19 years together

 So July 27th is our anniversary as well as Takeshi birthday. Today we'll talk about our anniversary. 

So it's been 19 years together. That sounds like a long time to me. I can't believe it's been 19 years. So crazy. But being 43 years old, I guess that makes sense. Actually I guess I could've been married longer. But I'm grateful for the age I was married.

Dru and I went out to a really fancy restaurant. Dru had gotten a $200 gift card to a place called Ruth Chris. The gift card was from Mrs. Simplot, who is a millionaire. Dru did some work for her and she gave him this gift card. We were grateful. This restaurant is a steakhouse. You pay for everything individually. It ended up costing us a little more than $150 and we gave the rest of the money to the waitress. IT.WAS.AMAZING. One of the best steaks I've had in my life. It was just wonderful. The mash potatoes were good too and the dessert. I dressed up for the occasion and it was a nice night. 

Sweet text Dru sent me.

The gift that we got ourselves for 19 years together.

It's perfect yes?

I love that there's no pressure to get each other a gift on our anniversary. We have everything we need and spending time together at dinner and a movie is all we need.

Honestly, Dru is so hard to buy for, it stresses me out man. So birthday, Christmas and father's day is all I can handle and more actually hahahaha 

Lucky he doesn't care.

I'm glad we're together. 19 years with Dru has been wonderful and I wouldn't have the last 19 years be any different. I chose well, and am satisfied with my care. Hahahaha We have ups and downs like everyone, but they're mostly up and that's what's made it great. He's one of the greats and everyone is better with Dru in their lives.

Happy anniversary to us.

Bits and pieces

 

So after all four of my children used this baby change table, it was time for it to go. 

Yuki's been making big plans for her room. 

I made sure I got a picture of the four of them in front of it, before someone came and picked it up. 

It's one of those times that I look at the four of them and think of them as babies on that table, and can't believe how fast time has flown with them. 

They were using this baby table as storage for their books and art supplies. But her friend's father had a big desk he was getting rid of and so we picked that up for Yuki. It holds everything and so this had fulfilled it's purpose. 

It got picked up straight away basically.

I was sad to see it go, but I'm like that, a sentimental beast. It's good for me to be able to let go of material things and let them take their course and say goodbye to them. Other people don't have this kind of attachment thing I have. But I've had this as long as I can remember, so it's not going to change.

I then got some raspberries from our own plants as well as our neighbours and made some jam. Our favourite jam is raspberry, strawberry and apricot. We're outt've apricot though, so need a hookup somehow. 

I love how it makes the house smell and it's quick and easy. Glad to make it.

So I've gotten lots of sun this summer and pulled back my bracelets and realized just how much from my tan and I'm still getting darker. I have these with 4 different people that I wear as friendship. Two of my mates don't wear their anymore which makes me sad, but there's nothing I can do about that. I'm not sure if Kat's wearing hers, but Dru is still wearing his, so that makes me happy. I guess if my mates aren't wearing there's I should probably take mine off. You're suppose to wear them together and cut the bracelet and both have half each to share. I guess if their half is off I should take my half off. Sad.

Masaru made himself busy one day and produced this bad boy. It's a jump for his bike. He used it for the day, realized it needed some adjustments and it's been sitting there since. I love that he get these spurts of enthusiasm but his follow up needs some adjustments. It's well built though.

One day Emiko came downstairs and made herself this snack. So pretty.

There was a person at Dru's work who was getting rid of this 100+ year old upright grand piano. He sent a picture of it to me and asked if I wanted it. Since all four of our children play the piano and it was free, I figured why not right? It's just beautiful. It didn't come with a bench seat which is sad. The one we purchased doesn't really go with it. Maybe one day we'll find one that does or Dru can make one for it. Dru had his friends help him move it into the house and we put the other one downstairs. So now we have two and they both get played daily. I love it.

Since we have to wear masks around town and in stores, we usually always have masks on hand. One day, however, Masaru didn't have a mask on hand. So this is what he came up with from the car. I'm glad a picture got taken. So funny. Hey man, they let him in.

Takeshi and I have been going on mtb rides. Sometimes he does well and sometimes he doesn't. I've noticed a pattern though. The pattern is heat. If it's too hot he melts down. So if I'm going in hot weather I need to not let him come with me. This was a good ride that he did well. He's a good biking buddy.

One Saturday morning the Thompson's and us went climbing at the blackcliffs. They were beautiful and it was so much fun. I had a great time climbing and think I'd really get into it. It's tough to take the time out though for something else you know and juggle the house. Maybe one day I'll go more. But for this day, it was lots of fun and I'm impressed with how well I did for only having climbed a handful of times in my life. The hardest climb I did I was going to give up but Dru didn't let me and it made it all the way to the top. I just needed to think about it for a second you know and tell myself I could do it. I couldn't stop smiling. I really enjoyed it.

