abby

Abby...that's all.

at the beach

We had a great week at the beach. Most days it was too stormy to go out, but a couple of times we got some sun breaks so we went as fast as we could.

These are some of the things we did at the beach during our mid-winter break.
At the park. Oddly we got all the kids in this one picture. It looks like it's about to rain but behind us the sun was shining.
Running from the waves. So much fun for kids and adults. Thank Heavens for rain boots. No wet feet for us.
Jacob and Noah chopping up the big kelp that floats in. Abby was shoveling the sand.
Working on the dam. See the big log? It's supposed to block the water. That's Haystack rock in the background.
Noah working on the dam. Pretty strong kid. I think he carried most of those rocks over there himself.
Grandpa walking by. Sydney and Jacob rolling in the log for the dam.
Abby loves to play in the sand. It's her favorite. I'm just glad she decided not to get soaking wet this time.
Headed back to the waves.
Loving the sand. See there was sun. I even see her shadow.
Jacob looking for sticks. Such a fun kid.

Abby and Dave made popcorn for the family while we watched a show. It was Disney's Oceans. The kids loved it. Saw so many cool marine animals.
Abby having her first beer at the Wet Dog Cafe. Don't worry it's a Cream Soda.
Trying on her hat. Always has a messy little face. At least she's cute.
Noah and some legos he built. He loves to build.
Jacob and his lego closed sign. He had fun building too.

It was a great week at the beach. The ride home not so fun. 3 of 4 kids got car sick. It was a barf a rama. But it all stopped once we got home.

Just keep swimming

Here in Washington the schools have a mid - winter break in the middle of February. I guess that's why they go to school until the end of June. Since this was our first mid-winter break we decided to head down to Cannon Beach since it has been about 4 months since we had last been there. It had been even longer for Dave. So we headed to the stormy Oregon Coast.

Now if you have ever been to the Oregon Coast you know how the weather is pretty unpredictable. You could have sun one minute and hail the next. Well as we made our way down for our week off, it was not the best trip. The usual 4 hour trip took us over 6. You'd have thought we were driving from Idaho still. We made it thru the rain and finally got everyone settled and in bed.

Then the power went out. At least we were all asleep and cozy in our beds. Surprisingly that was the only time the power went out. It was a crazy stormy week. There were a couple of times that the sun poked it's head out and we got to go down to the beach and over to the park, but otherwise, we spent a lot of time inside playing games and working on our handstands and cartwheels for gymnastics.

One day we decided to take the kids to the Astoria Aquatics center. Grandma came along with us so that she didn't have to sit around and watch Grandpa work. We had lots of fun playing in the water. So here are a few of our family having a little bit of fun indoors.

Above is me and the girls going down the lazy river. It turns out it wasn't turned on when we first got there. This made me happy because I thought it was taking a lot of work to be lazy.
Here we are in the hot tub. It was nice and warm. The other pool was too, but once I got in the hot tub there was no way I was going back into the freezing cold that would now be the other pool.
Us again. At least Sydney is smiling this time. Of course Jacob is now staring at Sydney. Who knows why.
Abby was riding on my back and I'm hugging a bouncy ball if you wonder what that is. We enjoyed the lazy river and the boys had fun going down the slide. Noah can really make a splash.
Dave is watering Abby in the hopes that she will grow. She's such a tiny thing. Actually I think she might fit into her size 3 pants now that she is almost 4.
We put Abby in the lazy river (it was turned on now) and had her swim from Dave to me. She didn't have to work as hard and she had a lot of fun.
She finally started going around by herself. When it was time to go she didn't want to. I think she was the last one out of the pool.
Our little fish Sydney. She loves the water. In her swim lessons last year she jumped 2 classes because she did so good.
That's the boys being crazy. I wondered if they were going to get into trouble by the lifeguards, but I think they only had to tell them not to climb over the walls once.
My little duckling and me. Such a fun day.

