The Incredible Family

Feelin' the Love

2012-02-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is still a week away, but at our house we are feeling it a little early.

Just for fun, my kids got out the craft box and spent hours this past weekend making valentines for everyone in the family. They happily worked together laughing and joking, and praising each others creativity. It was great!

They set up a mail station in the hallway upstairs. I was waiting to take a picture til the end because it was pretty amazing and every time I walked by, it had grown. Only problem was that by the time they were finished, they asked Jared and I to wait in the living room and then everything was delivered. No mail station picture.

They started off by putting on a little skit. We asked them to do it twice. It had nothing to do with Valentine's Day or love letters, but it was cute. Then, the dispersed an even amount of valentines to each person in the family, including Emma's doll.

Here was my stash.

This was one of my favorites!

I love that amongst all the sibling rivalry, grumpy mornings or tattle-telling, my kids can have weekends like this where they don't seem to mind that we aren't going out to movies or getting ice cream, and they don't care that friends aren't available to play with, they just have fun together which as a parent is so satisfying.

Hunter told me this was the most fun he's had in soo long and the girls quickly agreed. I'll be replenishing the craft box with paper and stickers this week!

Glory Days

2012-02-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

The BYU Rugby team came to Seattle last weekend. Of course, we dragged our family and friends out into the cold to support our cougars and re-live some of the memories from a few years back when Jared was a BYU Rugby player, and I was a supportive wife watching all the games, cringing and hoping that at the end he would still be in one piece.

Walking out onto the field at the start of the game brought back a flood of memories, for both of us. Once the game started, Jared turned to me and said, I forgot how brutal this was. I remembered.

Those were fun days. The team was, good, really good, they still are. It was fun to watch them blow away every team they played, and go on to win the National Championships his final year.

Hunter was impressed when the coach recognized Jared and called him by name. He turned to Linsey in amazement and she said, "Well, he was the best player on the team!"

He certainly was my favorite player, and he was pretty amazing!

We came prepared to cheer! It was cold, but the cougars played a good game and beat the Huskies 48-5.

We had so much fun we came out the next day to watch them play a club team from the Rugby Super League, OPSB. Coach Smyth likes to have the team play some good club teams while they are out so they have some experience playing hard teams before the National Championships. This was just what he ordered. It was a tough game. We were behind and with just 2 minutes left, BYU scored a try and took the lead 19-15. OPSB fought hard and was able to get within a meter of scoring before being dragged out of bounds. It was a crazy finish and the fans went wild! Go Cougars!

Linsey enjoyed some glory of her own as her soccer team was awarded 2nd place in their district.
Pretty cool! She had another great soccer season and is gearing up to start again this Spring!

Go Strykers!

And just because it's such a big deal to Emma, I have to add that she has finally lost that long awaited first tooth. My kids all seem to be the last of their friends, and their entire first grade classes to loose a tooth. It makes the day they finally loose their first tooth that much more exciting, and that day was yesterday for Emma.... finally!

She even let Jared pull it out for her, and he really had to pull. It wasn't one of those hanging by a thread situations. He told her it might hurt a little bit and she said, "I don't care." That's my girl! I love that toothless, proud smile.

How we are surviving the Big Storm!

2012-01-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

It started out small.
Just a little snow on Sunday, enough to make a little snowman, with a snow bunny.

The snow continued to dump and our kids were thrilled when school was cancelled again and again and again. Really, everything we had scheduled for this entire week has all been cancelled.

It seemed like Christmas. We don't get much snow in the Pacific Northwest which means when it does snow, everything shuts down and you stay home... and if you have kids, you play! They amaze me with their ability to stay out in the cold all day. Even little Austin would stay out for hours.

Here are some pictures to document some of the fun they had.
Jared went out with the kids one evening and helped them make a big fort.
They worked until dark, but it was all worth it, look how cool it turned out!
Then came the ice. It started Wednesday, but by Thursday morning everything was covered in a thick layer of ice. Each individual branch was well over an inch thick. I've never seen anything quite like it.
It really was pretty, but unfortunately many of the trees couldn't quite handle the weight of the ice and trees began to fall right and left.

Look at this poor little tree drooped all the way over.

We feel fortunate that our trees have all survived the ice storm. This evergreen is struggling, but thankfully none of it's branches have snapped.

Many of our neighbors were not so fortunate.

While this week has been sort of exciting and in many ways we have enjoyed being snowed in, we are grateful for our safety, and especially for our warm home. With all of the fallen trees, all around us hundreds of thousands are without power and we are warned that it may take several days before the power lines are fixed. It really is a mess.

Thankfully, it's been raining today and things are starting to thaw.

It's been quite the week!

Hunter-Man

2012-01-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

Lately, there's been a lot of reasons to celebrate Hunter!

His third grade class put on a program in celebration of Martin Luther King Day. It was fabulous, as usual, and we especially enjoyed Hunter's scat solo/duet. I never would have been brave enough to do something like that.

He also had a few speaking parts, a pretty big deal to him.

A few days later, Hunter had his first official piano recital. He practiced, and practiced, and practiced his song and thankfully played it flawlessly at the recital. He said he didn't even feel nervous about it.

Here he is with his teacher, Brandy.

She really is great for him, just what he needs, super positive and encouraging and she makes it really fun for him.

Last, but not least, there was the pinewood derby.
Jared asked Hunter to draw what he wanted his car to look like and then my two very artistic and talented boys made that car up to look just like Hunter imagined.

It looks black in the picture, but it's actually dark blue.
I think he named it Blue Thunder.

I love this picture, waiting and cheering for the car, but it's oh so serious too!
You'd think this kid was loud, but Jared tells me from across the gym, the loudest person cheering in the crowd was my little Austin!

Blue Thunder did it's best and won an award for "Best Detail".

It finished somewhere in the middle which was a bit of a disappointment to both dad and Hunter, especially since one of the boys made a car on the spot - colored the block of wood with markers and glued the wheels on right there... and that car beat Blue Thunder believe it or not.

I was proud of Hunter last year when he took home a trophy, but I was more proud this year to watch my son, who quite often struggles with sportsmanship, cheer on the other boys and keep a positive attitude even when he wasn't blowing away the competition. It really was a great night!

As we left Emma said, "What are we going to do to celebrate Hunter?" I feel like we have been celebrating him for a week non-stop, but we did stop and get donuts!

Way to go Hunter!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

Jared and I told our kids they could not wake up before 7:00 Christmas morning. About 6:55, I could hear them all in our doorway, whispering. They sat there and waited til our clock showed 7:00 and then shouted out, "It's Christmas!!!"

Santa puts up a barricade so the kids can't sneak downstairs to peak. The kids excitedly made their way through chairs and boxes covered by blankets and wrapping paper and raced down the stairs.

I'm sure my kids would love it if we let them all just unwrap everything all at once, but I love watching them open each gift, one by one.

I love watching the look on all of their faces as they take turn opening gifts.

This doll made Emma's day!

Here we are headed off to Grandma's house for dinner.

I wish I would have taken a picture of everyone in their Sunday best, but they changed so quickly once we got home, anxious to get back to their Christmas toys and gadgets. I have mixed feelings about Christmas falling on Sunday. It was really neat to go to church, sing Christmas music, and feel of the Spirit there on Christmas day; after all, we are celebrating the Savior's birth. It was the dressing up and leaving by 10:00 Christmas morning that was hard.

It all worked out though and we had a lovely day.

We had a fancy Christmas dinner with the McInelly Family at Jared's parents house. Turkey, stuffing, rolls, and all the fixin's. It was delicious and all prepared by my mother-in-law which was a wonderful treat!

At bedtime, I found my entire family snuggled up with dad admiring his new ipad.

Everyone agreed that this was one of our favorite Christmases. Although, I think we say that every year!

