Postings by P@m

8th GRADE COMPLETION

2011-09-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

Andee is finished with Jr. High and will be a freshman.

Aren't her shoes cute!

PARKER

2011-08-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

A couple photos from our shoot with the Gittels.

Parker in my old rocking chair.

Even a ride in his wagon wasn't helping,

Parker was tired of getting his picture taken!

There's another preview for you mom.

JOVI

2011-08-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is for you, Grandma Peanut, even though they are out of order.

Jovi got a little tired part way through her photo shoot.

Here is one shot so you can see what she looks like.

Caitlin was our helper at the shoot and wanted a photo with her niece.

That's all for now, just a couple, we took a couple of hundred.

More later.

STATE MEET

2011-08-10T16:41:00.001-07:00

Garret made it to state in all four of his events. First up,

his favorite, the high jump. His PR this year was 6'2.

He had the 400 prelim after 2 jumps and couldn't get enough

of his legs back to jump any higher, but did well enough to place 4th.

8 runners make the finals and Garret was 9th in the 400.

In the long jump Garret was frustrated but was 8th.

The relay was his last event.

They placed 6th.

Another year of fun at the smurf turf.

TRACK

2011-08-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Garret jumped...

long

and high

and ran in the open 400 and 4X400.

Andee and Jovi cheered him on and

Caitlin jumped for joy!

THE FINISHER

2011-08-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

Andee became a hurdler this year. She also ran the 200 and anchored the 4X1 relay.

At the district meet she came from behind in the relay and won by a hair. Her coach

says it is the best race he's seen and brags about her all the time. If only

we had it on video. She is really becoming a competitive athlete.

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY INDUCTION

2011-08-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Garret became a member of the National Honor Society,

following in the footsteps of his three older siblings.

He also received an award for US History. Can you find him in the photo below?

BEDROOM MAKEOVER

2011-08-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

We decided to change the bedroom's around after Ethan left

to work for the summer in Texas. Andee's room

is first. Her favorite color is green and she loves frogs.

She is excited to have her own room.

GARRET'S LOVE

2011-08-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Garret's favorite sport arrives. His team wore pink socks

for breast cancer awareness.

The crowd goes wild!

Garret started on the Varsity team this year as a sophomore.

He has been perfecting his shot. The Priest River game he started off with three

threes in a row. The coach was shouting "shooter, shooter!"

Yes he is!

Garret's biggest fans. (Briann's family went all out with

shirts for the family.)

We missed going to state by 1 point in overtime. Heartbreaking.

ANDEE PLAYS BALL

2011-08-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Since the middle school season is so short, the girls played in the Post

Falls league. They have the tie dye shirts and called themselves Kellogg Kaos.

Luckily, someone more qualified coached them, so I

was their scorekeeper.

Andee had a great season and really got a lot more aggressive.

By the time their school season started they had really improved.

They really love their coach, Jeff.

CHRISTMAS 2010

2011-08-10T15:16:00.001-07:00

Nathan, Caitlin, Andee and Garret opening presents on Christmas eve after we got home from caroling and eating chili.

Parker on Christmas morning, the wrapping paper and bows is more exciting than the giftsl.

Cousin, Devon Kiser, was with us for a few months while he worked for the mountain.

He spent the holiday with us, Ethan got him a Bop-it.

Ethan and Garret gave us these photos, autographed of course,

as their special gift to each of us.

They shot and edited these glamour shots themselves.

Ethan's Shortcut

2011-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Ethan was taking the "shortcut" to work, the road was icy,

you can see the truck next to the people in the ditch.

You can see his tracks going in. Ethan wasn't wearing his seat belt :(

Lucky for him he was not injured. One small scratch on his leg.

He ended up in the water, but amazingly, he didn't even get wet

and was able to retrieve his cell phone.

The cummins diesel engine was also unhurt, and the cab didn't cave in,

just a little body damage.

One more cross country meet

2011-02-14T09:38:00.001-08:00

October 30 we got to watch my niece Erica Wendt Richardson at the Big Sky CC Championships.

She runs for ISU. It was a very cold day, but proved to an exciting one. Erica won!!!

There is Erica running out front. Later in the race she pulls really far ahead of the pack.

DISTRICTS

2011-02-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

District Cross Country Meet in Spirit Lake was a bright, sunny day. Jovi came to watch her Uncle Garret.

Jovi's closeup.

Aunt Caitlin loves her niece and nephew.

Briann was having fun taking pictures, Parker got his close up too.

Grandpa and Parker showing off!

Oh, that's right this is what we came for. Garret is full stride just a little to the right of center.

These two photos are backwards, this is part way through the race.

Garret had a PR this race.

Photoshoot at the Big House

2010-10-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

Cami and Parker and Briann and Jovi made a trip with me to Montana and we got to go on a tour of the Big House. Briann took some photos for me:

I used to sunbathe up here on the widow's walk.
Sign says:

Robert Vaughn Captain Couch

Mansion est. 1869

(I prefer Vaughn Homestead, Couch Mansion, Nielsen Farm)

I suppose these railings would have made these landings a little safer when we played on them.

Outhouse shot.

Some of the stenciling Great Grandma Nielsen did that has been preserved.

