Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Seth's B-day

Seth turns four!
He knows he is a big boy now!!
We had tons of Family B-day fun!
Here are the pictures!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Summer Fun!

Well, the sun has finally started to shine for us here in Washington State!
It is about time!
It has really been a gloomy, gray spring.
The kids got out of school on June 20th (the first day of our sunshine). I wanted them to be able to celebrate the beginning of their summer break so I and some of my friends spent all morning filling up water balloons. We placed them in a kiddie pool in the front yard and had a HUGE neighborhood water fight!
About 500 water balloons lasted 10 min but it was great fun. A few neighbors pulled out their water hoses and Slip-n-Slides too!
We were definitely the party house of the block that day!

Brian decided to get in on the fun and soon became the target for all the kids to gang up on, but I think in the end he still came out on top!

The next week I met a couple of my friends at the zoo in Seattle, Woodland Park Zoo. I had never been there before! It was a really pretty zoo. Most of the paths were shaded and it kept things nice and cool.
We saw monkeys, zebras, giraffes and HIPPOS!
I liked the hippos!
It was fun to hang with my girls and our kids were in good spirits! It was a REALLY fun day!

This is Rebecka, my friend from work, and her two little girls. Her baby is just a few weeks older than Sawyer.
Then there is my friend from church, Jessica, and her three kids.


Having a teenager is a new challenge for me.
You always have these illusions that they will be perfect from all the good things you provide for them, but then you realize they have minds of their own!
Crazy!
Anyway, youth conference came up for Steven and he was really put out! He said "this really messes up my weekend plans, Mom!" but he went.
The theme was "M&Ms Missionary Moments".
They went and stayed with host families within the stake and acted as if they were on missions. They did service projects, had devotionals and a dance.
Well, one day Steven called me and said "Mommy!" ( he never calls me mommy) "Mommy! we are at Safeway getting food donations! Come and donate!" So the kids raided the pantry and we loaded up in the car and went to donate! Steven had a large smile and was having a great time! The kids went over to him and made a big fuss over the big brother. It was cute!
When he came home he said "Mom, I bore my testimony (at the testimony meeting) and I made people cry! A girl came up to me at the dance afterwards and said I inspired her."
I asked him what he said, he told me "I can't retell it, but I started by saying ... I'm glad my mom is not here cause the last thing she said to me when I left the home was to enjoy being a missionary I might like it. Well, she was right, I like it and can't wait till I can serve a mission of my own."
MAKE A PARENT CRY!


I have been nagging Brian to get a back yard pool for the summer.
Well, it was a lost cause as long as there was no sunshine. But after the sun came out Brian went and got the pool.
We were so excited!
It about 12 feet in diameter and only 2 1/2 feet deep but it is just perfect to cool us off when we don't have AC. The neighbor kids try to say it's not that great but they sure do love coming over and swim in it! We had a pool party, BBQ'd, and made smores with three other families. It was soooo much fun and just in our backyard!
Saved a ton on gas!
Baby Sawyer had been cookin' and was relieved to cool off a little with mom in the pool. It took him a little while but then he started to get his legs kickin' and was splashing and having a great time.