The Downey Family Blog

Youth

2011-04-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

If this doesn't show you how active our little boys are. I bought these tennis shoes for Avery at the end of January. This is what they looked like at the middle of April. Two and a half months. The soles are almost completely gone and he's worn holes in the toes. If we could just bottle this energy and sell it, we would be rich. And I could then have a house cleaner.

Happy Birthday Avery!

2011-04-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe my baby turned 7. I am amazed how fast time flies. I remember my grandma always said, "the older you get the quicker time flies by." This couldn't be more true. It seems just like yesterday I was following Avery to school on the bus for his first day of kindergarten. Now he is nearing the end of first grade. Where does time go? It reminds me of how I need to quit cleaning the house and folding that load of laundry and start enjoying the time I have with my children. My ultimate dream would be to be a stay at home mom and have a house cleaner. Quit dreaming sister! Maybe someday. Anyway, Avery had a fun Birthday this year. The party grew exponentially about a half hour before it started. Henry took it upon himself to invite a few more guests and they were all delighted to come. It was very cute because they all came with a gift for Avery that they made or found in their house. We had a wild night with lots of wild and crazy kids.

Pond Skimming 2001

2011-04-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

Kevin was bound and determined to win the pond skimming tournament this year at Brundage Crazy Days. He woke up early to wax his skis, ironed his beer man costume, and started premedicating himself an hour or so before. The results..... He won! He won! He won a season pass for next year. Hot diggity! Here is a video I took with my phone. If you want to see more there is a u tube video on the Brundage website.

Ski fun!

2011-04-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

This was Brenen and Dillon's first time skiing. They were all smiles and did so good.
We all took turns taking them down the hill and in a couple of hours they were getting the hang of it.The tailgating scene at brundage mountain.

Summer Teeth

2011-04-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Avery's got summer teeth! Summer in his mouth and summer in his pocket. Only a mother could love this smile. Avery has one giant tooth in the middle all by itself and he finally lost the other. Uncle Dave asked him last weekend it he could use his tooth to open his beer. Poor kid.

Wrestling

2011-04-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

OK let's talk about wrestling. Wrestling is probably the last sport I wanted my children to do. Kevin was never a wrestler but he was determined he wanted to sign Avery up for wrestling. I couldn't understand why. The first time I walked in the practice room I about fell over because it was s-t-i-n-k-y with a capital S. It was like walking into a hot sauna with a bunch of sweaty football players. And then I looked at the mats and couldn't help but think what kind of skin infections were we going to come home with us. But, with all things said, I am actually very happy we did it. In fact we will probably make both our kids wrestle for a while. I think it teaches them they can overcome things that are hard. Most of all, it teaches them to lose. Don't get me wrong, it is very hard for a mother to watch your son pinned down with his legs flailing in the air. Aunt Meme can't even come to watch because she starts crying and then I start crying and then we have to try to dry it up before Avery sees us. But my point is that I think these are great things for our boys to learn. I am very proud of Avery. He went out to every match with courage and learned a lot along the way.

January Highlights

2011-04-25T18:53:00.001-07:00

In January we did a last minute trip with the Dallimore's to Disneyland. We woke up in Vegas at 3 o'clock a.m. (yes I said a.m.) and drove to Disneyland. We were there when the park opened and we were there when the park closed. Our favorite things about Disneyland are:

* Churros (this brought back child hood memories for Kevin. He used to sit and eat churros instead of riding on the rides. Because he was too scared. And of course it is not o.k. ,by him, for our kids to be scared.)
* We saved lots of money by purchasing tickets on ebay. (That's the couponer coming out in me.)
* We had the best tour guide. (Uncle Brian. He had us lined out to hit all the rides at the best times. He is always hospitable.)
* We rode on Thunder Mountain at least 4 times. (And mommy had enough of that.)
* Henry got a new pair of Mickey Mouse sweatpants. (He wet his pants while we were standing in line for Soaring over California. They cost $30.)
* We made another memory with the Dallimore's. (We don't get to see you much but we make it count when we get the chance.)

Uncle Kevin gave all the kids a pep talk before we entered the park. We knew it was going to be a long day for them. They were all such troopers. No whining, just smiles all day!

The Downey's and Dallimore's snuggling up with goofy.

The signature teacup picture. It was so nice that all the kids could ride together while we took pictures and did not get sick.

Thunder Mountain ride #4. We had had enough.

The line up. Excited for Thunder Mountain ride #4!

So tuckered out he couldn't even finish his ice cream cone. Now that's tired!

December Highlights

2011-04-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

December was filled with lots of Christmas Cheer. We had a Christmas Party with friends and Kevin decorated his skid steer trailer with hay bails and Christmas lights. We carolled around the neighborhood while Kevin drove us around in the Tahoe, sucking fumes from the generator running in the back seat. After carolling we came back to our bonus room in the garage and made gingerbread houses and played Just Dance. Kevin and Travis were all about the dancing because they were still experiencing their high from the carbon monoxide fumes. I think we started a tradition that we will continue years to come.

Christmas Countdown

2010-12-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

I made this Christmas advent craft this week and I've had few people who want to see a picture of it. I used a pizza pan and then I made bottle cap magnets for the numbers. Today we started counting down the days until Jesus' big day.

Snow Day!!!!!!!