This view is from the attic.

One last shot as we are driving away.

This was the best place to grow up!

Birthday in Seattle

2010-10-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year, Nathan and I went Seattle. Friday we went antique shopping followed by watching my nephew play football in Snohomish. Saturday, along with Marcy and Dave, we headed in toSeattle. We had lunch at Blue Water Taco Grill, then took the duckboat tour, shopping at pike's market, followed by a mariner's game. Fun birthday!

Volleyball

2010-10-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

This fall Andee played volleyball. This is her second year playing.

Andee served the first 6 points at this game in Couer d Alene.

She switched from being a setter last year to a hitter this year.

She also was one of our best servers.

Once again Caitlin is there supporting her siblings.

Soon she will be getting her turn, she will start basketball in November.

JOVI'S BABY BLESSING

2010-10-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

Jovi was blessed on September 5.

Briann and Taylor with Jovi.
( sorry Taylor, I didn't know your eyes were only half open in this one)
Great Grandma Peanut and Grumpy with their second great grandchild.

The booties from Great Great Grandma Grapes!

Two great grandbabies.

Parker is already 4 months!

Another game of monopoly probably won by Josh.

Monique did a photo shoot, here's one of her poses!

Cross country

2010-09-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

Garret decided to try running instead of football this year. This is his first meet!

Ethan decided to ride up to the meet with Briann and I.

He decided to run in the citizen's race even though he was wearing sandals.

He started out wearing borrowed shoes, but soon ended up running barefoot.

Grandbabies

2010-09-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

These are for Grandma Peanut and Grumpy.

Here are my two grandbabies together:

Her feet are almost as long as his!

So sweet, Parker already loves his cousin.

It really is amazing how much difference 3 months makes at this age!

Day at the Beach

2010-08-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

We finally got a day to go hang out at Lake CDA.

We used to go to the lake 3-5 days a week,

now we're lucky if go that many times in a year.

Garret, Andee, Caitlin and cousin Afton all hit the water.
Caitlin and Afton
Garret

Andee

Then we got some more company!!!

I have two really cute grandbabies.

Jovi
Parker

Afton got her turn holding the baby.

While Mom Was Out

2010-08-17T09:09:00.001-07:00

While Mom went to help Britney out with her new baby,

Marcy, Melanie and I snuck home to try to surprise her.

We started out by making a huge mess.

We also got Dad involved by putting him on the spot to give approval

for some of our destructive projects.

He also did a good job keeping the secret as he talked to Mom every day

and she never even got supsicious!

Here are some before and after shots....

The living room before....

and after.....

The front entry.....

This was one of the projects Dad approved,we took out the bookcase/divider.

Here is the after......

The dining room before.....

and after....

We took that little spot behind Dad's chair....

...and Marcy and Melanie used all their carpenter skills and patience and a lot of caulking

to put the old bookcase in the space...

We also took the old mirror....

...gave it an update!

Melanie had to run out to stall Mom since we were still hanging things back up when she pulled up.

Mom first wondered why her table was outside on the porch

then she was shocked to see Marcy and I there and then she had to take in all the changes.

I think it took her at least a half hour to even process everything

then, as you would suspect, she did start to cry.

We had a great time, we just wish we would have had more time to stay after Mom got home.

Mom and Dad did go shopping with us on our way our of town and ordered a new couch.

New carpet and vinyl are also on the way!

JOVI MICHELLE

2010-08-17T08:38:00.001-07:00

Briann and Taylor welcomed Jovi Michelle on August 3rd.

Here she is...

Taylor is checking out his new little girl.

She was born already able to do the pouty lip.
She was also doing the quiver lip extremely well.

Briann was choosing songs to listen to while she was pushing and Jovi was born to

"Little Bitty Pretty One"

I guess that's fitting since she weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz

21 1/2 in long.

She may be small, but she has long hands and feet.

She may already have her dadddy wrapped around her long finger.

Caitlin is excited to be an aunt again. She has been asking when she can be a big sister?

I have been telling her she will have to be an aunt instead.

I think she is adjusting to the idea.

When Jovi was 5 days old, Briann had some portraits done.

Click on the link below and look for gorgeous baby J to see a preview.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fkimstadlerphotographyblog.com%2F&h=a3116

EAGLE COURT

2010-08-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

June 19 we had Ethan and Adam's Eagle Court.

They played a trumpet duet for our entertainment.

Ethan with his leader Ron Frank, without his help, Ethan would not be an Eagle Scout.

I am thinking,"Yeah! One Eagle down and one to go!"

Adam earned his award a year ago but had not had a court of honor.
He looks thrilled to be doing it now.
(thanks for being a good sport, Adam)

Grandpa and Grandma Kolste came along with Rory (who was in the Eagle's nest)

and of course Marcy's family. Also Cami and Josh with Parker and Briann and Taylor.

The Allreds and Ron, friends and scout leaders, also came.

Ethan has 12 uncles and all 12 are Eagle Scouts.

Now thats a legacy.

I meant for this picture to be in the last post but somehow I erased it....

Basketball Camp

2010-08-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

The first week of June we headed to Utah for basketball camp.

