Festival of Trees

Shanna got tickets to the Festival of Trees gala dinner from her employer this year, so we got all dressed up and made an appearance. Interesting little event to raise money for the local hospital, with tons of over-the-top trees and even more wealthy donors. Definitely not our crowd, but entertaining nonetheless. Shanna was giddy with the prospect of a Formal Sam.

11.19.2007 8:43a

The Annual Dress-Up Party

Here's the crew that woo'ed all the neighbors into giving up gallons of candy.....

(un)Salmon

Sometime in October, Dad and I went over to Bandon for a quick salmon weekend. It rained from the very start to the bitter end, which is to be expected that time of year. No fish, which is never expected, regardless of how often it happens. We had a great time with Jason and Kraig trolling around anyway. This is what happens when I get bored. I need to a long pole to hold the camera up on so I can get the entire scene.

Time Flies

Boy oh boy, I see it's Dec 8 already. 'Bout time for a new post. Nah.

Roughing it (kinda)

Sally came to visit in early October, and she somehow convinced the kids that they needed to camp out in the back yard at night. If I would have suggested it, there would have been nothing but complaints until I gave up and went back inside....anyway, I gave them our oldest cheapest tent and said 'good luck with that'. They successfully made it 3 or 4 nights, even though the temps dropped down into the 30's that week! Note the cooler for drinks and the power cord for the DVD player. Not pictured is the medical kit, lantern, art supplies and a million extra blankets. Not sure what role the cow skull played.

Sooper Cooper Soccer

Coop was in soccer this fall for the first time ever, and suprise suprise, he did a great job. He was in the Tots class, and at that level they just rotate through different skills stations for the practices, then finally played a mini game at the last practice. In which Cooper scored all the points for his team. Serious. I actually felt kind of embarassed.






All of the parents have a challenge just keeping the little ones engaged throughout the practice, much less actually learning soccer stuff. The highlight of the season was Cooper telling a girl that he was supposed to be kicking towards to "get your head in the game" because she was watching the planes fly by. Needless to say, we'll be in the fives (the next group up) in the spring so he is the one getting picked on instead!

Um, hi.

[Sam, acting as if nothing happened]: Hey what's up!
[Faithful spambanana readers]: Where the heck have you been?
[Sam]: Around.
[Spammers]: Whatever. I'm outta here.

The One Post, One Picture Sept Update

Wow, things are really getting out of hand here at SpamBanana. We are either 1)so busy that I just don't have time for that silly blog, or 2)have been doing absolutely nothing of interest so there's nothing to post. Don't worry, sometimes I wonder too.

We've had a nice warm fall, so the boating season is stretching on nicely. Happy 2nd anniversary to our little floating friend.

Shanna whippin it to it down at Swan Falls.

What a jerk

HaHA, This blog is NOT Absolutely Banana's approved, but because she posted the code to her tag, I get to approve myself. I think that's pretty funny.

August Update

Settling into a monthly routine here at SpamBanana....I used to complain about people like me who didn't update their blog very often. Now what should I complain about?...I'm sure I can come up with something.....clutter. Clutter is my new platform. I don't like blogs with stuff strewn all around cluttering up the real content.

Ok, First is Mia's birthday party - a mermaid theme down at the pool. Lots of screaming 2nd graders running around - and everyone seemed to have a good time screaming. Having the pool there made it pretty easy for the girls to stay busy!

Shanna did a great job of getting the theme together (Mia was impressed, and that's tough to accomplish).


Grandma Linda made up a fantastic cake. It was definitely the talk of the party!


Mia and Courtney trying to eat various parts and pieces off the cake.

In other news, Daddy denies that his little girl is 7.........

Somewhere in the middle of the month, Mia lost a tooth. Well, I helped a little with old 'let me feel your tooth' twist and pull shocker. She obviously recovered and even forgave me the same day.

Last, but certainly not least, Cooper turned 4. The Main Event was on Thursday night when we attended the opening Bronco football game vs Weber State. A pretty lackluster opponent, but at least he got to see lots of touchdowns (28-0 in the first quarter, 56-7 final)! Then on Saturday we had a small party for him.....unfortunately he was puking Friday night and in the morning, so we called off most of the activities and just had a low-key deal. He still had a great time, and you'd never guess he was sick when the presents started showing up.

Grandma Linda did up a skateboard halfpipe cake this time....


Surrounded by spoilage.


