The 4th of July

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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. :)