I Wanna Be A Fireman When I Grow Up....

The city of Bellevue had a little welcoming party for several of our neighborhoods that have been recently annexed into the city of Bellevue. We decided to go and participate in the fun. They were going to provide free pizza and cake, an opportunity to potentially win Mariner tickets, and most importantly, they were going to have a FIRE TRUCK! I told Samuel that when Daddy got home, we would be able to go see the fire truck. The moment he heard that door open and saw his Daddy walk in the door, he shouted, "FIRE TRUCK!!!!!"

Samuel had a chance to spray a real fireman hose. He thought that was pretty cool!

He was even able to sit inside the drivers seat of the fire truck. He LOVED it!

He even thought it was pretty cool to be sitting on a policeman motorcycle.

And of course, he even got a cool fireman hat. If you know anything about this boy, you would know that he does not wear hats. However, this was obviously cool enough to wear. It never came off his head unless it fell off. He wore that hat with pride. 

Doesn't he make a cute Fireman!

I Love Nature!

Marcus, Kyan's brother, called us up to see if we wanted to go hiking this last weekend. So, off we went to hike Denny Creek. I have never been on this trail before. It was beautiful. Partway up the hike you come to these natural rock slides that people slide down. It looked fun but it was too early and too cold to even try. We went further up the trail and was able to enjoy this gorgeous waterfall. This is where I chose to sit and rest while the guys went up the trail further. I figured three or so miles of hiking was plenty for me.

It was nice having Marcus on the hike because Kyan was able to pass Samuel off to him for part of the hike. Thanks Marc!

Surprise!

While I was in Idaho for a family reunion, I had the opportunity of being a part of a surprise retirement party for my BYU-Idaho Interior Design professor, TL McRay. It was a neat opportunity to see him and thank him for being an influential teacher in my life and in the education I received from him. I had a wonderful time meeting up with some old classmates. Ashley, Chari, and Melissa were the only ones who could make it but it was still a treat.

This is a video of his arrival. Check out that awesome car of his! I want one when I retire!

TL McRay had us read a book called Rhinoceros Success. He has always been a believer of this book.

 
So, when I saw this big banner hanging at his surprise party, I had to laugh. The picture is of TL riding a rhino. The cake was also characteristic of him. If you notice, there are different sizes of balls on the cake and on platters next to the cake. Not just any balls but TEXTURE BALLS. Oh, yes. I believe since he started teaching, he has had his first year students make a texture ball representing one of the design elements: Texture. He has kept several of his favorites over the years and displayed them on his desk. There have been some really neat ones.

It was good to see him and the other professors again. I loved my college years and even though there were many, many, many, late nights and tears and stress, it was a rewarding program. Thank you for the meaningful education you gave me! TL McRay will be missed.

My First Skeem Reunion

This happened to be my first Skeem reunion since Kyan and I have been married. I wasn't sure what to expect with the size of the family. We were super anxious and excited. 

One of the siblings took on this huge crowd and hosted the reunion at her home. I am impressed. Several of the families slept inside and several slept in motor homes that she managed to gather from friends in her area. There was a ton of work that had to happen before we all came and she managed to do it while being pregnant. I know, right!

We all arrived at different times but were all together on the official first day of the reunion. This is Samuel on our way over to the reunion. He tried on mommy's older pair of sunglasses and knew he was cool. I tried to get him to put the glasses on the right way but he insisted on wearing them upside down. 

Some people had a long way to drive while others had a long day of air travel. 

 Look at these two boys. At one glance you might think they are the same boy (beside the fact that one is younger and shorter then the other) or even siblings. They look almost identical. The funny thing is that one of these boys has a Mexican mommy and all of his sibling have darker skin and hair. It shows that those crazy Skeem genes are strong enough to even surpass full Mexican blood. 

On the first morning of the reunion, the brothers, in-laws, and some of their sons went paintballing. I always thought it would be fun to go but after seeing them come back with welts and bruises the size of small oranges, I decided its not the game for me.

