Who: Us

What: Company Picnic

When: Last Friday night

Where: Boise~Municipal Park

Why: Because company picnics are awesome. Sometimes. This particular one was anyway.

I LOVE this park. It reminds me of when we were newlyweds and living down by campus. We didn't have any money so we spent hours on our bikes cruising the greenbelt. Ryan Ringel lived just down the street from this park and we spent a lot of time at his house as well.

The food was excellent, the games were fun, the company was okay. It's hard when Justin's the only one that knows these people. I know a few names but that's about it. I know that the guy who looks gay isn't, and the guy who doesn't look gay is. Once he told Justin that if he wasn't gay he'd be a mormon with a family. This strikes me as odd since the two concepts are fundamentally different.

There was a little girl there who was on the rather chunky side for being only fourish. As she ran past us Camdon said to me:

"She looks just like a girl from pre-school. On the first day I sat next to her and the first thing she says to me is 'Don't even THINK about it. I'm taken!" This strikes me as odd because number one...she was only four & number two...she was fat. Not that fat people can't find love, but I think you know what I mean.

After the party we walked over to the MK Nature center.

We were just leaving the nature center when Carter announced he "really had to go poop." I told Justin I'd take him on ahead since the older boys were enjoying the big fish. As we headed down the greenbelt towards the bathrooms I heard Justin yelling my name from 50 feet behind me. I looked back just in time to see a buck run RIGHT past us. He was weaving in and out of traffic along the greenbelt and barely missed Carter. This strikes me as odd since you don't normally see wildlife in the city.

Sometimes we think about moving back home to eastern Idaho. It's nights like these we're glad we're here.

Kay Family Reunion 2010

"There is fun to be done"~Dr. Seuss

Meet the Blair Kay family. In case you get lost, there are 31 of us.

Thirty-one people for three days looks something like this:

17 grandkids in tents....

Just as many in the bounce house.....

And just as many in the pool.......

This black sled was supposed to be used to wash grass off of feet, but the kids decided it made a perfect hot tub instead.

And of course, no family reunion is complete without some Dutch oven cooking & smores....

The theme this year was "Generations of Champions" and we certainly had our fair share of Olympic hopefuls...

We had plenty of gold medal winners.....

And plenty of hungry Olympians....

We also took the kids to Warm River........mostly to give Grandma & Grandpa a break, but also to feed the fish. The trout swim in droves just waiting for a bite of bread.

Then Broc took us to the headwaters......thankfully he knows the back country like the back of his hand:

We always tease when we go home that we're "in God's country." It sure felt like it this day.

That night we all went out to Craigo's for pizza and then watched a movie on the side of the house. Yes, I said the side of the house. It was awesome. Cold. But awesome.

The family talent show deserves it's own post, but let's just say it will be remembered forever.

"Welcome to the Kay's where we do it your way...but don't get crazy!" My niece Kaylie was the best Bon Qui Qui that ever there was.

Carter showed off his mad scientist skills. The oohhs & aahhs from the crowd as he made a volcano explode made it all worth it.

Camdon and Jamon were Pedro and Napolean Dynamite. Jamon nailed the dance.

Broc (our resident cowboy) roped a cow. It was pretty awesome.

Mom always comes up with the best stories. She had 'em eating out of her hand...

She even had a musical number to go with her story......

It was a wonderful three days. I'm so grateful for my father and mother-in-law. They went to a lot of trouble to make this event memorable for everyone.

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family:

Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

I couldn't agree more.

"I Love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."

~Rita Rudner

As of this morning, Justin and I have been married for 14 years. Naturally, I've done some reminiscing. Before I tell you the conclusion I've come to, I have to tell you a little story first. Years and years ago....(weird being able to say that) Justin's little brother, Brian, came to Boise for a concert. He brought his girlfriend with him. They spent the weekend at our house and we had a good time. On the way back home to Rexburg, the girlfriend said to Brian, "I hope I never have to live like that."

You might be asking yourself "Live like what?"

I'll tell you. After college all of our friends were buying houses in Meridian. Yeah, I know. Meridian. We could only afford a house in Kuna. It was an itty bitty thing....1100 square feet. We had an old green couch that we inherited from my grandma when she passed away. Justin's parents had given us their old recliner which was an equal eye sore to the couch.

We had very little food in the pantry and I drove an old piece-o-crap Cherokee Chief that started on fire before we even got it home. If the engine was running, so was the heat. It was unpleasant in the summertime. Three months before I had Jamon, Camdon had to be hospitalized for three days. Then I had the baby. Then 6 weeks after that, I had to have my gall bladder taken out. So, in the space of about 4 months we racked up about $14,000 worth of medical bills.

Justin went to work during the day and I went to work at night.

BUT...

I can remember rocking my babies to sleep in that old recliner.

I can remember getting where I needed to be in that old jeep.

I can remember Justin making me laugh so hard I thought my stitches would fall out after that surgery.

And we had those bills paid off in less than two years.

So, my conclusion is this:

It has been the pleasure of my life to "live that way." We've come a long way baby. Eat your heart out Ashley. Or Amanda. Or whatever her name was. She should be so lucky to have lived where we've lived. I love you Justin. Happy Anniversary!

Order Up!

"Little sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life."

Carter hasn't been feeling well for a while so I finally took him to the doctor to see what was wrong. As we were at the triage desk checking in his little face lit up and he told the receptionist:

"You need to check my mom in too!"

"Is she sick?"

"No but I want a little sister. Can you check her in and when you get her pregnant, I promise to take care of her!"

The poor lady was speechless. I told him not today. I assume it was the fever talking (he's got pneumonia).

I hope so. How can you turn down request like that??!!

Grad School MasterCard Style...

Number of classes I was missing to be eligible for graduate school......5

Number of semesters it took me to get through them......2

Cost of tuition for 2 semesters.......$5,000

Cost of the wrong Praxis test....$180

Cost of the right Praxis test.........$180+$45 late fee

Number of days they crammed one class in....11

Getting an "A" in my first grad class.......priceless

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

While we were in Rexburg Justin took the boys fishing with his dad and brother. They just went under Lorenzo bridge, a few miles from the house. It was the highlight of the trip for Camdon and Carter.

Nothing was caught that day. Well, no fish anyway.........

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
-- Dr. Seuss

We spent Memorial Day weekend over in eastern Idaho. It'll be a year next month that Great Grandma Grover returned home to our Heavenly Father. Of course, we visited her grave.

I fell in love with this picture. It doesn't seem like anything special, but as everyone was turning to leave, Camdon glanced over at some anonymous gravestone. No one else seemed aware of the others.

While we were at the cemetery we saw this:

I told the boys when dad was gone, we'd visit his grave every fall and put a BSU bronco flag by his gravestone. Justin requested that rather than a flag, we put his season tickets next to his grave. After Justin walked away Jamon leaned over and whispered:

"No Way! I'm keeping 'em for myself!"

I was so proud.