And the day after Christmas was lovely too... We spent the whole day relaxing, and playing together, working on projects and playing with new stuff. The kids ran back and forth with their neighbor friends enjoying their new toys. It was just what we all needed.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is filled with anticipation and excitement. We were grateful to have some fun things planned to keep the kids entertained and it's always fun to spend time with cousins!

We met at the Seattle Center and checked out the miniature train and village.

The kids could take turns driving the locomotive.

Then we watched a comedy stunt show by Matt Baker featured on America's Got Talent! It was pretty good and best of all.. free!

We sat in the front row!

Maybe that's why he picked Uncle Mat to come up and be a part of the show.

Here he is teaching Mat how to spit a ping pong ball high up into the air, and then try to catch it again in his mouth. Really, he just wanted all of us to see how hard it was so we would be super impressed when he could juggle ping pong balls with his mouth.

Next, we headed over to the ice rink.

I really didn't think this guy would last long, but it only cost $2.00 for him to skate and the little ice skates were sooo cute.

He surprised us and loved it! These little support bars were perfect for little ones.

Emma was especially comfortable with hers. Watch out!

Linsey skated around looking cute and cool.

Hunter was a maniac and flew around the rink so fast, I never even got a picture.

Austin skated the entire time. Towards the end, I knew he was tired... it was way past his nap time. He still wouldn't agree to leaving. He just laid his head down for a little rest and then was right back to skating.

We came home and enjoyed a yummy ham dinner and then had our Christmas Eve program.

Here all the kids are in their new PJ's, all ready for bed!

Ohhh... the excitement!

Donuts with Santa

2011-12-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite neighborhood traditions is having donuts with Santa. It's a fun way to see Santa, visit with neighbors, and of course there's the donut.

The girls.

The boys.

Hunter thought this two way fire place was pretty cool. I didn't think much of it til he told me that he was in all the pictures.

I don't know this little girl, but sure enough, there he is!

I was horrified and quickly found a friend who had just been through the line. She had taken pictures of her kids with Santa and luckily from a straight-on angle, you couldn't see Hunter.

Silly boy.

Christmas with the Butlers

2011-12-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

This year, we went to Kennewick before Christmas because who really wants to wait til the 25th to start all the fun?!

My kids love getting together with their cousins. Watching them reminds me of all the fun times I had as a kid growing up with cousins who were also my best friends!

Anthony pretty much entertains all the grand kids. Sometimes all on his own, all at once.
My favorite part of our get-together was the family talent show. I didn't get pictures of everything, but everyone participated.

Linsey played the piano...

and the violin.

Zachary played his drum.

Hunter played the piano.

Grandpa did some magic tricks.

Anthony and I did a musical number.

Chris did a science trick.... Anthony reluctantly agreed to be his victim while his stomach got sucked up into a cup.

Tally showed off some of her photography. She's really amazing.

Braydon showed off some of his art work.

His artistic talent also carries over to his lego building.

I don't know anyone who has a collection of legos quite like this.

Emma danced.

And then Austin danced.

Savannah played her ukelele.

Gavin shared his basketball trophy.

Then he demonstrated how he can dribble and bounce pass. So cute!

It was really fun to let each of the kids take a few minutes to share something about them and I truly enjoyed each of their talents. I even appreciated Jared's talent where he demonstrated how loud he can yell. He really can yell louder than anyone I've ever heard. All of the kids tried their hardest to match his yell, but they couldn't even come close.

And then they all went nuts...

Thanks Jared.

Really, it had nothing to do with Jared. All we have to do is put music on and they dance and boogie their little hearts out. It's a great way to get all that energy out before bedtime.

After a little service project the next morning, we went to the church gym for lunch and some play time. We played a fun version of tag and then the kids found a jack pot of balls in a closet that entertained them for hours.

Savannah brought Emma a dress home from her Hawaii trip. She wore it all weekend in the freezing temperatures. She really loves it!

I could hardly convince her she should not wear it home because we were planning to stop and play in the snow as we drove over the pass. Reluctantly, she agreed and I think she was grateful.

It doesn't feel quite like Christmas for me until I see the snow. We thought we'd stop for a half hour but it ended up being much longer.

We had a great time with the Butlers and enjoyed celebrating Christmas with them. The fun has only begun....

December Highlights

2011-12-24T00:26:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this time of year! I love Christmas music, shopping for gifts, holiday decorations, spending time with family, goodies, all of it.

December so far has been lots of fun. We've had all sorts of excitement.

Wouldn't you know, both of my girls had something "BIG" on the exact same night, same time, different places. I'm sure it's not the last time this will happen, but this was the first.

Emma had her first grade Christmas program that she has been rehearsing for during school for weeks and weeks now. It was a pretty big deal.

Linsey had her first orchestra concert and that was also a pretty big deal.

Here are the two stars of the evening.

I'm not sure what was going on here...

...but it must have looked like fun!

Hunter and I went to Linsey's orchestra concert. She is playing the violin and really loves it. I was expecting the concert to be ....well, a bit painful to endure possibly. I was surprised to hear real music... and they actually sounded pretty good! We had great seats, but unfortunately, I couldn't see Linsey once the conductor came out. Thank goodness I snapped this picture, because it's the only glimpse I got.

Jared and Austin went to Emma's Christmas program. It was darling and I can say that because as luck would have it, they performed again later that week during school for an assembly and I was able to sneak in and see it for myself. I love how these kids know every word and every action and they just sing their little hearts out. It's so sweet!

Although we are sad we couldn't all be together to support both Emma and Linsey, we all met at the house afterwards to watch video clips and eat ice cream together!

Later that week, Emma took the spotlight once more in her Nutcracker performance.

Emma & Sienna.

Emma loves to dance. She really enjoyed watching all of the older girls during the dress rehearsal. This really may be her thing...

Tis the season. I feel like I've been non-stop Christmas shopping, baking, making up goodies and gifts, and wrapping presents, but I LOVE it all...

I put my family to work in an assembly line packaging up our cookie dough for a neighbor Christmas gift.

I caught this picture the other day. Emma and Austin were talking about how Santa really fits down the chimney???

This time of year is so much fun! I'm super excited for Christmas this year and I think my kids are pretty excited too!

So Grateful!

2011-11-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving time! It's a holiday that is not highly commercialized without a whole lot of hype, just good quality family time, yummy food, and a chance to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for.

I'm grateful I didn't have to travel anywhere this year. Everyone came to me. Anthony arrived first and helped my kids make our turkey favors.

He's such a fun, cool uncle and my kids really adore him.

My parents came the next afternoon.

I love that my mom taught Linsey how to make her famous pies.

It was so sweet to watch them working side by side, laughing and having fun.

It tasted great too!

Doug, Desiree and Aleck arrived Wednesday as well. It was fun to see our little boys hit it off so well.

They both LOVE cars and trains. It worked most of the time.

Thanksgiving morning was perfect. They boys played football and my mom and I had fun putting the meal together.

Aren't those turkeys adorable?

I'm grateful all the food turned out great! I love this picture because while Linsey and Hunter are looking at the camera, my dad and Anthony are checking out the food, probably deciding what they are going to eat first.

It was a wonderful, relaxing day.

I'm grateful we had such beautiful weather Thanksgiving weekend. Friday we went to Northwest Trek. The sun was shining and the skies were blue, that's quite unusual for this time of year here in Seattle. It was a lot of fun to see all of the wild-life in their natural habitats.

Austin and I on the tram ride.

All we got to see was the back of this moose, but hey... we saw a moose!

I'm grateful Grandma brought this fun gingerbread train and gingerbread people to entertain the kids.

It was a huge hit as always!

I'm grateful these boys got to know each other better!

There is so much to be grateful for and we are glad to have had such a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Thank You Veterans!