Later that afternoon, we packed up our stuff and went to a lake. The weather was perfect. The kids played in the sand and went swimming. Some of the adults went swimming while others hid from the sun while enjoying the shade and company of family.

When Friday arrived, we packed up and were on the road by 7:30am. We drove an hour to where we planned to float the snake river. It was absolutely gorgeous. The weather wasn't very warm but it didn't keep anyone from getting wet or starting water fights. Samuel even requested to be dipped into the water several times and I jumped in at the end just for the fun of it. Brrrrrr.....it was cold. It reminded me of the river I swam in while growing up. 

Later that evening, the bouncy house arrived. I think this is the first time Samuel has ever been in a bouncy house before. He had a great time being bounced around. I'm not sure how much bouncing he was able to do on his own.

Here is a video of his first bounce house experience.

We also rode motorcycles on Friday. 

Samuel got to ride with Daddy on a motorcycle ride. He loved it so much he didn't want to get off.

He loved his motorcycle experience so much that he found a little motorcycle and asked to sit on it. He sat there for at least 15 to 20 minutes and even when we went to take him off he cried because he didn't want to get off the bike. 

 While Samuel sat on the little motorcycle, I learned how to drive one. It was a lot of fun. Kyan met up with me and road along my side for a little bit. It was fun to get out of my comfort zone and try something different. While being pregnant I am overly cautious so this was a nice change.

On Saturday, it rained. Yup, it rained in Idaho. It was actually sort of nice since it had been so hot for the past few weeks. A bunch of the girls got umbrellas and played cards outside. Goofy girls! :)

This is Samuel pretending to have a baby in his belly. It you look closely, you can see he had stuffed a ball up his shirt and then proceeded to come over to where I was sitting and say, "Look Mommy, baby!" I got a good laugh out of that one. I believe Kyan coaxed him along.

Oh, did I mention they had horses too? Samuel had a chance to ride on a pony Thursday morning but I didn't have my camera handy. It was so cute watching get excited to ride the pony. Unfortunately, when we tried to get him on the second time, he wouldn't have it. So, no pictures with him riding a pony. Bummer.

Overall, the Skeem reunion was a ton of fun. We loved spending time with the family and enjoying the fun activities with one another. Family is a wonderful thing whether BIG or small.

(This was Posted By Rose Skeem)

Sypher Family Reunion (Part 2)

We started out the week, going to bear lake. I don't have any pictures of bear lake because our phones were nicely tucked away while we were having a blast. We played in the sand, went swimming, and when the Sea-doos were working properly, or someone didn't get stranded in the middle of the lake with one, we drove them around and had fun.

Tuesday started out with a service project on the Millers vacation home. We made the mistake of pouring the clear sealant into plastic cups for each of us to have while working on various window seals around the house. We quickly learned that plastic and sealant are NOT friends and out came the sealant from the bottom as it poured all over Mom's flip flops and onto the sidewalk. We quickly found another alternative and managed to get one with the service we had planned on.  

After lunch, we went into town and bought us all some famous Bear Lake raspberry shakes. I would have to say they were pretty good. How could you go wrong when using fresh raspberries? 

I love how influential we can be as parents to our children. Even when is as simple and cute as this.

 I love this kid. 

After our shakes we visited the Minnetonka Caves. It was about a 90 minute tour with really neat things to see. It was mother nature at its finest. I just wish we could have been able to capture it with our cameras. Its hard to get a nice clear picture when its dark.

Wednesday arrived and so did the 4th. We went to town for the 4th of July parade and had a fun time gathering the candy being chucked at us from the cars and floats. Samuel thought it was tons of fun. 

We enjoyed a nice picnic in the shade afterward and then went home to relax and enjoy a simple afternoon. In the evening, Samuel learned what sparklers were and couldn't get enough of them. Kyan was the main man lighting off the little fireworks for the little kids to enjoy before the real firework show happened at dark. 

This is a video of the kids bouncing around when the fireworks went off. Its pretty funny. 

This was the last night of our reunion. It was full of fun memory making moments. Definitely worth doing again. See you all next year!

(This Post was written by Rose Skeem)