The Lassen Family

Whats Taking Up All YOUR Brain Power?

2012-02-02T14:36:00.002-07:00

Well, I know whats taking up all of MY brain power. And that is: my sister Brenda's wedding. The last one of my siblings (and the baby of the family) is getting married in just a few weeks and the planning and doing has taken over most of my thinking and doing. :) I'm really excited for her and can't wait to see everything put together (I may also be getting to the point where I can't wait for it to be over...love ya B! haha)
One of the first big things I got to do was the invitations, we got a couple ideas from the internet and I designed them. We sent them to Costco's Business Center and had some issues with them, but I don't want to think about it anymore, so anyway, here's what they look like: (I did fuzz out the important information, I was worried about wedding crashers or something!) ;)
This is the front side:

This is the back side:

I also designed a poster to go out in front of our photobooth that I thought was pretty fun:

(Actually I changed the lips, but you get the idea!)

I'm also doing a bunch of hair, so we did a run through of my mom the other night and I just had to add pictures because, well, I love it. :)
First up, I just had to add what she looked like just after we
straightened it, I wish I had a picture of the back too but seriously, it was really pretty!

So we wanted to do a sort of beehive, but then I was watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and was inspired by Miss Holly Golightly's hair, and did this. :)

Still need to put the music playlist together and lots of other things but I think we're getting there! I just know its going to be such a fun night!

Snow, Snow, Sn...ICE

2012-01-24T15:37:00.007-07:00

I figure its about time I shared about the crazy weather we've been having. After living in Utah and getting used to snowy winters, when it snows here I feel fairly confidant that we can handle the weather and the driving. Definitely its not the same here as Utah though, where in Utah, it snows and they clear the roads right away and then the snow just kind of stays there for awhile. In general the roads don't get too icy, or too bad to drive on most of the time. Here in Washington though, it doesn't get that cold very often and it doesn't stay cold, so it might snow and then rain on top of the snow and then its VERY icy. Thats just the road conditions, theres also the fact that we have a LOT of trees in Washington, trees that aren't used to having heavy snow on them, and start dropping large, heavy branches all over everything and then we have power outages. So if you hear everyone freaking out, thats why. :)

So anyway, the first couple days we had quite a lot of fun. We had snowball fights, we built a snowman, we played and enjoyed how beautiful it looked outside. It wasn't until the freezing rain started that things went down hill for us. We'd basically been stuck inside (besides the trips to play outside) for four to five days. We had some major cabin fever and were so ready to get out and just go somewhere! We finally dug our car out enough on Friday to go out to the mall where the kids burned a lot of energy in the play area. :) Anyway, it was a fun adventure and I'm just thankful everyone stayed safe and alright, even if without power! Eek.

Here's some pictures of the incredible snow we experience in Washington:

This Year Seems Like Last Year...Hmmm

2012-01-10T10:28:00.003-07:00

You'd think after all the craziness of Christmas and the holidays that once the new year started, things would slow down. You'd think that, but it hasn't! :)

The first week of January was filled with photography and tantrums and babies being born and a wedding to celebrate! I got to take some newborn pictures for a Sister in our Ward, he was such a sweet baby, just a few days old with TONS of dark hair. So fun! Later that day I took some family pictures for Kristie's family, trying once again to get some good shots. Its too bad it gets dark so early still, so frustrating! In the middle of the week Sam had some gum and decided to stretch it out and wrap it around his neck (I know, what the heck right?!), well this resulted in a full on melt down, screaming mess. He screamed when we tried to get it off, he screamed when we put peanut butter on it, he screamed when we made him take a bath, he screamed and screamed and screamed. I seriously thought the neighbors were going to call the police, and it honestly left my whole body shaking for about an hour after he stopped screaming. Yay for three year olds. The best part of the week was my brother and sister-in-law had their first baby! A sweet little girl named Lara Rochelle, weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 inches long. My dad put this picture of my brother as a newborn up, and I compared it to Lara's newborn picture; I wish I had one of Tamsyn to put on the other side! I think she's so beautiful, I wish I could kiss on those cheeks all day!

To end the first week of January we went to an open house for my cousin Jordan who was married in Utah in December. The kids decided it was a free for all to run completely crazy, all over, into the kitchen and under tables--aren't kids grand?! ;) We had a lot of fun seeing friends and family and dancing and watching the kids dance (in between trying to catch Kimball from getting away) was too funny! Ashlee looked amazing, her dress was so beautiful, and Jordan always looks studly. :)

This week isn't much better for me, I have wedding invitations to design, a coupon class to attend, a Relief Society activity to get ready for (which means buying supplies for 35 people! Sheesh.), etc. etc.

Pray for me okay? :)

2011 In Review!

2011-12-31T13:54:00.002-07:00

Time again for my look back at 2011 and give you my favorites! Yay!

Favorite Song:

Its a toss up between Crossfire and Only the Young by Brandon Flowers. I am OBSESSED with these two songs right now! LOVE IT!

honorable mention:

Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes

Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 (oddly those two songs both have Adam Levine singing, huh.)

Favorite Movie:

Kung Fu Panda 2 (I really loved this movie!)

honorable mention:

Thor

Sherlock Holmes 2 (I haven't seen this but I KNOW I would love it! Mmmmhmmm)

Harry Potter--so epic!

Tangled

Favorite TV Show:

The Vampire Dairies

I am obsessed with this show and can't wait for it to start again in January! Whoo!

honorable mention:

Any of the Real Housewives of course ;)

The Rachel Zoe Project

Project Runway

Favorite Book:

I Capture The Castle

I read over 60 books this year, its hard to choose a favorite!

There were a couple series I loved, Gregor the Overlander and Inheritance (which is the Eragon series), I really enjoyed those!

honorable mention:

My blog friend Melanie wrote The List and I honest to goodness LOVED it, it was hysterical, seriously had me laughing out loud and grinning stupidly. It was a fast, light read and I so enjoyed every minute. The ending was fabulous!

Favorite Vacation:

We honestly didn't take ANY trips this year. Not even a camping trip. What a lame year. My husband did take many trips to Washington DC for work and he spent a month in Korea, so lucky for him. :/

Favorite Outfit:

I'm changing this from clothes I own to ones I want ;) I discovered Pinterest this year, so there is a lot to be inspired and want from off there! haha

Yes, I realize these don't really have anything to do with 2011, except that I spent a lot of time coveting these outfits. If I had the money, I would have dressed like this in 2011. ;)

Favorite Project:

(this isn't mine, same idea but picture it in a mustardy yellow)

It would be my favorite project if I could get it to work, but I redid a coffee table into a tufted bench. Except that I've redone the top twice and need to again since Kimball's pulled half the buttons off. This time when I re-do it, it will be PERFECT! :)

Most drastic change:

I cut my hair short again, and dyed it bright red!

Highlights:

Bethany was baptized!

Kimball turned one

new family pictures

fun summer and fall

Peter Pan themed Halloween:

Maddie started kindergarden (Bethany 3rd grade)

Fun 30th birthday for my sister

Kimball started nursery!

Lowlights:

my computer crashed and I lost a LOT of pictures :(

Dave was gone for a month in Korea, that was hard :(

Christmas Time Is Here

2011-12-29T19:15:00.004-07:00

I have to be honest, I really stressed myself out for Christmas this year. I'm pretty much a procrastinator anyway, and don't start buying Christmas presents until sometime in December (if I bought them earlier, I would TOTALLY forget about them. Proof: I bought these nerf guns to give to the kids in NOVEMBER--thats one month ago--and forgot to give them to the kids. See!). So anyway, usually if I have a little pressure on me, it motivates me to get things done and all ends up fine. This year it was like the pressure was so high that instead of motivating me, I shut down. I could do nothing. I sat around in a daze being overwhelmed. I'd do a little here, I'd do a little there. But thats about it. Finally four days before Christmas Dave and I went out and got the majority of presents, and I finished up the next night. I had tried to do homemade gifts for our families, they didn't get all the way put together until Saturday (yes, I know thats the day before Christmas!). I would like to say that I have learned my lesson and vow to never procrastinate Christmas like this again, but I just don't think thats a promise I can make. I'm just being honest. :)

This is what took up so much of my time:

My cousin's wife Megan, has these drawings on her wall that her brother did of their family. They KILL me, I just loved them so much! When I was taking pictures for them for Christmas cards, I snapped a couple pictures of what her brother did to give me some inspiration. I didn't do them just like his (we have different drawing styles anyway) and I didn't want to totally rip him off ;) but I just thought it was such a great idea! So begins the stress... I started out writing everybody's name down, what their interests are, how to make the picture personal and give everyone some personality, then I drew a few rough drafts, drew the main copy, water colored it, went over it with a fine tip pen, scanned it into the computer (it was too big, so I had to scan one half and then the other; seam the two halves together in photoshop and then edit out the seam line--sheesh), then had copies printed off for each family. Phew!

I also stressed about if people would hate it, think I made them ugly, or didn't get enough personality into them, blah blah blah! :) I think when you do art, it makes you really self conscious, like you're really putting yourself out there, so yeah. I was feeling a little stupid. BUT everyone said they loved them and even if they were lying I don't care anymore! ;)

So that was the big thing for Christmas, of course, everything turned out great, we had a great time with family for Christmas Eve (went to dinner at Joeseppi's) and played games afterward, and Sunday was great too. We went to my in-laws ward because they started at 11 (ours is at 9) and I'm so glad we did because it would have been so hard to do presents and get ready and everything before our ward, plus it was really nice to spend some extra time with family. We went to my parents for dinner and opened presents with them and next door at my grandma's, all very nice, all very fun. Here's some pictures of all our adventures:

First up is our Christmas letter and accompanying picture:

This was our back up picture:

Here's Christmas Eve with David's family:

And Christmas morning, yup, naked baby:

Christmas at my parents:

Bethany made this at school for Dave:

Sam with his etch-a-sketch:

Surrounded by toys at the end of a great Christmas day!

