Cam's 6th Decade Surprise Birthday Bash

The cake says it all!

Right before the birthday toast....before all of the guests arrived....my favorite picture with Cam!

Mom and I being silly taking pictures of each other.

Monica, Bry, Z and Rob--birthday toast--pre-party.

Since the beginning of the year we have been planning a SURPRISE birthday bash to celebrate Cam's 6th decade in the making...that's right a surprise for his 60th. For those of you who know Cam, know that everyone knows him and he knows everyone....that's just how it goes when you live in a small town for 30+ years, are the chief of police, on search and rescue and just about every other volunteer duty at some point or another. So keeping a surprise was a difficult task, but we pulled it off and pretty effectively. In the end we had around 75 guests, including the mayor and city administrator of Sun Valley, all of Cam's officers (minus 1...who I imagine will be taking some hard hits over missing his bosses 60th birthday party...what were you thinking....no names mentioned, but the picture below might give it away), multiple county officers, firemen, architects, friends, family and even a band! It was a good turn out. And a good party to remember!

Setting up Saturday....the weather was perfect. Not too cold, but not too hot!

Zac:)

Deane taking a break from the bbq to be silly...we all had a good time!

Cam with all of his officers...minus one! The picture states the obvious!

The band played from 7:00-9:00. They played 80's music and were a great addition to the party.

Deane pulled out his grille and bbqed New York strip, salmon, lamb chops, ribs, cornish game hens and even a few burgers for the kids. It was delicious. We asked the guest to bring some sort of side dish with the recipe to provide Cam with a book full 60th birthday recipes. The food was to die for! We had everything from crock pot smoked ghouda mac n cheese, fresh basil, mozzarella and tomatoes, homemade dips, shish-ka-bobs, chicken wings, pasta salads, fruit and random desserts. Amazingly, we had enough beer, wine, water and soda to last through the evening and now Mom and Cam will have it up in McCall for entertaining up there! Better to have enough than to run out. In fact, the only thing we ran out of were napkins...that's right, the food was that finger lickin good!

Gma and Gpa Broadie...what a great picture!

Cousin Seth rocking out with the microphone and Hannah having way too much fun!

It was a great turn out. The entire weekend was a joy! Friday night we had dinner with Mom, Cam, Jonathan, Anna and Brylee. We all called it an early night. Saturday we spent most of the day getting ready, but it was a calm day...everything just fell into place. By 3:30 Cam called a "family gathering" to take a shot of whiskey per his request to do a toast in honor of his birthday. Everyone including Mom and Monica joined in. My belly was warm before the guest even arrived. At 4:30 on the dot, everyone showed up! And the party began!

A little later in the evening...if you couldn't tell by both Cam and my facial expressions!

A couple of panoramic views by nightfall.

It was a night and a party to remember. It was even more special planning it for such a special guy! My life wouldn't be the same without Cam in it. I'm a lucky girl! Hope this 60th year brings Cam lots of good laughs, memories, smiles, journeys and love....he deserves it.

More pictures will be coming....once I go through all 345 pictures off of Mom's camera from the weekend. Don't worry, Jonathan and Anna I didn't forget about you!!!

McCall

Last Wednesday Zac and I headed up to McCall for our first stay at Cam and Mom's cabin. It was absolutely beautiful and relaxing. The cabin is really coming along and Mom's decor is very cabinish, which is totally different for her.

Zac and I were up by ourselves...we missed Mom and Cam by a couple of days, so they left us a list to work on. For Wednesday and Thursday we were busy, busy, busy! We accomplished almost everything on the list, plus more! Zac worked on the chimney missing some rocks, we caulked around the front door, Zac finished caulking the main windows, while I cleaned all of the outside windows. While Zac was working on the chimney, I started sanding the master bedroom doors (which was on the list)....but in a phone conversation with Mom she mentioned staining the doors if we had time. So, needless to say I took on that monster of a project...which was not on the list, but needed to be done. Zac got me started on every step. While I was cleaning, conditioning and then staining, Zac was able to fill the holes in the foundation. We were productive! And only two stops to the hardware store.

Friday, we woke up to a mess under the house. The guys working on the insulation in the crawl space knocked on the door around 8:00am, just as I was getting out of the shower to say there was a puddle of water in the crawl space. GREAT! Not a leak. So I called the plumber and he was able to get out the same day...after doing some investigating and asking the right questions to the right people, together with teamwork, we discovered there wasn't a leak at all....just the temporary sewer system was backed up. Gross...I know, but it sure beats a leak! The plumber flushed out the clog and we were back in business. Needless to say, for about 3 hours I was without water, which after two big cups of coffee, I was hurting. And this all happened after Zac left. Luckily everything worked out and by early afternoon the water was back on and the sewer drain was unplugged!

Zac headed out with the boys golfing for Nick's bachelor's party. I cleaned the house and cleaned the inside windows. The cabin has central vac and it works great! I loved plugging in the hose and just going. I enjoyed my day at the cabin, just hanging out with the dogs. Zac got back around 5:00ish. He showered and got ready for what became a big night!!!! He dropped me off at the Perseo's around 7:00 so I could see the girls. Craig took us all out to dinner at the golf course and it was fun to visit and catch up. They dropped me off and I slept at the cabin alone with the dogs....I didn't sleep that well, but I made it through the night.