2010-12-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Avery shook his booty so hard when they announced that all schools will be closed today. For those of you who don't live in Boise, it snowed a ton last night and we woke up to 8 inches of snow. Kevin woke up at the glorious hour of 3:00 am to do snow removal and returned home at about 10. He had his skid steer in tow. As he gazed out at the winter wonderland he came up with a genius idea. He said, "I can make the kids the biggest snow mound we've ever had in the culdesac." He was on the tractor in a flash, spinning around in the culdesac. All of the neighbors came out, young and more mature. Everyone was taking pictures and one of our neighbors even brought our hot cocoa and marshmallows. The kids played on the hill for 5 hours straight. It was a great snow day memory for Great Sky Estates.

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-11-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

Here is our Mario and Luigi racing around the block. We have lots and lots of candy again this year. I have already eaten 10 candy bars today.

Annual Pumpking Carving

2010-11-01T17:12:00.001-07:00

Aunt Meme, Dave, and Nana trooped it up with us again for pumpking carving. No slackers and no easy patterns. Here are this years results:

Skinning the deer

2010-11-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

Avery is our hunter in the family. After spending a weekend with our friend Travis he has all the lingo down. Like "It smells awfully grousy here" or "dump him" or "look at that skat" or "it smells like elk potty!". Well to make a long story short he likes to pretend he is hunting a lot. He gets all dressed up and on this particular day he talked Henry into being his prey. I walked into the kitchen and caught him skinning his hunt. At least he got out the cutting board.

Holy Pictureoly!

2010-10-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tis the season for taking pictures. With our gorgeous weather we've had gorgeous opportunity for great pictures. Thank you to all of my friends and family who trust me with your memories. Here are a few (o.k. maybe a little more than a few) of my favorites:

Cutie Patooty!

2010-08-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

Take a look at these cute boys. Cole and Hudson are both one year old already! And our Cammers is not far behind at Two. Must be Kuntz's to be that cute.

Big FAT HUGE summer blog update!

2010-08-18T10:19:00.001-07:00

This is kind of a half effort for blogging but I am going to hit the highlights. Here are some of our summer adventures:

Fishing at Fish Lake in McCall

Avery played in his first McCall Amateur (hopefully he can tackle).

This is the moose that hung around the McCall Golf Course for a few weeks. Swamp Donkey!

Hanging at North Beach with the Dallimores

We did lots and lots of tubing.

Mandi caught her first fish at Louie Lake

We all got to ride on a camel at the zoo in Tacoma

Eli killed and cleaned crab for our dinner

All of my boys at the beach hunting for seashells. Praise God! Kevin cut his hair last night.

At the museum of Flight in Seattle.

During the Mariners Game Avery stood in the aisle waiting for the ball to come to him.

The boys hanging in downtown Seattle

Chris and Charity's Wedding

2010-06-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

What an honor to be a part of Chris and Charity's wedding. The boys were peculiarly excited when Chris asked them (actually Avery said no at first and I was mortified but then when he realized that he was going to be 6 years old by then he decided he could do it). They actually turned out to be amazing ring bearers and it was an amazing wedding. Chris and Charity knew this was their day to say their vows and create a memory they would never forget. I have to say this was one of the most touching weddings I have ever been to. We spent a lot of time with the Majors this weekend and it made Kevin and I realized just how much this family has blessed our lives. You are all incredible people and you mean so much to our boys and we cannot thank you enough. It brings me to tears to know how much love my children have received from your family and you will always be a very special part of our lives. We love you Majors!

Our Beloved Holly. She is such and amazing person.

Grandpa Randy. The boys are crazy about Grandpa Randy.

Henry skiing

2010-03-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

This video pretty much describes how Henry approaches life.

Chair lift fun

2010-03-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

It is so fun to think of new things to talk about and new things to do on the chairlift. From a child's perspective we could solve many of the world's problems while riding up the lift. Sometimes we have bubble blowing contests. Sometimes I will quiz Avery on his spelling and math. Or we will listen to Henry talk our ears off. I so cherish this time I have with the boys. Time is going by way too fast.

Meet Charlie

2010-03-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Meet Charlie. This is the closest thing that Kevin will let Henry have to a dog. Poor kid. He absolutely loves animals and I think it is so sweet. For now Kevin says NO! So Henry is happy with Charlie. Here is Henry and Charlie Eating Breakfast together.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

In honor of St. Patty's Day I hosted an impromptu Leprechaun dinner. It was totally unplanned, but hey it work's. All of the neighbor kids, or peeps as they say, hang at our house quite a bit. On St. Patty's day they had all been so cute hunting around for 4 leaf clovers and leprechauns with their home made magnifying glass. So I decided to make things a little exciting and make them a leprechaun dinner. It was so much fun that I think I am going to be more organized next year, not quite as organized as Molly, but I am going to make this an annual event. I wish I were Irish. Do I have any Irish in me? Maybe I do!

Elliott Boys

2010-03-25T18:54:00.001-07:00

The Elliott's came down for a long overdue play date. The cousins had not seen each other since August yikes! When they got here it was like they had never been away. They played hard all weekend and we tuckered them out. Thank you Jeremy and Erin for the visit and we miss you already Boos and Dillon. Sweet Boys. Uncle Dave is always getting the kids pumped up. He thinks its soooo funny.

Avery lost his first tooth!

2010-03-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday night we were driving home from Max's birthday party and Avery all of the sudden said, "hey, my tooth just came out!" It was about time because it was bent forward and to the side for about two weeks. I am surprised it didn't come out in his pork chops or apples before this. Anyway to tooth fairy did come for a visit and left him a dollar bill. And if you can believe it, the tooth fairy actually left something at Nana's house as well. That tooth fairy is pretty smart.