Christmas Decorating

2011-12-09T14:31:00.002-07:00

I love Christmas time! I love the smells, I love the nostalgia, I love the family time and traditions. So when its time to decorate you would think I'd love it but--it seems so overwhelming! haha BUT once I start getting stuff out, I really do love it again. :) My mom gave me a lot of really awesome homemade ornaments, some she had made when she was newly married and some that my great grandma had crocheted for her--I LOVE THEM! So excited about those decorations! My mom also gave me the most beautiful nativity, its so cool, it has a bunch of pieces (I've only ever had some little sets) and one of the pieces is a little drummer boy, so darling! So for me, decorating is the first step to feeling like Christmas is really here!

Maddie Lou

2011-12-09T14:20:00.002-07:00

A few days after Thanksgiving my Maddie girl turned the big SIX. Sometimes its easy to forget that Maddie's growing up since she's still such a little girl, but she is definitely getting older if not much bigger. :)

Maddie loves going to school, she's been really great about wanting to learn how to read and write and is doing really well. She's definitely the most mellow of all the kids, she can sit and do some coloring or some project for hours and I love that about her! :D She is still a little feisty and has a lot of spunk even with her tiny voice. We're so happy she's part of our family!

Catching Up and Thanksgiving

2011-12-09T13:25:00.004-07:00

Okay I'm just going to have to do like five posts and get caught up. Its just the way its gotta be. :) Since Halloween was my last post, the next big thing was Thanksgiving. When we lived in Utah and came to visit for a holiday we would go to one side of the family for a few hours and then visit the other side for a few hours too. It makes for a crazy day and when we moved back up here I guess it just kept going. It finally hit me that we should probably do what normal people do and switch off. So this year, we spent all of Thanksgiving with David's family. And you know what? It was great! Sure I missed seeing my family on Thanksgiving, but we saw them a few days later, in fact we see them all the time. ;) It was so nice to just relax and not worry about when it was time to leave, or miss out on playing games or dessert or anything else. We just got to be there and have a great time. So here's some pictures from Thanksgiving:

Yup, Halloween

2011-11-16T12:21:00.004-07:00

Okay okay okay okaaaay. Its the middle of November and I have yet to post Halloween pictures at the least! I haven't been feeling like blogging very much lately, but I do want to keep up on it at least a little bit--sheesh. :)

I love doing theme Halloween costumes, we've done themes most years even before we had kids (which was only one year....haha) so this year the kids had been watching Peter Pan a lot and I thought, HEY LETS DO PETER PAN!! (I think loudly in my head...) So since I have short red hair, we decided I would be Peter Pan and Dave would be Captain Hook. I thought Maddie would be the perfect Tinker Bell (seriously, right?!) and Bethany the perfect Wendy. I thought about dressing Kimball up as the crocodile but then we had borrowed a top hat for a different costume party and it hit me, the boys could be John and Michael! Anyway, here's the picture of us all together:

I was really happy too because we hardly had to buy anything to make the costumes; Bethany had the perfect dress, Kimball had the perfect pajamas, Sam wore one of Dave's old white shirts and carried around an umbrella, the pirate stuff we borrowed from my parents...etc, etc. So big bonus for me to not have to spend a lot of money on costumes!

We had a great time doing the trunk or treat, I was really happy the weather was nice, no raining, the sun was out, it was perfect. Although the lack of peanut butter cups was a little disappointing...for me... :)

Cider Press

2011-10-17T11:03:00.003-06:00

A week ago Saturday we went with Dave's parents down to Meeker Mansion and did their annual cider press. It was a little chilly that morning, but no rain and really was perfect fall weather. We had a great time spinning the wheel, throwing apples in and then pressing them into cider. This is the second year the kids have got to do this, it will be fun to keep it a tradition!
Theres a lot of pictures and I know they're backwards in order, its annoying. We also got to go have donuts for breakfast afterward, which started a spree of donut eating...but was totally worth it! :)

You Can Do It at a Trot...

2011-09-21T16:47:00.003-06:00

Okay fine I'm posting!! I don't know why but I haven't been feeling up to blogging much, its not like I've been busy--on the contrary, we are VERY NOT BUSY. Because our school district is having a hard time coming up with an agreeable contract, our teachers' are striking. So we got in about ONE full week of school, and they had almost all last week off, and now this week too. It sucks. Its like the end of summer all over again: stir crazy fighting kids, me wanting to get back on a schedule, my house is torn up and I was just get used to having them back in school. Boo.

Its the Puyallup Fair right now, so we went last monday and this monday because its free for military members. We didn't go on any rides (too many of our kids are still too little, so its not really fair to let some kids go and not others: although if you talk to Bethany her LIFE IS NOT FAIR!!). Well, I take that back, we went on the skyride (it takes you from one end of the fair to the other) but only because Brenda works there and let us go for free. ;) Maddie didn't care about rides as long as she got some cotton candy. We went with my parents the first time and had a lot of fun walking around with them, looking at the animals and playing in the pioneer section. This last monday the weather was really nice as well, so we just walked around and had a good time, the kids got their face's painted (only because its free, I'm scared to know what normal prices would be at the fair) and got to pretend to drive a fire truck. Sam told us he wanted to drive it on the road real bad! haha I miss going to the fair as a teenager, it was always fun and it seemed like the weather was most always fantastic. Its fun to take the kids though and see them experience "the fair" themselves! Here's some pictures of our adventures (okay, here's a LOT of pictures of our adventures):

First Day of School

2011-09-01T13:34:00.002-06:00

Today was the first day of school, the girls did great. They got up early (so did I. Boo.), they were excited and nervous and EXCITED!! We got them dropped off and they were perfectly fine, I was so nervous about leaving Maddie, so I cried the whole way home. I didn't cry when I sent Bethany to Kindergarden but it was different. It was only a half day, her teacher was David's aunt, she's the oldest and very bossy. :) Maddie has all-day Kindergarden (I would have LOVED that for Bethany!), she's little and quiet and I hope she doesn't get scared! I'm sure it will be wonderful and I'm so glad Bethany will be there with her too.

A few days ago we did our "annual" (this is the second year) BACK-TO-SCHOOL-FASHION-SHOW!!!

It was a lot of fun for the kids, and I think they all looked so cute! These first pictures are from that:

These next pictures are from this morning, I can't believe how big my kids are getting!

The girls will be home in 2 1/2 hours and we'll see how their first day went! :)

End of Summer

2011-08-26T18:55:00.003-06:00

Some more summer fun pictures coming up! We really haven't done a TON this summer, it felt like we did more last summer, but we have gotten to do some really great things anyway! Some of the top things (you saw some of this in the last post), was doing a summer park group every thursday (a new park every week, even if we did miss a few...), as well as Northwest Trek, Wild Waves, Jim's U-Fish, and trips to the beach--all with Grandma and Grandpa. David's Dad retired at the beginning of summer, so its been so fun to get to do stuff with them! They've made our summer especially great, I'm positive without them Bethany would be crying every day about not getting to do ANYTHING fun EVER!! (I get to hear her whine about not having fun any time we don't get out of the house, dude, I don't want to drag around four kids EVERY day--sheesh!) :) So here's some more pictures of some of the before mentioned fun things:

These are from the beach (have you noticed that all these pictures pretty much look the same because of the swimsuits?! haha):

These are from the U-Fish place/petting zoo, we loved it here, the animals were so friendly and so cute, the fishing was super fun and easy, there were toys, and fun little play areas, it was great!

Here's the Wild Wave pictures, we went later in the day because its half price after 4pm and we knew the kids wouldn't be able to last all day. It was plenty of time, and the kids had a blast. Even though it was pretty cold in the water, they still loved playing in it, and even though some of the kids were too small to go on some of the rides, the ones they could go on they loved, it was a fun day and the kids and I and Grandma and Grandpa really enjoyed being there together:
(these are backwards, so the kids look sad because its time to leave--Kimball is crying because he didn't want to go back in the stroller! haha)

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the last few weeks, so we've tried to get outside and enjoy it, I hope it last awhile since it took its sweet time getting here! :) School starts next week, I can't believe its here already! Bethany will be going into the 3rd grade and my Maddie will be starting Kindergarden, its crazy to think I'll have only two kids left at home! This post is getting super long already, so I'll have to write another one about some things going on with Maddie, plus hopefully when I get around to it, I'll have more information to give you!

Summer Fun

2011-08-18T11:36:00.000-06:00

So I'm finally getting around to updating what we've been doing this summer! Now that the weather has FINALLY warmed up, we've been having fun enjoying the beautiful sunshine. It feels like we're getting a week of summer crammed in before school starts, we're trying to enjoy it while it lasts though!

First up, we've really loved the Nature Center at Snake Lake, we've been there quite a few times this summer:

We also got to take a trip up to Northwest Trek, if you aren't from around here, its sort of like a zoo, but more open and less rare animals. You can take a tram ride around like 200 acres or something, where the animals are all right out in the open and sometimes right next to the tram. They also have big wide open exhibits of other animals, its pretty neat and we had a great time:

We've also gone to a splash pad a time or two, even though its really not THAT hot and they end up freezing when they're done, they still beg to go ALL the time!:

I think I'll stop there for now because its getting a little long, but you can look forward to pictures of us at a petting zoo/fishing trip, Wild Waves Water Park, and going to the ocean! Fun times!

The 4th of July

2011-08-08T19:08:00.003-06:00

I am FINALLY blogging. Sheesh. I tried to blog about the fourth of July a week or so ago but blogger is so dumb when you try to add pictures, so I am starting again.

I'm going to start with the fourth of July and we'll see if I can keep catching up after that! I think I'm just going to add a bunch of pictures, you'll get the idea of how it went by them! But apparently these are backwards, so as you look through the pictures pretend its a movie thats on rewind or something. You remember rewind right? :D

It was a really fun day, the weather was great, the fireworks were puny but still fun, the kids ran around all day, it was fabulous. :)

Boo Hoo

2011-07-12T18:55:00.002-06:00

Once again its been a month since I last blogged.

Ugh.

This time its really not my fault. My computer's hard drive is broken and I haven't gotten it fixed yet. I don't have an extra $300+ laying around, ya know?

