Gracie's first Mariners Game

Last week Bryant had a break from school. We played all week! It was so fun. On Friday we headed to Seattle for a Mariners Game! Most of you know that we are baseball fans, and Bryant is the Mariners #1 fan! He's been looking forward to taking Gracie to a game since she was born! We had a cute little Mariners outfit for her and everything!

We got to the game (and even found Free parking!). There was 20,000 other people there and Gracie looked like a deer in the headlights watching all the people. We found our seats, and she was doing pretty good until everyone started cheering. Of course when 20,000+ people all clap and yell at the same time it gets pretty loud. Well, it was just a bit more than Gracie could handle. I think she was totally overstimulated by everything as well. So, unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of the game. We found a nice little sitting area that we hung out in while Bryant watched the game (Bry did offer to take Gracie so I could see some of the game however!) We did get a few cute pictures when Gracie was happy! It was a fun trip none the less! Next time we are going to find some earplugs for her!

Bryant and Gracie outside of Safeco Field

Notice the cute little hat and shirt!

Before Gracie had her meltdown! I love her

crazy hair in this picture!

A Few "Great" Men....Happy Father's Day!

It's Father's Day! I can't let the day go by without paying tribute to a few special Dad's in our lives!

First to my own Dad, I love you so much! Thank you so much for all your support, encouragement and sacrifice you've given to me over the past 28 years! I feel so blessed to have grown up with such a selfless, loving and righteous father....something many girls go without in this life. And now, especially over this past year thanks for being such a great Grandpa to my own little girl. I am so grateful that Gracie has such a great example to always look up to and learn from!

To Dave, how can I ever express my gratitude for raising such a great son! I am so grateful for the values, work ethic, sacrifice and love you instilled in Bryant. He is a great man and I know, like me, he had a great example in his life to follow. And of course, thank you as well for being such a great grandpa to Gracie. She is so very lucky to have such wonderful men in her life who love her!

And of course to my sweet husband Bryant. I love you so much! I am so proud of you. Gracie is one of the luckiest girls in the world to have you as her daddy! Thank you so much for always being willing to help me out when you can. It is so fun to watch you and Gracie play together, to see her get so excited when you get home everyday, to watch her give you random kisses, to see you comfort her so tenderly when she needs something. Gracie is truly a blessed little girl to have such a patient, kind and loving daddy. We love you so much! Thanks for all you do for both of us!

I hope you three special Dad's, and all you Dad's out there have a very special Father's Day!

Lake Pend Oreille

After the Cataldo Mission, we headed over to Lake Pend Oreille and Farragut State Park. It was also BEAUTIFUL! We found a nice little grassy area first and had a picnic lunch. We then explored some of the Park and checked out the Lake. We learned that Lake Pend Oreille is the 5th deepest lake in the U.S. and in fact Farragut State Park used to be a Naval Training Base back in WWII because the Lake is so deep. There are tons of camp grounds and walking trails in the Park and it surrounds the southern park of Lake Pend Oreille. It was so much fun! It was really fun taking Gracie as well. Even though she will not remember this trip, I hope as she grows up she will gain an appreciation of the wonderful history, culture and beauty we have around us!

A view of a small part of Lake Pend Oreille.

Isn't it beautiful?

I was brave and took my shoes off to get in the

lake for a minute. I'm not gonna lie....It was

FREEZING!

But, it was no sweat for Bryant....

so he says!

A view of the beautiful scenery. This was right

by where we ate lunch. The mountains in the

background were breath taking!

We found a little swing set and decided to

take Gracie on it for a minute. She LOVES

to swing at the park! She was waving her arms

up and down in excitement in the picture!

The Cataldo Mission

So yesterday we decided to take advantage of Bryant's break from school and we took a little day trip.

First we went to the Cataldo Mission. It's about an hour away from our apartment and a really pretty drive. It's the oldest building in Idaho. It was built in 1850 by Jesuit Catholics and the Coeur D'Alene people. I LOVE going to places like this. The history, craftmanship and details of these old building always intrigue me. They built the Mission with really primative tools, but still managed to build a dome type arch which was similar to the architecture of church type buildings in Europe at the time. Anyway, if you want to learn more about it, you should google it....I doubt anyone really wants a history lesson here!

The old bell. They didn't have a bell

tower on the Mission so they had to

have a separate place for it.

This is one of the original robes used. If you

look closely, you can see the hay or straw

they used showing through the plaster on

the walls.

Gracie and I at the confessional.

A view over Steamboat Landing.

