.  Check out Brad's new shoes.  He would think I was a pretty cool aunt if he saw my 80s photos.  Who knew that the 80s really would come back?

    

The Other Dog

We took a much needed R&R trip up to McCall this weekend.  We figured that if it is going to be snowing in March, we might as well be skiing.  We had a wonderful ski day with my dad and Robin followed by a walk around McCall with homemade ice cream and caramel included, a dip in the hot tub and some good old NCAA tournament until Chris could not watch the Zags get destroyed any longer and then we watched a movie.  Two important milestones were reached this weekend in our lives.  Mrs. Bella officially conquered carsickness and is going on a year strong (thank goodness)  and I stayed awake for an entire movie.  Do not underestimate the significance of that.  I am pretty sure that is has not happened since about 1998. 

We were also paid a visit by Robin's dog as seen below.  This little fox comes to the porch and lays on a stack of snow until you toss him out some food.  I gave him an egg and off he went only to come back again when he was done.  I did not have my camera with me this weekend so these were all taken with Chris' phone. Not too shabby for a phone.

We spent the rest of the weekend catching up with normal life by spending an enormous amount of money at Costco, cleaning house, and doing some yard work.  I guess it is more accurate to say that Chris did the yard work because while I napped and caught up on American Idol, he chopped down two dead trees in our yard. I was quite impressed with his work when I woke up.

Constable Wedding

We were lucky enough to be able to escape the cold and go to Arizona last weekend to see Chris' high school buddy Joel marry his sweetie (a Santa Clara Bronco I might add, good choice Joel!).  The rehearsal dinner was outside and consisted of BBQ ribs and chicken around a campfire.  Very Arizonan and very awesome.  We also got to go out in downtown Tempe which was quite the happening little place complete with a very cool dueling piano bar.  The wedding itself was beautiful.  It was about 80 degrees and gorgeous with the Arizona desert as a backdrop.  Rachel was the definition of a stunning bride and Joel was adorable.  They had the courage to say their vows which was my favorite part.  I wish that I would have gotten the nerve up to do that.  It really was a wonderful ceremony.  

Chris was honored to be one of Joel's groomsmen along with the other two members of the "fiercesome foursome."  Chris, Joel, Collin and Lee have all been friends since high school and got to reunite once again for the wedding.  Chris chose his friends well even back then.  I love each of these guys.  It was so much fun to be able to see them all together looking handsome in their tuxes. It is obvious how close they still are and really neat to see how they can pick up like they see each other everyday  (yes, I just used the word neat).  While Chris ate at the head table, I felt very cool to be seated with the lady counterparts of the foursome and the Facebookers. The food was great, the dancing was fabulous and a good time was had by all.  Thanks Joel and Rachel for inviting us to share in your special day!  We had such a great time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones too.

 

Mrs. Becko

When some people finish the bar exam they go on exotic trips to the other side of the world to celebrate.   The first time around, Chris and I took a fabulous trip to Alaska.  This time around, I would not have had anything else but a visit from one of our favorite people, Mrs. Becky Biniek (AKA: Becko/Becks).  We pretty much ate our way through both Eagle and Boise and enjoyed some pretty nice cocktails along the way too.  We had a fantastic bluebird ski day up at Bogus Basin. I even loaded up on the sun screen. But don't be fooled by the blue skies, it was pretty darn chilly.

We also enjoyed the best kind of time, plain old "hang out time"  by watching movies, going to our favorite breakfast spot, getting our butts kicked by Chris on the Wii, taking the Bels to the park and spending some quality time on the trampoline.  I think Becko may have liked the trampoline more than our children visitors :)   Bella also fell in love with Becky while she was here.  I am not sure that the love was quite mutual, but I think that Bella is growing on Becky.  Every morning when we'd let her out of our room, Bella would run down and bust into Becky's room to "greet" her.  She was pretty sad on Tuesday when she bolted down the hallway and busted in the room to find an empty bed.  We feel the same way as Bella, we already miss having Becky around.

Thanks Becky for making the trip up to Idaho.  We loved that our first California visitor was you!