Dave's been really good about bringing his laptop home from work and letting me use it, but even so, I just don't feel like blogging. I can't get my pictures off my camera, I can't edit, I can't do my photography project, we even got our family pictures back and I can't show you them! Its depressing.

Also, we were planning a trip to Utah for a family reunion and decided the week before to cancel the trip. I'm still avoiding thinking about it because it just makes me so sad. We're trying to buy a house right now, so in an effort to save money we decided it would be smarter to just not go. I hate money. And responsibility. And... and...yeah.

So right now, instead of being down in sunny Utah, hanging out with family and friends; we're stuck here in drizzly Washington, doing not a lot of anything. Boo.

Also I tried dying my hair red again. I thought for sure I had found how to get it exactly how I wanted. Do you think it worked?! OF COURSE NOT!! What is wrong with my ridiculously hard to dye hair?! I spent HOURS researching the best way to dye dark hair and STILL didn't work. So annoying.

Okay, this pity party is over. Here's hoping my computer gets fixed soon, we find the right house, and everything works out. Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

A little bit of This, A little bit of That

2011-06-12T14:38:00.002-06:00

Its been a month since Sam's birthday. Whats happened in the last month? I don't know, my brain is so fuzzy right now. Its Sunday afternoon, I ate a nice meal, I'm full and I'm sleepy. A nap sounds real good right now! :)

Actually this last week was pretty crazy, something to do every day. Monday I went and looked at a house to rent. It was a pretty good price for the house, and she said "HURRY and put your paperwork in (meaning: pay us $40) because there's been a lot of interest!!!" So for every person that turns in an application, they get paid $40, but I'm not just forking money over to people if I have no chance of getting the place, thats just stupid. Anyway, the place went before we could put any paperwork anyway.

Last week Dave went to play basketball and when he got to the van he noticed the window behind the driver's window (the sliding door window) was shattered. Because its safety glass, it all sticks together, so there was no hole in the window, just a couple pieced around the edge fell off. We have NO IDEA what happened to the window, but a really nice (sarcastic much) guy came over (I think he was on drugs) and was super interested in what happened, "ohhh, uhhhh, something happen to your window?! yeahhhh, thats terrible....soooo, uhhhhh, can I borrow some money?" For real. That happened. Dave told him no and he was gone. So anyway, on Tuesday we got the window fixed. It was so awesome driving around with a garbage bag taped to the window, as if we didn't look like white trash enough. *sigh*

Wednesday, I've blocked from my mind. But it involved lots of cleaning and lots of laundry.

Thursday was our Relief Society meeting. Can you guess what the topic was? It was on "combating stress". Ironic much? It was a really great/really interesting class and boy did I need it! haha We had a marriage and family counselor come do it, and her husband was there who's a naturopathic doctor. It was really informative and now I'm pretty sure I've maxed out my stress receptors in my brain and don't have enough cortisol to handle day to day life. Huh.

Friday was a day to try to relax a little, but I did give Bethany a haircut she's been begging for since forever. I can't remember what else we did besides make a tent on the living room floor and watch some stupid movie about horses Miranda Cosgrove was in.

Yesterday was the best day yet, my cousin Lee's wife Megan called and said she was taking me out to lunch for taking newborn pictures of her sweet Maddox, so we met up at the mall, shopped a little, ate a little, found some great sales at Crazy 8, and talked a BUNCH. :) Both our husbands were awesome and kept all the kids at home, so we just got to enjoy every minute. I loved it! Do girls realize how important they are to each other? We must not or else we'd be nicer to each other! :)

I've also been doing a little photography project, where every week I get a new prompt and take a photo for whatever the theme is. I've been doing it all year and am up to week 24 this week. Its been pretty fun! If you want to see them, you can go to my photography blog. So there you go for a little update, maybe this next week I'll implement some of the stress reliever tactics and I'll be able to remember what happened the first part of the month!

Sam's Birthday

2011-05-28T19:02:00.002-06:00

So Sam had his third birthday earlier this month! He was so excited to open presents and tell everyone that he's three now! He's very into the "Cars" cars and boy did he get spoiled! He got a bunch of knew cars and fun toys! It was so fun to see him so excited opening presents, and playing and being such a big boy! He's saying the funniest things every day and I just love it, he's saying BIG words now, like someone's not "allowed" something, earlier he was trying to say coyote and it sounded more like "key-odie"--so cute! I love the way he purse's his lips when he talks and gives me sly looks out the corner of his eye, he's such a funny kid. He's been really friendly to other kids lately too--I was working on a project in the garage with the door open so the kids were playing in the driveway, a neighbor girl ran up to us and started asking questions. Sam looked at her for a minute, and then said, "Hey! Come chase me!!" and ran away, so she did! It was killing me! One of his nursery teachers told me there was a new little boy in nursery and Sam came right up and said, "I'm three! Do you want me to come to your house to play?" hahaha And earlier today we went to the ocean and a little boy was playing next to us, so Sam turned and waved at him and said his name was Sam, I just love that he's so friendly!

Here's a couple pictures from his big day:

Fun in the Sun

2011-05-24T17:45:00.002-06:00

The weather is starting to get a little nicer, and when I say "nicer" I mean we have a day or two with sunshine and it gets over 60, and then it rains for five days. :) I'm just happy with the beautiful days and trying not to focus on the rainy ones (its hard sometimes). When the sun shines here though, it is absolutely gorgeous and the kids love being outside (I love them being outside also)! :) My parents got one of those big play toys from Costco, so the kids have had a lot of fun playing over there when all the stars align and the sun is out and we have a car to be there. ;) Here's a few pictures from some of the nice days we've had lately:

Argh, its a Lot!

2011-05-13T10:43:00.005-06:00

Okay, its been a long time. I think the longest I've ever gone updating this blog! Its hard once you get behind it feels overwhelming to go back and try and do all the stuff you've missed! Hmmmm, what have I not told you about the last month or so?

Let's see, I could add a couple pictures from my birthday. David took his first work trip to Washington DC. And then there's Easter and Kimball's birthday, baby blessings, did a little photography, Jim & Kay came to visit, a Cinco De Mayo party and Mother's Day...and I don't know, lots of other little stuff. So in an effort to get back on top of things, I'm just going to add a bunch of random pictures. :)

This is from my birthday, Dave got a pinata and we hit the candy out of him! haha

This is his hotel room in Washington DC, I added more pictures from his trip on my other blog. (cherryblossomsphotos.blogspot.com)

Just a few pictures from Easter:

Jim and Kay's visit, we went to Point Defiance and it was actually a nice day!

(Jim picking a flower for Maddie)

Cinco De Mayo party, we all wore mustaches. Yes even me. I looked so gross. hahaha

This was the pansy plant they gave all the women at church Sunday for Mother's Day.

Birthday Stuff

2011-03-30T18:13:00.002-06:00

I am not enjoying this gray, rainy weather. I say this all the time, but I REALLY mean it this time: I can't take much more rain!

I actually have a car this week (Dave is out of town on a work trip) and its Spring Break so I really don't have a schedule or have to worry about getting up or being anywhere, but I still can't really do much because it WON'T STOP RAINING. I'm starting to feel crazy today, I want to get out of the house, but I don't want to fight my kids at a store, but I also don't want to actually be productive here at home. What a sad day. :)

I guess I should tell you guys about my birthday last week. I turned 28. I took Bethany to the dentist that morning and dealt with her sore mouth all day, because she had four teeth pulled. I had a Relief Society meeting that night which was really nice and a lot of fun. The next day we had Kristie and Timmy and their family over, and my dad too, for dinner. Dave had bought a pinata that was a little army guy, and printed up a picture of his face and taped it to the army guy's face--so with everyone there we beat the candy out of Dave. :) He also got me flowers and that was lovely. My visiting teacher gave me some beautiful daffodil's that I've loved looking at, and she has chicken's so she gave me half a dozen fresh eggs, isn't that so cool?! I also got some birthday money that I bought a new pair of boots I've been wanting with. Nice!

So all in all, I had a pretty great birthday! I have pictures to share but Dave has my camera in Washington DC with him, so when he gets back I will share them then. Plus I'll hopefully have some fun pictures of Washington DC to share too!

Update Time

2011-03-16T10:12:00.003-06:00

I don't even know what to update you on! Its been busy and not busy. I feel like time is doing that funny thing where it feels slow and fast all at the same time!

The weather has been making crazy, its super rainy and windy some days and other days the sun peaks out and teases me. I've been pulling the blinds up and letting as much sun in as possible on those days! I haven't been getting very much sleep, because Kimball is doing that sleeping good one night, sleeping horrible two nights thing. Its exhausting.

Bethany started doing activity days but has only had one happen so far (cancelled for various reasons), she has one tonight and she's so excited about it. I love it, but its sad to see her being so grown up sometimes! Sometimes its really fun and I'm amazed at how beautiful and grown up she is, but then she starts whining and crying over something silly and I remember she's just eight. And then I hope that she won't be a horrible teenager. :)

I can't believe Maddie's going to be starting Kindergarden this next year, but I think she'll have such a good time. That is if she talks loud enough for the teacher to hear her! She's still so little, but I guess she's actually growing because some of her pants are getting really short. :)

Sam is getting so big and says the funniest stuff! Recently he's started calling me "captain" or "soldier" and he just comes up with the funniest (and naughtiest) stuff! He cracks me up and makes me want to eat his cheeks.

Kimball is getting into EVERYTHING. He's started climbing up on things, like stools or toys or whatever he can, we've had to RE-baby proof but he's still constantly getting into stuff. Monday he got into one of the cupboards and pulled my stacked up glass pyrex baking bowls down off the shelf and SHATTERED them everywhere. It was a lot of glass and he got a little piece in his foot, I haven't cleaned up that much glass in a LONG time. He's also super smart! haha The other day I asked him where his play phone was and he turned around and picked it right up and put it to his ear, he found a headband on the floor and put it right on his head and when we say "dance Kimball!!" he really does start dancing--its adorable! He makes great faces too, but the one thing he's started doing I REALLY don't like is SCREAM. He's doing this high pitched scream whenever he wants something or wants attention, I hate it.

