NurvicFamily

January 2012

2012-01-30T21:27:00.000-08:00

A running start to the new year that didn't seem to involve a great variety of photos. But I will say I love the quality much more than ever before...all because Chris got me a new camera:) Guess I really should learn how to use it!

We have seen lots of basketball this month. I guess I will be posting many of those photos for all to enjoy. Abby and Jessica both are knee deep in the sport.

Jessica playing a game. I just loved the swirling pony tails in the picture! She is #13.

Arms up and ready to rebound.

Height isn't a strength for Jessica in basketball these days.

A team game talk.

More swirling hair. Abby in one of her middle school games.

Notice Chris in the background watching them play?

I will say happily that the single greatest event in January was the rapid birth of Noah Joseph Bliesner. He arrived January 20 in a speedy delivery. Missy was at the hospital about 30 minutes when he arrived! Yikes! I hear she set the staff on edge when she rolled in!

I love the effect on this one. What a beautiful little guy!

The proud big brother, Brad.

The Bliesner family.

The color version of little Noah.

I love to see these next photos of Abby and Jessica holding Noah. They just can't get enough time and contact. He's going to be one very loved little guy.

Jessica looks on him with love. What a beautiful thing to witness!

One of my favorites. There is so much love in Abby's touch for Noah.

I'm sure she'll never get enough holding time!

December 2011

2011-12-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

December rolled quickly in and involved all of the sporting activies we'd attended so far in the year. Seems like we are constantly running someone to/from a practice or watching a game. I'll try to get some of Jessica playing basketball when it resumes in January. Then we'll be watching Abby do that sport too. I am having issues with blurry photos. It's driving me nuts!

A big event for Jessica (and Abby) was her first orchestra concert at Evergreen Middle School. Jessica has followed her sister into the strings program and is learning to play the viola. She seems to be doing a great job of making time to practice (along with the piano they continue). And she looked so cute out there playing along.

Abby is in her 3rd year playing the viola and we were amazed to realize how much they had improved in their sound. She seems to love the daily classes at EMS and speaks highly of Mr. Hocutt, her teacher.

The interesting thing about this night was the worried question from Abby when I picked her up from volleyball practice. She wondered about the good humor of her daddy to play along that night....

Mr. Hocutt teaches Chris to hold the violin.

The reason why became very clear as Mr. Hocutt surprised Chris by calling him down to the front. He ended up being given a "solo" during a certain song. This was a result of the lunch visit Chris made to Abby in June. He was a GREAT sport and played along wonderfully! (I apologize for some of the photo quality...)

And how to strum....

And then he sets him loose.

These last two photos are my favorites (and taken by a friend, as mine were a bit blurry from my laughter and the camera...). Doesn't he look like the best sport and Daddy?

Abby and Lily make cookies for Missy.

Jessica displays her annual gingerbread house. She was quite proud of her efforts. I was impressed by the attention to detail both girls displayed in creating them.

Christmas morning Chris surprised me with a new camera that I have been wanting for what seems like forever. We had some fun playing with it over a few days.

Abby and Jessica Christmas morning with the mess on the floor in front of them.

My mom, Linda, on Christmas morning.

For Dinner on Christmas day we went out to The Comer family house in Coeur d'Alene, ID. An old tradition we'd missed for several years. The following photos are from that visit.

Shawn and Lily are visiting Mariah in the barn. From being terrified before to trying to kiss her, Lily made a lot of progress!

Adam, Craig, Jessica and Stephen.

Jessica, Abby and a very pregnant Missy.

The group pile on the chair. Chris, me, Lily, Craig, Adam and Abby.

Stephen joins the pile and Lily climbs up to jump...or fall..as the case may be. We need to get that child to learn to move her feet! We tried to get her to jump to us and she just did the old "Nestea Plunge" onto our knees.

Lily with Grandma Sue

A group shot. Shawn, Uncle Larry, Aunt Candy, Linda and Chuck are the additions in this one.

November 2011

2011-12-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

November started off with another death in the family. Our Aunt Helen passed away after a long struggle with the aftereffects of some strokes. My brother, Mike, made his way down from Alaska for a trip to the Spokane Indian reservation for the funeral. One more chance to see family that we don't often see. The thought spoken often was that we really need to find another occasion to get together! Very true!

This was just a funny moment to me of Abby and Mike battling over a desert. We were thrilled to have Indian fry bread and Elk jerkey while we were there.

Jessica snuggled on the couch with Jaeger on top of her. That is another of the typical places to find our dogs. They love to invade our space!

Abby is ready to play the game of volleyball.

Slightly blurry, but I was excited to see the overhand serve come back. They weren't allowed to do it for much of the season. Some crazy reason that I found annoying.

An annual tradition now is a trip to the Disney on Ice show as it lands in Spokane. I am not sure if the girls will ever get to be too old to want to attend. This year the theme was Toy Story 3 and we went with some friends. My favorites were the martians and I had to take a photo! Even if it's not the best.

October 2011

2011-12-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

October came blazing in for our house. Abby was knee deep in softball and Jessica was into her first season of volleyball. I will admit that these both are the easiest for me to watch, as I played both when I was young, and even as an adult.

