Where Does the Time Go?

Yes, I fell off the blogging wagon for awhile.  But we are still alive and well!  Now that it's the New Year, I need to catch up!  I also am now another year behind on printing a blog book!  Alas, where does the time go?  But, I can not complain: we are all healthy and happy and all is well in the McCune household.  Thankfully, most of the other details will wait.

Our fall was full of family, school, work, and fun.  I continued volunteering in Kylene and Spencer's class, trading off with another friend.  I love being in their classes and getting to know their peers and teacher.  I also still spend every morning on the playground with them.  There have been some cold mornings, but it really is fun since so many of the kids know me and come over to say hi.  They love it when I bring Andon and Skyler because "they are so cute!"  Spencer boosts my ego by telling me how popular I am!  Ha!  I love being popular with six year olds!  But really, I think they just love Skyler and Andon.

The kids had their annual Primary Program on October 27th.  It was Skyler's first time participating and since our primary was small enough, all of the kids had speaking parts.  (In past wards, the Sunbeams didn't get speaking parts because there were so many children.)  But Skyler was less than thrilled with this opportunity.  He refused to speak in to the microphone at any of the practices.  We went on our own and practiced, however, and after a sufficiently rewarding bribe, he did it!  All of the kids did a great job on their parts and the program came together (as it always does, no matter how much the leaders worry).  Skyler part was, "After Jesus Christ and His apostles dies, there were gospel principles that were lost or changed."  I still remember three months later since we practiced it so much.  His bribe: a date with mom AND dad.  We went on a hike to a water tower near our home, then to a beautiful city park to play in the leaves and roll down the hills, then to a little cafe for a treat of his choice.  He loved the time and attention from both parents. 

In November, Kyle and I attended the Stake Gold & Green Ball.  It was so fun to get out on the dance floor again!  (That was our second date.)  We had a blast letting go of all inhibitions and dancing the night away.  I guess it's easier to do when you hardly know anyone in your Stake!  The funniest part of the evening (and kind of sad, too) was when two ladies asked us if we were married.  When we answered that we were, they told us they didn't think we could be because we were too happy!  I guess we should have toned our enthusiasm down a bit so people would know we were married.  Yeah, right!  Here we are just before we left for the dance.

 



Also in November (the 18th, to be exact), Kylene turned NINE YEARS OLD!  Happy (very late) Birthday, Kylene!  It was a "family" party year, and she chose to go to the Kroc Center in Coeur D'Alene (sorry, no pics).  It was a lot of fun to leave the cold weather outside and enjoy the warmth and fun of the indoor waterpark/pool inside.  They also have a great indoor play area (think glorified McDonald's Play Place) which the kids played in about an hour before swimming.   She also chose a French Toast breakfast in bed and build-your-own pizza for dinner.

 

That's the general November update, minus Thanksgiving...December and more still to come!  (I know you can't wait!)

Get-Away

The weekend of October 11th, Kyle and I went on a quick get-away.  We decided to explore Coeur D'Alene, which is only about 45 minutes away from our house.  Friday evening we ate dinner at a really neat Japanese restaurant with a Koi pond in the middle of it.  Then we walked around the shops and galleries of downtown Coeur D'Alene.  It was fun to feel "artsy" for a night, pretending like we were cultured with all the other gallery-goers. :) 
Saturday we hiked around a beautiful hillside that juts into Lake Coeur D'Alene.  It is right next to the famous Coeur D'Alene Resort and had beautiful views from all sides.  Then we drove awhile around the lake, enjoying the fall colors and sites.  We ate lunch at a fun European Bakery/Restaurant then went up to the cemetary to see Anneca's grave before heading home.

My only complaint is that it went too quickly, but it was definitely rejuvenating and wonderful to have time with my honey.  It was fun to come home to the kids, who were very excited to see us and had the "awesomest time ever" with their babysitter, Mary.
 

Susan's Visit!