Dave is going to be doing a lot of training this year, so he'll be traveling quite a bit. By the end of this month he'll be in Washington D.C. Then he'll be going to Chicago and another trip to Washington D.C. after that. Most of August he'll be in Korea too. Its exciting and fun for him, but I have to say I'm a little jealous, I wish I was going too!

I was just called as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society, I'm excited about it! I mean, in a "overwhelmed, I don't know what I'm doing" kind of way! haha It will be a great experience, I know it. We're also still looking at moving, just trying to find the right price, in the right area, at the right time! Its not as easy as it sounds. ;)

Well, I think thats about it for now, hopefully I'll get back into blogging when the sun start shining, and I'm hoping thats REAL soon!

Lots more Stuff

2011-03-02T10:10:00.005-07:00

Shame on me! I haven't blogged in forever and I just have not felt like doing it at all! I haven't been too busy but I haven't been doing nothing either. I've been working on some projects (painting a picture, painting a dresser, organizing clothes) and I've been working on a slideshow for my mom for a Relief Society social thing, I've been reading books, I've been taking kids to dentist appointments, it snowed last week, I took baby pictures for my cousin, taught Relief Society, went on a date last Friday, taking care of my kids of course, and trying to exercise every day (except for the last two)...

Wow. It sounds sort of busy when I list it all out like that! haha

If you want to see the baby pictures, here's a link to my "photography" blog (I know, I'm so lame).

Me and Dave have been doing the "Insanity" work out the last 3 weeks and we're both getting sort of frustrated with it. It is SERIOUSLY hard. I have never sweated so much in my life, EVERY work out is like that, and yet we're not really getting any results. I'm not expecting to be perfect, but not one pound lost? Its hard to keep killing yourself every day when nothing seems different. Hoping to get my motivation back soon! (Plus both our ankles have started hurting pretty good and that doesn't help either. I know, excuses, excuses.)

Here's some pictures from us in the snow:

Here's a little story for ya, I said I was painting a picture, its just sort of a fun decoration kind of picture (a silhouette of a birdcage) I got done and wasn't sure if I liked it or wanted to add to it or what, but I set it on the floor leaning against the wall. Kimball is in to EVERYTHING right now and knocked the picture over so it was face down on the ground, next to the wall. Maddie decided she needed to walk on it. Yes, stepped right in the middle of it and shattered the glass. I was SO MAD! haha Here's some pictures of that:

p.s. Its not done. I am going to add some other stuff to it so its not so stark.

Anyway, thats about all the energy I have now to blog. See ya next time!

Valentine's Day!

2011-02-15T13:30:00.005-07:00

Since we got our new computer last year, I don't have a ton of our pictures from before that since a lot are still on our old computer. I wish I could post a bunch of pictures of me and Dave and all that, but I can't. Sorry. :(

Yesterday we celebrated with not only our family but my sister's family came over and my parents too. I made dinner, spaghetti and meatballs (a la Lady and the Tramp), some breadsticks and hot chocolate with heart marshmallows, and my mom brought some salad to finish it up. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert and of course there were lots of sweet little Valentine chocolates everywhere. We had a good time playing games (we just got 'Just Dance 2' on the Wii and we had a lot of fun--and exercise--dancing) and my mom did a little FHE lesson on showing love to our families and we made little "coupons" to give to each other. It was just an all around nice time!

I need to post about me and Dave's "ROMANTIC" date we went on last Saturday and I still need to post Bethany's birthday from the end of last month! Sheesh, I'm behind AND out of order! But I'll get to it, don't you worry!

Baptism Day

2011-02-10T15:19:00.004-07:00

I know, I know. I should have blogged about Bethany's baptism all week and I've been putting it off and putting it off in favor of watching this video:

Well, really I've been doing lots of things besides watching that video, but I do like to watch it like once a day just for a laugh.

Actually, I've really been putting it off because...I don't want to say it.

Because...I didn't take any pictures at the baptism.

I KNOW! I feel terrible about it and I keep telling myself to get Bethany dressed up again and at least take some pictures of her all pretty and some with Dave but life keeps happening and the pictures don't. :( I would do it this Sunday but Dave has drill, so he'll be gone. I know, I have the best excuses.

So I suppose I should at the very least tell you about her baptism right? Right! It was a very beautiful day, but I don't mean that weather wise--I have no idea what the weather was like. It was beautiful because it was just such a special day, in the weeks leading up to this event, we talked to Bethany a lot about the decision she was making. We wanted her to understand exactly what she was doing and what it meant. She was so excited and so READY to be baptized and so it made the day so exciting! It was also beautiful because Bethany looked like a little angel. We got to the church and started setting up chairs and getting everything ready, she wanted her grandmas' to give the talks, so Grandma Chelli talked to her first about baptism. Then she got to go back with Dad and get into the font. David was a little emotional and it was so neat to see how much it meant to him to baptize his daughter! When she came up out of the water she gasped really loudly, she told me after that the water was COLD! haha So we hurried and got her changed and then listened to Grandma Bobbie to talk about the Holy Ghost. She also got to hear from the Bishop and the Primary President AND both of her Grandpa's! Lucky girl! There was such a spirit of family and unity and love, it was great. (Side note-- what was going on with me the whole time: Sam running around crazy, Maddie talking with her cousins, Kimball screaming and wanting mommy, Sam needing to go to the bathroom, me almost missing the confirmation because of the bathroom break, I thought my feet her going to be rubbed raw from the stupid shoes I wore...etc. etc.) :)

Bethany was so happy to see her family, and also some of her friends from her class and her Primary teachers, it was really neat for her!

How we as her parents felt: amazed! Amazed that our first little baby is old enough to make decisions about her eternal salvation, that she's learning about what Heavenly Father wants her to do and she understands so much of the gospel. She is such a good girl, and it was so neat to get to see our daughter in a different way and made us excited to see who she'll be as she grows up even more.

All in all, it was a pretty sweet day and I feel so grateful and blessed to have her in our family!

Lots of BUSY

2011-01-31T12:08:00.002-07:00

We had a crazy week this last week and a crazy weekend too! Mostly whats been keeping us busy this last week is potty training still. Sam has gotten good enough to go out in public, we've taken him to a restaurant, the store a few times, bowling, grandparents house, and church. The only place he had an accident was church. Lovely. At least it was at the very end right? I don't know if that makes it better, but it was our fault. I should have known that he wouldn't tell the nursery leader he had to go, I should have known he wouldn't want to quit playing, I should have just gone in there and made him go. Darn. We'll be better next week! Otherwise we're really happy to not be changing any diapers for him! And we're really excited to be almost done with this whole horrible process. :) I think there has to be a better way to potty train, like really.

We also went out to dinner with Dave's family on Wednesday for Bethany's birthday. We went to Hunan Gardens because Bethany loves chinese food--mostly she loves to use chopsticks. :) Then on Saturday we went bowling, we told Bethany it was for her birthday but really it was for Dave's work. They had planned a work bowling thing and told him it was required optional. Whatever that means. We assumed it meant that you needed to be there unless you had a valid reason not to be. We didn't, plus we like bowling so we went. BUT I'm really wishing we had taken my mother in law up on leaving some of the kids home. We thought, oh they'll just have such a good time, it'll be fun! It was not fun. Sam was horrid. He wanted to run crazy (duh, should've seen that coming), he didn't want to take turns, he didn't want ANY help AT ALL (that means carrying a 7 lb ball around and throwing it down the lane) and would scream constantly. Kimball was fine but we had to keep passing him from person to person, which I should have thought about beforehand. I'm not very smart if you aren't picking up on this. BUT the worst part of the whole thing?! The machine was wonky and it wouldn't add up your score right and would give you extra turns and such, but TWICE David stole me throws, so he got one of my 9 pin shots AND my ONLY strike of the day! So he ended up with MY score, and I ended up with the score he should've got. Poo. So he sort of beat me, but only because I helped him unintentionally. He got 120, and I got 101. But that should be switched. So you know.

Saturday night was spent getting food and making a cake for Bethany's birthday. And then Sunday was so exciting and fun (and tiring!) because Bethany turned 8 and therefore was baptized! I will post more on that later, its worthy of its own post right?

For Now

2011-01-27T15:17:00.004-07:00

So, here's whats happening here lately:

Mostly a lot of potty training. I won't say it because I don't want to jinx us, but Sam is doing really well potty training. Like to the point of we've taken him out in public without an accident! AWESOME. He's really been a big boy lately, and as a prize for doing so well we got him a new truck and he's been carrying it around with him non stop. He even slept the other night with it holding it the whole time.

We're also getting ready for a baptism. Bethany is turning 8 this Sunday and we are so excited for her to be baptized! She's gone to her interview with the Bishop and he said "She's ready!" and we've been having lots of talks about what it means to be baptized and whats changing in her life now, its pretty exciting stuff!

On a random note, my kids are watching "Meet the Robinsons" right now and can I say, I hate this movie?! Not because it isn't a good movie, it is; its just that it breaks my heart every time I see it. To think no one would want such a sweet intelligent boy kills me. I love the happy ending, but the beginning makes me cry the ugly cry. :)

Okay, back on track: Dave got a new job! He's still in the same office as he was before, but a different, better job in that office. Its nice because we've been waiting the last couple of months on if he was going to get this job or a different one that would send us farther away (Port Orchard or maybe Seattle-ish), well, the other job they closed from budget cuts and Dave was offered this job, which works really well! We're excited that within the next couple months we will hopefully be moving to a better area, and we won't have to move again for awhile hopefully! We're happy with how well Dave's been doing at work and how much they like him, its been a real blessing!

We went out to Chamber's Bay last weekend and it was so beautiful out there! We are planning on going back again on another nice day:

The end. For today anyway. :)

Sunny Day

2011-01-21T13:56:00.001-07:00

We went to the beach the one nice day we've had this week, now its all doom and gloom again. Seriously, its so gray here all the time its super depressing. So even though it was pretty cold, it was great to be outside in the sun. Plus, the little boy got to get some energy out and thats always a plus! Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures:

London Bridge is Falling Down

2011-01-10T10:54:00.004-07:00

Our new time for church is 9am. Now if you know me, I am not much of an early riser, so 9am is not my favorite time of church. Add on top of that, that Dave had drill this weekend so I had to get everyone ready alone and deal with everyone by myself through sacrament...yeah, I was not happy about it.

