June Ohio Trip

Three months have flown by without me even realizing it. By the end of the week, I will catch all of you up on the things that Will and I have been doing this summer. The first of which is the trip I took to Ohio.

My cousin Brian Muhlenkamp had his wedding the weekend I was in Ohio. It was a beautiful wedding and I had a great time chatting with family members. It was a great way to see everyone during the short time that I was with them.
Of course my mother never looses an opportunity to take a family photo.
The latest from the "Buening" family.






Rygh and I went to Sunday services at United Christian Church in Englewood. I couldn't wait to hear Coleen preach again. Will and I truly miss her. She has such passion about the Word, and delivers such a powerful message. Only those with completely hardened hearts would dare say differently. We are blessed to have Coleen and our other friends from UCC in our lives. We think of them often.
After Church we went out to lunch at La Rosa's.

Rygh was very excited about the cross bracelet that Coleen gave him.








Group shot of Coleen, Karen, Heather and myself.








After Church on Sunday, Mom and Dad had a wonderful picnic style get together. I had such a great time visiting with everyone.







I also had an opportunity to have dinner with two of my close friends, Kate and Jenny. It was great to see them again and spend time together.

Thanks to everyone that helped make my trip a memorable one!

Cooking!

Being that I am a working wife and mother, sometimes I feel like there just isn't enough time in a day. One of the things that tend to take up most of my time it seems, is dinner. So, as some of you know, I am taking a different approach to cooking. I make up a menu, or dishes that I want to eat that month, make out a grocery list based on the food I pick out, print out coupons, and hit the grocery store. I am finding that we are eating much healthier, spending less money, and spending more time together. I usually do this over a weekend because it usually takes me all day Saturday and sometimes Sunday to make up all the food and freeze it. I just decide a day or two in advance what we would like to eat, and pull it out of the freezer to thaw. For some of the dishes, I found it was better to prepare them and bake them after I unfreeze it. I am beginning to realize that I like to cook a lot more than I thought I did. Rygh and Will are being wonderful at trying all of the food I am making. (Vegetarian dishes and all)

In combination with making food for the family, I have been making my own soups for my lunch. I was getting tired of Turkey noodle soup, so I decided to branch out. I made an incredible batch of Tomato, Butternut Squash, and Herb soup.

I was able to get 11 servings of soup from one batch.
Will likes to joke about all of this is helping me prepare for "the jungle". I laugh, but he is probably right. Knowing that I can make food that isn't from a can or box is a good thing.

Mission Aviation Fellowship

On Saturday MAF dedicated their new plane - The Kodiak. Each time MAF adds a plane to their fleet, they dedicate the plane to God and his work. This time was no exception. As MAF president John Boyd put it "We are experiencing history". This is the first time that a plane has been engineered, created, and built for the sole purpose of furthering God's Kingdom. The Kodiak is impressive to see and look at. We are all excited about the new addition. MAF has 15 more Kodiaks on order.

We were all able to check out the new plane. Will spent quite a bit of time explaining all the controls to Rygh.
Rygh is standing in front of the Cessna 206. This is considered the "workhorse" aircraft of MAF's fleet and is being used for most of their missions throughout the world.


As you can see the Kodiak is much bigger and can be of more use in the remote areas.
One of the reasons that Mission Aviation Fellowship wanted a Jet engine plane was because of the cost savings in the jet fuel. ($4/gal) Jet fuel is easier to come by in underdeveloped countries. All of the 206's use Aviation Gas, which can cost up to $13 per gallon in some countries.

Even though the day was mostly raining and overcast, quite a few people showed up for the dedication. John Boyd recognized a father and son that drove all the way from Sacramento California for the event. The son, who is only 14, wants to be a MAF pilot, and is a faithful supporter.After the dedication we took a tour of the headquarters. Rygh was able to see the wreckage from Nate Saints plane. He was a MAF missionary pilot in Ecuador. The movie "End of the Spear" was about his life and work and that of his family, in the mission field. It was an incredible movie.
We were glad to be a part of the celebration and can't wait to be more involved in this ministry!

Finally Caught One!

