{end of august happenings}

(This is a long one, so be warned)

The last couple months it's felt like we've been in Wenatchee every other weekend. Mom and Dad have come and picked us up and taken us over with them, a sweet deal. It's made for a fun and busy summer.

On Saturday mornings Marnie goes on her long jogs/walks with her group of friends, so I've been tagging along on the days that we've been there. On this day (below) we had just gotten back from going 4 miles and we were doing sit ups and lunges which made for a pretty sore next couple of days.

Then when Staci came a couple weeks ago we all went and did 6 miles. Fun Fun.

I think we're a little cuter in this one:

I don't realize how short I am til I see pictures, ha ha.

And once we get to Wenatchee the kids are immediately in the pool. George didn't come with us on this trip. He stayed home with Dad so he wouldn't miss any football. Tried not to have to much fun with out him.

Staci and her girls...

Out to dinner for some pizza...

Rocky Reach Dam....

Making electricity...

Fun in the bouncy house..

At church...

more pool...

playing in the rice....

On the last morning before Staci left we went to the store and bought doughnuts for breakfast. I think the majority liked maple bars. yum.

Back at home at Lake Goodwin....enjoying 90 deg. weather and a few more free days before school starts.

We left for Utah on the 18th....

Thanks to mom and dad we got to borrow their van and drive in luxury...

17 hours later we made it to Midway. It was a long day and a half.

The Y in Provo. Not sure when I've taken a picture of it before.

George holding Isaac for the first time. Cute cousins.

We had a short visit with Ryan, Courtney and the kids, but it was good to see them.

I love my friends and miss them so much. So glad we could have at least lunch together. We were missing Maegen and Amy unfortunately.

And MJ got to see some of her best buds too.

The boys caught a lot of snakes in the backyard, big and small. yuck. but they loved it.

The only picture I got of John. He left for his mission on the 24th. The farewell on Sunday was really good. We sure are going to miss him, but he's going to be a great missionary. He's going to the New Jersey, Morristown Mission. After church we had a big lunch/party with all the family. It was fun hanging out and visiting with everyone.

Then on Monday on our way home we stopped in Syracuse to see our good friends the Jensen's. They just moved there a couple weeks before. We sure have missed them, but it was fun seeing them and their new place.

Kaden and Mason

Dalton and George

The day after we got back was Pack Meeting and the Rain gutter Regatta. We all met at Twin Lakes and the boys each took turns blowing their boats down the rain gutters.

Sorry it was so long and sporadic, I wasn't that great at taking pictures this time. Just a few highlighted moments.

We've been school supply shopping finally and we're ready for school now. It starts next week, Sept. 1. We're all a little excited. Can't believe summer is over already and it's going to be C-mas before we know it.

It's Football Season

George started football a couple weeks ago. He has practices everyday (m-f) from 5-7:30. So our evenings are full. It's a big commitment and will get even busier when the games start in a couple weeks. The games will be every Sat. til Nov. Are we crazy or what?

Two of the other moms and I walk the track the last hour of practice, which is nice to get in some exercise, especially when the weather is nice, you've gotta take advantage of it. (which lately is HOT HOT HOT, and with no a/c is..... still hard to get used to.)

Go Cougars!!

Birthd♥y Girl

Our precious baby girl turned 7 today. Man time flies when you're having fun. Where did the time go? Before I know it she'll be in High School, then college, then married, then ..... ok stop, I have to enjoy the moment. Every little one, good and bad and appreciate all that she brings into our lives. She's just growing up into such a sweet, beautiful girl.

A saying I saw on a blog the other day, struck a chord -

"The days are long but the years are short"

It's so true.

Today consisted of 3 requests...

Request #1:

The day began with breakfast in bed.

All she wanted was toast. I was willing to make anything, but she made it easy on me.

Request #2:

A little party.

She invited 2 friends over, Julia and Brayden, and we went to McDonalds for lunch and a little play time.

Went home and opened presents, which I happend to not get any pictures of, darn it. She got a lot of clothes which is what she needed. With her birthday so close to school starting, it's the perfect gift. And I'm afraid it will probably never change. Thank you to all the grandparents for the gifts.

We made homemade ice cream in the baggies to go with the cake. I thought it would be easy and a fun little activity. Well it was a little hard to get them to shake and keep moving the bags long enought to get the ice cream hardened because it was so cold. It was a great attempt though.  Brayden's actually turned out pretty good and Julia's I started over with new ice and rock salt and it worked too.

MJ shared the candles and they each took turns putting them on the cake.

"Happy Birthday to You"

Hopefully many wishes will come true.

The ice cream melted really fast. Had to eat it quick.