Maybe it was my bad attitude. I just might have brought this on myself.

I was rushing yesterday morning, trying to get everyone ready and it felt like EVERYONE WAS WORKING AGAINST ME! I asked Maddie to get her shoes and socks on like five billion times, Bethany even tried to help her find her lost shoe. Maddie has an uncanny ability to do whatever she wants. I say "Maddie go get your shoes on FAST!!!", she hears "Maddie, walk reeeeaaaally slowly and go find some dolls to play with." So I'm trying to get it all done and out on time, I have Kimball in his carseat and I'm walking into the garage to load everybody in, the girls are buckled in and I'm calling to Sam. I have the carseat in front of me, so I can't see where I'm stepping (in nice big heels no less), I take the first step down the garage steps and I had forgotten that there was a soda case sitting there. I step on it and I'm going down. I start falling and its like fast and slow at the same time, I try and put the carseat down next to me, its sort of tilted at a weird angle but Kimball was just fine. My other leg gets caught up underneath me and has been raked across the step. Just scraped the heck out of my shin and I yelped pretty good. I had to just sit there for a couple minutes and take some deep breaths because that FREAKING HURT!! Bethany was so sweet and asked if there was anything she could do to help me. We finally got everything okay and got out to church. What a day! I woke up this morning feeling like my legs had been put through a marathon! So sore and tight and feeling bruised!

Also, this is the second time I've fallen down stairs in two months! What is going on here?!

2010--Never to Be Seen Again!

2011-01-04T14:12:00.002-07:00

Well, its time again to take a look back before moving forward! That is, I'm taking a quick look at 2010 and telling you some of my favorite things (quick for you, this post took me FOREVER.)! If you'd like to check out past years you can see here and here.

Favorite Song:

Animal- Neon Trees

honorable mention:

If We Ever Meet Again- Timbaland ft. Katy Perry
I've Got A Brand New Pair of Roller Skates- Melanie Safka

Favorite Movie:

Harry Potter 7 (I haven't actually seen this yet, but I KNOW I will LOOOVE it!)

honorable mention:

Inception
Knight and Day
Despicable Me

Favorite TV Show:

Any of the Real Housewives

Favorite Book:

The Hunger Games (notice I did NOT say Mockingjay, I started reading this series earlier this year and just LOVED it, but the last book was pretty disappointing for me.)

Favorite Vacation:
Trip to Utah!

Favorite Outfit:
ugh. I'm STILL trying to lose the baby weight and I hate ALL OF MY CLOTHES. But what I would give to have this outfit from Victorias Secret:

(except I would keep my stomach well hidden. Ya know.)

Favorite Person(s):
DREAM TEAM

Favorite Project:

painting the crib

Most Drastic Change:

Having a baby while Dave was in South Carolina for five months.

Highlights:

*Kimball David

*David coming home

*Utah trip

*fun summer

*Ocean Shores

*holidays

Lowlights:

*David being gone for five months

*being crazy pregnant lady

*dislocated knee

*having a baby by myself :(

*scary neighbors (gun shots, lots of partying, police in the middle of the night. Yeah.)

Even with some of those things I wish I could change, it was a year that I will always remember, am hopefully stronger for and learned a lot from! We all have years that aren't what we hope they are, and some of the years are more than we could hope for. Its the hard that makes us appreciate the good and I'm grateful for our trials even though they're awful some days, because they help me become the person I want to be! Here's looking forward to 2011!

Christmas post 2

2010-12-31T14:13:00.002-07:00

So this is Christmas Day pictures. We started out the day actually having to wake our kids up! Crazy yes? It was after 8am and we needed to get things going because we were going to Dave's parents for breakfast. So the first pictures are from opening presents here that morning. Then we went to breakfast, came home and got ready for the day and then headed up to Seattle for dinner with David's family at his sister Shannon's house. We had some really yummy food, opened presents and then headed back down to my parents house where we ended the night. With a van full of presents and very tired! :) We've been trying to keep the toys under control ever since!

Christmas post 1

2010-12-30T12:43:00.004-07:00

I haven't blogged in forever, I just haven't found the energy to add all the pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Hundreds of pictures to narrow down and choose which to add and it makes me tired just thinking about it! :) I'm working on it now, but I think I'll have to do two posts, one for Christmas Eve and one for Christmas Day. Otherwise I might explode from picture upload syndrome or something! :)
So for Christmas Eve we went over to my parents and had lots of yummy stuff to eat and we acted out the nativity and we sang songs and we played some "Minute to Win it" games and just had a good time. Get ready for picture overload!

Picture of my dad yawning:

My impression of my dad yawning:

Me and Kristie's impression of our dad yawning:

I don't even know.

Christmas Decorations

2010-12-16T12:43:00.009-07:00

I've had my Christmas decorations up for a little bit now, and I thought it would be fun to put some pictures up. I still have one or two more projects I want to do and maybe I'll add pictures of them if they turn out cute! :) We did a smaller tree this year because of Kimball, he's practically walking now and is definitely into EVERYTHING. So we decided to get a smaller tree to put up on the table, its fun to see the decorations closer together, I think if we get a bigger tree, I'm going to have to get more decorations so it stays this full! :) These pictures are all over the place, thats what happens when you upload with blogger, they're all out of order!

I really love the red and candy apple green together and I love the sparkle!

These are right by the front door, I think my kids like getting into them more than anything else.

So I have these in the kitchen too. I like candy canes! :)

I've been hanging our Christmas cards from a ribbon on our back door, I love seeing them!

The kids and I made a whole bunch of snowflakes and hung them in the windows, theres some in the last picture (with the sliding door) but you can't see them very well through the blinds.

All my angels!

Thought it was fun to put a ribbon around my fun thrift store mirror.

On top of the computer hutch, notice the candy jar is mostly empty. Thats from me. :)

I took some ornaments and put them under my cake stand and added some berries and ribbon.

My Christmas village, I love this and hope to add to it someday.

Pretty much the only nativity I have, I can't find my big one! :(

I love the beautiful gift boxes I've gotten!

This is a music box and my kids LOVE winding it up and listening to it.

A wreath I made, kinda pretty!

Here's some of the tree decorations:

With a random picture of the village again :)

One of my favorite ornaments: the pickle. Look it up!

Maddie turns FIVE

2010-12-11T13:45:00.003-07:00

Just a few days after Thanksgiving was Madelyn's fifth birthday--I know, I know, I say this A LOT but I'll say it again: TIME KEEPS FLYING BY!! I can't believe my little girl is already five, its insane!

She is such a funny girl, the way she thinks about things cracks me up! We can be talking about something like listening to our parents and after awhile Maddie will pop in with something like "Yeah because its cold outside, we need to be good." in her tiny whisper voice; and we're all like "HUH?!" and she'll just be like "WHAT?!" Its great, I love that she's in her own head and she's creative and she just reminds me of a free spirit. We often say that she's in 'Maddie Land' because she's not paying attention to whats going on and is spacing out, its a crack up. She loves to do art projects, she painted a little piggy bank the other day and was really meticulous about how it looked. She gets stubborn and whiney as well, and has the most heart breaking cry. Its not just a little pout even if somethings small, its like her whole world has fallen apart every time she cries (which somedays feels like a LOT). :) She's a really slow eater, she'll finish everything on her plate but it will literally take her hours. She's the best crazy dancer in the family and we're so lucky to have her!

A cake I decorated for her, thought it was fun!

Thanksgiving Part 2

2010-12-08T12:30:00.004-07:00

I know I said I was going to come back the next day and post about our second Thanksgiving feast, but I didn't. Sorry. But here it is now! After we stuffed ourselves like a turkey (eh) at Dave's parents' we headed over to my parents' and stuffed ourselves again! I think its Dave's favorite day of the whole year. It was a long day and I think that stuff in turkey's that makes you sleepy was seriously working on me! I just wanted to sleep that whole day!

Kristie made awesome pilgrim hats for all the kids:

There was still snow on the ground from earlier in the week, I miss the snow still!

I have so much to be thankful for and every day I try to remember all the wonderful things I do have and not focus on the things I don't. Its hard somedays, but I'm trying. :) But more than anything else I'm thankful for my Savior, the gospel and our families!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T13:19:00.007-07:00

Our Thanksgiving day started off with Dave making stuffing in the morning and me sleeping in a little because the girls got to stay the night at their grandma and grandpa's house. It was a nice quiet morning and I was really grateful for that! It was a pretty busy day, we started out at David's parents' around 11:30-ish I think. Most of his family were all there, only one sister and her husband were in Oregon with his family, we missed them though! It was a nice day, lots and lots of delicious food and lots of laughing with cousins. Sam was obsessed with Kenedee's dog Rocky, and wanted to feed him and pick him up and terrorize him all day. :) Collin was laughing hysterically at Sam saying 'chugga chugga choo choo!' and since Collin's laugh is pretty awesome and contagious, we were all cracking up pretty good! Here's some pictures from our Thanksgiving with Dave's family:

After we ate over there, we headed to my parents as well. Yup, two Thanksgiving dinners in one day! We were as stuffed as the turkey--yuk yuk! I'll post the pictures from my parents' house tomorrow though. Hope you all had a really great Thanksgiving as well!

Snow Days

2010-11-23T19:26:00.005-07:00

We've had our first real snow storm here since we moved back home. Last winter was super mild and there was only one tiny snow fall that melted a few hours later. This storm started while we were at church on Sunday and by the time we had gotten to my parents for dinner that night, there was quite a dusting on the ground. These pictures are from Sunday evening. I haven't taken anymore but thats just because there's nothing pretty about our backyard here! :)

I know the pictures are really dark but thats because they were taken around 5 o'clock and its almost dark by then! (stupid daylight savings...)