Garret took his best friend Cody along with him and I took my mom and Briann.

We got to visit family while we were there.

Shane came down to give us a ride in THE car!

I like fast cars.

Garret had a great time at camp.He won the three point competition, the freethrow competition and was named to the all star team!

Some of his highlights from camp were:seeing Jimmer Fredette play,
meeting Lee Cummard and playing one on one with him, and as you can see in the photos - getting to play in the Marriot Center!

Hershey Track Meet

2010-08-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

During the regular track season Andee started doing the hurdles.

For the hershey meet she ran the 100 and 200 and softball throw.

She qualified for state in all 3.

This was Caitlin's first track meet.

She didn't want to do it at first because she said track is boring.
Andee convinced her and she had a good time.

She won the 100 even though she was in the 9-10 age group and she is still 8.

Maybe she will decide sports are okay after all.

Graduation

2010-08-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

May 29 was Ethan's high school graduation.

He had such a great Senior year. Diploma in hand....

Before the recessional, the band starts playing "Thriller" and the whole Senior class starts doing the dance. It was very fun, probably my favorite part.

Garret did his part by playing in the band.

CONGRATS ETHAN!

State Track Meet

2010-05-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

March 21 and 22 was spent in Boise at Bronco Stadium. Here is our team of 12 athletes from Kellogg who qualified for state,

marching in the parade of athletes.

Garret was up first on Saturday. It was a beautiful day for the most part.

He placed 8th at State.

Saturday morning at 8:30 ethan did his long jump.

When the day started it was about 50 degrees.

Ethan was aiming to jump 21'.

His final jump was 20' 11 & 3/4 ". Sooo close.

That was good enough for 3rd place.

By about noon, it was time for the finals in the 400.

It had been raining for a while and Ethan said it was cold even with your sweats on.

But the race must go on.

Ethan was excited to have lane three. He loves to chase down the competition.

As they came out of the final corner, Ethan shot into first.

Ethan never gave up his lead.

Being from North Idaho, and being used to crazy track weather, might have given him an edge.
Or it might have been, the shaving of the legs that gave him the edge.

Either way Ethan is a State Champion!

A few races later, it was time for the 200 finals.

Ethan was allready soaked and now you can see it has started to SNOW!

Even blowing into your hands won't warm you up now.

Ethan had a slow start which is unusual for him.

But he was still able to pull back up to get another third place medal.

( One guy has his coat on, one is wearing gloves and Ethan took off his wet shoes and socks)

When we got out to the car to leave it was 36 degrees!

Not your typical state track meet in Boise.

But definately a memorable one!

Parker's Blessing

2010-05-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

On May 15 was Parker's baby blessing.

Great-Great Grandpa and Grandma Grapes, Great Grandma Peanut and Grumpy, Rory and Kathy and family, Taylor and Briann, Grandma Sheri Gittel and Great Grandma Gittel
were all in attendance. This provided the opportunity for us to have a five generation photo.

Parker with his Great Great Grandparents!

Mom and Dad are now Great Grandparents.

Parker has lots of people to love him.

Great Great Grandpa Sterlin Nielsen

Dad playing with Thatcher and Corbett.

Andee is VERY,VERY,VERY excited about being an aunt.

Ethan is sporting his "new" glasses.

Rory's daughter Kolette, she has such beautiful eyes.

Thanks everyone for coming!

Districts

2010-05-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

May 14th and 15th was the district track meet. Day one Ethan competed in the long jump. His coach is behind him in the purple. Can you tell he thinks this is a good jump? He went 20'9, a PR, which was good for first place.

Garret competed in his only event that day and placed 3rd, which was good enough to qualify him for state. He high jumped 5'8.

On day 2, Ethan had finals in the 400 and the 200. First came the 400, this was only the 2nd time he ran the open 4 this year. He came in second.

In the 200 he crossed the line in first place with a PR of 22.86. He also ran in the medley relay, they ran a good enough time to qualify for state, but were DQ'd because their last runner spiked the baton. So Ethan qualified in 3 events. Guess we will all be headed to Boise next week.

Parker Jay Gittel

2010-05-07T12:36:00.001-07:00

On May 6th at 6:00pm, Parker Jay Gittel made his grand entrance. He came 9 days after his due date and weighed in at 9 pounds 7 ounces. He is 21 inches long. We may be prejudiced, but we think he is adorable.

Cami thought the epidural was awesome, but they still haven't figured out a better way to get them out than to work hard. Cami did and you can tell, like most new moms, she is pretty tired.

Josh is a proud new papa.

And the proud new grandparents.

SPRING

2010-05-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

Caitlin at her spring concert, A Barnyard Moosical". She was a funky chicken that likes to rock.

Ethan went to prom this year. He went with a big group, they rented a limo and had a party together after the dance. They are a bunch of band "geeks". Ethan's date is Lee Fink. She is a good friend who plays the drums in band.

Prom was Ethan's first date!

The converse!

We had been at a very cold and windy trackmeet all day, but I insisted we get a picture of the two pregnant sisters while they were both still pregnant.

Andee was a model at our stakes "What's Hot to Wear" runway show. She looked cute in her outfits and showed a little attitude out there. (and she really worked those heels)

Here's Ethan doing the long jump at that trackmeet.