2011-11-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

In celebration of Veterans Day, Auburn has a parade. It's a pretty big parade! I've been to the Auburn Christmas parade and it's over in 15 minutes so I was really surprised to hear that Auburn has the largest Veteran's Day parade anywhere on this side of the Mississippi!

Our scout troop decorated a float to ride in the parade.

(I think these were the cutest boys in the bunch.)

My favorite picture of the day!

Since we were towards the end of the parade, we got to go out to the street and watch.

Wow, it was pretty neat... a little emotional to be reminded of those that have served for the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. I feel so blessed and grateful for all of the courageous men and women that have served our country.

This guy came right up to my boys and said, "Boo!"

We saw marching bands from local schools, Moses Lake, and even Boise, Idaho. This was my Kamiakin High School's marching band from Kennewick, Washington. Go Braves!
We watched the parade for over 2 hours before it was time for the scout float to join the parade.
The boys felt really cool being a part of the parade. It really was a fun experience and I think Veteran's Day will mean a lot more to each of us this year.

October

2011-11-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick recap of October, mostly Halloween.

I got to go on a fun field trip with Emma's class to Maris Farms.

Jared had a birthday! We love celebrating birthdays in this house and usually the celebrating carries on for several days. Here he is enjoying his birthday breakfast.

Later that afternoon we snuck away for a fun date! Dinner, some birthday shopping and a movie while the kids washed the car and had all sorts of fun with Grandma. It was perfect!

We also had a big family get-together to celebrate Jared and cousin Olivia's birthdays. Here's the big moment...

Of course we had to carve a pumpkin with Halloween soon approaching. I'm not a huge fan of this tradition, but the kids love it and thankfully Jared is good to head up the project.

This year the kids didn't really need either of us much at all.

Emma decided early on that she wanted to be a dog for Halloween. Surprise, surprise!

She got to use her costume all weekend long. She started off by going to a Halloween party with cousin Olivia and her family of Super Heroes. I think Superman (Super girl in this case) had a dog.. right? She fit in just fine with Black Widow, the Hulk, Super girl and Captain America. I think she wore her costume pretty much all weekend long because Olivia's birthday party was a costume party, and they also went to a Halloween carnival. Emma was in heaven! Dog costume or not, she pretty much spends about half of the time on all fours barking like a dog so this was a dream come true for her.

Finally, it was officially Halloween. Jared loves getting the kids all made up. Even little Austin took his turn getting his face painted this year.

Don't they look great!?

We have our Dog, Emma.

An Angry Bird.

A Skeleton.

And a Ghost Princess.

We met up with some friends and the trick or treating began!

Emma and her friend Natalie love to coordinate their costumes. Natalie was a vet this year. Emma was excited that if she got hurt, Natalie would give her a band aid.

The kids made out with a serious stash of candy this year.

The sorting and counting.

It literally spread from one end of our house to the other.

And that pretty much covers October. Next time I blink, it will be Thanksgiving.

A crazy morning

2011-10-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

4:00 a.m. Emma wakes up. She is sick and her loud, raspy cough wakes Jared and I up.

4:01 After another dose of medicine and temperature check, Emma is in bed next to me.

4:05 Jared decides to get started on his homework. Crazy…. I know.

4:44 Emma is talking in her sleep, and her raspy breathing is Really loud.

5:45 My alarm goes off. I guess I did fall back asleep after all.

5:46 Emma woke up too. I make a last minute decision to skip my morning run (something I rarely do and usually regret). I snuggle her back to sleep.

6:34 I wake up… again. The house is quiet, way too quiet.

6:35 I wake up Linsey. She forgot to set her alarm and overslept. I’ve never seen her hop out of bed so fast.

6:55 Linsey is off. We frantically packed her lunch and got her out the door without a minute to spare.

7:15 Hunter is up

7:30 Kiss Jared goodbye. He is hauling a bunch of stuff for work so he takes the van today.

8:00 Make a doctor appointment for Emma. Jared is sure she needs an antibiotic for her swollen tonsils.

8:10 Hunter is off to school

8:15 Austin is playing in the playroom, Emma is still asleep, I close the door hoping to keep her sleeping and quietly hop in the shower.

8:? Hunter comes back home. (He has never done this before, but got to school and realized he forgot his bike helmet so he rode all the way home.) The van is gone and mom is nowhere to be found. Hunter panics and races around the house calling for me not knowing what to do now that he is sure he'll be late to school.

8:29 I hear commotion downstairs. I find Hunter in a panic, tears streaming down his face, trying to call dad. (He was so freaked out, I'm actually relieved that he didn't call 911.)

8:30 Hunter asks me to take him to school. I’m standing in my towel with my hair dripping wet and the late bell rings in 10 minutes. I hug him and assure him that everything will be okay. I throw on clothes and we go out to the garage only to be reminded that dad has the van… and the car seats are in the van. We have extra car seats but of course they are in the most hard-to-get-to spots of our garage. I’m climbing over bikes, tossing boxes and lifting heavy things over my head.

8:39 I watch Hunter walk into his classroom. Somehow we made it!

8:44 We get home. I have 6 minutes to dry my hair and get two kids ready so we can make it on time to Emma’s 9:10 appointment.

9:01 We leave. We’ll be a few minutes late, but it’s been a crazy morning.

9:15 We arrive. The doctor sees us and tells me Emma has a cold. While I’m glad it's nothing worse…. REALLY.

9:45 We get popsicles, plop on the couch and watch Scooby Doo. I’m ready for a nap, no one else is.

Indian Summer Half Marathon

2011-09-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Lastweekend I ran another half marathon. Jared was out of town and I found this racein Tri-cities near my parents. I really wanted to go outthere and push myself and see just what I could do, for me this race was allabout doing my best!

Igot to my parents house Friday evening and as I was putting the kids to bed,Austin got sick. Neither he nor I gotgreat sleep that night which isn’t the best way to go into a race. Thankfully, I woke up and felt prettywell. It was all those excited nerves Iguess.

Themorning air felt nice and cool and I started off feeling strong. My pace was a little faster than I hadplanned, but I felt so good that I decided to go with it for as long as Icould. I felt like I was pushing it theentire race and I never let up.

Thelast few miles were hard. It was hot andI felt a little light-headed, the last mile seemed to never end and once Ifinally saw the finish line, I couldn’t wait to cross it.

Icame in 7^th of all the women (417 runners), and I placed 3^rdin my division. I got my best time of1:44:30 and kept a pace of just under 8 minutes per mile. That felt awesome!!

Ihardly remember stumbling over to the nearest patch of grass, but I know I collapsedfrom exhaustion. People around me askedif I was okay and I insisted that I just needed some time to recover. I felt light headed and a little nauseous. Someone offered to pour water on me whichfelt really good and cooled me down. Peoplewere asking me questions and I could answer them fine, I was concerned aboutwhere my family was, I knew they were planning to be at the finish line which Ihad crossed several minutes earlier than planned, and by now I imagined themsitting there wondering where I was.

Icould hear a volunteer from the race talking to someone about calling 911 and Iargued with them, insisted that I would be fine and I just needed some time tolay there. I tried to sit up a littleand then began throwing up. I quitarguing, but I still didn’t think an ambulance needed to come. If only they had a medic tent, someone couldhave checked me out and it would have been no big deal.

Icould hear the sirens in the distance and I thought to myself, “This is crazy!”

Theparamedics checked me out, said my blood pressure was low and that I needed toget some fluids in me. I drank a lot ofwater during the race, but I probably should have drank more Gatorade. It was hot and I had really exhaustedmyself. They said I had twochoices. I could go to the ER with them,get an IV and be monitored at the hospital for a couple hours, OR, I could spendthe rest of the day taking it easy and drinking lots of fluids.

Iresponded, “I think I can drink some water.”

Afterdrinking a ton of Gatorade and water, and taking it easy, I did feel fine.

