Family Heritage

I LOVE the fact that I have a rich family heritage! I come from two very strong families, with strong bonds, traditions, and values. Along with the strong faith our family shares, there are many other things that have been passed down the line. Fly fishing is definitley one of those things. My Grandpa is, I think, the Grandfather of fly fishing. He then passed it to my dad, who in turn passed it to my siblings and I. When Adam and I started dating, I was able to give him a fly rod as a gift and he has learned to love it as well. Cole has started to catch on as well. Though he's not quite big enough to fly fish, he is learning how to become prepared by tying his own flies. My Grandpa got him started one weekend at the cabin and since then he has had lessons from Adam, Auntie Kim, and Uncle Casey. He has a whole styrofoam pad with his own creations! He loves it and can often be found sitting at the kitchen table in the evenings, tying flies... he really is an "old soul".

Duck Hunting with Daddy

There really isn't a question whether my boys will be hunters. Not because we will force it on them or anything, but because they are surrounded by multiple generations of hunters who LOVE the sport! Cole got his first real taste of hunting this fall during duck season with his dad and Uncle Keith. I have to say, he's hooked!

Snow Day

"Fresh" snow cones
Yummmm

Don't even think about it!

Hey, that looks like fun!

We had kind of a late first big snow. The boys went out and made use of it before it all melted away. Big fluffy snowflakes to catch on the tongue, snowmen to build, and snowballs to throw at mom! What could be better? Oh, I know, snow cones when you're all done playing!!!

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas season for 2011! It's so much fun to celebrate Christmas as the kids get older and are understanding more of what Christmas is all about. The excitement on their faces at seeing all the decorations everywhere we go and having lots of fun activities to go to is great. Of course it's also really fun to have them begin to realize that those things are not the best part of Christmas. Cole and Mason were both really excited to celebrate Jesus' birthday and are able to start to understand and appreciate the Christmas Story.

Here are some fun things we did over the holidays:- Started things off with cutting down our Christmas tree in High Valley Thanksgiving weekend, after a fun Thanksgiving at the Bucher cabin.

- Had a fun visit to Santa and one of his reindeer, Prancer.

- Made and decorated Christmas cookies

- Went to the Botanical Gardens "Winter Garden a Glow" for Adam's office Christmas party.

- Celebrated Christmas with the Bunn crew and a fun white elephant gift exchange.

- Had a fun dinner out and Christmas celebration with Adam's family!

- Went to the cabin with the Johnson fam for Christmas!

I slacked on writing a Christmas letter this year for fear that I wouldn't get them out until Valentine's Day! So I'll write a summary of our year here.

We've had a wonderful year this year. The biggest blessing was the joining of our youngest son to our family. Kade Phillip Bucher was born on February 6th, 2011, weighing in at 8 lbs and 20 1/2 inches. He is now 11 months and is absolutely wonderful! He is crawling and pulling himself up everywhere and is taking a few steps on his own. He just needs to braven up a bit and decide to venture out on his own, then I'll really be in for it! He has 2 bottom teeth and I think has more to come soon, for all the drooling he is doing. He has a sweet cuddly personality and pretends to be a shy guy to new people. He is our blonde baby and is just a sweet little angel!

Mason turned 3 (as seen in earlier post) this month. He is such a fun guy! He absolutely LOVES sports and spends hours playing football with Cole and letting his big brother "coach" him. When he has a frowny face, it can easily be turned into a smile with a little coaxing from his daddy. What a good big brother he has become to Kade. He likes to make sure he is not playing with something he shouldn't have and loves to make him laugh and smile. Whenever he wakes up from his nap, he says "Good morning!" and comes to give me a snuggle. I love this kid!

Cole is our big 5 year old! As the oldest he has asked me lately, "Why do you still treat me like a kid?". I tell him he'll always be my baby and I'm never going to let him grown up! Too bad for me though, he is well on his way! He is such a good reader, speller, and writer. He loves to write books and cards to people. He also has a very giving heart, he wants to earn money so that he can buy something special for the kids in Kenya, who don't have much of anything. I'm excited for him to be in kindergarten next year, it will be quite an adventure!

