North Idaho Fair

We finish off the summer with the fair every year thanks to our awesome

ELEPHANT EAR BOOTH

where we make ears for missions!

Between all of our shifts and babysitting, we took our boys hit some food, toys and rides (which they LOVED...can you tell?)

And thier favorite thing is always looking at the animals.

But this year they TURNED INTO animals.....??!!?

horse face!!
They sure keep life exciting. :)

COUPLE'S RETREAT!!

BACKPACKING

Here we are above Bonners Ferry, ID with 4 of our closest friends!!

The movie "couple's retreat" spurred the trip, we invited a bundle of other couples and it ended up being the "original 6":

LtoR: Tim and Sara Bastedo, Amy and Kirk Holding, Jon and Brynne

The beginning!

Tim, Jon, Kirk, Amy, Sara

The first lake we hiked to: BIG FISHER. So beautiful!!

the water was COLD!! We swam & had lunch.

the men!

Zoey came, too. Such a loyal pup!

the whole first day was climb! (and yeah, we sang the song by Mylie Cyrus!) Here we are on the ascent, almost to the top and soon to drop into the second lake, TROUT LAKE!

The Bastedos "the chefs"

In lieu of couple's retreat....here's us. ;)

The Holdings

me and my girl!

Here we are above the world!! (and Trout Lake)

Our camp at trout lake

Yeah, we had to climb to the top of that peak to get out!!

We ate SOO good! Tim made us steak, potatoes, and green beans.

We also had fresh trout thanks to us!! :)

The trip was about 15 miles in 2 days. Lots of memories in such a short time!! It was a tough hike, but was so nice to get out in God's country with great company and work hard. We'll never forget the skinny dipping (shhh! crazy boys.), rock jumping, the awesome trail "medley", etc. As Kirk would say, "Such a neat, neat time."

Love you all!

Coeur d'Alene Olympic Triathlon

...and @ 7 am we're OFF!

The 1 mile swim

(in cda lake)

Pulling my swim cap off in the zebra top. My bro, Tim, is right behind me in red.

breathing hard to transition!
getting ready to bike 26 miles. (again I'm looking @ Tim behind in red/gray stripe)
starting the 6.2 mile run!

the lone Gatten representatives this year!

My #1 and only support crew member...love you, Babe!!

Although I added 9 mins to my time from last year (probably from doing most of my training in a gym due to Jon's newer position with Zoll) I was able to keep my title as the "REIGNING ATHENA"

and won my division again. :)

So, as I went to Jon's parents' in Hayden after the race, I came home to this:

Thanks for the support everyone!!

Hayden Lake is Happenin'!!!

Every summer we spend a good chunk of our time here.

(well, this year it was 2 driveways up from the last few, but generally same place ;)

I present to you, The Erickson family funhouse.

There are plenty of toys and movies,
"Grammie bath times" in the big tub,

movie time in the kid cave,

yummy meals by Grammie, adult game nights, fires in the firepit, and of course, extreme days on Hayden Lake!

the daredevil, JJ

Bruce II

Brandon and Sherry

the brothers (don't ask)

There's lots of dock tricks,

chillaxin,

awesome jumps,

and even more amazing dock jumps (while saying "summer kitty")!

Emma

Cade, Jon, Jay

both our boys were obsessed with jumping! Go Cade!

Sherry and Audrey

"Taco Hoots" aka "Laundry"

And, of course, there is always water skiing and tubing to the point of adrenaline induced breakdowns.

Bruce, Brandon, Emma

Audrey on the boat

Blue skies!

the flag man

Cade (our cute Xtreme tuber!!) with Grandpa

"Show your muscles!"

Yeah, we tubed like this!

Bruce II and dad, brandon.

Cade loves Emma!

Grandpa

Crazy JJ

Camila, Audrey

Some of the cousins!

It's always a great time!!