After we got changed and sort of dried off we went to get lunch and ended up at the Wet Dog Cafe. That was a perfect end to a fun, wet day.

pinewood derby

A few weeks ago it was the Pinewood Derby for our boys. They both worked really hard on their cars. We weren't really sure who would win.

Usually Noah goes for coolest car. Last year his car was a shark. The year before that it was a pterodactyl. I'm not even sure if that is how you spell it. Anyway they were cool. This year he decided he wanted to go for sleekness and speed.

This year was Jacob's first year doing the pinewood derby. He was very excited. He also wanted to go for speed. So we had two very sleek cars.

It was really hard to find a spot to put the weights on with the boys designs but they figured it out and had to add a few quarters at the end to make them even heavier.

I have added some pics from the night. I big thank you to my mom who actually brought her camera. These pictures are in no order whatsoever. I'm just happy they are on here. :)
This is Jacob accepting his award for most aerodynamic car. Noah's award was the green machine award. His car is very green. It's called the mamba. after the snake. Or something like that.
Here is Abby with her pack meeting friend Jane. They really enjoy each other. The funny thing is that Jane's family lived in the house we are in before we did. So Abby actually sleeps in the same spot in the same room that Jane did.

In this picture you can see Jacob watching the race. He is the one with his head in his hands. Also in the picture is Grandpa watching the scene and Dave as always on his phone. We sort of only paid attention when the boys cars were racing.
In this pic Noah is right in the middle watching the race. He's the one with the blue shirt on under his scout shirt.
The cars are getting lined up. Jacobs is the orange one at the very top. It has flames on the side. Noah's is the green one with yellow wheels. They were both pretty cool.
Here is Sydney trying to endure the pinewood derby. She has on Jacob's fishing hat. She has her own sense of style. We sure love her.
Here we are waiting for something to happen. Abby, Noah, Dave and Grandpa. It was a fun night.

Who won do you ask? Neither of our cars, but we did place 6th and 7th. Right next to each other. Whose car was faster? Jacob's was. We know this because when they raced each other Jacob's won which is what bumped him to 6th. I think they both did great!! Wonder what the boys will do for next year?

Where did I put my jeans?

I washed all the jeans in the beach house last night, since they were all dirty. I got in the shower and when I got out to get dressed I couldn't find my favorite jeans anywhere. I had already decided I was wearing them today which is why I washed them last night.

I went through every pair of jeans in the house. I looked under the bed. I checked in the bathroom. I looked in my bag which I know they weren't in there, but maybe right? I finally got dressed and decided to take Foster (the dog) on a walk to Tolovana Park. The kids had ridden their bikes there and I wanted to go see them play for a minute.

Guess what? I found my jeans. They were at the park. They were on my son. My 10 year old Noah was wearing my favorite jeans.

The scary thing is when did he get so big that he mistook my jeans for his? When did my baby get this way? On the other hand...does this mean his jeans will fit me? If this is the case my wardrobe just doubled. :)

Glad I found my jeans. Sad I have to wash them again because he is a boy and played like one while wearing them.

Can it seriously be the end of January already?

I'm not very sure where January went but it has been a full and busy one. Now that I think about it that's probably where it went. I thought for sure we were going to get a little break from the crazy, but it started again in a new way.

I finally got the kids signed up in after school and during school activities. Sydney and Noah are doing a science club during lunch once a week. They keep bringing home some fun experiments. I have even let them show them to me. Yay for me letting them mess up my kitchen. Which is sort of ironic, because it's mostly messy because of me.

Jacob, Sydney and Abigail are all taking gymnastics. Noah and Jacob are both taking martial arts. They are loving it. I'm loving it too, because a few of the rules require them to be nice and obey their parents without complaint. They have a chart they have to fill out everyday and if they get too many x's they don't get to try for their yellow belt.

So our week now looks something like this. Monday - Martial arts for the boys. Tuesday - Scouts for the boys. Wednesday - Martial arts for the boys and gymnastics for Abby. Thursday - Gymnastics for Sydney and Jacob. The only free day is Friday.

I will be starting next month to volunteer in Sydney's class while Abby is at school. I'm pretty excited for it.