There were some frustrations that came for Abby in the middle school softball arena, but I must say that I am very proud of the way that she handled herself throughout it all. She appeared to have fun playing and that is the most important thing!

Jessica joined the YMCA volleyball league for 5th/6th grade at the shoving of her mother:) She indicated a lack of excitement right up until the first night's practice ended. Then she stated "Volleyball is my favorite sport!" It was really fun to watch her play. She was lucky to land on the same team (same coach) that Abby had played on and really seemed to grow as a player. Most of the time she had a big smile on her face!

The team is ready to play.

Jessica can actually leap as she serves. I loved this photo!

Jessica had a cute costume for Halloween this year. Little Bo Peep. I really think the dogs should have been her sheep. We had a low key kind of night, as compared to previous years.

This is a typical moment in the lives of our dogs. Jaeger and Meadow seem to constantly be wresting and chewing on each other.

September 2011

2011-12-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

September brought a new adventure for me at school and a new school year for the girls too. I am now the Integrated Kindergarten teacher at Chester Elementary. Integrated means it's a blend of general and special education students and has 2 teachers and 3 classroom aides as part of the program.

We took the girls out to the Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, WA to see some of the Pow-wow that happens every Labor Day weekend. They loved it and are looking forward to going back for more to experience in coming years.

This is Abby with 2 of her cousins, Kiah and Anya. They are enjoying the joy of Indian tacos. We love those things!

Jessica opted for something else to eat...and ended up attacking Daddy's BBQ food. Amazing how food impacts her disposition!

We were able to stay long enough to enjoy watching the Grand Entry of the dancing. Those native outfits are amazing. So much work goes into them. We were not able to stay for much because Chris wanted to make tracks for town before it was really late.

We spent a day at the Diamond Lake cabin of our friends, the Melville family. It was a great way to end the long weekend and enjoy some sun. The girls all loved playing in the water.

Abby is a 7th grade student at Evergreen and Jessica is now 5th at Adams. So amazing how they are growing up to be individuals that make us proud all the time.

Jessica had her 10th birthday party on the weekend after school started, as the real day was the first day of class. She was quite happy with the ice cream cake she picked out.

August 2011

2011-12-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

August brought the annual trips to Lutherhaven for the girls. They greatly enjoy their time there and this year was no exception. We were able to send my nephew, Joe, out there again this year. He hadn't been able to go for several years, and I think he really enjoyed it.

We headed up to Silverwood when my brother, Mike, came down to get Joe. It's always fun, but was crazy busy there, as always.

We headed to Seaside, Oregon in August, renting a house with our sister, Missy, her husband Shawn, and their family, and our friends, Kris & Heidi .

Chris and I on the beach one evening.

Chris, Abby and Jessica standing outside the Tillamook Cheese factory. A great place to eat...food and ice cream!

This was called the octopus tree or something like that. It was a beautiful spot near some great scenery.

Here's the scenery! The Oregon coast is an amazingly beautiful place!

Abby and her cousin, Brad, seemed to be goofing around a lot on the trip. He does a great job of picking on her...like she doesn't do any herself!

Abby and Jessica sitting in an old Jeep at Fort Stevens. It was a great place to explore.

There was a lot of climbing around done throughout all of the old structures. The kids had great fun racing around and trying to scare each other.

The kids all braved the water while we hung out on the beach. You can see the vehicles in the background. That water was pretty cold and the wind blew hard most of the day. Not a great combo for sunbathing. It was sure beautiful though.

This is how Chris and Kris managed to avoid some of the wind blowing on the beach. The sun was beautiful.

Abby, Brad and Nick wanted to be buried in the sand, so they became the Three Heads. At least it got them out of the wind.

Digging holes seemed to be the most fun to be had while we were out on the beach. Unless you were trying to fly away in the wind:) The bigger the hole, the better.

Our niece, Lily, had fun digging in the sand for a while. Jessica loved trying to help.

This is the main structure at Fort Clatsup (or Fort Ketchup if you listen to Shawn). There were some neat things to see while we visited some of the Lewis and Clark history.

Hard to believe, but we managed to wait until our last night to go have a bonfire on the beach. It was really dark out and we tripped on everything we could on our way to a place on the beach. We did get lucky and took over the fire of a group leaving. I drove everyone nuts with the flash of my camera. Kyra, Chris, Missy and Lily enjoy the warmth.

Jessica and Annika enjoy some smores.

Abby works on making some smores while Jacob watches and Shawn loads Heidi up with supplies.

At the end of August I took the girls for some back to school pedicures and enjoyed some girlie time. Here is Abby, Brooklyn, Taylor and Jessica. Gotta love the chairs!

Chris and I took a trip to Canada with our friends, Kris and Heidi. We went to the Fairmont Hot Springs and tried to relax. The boys golfed 2 days and the girls hit the spa for a bit. We also had to evacuate the resort for a time while the fire department investigated for nasty fumes. Heidi and I enjoyed watching the wide array of people wandering the grounds.

One thing that I will never tire of seeing are the beautiful mountains of Canada. Breathtaking!

July 2011

2011-12-13T18:20:00.000-08:00

July began with us already on our annual trip to the Blackfoot river in Montana. It's always nice to spend time with friends we don't see very often. There were some rides on the 4 wheelers and, of course, the rafting.

