Christmas 2009

Our Christmas started with our trek to the mountains to cut down our own tree. We may not find the perfect tree but the memories made as a family make it so worth it!

Here is a La-La showing off our incredible backyard! Technically it is not "our" backyard but it is only a 10-15 minute drive from our house!

Our family's perfect tree. When we got it home, we had to trim a little from the top and a lot from the sides. It was so full it almost took up our whole living room!

Just enough snow for a small snowball fight. Ready...aim...FIRE!


Care Bear "helping" daddy tie the tree down.

It is not complete until the star is in place.


Sparkly, beautiful, and our own Christmas tree!

La-La was in a Christmas program for the 1st and 2nd graders. Here she is with her teacher! The video is one song from her program.

Jaco has continued playing the violin for 5th grade and has improved so much! He is now able to read music and is learning so much. I am so proud of him! Here he is in action for his strings Christmas concert.

Care Bear's preschool class had a short program where they sang some songs and spoke about the Christmas story.Doesn't she make a cute Rudolph?

This is Care Bear's small preschool class!

Our trip to see Santa! Care Bear was so excited to go but once we got there she would have nothing to do with the Jolly Old Elf...unless I was holding her and she didn't have to touch him! La-La really wanted a DS but I managed to talk her out of it because Santa did not want to spend that much and more importantly, I don't see her playing one for more than a few minutes! She has never been a kid content to sit still playing video games. She is too busy and active!

I am our ward's primary chorister and I helped the kids learn "Star's Were Gleaming". Jaco has been asking to play his violin at church so I let him learn "Stars were Gleaming" on his violin and another primary child who plays the viola also learned the song. They played together in our ward Sunday the 20th while the rest of the kids sang along. They did so good! I can not wait to see how far Jaco goes with the violin. He is excited to be able to accompany me someday and I will love that! I sang Sunday night at our Stake Christmas devotional. I was able to find the sheet music for the arrangement of "O Holy Night" that Josh Groban sings. It went really well thanks to a great accompanist! On Sunday the 13th I sang "Silent Night" in spanish with piano, organ, and violin accompaniment. It was the arrangement Josh Groban sings and is now my favorite Christmas song to sing. I can not wait to do it again next year! For me, Christmas music is the best part of the whole season.

Here is La-La in her Christmas dress. Care Bear was dressed the same but refused to let me take a picture! This is the same white dress we used for family pictures; I just changed the bow from blue to red, added some flowers and the red shoes and viola...a beautiful holiday outfit was born!

Cody loving his Christmas present!


All 3 kids working to open one present!

Christmas day was quiet with just our family. La-La tried to wake up at 5 but I was mean and made her wait until 6. I swear I spent so much less this year but the kids still managed to make out like bandits. Jaco asked for a nerf machine gun and was so excited to shoot anything in his way! La-La made her own cake in her new Easy Bake oven and relaxed while drawing with her new art set. Care Bear wanted a boy Barbie and a tea set and was thrilled when Santa delivered. They also got games, pj's, and too many other toys! My favorite gift request was when Jaco wrote his letter to Santa and asked for a dictionary! I was able to find him a cool electronic one that he LOVES! After a nap for me, we went and saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks...the Squeekwal" while our ham cooked in the oven. We ate a late dinner and called it a day! Another Christmas come and gone. Thank you to our Savior for choosing to come to this earth. Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night!

Happy Birthday Sean!

Today is my older brother Sean's birthday. Sean is the oldest of a group of five us that were all only 5 1/2 years apart. He turned 37 today and Miranda will be 32 in June and there are 3 kids between those two! We all do not have a clue how our mom did it plus she had two more after Miranda and two were born before Sean. I think I will stick with my 3 all three years apart.

Now for some memories of Sean.

His name was mispronounced all the time because of the spelling. He was called SEEN and not always by accident! He also would get mail addressed to Sean Sinch.

Sean was really the only athlete in our family. He played a little football and I remember him and his friends shooting hoops in our driveway. I am sure he is the only reason we had a basketball hoop. I guess Miranda played a little too but not the rest of us unless you count the random game of H-O-R-S-E playing. A few years ago our dad decided to get rid of the basketball hoop so he sawed the metal pole off and gave it to Sean. Lucky guy!

