McCune Gathering

On March 11th, we had a fun McCune Family Home Evening.  Kyle's aunt Debby came to Portland so we could all get together to meet her son, Eric's, daughter, Sophina.  She is darling!  We had a delicious dinner, played games, and Sophina opened presents.  And we had a great time being together.

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Skyler!

Today our sweet little Skyler got bigger!  We are so thankful he is such a special part of our family.

This morning during the breakfast prayer, Spencer thanked Heavenly Father that Skyler is now "big."  As soon as we said "Amen," Skyler immediately spoke up: "I'm not big yet, Spencer!"  I couldn't help but giggle.  Skyler tells it as it is.  He is sweet, precocious, and can be rather mischievious.  He is very aware of what is going on around him.  He is very patient and determined when he sets his mind to something.  Sometimes that last quality is a strength, sometimes it is very frustrating for his mommy!  His zest for life shows in his eyes in the pictures above.
He has always been gentle and a great snuggler.  He loves children younger than him and is so sweet with them: his almost 2-year-old cousin Ansley especially.  He loves to sit next to people with his arm around them.  He and his 5-year-old cousin, Daniel, are best of friends; he would play with Spencer and Daniel every day, if he could.

We would be lost without Skyler as a part of our family!

Remembering...

March 11th is my maternal grandmother, Ruby Johnson Thornley's, 95th birthday!  (She passed away two years ago.)  In honor of her, my mom sent an email to my siblings requesting we do a special Family Home Evening sharing with our children our favorite memories of Grandma and Grandpa Thornley.  We have a McCune family gathering tomorrow evening, so we had our family night tonight.

I took the pictures of my parents and maternal and paternal grandparents off the wall and we talked about who each person was.  I also showed them the Barney family tree in "Our Heritage", a wonderful family history book Alyson created for all of us a few years ago.  They loved seeing their own names as roots in the tree.

Then I asked each of the kids what they remembered about Grandma Ruby.  Kylene remembered the most, of course, but even Spencer remembered sitting on her lap and playing at her house.  Kylene remembered her swing set and sitting on a tall stool in her kitchen.  Then Kyle and I each shared some memories.  I told about the fun I had driving on my grandpa's tractor with him to the "bottomless lake" (I still don't know if it really was too deep to really find the bottom, but I'm doubtful in my older years!), how they were dairy farmers, irrigating their yard and the fun we had with that, their surprise visits to Oregon growing up, and how they made bird houses and other crafts working together after they retired.
 

It was so fun reminiscing and lovingly remembering the wonderful grandparents they were (are) to me.  I have so many fond memories.  It was fun watching my kids' wide eyes listening to the stories and laughing when I told them we would open our front door and there grandma and grandpa would be! 

It was a great family night.  I think we need to do a lesson on all of each of grandparents in the coming months.

A Great Saturday! And Introducing...

Yesterday (March 2) was a great blend of accomplishing and enjoying, being together and working hard...

Here is a cute picture of Spencer and Skyler's activities outside in the morning... they got distracted by the chalk from "practicing" t-ball. Looks like we have a crime scene investigation on our hands:).


And, now, I'd like to introduce the wonderful, the amazing, the incredible McCune Mechanic! First, a little background: Friday while Kyle was in Eugene, the temperature gauge on his car started bouncing around. He stopped at a Jiffy Lube and they did an oil change and looked at it. They said they were pretty sure it was the radiator. (All the radiator fluid was gone.) After the usual, "Oh, great," thought, they told Kyle that a radiator is easy to replace yourself. Kyle decided to give it a try. On his way home, he stopped at an auto parts store, bought the parts, and got some advice from them. That night he watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to do it.

On Saturday morning, he went to work! Here is proof of his progress. You can see the difference between the old and the new radiator! It looks like it was the original radiator, so it lasted us 260,000 miles. Not too bad.

The hardest part was getting the (very stuck on) hoses detached from the old radiator. But a few hours later, he was done! He had a mechanic-friend of ours come over and inspect his work (because of his wife's prodding); our friend declared him to be the newest McCune Mechanic! We also found out it usually costs $500-600 for a new radiator to be installed. The part itself was $100! What a relief. I'm proud of my manly man!

After the fun with the radiator, we headed down to Salem to Rachel and Gabe's baptisms. These are both two good friend's of Kylene's, and we have stayed in touch with both of their families. They are wonderful friends and we miss them! It was so fun to be back in Salem, see many familiar (and loved) faces from our old ward and neighborhood, and witness their sweet baptisms.

After the baptism, we drove by our rental home, then went to ride the Salem Carousel, a favorite of ours when we lived there. It was Andon's first ride. He wasn't too sure at first, but ended up enjoying it, I think. (I ended up taking him off the pony and sitting in one of the wagons with him, which he much preferred.)

 

It was a super day, full of fun, memories, seeing wonderful friends, saving lots of money, getting work done, and being together as a family! Gotta love days like that.

Spencer's First Primary Talk

Sunday, February 24th, Spencer gave his first Primary Talk.  He really dragged his feet about writing it, but, in the end, did a great job.  Here is a picture of him before we went to church.

Here is the talk he gave:

The Theme was: “The Earth was Created for Heavenly Father’s Children”

In the bible, it says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  Heavenly Father had Jesus Christ create the earth and everything in it.  I am thankful He made deer, horses, elephants, ducks and eagles because I like these animals.  I also like blue whales and fish.  I am thankful he created all the flowers because they are beautiful and they smell good. 
Jesus made all these things because He loves us.
We came to earth to get a body.  I am thankful for my body because I like to ride my bike and play with my friends.  Last year, I played soccer.  Here is a picture of me playing soccer.  I liked my teammates.  I used my body to kick the ball and score!  I also ran as fast as I could.
I am thankful for all that Jesus created for us and I know this Church is true.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

(Here is the picture he held up of him playing soccer.)

 

He has read it several times since he gave the talk.  We Skyped with my parent's after church so he could give it to them and he really wanted to read it to my friend who I swap babysitting with so we can volunteer at the school.  I'm sure if anyone else wants to hear him give it, he'd be happy to read it to you over the phone:).  I love how well he reads it and how clearly he speaks.  My little guy is becoming quite the little man!

Daddy Daughter Luau

February 22nd was the City of Wilsonville's Annual Daddy-Daughter Dance.  Kylene and Kyle went and Kylene had the time of her life.  She had several friend's from her class at school who attended and she loved every minute of it. 
 

 They had raffle drawings throughout the evening and the very first one, Kylene won!  She was so excited when she came home and showed me all her Hawaiian-themed paraphernalia they had given away.