We brought home the rice activity from Marnie's last weekend when we were there. So we got it out to play with at the end of the party.  It's surprisingly entertaining. It's like an indoor sand box. They didn't get to play with it for too long though before they had to go home. The 3 hours they were over sure went by fast. I thought it was going to be plenty, but they could have played for 3 more. And honestly I wouldn't have minded, they were so good and having a really good time.

A pathetic attempt of a smile, silly girl.

Such cute friends. They had such a fun time.

Not bad for a last minute party. I feel like such a lame mom most of the time, so I'll just pretend I had all this planned ahead of time.

Request #3:

A movie.

She wanted to go see Eclipse.

The boys would have rather seen Toy Story3 or Despicable Me, but it wasn't up to them.

I had heard it was good and she had seen the first 2 movies and they were pretty innocent...well maybe we should have previewed this one before we took the whole family to see it. There sure was a lot of kissing. Kept telling them to close their eyes and laughing about it rather than making it big deal. The action scenes were pretty intense, which they handle those really well, and overall it was a really good movie. Just maybe next time we'll be better about previewing movies before we take the kids.

When we got home Sharkboy and Lavagirl was on Disney channel, which she just had to watch. (Taylor Lautner plays sharkboy in his younger years, he's changed quite a bit since then.) I think MJ is Team Jacob.  She worries me sometimes, wanting to be a teenager already.

What a girl.

Love you little missy!

Hope you had a fun birthday.

A work in progress...

This is what I should be working on.

Maryjane's soon to be new quilt.

I'm so excited.

Isn't the fabric just the cutest?

It's going to be a twin size to fit her bed.

Too bad my sewing machine is frustrating me right now, can't seem to get the tension right for some reason.

Maybe I should set a goal of Aug. 11th to have it finished. (her birthday)

Is it possible?

More 1/2 Marathon pictures

I got all these pictures from Facebook. They're all pictures I wish I would have taken to remember the whole experience by. It's so fun to look at them and remember all the emotions I felt through out the race.

This is the Expo:

Lots of booths to look at and tempt us. There was just too many cool things and not enough money darn it. Each of us did buy a really cool fanny pack kind of thing, and then I bought a sticker to put on my car that says "13.1 Been there Run that". I finally took off my In N Out sticker, it was looking pretty sad, and replaced it.

Running through a neighborhood in Tukwila:

There were people and families sitting in there front yards cheering everyone on as if the race was a parade. There were also bands playing about every mile and also cheerleaders from local high schools cheering for everyone.

Next to Lake Washington:

My favorite part! The lake is really big, so we were next to it for a long time. It was just so beautiful that I enjoyed all the scenery, taking it all in. The homes next to the lake are amazing, loved looking at them too. Having so much scenery to enjoy helped make the race go by faster too and more fun.

There was even a bald eagle. Glad that some one else stopped to get the picture, I debated whether to or not, but didn't. I had momentum going and didn't want to ruin it. (We've seen more bald eagles living here the last year than I have my whole life. They are every where here in the PNW. Just last night we saw one fly right in front of us then over our car as were driving home from the beach on Camano Island. It was a "Whoa" kind of experience.)

The Tunnel:

The tunnel really was a surreal experience. There was music being played in the tunnel and it just echoed through out the whole thing and you could feel it inside your body. It's hard to describe how cool it was.

The End after the Finish Line:

There was massive amounts of people as you can see.

A close up of the the medal:

It's big and heavy and just plain cool, symbolizing all that we accomplished.


I love having all these other pictures to add to the ones I took. I feel more complete now. haha

Jeremy's Bday / Scout Camp

Last Thurs was Jeremy's bday. He is now 33 and we will be the same age for the next 4 months. We went to Seattle with our really good friends the Jensen's. They had never been to the Crab Pot and had been wanting to go, so they were excited to go there, (well Robin was, her husband Digger doesn't like seafood.) It was yummy yummy to those of us do like it.

We hung out on the pier for a while taking pictures afterwards, but once the sun goes down in Seattle, all the crazies come out and you just know when it's time to go home. We always end up having talks in the car about why there are so many crazies and the kids have lots of questions. A good learning experience, if you look at it that way.
The week before his bday we went to a Yankees/Mariners game and made that part of his birthday too. We had never been to a Yankees game before, so thanks to Jeremy's bosses for giving us the tickets for the family. It was a really hot day, but once the sun went behind the stadium it was perfect. Wish I would have had my camera. I took pics with my phone, but I don't have a cable to upload to the computer, so out of luck until either I buy a cable or buy new camera. We all had on our Yankees stuff except for Jeremy who was wearing his Mariners hat. Just a slightly disfunctional family.