Since Sean was into sports he had the best looking friends. I am sure I was an annoying sister when his friends showed up.

He is a very successful business man and has done very well for he and his family.

When his first daughter was born he insisted that she would not be a frilly, pink loving, bow wearing girl. Sorry Sean, but I think Savanah could not be any more girlier!

Sean is the only sibling so far to have more than 4 kids and he is also the only one with twins! They didn't find out they were having twins until the 20 week ultrasound. If I remember correctly, they found out on April Fools day so it was hard to believe him...except the sincere sound of shock and surprise in his voice. The funniest thing I remember about our phone conversation was he said "But they are not identical because they each have their own amniotic sack" The other reason they weren't identical was the fact that they were a boy and a girl!

Happy Birthday Sean! I hope you had a fabulous day and that this year is the best yet! You are an amazing father, husband, brother, and son. I have a lot to learn from you!

Mexico!

On November 17, Justin and I hopped on a plane and flew south to Mexico! It was a conference on Pediatric foot deformities for Dr Johnson. Every year several Dr's around the country go to Merida and help children through the Yucatan Crippled Children's project. I was happy to tag along while Grandma Mickey held down the fort at home. We flew into Cancun and then drove west to Merida. We had a map to direct us to Merida but not to our hotel. Justin was sure he could find it and find it he did...after just a few wrong turns. I would never have been confident enough to drive into a strange city in a foreign country with no map and very little knowledge of the language and be able to find my hotel. Just proves Justin's love for adventure!

Wednesday the 18th we went on a group tour of Chitzen Itza which is a Mayan city from about 600 AD. We saw amazing architecture and learned how the Mayan people were extremely mathematical and astronomical. Chitzen Itza is a major tourist stop and the locals take advantage of this fact by selling their wares throughout the entire city. There were vendors EVERYWHERE! They were entertaining to listen to as they tried to sell you their merchandise. You would here things like "Only one american dollar" which our tour guide said translated to closer to $20. "Cheaper than Wal-Mart" and "Blue light special" were popular phrases but our favorite was "Don't forget to buy something for your neighbor's wife!"

That night we went to a local restaurant called La Giraffe. It was not a tourist type place so the waiters spoke no English and the menu had no translations. Justin and I got pork burritos which turned out to be very tasty. We knew they were good when after one bite we could feel a layer of grease on our lips.

Thursday the 19th was conference time for Justin and I took the day off to relax and do nothing scheduled! I slept in, worked out in the gym, ate a late breakfast, (we had a delicious continental breakfast with all kinds of fresh fruit, meat and cheese, bread, cereals, and scrumptious sweet pastries with a cream cheese center...YUMMMMM!)layed out by the pool, napped, and read. It was perfect until about 3 or 4 when I started to get bored. I unpacked everything and even chose to iron clothes just for something to do. I wasn't complaining though...it was exactly what I needed! A day off!

That night we went to a place for dinner that catered more to tourists but was still fairly authentic to Mexico. My only complaint was they blasted american music. It was decorated with all kinds of Mexican pictures and such and the wait staff were dressed in authentic clothing but the american music was so loud we could hardly talk! I got a steak which was probably the best meat I have ever had. I love steak but usually enjoy it with a little A-1. This meat required nothing!

Friday the 20th was another conference for Justin so I hit a nearby beach with one of the other Dr's wives, Janet Brink. It was a beautiful sunny day. We layed in the sand, talked, and walked along the water. I had fun exploring. I wished La-La had of been with me as she is the one who loves to find critters and treasures. I found a colorful collection of sea treasures in her honor. There was hot pink sea weed, orange corral, blueish purple jelly fish and sea shells. La-La would have been in heaven! Janet was grossed out by my loot but I loved it and I know it is because I was seeing it through my daughter's eyes even though she wasn't with me.

Janet and I talked about sunscreen and how on some people like me and her husband, if you miss one tiny spot it shows in a bright red burn. I asked her to put sunscreen on my back and I swear she covered it well; at least it felt like she did. Then that night my back started hurting and I laughed so hard when I looked at it. She had missed huge random spots and they were indeed bright red burns.

