The Brotherhood of Beef BBQ

Joseph is the Elder's Quorum President and has been since we moved to Post Falls. It is a tradition in this ward to have a Brotherhood of Beef BBQ every summer. The elder's quorum uses almost all of their budget for a nice ribs, steak, and shrimp bbq. So on the last Saturday in August we had a blow out bbq over 60 people showed up, and it was a really nice night with everyone. There was great company, great food, and great weather. Way to plan a good time Joe!!

A Day with Aunt Angie

Tyler, Quinn, and Belle all came over for a Day with Aunt Angie. We made chocolate Halloween suckers and homemade apple juice. After we were done the kids jammed on the ukulele and electric piano. Then we finished by playing some fun game. We really enjoyed each other and Brandi had a quite house with Evan and Grace sleeping, which I think she enjoyed.

Making apple cider

We had a family home evening with Eric and Brandi and their family and we went to one of Eric's co-worker's house. They live out in the country down around Fernan lake. They have some land out there and a big orchard. So we got 4 grocery bags full of apples. So we pulled out our juicer, and we made homemade apple cider. It was so tasty. You have to stir the cider before you drink it, because the contents seperate. But boy is it good. We've also made apple cobbler, which is yummy too. I love fruit. Brandi is planning on making yummy homemade apple sauce with her's.

YW campout

Brynne Erickson and I went to on a campout with the YW up to Beauty Creek which is just 15 min. away from where we live. Northern Idaho is truly so beautiful. We met at the church at 4:00 and pack up. We got to the campsite and picked out our site and then set up camp. Then we roasted hotdogs, and talked. When it got dark we did our spiritual activity when was a simulation of the tree of life and following to the spirit in your life. When had the girls hold hand, blind folded, and told them they could not talk (this was symbolic of being together in the pre-mortal life). Then we broke their hands and they stood all alone (symbolic of being born and walking by faith), we wispered in their ears to follow the still small voice. Then a loud tin can with rock shook every few minutes leading the girls into bushes and tents (symbolic of satan leading us to no where, he's loud and persuasive). In the back ground there was a stick, later became a big rock that was pounding on a tree, it was quiet but consistant (symbolic of the holy ghost). They had to figure out that they needed to follow the small sound.

Healthy Eating

I love to eat healthy. When I went to Costa Rica I learned how to make a Costa Rican salad. My host family made a salad like this almost at every meal. It always had shredded carrots in the middle, followed by different veggies around the carrots. The dressing was fresh squeezed limes and salt, and it tasted so good. A great salad and so healthy. Another favorite was fruit, mixed up in the blender, like a 1/4 of a catolope just blended up, and ready to drink. Costa Rican's eat so well.

We went 4 wheeling, had a huge bon fire and roasted hot dogs. We listened to Enya from inside the cabin at night as we looked over the lake with the the great view that we had. We had so much fun just being together and enjoying one another. Joseph is truly my best friend.

Time at the Cabin

I have a co-worker that owns a cabin on the Pond Oreille and he said we could go up there and use it whenever they weren't so we did. We went swimming, canoeing, fishing...

Driving back from Utah we found a small tourist town called Deer Park. They had a bunch of historical museums one being a old car museum and an old jail. We had a lot of fun picking out our favorite cars. In the jail, I read out loud the self guided tour, it was realy interesting seeing how the prisioners lived.

Nicolay Brothers in hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

David and Loralee's wedding

David and Loralee's wedding they tied the knot. We are so excited that Loralee and David got married. It was a really fun seeing them get married and enjoying the family. I had the privilege of staying with the bride to be before the wedding for a couple of nights while Joe stayed with his brother and dad at a hotel. Loralee and I had a good time as we talked about her coming events. The first night I got there she pulled out her dress and said the seamstress (her friend) had her dress for weeks trying to find time to alter it for Loralee, but just in the end ran out of time so she gave her dress to another seamstress that to her knowledge was a professional, but with all the bead work and such that was on the dress the seamstress really did not do a good job. So two days before the wedding we were in Loralee's room wondering what we could do with this dress that just hung on her body. We pulled out a few safety pins and hid the pins under her white jacket that she planned to wear at the wedding. We were able to form the dress better to her body and it looked ten times better and showed off her amazing waist. She said I lost ten pounds and I want to be able to show it. And that she did. She looked amazing on her wedding day.

4th of July we had a BBQ with mom and dad and Jason. Then we went to a concert in Liberty Lake and ended with fireworks on Liberty Lake.

family camping

We had a Stoker family get together up at a small lake here in Idaho. We slept in a TP and went fishing, the kids caught a few fish. It was a lot of fun being with the family.