Garret is also doing long jump this year. Here he is reaching full speed on the runway.

Another trackmeet, Ethan is all alone running the last leg of the 4X4 relay.

Garret's favorite event is the high jump. He is pretty consistent at getting 5'8 this year.

Waiting for a Baby!!

2010-04-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

Cami's baby is due today, April 27 th. No baby yet. We decided to do a little painting project.

This is to prove that Cami really did swallow a basketball.

I meant to put on a before and after of the kitchen cupboards, but here is the after. I figure when you have crappy old cupboards its okay to paint them blue!
(oops, I forgot to flip the picture, too)

Andee gave Caitlin larvae for Christmas which hatched into these beautiful butterlies.

WINTER

2010-04-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

Our winter began by attending Cami and Josh's graduation from University of Idaho. Josh got a job with an accounting firm in Spokane so they moved from Moscow to Coeur d'Alene. They are expecting their first baby in April.

Here's Garret at the Christmas concert.

Ethan loves playing his trumpet. It is probably his favorite activity. He would eventually like to play it in college.

New Year's Day was Caitlin's baptism. Hard to believe my baby is 8. Grandma Peanut and Grumpy came out for her baptism and some basketball games.

Here's all the family that showed up. (Rory and Kathy and family)

Caitlin had her dad baptize her even though she was a little concerned that he would goof off. He didn't!

Ethan and Garret are excited for basketball to start!!!

It is Ethan's final year.

On Senior night we all gave him his favorite treat, Mountain Dew and a Dharma sweatshirt.
(that is a Lost reference for those who don't watch Lost. Ethan is a huge fan)

Here he is getting some air against the team that eventually won the state championship.

He had a great year.

Garret's favorite sport is basketball. He had a great freshman year.

Threeeee! Garret worked on his shooting all last summer, making at least 10000 points during the summer.

Garret had a goal to dunk when he was a freshman. Here his is proving that he can.

Here's Andee chillin' at a basketball game, she has cute freckles.

(since I added this picture Andee has informed me that she hates it)

Caitlin just hanging around at the ball games. She gets really tired of going to all the games but I don't think she's quite as miserable as she pretends to be.

See she is smiling!

Sometimes you can actually have fun at games.
Thanks for the ride Taylor!

Andee started playing basketball on the middle school team this year. She loves being involved.

Pretty good follow through, Andee.

As basketball season was ending we attended around 15 games in 11 days.

Now we don't know what to do with ourselves for entertainment.

Guess we'll wait for the next season to begin.

FALL ACTIVITIES

2010-04-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

When we returned from our vacation, Ethan finally got the approval for his Eagle project. So along with all the other activities starting up for fall, we started building a bridge.

This is the before shot. The bridge used to span this creek up by our high school. It was no longer safe and had to be removed. We also did a little tree removal arround the sight of the bridge.

Here are the scouts putting in the supports.

And, finally, standing on the finished project. The bridge turned out really nice.

Caitlin is in second grade this year. Here she is enjoying a cross country meet.

Ethan starts off his Senior year with cross country.

Ethan is out to a good start at the district cross country meet in Plummer at the circling raven golf course.

Garret played football again this fall. That is him in the purple jersey getting a block.

Garret number 87, is a freshman at KHS.

Here's Andee at the net, playing volleyball her first year as a seventh grader.

She really improved as the season went on, here's her wicked serve. (notice the crazy socks)

The highlight of the fall season is Homecoming. It was freezing.

Marching at homecoming. Here are both boys making a few last minute adjustments to the uniforms.

Our game was the feature on the Spokane news. Our band came early to play for them. Here's Garret warming up.

Ethan is ready to march in the halftime show.

DC day 2

2009-10-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

We started our second day in DC at the National Zoo. Of course this zoo is famous for its giant pandas...

They were alright but we preferred the much smaller red pandas. They were much more active and really cute. Caitlin got a stuffed one and named him DC.

Most of the animals were out and active. The female lions were very entertaining, one crouched down and then pounced on the other one. I think Briann got it on video. I will try to post that, I haven't tried posting video before. We might have had a little too much fun with all the animal statues. Here are just a few.... Caitlin trying to catch a prarie dog...

...Andee trying to find her handsome prince...( frogs are her favorite animal and green is her favorite color)

....and fianlly Briann staring down the Silverback..... The gorillas were interesting too. One of them had a stick he was using to stick in an ant hill and then eating the ants off of it, like it was a spoon.

I intended for this photo to be first. Here we are at the entrance to the zoo. It was the hottest, muggiest day of our vacation but I guess it had been long enough since we went to a zoo that none of the kids could really remember going to one, so they really never got tired here.

After a lunch break we were off to our second museum, American History. We really liked this one and could have spent at least a whole day here. We chose this museum in part, to see the ruby slippers...

We saw lots of fun things and only visited about a quarter of the museum. Since I really don't like visiting the dentist, I really appreciateed this scary looking dentist torture device.