Before dinner we went to explore Merida with Dr Dale Brink and his wife Janet. They are from the Chicago area and we had a ton of fun with them! We took our rental car and attempted to go to the the town center. Only problem was we didn't know it was the celebration for Mexico's revolution which would be like our 4th of July. We finally found a parking spot and walked to the town center. They had security check stations and Justin received a thorough frisking because he had on cargo shorts with lot's of pockets. I was nervous to go in after him but I must have looked safe because the guards didn't even touch me. The streets were lined with thousands of people waiting for a parade. The police officers all had big machine guns and looked like they meant serious business! We didn't get to stay to watch the parade because we had to get back to our hotel for dinner but it was fun to see all the people showing their pride for their country.

That night we went to a fancy restaurant which used to be a hacienda that famous people have been known to go such as President Bush and Madonna. It was beautiful! They have little cottages that you can stay in on gorgeous grounds. Plus the food was really yummy too. I had another steak and it was just as good as the night before. I decided beef in Mexico is a good thing!

On Saturday the 21st Justin had to give a presentation so I went to cheer him on. He did a great job and even came up with a funny joke to cover a video that was recorded sideways. He said we all just had to watch it with our heads turned like we were eating a taco...we were after all in Mexico!

After lunch Justin and Dr Brink, decided to skip the last 2 hours of the conference. So the four of us (Dr Brink and his wife Janet) headed to another Mayan ruin. This time we went to Uxmal (pronounced Ooshmall). Justin had been here before and said he liked it better than Chitzen Itza. We took our tiny rental car that had been parked 90% of the trip and hit the road. We realized almost too late that we were really low on gas. Thankfully we found a gas station just in time! We made it to Uxmal and I saw immediatly why Justin liked it better. There were NO vendors within the city! It was not as restored as Chitzen Itza but it was more beautiful because it was amazing architecture in it's natural wonder, there were not as many people, and it was greener with a lot more trees and grass. It rained just enough while we were there to make it super sticky and humid and brought out the biting bugs. One of the coolest parts of Uxmal was that we could climb the buildings and explore much more. The stairs were so steep and it was very nerve wracking to climb down with no hand rails and hard limestone everywhere. Nerve wracking but so worth it! On the way back to Merida, it started pouring rain and it was dark. This made it hard to figure out where we were and it took a little longer to find our hotel.

Dinner that night was supposed to be a pool party but because of the rain, the party was moved inside. It was a huge buffet of all kinds of yummy mexican food. The only food I wasn't a huge fan of was the desserts. They were not as sweet as what we american's eat. After dinner we watched an american football game in the hotel lobby. One of the teams was the Oregon Ducks which Justin loves and he was quite vocal during the game. It was funny when he would cheer really loud and local people would come over to see what he was cheering for and then they would walk away when they realized it was not soccer but football! Oregon won in overtime!!

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and headed back to the airport. On our way, we passed two hitch hikers and decided to give them a ride. It was a man and woman so we felt safe picking them up. They were from Germany and did not understand their bus driver and got off at the wrong stop. It was a hot and humid day so they were very grateful for the ride. It was fun to talk to them and added a little adventure to the drive! We took a slight detour so we could see one more Mayan ruin on the beach. Tulum was so beautiful! Incredible architecture with blue green water for the backdrop. We went down to the ocean for a just a bit and the sand was so soft and perfect and the water was so warm! We couldn't stay very long because we had to hurry to turn in the rental car and get to the airport.

We left Tulum about 12:30 after a quick stop at Subway for some sandwiches and then we had to go quickly to make our flight at 3:30. The speed limits on the highway changed all the time so we basically just traveled with the flow of traffic. All of a sudden the speed went from 80 kmh to 40 kmh and there was a cop. We slowed down behind the car in front of us and right behind us, a red car had to slow down too. The cop pulled out and we started to get nervous. We thought he was going to get the car behind us but no...he wedged himself between us and the red car and pulled Justin over. My heart was POUNDING! The cop spoke pretty good english and took Justin's license and said he would get a ticket for speeding. He said Justin wouldn't get his license back until he payed $200 at the police station and he told Justin to follow him to the station. At this point of the trip, we were down to $22. Justin told the cop we didn't have time to go to the station and we didn't have $200. Then the cop said if we payed in cash right then, he would lower the ticket to $100 and send a receipt to our american address. We told him we didn't have the money and asked if we promised to slow down if we could just get a warning. Finally the cop agreed and we were on our way again. I was so relieved but still shaky from all the adrenaline. We know Justin was pulled over because we were white and in a rental car...obvious tourists! Guaranteed if we had $100 to give him, he would have pocketed the cash and gone on his merry way. Made me so mad!