The raft in the photo is now hanging from the ceiling of our garage, as we became the proud owners of it this year. Hopefully we'll be able to put it to some great use in the coming years!

Our kitchen is always on the side of the river and has a beautiful view in the morning! It's a great place to relax.

We have enjoyed taking the kids to visit Garnet, Montana a few times over the years. It's a ghost town that is fun to explore, even when you have to avoid the cattle on the road up!

Jessica continued with softball upon our return to Spokane and was awarded the "Most Improved" trophy by her coaches. She was very proud.

My nephew, Joe, from Alaska, came to Spokane with a friend, Griffin. They were headed to Gonzaga basketball camp. While here we tried to explore a few local sights. Riverfront park and the Carousel are always fun.

Sky High is a great facility in Spokane that is all trampolines. It's a fabulous place to take the kids to burn some energy. This photo is of the dodgeball game that continually goes on. That is Griffin, Joe and Abby in the photo.

Jessica came to me one day complaining that Meadow had eaten her money. This is what I found...and couldn't help but laugh. Dang dog will eat anything. At least we were able to exchange it at the bank for a new one!

Abby has a great friend, Brooklynn, who becomes an extra child in our home for many summer days. She and Abby both enjoyed a trip in the convertible of a friend of ours. They are looking way too grown up here!

June 2011

2011-06-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

June has to be one of the coldest on record here is Spokane. We ended the year with rain and chilly wind. I was working at a frantic pace, trying to close out the year at school, say goodbye to my students, and get the entire place packed up for the big move this summer to Chester. An emotional ride for sure! Chris has continued to work hard for Thrivent, and Abby and Jessica worked to end the year on a positive note. At times it seemed we all just spun around each other, trying to keep up with the pace and not chew each other up in times of stress.

A highlight in the last week of school was something that I have photographic evidence of, but was unable to see first hand. Chris and our friend, Kris, decided to visit our daughters during their lunch at Evergreen Middle school. They caused a stir and enjoyed the experience very much. I'm not certain the same can be said for the girls, Abby and Kyra.

Please be sure to note the stylish outfits the dads are sporting and the discomfort of Abby and Kyra as they stand before the lunchroom for a photo!

I would imagine I'll have more to add as we finish out the month of June. Life is never dull around here!

May 2011

2011-06-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

May pretty much passed in a blur around here. We became members of a brand new church in the valley, Advent Lutheran Church, after finishing months of work with our former church. We had an open gathering at our home after the vote (that caused a lot of stress for many). It was a nice time to relax and enjoy thinking about what lies ahead.

We were able to enjoy the heavy, fast running water of the Spokane river and the falls. It was an amazing sound of rushing water and it did a fabulous job of spraying those walking across the bridge we stood on.

It was a pretty uneventful month, although we had a fabulous brunch prepared on Mother's Day by my husband and those of my dear friend, Heidi, and sister-in-law, Michelle. A big surprise and very nicely done. I would post a photo, but I don't have one:)

In my school we became aware that one of the programs I have been part of was being moved out of our building. I found out at month's end that I was the teacher being moved to another program in another building in our school district. A big surprise and very saddening, but part of a bigger plan that I'm working hard to follow with grace and goodwill! I will be the new Integrated Kindergarten teacher at Chester Elementary School in the fall. A new adventure, for sure!

April 2011

2011-06-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

April was much more eventful than March! Here is Paradise Village Beach Resort in Nueva Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico.

We started off with a trip to Mexico with Grandma Linda. Another Spring Break trip to surprise the girls, although they did find out about a week ahead so that they could pack for themselves. We decided a bit of time to lie on the beach was a fabulous idea. No big plans were made for anything except reading in the sun, playing in the pools, building sand castles and boogie boarding.

This is the first sunset we saw when we got to Paradise Village. It was a huge sigh of contentment!

One of the first things to do on the beach is say "Yes" to one of the ladies that braid hair. Abby and Jess always want it, but don't always enjoy the process.

The girls were quick to hit the boogie boards on our first beach day...and many after that!

Abby and Jessica head out into the water with their boards.

Jessica spent a morning building a sweet little sand castle.

A surprise for the girls was a trip to a local waterpark that has a dolphin swimming program. All four of us took part and had a great time. Jess was a bit scared, but finally did the board ride (the two dolphins push the bottoms of your feet to send you quickly across the pool) which was more difficult than holding the belly fins.

The waterpark was really cool, although some of the slides were soooo fast. I have never been on any like that here in the states. It felt like we had the run of the place too, almost no one else was there.

These last 2 photos are just Abby and Jessica playing at the resort pool. They have the coolest alligator slides.

Jess can levitate!

April also brought Thrivent Club. Chris and I headed to Dallas to spend the week at the Gaylord Texan. That is one amazing hotel. We saw some fabulous speakers, toured the JFK assassination site and dressed up for some fancy dinners.

This was the view from our room's inside balcony. I will also insert a video clip that gives the full picture. Amazing!

This is one of the evening events. They did an amazing job of reinventing the place each night, and it was massive in size!

The Grassy Knoll near where Kennedy was shot. Much smaller than we expected it to be.