Winter Fun

2010-02-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

We've taken full advantage of trying to survive in the cold weather this winter. We've spent many weekends in McCall enjoying all it has to offer. The boys are improving every weekend with their skiing and Avery has been trying out snowboarding. Again we are trying enjoy every moment with these boys. I wish I could just freeze time. I love Avery's passion for life right now and his determination when trying new things. And I love Henry's fun loving personality and willingness to do anything (which can be scary at times). Here are a few pics from our activities:

The Downey's came up for a couple of days over Christmas break and Jordi and Henry ate lots and lots of icicles.

Avery by the number 5. This snow sculpture had all of the numbers 1-9 integrated into it. I was very creative.Henry by number 3.Our neighbor invited us to go ice fishing with him and it was our first time. We fished for 5 hours and did not catch anything but had a lot of fun. Henry sat in his chair for just under one minute and then he ran around trying not to fall into all of he holes that had been drilled in the ice. On the way home from ice fishing Kevin saw they were giving helicopter rides and he has always wanted to ride in one of em fancy helicopters.

Fiesta Bowl!

2010-02-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

Beat the Horn frogs, Beat the Horn frogs, Broncos beat the Horn frogs! Whoo. To Grandma and Grandpa Kuntz's dismay, Kevin and I headed to Arizona with Jaime and Dave to pay them a visit. And let me tell you I am sure they were proud of Jaime and I for who we chose to marry us. Just kidding boys. We had a lot of fun with lots of memories. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for letting us crash in on your place and it was great to spend time with you. And thank you to Mom and Jaynie for making sure that we were well fed.

Merry Christmas 2009

2010-02-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year celebrating the birth of our savior. We went to visit Santa and Avery asked for a hunting camo suit and Henry asked for a red binky. I just love the simplicity and I we enjoy the how passionate the boys are about the simple things in life. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Goofy Kiddos!

2009-12-14T09:55:00.003-08:00

BIG HEN

A DOG

Avery shaking his bon bon

Let is snow!

2009-12-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute picture I got of Henry catching snow. And look how perfect the snowflake is on his eyelashes.

Oh Christmas Tree!

2009-12-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

Oh Christmas tree! Oh Christmas tree! How lonely are your branches. We went to Garden Valley to cut our Christmas tree down and came home with the perfect Charlie Brown tree.

My November project

2009-12-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

O.k. this is probably the biggest project I've ever taken on. My sister in law gave us her kitchen table and chairs and I decided to give it a little face lift. It took a while and Kevin was growling at me to get finished but I am very proud of the results. Presenting our new kitchen table:

Redeeming Love

2009-10-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

I just read the best book I have every read. I would highly highly recommend reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. She is an incredible author and has a way of sucking you in and making you forget about all of the other chores that need to be done around your house. Not the mention the story line is one that can impact everyone in some way. I don't want to give too much away so just get the book and read it.

More Newborns! More Newborns!

2009-10-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

This is so much fun. This is helping with my baby fix. There is nothing sweeter than a newborn. By the way I am trying to talk Kevin into letting us get a puppy so feel free to drop him a few good hints. I told him we need either a puppy or another baby so he can make his choice. Anyway these are my latest pictures.

Gust (Hayley and Dom's Baby Boy)

Jesse (Anne and Travis' Baby Boy)
Benson (Mary and Ben's Baby Boy)

Newborns! Newborns!

2009-09-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

I talked Kevin into letting me get a new lens for my camera so I decided the experiment a little with newborns. Conveniently I just happen to know a lot of wonderful women who are pregnant or have newborns. Here are some of my favorites:

Happy Birthday Henry!

2009-09-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

Henry turned 3 YEARS OLD! Aaaauugh! Where is time going? I feel like I am starting to panic about the kids growing too quickly. I think Avery being in kindergarten has got me all up in arms. Henry still has his binky and it is because I cannot let it go. Any who, here are some pics from his big day. He started the day with binky bath and ended it with a little party with family. Thank you Mom for making his adorable clown cake.

Pizza! Pizza!

2009-09-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the day for all September birthdays. For all of you that are farmiliar with Flying Pie's "It's your day", It was Henry's chance to take advantage today. He got to wear this cute apron and had to pick a hat. He was not sure at first but had a blast by the time it was over. He threw the pizza and helped put cheese on it and pepperoni in the shape of a smiley face. Here are his pics:

Avery's first day of Kindergarten

2009-08-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

It is with great sorrow and joy that I announce Avery had his first day of Kindergarten today. He has been eagerly anticipating this day for a few weeks and he had a great time. I failed to tell the teacher that I would pick him up from school today so I had to catch her from puting him on the bus. When I got there he looked at me and said , "Sorry Mom, I am riding the bus home." What could I say? I let him ride the bus home and he was beaming a huge grin as he got off. My baby doesn't seem like a baby all of the sudden. He made a huge step toward independence today and I could not help but shed a few tears.

Waiting for the bell to ring.

Starting to make some new friends already.

Getting off the bus right in front of our house. His bus drivers name is Chuck.

Update on Grandma Kuntz

2009-08-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you thank you to all of you for praying for my Grandma. After a 7 hour surgery, a small stroke, a case of pancreaitis, two blood clots, and a fall, my Grandma finally gets to go home today. She is doing well and my Grandpa said she had a huge smile on her face the whole way home. She still has some recovery ahead of her but we expect her to be back in full strength soon. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She is staying at my Mom's house now and I have had a lot of people ask where to send cards so below is the address. Thank you again. Love to all!