Before we left I actually flipped through a museum pamphlet and discovered the star spangled banner exhibit. I went by myself at first. It turned out to be the highlight of my trip. I do not have a picture because they don't allow any kind of photography. But there it was, the actual flag that Francis Scott Key saw at Fort McHenry when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner. This is one of my favorite stories and it was an emotional experience to see it. I had to go drag the family back in to see it also. ( here is a photo I forgot last time. this is at the Korean War Memorial.)

Washington DC Day 1

2009-10-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in DC was the LDS temple. It is beautiful. We went to the visitors center and watched the Joseph Smith movie. We all really enjoyed it.

OOps these two are in the wrong order. This one is inside the museum. They had a gem display that we spent too much time in. We did see the "hope diamond". Not really that cool. Andee did like this crown.....

Here's the girls outside this museum. Of course there are too many museums here to see so we chose two. This is the first one, natural history.

After the museum it was on to the mall. Let the walking begin. Just starting out here with a view of the capital.

Next stop, the Washington Monument.

By the time we got to the WWll monument we were already hot and tired. So the kids decide to soak their feet a little before we headed on.

Here we are at the Federal Reserve.

Does sitting on Einstein make you any smarter? There is spot here where you stand and it echos but a only you can hear it. (finally a picture that proves Briann was with us - she was a great tour guide, having been here a few times before)

Some how I missed a shot of the Korean war memorial. Nathan's dad served in Korea so we felt a connection . All of the war memorials are very inspiring. On our way back to the metro we walked right by the White House. Wish we could have had more time. We rushed through most everything.

While relaxing in the evening we did get to visit Cami & Josh and Darrick, Ariel, Nolan and Baylee. Thanks for the place to crash.

More Beach Photos

2009-09-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the view as you arrive at the beach. It was a great day to be at the beach.
This is our little spot in the sand...

What do you do a the beach???

build sand castles....

run....

jump!!!

and jump again!!!

twirl........

and surf.......

GO LEANN!

surf some more.....

(one of the few shots of Briann, since she took most of these pictures.

Cami has an unnatural fear of sharks and told us there was no way

she would go into the Atlantic ocean, maybe racing Briann got her

into these shark-infested waters?!?)

and then surf even more.....

then try some body surfing......

how about some wave jumping????

then ...........rest!

now, back to the water to catch some jellyfish (they were everywhere!)

success.........

ohhhhhh, looks what happens when you catch jellyfish.....

their friends come after you

(Garret got stung first on his foot and then one wrapped himself around Ethan's

knees and dropped him)

After that Andee would not go in the water.. She and Nathan took a safer route

searching for shells......

and then its time to relax in your very own hot tub???

We had a great time!!!!!

Cape Henlopen

2009-09-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

After NYC we headed to Delaware to stay at the Ben & Leann Wendt Bed & Breakfast. They took us to their favorite beach, Cape Helopen. Briann & Cami joined us for a day at the beach. We have so many pictures (over 600) for just that one day, that it was very hard to choose. Briann took most of the pictures so in this series you will notice that one of her is missing. Here is Nate & I.
We seem to have a thing with feet, at least pictures of them. I had this idea for a shot, but the logistics were a little trickier than we thought...

For those of you who remember our old Canon Beach shot - here is our ode to that shot...

Cami's glamour shot. She thinks her hair looks bad but it is just beach hair. Since her and Josh were working in DC this summer she came with us to the beach.

Ethan says this is his modeling shot and he didn't even have to try.....

Garret, of course, can not be out done by his older brother. They are constantly trash talking each other. I will have to check again for a close up of Andee. This one is cute of her even though she has her back to you.

Caitlin had a ton of pictures. Maybe its because she stayed by the edge of the water so her pics are closer.

Next post I will show some of the things we did while at the Atlantic ocean.

NEW YORK CITY continued

2009-09-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

It is so irritating when these come up in the wrong order. The second day in NYC we took the Statten Island Ferry into Manhattan. Just in case there were any problems........

Here is the ferry passing us going back. It's free, so it was a great way to get into the city.

You also get a good view of the Statue of Liberty from the ferry. We did not want to wait in the lines to go see it close up, so we thought this was good. I did really want to go to Ellis Island. I think if I had insisted I would have had a mutiny, so I guess I will have to go back again.
The kids enjoying some NYC artwork.

We made a quick trip through the south end of Central Park. It was beautiful. We could have spent a whole day or two there, but it started raining and we heading to Delaware so we can really only say we were there.
Food in NYC. Not too imaginative on our part, this is McDonalds in Chinatown. The one in downtown Manhattan was two stories and had live piano music. (does that make chicken nuggets taste better)

More food. You can't be in New York and not get a hot dog from a street vendor. Ethan is always ready to eat.

Back on the subway we got some live entertainment from this band.
We mostly enjoyed using the subway. It's not scary like we imagined and we did see a lot of interesting people. Our favorite place in Time Square was Toys R Us. It was 3 stories and had a full size ferris wheel inside.

UPDATE!!!

2009-09-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

We took a family vacation this summer. It was the first time Ethan, Garret, Andee and Caitlin had been on an airplane, so just that was an experience. We left Spokane at 5:30 pm and arrived in NYC at 6:30 am. We were all a little tired after trying to sleep in the SLC airport and then on the airplane but we were excited so we headed into Manhattan.