The most formal night. Chris had to rent a tux and looked pretty awesome in it:)

On our return home we arrived just before Easter weekend. It was a somber one for us, as we got a late night phone call Saturday night that Uncle David had unexpectedly passed away. It was devastating news to all of us and we made plans to head west to be with family and say goodbye to a wonderful man. He will be forever missed!

This is one of my favorites, a shot of David, Megan and Jessica on the beach in Gig Harbor on one of our trips over in the years past.

While in Gig Harbor we reconnected with lots of family that we hadn't seen in a long while. The girls had the opportunity to make connections that they wouldn't have had otherwise. How sad that it takes an occasion like that to get all of us together.

Jamie and Abby hang out on the same beach we'd visited with Dave 3 years before.

Abby, Jamie and Jordan take a spin!

A little family shot on the ferry to Seattle.

A rare shot of Chris and I.

A loving shot of Paul and Chris.

My family and that of my brother Mike.

April was a busy month for traveling, not all for the best of reasons. It ended on a very sad note for us, but I will be forever grateful that God chose to share David with us for a time.

March 2011

2011-06-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

March was a month that passed in a blur. As I go through photos it seems that I didn't document much. These are a couple from a Thrivent Hockey Night with the Spokane Chiefs. They had a kids kneeling hockey set-up that Jessica and our friend Kyra had fun with. They were moving pretty fast and my phone took some blurry shots1 Ah, well. You get the idea.

The kids had fun with this.

A highlight for most of the friends around us was the opening of a Five Guys burgers place near our home. I took the girls there one night after one of our many activities and let them sample. You have limited choices of burgers and fries, but get to eat all the shelled peanuts you want as you wait.

It won't be a regular stop for us, but provided a good meal when it was needed:)

February 2011

2011-03-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

February kept the year going strong. Basketball was done and we (I) continued to run the girls to youth group, girl scouts, intramural sports and church.

Our snow was at a low again this year, with a few storms that didn't stick around long. We had a snow day built into our school calendar that didn't get used, so it became a 4 day weekend when combined with President's day. I took the girls to tube for a couple of hours at Silver Mountain, then we headed down to enjoy the water park for the afternoon. Our friends, Shana and Blake joined us for the day, along with Abby's friend, Abby.
Blake and Jessica are waiting to take a ride. We were a bit bummed that we had to go solo here at Silver. When we went to Mt. Spokane they let us join together and head down with about 8 tubes at a time.

Abby and Abby are riding the magic carpet back up the hill.

Shana, Blake and Jess wait in line.

When we got to the water park, Blake was able to take a turn at the wave rider. He did a pretty great job.

We must have some the most spoiled dogs around. They don't hesitate to climb up on top of us if we happend to be in their way, as they are headed to lie down on the couch. Generally we find it to be pretty funny and acceptable. Guess you could say we are a very dog friendly home:)

Jessica's Girl Scout troop took a tour of KHQ, one of our local television studios. They were able to ask lots of questions and meet one of the weathermen, Bill Kelly. They played with the green screen and had a photo behind the news desk with Bill. Abby was able to tag along for the trip.

The last event in February was supposed to be the Adams Science Fair. A late winter snow storm wiped that day out and we had a snow day. (Seemed very ironic that it came less than a week after we burned the snow day that went unused!)

Jessica has been studying the body systems in 4th grade and made a display of some of what she's learned. She also created clay models of many of the internal organs to display. She did a great job and worked hard on her project.

More of January 2011

2011-03-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

January took off at a run for us again! We started off with a project for Jessica and Chris to finish up and get back to school. Her class had been studying the Oregon Trail and they had to complete a project. It turned out wonderfully and Jess was quite proud.

She sewed bags from fabric and insisted on filling them with real flour, sugar and beans. It all looked great and was even put on display during CV Days at the Mall in February. (Can you tell I'm delayed in posting?

Basketball ran through the month of January for both of the girls. Chris helped to coach Abby's team again, alongside our friend Kris. The team was nearly all the same girls as last year and they showed amazing growth. It was fun to watch them play.

Jessica made the leap into Y ball this year and seemed to enjoy the experience, although it wasn't much of a winning season for them. We noticed that she played more aggressively when she practiced with Abby's team than we saw her play with her own peers. It was crazy.

Jess is the center girl in black. I think it will be fun to watch them continue to play basketball in the coming years, although it wasn't one of my sports in school. I am still trying to figure out the rules.

New Year's 2011 The Polar Bear Plunge!

2011-01-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

We answered the crazy call of our neighbor and friend, Donna. She was looking for folks nutty enough to jump in a very cold lake from some very cold, snowy, beach. We said "Yes!" and met up with our friends from the hood to partake in the Polar Bear Plunge in Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. There were 19 of us together in a group, amid a few hundred on the beach! I believe the air temp was around 10 degrees and the water was about 35. Seriously cold!

The crowd counted down and we ran for the water!

We had Chris calling us crazy people right up until he peeled down to his swim trunks and he joined the crowd. Abby and Jessica jumped in too! Not everyone went head under, but Chris and I did:) (along with a few others!)

You may notice that I had a bit of difficulty with my suit. It malfunctioned and tried to drop off as I was exiting the water. Luckily I made a quick grab and was frantically trying to re-hook it as I ran for the beach.