Anyway that is next month. This month we had 3 days off from school. After a long weekend with a monday off it decided to snow. And snow. And snow. For the next 4 days it snowed. It actually started snowing on the saturday before but those don't count because they were already days off from school. The kids had a blast and got the rest of the week off. Of course Dave had gone to Utah and wanted to ski while he was there. Yep no snow - and we got 8 inches of it. Poor guy. He got to go when he came home. But kind of funny all the same.

Since I started this post a almost another month has gone by. What? Yep it's been extra crazy. Or maybe that's just me. Since I started this post Valentines day has happened. We had the annual kickoff meeting for Dave's work. The Super Bowl happened. I got another church calling and by that I mean I now have 2.

We are now at the beach for the week. The kids have a mid-winter break. We never had those. Of course the kids go to school until June 18th. Oh wait that changed too. The 4 days we had off for snow they added to the end of the year. The kids now get out on June 22nd. Yep you read that right. This means that Jacob will actually get to celebrate his birthday at school. His is the 20th. It will hopefully be a first and last.

I think this has updated what has been going on. We are trying to enjoy this extra week off. The kids are having fun. I keep thinking that if they just cancelled this week we could still end school on time. :)

Another year gone by!

Ok since I missed so many crazy things this year in blogging, I'm doing my annual catch up summary. I'm wishing I had the camera picture thing figured out, but again still challenged there.

This year was crazy! I mean it. It feels like I fit a whole year into the last 3 months. It's possible I did. But I'm pretty sure the beginning of the year was pretty normal. So here we go!!

January: This month was pretty mellow. Sydney had her dance class, Noah had scouts and Dave proceeded to play basketball. The boys had ski lessons up at Bogus Basin every Saturday which Dave took them to and used the couple hours to ski by himself. I think he really enjoyed that time. My kids had lots of playmates and I subbed in a few primary classes. That was it. Nice and normal.

February: This month started to get a little more crazy. Not a lot crazy, but we did have the State Kickoff Meeting for Dave's work. I help with the centerpieces. They turned out pretty. Noah started an after school math course to help him with multiplication. He really enjoyed it. I finally got my piano tuned so I could have the kids start piano lessons. I don't think they started till June. Yep I'm that good. My Mom and Dad came to visit for a week or so. Always nice to have them. Dave's sister Joy and her family came to visit too for a ski weekend. I stayed at home with the little ones since I'm not a skier. My friend Catherine also had business in Boise so I got a visit from her too. She remembered my love of the Beatles and brought me some Beatles mugs. I use them for my hot apple cider in the morning. I also had the "pleasure" of having a colonoscopy. That was an experience and I don't remember a bit of it, except the guy in the waiting room who was wearing a cape. Weird. Dave has a picture, it's not the meds talking. I got to sub again in primary. I also got an awesome Valentines present from my hubby. A cleaning service! Yep it was awesome. Made mopping my floors lots easier!

March: Dave and I took a much needed weekend trip to McCall Idaho. It was fun and relaxing. The house we stayed in had a hot tub so it was cool to be all warm while it was snowing around us. Beautiful. Sydney still was dancing and Noah was still scouting. I too started scouting. They called me to be Noah's scout leader. Wow. I knew nothing about scouts. I do now. I also subbed yet again in primary except this time as Chorister. Never ever have I done that before. It turned out ok I think. The last week of March we headed to Oregon for Spring Break and our niece Ava's baptism. We were so happy we could be there for that. It was a great weekend, and we got to see all the cousins. Then we headed to the beach for the rest of the time.

April: Dave had the chance to go back to South Carolina for business and visited some of the old mission areas. He also got to see some of the members he worked with. He had a great trip. I was home getting ready for our trip. Mom and Dad came in the same day Dave got back from SC and the next morning early Dave and I headed to Cabo. We had a great time. Nothing better than 85 degree weather to help you relax. The kids had fun with grandma and grandpa. Then we continued our normal things. Scouts, Dance, playdates and subbing in primary. Noah had the pinewood derby. His car was a shark. It turned out pretty awesome and I did all the food. It was pretty tasty too. Popcorn, rice crispy treats, and chocolate chip cookies. Juice boxes for the kids. Adults got water. The boys had walking club after school, which consisted of them walking for an hour. They seemed to like it. The best day was the last Saturday when our baby turned 3. She is such a doll and Abigail had a great birthday.