We made it to Cancun and stopped at a gas station to put gas in the car before we turned it in. We only needed to put $5 in so now we had 1500 pesos and $2. The car rental place was only a block away from the gas station but we had to find a place to turn around because we were headed the wrong direction. I was bending over to tidy up the car so we could turn it in quickly and I had not put my seatbelt on. I sat up and was reaching for my belt when we passed a cop check station. The cops started whistling and waving and jumped in their car and pulled us over AGAIN! This was only about 45 minutes from the last time. This cop did not speak english and was not very nice. He kept asking for Justin's license with a really strong accent so we played the stupid americans and pretended to not understand. We did not want him to get Justin's license and see that he had already been pulled over that day. We figured there would be no way out of it! After a few minutes, we had to hand over Justin's license. After all, a cop with a big machine gun strapped to their chest is more than just a little intimidating! The cop told Justin to get out of the car and at first he said no but once again...big black machine gun on a cop in a foreign country. Justin went to the back of the car with the cop and repeated over and over that we will wear our belts and to please just let us go so we don't miss our flight. The cop kept insisting on money so finally Justin showed him that all he had was the 1500 pesos (which is about $15 )and $2. The cop made Justin hand over the pesos and then grabbed the $2 too. Then the cop came to my window and made me show him my wallet. All I had were a couple quarters and he said "No good!" At this point he must have realized he wasn't getting anything more from us and he finally let us go. I was shaking like a leaf with a pounding heart and I was mad! Yes, I should have had my seatbelt on but once again I am confident we were targeted because of our race. Plus I know he pocketed the money. Could you imagine what would happen if an american police officer did that? They would lose their job so fast!

We finally made it to the car rental place and caught a ride to the airport. We checked in and the airport employee took our ID's. He looked us up on the computer and said, "We have a problem here." Justin and I both instantly thought the cops had turned Justin's name in. Thankfully the problem was just that we didn't have seats together. Big deal, just get us back to the USA! 6 hours later we landed in Seattle and it felt so good to be home - well, almost. After a layover in Seattle, we had a quick one hour flight and a friend from church was there to drive us home! It was close to 1:am so we went to bed and were awakened bright and early by some very excited kids. Of course they missed us but they were dying to see what we had brought them. The girls got necklaces, Jaco a jaguar statue, and we got Mickey a mask. Mickey said the kids were really good for her and they all seemed to have a lot of fun. We were able to talk to them using webcams and Skype while we were gone and that was a lot of fun. Plus it was free! If we had of used our cell phones, it would have cost $1 a minute. That adds up fast!

It was really good to be home until we began experiencing Travelers disease or Mexico's revenge. We never drank any water that didn't come from a bottle so sometime on the trip we ate some contaminated food. After some immodium, antibiotics, and several days we were all better.

Mexico was beautiful, humbling, and a ton of fun. Americans have so much to be grateful for. I hope I can always remember that!

Mullet

According to Wikipedia, The mullet is a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. Widely panned as a lowbrow and unappealing hairstyle, and facetiously referred to as "business in the front, party in the back," the mullet began making appearances in the popular media in the 1960s and 1970s but did not catch on with the general populace until the early 1980s. It continued to be popular until the early 1990s and has enjoyed a partial return to favor as a retro look in the 2000s

According to Care Bear, a mullet is what you get after you decide to butcher your own hair while screaming, "La-La made me do it!" even though you hold the incriminating scissors in your own hand.

Still crying and insisting La-La made her do it. I was pulling the same sad face behind the camera.

The end result after a professional did what she could without cutting it as short as Care Bear had attempted.

