Regional Bee

Today was the regional spelling bee at North Idaho College. Hannah was excited and a bit nervous to participate. She did great and we enjoyed a fun day in Coeur d'Alene cheering her on.

Hannah's classmates Brianna and Sarah were there to cheer her on (as well as Sarah's sister, Izzy, who was the 6th grade representative from our school district).

54 fourth through eighth graders from north Idaho participated. The winner travels to Washington DC to represent Idaho in the Scripts National Spelling Bee.

Hannah showed great poise and spoke confidently. Unfortunately, she dropped out with the word VENTILATE.

Way to go Hannah!

Spring Skiing

Kirk and I had our weekly ski date today. It was a beautiful day - blue skies and an amazing view. The spring skiing was fast and fun. I was savoring the day because things are warming up and spring is really on it's way. We probably don't have too many more of these days left this season.

Funny story:

As the girls were getting ready for school, Paige realized what a nice day it would be and also realized that Kirk and I were going skiing. Here is the conversation that followed:

Paige: No fair, I want to go skiing today!

Kirsten: Skip school and come with us.

Paige: (after only a moments hesitation) But I'd miss Science Friday!

I'm glad to know school gets her excited enough to miss out on a day of skiing.

Early Spring

Spring has come early here. I see tulips poking through the ground and my day lilies are 4" tall now. Of course, there is still a chance of snow, but we haven't had any on our lawn for months. It's been a pretty strange winter. With all of the spring-like weather in February, I couldn't help but pull back my garden covers and throw in a few seeds. When I checked this week, I found my radishes peeking their little heads up. The lettuce and spinach haven't done much yet, but I'm watching... we may be having fresh salads earlier than normal this year!

Spring Skiing

Although there is not much snow left, we've been enjoying lots of beautiful spring skiing days these past few weeks. Here are some photos...

Even though they are onto bigger and better runs, the girls still like to ride the Magic Carpet!

Maren and her friend, Emily, are independent enough to load and ride without help.

Maren and Hannah on their way up the quad.

Hannah and her friend, Sarah, on the top of South Bowl.

Hannah's 4th Grade Class on their second skiing trip.

Seattle Weekend

We enjoyed a quick trip to Seattle last weekend. Kirk and I haven't been there in a while and we had a great excuse to go... my nephew and niece (who live in the Seattle area) are leaving to serve missions for our church. They will be in Brazil and Japan respectively. We are so excited to see them prepare and leave on this endeavor. They will be great missionaries. It was amazing to hear them speak in church and realize how mature and intelligent they are. What great examples for their cousins.

While in Seattle, we took advantage of the big city and went to see the zoo. Here are some shots from a cloudy, but fun day at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Two monkeys?

Christmas money well spent.

One of Paige's favorite birds - Flamingo.

You know you live in the rural Northwest when...

...Your neighbor brings your cat home because the eagles were circling and she was afraid he was going to get eaten. (Max is a very friendly cat and loves to visit the neighbors).