May: May started out with a trip to the dentist to have Abigail's funky tooth checked out. It turns out she has an extra tooth that fused to the one next to it. We have to watch it for when they fall out. Fortunately only one permanent tooth underneath. I went to a mother's tea for Jacob's class. He wrote a cute little story about why he loves me. I'm so sappy it brought little tears to my eyes. The kids kept doing what they do, scouts, dance, school. Sydney had her school spring singing program and Jacob had a field trip to the zoo. We had a BBQ at our house for some work people from Aflac headquarters. I got to sub in primary again. It's becoming a pattern. The kids kept having playmates and Mom and Dad came to visit again. Of course they keep coming to take care of the kids, because we keep traveling. This month Dave and I went to Destin, Florida. Beautiful beaches. The sand was like powdered sugar. I would have liked a couple more days, 2 days were spent traveling and I'm not a good traveler. We also missed Sydney's dance recital. She is such a cutie, but i'm happy mom and dad got to see her.

June: Dave started out the month heading to Vegas for his American College Graduation. I couldn't go because it was the end of school. What? Yep school is out for summer. So that means I finally got off my butt and started the kids in piano lessons. Yeah me. Jacob had a birthday party at Jumptime. It's one of those trampoline places. I have to say I'm all about them doing all the work. It was awesome. I just had to show up. Jacob turned eight this year. That means baptism. His birthday is the 20th so he had to wait until July. We started going to the water park because the weather finally decided to become summer or at least late spring. We continued to have play dates. Because dance was over and school!

July: The first weekend in July we had Jacob's baptism. The whole family turned out. All of the brother's and sisters and cousins and grandparents. It was a great weekend. Jacob chose me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost for the stake baptism and it was wonderful and humbling. Such a great time for all those kids. Since Jake was baptized on the 2nd everyone stuck around for the 4th. We went to Eagle Island state park and the kids played in the lake and at the park and we grilled and played games. It was a hot one. Then we went back home and lit fireworks. The Quists brought the good ones from Washington. Then we water parked it some more. The end of the week Noah, Jacob and I had cub scout camp. I realized I have little patience for people not listening to me. But by the end of the camp we were definitely the best behaved group there. We have good boys. I have a love, hate relationship with scouts. I'm grateful for the opportunity though. Sydney went to dance camp. She loved it. so cute. I continued to sub in primary. The kids started swim lessons at the water park. They had an opening in the mom and tot class so Abby and I took swim lessons too. Our sweet babysitter Cierra came to visit us from Oregon.

August: And this is where the crazy begins. The kids had one more week of swim lessons. Then we had the State picnic for Aflac at the water park. We spent a lot of time there this summer. It was a good thing too, because things were about to change. The day after the picnic the kids, Cierra and I left to go back to Oregon. We picked up Cierra's brother Hunter in LaGrande and continued on our way. The boys were supposed to start football that week but we were in Oregon. Dave went to Las Vegas again for a meeting and in that week we found out we were moving to Washington. What? Yep a move was in the works. Dave and I went up to Seattle twice that week. Once to find somewhere to live and the other to go to a dinner with some contest qualifiers. In between that we spent the week at the beach. It was also my 20 year high school reunion. It was fun to go and see everyone. It was more like an elementary school reunion for me because all my elementary friends were there. Now that we are out of high school we could all talk to each other again. :) I'm glad I went. It was worth it. I came back to Idaho and the kids started school. The boys had football. I had to cancel dance for the girls. sad. We went to the water park one last time.