Iknow that serious things can happen to people when they push themselves to runmarathons and I know that the decision to call 911 was the right thing. I’ve never before needed medical attention aftera race, but I’ve always seen those red tents and I really wished they wouldhave had one here. I guess it makes fora great story though.

Evenwith the crazy ending, it was a great race. I felt better than ever as I ran. I loved the course and I actually liked how you turned around at thehalfway point and came back. It made thecourse seem shorter and everyone you passed cheered you on and told you howwell you were doing.

Ilove the feeling of accomplishment running a race like this gives you. For me, it’s not about winning or losing. It’s about pushing myself and working hard,going out there and giving it everything I’ve got. It’s about doing my very best and that’s justwhat I did!

Itfelt awesome!

Happy Birthday Hunter

2011-09-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Happy 9th Birthday Hunter-Man!

Nine years ago today, Jared and I were excitedly calling our family to tell them we had a baby BOY! Not knowing which I would need, I brought a girl and boy outfit with me to the hospital. I'll never forget how proud Jared sounded as he made call after call, telling everyone about our new baby boy.... big and strong, healthy and perfect! He brings so much joy to our lives.

I'm so grateful for Hunter's thoughtful, sensitive personality. He is so fun and energetic, but he is also very aware of others needs and will drop everything to help someone out. He really is a great kid!

We had fun celebrating him all weekend long! We decided to have his party at the Super Jump! What a great place for a big group of energetic kids!

I love how they got all sweaty and worn out! They really played hard!

Even little Austin braved the big slide and loved it! He went over and over and over again!

Hunter requested a soccer ball cake and luckily, his artistic dad helped out once again.
He does a great job!

They said it tasted good!

They had this cool chair for the birthday boy to use while opening presents.

Austin had to try it out too. We joke about how he is the king of our house so it kinda fit.

Lots of cool new toys. Hunter was thrilled, it was all perfect! His friends know him well.

We had Hunter's party on Saturday, but today is Hunter's actual birthday.

We woke up this morning and did our traditional birthday breakfast!

After church, all of the McInelly family came over for a birthday dinner. We had all of Hunter's favorites, hamburgers, salmon, rolls, nacho cheese dip and watermelon. Since we had just had cake the night before, he settled on cinnamon rolls for dessert.

Hunter and Dylan

Austin and Blake

Brody, Hunter, and Chase

Hunter and Olivia

Papa and Grandma Jeanne

Happy Birthday Hunter! We love you!

Camping

2011-09-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of the last weekend before school started by packing 3 fun things all into one long weekend. We left Thursday and headed off to one of our favorite camp spots with some great friends!

It works out really well, the adults sit around and visit while the kids play. Everyone is happy.

There's nothing like the peaceful mornings in the mountains.

Who doesn't love a good s'more, especially with symphony chocolate.

We enjoyed skits,
games,

setting squirrel traps,

making fires,

and canoeing.

We ended up with an extra cabin. We decided to let the boys have it one night and the girls have it the next. It was funny to see how they each made it their own and in what ways they "partied." The boys were thrilled with their stash of pop and Doritoes and those who went to check on them claimed that it smelled badly.

Maybe that's why when the girls took over, they were sweeping away the boys stinky feet smell. The girls put up decorations and arranged their shoes nicely by the door.

They put music on and the cabin seemed like it was shaking if you walked by. They danced... a lot!

Here is the whole group.

All the kids.

We packed up on Saturday, which was game day for the cougars.

Go BYU!

Our camping trip was loads of fun, but that was not the end of our weekend fun...

Mount St. Helens

2011-09-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

We left from our camping trip and headed to visit Mount St. Helens. Our kids are fascinated with volcanoes and lava so we knew they would enjoy learning about a real volcano. The visitors center was perfect. We spent over an hour checking out the different exhibits and video clips.

Here are the kids outside the visitors center, Mount St. Helens is way out in the background.

It took us another hour to drive out to the mountain. I love this picture of Hunter helping Emma to get a view at one of the lookout points.

Here is a picture of what Mount St. Helens looked like before it erupted in 1980.

Here it is today.

Very Fascinating!

The volcanic monument and the surrounding landscape are protected so that nature can work at its own pace to renew the land. It's crazy to see all the devastation over 30 years later.

I'm so glad we made this trip. We all enjoyed learning about Mount St. Helens and it was fun to have some quality family time.

We arrived in Olympia late Saturday night to visit Jared's parents. Once we got the kids bathed and in bed (they got to sleep out back in the tent trailer.. woo hoo), we had to stay up and watch BYU play their first game of the season! Go Cougars! I was a little worried Jared was going to wake up the kids, and really the whole neighborhood, with all of his cheering.

We enjoyed going to church and relaxing with the McInelly family all day Sunday. Mandy and Chris live close by and Mat and Bri came out for a visit so it ended up being a spontaneous party.

Monday was Labor Day. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to do any hard Labor (to me it's more about lack of labor and all sorts of relaxing or playing), but Jared got up early and spent 8 hours washing, waxing, and detailing our car.

The kids and I met the cousins and since we were car-less, we took the bus down town.

The kids had a great time singing "The Wheels on the Bus".

I'm sure the bus driver LOVED us.

We played at a fun little splash pad.
ate a picnic lunch,

and stopped at a cupcake shop for dessert.

Visiting the McInelly family was a great way to end our fun packed Labor Day weekend!

First Day of School

2011-09-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! My kids love school and could hardly wait for the first day!

Linsey is heading off to Middle School this year. Holy Cow, I'm in denial.
She had a great day minus a finicky locker incident which has her totally stressed out about tomorrow...
Hunter is starting 3rd grade. He claims that his teacher is the funniest teacher in the whole school so he is really excited!
Emma is off to 1st grade! Woo Hoo! All day, an extra recess, and lunch, it's a big deal!

Little Austin kept sneaking in pictures. :)
He's going to be pretty lonely at home all day, just he and I.

Here is Hunter in his class, front and center right next to his friend Lydia.

Emma and some of her best buds.

It's fun to see them growing up and so excited about school!

Here we go again!

More Family Fun!

2011-08-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

After a week of non-stop fun with Grandma and Grandpa Butler, Doug and Desiree, and Anthony, we headed off to Coeur d'Alene for more fun!

We got there just in time to celebrate Zachary and Savannah's birthdays!

They have a great backyard, it's about 5 times the size of ours which gives the kids plenty of space to run and play.

Linsey and Braydon are one year apart. I love that they have always been good friends and I hope they will be even closer as they become teenagers, the way my brother Chris and I were.

We spent one afternoon playing at a nearby beach. My kids never get tired of sand and water. It's one of our favorite things to do.

Hunter, Zach and Savannah are all the same age. I love this picture of Hunter and Savannah jumping off the dock together.

Linsey spent almost two hours digging up clay and making little pots.

Uncle Chris is super amazing and does a great job entertaining all the kids with his rockets.

I think the highlight of the entire weekend for Hunter was testing out the cousins new Go-Kart!

Hunter and Zach

Hunter behind the wheel. That's a scary sight.

Linsey and Savannah

Gavin and Emma

Grandma and Grandpa came up Friday evening and we had a big BBQ and birthday party for the twins. Seriously, non-stop fun!

Saturday, we spent the entire day at Silverwood Theme Park. We left at 9:30 a.m. and got home at 11:30 p.m. The kids were exhausted, but honestly, so were the adults. I've never felt so tired. We had a really great time. I opted to leave my camera at home so here is my only shot of the day... just about to head out.

Sunday after church, we drove by my brother's new office. Typically we get together over the summer more, but with Jared in school and Chris busy moving his practice, both our families have been tied down a bit more than usual.

Chris finished medical school and moved to Coeur d'Alene about 4 years ago where he joined another doctor and began working as a Podiatrist. Recently, they bought a new building and did a major face-lift inside and out. They are still working on some finishing touches, but here is the "almost" finished product!