That's right, we finally caught a fish. It actually fed the entire family the next night. (4 pounds, 20 inches)We believe it is a male brook trout. I am looking forward to stocking our freezer with fish! Hopefully Will and I can start fishing soon. That may be a little trickier than it would have been before the men decided to get a new hobby. The metal detector arrived on Thursday. I am not sure if they will want to go to the river to fish or hunt for buried treasure. We will see.

Tis the season....for fishing

We just got back from fishing. There is something good about the sound of water, geese, fish jumping, and crickets chirping. It makes for a wonderfully relaxing time.
We agreed that Rygh needs a new folding chair! He outgrew his about 3 years ago, and I just haven't replaced it yet. We didn't get any fish, but we were only out for a short while. We are hoping to go again on Friday.
Will and I would like to get our fishing license, but we need to get Idaho drivers licenses first. They will charge us for out of state licenses otherwise. Crazy racket! So far, Rygh is the only one fishing. Will found us a wonderful spot, about 5 miles from home, to fish. The sunset was glorious!

Ask and you shall recieve

I seemed to have totally bypassed our Easter on the blog. It was a very nice, quiet day. We didn't do too much. Our church had an egg "hunt" on Saturday Evening, and Rygh came home with 24 stuffed eggs. This year the pastor asked for help with gathering and stuffing the eggs. On major holiday events we get about 4000 attendees between all of the services, and Pastor Steve knew that he would need people to bring in the eggs. He was aiming for 9,000 plastic eggs this year. He said he had been praying about it for a while. When all of the egg donations were in, he ended up with 17,000 Easter eggs! Ask and you shall receive. It took 5 adults 2+ hours to put them all on the baseball field, and 6 min for the kids to pick them all up!

The mad dash!

Total chaos!
Rygh with Pastor Steve.

John Boyd, the President of MAF was also there with his family. I was able to get in a quick photo op with him and Will.

We colored eggs on Saturday night as well. We rose Sunday Morning, hunted eggs, and enjoyed the wonderful day. Evening Service was great.

Shoshone Falls

Of course there are many wonderful things to do in Idaho. And with the weather getting nicer, it is better for traveling through the mountains or anywhere for that matter. Shoshone falls is just one of the wonders to be found here in the great Gem State (nicknamed because it is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found (the other is the Himalaya Mountains, in India), and is the only place six pointed star garnets have been found).
The shoshone falls is a waterfall on the Snake River located approximately five miles east of Twin Falls, Idaho. Sometimes called the "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls is 212 feet high--36 feet higher than Niagara Falls-- and flows over a rim 900 feet wide.
Because of drought and irrigation, the levels of water of the falls are only about 1/2 of what they used to be. And in late summer much lower than that.
If I would have remembered my camera I could have shown you the incredible pictures. They would have turned out something like these:

http://www.csi.edu/virtualTourSI_/shoshoneFalls.asp

We drove about 2 hours to the falls, spent time looking at the incredible display of water power, fished for a couple of hours and headed home. It was a wonderful time.

Reminders

My mind has been going back in time a lot lately. So many things are different, yet the emotions are so much the same. I still love my sister Chrissy as much today as I did 9 years ago before she passed away. I still miss her with a fierceness that takes my breath away. I look at her pictures so I don't forget her face. I remember so many secrets told under the covers, games played together, pictures drawn, and stories read to each other at night. I remember promises made and questions asked. All of these things are packed away in a section of my brain, and they seem to come out whenever something triggers those moments of hidden remembrances. Pictures that Rygh has drawn with his Pastels.
Big reminders of all the nights that she would stay up late and work on a piece of art while I would be up late reading. I love her and miss her, and I love all of the reminders. I hope I can continue to pull all of the hidden memories out of the closet as time steadily passes.

Skiing

I haven't quite figured out what other "sport" requires people to bundle up like fat cows (in order to stay somewhat warm), fall at least a hundred times, subject themselves to fast speeds with no control, and stay in those conditions for hours on end.
Well... it isn't that bad. Actually it was quite fun. I do have to say that I really enjoyed myself. I admit that Rygh was much better at catching on to snow boarding than I was. I think it has something to do with his center of gravity being closer to the ground than mine. Next time I would like to try skiing. I think it would be much easier to balance and turn.
Of course Will took home the trophy. He has been skiing quite a few times before and he had a really good time. Hopefully we will go back up to the top at least one more time this season. It was a really good way to spend some quality family time together.
Will bought us matching outfits for our Christmas gifts. Don't we look so "red". They really kept us warm though. I am glad I had a one piece outfit. I didn't get any snow up my back when I fell. Rygh loved his board; blue is his favorite color. He has decided that snow boarding is better than skiing. (I am not sure how, as he has not skied yet)
He mastered the bunny hill in two tries. Much better than I did. Will did a great job helping Rygh get his balance in the beginning.