Random picture of Sam sleeping:

When Monday rolled around I was positive school was going to be delayed or cancelled because when it snows here, people freak out. There just isn't the equipment to clear the roads and it gets pretty slick out there with the amount of moisture we have here. But there was no delay and no cancellation. I was shocked! It snowed all day Monday though, and they cancelled school today and its cancelled tomorrow as well. I like the snow, its peaceful and beautiful! Plus, it won't last long here so I'll enjoy it while I can. The kids went out with their cousins on Sunday and built a snowman with Kristie and made snow angels and had a snowball fight. They loved it! I was still in church clothes so I didn't get my chance and I'm not playing in my backyard since the neighbor dogs like to do their business back there. Darn, maybe I'll get another chance some other time--here's hoping!

Also, it was Dave and I's 9th anniversary last week! All the kids went over to Grandma and Grandpa's (yes even Kimball--whoo hoo!) and we went out to dinner. Too bad on the way out after dropping the kids off I tripped on the outside stairs and hurt myself pretty bad. Landed right on my knee, scraped the skin off, twisted my ankle and hurt my toe. Pretty silly, Dave had a good laugh at me but at least it feels better today. It hurt for a few days, pretty swollen! Crazy! But it was such a nice night to spend together and be alone and talk a bunch and make fun of our eccentric waiter and all that! :) I feel very blessed to have my husband be my best friend, I could tell him anything and for the most part he really gets me! :)

And Thats About It

2010-11-15T18:05:00.002-07:00

Not really much to update on, life is just same old, same old. Lots and lots of the SAME OOOOoooLD STUFF.

We had a bout of sickness this last week, every couple days someone new was throwing up. I really hope there's no more of THAT STUFF though.

And since I had the sickness yesterday, I had a hard time waking up this morning when it was time and was surprised by my mother in law knocking at the door ready to take Bethany to school. How's that for a wake up call? Needless to say I was thoroughly embarrassed but Bethany did get to school on time so phew for that.

Kimball is getting huge and doing all kinds of crazy things like almost walking. He tried to take a step by himself earlier today even! He's also starting to say "Mama" and you know I love that.

Sam's vocal chords need to be removed.

Maddie is so creative, she loves to paint and draw pictures every day. She wanted to draw Mickey Mouse, so she got a plate and traced around it for his head, and then she got a cup and traced around it for his ears. Clever girl.

Dave's been going to school Monday through Thursday and even though its hard to have him be gone so much, I really hope he does well and it will all be worth it. Better be, right? :)

And well, thats about it. Good night!

Stuff and more Stuff

2010-11-04T10:44:00.005-06:00

I didn't get to add these pictures from last week yet, so I thought I'd do it before I forgot!

Bethany got another Terrific Kid award so I got to take the three kids up to her school and watch a little bit of her assembly. We only stayed until she got her award and then we high-tailed it out of there as fast as we could. You see, you would think after sitting still every Sunday for their entire lives that they would get how to be quiet, but no. NO. They do not know how to sit still, close their mouths or STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS every two seconds. It was all I could do to get them through 20 minutes. It was a little too exciting for Sam. He kept wanting to go sit with Bethany, plus he has no concept of a whispering kind of voice, he's just loud. So, I'm glad we got to see her get her award and take a couple pictures but MAN, it was a crazy day!

She's the fourth child over from the left. Next to the REALLY tall girl. (Can you believe that girl's in 2nd grade?! Sheesh!)

I love it when Sam's asleep. :) He is such a crazy sleeper, when he takes a nap he's always in some weird position and it cracks me up (also its the only time he's quiet!).

After the Halloween party last friday we came home and everybody fell asleep really early (well, except me). But Dave and Sam fell asleep on the couch watching tv, and when I was ready for bed, I tried to wake Dave up and tell him to go up to bed. He did NOT like that. He wouldn't get up and he kept waving his hands at me and stuff. It was hilarious! So I video taped it:

Make sure you pay close attention to his face at the end because yes, he is crying. Right after I stopped taping he tells me that "its his hands! He can't close his hands! They won't make fists!" I wish I'd kept taping for that! hehehe I know, I'm evil.

Halloweeeeeen!

2010-11-01T10:23:00.005-06:00

These pictures are all backwards but we'll just have to deal with that!! We went to a trunk or treat Saturday night and got very soggy. It was pretty wet out, but still fun. We did a Ghostbuster theme this year--me, Dave and Maddie were Ghostbusters. Bethany was a ghost. Sam was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Kimball was Slimer. It was a LOT of fun!

On Friday we did a fun little party at my parents' house. I dressed up like Betty Boop that night but I couldn't take a picture of myself in the mirror very well, this is the best I've got:

I know it sucks. Taking a picture of yourself in a mirror is harder than you think!

The night was filled with fun halloween food and lots of fun games for the kids, they had a blast!

Kristie's costume was the best! She dressed up as Timmy and it was hysterical! When we first drove up we saw her through the kitchen window and were like "Is that dad? I don't think so...Is it Timmy? No, they're too short...WHO IS THAT?!" Well, it was Kristie. Every time I'd see her out of the corner of my eye, I'd have to do a double take! haha

This is her cheesy Timmy grin--spot on!

She's holding up her finger because Timmy smashed his finger a few weeks ago and its all bruised on the end, so she even made her finger looked bruised to match! Clever girl!

This is Timmy's reaction to seeing her the first time, it was awesome!

We also went to Dave's parents for dinner Sunday with lots of yummy food and treats, like caramel apples and homemade peppermint patties! It was a crazy and busy weekend but we had such a good time, made out like robbers on the candy and enjoyed having fun with our family most of all! Hope you had a very fun Halloween as well!

Pumpkin Decorating

2010-10-26T17:26:00.004-06:00

Me and the kids worked on our pumpkins last night, I say "worked on" because the little kids didn't carve pumpkins, I let them paint them instead. The kids wanted to paint them, and it was a much easier mess for me to deal with than all the pumpkin innards! But I did carve my pumpkin, I only got about half of it done last night because Kimball wouldn't let me put him down, so I finished it up today.

I LOVE Halloween, I love dressing up, I love candy, I love the parties--so I am excited for Halloween! Especially since last year we had just moved a couple days before Halloween so it was just stressful and not as fun as usual. So hopefully I'll get lots of fun pictures, and I'm excited about our costumes, going to make sure they are all done by tomorrow--fingers crossed for that! Do you love Halloween, or are you an anti-dresser upper?

I Need to Focus

2010-10-19T19:35:00.004-06:00

Not much going on here lately. David's working and going to school, and since we only have one car right now I sometimes feel like I'm trapped in my own home. There's days on end where I don't leave my house, just the few steps out the door to get the mail or put something in the recycle. Its a little weird sometimes, and maybe a bit depressing too. I had a couple days last week where I was feeling really down. I woke up like "This is what I do EVERY day for the rest of my life?! I'm just going to clean my house, play with my kids, do whatever...for the rest of my LIFE?!" It wasn't a great feeling. The monotony, the lack of meaning, it was making me feel really bad. So then I started thinking: I need to stop worrying about everything I don't have or what I want and can't have and all the silly little things and start doing stuff for other people! You know that whole, 'charity never faileth' thing? Yeah, I'm going to try it. Sure I can't go out to a soup kitchen every night, nor can I donate thousands of dollars to a cause; but I CAN try to help people when I see there's a need. I can be a friend. I can come out of my comfort zone. Baby steps. I need a focus, and not on stupid stuff that I can't have anyway. And even though its a little bit difficult without a car to go out and DO stuff, I'm going to try and make the best out of the time I do have! Sooooo to make a long rant end: Here's to goals, and here's to being a better person! Cheers!

Mirror Image

2010-10-14T14:17:00.006-06:00

Just had to add this because it kills me on a daily basis. Kimball looks like a spitting image of Maddie when she was a baby and every time he looks up at me with his big old grin, I have to laugh because its just so uncanny! Here's your proof:

Kimball at four/five months:

Here's Maddie at four-ish months:

Can you see it?! Its crazy! Okay, one more example:

Kimball:

Maddie:

So what do you think? I could find more pictures where they look alike but I don't have the time...well, more like I don't feel like it! :) Its just so funny to me how much they look a like, I love it!

Pumpkin Patch!

2010-10-12T11:03:00.006-06:00

Well it feels like fall is really here. The weather hasn't been horrible (except for a couple really gray, rainy days), its pretty sunny most the time, but definitely cooled down. I don't mind it too much, but I REALLY missed the hot Utah summer and its hard for it to feel so cold already when it never really got HOT. I usually love the fall and winter, so hopefully I'll feel that way soon! :) David and I have been talking lately about how it feels like our lives are stuck on fast forward. We can't believe we've been in Washington for almost a year already, that Bethany is almost eight and how fast that went by. In eight more years she will be sixteen!! (David will be forty!! hehehe) Anyway, it just feels like time goes by way too fast and its sometimes pretty overwhelming! So this weekend flew by (I just told you time was going fast--duh! haha) but I got to do a couple projects and that was fun for me! (Not so much fun for Dave, but he was nice and let me paint and stuff.) Then yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch with Lee and Megan and had a really good time. The weather was great, the place was way fun and cute and we got some pumpkins! There were little animals to look at and coloring pages and Sam LOVED the ducky water races, Maddie LOVED carrying her little pumpkin around and I LOVED getting out of the house! :) Here's some pictures from our little adventure:

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(Dave's giving me bunny ears in this, and I'm telling him to knock it off! haha)

(We thought this looked like the mushrooms off Super Mario Brothers, so we were being silly!)

The chicken in the front was cracking us up with his "AFRO" hair!

And this is the project I did this weekend:

Here's what the normal sign looks like:

And here's what I did:

(p.s. The frame is turquoise, it didn't show up well in these pictures!)

Five Months!