September: Football, Scouts, school, moving....it was nuts. Mom and Dad came to help, we had our end of summer bbq. Which was really us throwing ourselves a going away party. I continued to sub in primary. Then we had a combination birthday for my Dad, Sydney and Noah. Next thing I know it's the primary program. 2 days later the movers arrive. They pack up the house and on Noah's actually birthday we go to Paul and Jenny's to spend the night before we leave the next morning for Washington. The kids started school here in Washington the next Tuesday. All 4 of them. We had to get a shot for Jacob so we found a doctor quick. Then our renters moved into our Idaho house.

October: Dave left for South Dakota for meetings. He came home for a day of meetings and then left again for South Carolina for more meetings. My mom and dad came to stay with the kids because.... you guessed it we had a trip. Dave and I headed to Hawaii. It was a nice time. It was also a bit of a much needed break. Dave's brother Mark also moved up to Washington, so we took advantage of him a few times to watch the kids so we could go out. We were home for a week and then headed to Disneyland. It was a very nice trip and we had lots of fun. Mark watched Foster the dog for us for a few days and then Foster spent his first time ever in a kennel. It was like a resort for dogs. He didn't seem to suffer at all. We made it home just in time for Halloween night. We trick or treated 2 streets and then October was over.

November: We started out the month normal. School and scouts. We even fed the missionaries. My old roommate Rebecca came to town so I got to go to dinner and visit with her. It was so nice to catch up. The kids and I decided to take the long weekend off from school and head to the beach. That is one of the things we are really excited about. Spending time at the beach house. We had parent teacher conferences and the kids seem to be adjusting fairly well. I was asked to host a Relief Society Thanksgiving luncheon. So I did. We had a great turn out and I was able to meet some really nice people. Dave and I had a work dinner that week also. So we asked one of the kids in our Sunday school class to babysit. I think the kids wore her out. Then it was Thanksgiving. We went to Dave's cousins for Thanksgiving. It was really nice of them to have us since they really don't know us at all. The day after Thanksgiving Dave flew out to go to his mom's wedding in Utah. He was back the next night.

December: We started out this month going yet again on a little trip. This time we went to Leavenworth, Washington. It is a cute little Bavarian town and they do a Christmas Lighting every year. They light up the whole town. It was really pretty. Cold, but a fun time. Then we came home and attended a wedding for a friend. It was beautiful and a nice way to spend a Sunday evening. We celebrated Dave's birthday. We made him a popcorn cake. It was yummy. Then he headed off to Dallas for more meetings and we tried to put Christmas up. We went to our ward Christmas party and Jacob played Joseph and Sydney played a wise man in the nativity. We continued to do our usual school. I started Yoga. It has been nice. Then we headed to Utah. Yep another trip. Dave and I had a ski trip to Park City, and we dropped the kids off with Joy and Channing for the weekend. 8 kids 10 and under. They are awesome. I actually did go skiing. I did one run. I think it took me 1 1/2 hours to complete but I did it. My knee was killing me at the end so I called it quits. Yep I'm a quitter. We had fun playing with our cousins in Utah. Noah got a touch of the flu so that wasn't too fun, but all in all a nice trip. We also visited some friends while we were there too. Always nice to see the Streetmans. Mom and Dad came up for Christmas and watched the kids while we went to a Christmas Party. Everyone got what they wanted for Christmas and then Dave's mom and new stepdad came for dinner as well as the missionaries. Dave's mom has also moved to Washington so half of us are up here and the rest will all be in Utah. Definitely had a full house. Mom and Dad hung around for another week and helped us out with our after Christmas, Christmas party, for Dave's work. It was a fun time I think. We went down to spend New year's eve in Yelm with Dave's mom and brother Mark's family. They have a pool, but it wasn't heated yet. The kids decided to go in anyway. 50* is too cold. Noah got a bit of a chill. It took him 2 days to recover. :) We made it home and hour before the new year but all the kids were asleep. That's ok Church started at 9 the next morning.

We had a wild and crazy but fun year. I look forward to our new adventures this year. I think my first will be taking down the decorations. I've already begun procrastinating. No worries though. We all sent some personal and family goals for this year. Should be a great one. Lets go 2012.