Broyles

The first weekend in February, Todd and I drove to Pocatello (a city in Eastern Idaho) to visit the infamous Fica family. Mike, Todd’s cousin, is an Assistant US Attorney, married to Ila (super Mom) and has five children -- yes I said five. Zak (17) is the oldest, flowed by Emily (11), David (10), Joey (8), and Ben (5). Todd’s Aunt Dorothy, Mike’s mom, lives there too, along with a dog, a cat, three turtles, and some hissing cockroaches. Why not? Uncle Tom (passed away eight years ago) and Aunt Dorothy were like grandparents to Todd growing up and therefore, he spent a lot of time with Mike.

You have to be one tough character to hang with the Ficas. They are non-stop, on the go, busy folks (that’s where the five kids come in). We arrived Friday afternoon and met Mike at work. He gave us our own private tour of the courthouse which included the attorney’s offices, courtrooms, security and the US Marshal’s offices. It was really cool. Todd and I thoroughly enjoy talking to Mike – he is extremely smart, humble, and open minded – plus he is always good for bad guy stories.

All of their kids are extremely respectful, smart and just fun to be around. Mike and Ila have done a phenomenal job when it comes to parenting. In fact, Todd and I will borrow pages out of their book to apply to our children. Todd enjoyed playing checkers with David (Aunt Dorothy looked on) and rough housed with Joey and Ben.

Late Friday afternoon, we were off to the house to round everyone up to go to dinner and Zak’s basketball game. Zak goes to Century and that night they played Poky High. It was a big game. After sweating it out (the fans and the players) into triple overtime, Century won!

Saturday morning we all got dressed up for Joey’s baptism. It was a great day for him. Ila had planned a party for him afterward and he invited friends and neighbors. He looked so handsome in his suit!! But before the party began, we squeezed in a basketball game for David. Ila is the coach. How she does it all is beyond me. . .super Mom, remember?
















After Joey’s party, we went to the stables and watched Emily ride and jump her horse. Ila and David helped get the horse all ready to go and then we walked over to the arena where Emily rides. She was amazing.

The final highlight was feeding feeder gold fish to the turtles. The whole family cheered on the event. It was too much fun. Todd and I had a great weekend, and although we left tired, we had smiles on our faces. Thanks guys!