Mother's Day

Better later than never right? These are my mother's day gifts from the kids this year. I love the homemade gifts I get each year. I think it's my favorite part.

Mason's card says:

Dear Mom, I love you because you are the best person ever. And you do lots of things for me. You are the best best best best best best person ever. p.s. Happy Mother's Day! Love Mason

MJ's card says:

Dear Mom, Thank you for making me a good kid. You're a special person. I love you.

From MJ   to mom

I just love how precious my kids are.  I love being a mom. (most days)

Reunion with my best friends from High School

Yesterday we went to Wenatchee to see my best friends from High School. Only Sarah, Aubrey and I went to our 10 year reunion 5 years ago, so it was so much fun all being together again after all this time. Thanks to Sarah planning this 6 months ago and to Facebook for keeping us all in touch, we were all able to be there. Sarah flew here with her family from Indiana, Aubrey lives in Ellensburg, Emily lives in the tri-cities, Mari lives in Wenatchee, and we came from over the mountains.

Emily, Sarah, me, and Aubrey

Sarah and Emily with Paige

Ethan, Sam(in red shirt) Mason, MJ, and Kaylynn playing in the water.

All the kids getting eachother soaked from the pool and the hose.

Hanging out eating our hamburgers.

Austin, Sarah, Mr. Jackson, Halle Mae and Aubrey

Mari and 2 of her 3 kids. Ilsa 5, and Clara Rose 3. She also has a 15th month old boy Johnny and she's pregnant with her 4th due in August. Her husband Alan and Johnny weren't able to come.

Aubrey and her 2 girls Halle Mae 31/2, and Kaylynn 5.

Emily and Paige, 4 months

.

Sarah and Jeff with Benjamin, 6 months. She also has Ethan 7, and Sam 3.

MJ and Kaylynn became best friends right away. They're soaked from all the water and having a blast.

The 5 of us all together again after 15 years.

And with all our kids, minus Clara who didn't want to be in the picture.

Hanging out in the orchard next to Emily's house.

All the kids got ice cream cones.

We went to Aubrey's house after the bbq to see her parents Phil and Susan. Sharina and Jeremy were there with there 3 kids, Elijah, Jade and Olivia (standing inbetween MJ and George). They're the same ages as my kids 10, 8 and 6. And TJ her younger brother was also there.

The kids played games in the backyard and ate popsicles.

It turned out to be such a nice day, besides the 90 deg. weather, visiting with everyone and hanging out was a blast. We can't let too much time pass before we do this again. I'm so thankful to have such good friends that has lasted all this time and we can still get together and it feels like just yesterday. I have such great memories and did so well in school because of them. Friends make all the difference and we were very blessed to have eachother.

Apple Blossom

I was so excited this year for Apple Blossom. I think the last time I was home for it was 1997, crazy. It's just one of those fond memories of tradition that we did every year and now here I am finally taking my own family to it. The parade, craft and food fair and carnival. This time though all the kids actually participated in the 1 mile run before the parade and Marnie and I did the 10K run. I've never done that before, I was either watching the parade, or in it (every year in HS as an Apple-ette), I never had any desire to run. But this year was a little different since Marnie and I are training for a 1/2 marathon in Seattle next month. I'm so glad she talked me into it. I was hesitant at first 'cause I didn't think I was ready, but it turned out to be great. I surprised myself and actually jogged the whole time. Marnie walked most of it and I stayed right next to her up until the very end, the adrenaline kicked in and I got excited to finish and I kind'a left her. I don't think she minded though, I hope. I finished in 1 hr 27 min. which is, yes, very slow, but I didn't care. I wasn't doing it for the time. I'm just glad I finished, I jogged the whole time and it was really fun doing it with my sister. I didn't have my camera, but Marnie took pictures with her phone, so hopefully one of these days I can get copies.

The whole gang watching the parade.

After the run with their new cute t-shirts. I think we started a new tradition.

Eating at the fair. Kids got snow cones and Jeremy and I ate my favorite - Teriyaki beef and noodles. I don't remember what everyone else had. It was so crowded though we didn't stay long. We headed over to the car show where Preston had his car.

