Jackson Trip (Yes, A Little Late)

At the end of July we went up to Jackson, WY with my family. Yes, July. I'm a little behind. We, of course, had to go fishing for TJ. He was very excited. It was a good day, they caught quite a few. It made TJ's trip. He was in heaven.

I love this pic. She loved Grandpa's boat. She still asks about Grandpa's boat.

It was no small miracle that we had perfect weather. We had a lot of fun on the beach and on the boat because the weather was so good and so was the company =).

Say cheese!

 We celebrated Brenden and Kate's birthdays, but we were actually there on Brenden's birthday so he was very excited.

Cheese!

Brenden and TJ both got to knee board for the first time. I think they liked it. They did a great job!

We love it there and we had a fabulous time!

Kate is 2!!!!!!

Yes, it's true! My baby is 2!!!!!!!

I can't believe it has been two years since we were scared to death with her in an incubator at 4 lbs 14 oz. It has gone by so fast! She is such a sweetheart and such a stinker.....great combo right??? In the NICU they called her feisty, and she still is. She loves to cuddle and hug but then she'll turn around and through a huge fit with arms and legs flying everywhere and screaming at the top of her lungs. But, she's my baby.....We love her so much!

Kate loves dogs, so for her party I made a dog cake. I actually impressed myself...usually my ideas turn into flops, but this one turned out so cute, I think! And she loved it!! She kept pointing to it and saying, "Doggy!"

She really got into the spirit of opening presents, she kept asking for more!

You know she's happy when she tries to smile! =)

And how many lucky girls get to have fireworks on their birthdays??? Her first real firework show...she was hesitant at first but then loved it! We had Brenden and Mercedes' birthdays as well and we did fireworks for the 4th! We had a great time!!!

Tommy put on a great show for us! Thanks Tommy! And thanks everyone for coming to help us celebrate Kate's birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday Kate, we love you!!!!!

Good Bye Sweet Grandma

My sweet Grams passed away this morning. Gramps passed away last Christmas and Grams just didn't want to be here without him. I was able to visit her a few times this week and I am very glad.

I have such fun memories with Grams. She sometimes called herself LaLa and she used to set up LaLa's salon while we were camping. She'd paint our fingernails and toenails. Which reminds me, she always used to paint her toenails red. One year up in Jackson, WY a "whistle pig" (ground squirrel) bit her big toe. She was always the one with the jump rope or something fun to do while we were camping. Grams had a contagious smile. She and Gramps did line-dancing in Yuma, AZ where they went for the winter. I remember writing her many letters while they were in Yuma and she'd always write back and would sometimes send me fun little trinkets from there. Grams loved to play the piano and we all loved to listen to her. Every Christmas she would play carol after carol and we would sing and sing. I loved hearing her play. She also wrote roadshows and piano music. Grams also loved to read, which I definitely inherited. Grams was a wonderful chef. Everyone loved her cooking. Her roast beef, mashed potato dinner was always a favorite. And as a child I always loved her freezer because there were always dreamsicles (the orange ones with the cream inside) and fudgesicles inside. She loved to spoil us. One thing I will really miss will be her birthday/anniversary/Christmas cards. She couldn't just give you a card with her name signed at the bottom. She underlined words and wrote special notes, and even though we joke about it, it always made me feel special.

After four grandparent deaths in a little over a year, we've had our share....but it makes me so grateful for my faith and my knowledge that I will see them again.  She was such a good Grandma, and I hope someday I will be as good as she was to my grandchildren. Grams is happy now. Hopefully her spirit will rest now that she is back with Gramps. Good bye sweet Grams.....I love you so much! I miss you already. Give Gramps a big hug for me!

New Family Picture

Aren't we so cute???? I love this pic. Kate is the only one we couldn't get to smile....she looked like that in every picture. =) We had it taken in our front yard. That reminds me, I haven't posted any yard pics yet this year....coming soon!

Ballerina and Vampire

VAMPIRE!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!

J/K It's just TJ =) His class in school put together their own opera. They write the script, then this opera company comes in and listens to the kids "sing" the words. They take the recording and put music to it. Then the kids helped paint the scenery and practiced....a lot. They have been working on it since almost the first day of school. It turned out great! I was so proud of him! He sang and did all the actions and actually ended up really enjoying it.

He's on the far right.

The vampires wanting to eat the lost princesses. TJ is in the middle on the top.

Great job TJ, I'm so proud of you!!!

BALLERINA!!!!

Alyssa had her dance recital last week also and she did such a great job! I have to admit, I think she looked so darling!