Dr. Christopher Butler
... kinda weird, to me he'll always just be Chris.

the cousins

the whole crew, a.k.a. Chris's fan club.

Tally is really talented with her fancy new camera and did all of the art work throughout the office.

Each of the rooms has great pictures of local, beautiful spots. It's such a perfect idea.

I think everyone enjoyed themselves checking out all of the latest equipment,

and especially testing out the chairs.
I doubt Chris ever puts a patient up quite that high.

After a delicious Sunday dinner, we all said our goodbyes.

I love that these kids just can't get enough of each other.

We can't wait til the next time we can get together, I'm sure we'll have even more fun!

Family Fun!

2011-08-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

This past week and a half has been non-stop Family Fun! It all started out on a Thursday afternoon when my dad and two brothers Doug and Anthony stopped by on their way to Sekiu for some Salmon fishing.

I'm still not exactly sure why this wig and sunglasses were in Anthony's suitcase, but things got a little silly when he pulled them out.

Later that day, Grandma and Aunt Desiree showed up with little cousin Aleck. They stayed all weekend while the boys were out fishing.

Austin loved having Aleck here and woke up every morning asking to play with him. I love this picture of the kids in their jammies watching the garbage truck.

Desiree and I ran a 5K Friday night. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed a BBQ dinner on main street afterwards, all part of the Auburn Good Ol' Days celebration.

I ran it in 22:23.
I decided that I'm done running evening races. Cool mornings are more my thing.
We missed the awards ceremony, but I took 2nd place in my division!

Desiree is a great cook and offered to make dinner one evening. She made really yummy chicken, with rice and beans. Everyone loved it!

We filled the weekend with picnics, a trip to the lake, playing at the park, swimming at the Aquatics center, and a movie in the backyard once the boys returned from their fishing trip. Doug, Des, and Aleck took off late Saturday night to visit more family, but the fun continued...

After church on Sunday, we had a yummy family dinner and had fun going on walks and playing games with Grandma and Grandpa.

They left Monday morning, but Anthony stayed with us all week. He is such a fun uncle and gives my kids all sorts of attention. They adore him. We went to Wild Waves, he helped me out with a scouting activity, and we took him to our favorite pizza buffet at the Rock.

One of my really good friends who I haven't seen for over 13 years came to visit Wednesday evening. Technically she isn't family, but close. We were best friends til I moved when I was 15, but all through High School we kept in touch. I went on family vacations with her and she flew out to Washington several times to visit. We both got married in December of '97, unfortunately, we haven't seen each other since. We had a BBQ and spent the evening talking about old times and catching up. We laughed a lot.

Mandi and I

Our kids really hit it off and by the end of the night were best of friends.

Mandi's husband Wilson and their dog (and Emma).

Thursday, we loaded up the van, picked up a few movies from the redbox, and headed off to Coeur d'alene for some more family fun.....

Lovin' the Sunshine!

2011-08-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Up until recently, Seattle has had approximately 78 minutes of summer weather. Typically Summertime in Washington is perfect! The not too cool, not too hot, beautiful summers make the grey skies and rainy weather over the winter months all worth it.

We've tried to stay positive, but it's been wet and rainy and we have sorta felt like we weren't really getting much of a summer at all. Finally, the sun came out, and not just for an hour, or a day.... but ALL WEEK!

We took advantage of every moment. We hit 4 different beaches, some fun parks, went camping, swimming, and lots more! One day on our way home from a fun day of playing at the beach my kids were talking about how they were going to finish up their chores as fast as they could so they could play outside with the neighbor kids. I think their jaws about hit the floor when I said, "Let's forget about chores this week. It's finally nice, let's just go home and eat ice cream, play outside, and soak in every moment of the sunshine!"

Emma and cousin Kate at Ward Lake in Olympia.

Austin and cousin Hudson.

Aunt Emma and Jack.

The warm weather came just in time for an 8k I ran last Saturday. While I love the sunshine, I do prefer to run in the cool crisp morning hours. This was an evening race and it was HOT, and there were hills! I thought it was really hard, but I was hoping to run it in under 40 minutes, which I did, barely!

Here are my stats:
time: 39:15
pace : 7:54
I placed 12th in my division too!

It was fun to meet up with my two sisters-in-law and Jared's brothers.

I traveled to Seattle with some friends from Auburn. This race fell right in the middle of an long week where Jared was out of town. A girls night out was just what I needed. We had so much fun taking the light rail to Seattle, running this race, getting dinner, and just hanging out.

Sunday we left right from church and headed up to Mike and Emma's cozy home (at least for the summer) up in Redmond. They have a fire pit in their backyard which makes for fun dinners and my kids favorite summer treat - smores!

Mike just finished his internship with Microsoft and they are getting ready to head back to Utah where he will finish up his MBA at BYU. We are all excited that he got a great offer from Microsoft and we're hoping they end up moving back to Washington in the Spring! No pressure, but the entire McInelly family all lives here.....we just need them!

Emma, Luke, Mike, baby Kate, and Jack. Cute, cute family!

We discovered a really fun park at Lake Meridian.

They had lots of cool, different toys.

I haven't seen a merry go round in years. This was so neat, and safe. My kids played on it til they felt sick. That brings back memories.

Emma liked this little elevator. It slowly lowered you down and then as soon as you hopped off, it slowly raised back up and waited for the next person to step on.

Some of the other kids were calling Hunter Spider-man. He raced up this thing in seconds and ended up at the top. He's my tree climber, I need something like this in my backyard.

The lake is a lot of fun too. My kids never tire of water and sand. We spent a lot of time this week doing just that! Here Emma is... fishing.

Believe it or not, she actually caught something!

You always have to dig a big hole when you are at the beach, and then you must fill it with water. I think it's some kind of rule.
We played this day til Austin nearly dropped. He's got a cookie in each hand and he's trying real hard to keep his head from falling down. He was so tired. I took this picture and then packed up and got the poor child to his bed. Of course he fell asleep before I even hit the freeway.

After a good nights sleep, we went to Coulon beach the next day. We met up with our cousins again... just soaking up that sunshine!

Emma and Olivia

Another big hole!

Friday we went on a McInelly camping trirp right here in Auburn. It was perfect. Some camped at the campsite, some stayed up at our house. We all had a great time!

Zack and Carrie

Grandma Jeanne with Ella and Kate

Mike and Emma (& sleeping Kate)

Camille and Jared

Bri and Mat

We even celebrated two birthdays.

Happy Birthday Aunt Bri and Grandma Jeanne!

Once we got all packed up on Saturday, everyone came to our house to pick blueberries and raspberries, and play with Linsey's bunny.

Then, we raced out the door and headed to Coleman Park where we played in more water and sand while we waited for the Blue Angels air show.

It was pretty amazing!

All of my kids were impressed, but Austin expecially loves airplanes right now. He is very animated when he sees a airplane and with wide eyes excitedly hollers out "AIRPLANE, did you see that?!" He got so excited watching the blue angels that AIRPLANE! turned into AIR-PLALALA-LANE!

It was a little loud, especially when they flew right over us.

And that is a little of what we've been up to this last week!
Lovin' the Sunshine!

McInelly Girls' Weekend!

2011-07-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

I have 4 really fun sisters-in-law and a great mother-in-law. Last weekend, we did the unheard of and all snuck away kid free for a fun girls getaway.

We started off with a yummy dinner and baby shower for Mandy.

It was complete with fun games and cute favors.

After 3 boys, Mandy is finally having a girl. We are all so excited for her!
We did a fun gift exchange of all our favorite things. I gave everyone Olive Garden salad dressing and mints. Here are the gifts I got from everyone else.
Smart water, daily moisturizer and self-tanning lotion, a favorite running shirt and protein drink, cinnamon almonds, Target gift card, chocolate, kiehl's lip balm, nail polish, a huge box of muffin liners (so you NEVER worry about running out), foot cream, and pillow cases made from satin and lace that came from Jared's grandmother.