This is a view of inside the building. We're

pretty sure even the floor is original because we

could smell the wood! The Arch is really amazing!

Gracie and I on one of the old pews!

This is a view of the outside of the building.

I think it is just beautiful!

We Survived the First Year of Grad School!!!

Yeah, we did it! We all survived Bryant's first year of school! This last year has been interesting. It's been full of excitement, new adventures (some good, some a little harder!), stress, I'm not going to lie, it's been a bit overwhelming at times, but it's also been full of happiness, growth and gratitude for us.

Bryant took his last final of the quarter on Thursday. He did great this quarter, and he even had a bit more time to spend with Gracie and I the past few months. This has been an adventure for all of us, but Bryant is enjoying the things he's learned and I'm so glad he choose a profession he will enjoy for his career!

I've reflected a bit on what the past year has been like. Actually, it's only been about 10 months. We had our first baby, we moved, Bryant started a very stressful and demanding school schedule, and I went from being the "sugar mama" working full time to being a stay at home mom. There have been times I have felt like a single parent because Bryant was on campus 16 hours a day or more and times I'm sure that he felt this might not be worth all the stress. But now that this first year is behind us, I'm so grateful for what we've learned. We have learned that we can live on practically nothing without feeling deprived, I've relearned that when life gets a little unbearable, I really am never alone, we've come to appreciate the few moments we get to spend together, just the three...sometimes just the two of us, we've learned that we are still madly in love with each other even after 4 1/2 years, and we've definitely learned that we have a lot of blessings to be grateful for!

When this is all over with, I'm sure we will look back and cherish this time in our lives. We love you Bryant and I am so proud of you!

Funny Girl!

I had to share this picture with everyone because it makes me laugh every time I see it! Gracie has discovered that her mouth can hold things that she wants when she needs both of her hands for something else.  The other day she was playing with the tape measure (just one of the soft cheap ones) and decided she needed to crawl somewhere so she put one end of it in her mouth so she wouldn't have to put it down.  It was so funny watching it trail behind her! This is the best picture I could get of her holding something in her mouth.  She needed both hands to get pull herself up. She looks like a little puppy! I love it! I hope you enjoy as much as I do! 

Friendship Park

This is the park closest to our house.  We go a few days a week at least. Usually it's just Gracie and I, but on Sunday's we like to go together.  It's just a regular park, not as fancy as the other ones I posted about, but it's only a 5 minute walk from our apartment, and Gracie LOVES the swing! Here are more pictures for you all to enjoy!

Riverfront Park

Riverfront Park is one of our favorite places to go! We love parks, and we especially love that there are lots of options for us here in Spokane! Riverfront Park was built from what we understand for the world fair that came here back in the 80's.  It has a little splash park area that is super fancy, lots of running and bike trails, a beautiful 100  year old carousel, and a great view of the falls.  I love Idaho, but the "Idaho Falls" are pathetic compared to the Spokane Falls! Anyway, we went to have lunch with Bryant last week and since he was done for the day we decided to have a picnic at Riverfront Park.  It's only a few blocks away from where Bry goes to school. Here are just a few shots of this park.  

Manito Park

Spokane has TONS of parks.  Every time you turn another corner it seems there is a new park, which we love....especially since the weather has finally turned summery! Manito Park is a little different than just a regular park.  It has a special duck pond, a Japanese flower garden, a rose garden, a lilac garden, walking paths, etc, etc.  I guess it was donated to the city back in like 1904 or something like that with the condition that it would ALWAYS be a public park.  Having worked for the city in Rexburg, I can only imagine how much this particular park costs to maintain each year with the different flowers and maintenance.  We went up for a couple hours a few days ago to check it out.  We only got to see a few things, and a lot of the flowers aren't in bloom yet, but we LOVED it! We determined that we could easily spend an entire day there.  Best of all, it's FREE! Here are just a few pictures that I took.  We only took a few because it was getting late for Gracie and we decided we are definitely going back as soon as Bryant finishes finals next week!

This is the Duncan Garden.  It's not in bloom yet, but 

by the picture you can see it's going to be really beautiful!

Bryant and Gracie in the Lilac garden.  The Lilacs

are almost done for the season.  The bush they are 

standing by actually has White lilacs.  They were 

beautiful!

Peek-a-boo

Gracie LOVES to play peek a boo.  She has gotten quite good at it the past few months! Anyway, I took this video of her playing peek a boo with her daddy a few weeks ago, I just have been lazy about updating the blog the past few weeks! It's so cute though, I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I do!