2010-10-05T12:02:00.002-06:00

Here's the promised post JUST about Kimball. He is about a week past five months and is doing TONS of stuff. Here's what he's been up to the last little bit: He started sitting up all by himself a couple weeks ago. He's been rolling around and doing what we like to call "push ups" because he's in a push up position (up on hands and feet and butt in the air). He's been trying to crawl for a couple weeks too, and he's pretty much got it. Its not very fluid or anything but he gets from one side of the room to well, pretty much wherever he wants. And now he's started pulling himself up and standing up. Seriously. He crawls over to the table, grabs the chair and pulls himself up to stand. Then he cries because he knows he can't get down without falling over and he hates that! haha We also started feeding him rice cereal and he eats it REALLY well. I'm surprised because he basically hates a bottle, so I didn't know how well he would do, but he eats with a spoon super good. So yay for that! He got his first "illness" last week, he had a slight fever and super runny nose. Its annoying because it goes away for a few days and then comes back, this weekend was pretty hard. But he seems to be better this time, so we'll hope it lasts! He is a complete joy, just a happy sweet baby! I love his huge smiles and his happy laugh, he just makes my day!

Crawling around and sitting up:

Eating his rice cereal:

Moving so much he wiggled right out of his diaper!:

Being five months is hard work!

Well, Hello There!

2010-09-29T21:35:00.003-06:00

Random picture/update time!

Whats been going on around here? Well, Bethany's in the full swing of school and we're trying to read a LOT, because she has a hard time with it. I think her vision doesn't help the situation, but I'm also a little worried she might be dyslexic (wow, I spelled that "dyslecix" the first time, I wonder where she gets the problem from?! Yikes.) So with parent/teacher conferences coming up we'll see what we can do to help her more. She's also still completely obsessed with Kimball--she wants to hug him and squeeze him and call him George.

Maddie's also starting to really get into Kimball. Baby's never really were her "thang" but now I catch her patting his head and laying on the floor next to him and baby talking at him. Its sweet and annoying all at the same time. Only because she doesn't get boundaries and is constantly bonking his head or knocking him over, so I'm constantly telling her to "back up!" :)

Sam is always going, going, GONE! The kid has more energy than the tazmanian devil! He's talking like crazy and says some of the cutest/funniest stuff! Sometimes I wish he had a mute button, or maybe just a quiet button! :) We're also trying to potty train him. YIKES! I really don't enjoy potty training, but I enjoy buying two sets of diapers even less! And since he's gone in the toilet quite a few times and seems interested, I think we'll just try and see how it goes.

I'm going to do a special post just on Kimball soon, so look for that in a few days. :)

Picture time!

Here's Sam in his big boy underwear, it was killing me how cute he looked in them!

A normal sight in our house with Bethany and Kimball:

Just thought I'd throw this in here, I have NO idea what she's doing! :)

Sam stealing Kimball's binky, can you see the naughtiness in his eyes?!

Dave was given a heads up about a job coming open in November, it could be a really great opportunity; so if you could pray for us, we'd really appreciate it! And thats about it, I'm sure there's things I'm forgetting but you get the gist!

Sew Fun!

2010-09-23T14:10:00.003-06:00

Look what I've been up to! I did something else crafty, yay I'm on a roll! So I saw a tutorial for how to make this sweet baby blanket, and since I already had the supplies for it, I made one myself. The only problem is that its a girl blanket, so I guess I'll have to save it for if we have another girl (haha), or it will have to be just for decoration, OR I might have to save it for a friend when they have a little girl, we'll see how it goes! Here it is:

The inside is almost like chenille, so fun huh?!

Dress Design for Shabby Apple Dresses

2010-09-18T17:54:00.005-06:00

You know, I used to be fairly artistic; I used to draw and paint and all kinds of stuff! But four kids later, I don't always find the time to get creative anymore! So when I saw this contest from Shabby Apple Dresses (I LOOVE their stuff!), I decided I would give it a go! And you know what? It was really fun! And I may sound silly but I really want to wear these dresses!haha So here's what I came up with:

This dress I thought would look really pretty in a purple (I started out with red, but decided purple fit it much better!), and I would probably do it in a jersey knit material so its stretchy and drapes (thats what the lines pulling to each side are: draping sort of thing).

This next one I thought of in a silvery/gray color and I see it in a stiffer cotton so the collar ruffles stand up instead of laying down all soft and flow-y.

This one is one of my favorites, I see it in a really soft cream colored chiffon. Ruffles around the collar and the hemline, and the ribbon should be black or brown velvet.

This one I think should be a really soft chiffon-like material on top too in some sort of floral/spring print, maybe even polka dots. And the bottom should be a tan linen. I got this idea out of my love of double breasted jackets. :)

I like these kind of dresses in a floral cotton because I think they're less "in your face/lingerie" looking, I also love if the skirt had like big drapes that went into pockets. I've seen a lot of these dresses but the skirts are poofy and very short, I like the thought of a pencil skirt with it and the built in top.

This dress I didn't have the best colors for, I would like it to be more of a navy blue instead of this light/royal blue, and also the yellow toned down a bit, but probably in a nice cotton twill. I like the drop waist of it and the full skirt, I LOVE nautical themed clothes and I think this would be such a fun dress to wear! One of Maddie's dresses inspired this design. :)

Alright then, there's my designs for the Shabby Apple contest, you can tell me what you think but only if you love them! haha Its hard putting yourself out there, sheesh! :)

Kimball

2010-09-15T16:41:00.005-06:00

I love vintage...well, pretty much anything vintage! :) I love looking on craigslist for old furniture and things I can decorate my house with, love old looking jewelry, I love vintage looking dresses and clothes. Anyway, a lady I've known since I was a teenager and absolutely adore asked me if I wanted some baby clothes. She said she had been cleaning out some things and found some of her boy's old baby clothes. She said they made her nostalgic and wanted them to go to someone she knows, and since I have a little boy she asked me--lucky me! She brought them over yesterday and as I opened up the box and started taking clothes out, it just kept getting better and better! The clothes are seriously cute and I'm in love with them! I can't wait to keep putting him in more outfits, I'm sure I'll have to add pictures as I go through them! :) By the way, Kimball is almost FIVE MONTHS OLD! Can you believe it? The kid is a stud; he's been rolling over since he was what? Three months I think? Maybe two? He does baby "push ups" all the time and is almost crawling! Yesterday he started going from hands and knees pushed back into a sitting position, he's such a smarty! He's also the sweetest happiest little thing, I could eat his cheeks all day long!

Ocean Shores

2010-09-12T20:33:00.009-06:00

For Labor Day Weekend we planned a trip with Dave's family to go camping. We sat down one night and thought of different places we could go and everyone agreed on going to Ocean Shores. When it came time to go we weren't sure how the weather was going to be, we kept getting different forecasts: rainy, windy, then sunny but cold, blah, blah, blah. But when it came down to it, the weather was fantastic, so so beautiful!

Labor Day weekend was hopping good fun! yuck yuck :)

This is the picture that makes me realize how much those two look alike! Crazy!

Bethany LOVED the ocean, Maddie LOVED picking up shells, Sam LOVED being naughty and Kimball LOVED just being held. :) It was a lot of fun and a lot of work camping with little kids, but I'm glad we got to go and hopefully its something we can do every year (a family camping trip, not necessarily at Ocean Shores).

School Blues

2010-09-07T10:10:00.007-06:00

We went camping this Labor Day weekend, so I'm a little behind on my blogging. Before I can blog about camping, I need to catch up on Bethany starting school. The Monday before school started we had a "fashion show" for family home evening, here's some pictures from that:

Then her first day of school was on Thursday...well, atleast it started for everyone else BUT Bethany. :( I went to drop her off at school, and then went in to the nurse's office to give them her epi-pen and make sure all the paperwork was good, since I hadn't heard anything from them. Well, I get there and the nurse says that they can't just have the epipen, they need paperwork from the doctor. And I'm look "WHA??" and she tells me that they sent papers home and called all the parents--except I didn't get any calls or papers, I even went in and picked up the pen at the end of the year and STILL didn't hear anything! So she tells me Bethany can't stay at the school LEGALLY without that doctor's paper and I needed to take her home. She got about five minutes of schooling that day. Of course, I couldn't get her in to the doctor until the next day and that was a whole fiasco in itself. But whatever, she's in school today so yay! Here's a picture of her on her "non" first day of school:

We decided that day since she was feeling bad we'd go to the beach, I'll only add a couple of those pictures and then I'll post again in the next couple days of our trip to Ocean Shores!

Redneck Party!

2010-08-31T16:42:00.004-06:00

This last weekend we had a themed birthday party for all the August birthday's in our family. The theme was? "REDNECK"!! It was so much fun and we had a great time!

First up, just a few decorations:

Getting dressed up, I loved the costumes!

We played games too, games like toilet seat toss, watermelon seed spittin', bobbin' for pickled pigs feet and spam carving! And there were AWESOME prizes!

Ahhhhhh how I love being silly! And I love it when our family gets together for a good time!

Its a Birthday Party!

2010-08-29T21:36:00.003-06:00

Finally getting around to posting and adding photos of all the things we've been doing. This last week was busy and it felt a little crazy at times! First up is my nephew Liam's first birthday (I'll post more tomorrow of the other things)! I can't believe that little baby is not so little anymore! :( He's the sweetest thing and I'm just in love with him!

I decided to make him a first birthday tshirt:

It was pretty fun to make for him, I was excited about it!

Then that night I took the girls and we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Lots of fun to be had there!

Happy Birthday Liam, I love you so much!!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-08-24T12:02:00.000-06:00

It would be so awesome to win this, and I'm thinking since I've entered many a blog contest and NEVER EVER won, I'm about due right?!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Another Try

2010-08-19T15:35:00.002-06:00

Okay here's my second attempt at "Mila's Daydreams" I tried to do it yesterday like five times, but everytime Kimball would fall asleep and I'd try to lay him down he would wake right up! I was super frustrated yesterday anyway because just nothing was going right, and that was just making me crazy! :) So I finally got him to sleep long enough to snap just these two pictures, each time the camera went *CLICK* it woke him up! Darn! But these are as good as anything, so hopefully they're cute! I don't know if I'm going to keep trying to do these, we'll see how it goes, I do have a plan to do some with the bigger kids--but awake obviously. :)

Fun Idea!

