Sev, Schlof, and Chaunce

Two of my best friends from high school were in town this week and we actually were able to find a time that worked for all three of us to get together! We played basketball together in high school, shared Mrs. Henley's English class, and Mrs. Krausse's Spanish class. We went to dances together (with dates of course) and had a great time hanging out! Marianne (Schlof) now lives in Utah with her husband and three beautiful kids and Krissi (Sev) lives in Council, ID with her husband and 3 handsome boys and adorable little girl! It was so fun to see them. We've only gotten to meet the youngest of our kids through pictures so far and it was great to get to see and hold each others babies and just to see how much each of our kids have grown! Of course it's always nice to catch up on each others lives too and reminisce about old times! I hope we are able to do these get togethers for a long time to come, it's such a wonderful friendship and I'm so blessed to have these two incredible friends!

From left to right: Sawyr, Piper, Krissi with Walker, Me with Cole and Mason, Marianne with Luke, Savannah, and Emily (Krissi's oldest, Hunter, couldn't make it)

Camping

We've had some fun weekends this June. We've been camping twice and to my parent's cabin in McCall once. Unfortunately, it's rained every weekend but we've had a blast anyways. The first weekend in June we went up to Crooked River past Idaho City. It was beautiful and we did a lot of fourwheeling, relaxing, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, and t-ball. Cole loved it and he thought the bunk beds in our camper were awsome! The night on the top bunk didn't go so well after him begging to sleep up there but he loved his own "room" on the bottom bunk the next night.

The weekend after that we spent in McCall at my parents cabin. It was tons of fun and very relaxing because of the rainy weather. It made us have to stay inside and just veg all weekend. And having Vicki and my mom to help with my boys was heavenly! We played Ticket to Ride (I couple play it about 10 times in a row!) and Sequence, watched movies, ate divine Double Chocolate Cream pie, and spent time with Casey, Kim, Jenny, Chad, Troy, Mom and Dad J. and Laird and Vicki Graham (good friends of our family). Lots of fun!!!

(picture of Troy and my dad)

As for our next weekend, we decided to go camping for Father's Day. We headed up to Landmark and camped at Mudd Lake. Being Father's Day weekend, Adam picked the camp spot and doubled it with a little bit of elk scouting. That area is where they have elk hunted for years and it had a major forrest fire 2 years ago and they haven't been back since. It's so sad to see how charred it is but it was really beautiful with all the new bright green growth and various waterfalls flowing everywhere due to all the rain. It might have some hunting potential still:-) We did a little fly fishing and I caught 2 very small trout which are still really fun to catch on a fly rod! Adam used his float tube and got soaked when he jumped on in and realized his waders had a few leaks. The fire felt good after that! When we woke up Sunday morning to a major down pour, we decided to pack up and head home after breakfast. Adam was outside and yelled for me to come out. Across the meadow from us was a big bull moose. I haven't seen very many in my life and was so excited! We watched him for quite a while and he ended up coming within about 30 yards of us and Cole was really able to see him! It was so cool but of course, I had forgotten our camera so no pics. We had a great time though and can't wait for more camping this summer!

Mason's Firsts...

So over the last couple of weeks, Mason has had a few of his big "FIRSTS"!

He has been working on sitting up and is now pretty good at it. He still topples to the sides and back occasionally but is really getting steady! I think his big tummy helps hold him up from the front:-)

Last week he had his first solid food... rice cereal, yummmmm! You really can't get much blander than infant

rice cereal but they all seem to enjoy it before they've tasted real flavor. He gave the usual funny faces saying, "What is this?", "I'm not sure I like this.", and "Here, take it back!". He did really well and even decided he wanted to try his hand at manning the spoon himself! Other than ramming it down his throat, he did okay:-)

The other first is rolling over. While I was at work on Sunday Adam told me Mason rolled over for the first time! Of course I was sad because I missed it but was excited that he finally did it! Then when I got home there was no way he was going to show me his new trick, he just fussed every time I tried to put him on his tummy. Well, today I got my chance to see! I put him on his tummy and helped him a couple times and then it seemed to click. After that he rolled over about 10 times and would hardly wait for me to get the camera going before he'd roll again! When I would clap and praise him he'd just smile really big, knowing he'd done something I liked! What a sweet boy!