Grandma Lori gave him a BSU jersey and Scout a hat, so now he can just get all Bronco'd out on game day. We'll be wearing that to school on Monday! As a side note, he dressing himself completely now days - in the morning he walks in and asks two questions. Is it a school day? and Is it going to be hot? and then reappears a few minutes later ready to go. What a big boy.....I'm afraid my babies are gone forever!!!!!

The last present he unwrapped was the skateboard he had been asking for for months. I have no idea what he's gonna do with it other than hurt himself (he says 'tricks') but I got him one anyway, along with as much protective gear as possible.

Cute little bugger.

Time flies when you're cooking in the sun

I can't believe how quickly the blog posts grow old. It seems like just a few days ago when I posted the McCall wedding pictures. Time flies when you're cooking in the sun - we've been busy and hot. Here's a one-post update of the last couple of weeks.

The annual Twilight Criterium is always a fun Saturday night. Once again it was a 100 degree day, but by 8p it had finally cooled down enough to be enjoyable. The main had over 100 riders, so it was quite a pack whizzing by every few minutes. Highlights of the evening included pitas from The Pita Pit and meeting lots of people on the street that we hadn't seen for months or even years.

On Sunday afternoon we went to the lake with Con and Heidi, Sienna and Remi. Again, ridiculously hot, so even the frigid waters of Lucky Peak were a welcome relief. The kids did great with the boat (Heidi wasn't sure what Remi would think) and the water. Last year Cooper would go ankle deep at most but he is much more adventurous this year to the point you gotta keep your eye on him because he 'thinks' he can swim for real. But he can't.

This weekend we had two birthdays and a potluck to go to so that was pretty much it. One of the birthdays was at Roaring Springs so the whole family went. It was a lot of fun because Mia is just tall enough, and just barely bold enough to go on most of the rides.

All for now. -Sam

Rith this wing, I whee thed....

We had a great time up in McCall last weekend for Nicole and Jeremy's wedding. We stayed in our favorite rental 'cabin' again , this time with Brad and Patty and Mark and Brenda. The kids were in the wedding, so we went to the rehearsal on Friday night as well. Took the boat and went fishing with very little luck, but as usual it's just nice to be out on the water. Not sure why my fish locating skills have been so poor lately, but if I don't have a good outing soon, Shanna's going to start to question my manliness.

Kickin it with the sunset at the rehearsal

Cooper getting wild on the bunk bed
Dual flower girls and ring bearers looking really cute
With the lovely bride. All the kids did an excellent job standing up front in the sun during the entire ceremony.
A job well done deserves a little pool time
They had an interesting cake table, where friends and family baked a little something to add to the small wedding cake. All the goodies were a big hit with the crowd - a heck of a lot better than the usual mints and pretzels.
The ladies getting the cabin ready for Lori's 50th birthday
Running from the waves at Cascade lake

Family schmamly

Rob and Andrea drove over the other day, which is no small feat considering that they live in Illinois. So we did what any family would do in this situation.....fish, eat and take pictures.

Is it a fish? No, just a big long weed that is a lot of fun to play with, especially since Uncle Sam can't actually find any real fish.

Anthony was really excited to drive the boat. Then he discovered how easy it is to fall asleep at the wheel.

Grandma had Carson and Wyatt over to play with the boys...and girl. Unusual situation for Mia, as she almost always has girls around and it's Coop that's left out. Here is a link to the first picture, which I couldn't use because Cooper beat me to the punch.

And of course on Sunday, you'd better take a picture or twenty while everybody is cleaned up. In front of the corn field is kind of funny. Further perpetuating the Idaho/Iowa mixup that people seem to have.
..and Shanna's side of the family too! How lucky we are to have such a nice bunch of laws and in-laws!!

Our New Coffee Table

Rick sent me this link to a new product by Microsoft called Surface, that looks like a PC-enabled coffee table that....well, just watch the video.

May catch-up

Shanna and the kids stayed very busy while I was gone in Baja, and one of the activities was a trip to Oregon to see family. They stayed a night with Aunt Julie, who is helping her husband run a ranch, and a night with Grandma Carol on the coast. Here are some pictures. I'd narrate more, but they are all in bed and the details escape me. Even though I was nodding my head and saying uh-huh uh-huh I must not have been listening.....

Cooper's been wearing his rubber boots ever since. I'm serious - it's 90 degrees outside and he wants to wear camo shorts, a bass pro shops t-shirt and black rubber boots to school. And I let him. He finally had to quit because they were chafing his shins.