I was in charge of planning a simple craft. I showed everyone how to make fabric flowers and we made them into hair clips, baby headbands, and decorated gift boxes. There are so many fun things you can do with flowers these days. Endless possibilities...

Then it got a little crazy.
Emma brought stuff for all of us to do face masks.

We made silly faces, smiling doesn't really fit when you look like this.
I love Carrie's joker face.

After late night talking and not much sleep, we went to breakfast Saturday morning.

Check out the size of that biscuit, it was huge!

The food was really yummy, but my favorite part of breakfast was our recipe card exchange. Everyone chose 3 of their favorite recipes and brought copies for everyone. I was really needing some new meal ideas so this was especially great for me.

Since this trip was all about "what women want", we treated ourselves to spa pedicures,

and a manicure.

Then, we headed over to the mall for some shopping! Between all of us, we have 15 kids, 20 if you count my mother-in-laws 5 grown children. We could never come to the mall with that kind of crowd. It really was a treat to be able to peruse stores and pick out a couple things without all the chaos of that many kids. Can you imagine?

We had planned to finish off our weekend with a late lunch at the Olive Garden, but after that big breakfast, we opted for smoothies instead. I chose a marionberry ice cream smoothie with white chocolate and whipped cream on top. It was to die for!

We went to Mandy's house to eat our smoothies and Emma had one last surprise for all of us. Since the weekend was all about what women want and need, she reminded us of how important our families are to us. She asked each of our husbands to write us a love letter and passed them out to each of us. We all took a few minutes to read our letters. It was a little emotional, we all got a little teary. It's always so nice to be reminded that you are loved and appreciated.

It was the perfect way to end a great weekend.

I know it wasn't easy for Jared to clear his busy schedule to allow me to take off like this. He really should have been studying, but instead he spent time with the kids Friday night watching movies and he took them to 3 parties on Saturday. He did great, although he did admit that he lost them all at one point. Don't worry, it wasn't a big deal. They were at a picnic with his fellow MBA students and their families when he realized he didn't know where any of them were. They hadn't gone far and were really just around the corner from where he was, but it was so cute to find them all side by side looking out at the water. He took a picture.

I feel really blessed to have such a wonderful husband and family. I didn't grow up with sisters so I'm especially grateful for great sisters-in laws. This just might have to be a new tradition for us!

Cub Camp

2011-07-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hunter went to Cub Camp and had a great time! I went for 2 of the 4 days, but I failed to take any pictures. Hunter reassured me that it was okay because someone from the Auburn Reporter took his picture and he was sure it would be in the paper.

I wondered if maybe someone with a nice camera looking official was taking pictures, but he said that whoever it was said they were from the Auburn Reporter. I tried to tell him that they probably took lots of pictures and it wasn't likely that his would be the one they decided to print. He insisted that it would and was sure it would be in the newspaper.

He was right! Second page and in color.

He felt pretty cool. Lots of people noticed and at church yesterday, several people made comments to him. Someone even asked him for an autograph.

Pretty cool.

Still Celebrating

2011-07-18T15:58:00.001-07:00

A Campfire Birthday Party!

We reserved a campsite at a very local park, about 10 minutes away. The weather was cloudy and we were all a little unsure it would cooperate for our outdoor themed birthday party. Luckily, it was perfect and everything went just as we had planned, maybe even better.

We started off the evening with a Nature Scavenger Hunt. While the girls were busy looking for different items, Hunter and Jared got a nice fire going for our hot dog roast.

Next, we played games. We played a fun version of tag, it was hilarious to watch all of these older girls try to catch Hunter. He is really, really fast.

The girls made up two teams and played a variety of minute-to-win-it games.

These girls had to move a cookie from their forehead to their mouth without touching it with their hands. Crazy!
Look at how excited Linsey's friend is, she had to balance 5 dice on a spoon held in her teeth.

But really, look at Emma. I think she wins the prize for cheering.

Linsey chose to have an ice cream cake this year, that's my kind of cake! Yum!

Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you....

Lots of great gifts from lots of great friends!

While Linsey opened presents, I took pictures and Austin was in the background of every picture playing with this balloon. He was having so much fun.

Tug-A-War

After we wore the girls out (or so we thought) with one more rowdy game, we roasted s'mores.

Maybe it was all the sugar. Maybe it was the late hour. Maybe it was all the fun and friends. Whatever it was, these girls got silly. Jared and I sat back and observed as the girls broke out into camp songs with silly actions and laughed about nothing. They all got giggly, and silly, and a little loud. It was fun to see them all having so much fun.

Everyone went home about 10:00 which was perfect. I'm not sure we could have ever gotten this group to sleep had we intended to stay the night. Plus, the next morning it was raining... it would have been miserable. Luckily, our evening was perfect and best of all, Linsey had a wonderful time. We sure love our Linsey! It's been a fun 11th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Linsey!

2011-07-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

Linsey says this was her best birthday ever!

It all started last week when two of her Aunts came and took her out for a birthday shopping adventure.

They had fun shopping, eating ice cream, and being silly. It was so much fun for Linsey. She's lucky to have such fun Aunts!

Here she is on the morning of her birthday. 11 years old! She had her favorite breakfast, french toast, strawberries, and cream!

She opened a few gifts and was really surprised to see a big cage for a pet bunny that she would be able to pick out.
Later that day we packed up and headed off to Camp Ensign with some of our good friends. The kids thought it was really cool to actually sleep in teepees.

After dinner, we all sang "Happy Birthday"!

We used these handcarts to haul stuff to and from the campsites,

and also just for fun!

Everyone got a little dirty.

Emma and her friend caught caterpillars and made them little homes.

The kids discovered a rope swing.

We had fun around the campfire.

Everyone got a turn to ride a horse.This water slide provided hours of fun!

Since it was the fourth of July, they even had a fireworks show in the evening. It was the perfect way to end a perfect camping trip!

As soon as we got home, everyone was anxious to pick out our very first pet (unless you count fish or caterpillars).

We found a breeder that seemed to have the perfect kind of bunny for our family and made the trek up North hoping to find just the right one. There were lots of adorable bunnies to choose from, but Linsey knew immediately which one was meant for her. She was drawn to this little brown bunny and hardly even looked at the others. Once we all got in the car, she announced that her name was Hailey.

I love those big feet.

I think she likes her new home.

I can't believe Linsey is 11 years old. She is growing up to be such a wonderful girl. These last couple years she has really become a great little helper. She makes my life so much easier by helping out with dinner, taking care of her younger siblings, doing more difficult chores, and she usually does all of this happily and willingly. I have come to rely on her quite a bit since Austin was born and especially now that Jared is gone so much more, I don't know what I would do without her.

It really has been the best birthday ever.... and it's not over yet! We still have a fun party with some of her friends next weekend! Happy Birthday Linsey!

Brothers

2011-07-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

I love that my boys have each other.

Hunter really wanted a brother, and I secretly really hoped that I would have a boy. Austin joined our family two years ago and it just seemed perfect! I love that they can play and laugh together, get dirty and wrestle and do all the things that little boys do best!

Hunter is always very sweet to Austin. Quite often I will find them playing together. Hunter patiently builds the train tracks or helps him set up a course for his cars. Austin adores Hunter and looks up to him in every way. Their relationship is priceless.

I found these matching ties on clearance the other day. I had no idea it would mean so much to Hunter. He was super excited to have something matching with Austin that he could wear to church on Sunday. He wouldn't wear his belt and I later found out that it was because Austin wasn't wearing one. It wouldn't have matched.

I love these little boys!

Caterpillar Update

2011-07-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of caterpillars. A lot.

They are still eating, and eating, and eating..
which means lots of caterpillar poop.
(They are now outside pets.)