2010-08-17T16:47:00.002-06:00

I found a blog today that just made me so happy! Just the creativity, the fantasy of it is amazing! I love the whole concept of it and if you get a chance definitely check it out! SO FUN!

Anyway, I was so inspired that I thought it would be fun to try it out, especially if they turned out cute enough to print up big to hang on the bedroom wall, I'm excited about it! Tell me what you think:

My Trip to Utah!

2010-08-16T11:46:00.005-06:00

I really don't have a ton of pictures, which just goes to show you that I was having too much fun to stop and take pictures--either that, or I forgot my camera a couple times! :) Me and Kimball's trip to Utah was fantastic, the only thing that would have made it better (besides all of our family being able to go) would be if I could split myself into pieces and could visit with more people! It was so fun to see old and new friends and family, I loved visiting our old ward and spending time with the awesome people I miss so much! After a couple days I was feeling like I shouldn't have come, like a was just pushing on a bruise or re-opening a cut, but it really was worth it even if it hurts to say goodbye! Everyday was filled with fun things and people, it was the perfect amount of visiting and taking it easy and Kimball got so spoiled, I don't think he'll ever let me put him down now, he got held so much!

Saturday I ran right over to Mark and Carla's, it was so fun to sit up late and catch up with them!

Sunday I went to the AF 3rd Ward, I loved seeing that I still pretty much knew everyone there, it was so fun to see how much everyone had grown and I LOVED seeing my young women! I miss them so much!! Playing games at Mark & Carla's with the Romrell's was classic and always good fun! I miss it like crazy!

Monday for FHE, we roasted marshmallows!

Still got a picture of you Jim. :)

Got another giant bug bite, only in Utah...

Tuesday we went to a Bee's game, I love those Utah mountains!

Wednesday I had a slumber party over at Shanna's, send me some pictures eh lady?

Thursday some more of Jim & Kay's family came into town, so it was fun seeing everyone together.

Friday we went to Classic Skate in Sandy, it was so awesome for the kids--and Kay, playing Deal or No Deal! haha

Friday night we had a girls night over at Angie's, playing cards and doing glitter toes!

Saturday I flew home, had a layover in Spokane, which wasn't too bad on account of the gorgeous views. Otherwise, bah.

Then I came home to David with a beard. It got shaved off the next morning. :D hahaha!

I truly had a lovely trip, and the biggest thanks I can give to Jim and Kay for being the best hosts ever! I hope you know I appreciated it so much, I know you've been on vacation/had guests a LOT and I love you so much for all you did for me! So farewell Utah, hopefully we'll be seeing you soon!

Special Thoughts

2010-08-08T09:01:00.000-06:00

When I was first getting to know one of my dearest friends, we took a photo trip out to the salt flats and she road out with me. Its about an hour and a half drive and we had lots to talk about and it was very fun. At one point on the way home, it felt very deja vu-like and I told her that. She responded to me with, "Oh! Do you know what I think deja vu is? I think we've seen our lives before and when we have deja vu its because we're on the right track. Right where we're supposed to be." Maybe not in those exact words, but you get the drift. I loved the thought, it really resonated with me.

As I was getting ready the other day, I had a strong feeling of deja vu. And it got me thinking about being in heaven and seeing my life before me. And choosing to go even when it got hard, and wanting to go anyway. Then I thought about seeing my family around me and not wanting their life to be hard and gladly taking their hard parts away. I can't bear the thought of watching them go through something terrible, and even now I would want it to be me instead of them. I thought about choosing my life and wanting to be valiant and wanting to make my Heavenly Father proud; that I would not want to have shrunken back from the hard parts but taken them on, knowing I could do it.

It hit me very hard, making me cry. Making me cry right now. I feel very strongly like this is true, and next time I come up against something hard, I will remember the big picture and not shrink away but stand up tall and strong. I hope sharing this thought might help you when your trials show up next. And a big thank you to my special friend Shanna, who continues to help me with her great spirit, even when she's not nearby. :)

Lots O Stuff!

2010-08-04T11:40:00.003-06:00

Its been a week since I last posted and I'm needing to update!

First up we'll start with Kimball, he's just over three months now and is totally rolling over! Both back to stomach and stomach to back. Also besides the rolling over, he's sort of scooting too. He can get his knees up underneath him and if we put him on the floor he's turning in a circle and moving within a couple seconds. Crazy baby! He's also smiling and laughing and just getting so big! I really need to take some pictures of him and I'll just have to do that soon.

Sam is kind of going through a terrible two stage. I never had terrible two's with my girls, it was more the three's that were hard. But no, Sam has a little naughty streak that we're trying to work on. Last Sunday during Sacrament Sam leans over to Kimball and points his finger at his face and says "Kimball, pull my finger!" I quickly cupped my hand over his mouth, and he kept saying it like four more times or so. We can thank daddy for teaching him that one! Naughty.

Maddie has been very lovey lately. Last night she sat on the couch with Dave and just rubbed his head for like half an hour, mixed in a couple kisses on his cheek too. She likes to sit by Kimball and pat his head too and when I'm working out and really whining, she'll come over and rub my hair. She's sweet.

We went to Point Defiance last night to take my sister's family pictures, and while we were there waiting Bethany ran by a little yappy dog and it chased her and bit her leg! I felt so bad for her, it was behind her and she didn't even see it coming and it probably scared the heck out of her. It didn't bite her hard enough to break the skin but there was a little bruise and you could see the teeth marks. The guy felt horrible (obviously, because we could've really caused him a problem. Pretty sure they put dog's down for biting children) and we tried not to make him feel bad, I just think its not very smart to take a dog to a park if it attacks kids. Duh. But I just told him it was fine instead. :) She's getting so big though, has two more loose teeth and some molars coming in. She loves playing the wii and is actually pretty darn good!

I'm getting ready to go visit Utah, I leave this Saturday for a week and I'm getting sort of nervous! I'm a little scared to leave my kids, even if they will be with Dave and taken care of. I just hope Sam doesn't run off somewhere or break an arm or something. I'm also worried no one in Utah will want to see me! haha I'm really excited actually and hopefully it will be a great trip, as long as I can go to Smart Cookie it will be worth it! haha And Kimball's my youngest kid to fly an airplane, I think Sam was about six months the first time he flew! I'm not worried about flying, I think he'll do fine, I'm just hoping its not a really crowded plane. Oh, and I got my hair cut the other day, I'll try and get a picture of it soon and post that too.

Dave's training ended yesterday, he's glad to be done with it since they really didn't have a lot to do and sat around a lot. (Hard life huh?) His new job starts on the 16th, so he'll be staying home this next week with the kids while I'm gone. Although he does have an interview for a higher paying job this Friday, it would be pretty awesome if he got that! Me and Dave have a bet to see who can lose two inches off our waist first, we don't know what the prize will be yet, but its on! And I hope I win. :)

Thats about it for now, its felt really busy around here and I feel sad that it seems like summer's almost over. We still have atleast one more big trip, we're going to Ocean Shores for Labor Day weekend. I'm very excited about that! Hope your summer's been as great as mine!

Best Summer Day Yet!

2010-07-28T17:10:00.006-06:00

So on Monday, we saw that the weather was supposed to be really nice, as in high 80's! So we decided to take the kids down to Point Defiance and go to Owen Beach. Little did we know that everyone else and their dog (literally, their dogs) thought to do the same thing! I have never seen so many people there, but it was still fun! The kids splashed around and got wet. Like Sam face planted into the water, good thing it was hot enough that his shirt was dry by the time we were done. The girls tried to find seashells, Maddie told me "I think we found all the seashells on the whole beach!" and I said "ALL of them?!" and she said "well, maybe not all of them, I'm going to find them all though!" They found plenty believe me! It was a lot of fun, i surely love the ocean!

We saw this guy way down the beach and I pointed him out to Dave, "look at that BIG dog!" when we got up close we realized it was a freaking WOLF! Crazy huh?

Summer Stuff

2010-07-20T12:51:00.003-06:00

Nothing much going on, we're just in the swing of summer. I keep feeling panicked because the time goes by way too fast! Its like summer just started and now its almost over! Poo. Now that Dave's started his training everyday, we haven't gotten to do as many fun things as we had been. Mostly because he has the car all day, and then the sun decided to go away this week. I like the sun, come back sun!

I'm tired today and feeling a little blah. Sometime life weighs down too hard and I wonder where my faith goes and why I can't have a better attitude. Then I wonder why our life is the way it is, and I stop myself, because "why" is a very dangerous place to go, and I don't need to start in the "why me" attitude.

Kimball's growing so much, I need to have another little photo shoot with him because heaven knows children grow too fast! I look at my kids every day and am shocked at how big they've gotten--I think time speeds up the older you get!

I'm really looking forward to the next couple months; first up there's my Utah trip! I'm so excited to go and see friends and family I can hardly stand it! I'm also excited we're going on a family camping trip to Ocean Shores (with David's family)! I love camping, and I love the ocean, it will be great! Plus all the other fun things to do in the summer...when the sun comes back out anyway! :)

Well, thats all the energy I have to write this, I hope you guys are having an awesome, fun filled summer!

Zoo Day!

2010-07-15T11:19:00.013-06:00

Last Saturday, me and the kids went to the zoo with David's parents. It was a GORGEOUS day and we had a lot of fun! We were there for a couple hours and I loved seeing how active the animals were, usually they just lay around and its fine to look at them, but on Saturday they were really moving! We had a great time!

This monkey was such a show off and so much fun to watch! He was all over the place, swung from the very top, down to us, back and forth in front of the glass a few times and then snuggled up to the girl monkey!

Funny thing: When we first got there we sat down and had a little picnic, after we'd been eating for a little bit we started noticing all these crows gathering around us. We could tell they were getting anxious for us to leave so they could eat our scraps. Well, one got so anxious it pooped on Dave's dad's shoulder. It worked, we left. Within feet of us moving about five of them swooped in and started picking up crumbs. Those jerks.

My boys asleep:

Poor Sam was so worn out by the time we were done, he was trying so hard to sleep in the stroller, sitting up and moving. He got a little time in there, but really crashed on the car ride home. I thought it was so cute though!