After resting at home for a while, I was tired and a little sore, the kids were begging to go to the carnival so we went and rode a few rides.

The Scrambler has always been my favorite, but now it Maryjane's too. We went on it twice and just died laughing the whole time.

I don't remember what this one was called. It's kind of like the teacups, but you're spinning yourself up in the air. Maybe the Tornado?

A sign of pure exhaustion.

I think we all had a great time and were pretty tired by the time we left Sunday afternoon.

(You give the kids their ipods or DS's in the car and it's always a quiet, pleasant ride.)

Vancouver Temple

We got the chance to got to the Vancouver Temple's open house a couple weeks ago. I was so excited to take the kids and show them the inside and how beautiful it is. Jeremy got off work early and I checked the kids out of school a little early so we could take our time and not be rushed. Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there. It wasn't suppose to, but it did. I was hoping to walk around the outside and get pictures, but that didn't happen. I got a few pictures from the car instead.

The temple actually is not in Vancouver, it's in a town called Langley which is only 80 miles from our house. So not too far away.

Waiting for the shuttle to take us back to our car down the road at a church. MJ decided to hide and not be in the picture.

I think the kids favorite part was the baptismal font with the 12 oxen. In Primary we've been learning about the 12 tribes of Israel and the blessings promised to Abraham's posterity if they remain faithful, so they got to understand the symbolism of it. And they also liked the mirrors in the sealing room. When you look in them you can see for eternity, never ending, just like our marriage and family.

I hope they remember the way they felt while in there and how special of a place the temple is and will look forward to going back when they're older.

Getting a little caught up on blogging

It's been so long since I've posted I need to play catch up and I thought since I have so much to add and way to many pictures I would just use my Project Life book. And maybe if you click on the pictures you'll be able to see them well enough to get a good idea of what we've been up to. I've tried to add pictures to Facebook of Spring Break, but they won't upload. Maybe I'm trying to do too many at at time. But then I get discouraged and give up. So one of these days they'll be on there. But here are my picture of the day pictures from March 19th to April 14th.

March 19th-25th Highlights:

 - Went to Wenatchee and helped rake leaves

and met Jennifer Holman and her baby Payton (not picured)

 - Finished my first quilt

 - Parent teacher conferences

 - Scouts

 - MJ got her cast off just in time for Spring Break. Yah.

March 26th-April 1st Highlights:

 - Went to Utah for Spring Break

 - Played Wii Dance

 - Baby Isaac was blessed

 - Had an Easter Egg hunt

 - Stayed the night at G'ma Laurie's house

 - Ate lunch at Cafe Rio and shopped at Tai Pan with friends

(plus dinner at In n Out)

 - Saw the movie Diary of a Whimpy Kid and went to

Chuck E Cheeses with all the cousins

 - April Fools. All the cereal was switched by Adam.

 - Woke up to 4 inches of snow. left for home anyway.

April 2nd-8th Highlights:

 - Finished the book series The Mortal Instruments. Great Read.

 - Watched General Conference on the internet.

 - Easter day we went to Anacortes and walked the beach

and walked through some tulip fields on the way home.

April 9th-14th Highlights:

 - Met up with my cousin Emily. We hadn't seen eachother in almost 20 years.

We talked for 3 hours in Starbucks and had a great visit. I thought we looked a lot alike.

 - Went to Kayak Point for a Sunday afternoon walk on the beach and saw a gray whale just off

the shore. It was amazing.

Well how's that for 4 weeks. Now I'm only behind 2 weeks. So maybe in the next few days I'll get caught up completely. There's a lot to share that I want to make sure gets on the blog.

A Broken What?

Last week Maryjane was playing on my bed with Jeter right before being sent to bed and of course happened to fall off. No big deal right? It happens all the time. Well not this time. She started crying a "real" cry and saying she heard it crack and that she needed to go to the doctor 'cause she thought she broke her arm. Well, that's a little dramatic, I thought at first. She could still bend her arm. I wanted to wait a little bit and see if the pain went away. And it didn't. She kept crying saying how bad it hurt. Jeremy got home from Mutual and she was still crying. So...he took her in to get in checked. Better safe than sorry, right? Right before they went out the door, he told her "You better not be faking this". Well, xrays showed she had a fracture on the radial head a.k.a the elbow. Crazy!!! She fell on carpet for goodness sakes. And she tells the doctors that her dog pushed her. When we were getting her cast on the, the Dr. asked How big is this dog? ha ha.