Peggy Kuntz
4623 W.Dawson
Meridian, ID 83646

Prayer Request

2009-07-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

This goes out to all of my prayer warriors out there. My Grandma Kuntz is going to have a major surgery done next Wednesday July 29th. She has to have two valves replaced, she has an artery that is 80% blocked, and she has an aneurysm that has a very thin wall. The surgery has a pretty good success rate, but it will be five plus hours long and the recovery with take a lot of time. Please just pray that God will give the Doctors all the knowledge and wisdom they need to make her surgery successful. And pray that the Lord will be with each and every family member as they wait with Grandpa. And pray he will give Grandma will have strength to recover.

My Urban Cowboy

2009-07-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Henry is my child that is a little bit more particular about what he wears. He gets really into particular t-shirts or hats or for this blog post, his cowboy outfit. We went to a rodeo in Eagle in June and he was so excited to wear all of this stuff. The outfit really is hideous because the pants are way too small and the shirt was so small we just had to find a t-shirt that matched the best. We went to another rodeo on Friday night and we were just about to get out the door and he looked at Jaime and I and said,"Oh! I got to go get my cowboy outfit on." So I dug the pants out of the box for him to wear them one last time. Here he is, our little urban cowboy.

White Water Rafting

2009-07-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Our gracious new neighbors are part owners in Cascade Raft and Kayac (the best rafting company in the world). They have two boys just like us and had been trying to set up a time for us to take the kids out on a raft trip. I was a little skeptical at first but thought well, he has been doing this for a long time so he must know what he is talking about. When we got there it turned out that we actually had nine little children on the raft with us four adults. Again I was a little skeptical, but it turned out to be so much fun. They had little wet suits for all of the kids and he told them when they could jump out of the boat and swim and when they had to hang on. Over all it was an awesome first experience for our kids and they can't wait to go again.

Avery is hanging on to the rope with his buddy Kyler (he is the toe head that is further back). And Henry is sitting right next to Kevin.

Uncle Beavis

2009-07-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

For all of you that already know Uncle Beavis, as you know, this is not out of the ordinary. For those of you who don't know Uncle Beavis, meet Uncle Beavis. In a nutshell this pretty much describes his personality. There is never a dull moment when he comes around. We love you Uncle Beavis for being You.

My Boys

2009-06-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted on the blog so I thought I would update you with s0me new pics of my boys. I am always practicing with my camera so my poor boys are constantly getting thier picture taken. I can't believe the summer seems to be passing by so quickly. The boys just finished two weeks of swim lessons and we're starting to spend more time in McCall again. This first picture is just to show how good Henry is at picking out his own outfits. And then the second is from fishing in McCall last weekend.

GNO (Girl's night out)

2009-05-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Jordan and I had our first GNO on the town last night. I had a photography class and needed a good model so we combined a photo shoot with a girl's night out. I love my niece Jordan, she is spunky, funny, sassy, and sweet. Not to mention very photogenic. Here are a couple photos we took as our photo shoot.

Beloved Holly

2009-05-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is our beloved Holly. She is the angel Jesus sent down to us nearly five years ago. The first day I met Holly I had no clue just how much she would bless our family. She has more than exceeded our expectations and you can just see in these pictures how much our boys adore her. We love you Holly and are thankful everyday for you.

Catch Lights

2009-04-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing my photography a lot this week because I took a class last Thursday. I just love this picture of Henry and he has great catch lights.

Avery is 5! (like two weeks ago)

2009-04-27T15:06:00.001-07:00

I have been a slacker by not posting pictures of my big "5" year old. He is so proud to be 5. Whenever someone calls him on the phone the first this he says is, "Hi, I'm 5". It makes me very sad so see him grow before my eyes. He is will be in Kindergarten next year and the thought of this make me well up with tears. I'm sure many of you can relate but it is scary how quickly time is passing by. Sometimes I just wish I could bottle my kids up to preserve them for longer. Here are some pictures of his happy day.

How Cute Are Those Curls?

2009-04-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here is our cute little Camden Richard. We took photos tonight and I could not resist diving in to edit. He was such a good boy and very photogenic.

All the Boys Together Again!

2009-04-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to buzz down to Salt Lake and visit the Elliott's last week. All of the boys had a great time together and Henry got to see his beloved Hopper. Jeremy took us to a dinosaur museum and an aquarium so we could tire the little ones out for a nap. Thank you Jeremy and Erin for the great hospitality. Here are a few of the pics we got:

Avery's First Motorcross Race

2009-03-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

Much to my dismay Kevin entered Avery into his first motorcross race today. I had never even seen a live motorcross race and let me tell you those guys are nuts. I was shaking and felt like I was going to vomit while Avery raced. He was the only racer in his age class so he was stoked that he won firstplace. Everyone at OMC was very nice and supportive of him and he was just beaming with joy carrying around his giant trophy. I told Kevin we may have to watch so that his head doesn't get too large.

Clogged Artery!

2009-03-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

We had a bit of a mishap with the toilet this week. I walked in the bathroom just as Henry was flushing the toilet and I noticed it was acting a little funny. I forgot to tell Kevin about it, so as usual he took his morning visit to the john and when he flushed we saw the tell tale signs, there was a foreign object in the toilet. A clogged artery you might say, ruh row, not good. Kevin plunged and plunged and plunged, while spilling poop water all over the floor but had no luck. He finally ended up removing the entire toilet from the floor and then fishing it out of the bottom with a hanger. The entire process was disgusting but also comical. We ended up finding a yogurt cup in the descending track of the toilet. Henry got a stearn talking to and for what its worth he said he wouldn't do it again.This is the toilet taken off the floor.This is Henry getting in BIG TROUBLE.But Daddy still loves him anyway.