Adam is still working for Idaho Power as a project scheduler, going on 2 years. He enjoys his work and is thinking he'd like to settle in and see where Idaho Power can take him. He was able to do a little elk hunting and a deer hunt with his dad and brothers in North Idaho this fall. We now have venison in the freezer and Adam has another notch in his hunting belt! He is playing in a basketball league this winter with some guys from work and takes Cole with him to many of his games. He is the BEST dad and the boys can't get enough of paying football, doing projects, and just hanging out with their dad.

I'm still on the oncology unit at St. Luke's 2 evenings a week and am home with the boys the rest of the time, which I love! I love being able to see first hand my kids growing up and be their teacher for this short time that I have them at home. I love being a nurse and get to do that as well, but my priority is at home right now. The boys keep me busy and besides adding a new baby, my year has been pretty low key. I was in a women's Bible Study at church, studying the major and minor prophets this past fall, which was awesome to get into the word a little more in depth. I am excited to see what God has in store for my life and my family in 2012 and trust that He will guide us.

I become more thankful each year for the blessings I've been given. A husband who is my best friend, partner, an incredible dad, and all around awesome guy! Three beautiful sons who are so healthy and full of life. An incredible extended family who supports us and loves us unconditionally. Wonderful friends who encourage and help us, and whom we have so much fun with! And a Savior who was born one December night in a lowly manger. A God who loves us so much that he gave his one and only son, so we can be wiped clean of all the mistakes and blunders we make and can live with Him in heaven one day. What more could I ask for!

Mason's 3rd Birthday!

Wow, have some work to do on the blog here:-)

Anyhow, Mason turned 3 on December 14th! How did those three years fly by so fast? It's amazing how clearly I can remember going into the hospital to have him, the anxiety and fear of him being in the NICU, the joy of taking him home, and how incredible it was to add a second son to our family! He has added such life and energy to our home and has been SO much fun! He has been the 2 year old that gets into everything you hoped he wouldn't, that runs away as fast as he can in a store or parking lot, and laughs at getting in trouble! I don't know how 3 is going to be, but I'm buckling down for a good ride:-) He is fun loving and has a great sense of humor! He loves to cuddle with mommy after his nap and climb up on his daddy's lap to read a good book.

As of 3 years old, Mason is 36 lbs and 38 inches tall. He got a perfectly clean bill of health at his check up and found out that flu shots are NO FUN!!!

For his birthday party we went to Chuck E. Cheese with some friends and family. He had a blast and the party was lots of fun! We're looking forward to a great new year in Mason's life and I can't wait to see what God has in store for my wonderful 3 year old boy!

Deer Camp 2011

Every other year Adam, his dad, and brothers go on a deer up in North Idaho. They take all the sheep herder tents and set up for a few days of hunting and true guy time. Adam and Keith both got deer which was just a nice plus to a fun trip. Keith's brother-in-law and a friend of Phil's also went along to make the group a little bigger. They had lots of fun despite it being a little windy and soggy. Afterwards, they met us at the cabin for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Neil's takin' a breather, not a bad view!

Adam's deer... Yeah!!!

Around the camp fire

Tent City

Halloween 2011

I'm so far behind on blogging. I guess I just better start with what I have now and then back track later. At least that way I won't get any further behind!

Halloween 2011 was a low key and fun event for us. We had 2 fighter pilots and kept up the tradition of the littlest cowboy in the red hat. They were of course all the cutest things you've ever seen! We hit Granny and Papa's where we met up with Jenny and Chad and their little fire fighter and monkey. Granny had lots of good candy, including the wax soda pop bottles that have the juice inside! (I love those things!) Then we hit Grandma and Grandpa's where the kids got goodie bags with TONS of stuff inside! We walked down to all of their neighbor's houses as well, since they rarely see a trick-or-treater.

We ended the night with our usual Papa Murphy's pizza and trick-or-treating in our neighborhood until the boys froze. They have almost as much fun answering the door for kids at our house so they spent the last hour of the night doing that and loving it. Cole kept answering the door without the candy bowl and would have to run back for it, leaving the kids on the doorstep just standing there. Lots of fun!
I also included pics of our pumpkins this year. We had a pumpkin carving night with the Daytons and I thought they turned out pretty darn good! Here's what they were: Adam - scary clown, Me - stars, Cole - scary face, Mason - howling wolf, Craig - elk antler, Brenda - moon and stars, Rylie - flower, Ella - kitten.