So they sent her home with a soft cast and a sling. The next morning we were to make an appt. with an orthopaedic Dr. to get it checked again and she got a real cast. She chose pink of course. Why are all the colors you get to choose from flourescent? She was so excited to get her cast. She really wanted to go back to school to show it off, but it was a 1/2 day and no school fri. either, so she had to wait 'til mon. Darn.

Driving home I asked her what she wanted for lunch and she wanted a McDonalds happy meal. I gave her a "look" (cause we don't do happy meals very often anymore) and she said "What?...I was really good. I deserve one." Yes I agreed, she did deserve one. She then said " Did you know that McDonald's is a proud sponsor of the Olympians?" Oh my gosh, I laughed at that one, silly girl. Where did she learn that?

Mason's been so good and helpful. I think he and George secretly wish they had a cast too. Why, I'm not sure. But you sure get a lot of attention when you do have one. I guess it's the same as wanting braces when you're younger, and then you finally get them and it's a drag. He mentioned to MJ - "If you would have broken your leg you'd need crotches." Yes I spelled that right, 'cause that's they way it came out of his mouth. I quickly corrected him, but funny none the less.

We've had to get used to dressing differently and bathing differently. The first day she came to me and said, "Now that I broke my arm, I don't feel like I know how to get dressed anymore." At first it was tricky, but now she can pretty much do it by herself. Overall Maryjane has handled this whole situation very well. She LOVES all the attention, of course. The other morning when she was getting on the bus, at first she had her coat on and it was covering her arm, but as soon as she started to get on the bus, she brushed it off her shoulder, just to show her cast so that everyone would see it. Where did she come from? She is just so dang funny. I know you can picture it too. I have a little Diva on my hands. Although she did come home today and said she was tired of everyone asking her what happened. It's just so exhausting telling the story over and over.

So don't feel too sympathetic, she's doing pretty darn well. She'll have it checked again next week, right before we leave for UT for spring break. And then we'll see if she still needs the cast on or not I guess. Not sure what the Dr. will do at that appt.

This is for G'ma Paula.

{Grandma's Funeral}

Jeremy's grandma passed away a couple weeks ago.  She was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer last year, but a few days before she passed, she fell and had bleeding on the brain and ended up not coming out of surgery. She passed a little sooner than was expected. We are going to miss her so much. She was such a sweet great grandma to our kids and a wonderful grandma to Jeremy and I.

This picture was taken April '07 on Easter. G'ma Jean and Paula love the holidays and we were coloring Easter eggs for the Easter bunny that was coming the next day.

This picture was taken last year when we went down for the family picnic (reunion) and g'ma bought cowboy hats for all the grandkids. So cute.

We had been planning to head for California for G'ma Jean and G'pa Don's 50th Wedding Anniversary which was the next week. But unfortunatley we got the news of her in the hospital, and then her passing. So we ended up going down for the funeral. It was going to be a quick trip and not a pleasant one, so Jeremy and I ended up going by ourselves and left the kids with my mom.

My mom came up and watched the kids for us. She kept them busy with knitting and latch hook projects. And for the weekend she took them back to her house and took them to the zoo. They loved their time with their Ma♥Key and Poppa. They sure know how to spoil them. And we are grateful she was able to make our trip easier, we didn't have to worry about them one bit. I only had to worry about her survival. Good thing they're all in school all day so she could get a little break. Stepping back into motherhood with young kids can be pretty exhausting when your not used to the day to day routine. Thanks again mom.

The funeral was very sad, but yet couldn't have been better. The program went so well and was so hearfelt. She was so loved by so many people that came to support her and the family. And we couldn't have asked for a better day, the sun was out and beautiful. The day before and the day after it had rained, so we got the best day of the week to gather and be together as a family.