But they are also growing and becoming fuzzy and cute!

Emma loves that they have the same color of hair!
Still, lots of fun!

Thank You

2011-06-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

Whoever deserves credit for the best baby product ever (we call them nummies), THANK YOU for all the comfort you've given to our sweet babies over the past 11 years!

Baby Linsey
She loved her nummy. Sometimes we referred to it as a plug because she was so vocal, especially during church. She wasn't crying or naughty, just jabbering and loud.

Baby Hunter

He loved his nummy too, even more and much longer than Linsey did.
He would go to sleep with one in each hand as well as one in his mouth. Look at how sound and comfortable he is sleeping while laying in the dirt, all he needed was his nummy.

I love this picture below of Linsey "fishing for a baby".

Baby Emma (and cousin Brody)

and lastly, Baby Austin

When he was little and used the nummy a lot, Emma learned that you could tell if he was smiling when he had it in his mouth because his cheeks would get big. So cute!

I'm kind of sad to see the nummy go, but it's time...

Well, if I'm being perfectly honest, we have slowly lost them and lately, we were down to only one. Austin was careful to leave it in a special spot near his bed, but somehow we finally lost that last one. Surprisingly, Austin took the news like a big kid and agreed that it was okay to have a sippee cup of water in his bed instead of his nummy. No crying, just some extra chattering as he falls asleep. Totally worth it!!

So to whomever deserves credit! A Big Giant Thank You!
We're moving on!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2011-06-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

This book is a favorite at our house. It follows the progress of a hungry caterpillar as he eats his way through a varied and very large quantity of food until, full at last, he forms a cocoon around himself and goes to sleep.

Emma has been learning about the life cycle of a butterfly in Kindergarten so she has been bringing home all sorts of art work and other creative activities about caterpillars and butterflies.

One day Emma and her cousins caught a white moth. They were thrilled and wanted to save it. We made it a little home in a jar and the kids carried it around all afternoon. The next morning, to our surprise that moth had laid eggs.

Exactly one week later, they all started hatching into teeny, tiny caterpillars.

We researched online and learned that our moth was called a Tiger Moth. They eat all they need as a caterpillar and then they don't ever have to eat again their entire adult life. The caterpillars are a woolly bear caterpillar and especially like to eat raspberry leaves.

It's been fun watching them grow, just like the book describes. They eat, and eat, and eat through leaves AND they are noticeably bigger every day.

One week after they hatched, they got their fuzz. We looked at them in the morning, and they by afternoon....BAM, there was fuzz.

It's been so exciting. I love this picture. My kids are all in their jammies with bed head, checking on the caterpillars first thing in the morning.

There were so many of them and they were getting bigger and bigger so we decided they needed a new home.

Our home is turning into some sort of a bug zoo since all of the excitement from our little caterpillar friends. The kids keep bringing in more moths and lady bugs, they even caught a little frog.

They are SURE that these little yellow dots are lady bug eggs.

Caterpillars molt as they grow. They all did this yesterday, only I didn't grab my camera to catch it. They do this 4 or 5 times as they grow so I'll be sure to take a picture next time because it was pretty cool.

This is what our caterpillars look like today, 10 days old.

As much as we loved the book about the Hungry Caterpillar before, I think my kids love it even more now. I'm sure that every time they read it from now on, they'll have fond memories of our own little caterpillar farm.

We'll see if we can keep them around for awhile. Some woolly bears go through metamorphosis in the summer, while others overwinter and pupate in the Spring. I'm not sure what ours will do, but hopefully we don't have to wait til Spring... We'll keep you posted!

Dance Recital

2011-06-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Emma has been taking Dance the last couple months, just in time to learn a fun dance and take part in a super cute dance recital!

The whole class!

This was my favorite part of the dance, they waved their hands back and forth while they jumped up and down. Emma got really into it and had her biggest smiles while doing that part of the dance. So cute!A quick bow at the end. The poor girls on the end had just gotten out and then got dragged off before they even got to bow. Oops.

Emma and her friend Sienna.

Emma's fan club,

adoring mom,

and donuts to celebrate!

Way to go Emma!

Grandma and Grandpa

2011-06-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

We love a good visit with Grandma and Grandpa. They always clear their schedule and make every effort to make our weekends in Kennewick jam packed with fun!

Saturday morning, the girls went to the park while the guys went fishing. I love this picture of my mom and the girls.

Linsey and Emma had fun playing in the sprinklers.

Austin enjoyed watching the sprinklers.
Here he is saying, "Where did it go?"

"There it is!"

The boys had a successful fishing trip at Lenice Lake. They caught 32 fish in 3 hours. They rarely went 10 minutes without a bite. That's a pretty good fishing trip!

The Playground of Dreams is one of our favorite places to visit whenever we go to the Tri-cities during the Summer. It's such a fun place for kids.

We also went to visit a nearby duck pond. Austin had been chasing one single bird at the park and was so frustrated when it flew away just as he got close.

Here, they came right up to him. He squealed with delight!

You may remember the pictures I posted last summer of Emma throwing a frisbee at the beach. She jumped high into the air each time she tossed her frisbee. Apparently, tossing bread to the birds brought out that same fly up into the air with both feet off the ground form. Hilarious!

Some of the birds would swim up and eat right out of the kids hands.

My kids had a great time collecting feathers. They were practically everywhere you looked. Grandma and Grandpa found something fun to do with their feathers too.

We had all sorts of fun going out to dinner and then listening to a live band on a warm summer evening. We watched movies and played crouquet in the backyard. We also had fun sewing hotpads, playing with play dough, reading books, visiting, and just spending time together.

My kids are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents! We feel blessed that they all live close enough that we can visit and have fun weekends like this together!

Summer

2011-06-05T11:49:00.001-07:00

It feels like Summer!! (Finally)

I think everyone has had a wet Spring. It's typically rainy in Washington, but even here we are feeling more wet than usual. This weekend has been absolutely beautiful! I love days like yesterday where the kids can play outside all day long. I spent most of the day outside too, soaking in the warmth and sunshine! We are definitely ready for Summer!

The kids played in the sprinklers, walked to the park, ate popsicles, rode bikes, and ran around with the neighbors. I love that in the late afternoon, the shade hits our backyard just right and all the neighbor kids shift the fun to our house. We've always wished that we had a bigger backyard, but we do maximize it's use.

a little baseball

some swinging

playing in the dirt

lunch, dinner, and snacks..

I wasn't sure how our gardens would do this summer with Jared in school, thank goodness he still makes time for them. Pretty soon the kids will be picking raspberries, peas,

blueberries

and strawberries.

After picking up all the toys, we spread out blankets and dad set up our backyard drive-in.

Here we are, just before dark.

All day, Emma was excited talking about how she was going to watch the movie from her swing.

It turns out the blankets were more comfortable.

Linsey woke up with that stomach bug that has been making its way through our family, but she joined us for the movie and seemed to perk up with the cool, fresh summer air.
I'm sure we'll see more rain, but days like this are probably appreciated more here than anywhere else. The kids still have two weeks of school, but they are filled with field trips, assemblies, and all the end of the school year fun stuff!

Bring on Summer!!

Memorial Day

2011-06-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

We wanted to do something fun for Memorial Day, it's not often that Jared has a day off of both work and school. Camping seemed like the perfect idea only we couldn't find a spot anywhere at such late notice. Really, all we needed was a fire pit and a place to set up our tent, so we called Mike and Emma and asked if we could use their backyard. (Mike is Jared's youngest brother and they are out here for the Summer while he is doing an internship with Microsoft.) They were totally willing to host and even offered to treat us to breakfast the next morning. We loaded up our gear, and the makings for hamburgers, hot dogs and s'mores... and then it happened. Emma threw up in the car. We hadn't even left our driveway yet.

Change of plans.
She and I hopped out and the rest of the family headed out.
Bummer.