Here are a few family shots from after the event! It was a quick experience...wonder why?

Jess informed us that she would not repeat the experience, and Chris told her it was our new annual family thing!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

May you enjoy a blessed Christmas with your family and friends this year. We wish you all the joy that Christ can bring and that you are fully immersed in it!

I have spent the past couple of days trying to update from the past year. I haven't figured out how to shuffle the pages, so they will be sitting backwards from here. You can use the links on the side to go from Jan to Dec, but it may just be easier to work backward!

With lots of love from all of us~Chris, Kim, Abigail & Jessica. Along with Jaeger, Meadow and Tessa!

December 2010

2010-12-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

December has been a blur of trying to get everything done and make it to all of the scheduled and unscheduled activities. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Here is a small sample of the first half...

During the dental check ups Abby needed to use my netbook to revise a paper she was doing for school. As I watched her set up at the small table there I found myself chuckling and had to take a photo. I'm struck so often these days with how old they are getting. This seemed to be a great blend of old task with young setting:)

Miss Meadow was worn out from everything and had to take a rest on our bed. Spoiled dogs!

We had an annual trip to see Santa on the Coeur d'Alene lights boat cruise. It was quite rainy this year, but still fun. The kids were thrilled to hear their names mentioned by Santa on the good list. Chris and I may have some concerns about that, but...it is what it is:)

The staff I work with at Ponderosa chose to do a chartered bus trip to Leavenworth for our Christmas party this year. It was entertaining. Some photos are not suitable for sharing here, but we had great fun. It snowed a lot and was beautiful. Here is a shot of the center of town.

On one recent early morning, after we'd gotten off for a break from school, I headed down to enjoy the tree. I had to take a photo of the dogs lying with me as I read my book.

I'm sure there will be more to add for December as the month closes out the year. I'll see if I can get better about updates here!

November 2010

2010-12-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

At the start of November we headed up to Greenbluff to "glean apples" for Second Harvest, through a program with Thrivent. We've done it for several years now and it's always a fun and productive time. It wasn't even cold or rainy this year:)

We also made the annual trip to see Disney on Ice with friends. The girls continue to love seeing it, even as they get older.

We had our group Thanksgiving once again, located at the community center at Good Samaritan in the Spokane Valley. (I somehow managed to get no photos. Oops!) That has been a several year tradition and has morphed into a gathering of family that choses to attend, mixed with friends from church that would like to gather together. Our group tends to hit about 30 and everyone takes part in bringing part of dinner. It's a fabulous time to enjoy everyone's company. Unfortunately, we may have seen the last of them up at Good Sam, as Mom has now moved to another home and will likely not have access to the facility any longer. Guess we'll have to see what next year brings!

October 2010

2010-12-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

October brought the wedding of Michelle and Shawn. It was a beautiful event that brought joy to us all. We are thrilled to know that she has a loving new circle of family that we all now share. God works wonders in our lives! Abby was an honorary maid of honor, as was Brad, Shawn's son (an honorary best man). (only honorary because they can't sign anything at that age).

Lily was adorable in her wagon ride and did well for the event.

Jessica was able to be a candle lighter with two of Shawn's nieces.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Bliesner!

Abby joined the orchestra class this year, a follow up to her strings experience as a 5th grade student. She plays the viola and is really improving. We get the joy of the concerts more regularly now:)

Halloween always bring a small crowd to our house. It's a great neighborhood to trick-or-treat in and we even got the fire pit out in the driveway for some heat this year. We had a fun time, once again!

September 2010

2010-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

September brought Jessica's 9th birthday party. She had a sleepover too, but with a twist. The big canvas wall tent was set up out back and we took out all the spare blankets in the house to cover the girls while they snuggled in.

We built them a fire in the pit and they roasted marshmallows and made smores.

Leaving the dogs to "protect" them seemed like a great idea...until 5 a.m. hit and they were wide awake and wanting to play. After we (I) brought the dogs in, a few more hours of sleep happened. Chris cooked up a camping breakfast on the patio with the big camping grill and everyone was happy, but tired!

The new school year began. Jessica now a 4th grade student at Adams and Abigail a 6th grade student at Evergreen. Both stay busy with all things they can get involved with...always. It's difficult to keep up most of the time.

Abby also began her 2nd year playing volleyball and totally loves the sport. That makes me happy, as it's a sport I got really involved with as a student myself. It just amazes me how intense the whole "club" thing has become. We haven't made the leap into that yet, and have told Abby that we'll consider the hefty fees if she demonstrates a personal drive to perform in the next year as she is able to play for a school team.

August 2010

2010-12-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

August was a busy month, but I apparently didn't take many photos.

We had random trips to several places around Spokane and the girls made a trip to Oak Harbor to keep Grandma Linda company for her 50th high school reunion and to visit relatives. They were able to see my great aunt Marie and then stayed over with Craig, Amy, Stephen and Adam.

There were trips to watch the Spokane Indians play baseball and more time down at Riverfront park (both while Abby was at Lutherhaven camp). The carousel is always fun.