Did I mention we were all tired? Here's Nathan and Caitlin asleep in the subway. Caitlin laid down anytime we stopped and tried to sleep right on the dirty streets.
The kids we not at all excited to go see Wall Street but we went just to say we were there. At least Caitlin and Andee were excited to see the famous bull.

We spent too much time at the 9 11 site trying to get a good view. But with all the construction, there really is no great viewing area. It will be much better when the memorial is done and there is someplace to visit.

And finally, an update on the house. Here is the new siding, its a bit of an improvement over the pink. And this weekend they even hydroseeded our yard so we may even have some grass someday instead of dirt.

SPRING UPDATE

2009-06-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

I know finally a new post. Here's an update:
We are residing our house and this is what was underneath. Pink!!

Caitlin in Sandpoint at Lake (Ponderay).
Catlin, Cami, Josh, Nate and I with Felica Frisbie at her baptism in Seattle.

We also visited the reptile zoo while we were there.

It was feeding time, here is the rattlesnake striking it's prey.

Andee sang at her school talent show and tied for first. She sang "The Show".

After school she competed in the hershey trackmeet and got three first places.

She also played softball this spring.

Garret set the school record in the high jump by jumping 5'6. (that's over his mom's head) He took first at the district trackmeet in the high jump and was 2nd in the 400 and long jump.

Garret at 8th grade completion ceremony. He received the president's award and a special award for social studies.

Garret with his friends Logan and Cody. (Garret is now just over 6' and wears size 13 shoes)

Look closely for Ethan long jumping in this shot. He went to state in the long jump and the 200.

He got the mvp award for track and also the inspirational award.
This is the parade of athletes at the state track meet. He and his teammates are in purple. This is at Boise State. (notice the smurf turf)
Ethan is working on his eagle project this summer. He will be rebuilding this bridge at our high school.

Spring Activities for Ethan & Andee

2009-04-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

My photograghy skills are a little rough as I'm trying to learn how touse the new camera, but here are some feeble attempts.Ethan getting the handoff from Ian in the 4x100 relay. He is almost 6'1 now so he has a nice long stride. Next week is districts so we will see if we get to make a trip to Boise for the state track meet. He is now doing the long jump, 400, 200 and the relay. This spring he also went to Pasco to compete in a jazz festival. The achievement day girls held a powder puff derby. Here is Andee lining up her "car".

....and racing it to the finish.

Here's a close up of her car, it was an idea from a friend of mine (Kim Lewis).This bathtub on wheels placed 3rd, even though her wheel kept falling off. It did turnout pretty cute. That is a frog in the tub, Andee loves frogs so she added that instead of a rubber duckie. Andee is also playing both softball and golf right now.

Happy 70th Birthday Dad!

2009-04-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a shoutout to Dad who just turned 70 in April. Love you!

Briann & Taylor's Wedding

2009-04-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

The happy couple!

I quit having babies but our family keeps growing.

Family & friends

YEAH!!

Ethan and Garret

2009-02-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

Garret is on the eighth grade basketball team. This is his favorite sport. He scored 19 points in each of his last two games.

Here is Ethan playing in the pep band.We recently had the battle of the bands with our rival school and our band is awesome. They won and were very entertaining and sounded great.

Engagement Pictures

2009-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

After a reprimand from Marcy about not having a recent post, I decided to put something new up that is not Christmas. These are 2 of Briann and Taylor's engagement pictures. Their photographer did them for free and even bought them lunch. You can see a few more on Briann's new blog. They will be married in the Spokane Temple on Friday, March 27 with a reception the following day. She has a dress, Aunt Linda is doing her cake, and Aunt Marcy is her wedding photographer so plans are moving steadily ahead. We now have 5 weeks left.

2008-12-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

This is the cute little (maybe 2 inches tall) nativity that we are making to give to teachers and for other small gifts. We thought they turned out well. We are still trying to finish getting ready for Christmas. The basketball games and theChristmas concerts and now the weather have made getting our shopping done a little difficult. We are excited to have Cami & Josh and Briann & Taylor with us for Christmas eve to help us with caroling and to eat the traditional chili dinner. Merry Christmas!!

Briann's Engaged!

2008-11-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Well, you may have already guessed ( Britney) but now it is official. Briann and Taylor are planning to get married on March 27th in the Spokane temple. We have known the date for a while and she has already picked out her dress, but we had to wait until there was a ring. She is very excited and loves showing off her ring.

2008-11-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

Briann thought you might like this picture of Taylor dressed up for Halloween. He won funniest costume. If you recall Briann's costume, she was wearing my white shirt. I'm not sure if it will ever be white again. I wonder why!

Briann

2008-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Briann has been living at home since August and working for her dad during the day and at the ski lodge front desk in the evenings. She also has a boyfriend named Taylor. We all like him. In this picture Briann, who is 5'10, is also wearing about 4" heels. So do the math, Taylor is TALL.