Then I got this card, out of the blue, from my mate 'magic for Susan's'. I wasn't feeling too good that day either and so it came at a really good time. It was really sweet. I talked to her on the phone too and it was a great talk. I'm glad she's my friend.

Then we have Masaru messing around with his bike.

So that's what we've been up to lately. Well lately back in July anyway. Still playing catchup with the blog. Never ending, but that's ok.

Nakaya trip to Stanley

 So we headed up to Stanley and met the Nakaya's up there. Luke had found us a sweet spot and Brooke had set up but we were too big of a group to be able to camp together, so some of us were in another site. The kids made a path from both our sites to each other though, so that worked out well and kept them busy for a while.

Beautiful.

Here's part of our set up. Thank goodness Dru has this shower attached.  It's a game changer for sure. It's so so nice to be able to have a shower after mtbing. 

I love it. We just brought our tents this trip and everyone slept in tents. The kids were having a hard time breathing at nights because of allergies. Luckily I brought medication and so we tried certain meds to help them breathe. It was better each night we did our cocktail. Poor kids.

It's a couple of months later, so I don't remember details super well, but I know that we went mtbing daily which was awesome. Chris would shuttle us up fisher creek and we'd bomb it down. It was AMAZING!! We also did Potato mt on the last day and it was longer and crazier than we remembered. It made us leave late for home. It was a total adventure that's for sure. 

We got wet and Dru crashed a couple of times as well as me. Masaru killed a squirrel and was really upset about it. The problem was it darted out of nowhere and then when Masaru turned back to see what on earth had happened, the squirrel was twitching and not fully dead. Then it died infront of him and he was upset about that. I think Masaru is a softy when it comes to things like that. Super sweet. Takeshi was ok. 

Masaru also took off in front of us and missed the turn and we had to make a game plan on what to do about that. Dru biked ahead and tried to catch him, but no go. So he biked back and we talked about a plan, then who comes biking back but Masaru. Lucky man. It was so crazy and we were so hungry. Masaru biked ahead the RIGHT way and went and got the cruiser for us. The three of us lay in the grass with the bugs and rested. 

We were wasted. We then made some food and headed home. So that's the mtbing part of the trip hahaha. Fisher creek, without the climb, is so so so fun. Man if I could have someone shuttle me up all the time, I'd do it a couple of times a week. Love that trail. 

Here we are on Fisher Creek. 

Our time at the camp was fun to just sit and chill and be together and eat as well as come up with things to do together.

Here's Takeshi trying to make a skinny happen.

Here's us sitting around a massive fire that Mas man made each night. That man blew through all of the firewood almost in one night. He wanted a rager all the time. It was crazy. He's a total pyro. hahahahaha

The big reason we went to Stanley as a family was the raft the river. It was a blast with wonderful food. We got there and said our hello's to Heather and Dave and Myles and Finn came with us which was awesome. Myles led Masaru down the river in his kayak and it helped Masaru a ton in his 'duckie'. Super grateful he came. 

We were in three separate rafts. We were with the girl, Veronica and it was just our family plus Finn, minus Masaru. We had fun. Mas went in Brooke's boat and Shauna went in Kristin's boat because Shauna wanted to be with Luke, cause she trusted him the most. Turns out she shouldn't have trusted him because his raft was the only raft that tipped over and everyone with it. 

Here's some pictures of the trip.

Love this pic of Bjorn.

Here's the kids jumping off the rock. Super fun. Luke helped Emiko out since she was scared.

Grandpa taking a nap.

Takeshi chilling after a mtb ride.

Us chilling in the shade.

Me getting some knitting done.

Fire, cuzzie time.

Masaru getting his hair done and looking good.

Luke picking out some wildflowers for the campsite. So beautiful.

Our sweet set up.

So awesome.

Some good talks around this raging fire.

Us at Potato Mt

Takeshi taking a picture of him and Dru and I chilling at the end of the potato mt ride.  We were done.

Masaru got himself this hoodie.

Yuki lost a tooth.

Takeshi flipped off the rock.

So did Masaru.

Luke helping Emiko.

Cuzzies chilling at the beach.

All of us chilling at the beach.

Cuzzies getting some sun.

How beautiful is this place right?

It was a wonderful weekend together seeing each other and I'm glad Dru's parents made it happen. Idaho is a beautiful place and I'm glad we have so much to explore.