I ended up going to the lodge after about 4 1/2 hours. My bum couldn't take it any more. Hats off to the boys. They kept it up for 5 1/2 hours.

We can't wait to go again. We will keep you posted on my progress. Hopefully I will be better at skiing than snowboarding.

Proud to be an American

In today's world, it seems that fewer schools are instilling a pride for their community and Country. Some public schools do not require the pledge to be said daily or even on occasion. I find it disheartening.
So, when I found out that the 3rd graders were putting on a presentation with the theme being "America", I was wondering were they would take it. Rygh's teacher asked him to say a part in the presentation. He practiced for two weeks
.
I took a half day off from work & Will and I headed to the school. The children did a wonderful job. Patriotic songs were sung. Information was given about our Presidents. The "hardest" part for the kids was to present the Gettysburg Address. I was definitely impressed. They ended the presentation with "God bless America".
I am glad that we are in an area that still thinks it important to teach about the principles that our country was founded on, have pride in our country and to not be afraid to sing a song with God in it.

Rygh did a great job, and we were very proud of him.

Random Rygh pictures

Rygh was helping me make some food the other day, and I couldn't resist taking a shot. He looked so comfy in his robe and slippers.


Rygh also had a blast putting together one of his Christmas gifts. He wanted me to post this one. (He thought that it was just to funny)

Valentines Eve

This year Valentines Day fell on a Saturday. Which I am sure quite a few couples enjoyed celebrating on the actual day. My husband and son decided that celebrating on Saturday just didn't fit into their plans. I worked late on Friday, and just as I was locking up, I get a call from Will, wondering when I would be home. I explained that I was leaving late, had to pick up worms (for Ms. Orange Neck), and get a gallon or two of milk, being that Rygh had used the last of it the night before. Will listened attentively and then told me to hurry home so we could make something to eat, because he was hungry. As I dragged my tired butt all the way to the back of Walmart to pick up the milk, I kept thinking about taking the easy way out and picking up a pizza or something just as simple to make. Why do they put the milk in the back of the store? I imagine it is so that people like me might just give in and pick up other things that they really don't need, but look good or easy to make. Anyway, I didn't give in to my temptations, and after a really long wait at the check out, I headed home. I pulled into the garage, and Will came out to help me bring in the groceries. As he opened the door, I was assaulted by the incredible aroma of dinner, the sound of classical music, and the ambiance of candle light. Rygh was waiting for me as well. He took my coat and purse and escorted me to the table. I was so incredibly surprised and touched by their planning and effort. After seating me at the table, they presented me with valentines cards and (of course I had to shed a tear or two) then we enjoyed our wonderful meal of prime rib, Au gratin potatoes, peas, buttered french bread, and spinach, artichoke dip for an appetizer. After dinner Rygh gave me a foot message, and then we watched a movie. The night was perfect. So, I do think that Valentines Eve may be one on my favorite Holidays.

As most of you know, Rygh went to Ohio for Christmas break and came back home after the first of the year. He was really excited to go, and ended up flying solo. He handled the flights well and we were very proud of him.



We are getting back into the swing of school, church, and activities. Rygh's report card should be coming home soon. We just started a new study on marriage and relationships, for our small church group. I just started working with Canon Business Solutions. The department I was in, was being outsourced to them. The transition went smoothly, and all is going well at work. Rygh's Birthday is coming up soon, and we still haven't figured out what we are going to do for a party. I would like to check out the black light (indoor) miniature golf course. There are a lot of different ideas that we have been discussing.

One of the gifts that we received as a Christmas gift was Guitar Hero. All of us like to play it, and have a blast. Rygh also bought a fighter pilot game with the gift card he received from Cathy and Bob. I need to see if I can get a picture of Rygh and Will playing the game together. They take the office chairs and sit in front of the TV. Pilot and C0-Pilot style. Rygh loves it.



Will took this one of me after I came home from work and decided to play a quick song