A little too happy with the end result.

A few days ago, Care Bear told me she wanted me to cut her hair. I guess I should have listened and done it before she did!

La-La and Care Bear were banned to their room until it was clean when La-La came running down the stairs yelling, "Care Bear cut her hair!" and Care Bear was yelling even louder, "La-La made me do it!!" I held my breath just hoping it wouldn't be too bad and then I saw the big chunk she cut. I crumbled inside but held my cool. I called a hair stylist friend and she told me to come on over. At this point Care Bear was happy and loving the idea that she got to go with me for a real haircut. But when we got to my friend's house, she lost it and started bawling. To be honest, I didn't mind the tears; I wanted her to be sad so hopefully she won't ever do this again! I really thought we were going to have to cut her hair short all over but the professional managed to salvage most of the length by tapering the front sides. Care Bear now has bangs again which had finally grown out from her close encounter with scissors a year ago. Bangs with a mullet. Not my ideal haircut but it could have been worse.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!

We stayed home for the holiday and invited some friends to join us. With just two families, you would think it would be quiet but 6 kids in our small home can get quite loud! It was fun though and we were grateful to share the holiday with them. I made the turkey, sweet potatos, pies, cranberry salad and some appetizers and the Davis family did everything else. All I did on Turkey day was bake the turkey and make the sweet potatos. Everything else was done on Wed so it was easy!

La-La and I made pilgrim hats, indian bands, and one turkey hat for all of us to wear. I put one "T", 4 "P"s and 5 "I"s in a bowl and had everyone pick a letter. As we put the corresponding hat on ( I = indian, etc...) we had to say what we were grateful for. It was a fun way to do it and of course Care Bear drew the one "T" and was our Thanksgiving Turkey.Very fitting!

Poor Justin was not able to eat any of the Thanksgiving feast. As he was carving the Turkey, he snuck a little bite of the meat. It got "stuck" in his throat and refused to move down into his stomach. This is a problem he has had his whole life and meat is the worst offender. I felt really bad enjoying all the tasty food while he tried to relax so the turkey would move out of his throat.

After dinner we shared our tradition with the Davis family of watching "Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas" to start the Christmas season. It is an old Muppet's movie that Justin grew up watching. We bought it 7 years ago and haved watched it every year after Thanksgiving. Silly but fun!

Thanksgiving is over, we have watched "Jug Band Christmas, and I survived Black Friday shopping so it is time to bring on the lights, music, and trees! Let me be the first to tell you MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Quote of the day...

(self portrait taken with my camera phone while I was taking my Sunday nap)

"Just kidding Mom, I don't have any panties on!"

What...you might ask? My favorite little 4 year old who was wearing a dress said this to me while at a church soup cook off. She wanted to wear a dress so she changed right before we left for the church Saturday evening. I asked her if she had undies on because unfortunantly my girls seem to think they are optional. She ran upstairs to "put some on" and was ready to go. We ate dinner and all the kids were running all over the gym playing tag, dancing, spinning, and having a ball. At least an hour after getting there, Miss Care Bear runs up to give me a hug and whispers in my ear "Just kidding Mom, I don't have panties on!" I just about died and once my face returned to a normal color, I packed up the kids and went home. The real kicker is that as I buckled the girls into their carseats, I reminded them to sit like ladies at the church since neither of them had tights on!! OOPS!!!

Crazy Care Bear!

Snoozin' in her cozy monkey costume.

My little Care Bear is one crazy girl! She keeps me on my toes and laughing all day.

While she was sick with the Swine Flu, she felt good enough to be bored but was sick enough she couldn't go anywhere and people didn't want to come to our house. Her boredom got the best of her when she figured out how to pull out the inside of a marker and proceeded to chew on it! Either that or this is a little known side effect if Swine Flu!

The other day she said she wanted to go live with our neighbor across the street. I said OK and told her to go ask. I thought for sure my friend Danielle would say no but when Care Bear asked her, Danielle said YES and told her to go pack up her stuff. Care Bear came running back very excited so when I told her Danielle was joking, I had one ticked off little girl. As I was tucking her into bed she was sobbing and said she was tired of her tiny parents and wanted to go live with tall people! A few days later she changed her mind and decided her tiny parents were OK because they live in a tall house (two story) while Danielle lives in a short house (flat Ranch style). Care Bear is constantly comparing sizes of things from the remote and a cup to a chicken nugget and an apple slice. Maybe she will be my mathemetician!