Winter Wonderland!

2009-02-27T13:37:00.001-08:00

While everyone here in Idaho is wishing winter away we've been praying to the snow Gods. I've fallen in love with skiing this winter. It is an addiction. I check the Brundage website every day to see how much new snow they're getting. The snow hasn't been that great this year, but we've had beautiful blue bird weather. It's been great for the kids and they've really improved on thier skills. Henry is such a trooper. He will go all day long and when he gets tired he falls asleep on the chair lift (unfortunately for Kevin he gets a free ride down too. Good thing Dad's a good skiier). And Avery is following in his Dad's footsteps. He likes to find all of the jumps and then hit a little pow pow. Here are a few pics from our winter fun!

2009-01-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

These are my sweet boys all the way in Salt Lake City. I love you Boos and Dillon. We can't wait to see you soon.

I miss my nieces

2009-01-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post this to remind my nieces whom live in Las Vegas of the vacation we had together this summer. I miss you both so much and can't wait to see you again soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a very blessed Christmas and a safe New Year. We are starting a Cleanse tomorrow to get rid of all of the junk we put into our bodies over the last 3 weeks. It just would not be to holidays without the goodies and yummy food. Here are a few pics from our Christmas celebration. All dressed up and ready to go to Jesus' Birthday Party.

Henry's favorite gift from Santa was 12 pairs of underwear. He tried on almost all of them. We are gearing up for potty training.

Avery got a drum set from Santa and we have all been rocking out.

My Jordi J

2008-12-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

It has been snowing almost all day here and there are no signs of stopping. We met up with the other Downeys to go sledding today. Here is my Jordi J.

My Boy in the Hood

2008-12-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

Yo wassup wassup! This is how we roll in Idaho. Fo Shizle my Nizle.

White Sand to White Snow

2008-12-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

We have been back from Mexico for a week now and we finally feel like we have our feet under us again. It is incredible what a difference in climate there is with a 6 hour airplane ride. We went from walking on a white sandy beach to trudging through white slushy snow. Kevin and I had a great time and it is great to be back with our boys. Here is a picture of the snow here in Boise. The snow has not melted all week because it has been so stinking cold. We are expected to get a lot more this week too. Time to get ready for skiing and sledding!

Mexican Cowboys!

2008-12-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

Since we have landed in Cancun Kevin had his heart set on going horseback riding. So we woke up early this morning and headed out for a ride in the jungle. When we got there the cowboys asked everyone to stand to the right if they were inexperienced horse riders and to left is they were experienced. Of course almost everyone stood to the right, except Kevin and Bobbi. They said they were taking one for the team. Kevin had a horse named Turkey and he came by his name honestly. He kicked the crap out of my sweet horse and everyone else's too. Everyone was afraid to go near him. Of course he and Kevin butt heads the entire trip because they were two stong willed beings. Anyway I had a very good horse, but I was reminded that I have a strong fear of horses stemmed from child hood experiences. It is almost like some people are with going to the dentist. However, at the end of the ride they took the saddles off the horses and took us swimming with the horses. It was amazing. Kevin and Bobbi talked the cowboys into an extra swim for $20. After horse back riding we came back to the resort and Brenda and I laid out while Keving and Bobbi made more friends at the bar. Love to all and we will keep in touch.

Here we are going through the jungle. We saw a crocodile in the swamps and big huge spiders.

This is me way out swimming with the horse.

This is Kevin getting ready to go out to the water.

Hello From Cancun!

2008-12-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hello from Cancun! This place is amazingly beautiful. The water is aqua blue and weather is always warm but not too hot. I would strongly recommend this resort to anyone who is looking for a vacation. We are fully taking advantage of all the food all the drink you can consume. Our friend Bobby drank 26 pina coladas yesterday. We miss you all and will keep you updated.

This is Kevin and I getting ready to go snorkeling.

This is Kevin and I snorkeling.

This is the view from our balcony.

Pam, Here's a sneak peak.

2008-12-01T21:12:00.001-08:00

Pam has been waiting for a family picture for years. We finally got it this week. I have other pictures I will share later, but I have not had time to edit them yet.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

2008-12-01T20:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a very blessed day. Here are some pics from our day. We spent the week in Vegas with the Dallimore's and as usual had a wonderful time. Thank you Brian and Kim for everything. We are blessed to have such great family.

Still having fun with Photoshop

2008-11-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

Look at this cute picture from Halloween. I used photoshop to make it look oldschool.

