fun with my family! part 1

at the end of june, we took a trip up to washington to see my family. it was one of the most fun trips we've taken up there. everyone was there, and it was fun to have the kids a little bit older. we left here on saturday the 20th around noon. we had a 3 hour layover in salt lake, which wasn't too much fun. it could definitely have been a lot worse, though. we just watched airplanes, took walks, and ate snacks. the kids were a bit bored by the end, but they did well. we finally got to seatac at 9:00 p.m., pacific time, which was 11:00 p.m. to us. we had this awesome view of the mountain, as we flew into the airport. you can just see the peak through an ocean of clouds all around it. beautiful!

it's a 2 hour drive from the airport to my parent's house, so we were a little tired when we got there! we put the kids right to bed, and then stayed up way too late talking. it was great, though! we hadn't seen jeff for 5 years, i think we figured out. way, way too long! it was great to see him and get a chance to catch up. he had to leave monday morning, so we spent as much time with him on sunday as we could.

the next day was father's day, which was fun to get to spend with my dad. jeff spent almost the whole day playing with the kids. they had a great time with uncle jeff. we had a barbeque, and just enjoyed spending time together. hope you had a great day, dad! we love you lots!

on monday we spent the morning waiting for my suitcase, which had been put on a different flight, for some reason. luckily i got it back, but it was a little frustrating. while we waited...

grandma painted naomi's fingernails

christopher's always a bit sad that he doesn't get his done too. instead, he got to help grandma with her toes. :)

in the afternoon we went and got some ice cream, and picked some strawberries. fun!

tuesday was dave's birthday. happy birthday, handsome! unfortunately, he and dad both had to work that day, so amy, mom, and i took the kids down to the beach. it was a crazy, low tide, so we had a blast in the sand, tidepools, and warm (relatively speaking, of course) water. we were only planning on staying an hour or so, but we were having so much fun that we ended up staying almost the whole day.

building sandcastles in the rocky sand

christopher took this picture. pretty good, eh?

another few by christopher

it's kind of hard to tell, but that's an eagle on the rock. he was fishing, and it was pretty awesome to watch.

we had about a 20 minute walk in from the road, and we found this "monster" by the trail. naomi was a little scared of it. :)

later on that day, mom made up some yummy ribs, baked beans, and salad for dave's birthday dinner. yum! and, of course, a yummy cake.

more to come...

bluebonnets

i realized that i hadn't blogged these pictures yet. they're wayyy too cute to not post! katie, my absolutely fabulous sil, got a new lens for her camera. so, we took the kids out (in march, i think) to the field of bluebonnets by our house for a photo shoot. my brother is getting a collage made from them for me for my birthday. yay! (thanks in advance, jeff!)

swimming lessons 2009

the second week in june was swimming lessons for the kids. we had a lot of fun, and both kids got to have their cousins in their class with them.

christopher did awesome, and has really progressed a lot. he puts his face in the water, is practicing floating on his back, will hold his breath and swim under water for a bit, and jumps in water over his head and then swims back to the side.

the last day of class, they got to cross the dragon (floating forms, that look like the back of a dragon), and here he is waiting for his turn

naomi was thrilled to get to have her own lessons this year. she did great in the water, and the only problems we had were her standard not listening ones. i was happy with how she did. she worked on "digging" in the water, kicking, blowing bubbles, laying on her back, and going under water. going under is still not her favorite thing to do, but she doesn't cry or panic anymore, so i'm proud of her for that.

the last day of lessons, we went out for lunch to celebrate how well everyone had done, which was a lot of fun.

katie and lily

christopher and jacob

naomi and me

this is kind of silly, but i thought the progressions of pictures was funny.

me: dave, let's get a picture of the two of us.

me: smile!

dave: what?

dave: oh, smile?

dave: like this?

sarah: you make me laugh

dave: aren't i funny? :)

we're all excited to spend as much time as we can at the pool this summer, and use all the fun skills the kids learned at lessons!

relaxing on a sunday afternoon

these pictures were too cute to not post. naomi decided to read the paper a couple sundays ago, and christopher joined her.

moving!

we've moved!

after having our house listed for about a month, we received an offer on the 22nd of april. happy birthday to me! i did a happy dance when we got the call for a second showing - it was the first time we'd had a second showing in both times we had listed our house. getting the offer a couple days after that was so sweet! yay! so, we got packing, and finished up a few projects.

we had been having drainage issues for a while. we put in drywells last year, but they weren't cutting it any more. so we (i should say dave - thanks honey! you're the best) got boxes and pipes, and dug them in just under the grass. that way the water flowing from our neighbors yard - ya, nice, eh? - would have somewhere to go, instead of pooling by the fence.

we also celebrated mother's day in the midst of all our packing. the kids made me super sweet cards, and helped with breakfast.

dave picked some flowers for me and made me lasagna - my favorite! isn't he sweet? :)

then we got packing! naomi tried to pack herself up, but i convinced her to make the move in the car instead. i think it was a good choice on her part. :)

we had about a month to pack, which was good. it took me the whole time, working really hard, to have everything ready in time. a bunch of great friends came over one night to help me pack the kitchen, which was so fabulous! thanks, you guys! you're great! it would have taken me forever to do by myself.

christopher and naomi both did great with all the packing, and everything that goes along with moving. it was nice that they were both old enough to deal with the schedule upsets fairly well. i was glad to not be moving with a baby in tow. :)

christopher would "help" by "labeling" all the boxes for me. he spent hours drawing on all the packing boxes with the sharpies. it made my packing much more pleasant to pull out a box that had been decorated. made me smile. he would copy the words that were printed on the box, so i had boxes with "this side up", or "the home depot" all over them. so cute!

naomi was my little tag-along helper. we did a lot together while christopher was at preschool. we moved all the furniture stuff, with help from the elder's quorum, on saturday (may 16th), and then still had a few days before we had to hand over the keys. that worked out really nicely, because i had a few days to clean the house. i went over while chris was at preschool, and naomi "helped" clean too. it was also nice for us to have a chance to say our goodbyes to the house. i love a new adventure, and am LOVING having less to take care of and clean, but it was still sad to say goodbye.

we spent the rest of may unpacking everything we had just put in boxes. crazy. moving sure is a lot of work! we are all unpacked, now, though, which is soooo nice. a place for everything. pretty much, anyway. :) i love organizing, so this has been the fun part for me. the only thing left is the garage. it has all the furniture from the house, that doesn't belong now. i have also left the decorative stuff for last. so, once the walls aren't bare, i'll post pictures of our new place.

new recipe on the sidebar :)

easter 2009

on goes the catch up...

we had a wonderful easter this year.  the kids woke up to baskets from the easter bunny.  he left construction paper, markers, stickers and such.  we got ready for church, and enjoyed a wonderful time there, remembering the resurrection of the Savior.

after church, i started the preparations for easter dinner - one of my favorite holiday dinners.  okay, i guess i love pretty much all holiday food.  mmm.  thinking about food is making me hungry. :)  anyway, the family came over for dinner, and we had a great time together.  i served the traditional (in my family, anyway) ham and potatoes, with other side dishes.  it was a wonderful day.  

i think that maybe next year we will have the egg hunt/baskets on the saturday before easter.  that way we have the fun stuff the day before, and can really focus on the Savior on easter.  i'd like to start a new tradition to make Easter Sunday really special and important - help the kids understand the significance.  let me know if you have a great Easter Sunday tradition you do with your family.  i'd love to hear!