Isn't her costume so cute???? I love it. I think I want one =)

"The lovers, the dreamers, and me...." Anyone recognize the song?? "Rainbow Connection," of course! Don't they look adorable???

Great job Alyssa!!! I'm proud of you too!!

Seattle and Vancouver Trip

Hooray for Road Trips! This is how I saw my kids for the better part of the trip. Justin went to Seattle to teach some classes and I decided that rather than be alone for a week we'd go with him. So we did. Warning: 11 days of trip....this is a very long post! I took over 300 pics but narrowed it down somewhat.

The first day we drove to Boise and stayed the night. The next morning we started off for Seattle. About 20 minutes from Seattle is Snoqualmie Falls, which is a waterfall, second in height only to Niagra Falls. We stopped there and it was beautiful.

It's kind of interesting because when you get there, it is below you, not above you.

We got to our hotel, swam in the pool, well everyone except for me because I'm wimpy and it was way too cold for me. Then the next morning we went to a place called NorthWest Trek. It was amazing! It is like the Wild Animal Park of San Diego except it's all forest animals. There were a few caged areas but even they were amazing. It put our local zoo to shame. Then you take a bus tour around this open area where the animals roam wild. We were inches from sheep, elk, caribou, and moose. Amazing!

I loved the trees in Seattle. Oh poor us living in a desert. We have about 20 trees planted in our yard and we came home wanting more. So I took lots of pics of trees. And then there is the grizzly bear exhibit.

My boys on the bus and then a caribou.

A bison and a whole herd of elk that we had to stop the bus for so they would move.

Kate and one of the mountain sheep that ran past the bus.Kate loved all the animals.

A really neat river otter exhibit. You could see it from above or these pics were from below.

Monday we changed hotels and then hung out while Kate took a long-awaited nap. We went swimming that night with our friends to celebrate their son's birthday. We ate at this yummy Mexican restaraunt. Tuesday morning Justin went off to teach and I took the kids to the Seattle Temple to walk around and then we went to the park to play. We met friends there. Justin's co-worker took his family as well so we had friends, it was great. The Temple grounds are gorgeous. All the trees and flowers are beautiful.

That night we took a ferry across the Puget Sound from Seattle to Bainbridge. It was really fun. Cold, but fun. And very beautiful.

It's as if you're in a massive forest, it's beautiful.

The next day, Wednesday, we went to the Seattle Aquarium with our friends. The kids loved it!

Afterwards we sat outside on the pier and had lunch. There were nine kids with us two moms and so we got a lot of stares, but we had a lot of fun.

Wed. night we ate at this little cafe place called "Lil John's". They had delicious fish n' chips!

Thursday we went to the park again and this time I took pics. 

That night our family went to the Seattle Arboretum. Wow. It was beautiful and I could have spent hours there. I wish our backyard looked like this!

A huge tree--the three of them didn't even go all the way around. And, I love this pic with the sun in the tree.

Beautiful, huge flowers, trees, and ponds.

Mt. Rainier.

Afterward we went to DairyQueen for dinner and ice cream, and met our friends there.

And Friday morning, off to Canada and Vancouver.

This is the view from our hotel in Vancouver. The 24th floor!

Us looking into the harbor. Behind us is the city of Vancouver.

There was a market here and we had fish n' chips in a food court in the market.

Saturday we drove all around Vancouver. We spent a lot of time at Stanley Park. We had to go put our feet in the Canadian Pacific (I think that's what it is called). It was cold but fun!

That mountain on the right is Grouse Mountain, one of their Olympic venues. We drove up to it and it is about a 10-15 min. drive from ocean to skiing..they have the best of both worlds!

And that is the Capilano River. Yes, for those of us who live in the desert, that is a river. I know it looks like a lake, but it's a river =)

Then it was time to head home. Sunday morning we woke up and headed for the border.

This is called the "Peace Arch." It says, "Brethren Dwelling Together in Unity" and then inside it says, "May These Gates Never Close". It was neat, but it was good to be back on American soil.

So after 9 days away we headed home. We drove from Vancouver to Kennewick, WA and stayed the night there, then we drove the rest of the way home on Monday. Wow. 19 hours of driving in two days, but we made it home! =) Overall we put about 2,250 miles on the car. Crazy. We had a really good time and were so sad to come home to the desert with very few trees. But it sure was good to sleep in our own beds again. I loved Seattle, someday I may want to have a summerhome there, but it didn't rain while we were there so we were a little spoiled. It was a lot of fun!