Halloween

2008-11-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Briann wanted to a be a pirate this year. She gets into it every year. She went to a dance in Spokane and had a really fun time. In the next photo you can see her attention to detail, notice her key worn as an earring and her shark tooth necklace.
Andee was a "antique goth princess" those are her words. She went trick-or-treating with 2 friends and then went to a carnival at the school.(she has requested that I change the word antique to "vintage")

Because Briann was a pirate Caitlin promised her she would be a pirate too. This was our very last minute attempt from the dress-up/costume box. She thought her friend had left without her so she is sad and pouting in this photo.This is not Garret's halloween costume. It is his football picture. The next set of photos are last year's pics that Briann took for him when she worked at the Sears photo studio. He played running back most of the year and then switched with his friend Cody ( his footrest in photo)
and played quarterback for the rest of the season. He is now anxious for basketball to start.

Ethan's Trek

2008-10-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

This summer Ethan went on a trek near tri-cities in Washington state. Here he is resting in the foreground in front of their handcart.Once they made it to Zion they played lots of games. Ethan enjoyed all of them. He even came home clean because they set up a slip and slide that had soap on it. Unfortunately, the day before they left we had scheduled an appointment for Ethan to have warts frozen off his hands. We did not realize what this would do. He pushed the handcart without complaining with blistered hands. Now that's a pioneer experience.

The Deep Freeze

2008-10-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

With Briann's help we started rearranging the storage rooms. It is a huge job, but we've made a lot of headway. The food storage room is painted, carpeted and moved in. Now we can actually see what we do and don't have. This was how our freezer looked. Someone did't get it closed all the way and no one noticed for who knows how long. Those beer boxes look suspicious, but who would freeze beer? That was actually half a beef, which unthawed and went bad when the door was open. Unfortunately, we had to throw it all away. The freezer is all defrosted now and looks... empty!

44 years ago today...

2008-10-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

October 2, 1964 - mom and me......

with Dad......
3&1/2 years later...
A failed attempt at an Evil Knevil trick on my bike. It was just before my birthday. Grandma Nielsen was babysitting us and she was just sick about it......
12 years old on the farm in Vaughn.....
the high school years with my best friend, Raandi.....All grown up with my sister-in-law Leann being ridiculed in Philadelphia......Happy Birthday to me and to my mom and dad who started this whole thing, I love you guys!!

More pics from 7 peaks

2008-10-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Nathan & I just got flushed at 7 peaks. I guess this ones called the vortex.
Nathan headed down the boomerang.

My turn with my sister-in-law Leann.

Briann with her cousin Vanessa. Vanessa's expression says it all.

Moose Crossing

2008-09-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

This photo is from the front page of our local paper this week. This car hit a large bull moose on I-90 right by Pinehurst. Sadly the driver of this car did not survive. Of course this brought back memories from June '06 when Cami and Josh hit a moose on I-90 on Fourth of July Pass.
I think Cami's car looked much worse!! It just a reminder how lucky they were. Since she tried to drown when she was 11 and had to be given CPR and then this accident when she was 18 we are pretty sure that her mission here is not complete. We are so grateful.

Ballin' Video

2008-09-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

This summer Ethan and Garret also made a video about basketball. Last night they put it on youtube. Here is the link if you'd like to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCz18ZVzrgQ.

2008-09-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

JAM TIME!!

The boys were having a little fun with the camera.

First up is Ethan. He is a Junior this year and is currently running cross country. He also attends early morning seminary and works part-time at the water park. He is getting pretty good at tricks on the flow rider.

Next is Garret. He just turned 14 at the end of August and is in the 8th grade. He is playing football this fall. Their game today was a defensive struggle, they won 6-0 scoring their touchdown with only 57 seconds left.

Andee is in middle school this year, a 6th grader. She just started cross country this week and was not so excited when she found out they had to run a mile and a half. Before that she wanted to play football, but her mom wouldn't let her.

Caitlin is a first grader and is all alone at the elementary school this year. She has been a little tired and grouchy since school started.

Briann has retired from her nanny job and moved back home. She is working for her dad and also at the silver mountain resort. Two almost full-time jobs. She will be busy until she heads down to BYU-I in January.

Cami and Josh are home from Dallas and back in Moscow where they are both full-time students. Josh should graduate this year and then might pursue his masters. Cami has one more year after this and will have a degree is Geology, which she plans on adding a teaching certificate to.

I will try to get more pictures. Things are back on a little bit more of a schedule now that school is in session but we are still busy. I have been painting once again, we have been working on getting our yard done and just added a shed. Always something to be done on the house. I am also going to sign up to sub at the school this year, that should be interesting. Nathan is busy as usual at work. Guess that updates us for now.

Random Pics

2008-08-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you forget the sunscreen. Ethan floated the river with some friends and came home looking like a lobster. (the picture doesn't really do his burn justice)
Briann has been enjoying all the singles activities. Here she is at an 80's dance. It was such a fashionable decade. Hey that girl in the middle is wearing my dress from about 1980. I want to get a picture from their superhero dance. Briann was going to go as Mary Poppins (a little play on the fact that she works as a nanny) but, her and 2 friends went as modern-day Charlie's Angels.
This roach flew up to the door one night and Garret thought it might be a bat at first since we don't usually have bugs this big. We caught it and when Briann saw it she said it was the same size as the one she ate a few years ago at EFY for $20! Okay Briann you really got ripped off, that thing was huge. GROSS!