While we were there we went for a walk around Lafayette Resevoir. It was a really nice walk and fun to spend time with Mark Paula and Austin. A little quieter too not having the kids interrupting every other word. We only got to see Alisha a little bit since she had to get back to work the day after the funeral. She's a busy girl.

Instead of driving straight through on our way home we took 2 days. So we left Sat. afternoon and on our way out of town we stopped by the grave one last time. It sure seemed more final seeing the grave this way and just so hard to believe she's really gone and won't be there the next time we come to visit.

We also stopped to say goodbye to G'pa Don on our way out of town. We really pray for him to have the will to keep going and to keep living life no matter how hard it might be without having g'ma by his side. It's got to be so hard to lose your companion. I just can't even imagine.

Losing family like this really puts life into perspective. We need to live life to it's fullest and enjoy eachother as much as can. Any of us can return to our Heavenly Father at any time. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation, to know that we will all be together again after this short earthly life. It helps heal the hurt a little faster when we lose someone we love. I love you : my family and friends who might be reading this. I might not be the best at showing it all the time, but I really do. I'm trying. Constantly trying to be a better wife, mother, sister, daughter, grandaughter, cousin,  friend. It's a little overwhelming at times and I'm so not perfect and never will be. So please forgive me for my little downfalls, but I'm trying. It'll be a life long process for me. I love you all more than ever.

"FAMILY: Always, forever and no matter what"

Valentine Cards

Valentine's morning the boys brought these in to Jeremy and I while we were getting ready for church.

It was a sweet surprise.

{Roses are red, violets are gray, Please forgive me for being bad yesterday. From, Mason}

George wrote both of the poems. He meant to write To: Mom and Dad, oops. The boys had gotten in trouble the day before, so that is why he wrote this one asking for forgiveness.

{Roses are red, violets are gray, since I gave you this card will you give me an A. From, George}

Who knew they were such cute poets. I loved it when they gave these to us. I just love sweet surprises, especially from my boys, who you think most of the time, just don't care.

I have the best kids ever. Love 'em to pieces!!!

Valentine's Weekend

My Sweet Love brought these home for me for Valentine's. Very unexpected, he's not much of a flower giving guy. And he brought them home on Thursday so I could enjoy them all weekend.

I love this close up shot.

We went to Olympia on Saturday to spend the day with MaKey and Poppa and Marnie, Whitney and Austin who came over for the weekend. The kids squeezed in the back of the van. Can you tell who's having fun and who might not be?

Marnie had a crazy idea to go running. Well not really crazy, 'cuz we are training for our 1/2 marathon, but she wanted me to go with her while she was here. Her long runs are on Saturday's, so she wanted to go 8 miles, but we only ended up going 3. We went around the lake that's right below the Capitol. And Mom took the kids inside the Capitol to look around and keep them busy while we were gone. Too bad it was a rainy day, we were soaked.

Our triumphant run up the capitol stairs to meet everyone.

My cute poser.

Makey and MJ have matching ipods.  (I sure love those cute little hands)

We went to McD's after for lunch and Whitney got her drink stuck in the door holder, so she was trying to drink it down so she could get it out. You had to be there, it was a great laugh. Bending over that far was a little tricky. ha ha

Aunt Marnie taught MJ how to knit with a loom to keep her busy while the boys were outside playing basketball. It was short lived and then I took over, but didn't quite finish before we left for dinner.

Dinner at Happy Teriyaki. Yumm

Poor Poppa hasn't felt well lately, but he made it out with us for dinner.

MaKey sent us home with cookies that she made. They were soooo good. I couldn't stop eating them all day on Sunday. All I ate on sun. was leftover Happy Teriyaki, chocolate, cookies, more chocolate and more cookies and repeat again. I really felt gross by the end of the day, but I just couldn't help myself, I have little self control when I have yummy treats around.  I've been trying so hard to eat good and watch my calories the last couple of weeks and I so blew it. But oh well, it was a Holiday and it was soo worth it. It ended up being an eat whatever you want day at our house. That's just they way we roll around here sometimes.

♥♥Happy Valentine's!!!♥♥