Prayer Request For Holly

2008-11-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

I found out some news today about a friend of mine that makes me want to call on reinforcements. Holly has been battling a cancer that doctors have never seen. She has had many surgeries to remove the tumors in her abdomen, but they just keep growing and now another has appeared. They have tried different kinds of chemotherapies, radiation, and other medications. Nothing will take these tumors away and now it is out of the doctors hands. Her doctor told her yesterday that she had about two months to live. Her healing is now in the hands of God so please pray for her healing. We have an awsome God and I know he will take care of her and he wants us to pray for her. Holly is an amazing woman of God. Her love for the lord is admirable and she is a true inspiration to everyone around her.
Heavenly Father, please hold Holly tight and comfort her.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T21:22:00.001-07:00

The Boys had lots of fun and excitment last night for Halloween and now we have a big huge bucket full of candy (That Kevin and I will probably eat) sitting way up high in the pantry. They ate soooo much candy last night it just makes me cringe. I can just see all of those sugar bugs crawling around thier teeth and building little colonies. Our church had a harvest festival at the fairgrounds where they recieved a big brown bag full of candy just for walking through the door. After this we went trick or treating at all of our neighbors that we knew. Henry dragged behind all night unwraping candy after candy. Oh well I guess it is only one night right! Please no more candy. Yeah I am talking to you Nana and Grandma Downey.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-31T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had our annual Pumpkin Carving night on Wednesday night. We were short a few carvers this year and we missed them dearly. Here are the results.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

Avery had a field trip for preschool on Wednesday at the Pumpkin Patch and we had to take Henry with us. They had a lot of fun and came home dirty and tired. Henry has really become part of the clan with Avery's class. He has been to two Birthday Parties and a field trip. Everyone knows him and they all want to be Henry's big brother. Just look at him, he thinks he is a big kid too. The reality is that when we drop him off at his school at church he cries. He got so upset one day he hopped over the gate. It kind of surprised his teachers and the children's ministy leaders in the halls. He is our special little boy. God Bless Him.

Guilty!

2008-10-31T13:21:00.001-07:00

Look at this face. It has guilty all over it. Henry was hiding from me and this is where I found him.

2008-10-31T13:20:00.001-07:00

Fall in McCall

2008-10-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this picture to show you all how beautiful it is in McCall right now. I havn't spent any time in McCall this time of year. We were pleasantly surprised at how pleasant it is. We took a real good look at the scenery before we left tonight because we know it will look like a completely different place the next time we are there.

And of course another cute picture of the boys. Henry wants to do everything Avery does. And Avery thinks its great.

Fall Fun!

2008-10-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Fall is here, the air is getting cooler and all of the trees in Boise are turning colors. My boys discovered that the best toy ever was all of the leaves that have been falling from our tree in our backyard. They have spent hours moving the leaves in thier dumptrucks, raking them into piles, and then throwing them into the air. It is so much fun watching the boys have so much fun together and growing into best friends.

Miss Jordan Brianna Downey

2008-10-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight the BSU game was so exciting that Jordan and I found a lot of other things to do. She is such a character and is always up to something. She offered to organize my drawer in my bathroom and this is what we came up with.

Cute Boys!

2008-10-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

I continue my photoshop editing frenzy. HOW CUTE IS THIS?

Beautiful Krahn Children!

2008-10-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

As some of you know I have recently enjoyed learning more about photography. Especially photographing children. Anne has three beautiful children with gorgeous eyes and she agreed to let me use them as my guinea pigs. It worked out great because her girls, Rylie and Chloe, were well rehearsed as you can see her son Mason has lots of cute faces. These are my three wildest images that I love. They probably won't show up very clear on the blog, but I wanted Anne to have a sneak peak.

TIIIMMMMBBBEERRRR!

2008-09-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

We use a wood burning stove to heat our cabin and we were out of fuelwood (this is what it is called, the wood you use for your fire places and stoves, new lingo, I learned this by looking at the maps we used to look for the fire wood). So anyway we went on a journey into the back back woods looking for trees with no more pine needles on them to cut down.

This is Kevin cutting down the first of many trees. The kids and I would stand way back and yell "TIIMMMBBEEERRR!" when it tipped over.

Stopping for a lunch break. We left at 10:30 in the morning and didn't get back to town until 5:30'

Kevin cut a lot of logs with the chainsaw and then the boys and I loaded them into the truck and trailer. I think I heard Henry say "Wogs!" over a hundred times.

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, and then headed outsided and unloaded all of the logs from the truck and trailer and Kevin started splitting the wood. Notice on the picture above that there is not much wood on the deck. By the way, I unloaded all of those logs, the boys helped a lot too, but goofing off with eachother was much funner ( is that a word?). I was happy to unload though because I tried to swing to axe twice, the first I almost completly missed the log, and the second I hit the log square but the wedge inserted the wood about 3mm. Kevin swung that axe from 10:30 until 3:30. Fatique was setting in for sure.

And the finshed product. So much work, but so much reward. If anyone is passing by this winter and looking for a warm place to stay, stop on by, we would love to see you!

Our Family Adventure!

2008-09-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to go on a family adventure to watch our Broncos take on the University of Oregon Ducks. On Thursday night we drove to Bend, OR and spent the day on Friday taking in the sites with Aunt Meme and Uncle Dave. Aunt Meme showed us all of her old stomping grounds, took us to a great breakfast place, and to a great park. The kids rode thier scooters all around downtown Bend and I had fun taking pictures of them. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Go Broncos!

2008-09-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we cheered on our Broncos to thier first ever BCS win away from home. The Duck's stadium was incredibly loud until we started to take a pretty hefty lead on them. Then of course it got loud again at the end when they almost came back to beat us. Both of the boys slept through the first half of the game, but they made up for it the second half because everyone around us was feeding Henry thier sugar, and we can't thank Uncle Randy enough for getting Avery a frozen lemonade. After the game was over we got to go down on the turf where we got a picture with the famous Buster the Bronco and Avery got into some pick up games with some of the Duck fans. Thank you Uncle Beavis and Aunt Callie for the great hospitality. Sorry Aunt Callie about you Ducks.

Sunday and the Zoo!

