McCall Winter Festival

In the five years that we have lived in Boise, we had never gone up to McCall for the annual Winter Carnival.  The Winter Carnival is a yearly event that kicks off with a parade, and then for two weeks is a showcase of ice sculptures (made from artists around the country), a craft fair, and other winter activities.  This year we decided to take a day and go up with a bunch of friends.  It was a party!  The weather wasn't exactly ideal with rain and then heavy snow, but we made the best out of it anyways! 

 

 

 Austin with friends, Mason and Harper.

 



Lauren and I

The parade was interesting, to say the least.  A lot of characters, that's for sure!

 



McCall downtown.  Such a pretty town on the lake.

 



The boys loved the different ice sculptures.  AMAZING!

 



Cute friends

This ice sculpture was a couch with a "ice TV" where you could play XBox!  How cool is that?!

After walking around, watching the parade, and eating lunch, we went sledding.  It was CRAZY, but so much fun!

 



 

I love how you can see Tucker on this picture.  Everytime Eric would tube down the hill, Tucker would go tearing after him!  It was so funny.

 



It took a little coaxing to get a few friends to tube, but went down on a train and had a blast!

 



Funny dude

This little guy is always cracking me up!  His personality is so funny and spunky.  I had to capture some of the latest "Carson moments".  In the picture above, Carson wanted me to snuggle with him (a daily routine, I love it), but this particular day, he had major TOOTS and thought it was utterly hilarious that he kept tooting while we were snuggling.  He would hide under his blanket everytime he tooted.  I love how he thinks bodily functions are hysterical.  And he is never embarrassed by it.

One day we were going to watch a basketball game, and as we were leaving the house, Carson asked for a LIME for a snack!  Seriously, who is this kid?!?!  The whole basketbal game, he was sucking on his lime wedges and making the funniest faces.  Everyone around us was getting a kick out of it!

 



This moment is my favorite though.  One day at the gym, I was going to pick Carson up and found him in the corner of the gym like this--in full yoga meditation with the most serious expression on his face.  I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I am imagining myself in Disneyland again!"  Oh, I about died of laughter.

 

 

LOVE THIS KID.  

The Big 3-5!

35 was a big deal for me this year.  Normally, I would cringe at turning another year older (and closer to 'middle age'), but I fully embrace this aging business now.  To me, living to see another birthday is a gift and one that I don't take for granted anymore.

 

 

Almost 3 years ago when I was diagnosed with Stage 4, I remember my doctor at the time telling me I had less than a 10% survival rate past two years.  In my mind, I recall saying the words, "I might not see my 35th birthday" (which was the next milestone birthday) and seriously doubting that I would be around to see this birthday.  So, when I started treatment, I told my oncologist, "I just want you to get me to my 35th birthday!"

 

 

Well, here I am and in my opinion, healthier than I have ever been.  I feel SO extremely blessed to be alive and healthy today.  I don't know what the future holds (but neither do any of us), but I choose to live in the moment and not worry about the future or the unknown.  I'm grateful for that perspective that I could've only gained going through something like cancer....

 

 

I had a super fun, crazy weekend planned with birthday celebrations (and another to come)!  Some of my good girlfriends surprised me with dinner at Barbecoa--this hip, eclectic, swanky restaurant in downtown Boise and we had so much fun!  It didn't hurt that the food was incredible too (especially the quacamole and flan)!  The best part though was their gift to me which was this book that they made which contained letters/notes and pictures from many friends and family.

 

 

I was a mess reading those sweet letters!  Let's just say that my love bucket was spilling over!  I was so touched by the words my family and friends contributed and feel so blessed to have so many wonderful, loving people in my life who really, have made me who I am today!  I have always thought that you are who you surround yourself with.  And I truly feel lucky that I have been surrounded by the most amazing friends and family my entire life!  They truly strengthen and lift me  to be a better person.

 

 

Eric planned a romantic dinner the next night and we enjoyed a delicious meal and great conversation, just the two of us.  Eric is such a blessing in my life and always remains my "rock", the "yin" to my "yang", my eternal companion, best friend and confidiante, and solemate.  He really is the light of my life and sometimes I can't believe that he picked me to be his wife!  After dinner we went to a suprise party for another friend who shares my same birthday!  Debbie turned 60, which is also a big deal, so it was fun to celebrate her milestone as well!

 

 

Sunday was my actual birthday and we enjoyed church and a quiet day at home with the family.  The kids and Eric bought me a few gifts (all kitchen gadgets, which I love), made me dinner, and sang me happy birthday to cake and my favorite Graeters ice cream!

 

 

How lucky am I?!  35 is going to be a good year.  NOW BRING ON 40!!!

Snow days

This winter has been the coldest winter in Boise in several decades.  For over a month now, we have had snow on the ground (normally it melts after a couple of days) and temperatures near 0 degrees or in the low teens.  Even though it's been freezing and I'm sick of driving in the snow, it's been so beautiful!  Plus, we've had some snow days where school was cancelled, so we have taken advantage of that had some fun sledding, having snowball fights, and making snow angels!

 

 

 

 

Lego Lovers

 

As soon as we got home from the holiday travels, these boys finally got to play with their Christmas toys!  Austin got a pretty awesome lego set from Santa and got right to work to build it.  Carson has recently taken an interest in legos, like his brother and it was so cute to watch these two building together!  Austin showed Carson what to do and how to follow the directions, I was so proud!

 

Love that these two share so many similar interests, yet have unique interests and talents too.  Austin has so much patience with his brother in teaching him new things though, it's really great to see!

I Resolve in 2013

 

This year I'm going to make different "resolutions".  Usually my list is about organization, goals I want to accomplish, and high expections and hopes I have for myself and the upcoming year.

 

 

One thing cancer has taught me is that life doesn't always go as planned. In fact, most of the time it doesn't. Sure, it's important to have hopes and dreams, but something I'm trying to do better this year is not make so many goals. I want to get back to living in the moment, enjoying life to the fullest, giving myself a break (because I'm way too hard on myself), and spending more time with my family and loved ones.

New Years in UT

As if we didn't have enough adventures in CA over Christmas, we flew to UT after spending a week in CA, to spend New Years with Eric's family!  Unfortunately, we were only there 2 days, but we sure had fun!

 



 

We went to this fun indoor trampoline park and got lots of energy out!  Carson got a little bit "tipsy" from his rootbeer at Chili's afterwords, when he spilled it all over Mom's seat and lap!  It was quite funny, he kept saying, "I'm a little bit tipsy!" :)

 

 

At Grandpa Mac's on New Years Day we went sledding!  Grandpa has some awesome sledding hills right in his yard!  WAHOOO!

 

 

While watching football games and eating traditional omeletes (a McEvoy New Years tradition), we played a mean game of Rollick (reverse charades).  It was pretty hysterical!

 

 

The view from Grandpa's front door.  Quite breathtaking!!