July 2010

2010-12-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

We have a tradition of heading to the Blackfoot River north of Missoula, Montana every 4th of July. I love the peace of sitting by the river and the fun of hanging out with friends, both ones we see often and those we only see once a year or less. The girls love hunting for frogs, fishing and getting to go on 4 wheeler rides. We also seem to bring along several board games now and a round of Risk, Monopoly or Life passes the time nicely.

Rafting is great fun for everyone, and we all enjoy the experience.

Funny at the time, but a pain in retrospect...as we've seen the carry over here at home...Jaeger discovered he loves to dig. I really hope the urge fades someday soon.

Notice Miss Meadow getting covered in the background.

We also have been bringing supplies to complete camping pedicures. There is even this cute little assistant we have there! Lukas loves to scrub the toes:) It's entertaining to experience it all.

The trip always involves some time in the truck, traveling there and back. DVD players are a life saver (wish those had been around when I was a kid!). The potential disaster on the way home was a blown tire on our travel trailer on the east side of Lookout pass. Luckily the Peterson family was behind us and able to stop to help. Unfortunately the blown tire was on the driver's side, sitting right on the white line. Kirsten and I stood further down the highway trying to flag cars and trucks of all sizes to move over. It was a bit scary to have the guys lying on the road at the white line with traffic. I am still astounded by the number of idiot drivers who do not pay attention and caused a few more tense moments. Not an experience to repeat.

June 2010

2010-12-22T07:35:00.001-08:00

June brought the ending of the school year and some activities. (Can't ever end them all, you know!)

Their Girl Scout troop decided to have their end of year party at a local facility that has a petting zoo and horse riding possibilities. Here are some pics from then. Abby sat for a chicken standing on her head...gotta wonder about her sometimes! :) Jess took the more cuddly route.

They also took a spin on the horses. Abby was solo and Jess had some guidance.

June also brought the beginning of softball games. Jessica chose to rejoin a coach and team she'd played with before, although it's not her school one. They always provide great direction and she enjoys the experience.

Abigail had a completely new team this year and went into the season with some reservations from her experience thus far. The kicker was that her coach quit before the first game and a few parents had to step in and take over a tag team coaching gig. Chris got to spend many nights on the softball fields this year, with both of the girls' teams and his own guys one.

May 2010

2010-12-22T07:19:00.001-08:00

There is a cool park near our valley YMCA that was put in during the last couple years sometime. I took the girls to visit it for some outside time and got this cute photo of them sitting in a little chair there.

For Memorial Weekend we had the joy of hosting some of my best friends and part of their family. They were here to watch their oldest, Ben, run (speedy fast) at one of the big track meets for school/state. We found ways to entertain the kids during the weekend. I took the youngest of the bunch downtown to visit Riverfront Park. This is Abby, Jessica, Cece and Daniel.

We also headed up to "Cat Tales" so the kids could visit the animals there. It's a facility located north of Spokane that takes in and cares for big cats, along with a couple bears. Abby and Cece decided they wanted to feed a tiger, so they paid their money and took turns. Jessica was having none of that!

April 2010

2010-12-22T07:05:00.001-08:00

We returned from Las Vegas to Chris being sick...which spread to all of us. By a few weeks later we all got meds on the same day. Bronchial infection that was awful. Mine lasted the longest and I was sick until late June, when school was out. (Not that I'd wonder about the connection there...although our building is know to have the world's worst HVAC system...)

Amid all that...life goes on!

We quickly had Easter Sunday while we were still on spring break. The girls still enjoy hunting eggs out back.

We took in the "Walking With Dinosaurs" show once again in the Spokane Arena. They do amazing things with that show and the kids love it.

Our school district is still able to take part in an environmental education field trip for the 5th grade students. I was able to take a day off to join Abby's class as they went out to Liberty Lake County park to enjoy. The kids seemed to have a great time. I just hope funding (or lack of) still allows this program to continue another couple of years so that Jessica can enjoy it in the spring of 2012. Here's a pic of Abby taking part in some activity there...

March 2010

2010-12-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

On March 10 we were very sad to lose my grandma, Rosa. It was a tough loss for the family, especially all the kids, who had never experienced a loss like that before. Mike and the kids headed back to Washington and we had a running week of handling things with Grandma's funeral. We decided to cap the experience with a trip to Silver Mountain so the kids would have some fun memories to push aside the sadness. We were able to get the kids into a ski lesson and I took time to ski with my brother, Mike...something I hadn't done much of in recent years. It was nice to get out on the snow.

After the skiing we headed back down the gondola to stay in a condo and experience the water park there. It was incredible. The crowd was very light and we had a great time with the activities it contained.

Following the week of family we had another weekend with some Japanese students from Mukagawa Fort Wright in Spokane. Once again, we were able to hook up with a penpal of one of our girls and hosted them for a weekend. One event we took them to was at a local pottery shop that the girls loved to frequent. (It's no longer there:( )

After being postponed by the last couple of events, Abby finally got to have her birthday sleepover to celebrate turning 11. It was a noisy evening of girly fun.

At the end of the month my mom, Linda, decided she wanted to travel and we planned a surprise trip for the girls. They had talked about visiting the Grand Canyon and we got to work figuring it out. Mom did most of the work, but we kept the girls in the dark about the trip until I slipped up the day before we were to leave. But we did keep them confused until we boarded our final flight out of Salt Lake to Las Vegas. They were surprised.