Zac got home around 9:00 Saturday morning and I could tell he had a big night. He said they had a blast, but he paid for it all day Saturday. After two trips to the store for dramemine (to stop the spins), pepto bismal, soda crackers, ramen noodles, powerade and pedialyte....by 4:00pm he was feeling well enough to pack up the truck and head out. I did have to drive back to Boise, but we didn't have to make any stops luckily!



Kitchen with new light over island and rack over bar.

One of the 3 holes Zac filled with concrete. You can't even tell he did them...they look great and now there aren't any holes for cats and critters to access the crawl space.

These are the doors off of the dining room, we needed to match the master bedroom and bathroom doors to these with the stain.

Master bedroom doors that I sanded, conditioned and stained...they look pretty good!

Door off of the master bathroom that I stained.

Bird's eye view of the main sitting room. The couches and tables look great!

We had a great time in McCall. We were able to get a lot done and have fun too! The weather was wonderful. The cabin is comfortable and spending time with friends is always good! We look forward to our next visit up there...hopefully in September!

Brylee's First Sleepover!

Zayden and Brylee came over for an afternoon playdate with Uncle Zac and Auntie Em. We read books, played with the dogs, played outside, painted and played with toys....but by far Zayden and Bry loved playing with Uncle Zac in the "bean bag pool." Both kids had smiles from ear to ear and the giggles were roaring.

Uncle Zac, Bry and Zayden playing!

Bry's favorite game/activity while staying with Zac and Emmy....playing with Uncle Zac.

Our favorite niece and newphew...they're precious!

Later on we took Bry and Zayden to Grandma Truxal's new place off of Parkcenter. Brylee was a big help with the packing peanuts. Later we headed to Nana's where we met up with Monica and Rob. We had dinner and Zayden is a master at eating corn on the cob. He's a good little eater!

Monica and Rob took Zayden with them and Brylee was super excited for her first sleepover at Zac and Emmy's. She was a superstar. We only had one mishap...but no tears...we do not own a nightlight. After some problem solving, searching and hoping maybe Bry would fall asleep without one and forget about it (which didn't happen...Brylee doesn't forget about things very easily) we found a little BSU flashlight (courtesy of a student gift last year), which was the perfect brightness for Bry and set perfectily on the ground. Phewww!

The next morning, Bry and I read books, picked up dog poop and painted all sorts of pictures for Mommy, Daddy, brother, Nana, Uncle Zac and Emmy. We did a lot of painting. I tried painting my own picture to speed up the process, but Bry insisted on painting one for me. Despite using her new paintbrushes from Nana, cottonballs were the most effective. And for everyone who knows Bry...you know how precise and particular she is. Once her cottonball had one color on it, she "needed" a new one. Needless to say we went through a half of bag of cottonballs, easily.

We had a great time spending an afternoon with Bry and Z and a first ever sleepover from Bry. Can't wait for our next visit!

Grandparents come to town!

Two weekends ago, Grandma and Grandpa Broadie and Grandma Sandy came down to Boise with Kyle, Sherry and Chelsea to help get Chelsea moved into her new place. Friday, they got Chelsea's place cleaned and all of her stuff moved in. Zac and I made it over in time for a quick trip to the BSU bookstore (which definitely made me miss being a college student...but got both Zac and I excited for the upcoming football season). Zac helped with getting the futon assembled. Grandma, Grandpa and Kyle stayed at our house, while three generations of daughter, mom and grandma stayed at Chelsea's new place.

Saturday we were busy, busy, busy....making stops at Cabela's, Target, some builder's thrift store, Idaho Running Co, Albertson's, Winco and Fred Meyer. Sunday we enjoyed a greasy breakfast and before we knew it, they were on the road.

Sunday afternoon Zac and I helped move my Grandma Truxal into her new place off of Parkcenter. We're excited to have Grandma T back in Boise. Now we'll be able to see her more often. Lucky for us we were able to see all of our grandparents in one weekend! That doesn't happen very often.

Girls Weekend

Last weekend we made our way up to McCall for a girls weekend....girls only, which meant the dogs weren't even invited. It was relaxing and fun all at the same time. I was the only teacher so I learned a lot about radiology/x-ray/mammo/radiation therapy...which is good news for Zac. (Should he decide to venture into the radiology program I know a lot of girls who can help!) I had fun spending time with Kirtley and we reminisced about all of our high school memories. I enjoyed the walk down memory lane.

We had a surplus of red wine, good food, card games and lots of girl talk!



Jonathan took a panoramic picture of us in the mini van...it's backwards (but that's okay) and unfortunately Alyssa and Amber didn't make the picture. In the mini we packed in, Joy and Anna (in the front), Kelly and I (in the middle) and Amber and Alyssa in the very back. On the way up we played "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader." Lucky for us....Amber, Anna and I can officially say we are smarter than a 5th grader!




Kirtley getting the campfire ready.

The fire...and Jane's idea of putting a box on a branch sticking off a log....we had 2 fires going on!

Alyssa and kelly!

Thanks girls for a fun weekend....and thanks boys for taking care of the dogs so we could enjoy a dog-free girls weekend!