One night she decided she was too hot snuggling with me on the couch so she stripped out of her jammies and layed down on the hard floor and fell fast asleep. Cody decided she had the right idea and joined her!

One day she asked if Jesus eats the same food we eat since He lives in our tummies. I told her no because He lives in our HEARTS!

This is the crazy girl deciding it would be better to eat her pumpkin rather than carve it!

Oink Oink! (update Sunday 10-11) (2nd update Tuesday 10-13)

H1N1, Influenza, the Swine Flu

Call it what you want, it is now living at our house. So far just La-La has it but with it being such a contagious illness I am sure it is only a matter of time before the other kids get it too. It is going through our school district like wild fire. I have been told they may ask us to keep Jaco home too even if he is healthy. Plus I was told by the Dr to keep La-La home for 48 hours after the fever leaves to ensure she is healthy. Wonder how long this quarantine will last? Wonder how stir crazy I will get?

UPDATE: La-La is still sick but feeling better. She still has fever of 101 but is up and moving around. Care Bear has been hit pretty hard now. Started yesterday when she crawled in bed with me and I felt like I was laying next to a heating pad. Last night her temp got to nearly 105 and she had been throwing up all afternoon. When I tried to give her medicine for the fever, only half went in and them immediatly came right back out. A good friend went on a hunt for FeverAll (suppository acetaminophen) because of course Justin was gone for work. Finally she found it at the third store and saved my day! When Justin got home he and a friend gave Care Bear a blessing. She woke up at 3 burning up again but she was thirsty (she had refused to drink anything all afternoon) and was able to keep water down. This morning she is sitting up and interacting more but still has a fever even with medicine. This Swine Flu is no fun!

UPDATE #2 Jaco now is officially sick. Yesterday morning he tried to talk me in to keeping him home just in case he was carrying the germs. He had no fever and was bouncing off the walls so I sent him. Guess who came home with a fever?! So far he is not terribly ill and as long as we stay on top of the medicine he does ok. The girls both are still sick. La-La was fever free yesterday until about 5. I thought she was finally done but no luck. Today she has had a fever all day and continues to have diarrhea anytime she eats something more than bread. Care Bear is about the same as La-La. I figure we will be under quarantine until Sunday at the earliest.

Here is what to watch for at your house:
Fever
Head ache
Body ache
Tummy ache
Sore throat
Cough
Stuffy/runny nose
La-La also has very sensitive eyes. Any light makes them tear and hurt.

Quote of the day...

"Because I believe that one of the greatest ways for children's development to be enhanced is for kids to teach other kids".

This is what Jaco wrote on an application applying to be a tutor in his school. The question was why do you want to be a tutor. Makes a mom proud!

Family Time! (picture overload!!)

Aunt Miranda and cousin Alivia came to town about a month ago and we had a complete blast! There is nothing better than family and it was great to show her around our little town and this beautiful part of America. On Thursday the 13th of August the kids and I drove up to Portland to pick them up from the airport. Friday morning we hung out and then that afternoon we took a short drive to visit Wildlife Images. I have been there several times but this was the first time I saw the big Grizzlies. They were huge and incredible! We were also privileged to see the wolves out for an afternoon walk.

In order to put all the pictures on that I wanted to, I made these collages. If you click on them, they will enlarge!

Saturday morning we headed south to go visit the Redwood National Forest and the Oregon coast. First stop....the BIG TREES! We hiked, played, and ate a picnic lunch among the giants.


Next stop, the beach! Miranda and I had been planning for a long time to do our family pictures on the beach. Our sister Michelle made the girls beautiful dresses, I bought a new shirt and we color coordinated the family against the boys wishes. I guess the wind didn't hear about our plans because it was unbelievably windy! Poor little Alivia had never been to the beach and she was crying because the sand kept pelting her in the face. We attempted a few pictures but Miranda decided it was the worst picture taking conditions we could of asked for! So we stayed and played for a little bit and then headed home.