We managed to squeeze A LOT into a few days. We toured the strip (from a kids perspective!) and enjoyed the benefits of Mandalay Bay and their beach set up.

We traveled out to Hoover Dam and took the full tour (a memory of mine from a childhood trip). It was just a little windy!

The next day we surprised the girls with a flight over the dam and out to Grand Canyon West. We met with a lot of wind both days, but saw some beautiful scenery.

February 2010

2010-12-20T21:27:00.001-08:00

In February we continued with the Upward basketball for Jessica and YMCA basketball for Abigail. It's always a crazy run between the practices and the games, blended in with the many other activities taking place.

One of our family joys during the year was getting to know Miss Lily. She is our newest niece and a favorite of the girls'. While Jess played ball, Abby held onto Lily.

The girls both spent time preparing for the Adams Science Fair. Abby worked with Daddy to create a hamster maze, testing which treats were the most enticing. Abby borrowed Shadow, the hamster owned by Jessica. It was funny to watch the hamster quickly figure out the ease of climbing the walls to clear the maze. We had to find a screen to hold tightly to the top so she had to make her way around without climbing over.

Jessica also took her project seriously, deciding to bake. She was testing the ingredients commonly used and the consequences for eliminating them. It was fun to watch her step through the process. She loves to spend time in the kitchen and figure out how to prepare most things.

January 2010

2010-12-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

Here I go with trying to summarize the 2010 year in the Nurvic house...hmmmm.

Jessica continued her basketball season with Chris coaching (with the help of our good friend, John). I got a great (although bit blurry:)) shot of Jess jumping to shoot the ball.

In January we had a trip to Mt. Spokane. We went skiing with my brother, Mike, and the 4 J's (Joe, Josh, Jenae and Jared). It's always a fun activity when they come to town. They all hit town during our break from school and stayed for the first week of classes. We took a day off to head off to the ski hill and enjoy a day together.

Grand Canyon 2010

2010-06-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

My mom and I took the girls to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon for Spring Break this year. One highlight was the Skywalk in Grand Canyon West. It was amazing. Here is the side view of it.

We had some photos taken while we were out on it. Those we had to purchse...

It is made out of 6 inch thick glass panels that you walk around. See the booties? Abby had to bring hers home for a sample. She didn't like to walk on the glass, preferring to hang at the edges where it was not see through.

That's just a small sample of what we saw there. There was so much to see on that fabulous day trip to the Grand Canyon.

Hi again!

2009-09-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy start to the school year for me. We have created a new program at school, a combination of resource room and self-contained kiddos. It has been a challenge to get them blended into a functioning class. We are halfway through our first whole week and are still trying to smooth out the bumps. I think it's going to be okay. Or at least that I can quit being so tired and cranky!

Abigail is a 5th grader and in her last year of elementary school. Yikes. Time really does fly by. She is currently involved in cross country (at my prodding, to help with the running), volleyball, youth group, piano, possibley girl scouts, and beginning the viola at school. She is a busy girl.

Jessica is now a 3rd grader and has her first "boy" teacher. She is acting so much more grown up this year. She is also in cross country, piano, youth group and possible girl scouts again. I guess we just raise them to be really active.

We have a new girl in our house. I will have to get on the photos thing and post one of Meadow, a nearly 2 year old yellow lab who we took in. Jager is thrilled, and sleeps hard at night. They play ALL day long. I just really hope they are not a disruption when we are gone each day.

Have a fabulous day!

Sitting in Oregon

2009-08-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here I am, sitting at the Inn at Spanish Head in Lincoln City, OR. It's overcast and drizzly today. We have hit the outlets for a bit of shopping (the girls have moved up to being Aeropostale fans and I found Harry & David!) After lunch we are back to rest at the hotel before some fun with glass blowing in town. I'll have to post pictures of many things when I return. I already failed to get DC and Gettysburg photos up, so who knows! You can see photos at my facebook page from some of the adventures we've had.

Hello again

2009-08-01T12:04:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted. This will be short, but I am going to try and get rolling. I just added a Twitter link (which I opened,but never used) and am trying to add my Facebook page, which I do use all the time. This ought to be an interesting experience for me. Let's hope I can roll ahead with it!

We just returned from a trip to Washington DC and Gettysburg, PA. I will be trying to get some photos posted on here in the coming week. We send Abby off to Lutherhaven tomorrow and the girls and I will leave on Aug. 10 with my mom to travel the Oregon Coast for a few days. That is just after the Aug. 9 kids CdA triathlon Abby and Jessica have decided to do.

Have a wonderful day!

My mom

2009-06-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy time with Mom and her breast cancer. Started way back in March/April. The doctors saw a spot on her mammogram, a repeat of 14 or so years before. She was scheduled for a biopsy and that came back positive. Yikes! That was followed by a right side lumpectomy that we understood to have gotten all the bad stuff, and her lymphnodes looked clean. Throughout all of this my faith held me up in an incredible way, like God does. Mom seemed steady, just had lots of questions and frustration at her insurance. (Don't we all!)