Here they all are, having fun!

Grandma Jeanne and Papa also came up so it turned out to be quite the party.

Jared loves to make biscuits on a stick with the kids. Here Linsey is roasting hers to perfection.

Roll it in a little butter and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar, it's a real treat!

There's something about sleeping in a tent that is so exciting to kids!

Here's a cute shot of Austin... before he got sick. Yup, he ended up catching a ride home with Grandma and Grandpa back to our house so he could join Emma on the couch. They both had an awful stomach bug. We're still trying to get them over it. Yuk!

And this is how we've spent the last 3 days.Lots of movies and lots of laundry.

Camping seemed like the perfect idea, only nothing went the way we had planned. It wasn't perfect afterall, but Jared had a great time with Linsey and Hunter and they all enjoyed a nice visit with the cousins and family. I got to spend some quality time with the little ones, they do snuggle better when they are sick. Hopefully next time we can all make it out of our driveway!

Rained Out!

2011-05-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

We have scheduled and rescheduled our family pictures a number of times this past year. It's sort of becoming a family joke, only I don't really find it all that funny.

Getting ready for family pictures is no simple task. Moms have to worry about all sorts of things like timing, what to wear (for 6 people head to toe), haircuts, best smiles, happy kids, clear schedules, etc...

Saturday we were all set and ready for our photo session. I got up early and got everyone showered and looking their best. The clouds were gray, but we got ready anyway. Right as we were ready to leave, it started to rain. Seriously.....

I was so bummed. All that work, for nothing.

We rescheduled.. again.

Meanwhile, everyone looked so nice so we decided to set up our camera with the timer and take a few pictures anyway. We stood under tall trees and shelters and made the best of a rainy morning.

Austin actually thought the timer on our camera was hilarious and he started laughing like crazy when it went off. It made us all crack up.

We took some pictures of the girls.
and the boys

all the kids

and a few others, to be honest 656 pictures in all. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

For being rainy and cold, I thought we got some pretty good shots. Hopefully our next rescheduled session with a real photographer (July) really happens, cross your fingers because I think we may need the luck.

Aloha

2011-05-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the most AMAZING vacation of our lives! After working for National Instruments for almost 11 years, Jared earned an all expenses paid vacation to Maui for the two of us.

The timing wasn't perfect. Jared is in school and our youngest is especially hard to leave, but we needed the getaway more than ever and it ended up working out better than we could have ever expected!!

We stayed in a five star Four Seasons Resort in Wailea. It was unreal. I've never been so pampered in all my life.
Our room.

Even the bathroom was luxurious.

Here is the view from our deck. All of the landscaping looked spectacular!

The SPA was fabulous! I had two one hour massages and a pedicure... that was a real treat!

One thing I LOVED were these Eucalyptus scented cool towels.

These were sitting on the counter in the SPA, but they were throughout the hotel and someone would hand you one to cool off with as you came in from the heat, or after working out. I loved that after my morning run, the bell hop would hand me a chilled water bottle and cool towel.

All of the food was amazing and the atmosphere was beautiful.

How often do you get this kind of view while you eat?

I love the beach!!! We spent a lot of time right on the beach,

but there were also 3 great pools surrounded by comfy lounge chairs and service like you would not believe. You could stay all day and be served cold drinks, and melon slices, and even meals. (You actually got most of that at the beach too.) Someone came by one time and offered to clean my sunglasses then spritzed my face with a facial cooling spray. Seriously.... They even had cucumbers for your eyes. I didn't think people really did stuff like that.

This infinity pool was really cool. You could hear relaxing music playing under the water. Who thinks of this kind of stuff?

One afternoon, we took naps and read books in these relaxing cabanas.

more relaxing.

We saw the most beautiful sunsets.

After the first day in our fancy hotel Jared said,

"If I've ever dreamed about the perfect dream vacation,
this is what I didn't know I should have been dreaming about!"

One morning we got up really early (3 a.m.) and headed up to the Haleakala summit, the world's largest dormant volcano (10,023 feel in elevation). The view was amazing. Thank goodness our tour guide had jackets, warm pants, and gloves for us because it was really cold. We watched the sunrise and took pictures of the crater.

After getting a ride all the way up to the summit, we hopped on bikes and coasted down almost 28 miles. I admit I was a little nervous about it, but in the end I loved the feel of the breeze blowing against my face (I think I only pedaled twice) and I wished our tour guide would have let us go even faster. I loved it!

Here's our entire tour group.

Tuesday afternoon we went on a Snorkel Tour. I love to snorkel and went out several times from the beach in Wailea, but I got sick on the boat and honestly couldn't wait for it to be over. I didn't even take any pictures. Jared had fun and saw a bunch of sea turtles.

One night we had a private Luau at the Hotel. These girls welcomed us with lays and danced the opening number. They reminded me that I had kids back home and I sorta missed them.

It was pretty fancy. You can't see very well in this picture, but the spread of food was amazing!

This fire dancer was pretty impressive.

He actually lit his mouth on fire from one end of the torch and then lit the other end. Crazy!

Thursday we did a zipline tour through the rainforest.

Here we are, just about to soar over the tree tops below.

It started to rain (that happens a lot in the rainforest apparently). This stretch was 2,800' long and with the rain and grey skies, you really couldn't see the end, yikes. But it was SO MUCH FUN!!

There are a lot of beautiful sights to see in Maui. One of the popular tourist activities is to drive the road to Hana. It's only about 60 miles long, but ends up taking most of the day because the road is so windy and there are all sorts of neat stops along the way. We didn't make it very far before we decided the road was just too windy for us (we both get carsick easily), but it was absolutely beautiful!

Here is one of the stops we made, Twin Falls. You had to hike in a little, the scenery was gorgeous!

We decided it would be really neat to live here.

A little further down the road you can see painted bark Eucalyptus trees. They looked almost unreal.

I love this picture of Jared.

I loved spending every minute of the entire week with him, we had such a great time. I also enjoyed getting to know some of the other people he works with (and their wives).

Here's a big group shot of all 27 couples. We're in the very back.

Every evening we had meals as a group. They ended up being really fun. We got to chat about what everyone did that day and the food was always super fancy. On our last night we had our own private dinner at one of the restaurants. They even had a special National Instruments Menu.

Here we are on our last evening. See those big smiles. That's from all the sunshine, relaxing, good food, and friends.
We have always dreamed about taking a vacation to Hawaii. This was everything we dreamed about and more. I can't wait to go back!

Easter Fun!

2011-05-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

This year, Easter and the school play were the same weekend! We lucked out because Uncle Anthony and Grandma Butler came to see the play and also got to join us for the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt!

Austin's Easter egg hunt was first.

He did pretty well thanks to some coaching from his Uncle. Awwww..

Emma was next, Anthony gave her a whole plan... first he suggested she run ahead of the other kids and get all the eggs, under the slide. Then, head over to the bench... etc.
She did just what he said (see her under the slide, ahead of all the other kids).

I love this picture of her running to me, so excited!"It's a golden egg!"

Hunter takes the egg hunt quite seriously. He usually comes back with scratches and scrapes.

...you can see why.

Check out all those eggs.

Finally, it was Linsey's turn.

Linsey and her friend Alyssa.Lots of fun. Next year Linsey get's to see what the Friday night flashlight hunt is all about.
(Is she really that big???)

Into the Woods

2011-05-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

It's so much fun to watch the school play,
especially when your kids are up on stage!

This year Linsey was a Rapunzel Swan Princess.

Hunter was Jack (as in "Jack and Jill ").

Hunter practiced his fall many times, unfortunately the only picture I got came out blurry. I had to post it anyway, it was his big moment.
I love his smile in this next picture. I think this was during the finale, right about when Aunt Bri started hooting and hollering.

The stars.

The fans.

Way to go Linsey and Hunter!