After church on Sunday the girls and I took Aunt Miranda and Alivia to visit the neighborhood goats. We picked apples, grapes and a bunch of leaves to feed the critters. There was 2 new baby goats that La-La fell in love with. We also fed some horses apples! On the way back we picked fresh blackberries. YUM!



Sunday evening we drove to the river to make a second attempt at family pictures. This time...SUCCESS! Miranda is so talented and we love all the shots she got! It helps that we live in such a gorgeous area so the backdrop was beautiful! The kids thought it was so funny when Miranda would have Justin and I kiss.

Playing around before and after pictures!



The weather forecast for Monday was HOT HOT HOT so we went swimming at a friend's pool. Even though it was 100 degrees the kids all preferred the hot tub. A little smaller and not so intimidating! La-La worked on perfecting her dive and Jaco showed Aunt Miranda how good he is at swimming. It was a lot of wet cool fun!



All summer long my kids have been asking to sleep outside so I decided it would be even more fun to do it with cousin Alivia. So Monday night, we set up the tent, blew up the mattresses and warmed up the barbecue to roast marsh-mellows! Camping at home! The smores were fun like always and Care Bear taught us how to really do it. She decided to do a double toast by cooking the marsh-mellow first, building the smore and then toasting the whole thing again! When it came to actually sleeping all night in the tent, La-La, Care Bear and I are the only 3 that made it. Jaco was a little too loud and crazy so he had to go inside. After listening to all kinds of neighbor dogs barking and cars driving by, Miranda decided if she wanted any sleep she better go find a real bed and took Alivia with her. It still was fun and I am sure we will do it again sometime.



Tuesday was the the day we did Care Bear's friend birthday party which I already posted. (-: That evening we had a barbecue at the river. We made shish-ka-bobs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and yummy salsa made by Miranda. Jaco spent the whole time skipping rocks, something he is getting quite good at! It was a beautiful evening! After dinner Miranda and I went to a movie together "The Time Traveler's Wife" It was really good but my brain didn't do quite as good a job understanding the whole idea as Miranda's did!



Wednesday, our last day to play, we wasted money at the County Fair. OK, it wasn't a waste because everyone had fun but man are the rides expensive! As I watched Jaco and La-La maneuver the bumper cars for 3 minutes all I could think was it cost almost $10! Yikes! The animals were my favorite part. There were tiny new goats, sheep, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, bunnies, and other farm type animals. Miranda bonded with a loud goose and I would show you the video I got of her new friend but I do want her to come back sometime.



Wednesday evening while Jaco and Justin were at scouts, the girls and I played at the park by the river. Alivia figured out she could walk up the slide with her shoes off and said she must have magnets in her feet. La-La and Care Bear would live at the park if they could. They love to run, slide, and of course swing. I have to limit swing time or I spend the whole time pushing little bums!



Our fabulous week with Miranda and Alivia went by way too fast, Thursday came and it was back up to Portland to take them back to the airport. Only problem was it appeared that everyone within 100 miles of Portland wanted to go to the airport too. Traffic was unbelievable! We literally went 7 miles in two hours. It was so frustrating to be so close to the airport and not be able to do anything about it. Unfortunately we missed Miranda's flight along with at least 13 other passengers that were stuck in the same traffic jam we were in. So instead of saying good bye we all shared a hotel room for the night! (That was after wasting time shopping at IKEA!) The kids loved jumping on the beds and after hours being confined in car seats we didn't have the heart to stop them. Plus it made for fun pictures! The next morning when we went to take take Miranda to the airport for the second time, we discovered that I had a flat tire! A nice grandparent type couple took Miranda and Alivia to the airport for me while I waited for All-State to come fix my tire. Finally after getting a new tire, we made it home and Miranda made it to Idaho. We decided that she missed her flight because of the bad tire. If I had of dropped her off and then headed home immediately like we had planned, who knows what could have happened. I am just very grateful I didn't have a blown tire while going 65 mph.


Thanks Miranda for coming to see us! We love having people come visit. The kids still talk about your trip and the fun things we did. Care Bear comments daily about "Aunth Aranda this and Aunth Aranda that."