So, at 5 1/2 months, those are Mason's tricks! We'll start him on some veggies next week so I'll post some picks of that. Those are always good for some laughs!

Water fun!

We've been to our neighborhood splash park a few times already this spring and Cole is having a blast there! Jenny and Troy have gone with us a couple of times and my friend Brenda and her girls, Riley and Ella, joined us last week. It has been perfect for hot days. Mason even got his toes wet a couple of times but he's not sure yet what he thinks about that cold water! Anyone who wants to join us, just give me a call:-)

Gage arrives!

We are so excited that our boys now have a cousin on the Bucher side! Yesterday, 5 days late, Gage Stephen Bucher was born at the Meridian St.Luke's. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 in. long. Underneath his little hat he had lots of black hair like his mommy but my first impression was that he looks a lot like his daddy. He is such a cutie pie and we are so excited that he's here!

Growing boys!

I haven't posted for a while, life just seems to be slipping through my fingers! Mason is already 5 months old and is laughing, smiling all the time, and loves to stand as much as possible on our laps! He isn't rolling over yet but at just over 19 lbs, our doctor said he'll probably roll a little later than smaller babies. He's just fat and happy:-)

At 2 1/2 Cole is such a big boy! He asks "why?" to EVERYTHING!!! Sometimes I feel like I'll go crazy if I hear that word one more time but I'm so glad that he's curious about life and wants to learn! He really never stops talking and is absolutely hilarious! When I was reminding him that a spanking might be the consequence to his actions the other day, he asked me if it was going to be like how God spanks his enemies. I have no idea where that came from but it made me laugh:-) He's been potty trained for about 3 months now and has rarely had an accident. He absolutely loves helping Adam in the yard and is so excited for warm weather so he can play in anything that has to do with water! While I was at work this weekend, Adam and him were outside and Mason was starting to fuss so Adam stepped inside for a few minutes to settle him down. When he came back out, Cole had stripped all his clothes off, poured out all the dogs water and was spraying weed killer on our lawn! Adam was just slightly exasperated when I got home and it just made me laugh, that's just a regular day for me!

Anyways, things are great here and we're looking forward to a fun summer, hopefully camping and spending some time at our parents cabins here and there. I'll try to keep you posted on our summer activities more often:-)

A long 2 weeks!

We've had quite a long 2 weeks. Other than Mason's birth/NICU, it's been the time with most medical attention needed at our house ever!
Two weeks ago, Cole started it all off! He fell on the cement stairs at my mom's house and bruised his cheek. Then that evening, he fell through a broken floor board on our neighborhood playground and caught himself by his head, dangling there for a minute before I got to him to pull him out. That warranted an ER visit which turned out fine but he came out with a big goose-egg over his eye and 2 shiners! A couple days after that he came down with a cold and had a nose that wouldn't stop running and a cough that would make anyone without 10 feet cringe. He was quite a site! (the pictures don't do it justice)

Once he started feeling better, he decided to share. Mason started in with a stuffy nose and cough. Adam and I started to feel it too. For Mason though, it kept getting worse and worse. His little airway couldn't handle all the congestion and he started wheezing and really struggling to breathe! I took him to our doctor on Tuesday and they admitted him to the hospital. He was started on some oxygen and needed nebulized medication to decrease the inflammation in his airways and deep suctioning (tube down the nose to his lungs). It also took them 5 pokes before they were able to draw his labs! He was not happy to say the least. Thankfully though, God answered our prayers in getting him well quickly. We got to come home last night after just 2 1/2 days in the hospital. He's still got a nasty cough and will for a few more days most likely but he can at least cough productively and I can get stuff out with a bulb syringe vs. the suction at the hospital. Poor little guy, he's had way more than his share of medical stuff in his short life!

So, now that we're all on the mend, I feel like I need to totally disinfect my house and get things back in order before I work this weekend... good luck Adam:-)