One crazy Wednesday a couple of weeks ago I called to see if she'd finally gotten her results back at her Dr. appointment, fully expecting to hear it was all done. It knocked me a bit sideways to learn that her cancer had "fingers" and Dr. was going to schedule a mastectomy for the right side. That was when I first saw Mom's frustration and anger bubble up about all of this. After much discussion, she decided she wanted a double mastectomy, to just get it all over with. With all the testing having missed the extent of cancer on the right side, it just didn't seem worth it to wait for the left to display problems. (And we determined it might be strange to be uneven, as she was choosing no reconstruction!)

So, off to surgery on June 11. When they wheeled her into surgery that day I felt shaky for the first time. (Is it bad I went shopping at Kohl's to distract myself?)When I spoke with her doctor that day, surgery had gone well and there were no surprises, lymphnodes on the left were clean as well. I left her at the hospital that night to rest in her room, finally settled that it was all good.

I loaded the girls up in the car at 7:30 the next morning to go visit her before school, only to have missed a call from the Doctor 25 minutes before. On the way to Valley Hospital I heard my voicemail, Dr. Martinez telling me Mom was having difficulty breathing and she was being taken back into surgery at 7:30, urgently. The shakes hit full force and I began making frantic phone calls to get the kids and my classroom squared around, knowing I would never make it at school that day. She was in surgery over 2 hours. Dr. Martinez came out to talk to me and said she had developed a large hematoma(?) on the left side that they had to clean out. The problem that was larger was that she was continuing to bleed much more than they liked and she was being moved to the step down unit, near ICU. I was trying to make update calls to my brother in Alaska through out, as well as my husband who was in meetings. After that call I tried to make some update calls and realized it was growing increasingly difficult to repeat the words without emotion. Chris and my dear friend, Shana, came rushing down to the hospital to sit with me. It was 12:30 before she was moved out of recovery and I finally got to see her. That was when I finally felt myself settle and calm. From that time until now she has made continual improvment, the bleeding is finally decreasing.

I have kept in contact with my family and friends through phone calls, texting, and facebook. That is an amazing thing for holding onto sanity. So many times recently I have heard from people praying for us and I know that is what sustained me and my mom. Thanks to everyone who prayed. What an amazing circle we are surrounded by!

Thanks for letting me share...I really needed to get it all down and see it in print that she is on the upswing. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

A few selections that touched me today!

2009-05-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

Why? Why do we sleep during church, but when the sermon is over we suddenly wake up? Why is it so hard to talk about God, but so easy to talk about bad things? Why are we so boredwhen we read a Christian magazine, but find it easy to look at a magazine of people? Why is it so easy to ignore a Godly message, yet we forward the useless ones? Why are churches getting smaller, but bars and clubs are growing? Think about it.

And on the lighter side...

If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Name game

2009-05-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, this name thing is going to drive me nuts. Chris is determined now (from my finding that Jäger is a German word for hunter) it needs to be pronounced YAA-gur and the rest of us think its YAY-gur. I also found this listed in Wikipedia: Jägermeister (pronounced /YAY-gur-MAIST-ur/; in German /ˈjɛːgɐˌmaistɐ/). I have no idea how to address this and I am confused enough to be using both pronunciations intermittenly. How do I handle it????

Random things

2009-05-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

I just put this link on Facebook and thought I should add something new! I am really not sure how effective I will be at blogging, but it seemed like a fun idea to try. I'll be putting some work into this soon. I promise.

Jäger !

2009-05-06T16:42:00.001-07:00

I believe we've gotten a name chosen. Jäger . Chris is determined it's going to be Tucker #2, but we are over ruling him! Jäger seems to fit the little bugger.

He gave us fits the other night. Jäger is fine, just spent Monday night in the doggie ER with an IV drip. He got into something outside at my mom's place and began seizing/tremoring at about 6 p.m. I ran him to the vet and they sent us to ER. The made him vomit and found deer/bunny feces and dirt, so he was likely rooting around the ground. Who knows what he found, but it caused toxic reactions in him. He could not stop tremoring. It was scary. His blood tests were normal and they just pushed fluids and antibiotics into him. We got him back this morning about 7. He seems to be no worse for wear, just gets to take meds for a few days. I certainly didn't need that in the first 4 days of having him. Not to mention the lovely vet bill! Yikes. He better behave himself for a while! He is back to his onry, chewing self now. But we love him!

He seems determined to eat up most things in our house, including the bedroom door, dining chairs, blankets, shoes, etc. He even dragged off my purse! Gotta love them puppies!

Our New Puppy:)

2009-05-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

My husband surprised the girls and I with a new puppy yesterday, and he is gorgeous.

We had to put our old lab, Jake down in December due to failing health and issues. It was a very sad day. It took us several months to feel the pull of a new dog strongly enough to act on it. We'd begun bugging Chris, hence the surprise.

Our new little guy is as yet unnamed, but we hope to reach consensus this evening!

Yikes, they took away the snow pile!

2009-01-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

We had the biggest snow pile in the center of the cul-de-sac going this year. Yesterday, a nice man in a front loader came and piled it VERY high.

Today, a man in a front loader came and cleared it off the road. It's very sad to the kids. He was nice enough to make piles in the yards at the request of the dads though.