2008-09-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went to the Oregon Zoo in Portland and I think this was the best zoo I have ever been to. We were there for 5 hours and the kids had a ball. They had every kind of animal there and it was almost like the movie Madagascar where the animals liked to perform for you. My favorite was the hippo. He strutted his stuff like he was on the cat walk. We rode on a choo choo main (in henry's terms) and listened to Henry yell "all aboard" almost the entire twelve minutes. Needless to say, the kids slept almost the entire 7 hour drive home from Portland.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Kuntz!

2008-09-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

We would like to wish our very special Great Grandpa Tuntz (as Avery and Henry pronounce) a Happy Happy Birthday. He turned 78 today and is still a young chicken. He has been a consistent role model spiritually and emotionally. Thank you Grandpa for all you do. We love you!

Congratulations Angie and Perry!

2008-09-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last night we went out to the Farm to Celebrate Angie and Perry's wedding reception\Cancer free Fiesta Gigante and let me tell you, it was a gigante fiesta. Angie and Perry secretly officially got married yesterday and will have a non secret unofficial ceremony in Mexico in November. We couldn't be happier for you Angie and Perry and we wish you the best for a life time of love and happiness. Thank you for the wonderful party.

Happy Birthday Henry!

2008-09-07T21:11:00.001-07:00

I can't believe this day has already come. Henry is "two" he says as he holds his two first fingers up. He had a fun filled day starting with spending with Nana, lunch with all of his great aunts, and then presents cake and ice cream. He is definately a blessed little boy. Thank you everyone for sharing our day with us.

Hey Dog Fans!

2008-09-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Lights, Camera, Action! We went on a mystery train ride with Capitol Dental on Saturday night. Jaime and I were without our hubby's so we decided to be married for the night. We had the best time dressing up for this as you can see. For any of you whom don't know who Dog the Bounty Hunter is try googling it. Oh, and Jaime is my wife Beth.

The Downey Family Blog

2008-09-07T20:36:00.001-07:00

Oops! See below entry

2008-04-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here we are again!

2008-04-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

O.K. I admit I have been a slacker on blogging, but I think I am ready to start up again. We have had a very busy winter and there are no signs of slowing down. We have spent a lot of time up in McCall and I e-mailed some of you about Kevin participating in Brundage Crazy Days. Here are the video clips from the pond skimming contest.
ROUND ONE

ROUND TWO

The True Meaning of Christmas

2007-12-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Avery James had his preschool Christmas program tonight. Here are a few clips for those of you who could not make it.

Check this out!

2007-12-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Downey on Friday night. They decided to leave us and move back to Vegas. So they could redeem themselves they got us this web cam so that we can talk to eachother in person. I have had a lot of fun with the webcam I must admit. I just wanted to share this video we made tonight.

Here Comes Santa Claus

2007-12-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

We went to see Santa on Friday night. It was so great because we went to a nursery and there was no line to wait in. I would highly recommend doing it this way. Avery walked right up and plopped himself down on Santa's lap. He then proceeded to have quite a lengthy conversation with Santa. I am not quite sure what he was saying, but I noticed the two soldiers standing next to Santa were laughing at him. I finally went up and told him that we need to let other kids have a turn. Henry also seemed to like Santa which shocked me. Probably because he gave him a candy cane and he is my sweets boy. So if Avery is going to be nice (which he tells me he is going to be naughty), Santa might bring him some tools. So he can build a house.

My sweet little boy

2007-11-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

I just had to post this video of Avery because I thought it was so cute. He stayed up pretty late on Thanksgiving and played cards and ate a lot of junk. Its days like this he will always remember.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

2007-11-30T13:30:00.001-08:00

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to Everyone! I have been so busy with the holidays that I have not had much time for blogging. I hope everyone had a very satisfying and delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I decided to host Thanksgiving this year (only because I knew we weren't going to have a big crowd) and let me tell you, I never knew how much work it was. It is pathetic that I am even saying this because I only had to help make mashed potatoes and buy rolls from the store, but still. I decided to be festive and make everyone pilgrim and indian hats. Thankfully Erin helped out and we got them done just in the knick of time. Unfortunately it kind of freaked Dillon out when he saw his Daddy with the indian hat on so the hats were short lived. As the night went on Dillon warmed up and more guests came over and were delighted to take part in celebrating the true meaning of Thanksgiving. It was a really fun Thanksgiving and now I look forward to celebrating my most favorite holiday of all. CHRISTMAS!!!

Daddy the Pilgrim and Henry the Wampagnoa Indian.
Avery James ate lots of turkey. Gobble, gobble, gobble.
Daddy the homey G pilgrim carving the turkey.

Aunt Meme and Uncle Dave looking festive. Jaime actually had a pretty good attitude about this one.

I've been tagged (this ones for you Kata)

2007-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

This is a different tag, so here are the rules:A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.B. Each player lists 6 little-known facts/habits about themselves.C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I am a full time Mom and part time dental hygienist. As if having one full time job is not enough I decided to take on more. Going to work is actually kind of relaxing to me and it gives me a little control in my life. As most of you know who have little children at home, there is no way to have control over many things such as having a clean house or being able to go to the grocery store with out your toddler or baby going off like a time bomb.
2. I love to pick at zits or black heads. I also like the put biore strips on my hubands nose. He has really good pores for this and I always study the strip after pulling it off because I am so amazed and yet fullfilled at the same time.
3. I killed my pet canary when I was 11 years old. It was not just me though. Jaime was there too. We thought it was funny to throw the bird across the room and wait for it to catch its wings and then fly away. Then we thought it was funny to throw the bird at eachother because it always caught its wings and flew away before it reached us. Well one time I threw the bird at Jaime and it crashed right into her head and died. My mom never found out this until many many years afterward.
4. My children are gifts from God. All children are gifts from God, but he had to be a little more creative when helping us to get pregnant. Aunt MeMe will always have a special place in our hearts.
5. Speaking of God, I could not live without the Lord in my life. I am so thankful that I have him to help me with my sanity. I can't imagine living a day in my life without his awesome Grace.
6. And lets see. Well I can't think of what to write for 6. And I don't think I can even think because Avery just woke up and he has asked me to play Handy Manny about 57 times in the last 4 min.