Last week mon.-thurs. the boys had scout camp. I was looking forward to a week of quiet and less fighting, with the boys gone and it being just me and MJ. But then I got a phone call mon. after I dropped the boys off and one of the leaders in our ward needed a partner to help her for 2 days, wed. and thurs, so of course I said yes, I really didn't have anything planned anyways. But I'm glad I did it. It was a lot of fun. The other leader and I were in charge of one of the stations that the dens take turns going to throughout the day. And ours was an obstacle course on the 2 days I was there. And even MJ was able to come with me. She was in the tag-a-long group, ages baby-7yrs. And she had YW girls that took care of them as their leaders. She even got to participate in a lot of the same things the boys did, so she loved being there and had a great time. I'm sure next year she's going to want to go again. So maybe I'll volunteer and do what I did this time and help out for just 2 days. That way you don't get so burned out. By the end of the week all the den leaders are worn out and tired, and I don't blame them, it's hard to be in charge of a group of boys for that long.

I stole these pictures from the other leader's facebook photos. She was taking pictures with her phone. Her son and George were in the same den together so I got a picture of him too.

On the last day during lunch the firetruck and ambulance came for the kids to see and climb around on, at least that's what the kids think they are there for.

I think this picture is hilarious. I really was having a good time, but by the looks of it you'd never have guessed it. I must have been thinking of something not so fun. Who knows. I'm good at just staring.


Needless to say it was a busy week, and glad to have a less busy week coming up. MJ's actually leaving us for the week and going home with MaKey and Poppa to Olympia. They'll be here tonight to pick her up. So we'll definitely be having a quiet week. Yes, she will be missed, but maybe not til Wed. (haha I keep changing the day later and later in the week, I put Tue. at first) And do you think she'll miss us? Heck no. She's been looking forward to this for a couple weeks and she knows how much she'll be spoiled by her MaKey, giving in to anything and everything she wants. Good luck with that MaKey!!  Mom = No, MaKey = Yes. This formula she figured out years ago. Have Fun. See ya in a week my sweet girl. I will miss the cuddles.

4th of July

My camera broke a few weeks ago and it totally sucks. How am I suppose to blog and do my Project Life album with out a camera? The answer is, steal them from friends and families blogs and facebook photos until the camera problem is resolved. Such a bummer. So I kept moms camera close by and used it alot this weekend we were with them.

For the 4th of July we went to Wenatchee for the weekend with MaKey and Poppa, they came and picked us up Fri. morning. We love there van and fit so perfectly in it. And the kids love the movie player. It makes for a very quiet car ride, you'd never know they were even in the car. We had to unfortunately leave Jeremy behind. You know something called "work" needed him.

I had mentioned to mom that we'd like to go to Rocky Reach Dam sometime. The kids had never been there before, well George was 9 months, but that doesn't count. And I knew they would love it. I have so many fun memories of going there for church picnics and family reunions. By the time we got there Fri. afternoon they had just closed. We were a little bummed, but now we just had to come back. So we went to the park and let the kids play a while.

I had totally forgotten about the flag made of flowers. Red and white begonias, purple/blue petunias and yellow marigolds. It was so perfect being there on the 4th of July weekend.

Mason's our little monkey climber. He's always climbing trees, even walls in our house. So of course he and Goerge couldn't resist climbing in the tree.

Isn't it beautiful?

MJ started off wanting to pose next to every flower. By the time we got the flag, she was done.

Mason on the other hand posed and didn't mind the camera at all the whole time.

Poppa opened the pool for the summer. They braved the freezing cold water and played for hours in it. Crazy kids.

The slip n slide was fun for the warm afternoons too.

On the 4th we headed back to Rocky Reach Dam after church, this time for sure it was open. Yay.

The viewing area for the fish ladder. There were some huge fish swimming right in front of us. The boys loved it. Some day they want to go fishing and catch one that big.

We walked through the musuem.

This pic is just too cute. They are all so happy and cute. I have to cherish the moments when they actually happen. They really do happen alot, but just not always for the camera.

Our dinner was delicious. MJ and I enjoyed sharing corn on the cob. Mmm, one of my very favorite summer foods.

That night the sparklers came out, we went to the park for the big fireworks show, and then the boys put on there own show. We brought over illegal fireworks from the indian reservation. With Preston's help they had a great time and were safe. MaKey and Poppa were smart by heading to bed and not seeing what we were doing out in the field.

The firecrackers lasted them until about 11:30pm. I'm sure we kept every neighbor awake, they were so loud and obnoxious. The only day of the whole year we could get away with it. :) I kept telling the boys to just get it over with, but they insisted on doing them one at a time. Oh the memories they will have for years to come. The 4th of July will never be the same unless we have the fireworks from the Indian Rez. These boys are going to grow up thinking its normal. So maybe next year we'll have to come back to Marysville where it's legal so we don't get in trouble.