Marcy's blog

2008-08-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

The link I have for the Candlands is now working. If you tried it before and it didn't work try it again they have a brand new blog!!

Soccer in July

2008-08-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

In the Silver Valley we play soccer in July. The first game of the evening is unbearably hot and then for the second game you need a blanket or something because the sun goes behind the mountain.

Garret usually plays goalie for part of the game. Here is Garret kicking the ball away from the goal. Then when the action at his end of the field slows down, he likes to just "hang" out. Caitlin hasn't started playing soccer yet because her mother thinks it looks like glorified babysitting at her age. So she spends her time collecting grasshoppers. This night she came home with 21! She was even naming them. I think they started chewing through the screen (well something did) and we had to let them go.

Andee enjoys playing soccer and can be a pretty aggressive player. Especially when she is a defender.

She collide head on with this girl and proved that she really does have a hard head. Only her glasses needed a little adjusting...

...then she was back up and ready to go.
Briann came out for the last game at Andee's request and brought along her frisbie. She is now an avid ultimate frisbie player. She was showing us some of her unique throws.

When she stopped texting for a minute she could even catch one.

Ethan joined in with Briann, but, he knew I had the camera and he was posing for me.
Okay he finally quit posing and I caught him in action.

Summer Vacation Activities

2008-07-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Andee playing softball and Caitlin playing t-ball. (notice her great fielding form)

The first day of the Wendt reunion we went to seven peaks. Here is Nathan, his brother-in-law Dave Kiser and his brother Ben on the boomerang. They almost touched the top.

We had a fashion show that were scenes from the Wendt household growing up. On the right is Nathan modeling an outfit reminiscent of something baby brother Matthew wore courtesy of his older sisters. On the left is Dan showing how Nathan appeared to his brothers and sisters when he was hospitalized after diving face first off the garage roof when he was in fourth grade.

After the reunion Andee ,Caitlin and I visited my brother Matthew and his family. That's Caitlin and Andee with Savanah at a museum on BYU campus. They also both rode Matt's horse.

I decide to take a little ride on Jackson too, but my photographer was a little shaky. We spent an afternoon at temple square before heading to visit Chris and family in Tremonton for some swimming with cousins. We met up with Britney and family there.

I

After we hooked up with the Nygrens we headed to Bear World. We saw one grizzly, a moose named Stiltz and too many black bears to count.

Here are some scenes from the petting zoo and these bears were friendly enough to not need any kind of fence.

Bear World also had this little carnival. Caitlin loved the roller coaster.

Finally, we went to Virginia City. Here we all panned for gold and garnets. This was our accommodations for the night. Then we headed home all vacationed out!

2008-07-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Garret in blue playing in Hoopfest. This is in Spokane. It is the largest 3 on 3 tournament in the world. This year there were over 6000 teams. Garret's team the street ninjas got one win this year.

2008-06-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Caitlin has been my companion at most all of this spring's events. It was a cold rainy spring so she was a pretty good sport. She usually made new friends and the meets and played with them.

2008-06-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

This is the logo Briann and Garret created for his Spokane Hoopfest team. This is their second year playing and their team name is street ninjas. This is the front of their team shirts.

Garret doing the softball throw at the hershey trackmeet......

and also winning the 200. Yes those are girls he is racing. There were no other boys in his race so they ran them together. He also did the broad jump.

Here is Andee playing softball.

Andee at the Hershey trackmeet. She won the 100, the softball throw and anchored the winning relay team.

2008-06-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is from the beginning of the school year when Garret ran for President of the 7th grade. This was one of his campaign posters and he also printed it on a few t-shirts for his friends to wear. He won the election but found middle school student government to be not very exciting.

2008-06-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute picture of Nathan when he was a youngster.

Nathan's father, Roy, as a young man. Any of you who know Nathan's brother Kraig will see the resemblance. Roy's funeral was held on memorial day weekend. All 12 children and their spouses and I think 44 of his 55 grandchildren were in attendance. We enjoyed the time together to remember him. He lived a life full of service to his family, his church, his community, and his country. We will miss him.

Briann , Nate, Garret and Ethan at the grave dedication.

2008-06-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ethan playing his trumpet in the spring concert.

Flooding

2008-05-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

We are having some flooding here. We had so much snow up in the mountains and then the temperature soared up to the high 80's for several days. On Sunday we helped our bishop get his family out by boat because their road was covered by water.

Ethan and Garret try track

2008-05-20T16:22:00.001-07:00

Ethan eventually started long jumping and running the 400. He qualified for the state meet in the long jump. He could be pretty good at it if he can become more limber. Garret chose to high jump and run the 400 and later added the long jump. He placed 1st in the 400 and 2nd in the long and high jumps.

2008-05-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

We drove by the Rexburg temple after our visit to Rigby. The temple is beautiful but is was a very cold day and the wind was really blowing the dirt from the area all over so we did our viewing from the car.

our spring activities

2008-05-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

We visited Nathan's mom and dad on Mother's day weekend . Roy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in about January. We had a nice visit. He recieved his mission transfer on Monday May 19 while at their current home in Rigby. ( mission transfer is how Jean termed passing on and I thought it was an appropriate term)