O.K. that's it. I tag only Erin and Lisa because they are the only other people I know with a blog. Sorry to you guys!

Avery James Downey

2007-11-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

This is Avery's very first school picture! Avery has been going to Friendship Celebration Preschool this year and is thoroughly enjoying himself. He gets to play and then do a craft and then play and then have a snack and then play and then go outside to play and then come back inside to play. It is real vigorous in the world of academia (is that a word?). Anyway he is doing great and Grandpa Kuntz will be pleased to know that they did not have to change to curriculum for our Avery James. He comes home every day with something new to decorate our house with (of course I have to hang everything up) and he comes home and talks to us about everything he learned about Jesus. He tells us that sometimes Jesus hits Daddy. And I say to him, "yes sometimes Jesus has to hit Daddy to get his point across." I look at this picture in amazement of how much our little baby has changed in the last three and a half years. It makes Kevin and I hang on to every moment because life passes by way too fast. Speaking of going too fast, look at what Avery has now decided to do on his motorcycle.

Trick or Treat Time!

2007-11-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here they are, animals on parade. We got together with the Elliott's and decided to have a clan of jungle animals this year. Avery of couse started the fad because he has wanted to be an elephant since last year. The babies were so cute and they were great sports about having on thier costumes.
Henry's costume although a little small looked soooo cute on him. He didn't even know he had it on. He enjoyed taking bites out of the lids of the pumkins again tonight. They are vegetables though aren't they?
Avery James was a pro at the trick or treating game. He would knock on the door and then yell "trick or treat," before the people even opened the door.
From left to right: Dillon (tiger), Brennen (lion), Henry (Zebra), Avery (our fearless elephant)

Halloween Cookie Party

2007-10-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

In celebration for Halloween we decided to have a cookie party. We had the Krahn's and the Ramey's over for some sweet fun. Anne, Kerri, and I have been friends for a long time and it is so good to catch up every once in a while. Anne and Kerri both have three beautiful children. It is so great to be in this stage of life with the both of you. Thank you for your friendships.
The kids frosted cookies and topped them with lots and lots of candy and sprinkles. You can also see that Kerri and Lizzy were festive with their costumes.
This is Rylie (Anne's oldest girl)
This is Miss Chloe (Anne's middle child)
And Kerri's sweet Lizzie (she and Avery had a wedding today)
This husky guy is Jack. He is Kerri's also. He is only 9 mo. old and is very big.

Halloween Preparations

2007-10-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

This was Henry's first year as a master carver. And as you can see we also let Avery carve his own pupkin.
Henry ate a lot of pumpkin last night. I should start serving it to him more for vegetables.
Last night we got together with family to do some pumpkin carving. Although Aunt MeMe(Jaime) had a bad attitude again this year, we still had a fun time.

Capitol Dental at Tamarack

2007-10-28T08:12:00.001-07:00

This weekend we were fortunate, our doctors gave us a treat,

Our Annual planning meeting was a Tamarack retreat.

The weekend was full of good friends and good fun,

And even better yet, our bronco team won.

We talked about the years, our rears, and drank beers,

and the car ride to the lodge almost brought Vicki to tears.

Suzy sat in the hot tub for the very first time,

We had lots of good food and Petre's good wine.

Thank you Capitol Dental, you have answered my wish,

I get to work with great people and I get to throw fish.

Little Hegstead Blessings

2007-10-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go out to Caldwell to visit the Hegsteads last night. It was so good to see how well they are doing. They have four beautiful children now and seem happier than ever. Pam is such a wonderful Mom and Heggy, he is alright too(if you all remember Heggy was the one dancing on the tables at our wedding. He has now retired from those sorts of behaviors. Kind of). The twins Jack and Gretta were born over six weeks early and are very healthy little babies. Spencer and Charlie have a great bond with each and you can tell they really care about thier new siblings. Thank you Josh and Pam for dinner and the pumkin painting.

2007-10-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yeah Broncos! The Boise State Bronco pulled another one off tonight. We went over to the Nilson's house and shoved our faces full of high calorie apetizers. The kids settled for cookies, brownies, and juice for dinner. Anyway everyone had fun and here are a few cute pics. For those of you who don't know the babies from left to right are Brennen, Henry, and Dillon. Brennen and Dillon are my two cute as can be nephews. And of course another picture of Avery and Carson being Avery and Carson.

2007-10-17T15:29:00.001-07:00

Hello There! Welcome to the Downey Family Blog. I guess I am going to jump on to the bandwagon and start a blog page for our family. What does Blog stand for anyway? Whatever it stands for I can tell you it is a website for our family that our friends and families can view at any time and post comments or note to us. So let's see how this goes! I posted this picture of Avery and Henry because I think they look so cute together. I can already tell that they are going to be great friends and also great wrestling partners.

2007-10-17T15:20:00.001-07:00