January
We had the dreaded Boise inversion for weeks in January. It got so icky, that we decided to drive to the Oregon Owyhees and hike just to see blue sky. It was glorious!
We spent the rest of the month trying to stay warm and keeping things low key after the holidays!
Bang!
February
Clara turned 3 on February 22, and we had another family party. She loved her special day and lived it up! It was even warm enough to play some soccer and have wagon rides outside on her birthday!
Because she turned 3, Clara was able to have her first "real" dentist visit. She was a pro and only asked me to hold her hand at the beginning because, "I'm a little bit scared". So sweet.
March
Clara was able to spend a rainy, March day rock climbing with Uncle Brad and Auntie Angie.
We got our seeds started for the summer garden and enjoyed gorgeous late March weather!
It really was warm out there!
For Spring Break, Teenie and her boys came down and we played all week! We visited Zoo Boise...
picnicked in the park...
hit up the MK Nature Center...
Clara got her annual trim...we're fancy, aren't we?
and we played and hiked at Camel's Back Park!
April
We kicked the Easter holiday off with a Friendster, which worked out great for only children like Clara! She was able to hunt for eggs with friends instead of all alone! A new tradition was born!
Both sides of our family celebrated Easter with us! We're lucky we live so close to almost all our family! Too back we didn't get a good shot of Clara that day in our family pic...the sun was just too bright!
Clara and I picked up some new salt water sandals for the summer season, and we wore them constantly! I may need a pair in gold this year...
And I was thrilled to see Wicked with my mom, my girlfriends, and their moms! It was a fabulous show and the company was even better (which is saying a lot, because the show was incredible!!!).
May
On Mother's Day, we were able to celebrate with Kurtis' mom on Friday night with the whole family at a local brew pub and restaurant. Then, on Sunday, my Mom, Em, Clara, and I got free tickets to Boise Music Week's production of The Secret Garden. It was Clara's first play. She did pretty well (mostly because of the plentiful snacks I packed #reality).
Kurtis turned 33 In May, and we trekked up to McCall to camp with his parents and visit Clara's Uncle Brian at his wildlife refuge called Snowden. At Snowden, Clara got to see baby bear cubs, many birds, baby owls, and she got to feed Luna the fox a raw egg. Such a cool experience!
The birthday boy on the beach at Payette Lake!
May was pretty exciting for us because picked a "new to us" camp trailer. It has made camping so much fun! We got out as much in the summer of 2014 as we had in the previous 3 summers! Game changer!!!
Clara and Pop just chillin' by the fire!
In May, Kurtis returned to A-1 Heating and Air Conditioning for work as a Service Technician. This is the only A-1-ish pic I have (Kurtis is wrangling baby quail in his A-1 shirt!).
And in May, my cousin Peter lost his battle with leukemia. We were all (sans Em and Kurtis) able to travel back to North Dakota for his funeral. It was a tragic time, but so nice to see family.
June
We started summer off right by taking a quick, Waldon family vacation to Yellowstone, Island Park, and Jackson Hole.
One of my favorite parts of summer is having the luxury of time, and just enjoying coffee on my front porch while Clara plays in the yard!
Kurtis and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with our traditional sushi dinner.
The garden grew, and grew, and grew!
We swam and had snow cones!
And I spent a week at the McCall Outdoor Science School at a teacher institute learning about woody biomass bio-jet fuel. What? It was pretty much adult summer camp! We learned and explored during the day, and drank beers in our cabin while playing cards and farkle at night. We couldn't have spent time in a more beautiful setting.
July
We camped up near the Salmon River in July for obvious reasons...
and Kurtis was a successful fisherman! He spent this particular night filleting these enormous fish and eating the eggs (roe) right out of one of them. Gag!
We spent a long weekend in McCall with the Brooks Family for a fun summer vacation! We spent most of our time on the beach! It was glorious!
And it was out with the old and in with the new for Kurtis!
(We really just needed something that would tow our camp trailer a little better...and the transmission was going out on the old, multi-colored class-act of a truck).
August
We camped up near Stanley in August and enjoyed some amazing 70 degree temps and mountain thunderstorms!
Clara and I finished the summer strong by getting lots of use out of our season passes to the local water park (within walking distance of our house).
And Clara fished with Kurtis in the boat. Look at that sassy little thing!
Clara also took advantage of the dead doves by arranging them in the yard and posing with them for a pic. Sick...but she loves dead things!
September
Clara started preschool in September. She's in the 3-year-old class at a Methodist church close to my parents and the school where I teach, and she loves it! I enjoy hearing all her stories about what she's learning and how the other kids behave. She seems to leave out the parts about how she behaves, which worries me a little! It has been a wonderful experience so far!
Clara and Teacher Diane
And Teenie and I ran the 10 K Wine Run in Idaho's southern wine country. Have I run since the last weekend of September? Hmmmmm...
October
Grandma Brooks treated Clara and I to a fun day at the Idaho Botanical Gardens Fall Festival. It was glorious weather and so much fun!
Clara went to Boo at the Zoo and dressed as Ana from Frozen.
For Halloween, we went to Lewiston and learned that the rumors about Teenie and Steve's neighborhood are all true! Halloween is simply insane in their hood! It was a blast!
Our little sea creatures...Ben the octopus, Clara the jellyfish (see the next pic for her full costume) and Will the shark.
The light-up umbrella costume seemed like a good idea and we got tons of compliments throughout the night, but I was the lucky one who chased Clara around to hover the umbrella above her head.
The next day, Clara got the 12-hour stomach flu. Thankfully, she didn't puke all over the Kaufman's carpet.
But it really only lasted 12 hours! Here she is the next morning, feeling fierce and spicy as ever!
November
We had Waldon family pictures in November.
And celebrated Thanksgiving with all the Waldons, Jeff and Janet, and Brad and Angie! It was awesome to only have to go to one house for the holiday!
We took the kids to the St. Alphonsus Festival of Trees to meet with Santa.
December
My gift to the moms this year was tickets to the Jersey Boys. We went to Barbacoa for dinner before the show, and then danced the night away!
I took the Thursday before Christmas break off to help in Clara's classroom for their Christmas party (the perks of having a student teacher).
We had our annual mother/daughter brunch at Teri's house. It's always a fun time!!! This tradition is about a decade strong!
And Mom treated Clara and I to the Nutcracker Ballet the weekend before Christmas. It was fabulous! Clara made it to intermission without a peep. She just sat on the edge of my knees mesmerized. The 2nd half of the ballet wasn't quite so smooth...and the last 20 minutes were a little crazy. But we made it, and I think she did a mighty good job for being 3!
2014 was such a fabulous year because of the experiences we shared with the people we love! We are so blessed in this life!
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