Rock, Maggie and a Couple of Hard weeks

The past two weeks have been an eternity it seems. We have been very busy as well as surrounded by some trials and tragedies.

Last weekend we made a trip to Flattop butte to gather red sandstone for our landscaping projects.

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We found out that we have some great friends that are willing to get up at the crack of dawn with us, drive out to the desert with us and spend hours loading rock into trucks only to unload it once back at the house. Yes, those are good friends and we are blessed to have them in our lives.
Saturday evening we attended the play 'Into the Woods' at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. It was a great performance, a musical and we enjoyed seeing it with Jordan.
On Sunday we headed to the local hardware store to get some things for the work we are doing with the firepit in the backyard. We ended up coming home with much more and have welcomed into our hearts and home Maggie, a small calico kitten.

She is a delight to have in our family. Ceecee and she play like they were the same size and she holds her own with Oscar. Aika wants to mother her and cleans her at times. Mags has turned out to fit right in and is the most well behaved kitten I've known. We hope you all get to meet her sometime soon.

Monday night we had a sprinkler person out to the house to estimate work that needed to be done to replace the main valves from the city water supply to our house. They dug a huge 6' deep hole in the front yard to make the repairs.

It was something that needed to be done but after spending a large sum of money to get it fixed, we still have a leak somewhere in the system! We will work on finding it this week.
Two times in the past week and a half we have had bird rescue in our lives. Most of you know that our whole family does volunteer work at the Ruth Melichar Bird Center in Boise where birds are rehabilitated. The first time was a rescue I had to do during the day downtown of three juvenile kestral hawks.

The second was when Oscar got ahold of a fledgling robin who had fallen from the pine tree and into the back yard. We interrupted and promptly took the little guy to the bird center for some much needed help and parenting until he is old enough to be on his own.

At work, my boss assigned me with the task to create a scrapbook of quotes from attorneys about a fallen US soldier who was killed in Iraq last April; He was an affiliate of the attorneys at the State Bar. As honored as I am to have created this memento for his widow, it was a depressing and daunting task. The book has turned out very nice and I hope that her and her children will cherish it.
Also at work, a friend in my department found that their long battle with cancer has turned out a great triumph. They received the final test results after a second surgery and countless chemo treatments stating that they are cancer free!! I'm so relieved and happy for this wonderful, loving person and hope nothing but cheer and great life to them.
Friday a close friend of ours had a very hard, life changing event and I have experienced something very similar in my past. It was a difficult time and again, brought our spirits down very much. We visited her and her husband today and they are doing very well, we will continue to keep them in our minds and hearts.
Saturday we worked hard in the front yard and again went to Shakespeare in the evening. I had written down the wrong date however for the play and they were gracious enough to change our tickets to Saturday night. The play was 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller and although not one we wanted to see this season, we were grateful, the performance was magnificent.
Sunday morning we headed to the rock quarry again to get more for our yard and some for our friends who were helping us and fell in love with the stuff. So up at dawn and to the desert again for more manual labor. After returning from the quarry we cleaned up and visited another friend's house to celebrate their son's first birthday. It was a weekend full of hard work but we can begin to see the results. Attending the birthday of a 1yr old is a good way as well to gain some perspective and know that life is great and precious and does go on.
This week we look forward to working hard on our yard, spending time with our family and enjoying the time we have here. Thank you to all our good friends for all their wonderful work and support this week.

Fourth of July and Jordan's Birthday

This week was very busy for us both at work and at home. Tuesday evening we spent some time in the garden weeding but the rest of the week we were running errands and wrapping presents and figuring out what the weekend would hold. Friday came around and we had fun at the Fourth of July parade downtown.


Mom and Jeremiah came into town in the evening and we met them out in Nampa, then headed over to our friend's, James and Joanne for a BBQ and fireworks. We had a great time well into the night there.


Saturday Jordan went to a movie with Pappy, (Kyme's Dad, Paul) and Mom and Jeremiah went visiting while I baked a birthday cake and got everything else lined up for the party the following day. In the evening we had a mellow dinner and enjoyed the cooler weather.
Sunday was Jordan's 13th birthday party. It was a big surprise party in the park and many of her friends made it. We found a beautiful shady spot near the river with enough tables and grass. The party was great fun and included a water balloon fight as well!

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Jordan's birthday cake:


Presents


Waterballoon fight!



Now it's evening and after cooling off and saying goodbye to Mom and Jeremiah as they start homeward, we will be putting together a rat cage here in a few minutes! We do hope that everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend. We love and miss you all!

Hot, Hot, Hot!!

Well, this week it sure warmed up here. Today was 106! But the first of the week was beautiful. We visited our garden on Tuesday and the evening was lovely. Wednesday night there was a Jimmy Buffett cover band, Stars on the Water- playing at a local venue we love called The Reef. It was a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society and the Treasure Valley Parrot Head Club was out en force to help support the cause. So we headed out to help and have a great time!

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Thursday night I went to a neighbor's house for some drinks and one of those in house parties. We had a great time and I got to know some other neat ladies. Friday we didn't do much besides work and errands. Saturday is when it started to get really hot so we pretty much stayed inside until the evening. I wrapped Jay's presents and cleaned. The three of us played game after game of Aggravation!
Our friends Nicki and Chad had a party and since they live only on 36th street we rode our bikes over in the evening for that. It was a nice night and Cobi and I spent quite a bit of time chatting with both Nicki and Chad. The cool ride home was very pleasant.
Sunday we lounged around again as it was just too hot to go outside. In the evening Jordan and I attended a workshop by the Women's empowerment group to make body casts of our torso's for an upcoming art show in July. It is a pretty neat group of very supportive and interesting women that is organizing the art show. Now we will decorate them and present them during the evenings of July 26th and 27th in a garden setting for the show. It is much harder to come up with decoration of what your own embodiment is than everyone might think!
Jordan's cast:

Mine:

Tomorrow starts another week and we are excited for Jordan's birthday next weekend. We have some special suprise plans for her and will be sure to take and post pictures here of the festivities on the 4th and on her birthday. Hope you are all doing wonderful and staying much cooler than here in Boise!

