We are now in the second half of Thursday Rundowns for 2025. I hope you have enjoyed this year’s posts thus far and if you haven’t—I doubt you will like this one 😉. Alright, let’s get started.
Moving Moment – On Independence Day morning, I took my kids to the Coeur d’Alene American Heroes Parade that is held every Fourth of July. With the parade occurring just five days after the ambush attack on firefighters just outside of town, you figured the community would use the event to honor the two individuals who lost their lives. Did they ever. The parade’s opening was dedicated to John Morrison and Frank Harwood. Two riderless horses representing the lives of Morrison and Harwood led the procession with firetrucks and firefighters following close behind.

Two riderless horses pass from our vantage point at the Coeur d’Alene American Heroes Parade.
Backdrop Photos Back – With the arrival of summer, Sloan and Beau returned to St. Paschal’s Educare, a daycare center we have enrolled our kids at the past few years. Everything from the hours to the food to the values instilled are great, but what I really enjoy are the monthly photos they take of the kids in front of fun backdrops. The classic Fourth of July backdrop from last year returned this week. I always get a kick out of the faces that Beau makes. Thanks, St. Paschal’s!

I love the monthly photos that the staff at St. Paschal’s EduCare take of my kids.
Frozen S’mores – While we are still on the topic of Independence Day, I wanted to tell you about the dessert Sidney made for my parents’ Fourth of July cookout. She brought frozen s’mores to the party! She got the idea from a friend and then replicated them perfectly for Friday. The dessert is refreshing with an interesting frozen texture. Chocolate pudding, marshmallow crème, cream cheese, and cool whip form the layers of goodness stuffed between the two graham crackers. There is still plenty of time to make these for your next summer BBQ so tap here if you want the recipe.

Sidney holding a plate of her s’mores dessert.
$5 Meal Deal – The latest trend is for Fast food restaurants to offer some type of meal for $5. After years of increasing prices and shrinkflation, I think we all deserve it. But the university I work at has actually offered a similar deal way before fast food restaurants embraced it. Earlier this week, I forgot my lunch at home so I went to EWU’s PUB (the student center) for the $5 meal day that is offered daily. For just 20 quarters, I got a cheeseburger, tater tots, and a 24 oz. drink. What a treat!

This was my lunch on Monday…EWU’s $5 meal deal.
Memorable Photo Shoot – On this date in 2016, I wrote about a photo shoot that ended up being worth every penny. While on our honeymoon, the DreamArt Photography rep stationed in our resort sold us on a private photo session to commemorate our time in Cancun. I went back and forth on whether to bite the bullet, but I thought the shoot would ultimately be a timeless souvenir. I am so glad we did it. The photos turned out great at the time and I love them even more now. In fact, I might love them a little too much—one of the photos is still my profile photo (yeah, I should probably change that).

I loved how our honeymoon photos turned out.
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That will do it for now. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Rob Heacock. He died unexpectedly this past weekend. I got to know Rob through my involvement with our St. Mary Knights of Columbus Council and was saddened to hear of his passing. Don’t Blink.