In October, Susan Collie came to visit us for the weekend--all the way from Palmyra, New York!  Susan and I were roommates our Freshman and Sophomore years at BYU.  We were randomly selected to be roommates that first year and hit it off right from the start.  We have been the best of friends ever since.  It is hard to believe we have known each other for almost 20 years.  As soon as she heard about Anneca, she wanted to come visit.  We decided it would be best a few weeks after when things had settled down a bit.

Friday afternoon after her plane arrived, we took the kids to a pumpkin patch right along the Washington-Idaho border.  It was fun being in two states at once.:)  Then they went crazy running through a corn field (that was kind of a corn maze), picking out a pumpkin, and playing.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday we relaxed in the morning, then when Kyle got home from his campout, we went and got pedicures together, went to a cute local bakery, then walked around a beautiful city park that was awash in fall colors.  We also watched Les Miserables that evening.

Sunday morning we went to visit Anneca's grave before church.

The kids loved "Aunt Susan."  I think my kids are now confused as to who is their real aunt or just a friend they call "aunt".  It cracks me up.  Susan brought them pictures with leaves from the Sacred Grove and t-shirts, and played with them a bunch.  Andon especially loved her.  She brought her green frog that she had when we were in college and we took him to the pumpkin patch, etc., with us.  Andon fell in love with it, and she left it for him.  He still sleeps with froggy most nights! 

 

It was so wonderful having her here and having the time together to reconnect and talk about Anneca with her.  Now it is definitely time for me to go visit her in Palmyra!  Hopefully soon!

I really do have the most wonderful friends!

Visit from the Harms!

The Harms are our dear friends and former neighbors in Wilsonville.  Kylene and Lidya were best friends while we lived there.  As soon as Barbie heard about Anneca, she emailed and asked if they could come for a visit.  Of course!  It was much too short of a trip, but we LOVED having them here.  The kids started right back where they had left off, running around wildly, playing and having a great time.  Barbie and I soaked up the time together, talking about life in general and the sacred experiences surrounding Anneca's delivery.


Aren't they darling?!
Andon, Skyler, Tsion, Spencer, Raegan, Kylene, Lidya

 

This is unrelated, but I just came across this picture.  Kyle's family purchased this beautiful Bonsai Ficus for us as a gift after Anneca's passing.  We have named it our "Anneca tree".  I love ficuses (I had a full size one for several years), and this miniature one is perfect to represent our tiny baby. 

 

Outings and Such

I haven't much been in the mood for blogging about anything besides Anneca.  Now I have some catch-up to do.  Despite the sadness of her passing, we have had some fun memory-making times as well.

In September, on a beautiful Saturday morning, we set out to explore Spokane's Riverfront Park.  It is a beautiful downtown park, with trails and bridges over Spokane Falls.  They also have the world's largest Radio Flyer red wagon which doubles as a huge slide.  The kids had fun playing on it.  We enjoyed the scenery, the squirrels, the leaves, the hike, the clock tower, and playing briefly in the fountain.

 

Last weekend we set out to explore the Nine Mile Falls area, the Spokane River, Lake Spokane, and a couple of dams along the river.  Very rural area.  It was a cold but pretty day.  At one point, Kyle pulled off on the side of the road and we went on an "explore".  We hiked back in to a mountain and Kyle and the older kids climbed up a ways.  They loved it.  Andon found the perfect walking stick for himself and carried it most of the way.

The two dams we saw were really pretty, in particular the one at the lower end of Lake Spokane. ("Lake Spokane" is really just part of the river but because of the dam, it has essentially become a reservoir/lake.  It really doesn't look at all like a river.)

 '

We enjoyed our Halloween festivities.  (Mom enjoyed them, too, except the candy aspect.)
Skyler was Batman for our ward Halloween festival then switched to Robin for trick-or-treating.  Andon was a lion that wouldn't keep his mane on for the ward party, so we tried out the giraffe costume for Halloween.  He kept that on for a few minutes, but really didn't want to be outside in the cold.  Even the candy didn't tempt him.  He only went to a few houses and his candy was gone before the other kids got home:).  Kylene was a fairy and Spencer was Annakin again.  I love reusing costumes!