Summer is here and the living is easy!

So this past week has been absolutely grand.
Tuesday after work I met the 'girls' at the racetrack for ladies night. I started the night out right with a win. After that initial triumph however, my horses only placed or showed on the other races. This was fine as the main event was just hanging out with some very amazing women that I am truly blessed to call my friends.
Lisa, Amy, Me and Staci at the track!


The week at work was mellow for Cobs but mine was a bit more exciting. I wasn't in line for a new computer for a year or so but I'm spoiled and was bumped up to the rotation so had one installed this week. It is so great with performance and the flat screen is much appreciated on my desk!
This weekend we have had tons of fun, much needed house time and family time. Friday we had a quiet BBQ in the backyard. Saturday we worked on chores and the 'to-do' list around the house. Saturday night Cobi and I went to the Shakespeare festival when a huge storm front rolled in. We took our time going into the ampitheatre as the 40+mph winds were raging around. There was a duststorm that blew through and lightening. It was quite humbling to be outside in such weather. The play was delayed a bit but they did start the show. The wind died down for awhile but right after intermission the rain started to pour and the producer called the show. We were bummed but after the house cleared out we ran into some Parrotheads that we knew from our short stint with the Treasure Valley Parrothead Club. It was great to see them and they invited us back to the club which we're glad to hear has undergone some changes since we were there.
Sunday (today) we finished up the chores, including cleaning and organizing the garage as well as mowing the lawn. Did a quick run to Home Depot and now we are relaxing until dinner. Our neighbor Lisa is having us over for a BBQ and we're looking forward to a mellow fun filled evening.
Hope you all had a great weekend and that we'll talk to you soon.
Much love and luck!

Finally a warm weekend!

This past week was cold. Monday Jordan started her summer classes with Claytooning and Sculpture at the Fort Boise Community center. She loved them and we will take pictures of her completed projects when we bring them home. She rode downtown with me to work in the morning and kept up the whole 6 miles! We stopped for ice cream on our way home and a big storm rolled in. We were soaked with a warm summer rain by the time we arrived home. That storm front stayed for a couple of days and really cooled things off. It rained Tuesday and Wednesday and was actually very chilly!!
Wednesday we had the electrician in and are so happy to have the house updated as well as putting in new outdoor lights for the house!

We also mapped out where the firepit will go in the backyard and dug out a space to see what size it will be. Here is a good before picture of the "pit".

Friday brought hot weather and it has held on through the weekend. Saturday I held a Scentsy open house to help build my business.

It was fun but I'm still anxious about raising some contacts to get going on some networking. In the afternoon Jordan did some volunteering at a booth during a local festival in the park. Cobi and I wandered around the booths with the dogs, Ceecee was the talk of the day. We had some nice family time in the evening eating outside and playing aggravation on our homemade board. Today being Father's day Jordan and I made Cobi breakfast in bed. Then we got going slowly. A friend had offered a big space in their yard for a garden and we had to accept such a good offer. So after taking our time getting up for the day, we went to the plant nursery and chose our vegetables and herbs. We then spent a few hours tilling and planting a garden. Here are some before and after pictures of the space. We are very excited to have some fresh grown produce this summer and hopefully some okra for gumbo too!
BEFORE:

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AFTER:

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AFTER:


After such a busy day we visited with my dad, Paul and then came home to rest and get ready for the week.
We hope everyone had a great Father's day. We love and miss you all!

Last weekend of May

This was our first weekend without big plans for a few weeks but that didn't stop us from getting some fun and work done.
I went geocaching with some friends, Jerri and Al on Saturday morning while everyone else slept in. The trail was beautiful and we were treated to many bird songs and some great cache locations on our hike.

Jerri
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Cadet Al and I discussing the local flora
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We spent time Saturday afternoon doing some brainstorming on what trees, fence and plants we want to put in the yard and we are beginning to work on the 'final' picture of what our landscaping project will look like. It's exciting to think that we are actually working on the final stages of a project we started last fall, also daunting now that we know what is really left to be done.
Sunday we did chores, grocery shopped and Cobi got Jay and I laughing so hard I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out of WINCO! Spent the afternoon relaxing and getting some stuff updated~ like this blog! :D

Momma & Pappa visit Idaho!

Last weekend we had a wonderful visit with Momma and Pappa Graziano-Dean. They drove up from San Marcos to Las Vegas, visited there with family and then drove up to Twin Falls. After having a nice time hiking around Twin Falls they then came to Boise to see us.

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On Saturday we enjoyed the market in the morning then went for brunch at Addies. After stopping at the Train Depot to explore and take pictures we took a tour trolley ride through town where we learned a ton of stuff about Boise and the history of the area.

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We then went to the Old Pennitentery and explored the old buildings and the area surrounding the old prison.

On Sunday we relaxed by heading to the new Indiana Jones movie and wandering around Boise a bit. We also took in the panoramic view from up at Tablerock to show Momma & Pappa the valley.

Monday we all enjoyed a family BBQ to commemorate Memorial day and celebrate the engagement of Kirin and Zeke!Yeah!
Tuesday we had a nice breakfast at home with Momma and Pappa before they left us sadly to head back home to Southern Cali. We truly enjoyed their visit and hope to see them again very soon!