Up And Away

Well, after 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night, we have embarked on our trip to Washington. After an uneventful plane ride (thank goodness), we are now sitting at Burgerville in Woodland, WA. We were sucked in by their advertisement for Fresh Walla Walla Onion Rings. The onion rings were huge (and expensive), but the rest of the meal has been rather gross. Burgerville does have one redeeming quality: Free Wi-Fi. Therefore, I am able to do a quick post before we head up into the mountains by Mt. Saint Helens. The guys are all going golfing (without kids), while us girls are heading to the beach to hang out (with kids). Have I mentioned that it is much colder out than the kids and I are used to, so I am unsure how the beach will turn out. But I am sure I will blog all about it when we get back. See you Monday.

SPT

The SPT theme for the month of August is based on the Olympic Motto:

Citius, Altius, Fortius
(Faster, Higher, Stronger)

These words encourage the athlete to give his or her best during the competition, and to view this effort as a victory in itself. Each Tuesday this month we will do the same challenge. Each week think about the Olympic motto, and how it can apply to our every day lives. Are we giving our best? Can we find victories in the efforts we make every day?

So yesterday I changed my hair. I haven't had it cut or colored in a long time and it was definitely showing some problems. I was spending quite a bit of time on it in the mornings, and then ended up pulling it back into a pony tail every day. My hair is quite fine, and when it gets long it tends to get very flat. So I changed it. You might wonder what this has to do with the SPT theme. Well, I am focusing on Citius (Faster). Having this new hair cut has dramatically cut down on the time I have to spend doing my hair. I am now much faster in the mornings, which I am very grateful for.

Megan's Baptism

Megan was baptized yesterday. She was baptized the same day as one of her good friends (Allie), so we started off the celebration by having their pictures taken together. Another one of her friends, Dylan was also baptized, but he didn't have much interest in the girly things we did. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Megan's grandparents were able to come for the day.

(My Mom and Ken)

(My Dad)

(Eric's Parents)

(Megan and Sadie)

(Me, Megan & Eric)

Megan was very excited to be baptized, but she was also very against wearing a jumpsuit. It surprised me, because in her every day life she doesn't wear many dresses. I think her day turned out near perfect, when we got to the church and they had a dress for her to wear. It also was a relief to me, because I know she would have been very disappointed if she would have had to wear the dreaded jumpsuit.
Truthfully, days like this are very hard for me. If it were up to me, ceremonies such as this would be done on a very small scale, with only the absolute necessities. I never wanted a big wedding, and I am even uncomfortable when we go to a restaurant on someones birthday and they are sung too. My face turns red, even if I am not the one that is the center of attention. However, I realize I am weird. Therefore, I soldier on and throw myself full force into these ceremonies for the sake of my family. Luckily I have 4 more years before I have to do this particular one again. I can only hope that Jackson will sing with as much gusto as he did at Megan's baptism. All of the Primary age kids sang the song "Holding Hands Around The World." We practiced all week but you never know how it is going to turn out on the actual performance day. Jackson started off singing quite softly, slightly unsure of most of the words. However when the chorus came about, Jackson started singing his little heart out. His voice raised louder than all of the other kids combined. It was very hard for me not to laugh out loud.

Jackson's 4th Birthday

Yesterday was Jackson's 4th birthday. We started off the celebration by opening presents. He told me to make sure I picked out wrapping paper that was "boyish." Hopefully we met his demands (ignore the pink bag on the side).

Megan made Jackson this special box to put his favorite car in.

With a little encouragement from Megan, Jackson chose to eat at Sweet Tomatoes. They gave him a big bag of chocolate chip cookies to take home.

Next we headed over to race some go-carts and ride on some rides. First we hit the roller coaster which Jackson refused to ride on. Megan actually went on it, but was plastered in fear against me the entire time.

Then Eric took the kids on the big slides. If you enlarge the picture you will see the look of fear on Jackson's face. He refused to go on it again. Megan, however, loved it and went multiple times.


The go-carts were definitely the best attraction. The kids both loved driving them.


I think the highlight of my evening was that Eric and I got to play the Chinese handcuff trick on the kids.


We got home pretty late, but made sure to sing Happy Birthday, and blow out candles before bed.

At 4

• He always holds Sadie's hand when we are in the car.
• He loves to build tracks, and play with cars.
• He loves to talk about Jesus. He can tie Jesus into any subject.

• He has a very giving spirit. If he knows someone really wants something that he has, he will give it to them.
• He likes physical contact. He is still loves to cuddle and give hugs.
• He is easygoing.
• He doesn't care much for T.V., but he loves to play on the computer.

• He knows all of his ABC's and numbers, and has for some time.
• He is always hungry, and constantly asks for food.
• He is a very restless sleeper. Constantly changing positions.
• He is quite athletic, and excels at most sports.

• If he wants something he incessantly asks for it. And he is so cute, that we give in most of the time.
  
• He does a hilarious imitation of Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants.
• If we allowed him to, he would choose to be a nudist.
• We think he may be ambidextrous. He uses both hands for everything.

Happy Birthday Jackson!! We love you!!

SPT

"Ice Cream"

I don't love ice cream. Not that I dislike it, it is just not generally my sweet of choice. However, last year when I was pregnant, I couldn't get enough. I would crave Cold Stone chocolate ice cream with raspberries. My craving got slightly out of control, and I was wanting it pretty much every night. To try and stop the numerous trips to Cold Stone (It was taking a lot of time every day, and it is not exactly cheap), I decided to try and make my own at home. And let me tell you, it was pretty darn good. I started to stock up on chocolate ice cream and frozen raspberries. Needless to say the craving left me, and now I have numerous bags of frozen raspberries that I have not used. But it is good to know they are there awaiting my next craving.

Another 24th

The 24th of July has always been my favorite holiday. When I was little we would go to my Grandma's in Clifton, ID for their annual celebration. And now we take our kids to the big celebration that our Stake puts on every year, right here in North Las Vegas.
We woke up today to cloudy skies with a chance of rain. Of course we did not want rain, but I welcomed the cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. I think every other year it has been at least 110 degrees, so today when we got in the car and saw this, we were very happy.

There is always a ton of food, games, and activities for the kids. For the record I ate 2 tacos, fry bread, a pork sandwich, a snow cone, and lots of soda. Here are some pictures of our day.






Sadie is definitely my third baby. I was very careful about what Megan ate and never would have allowed her to have a snow cone at 6 months, but as you can see I have lightened up, and Sadie is reaping the rewards. She loved this snow cone.

After she had been eating it for quite a while, I finally decided that she probably had enough and took it away. She then started crying and screaming (loudly).

This picture was taken during this time. We then gave the snow cone back to her, and she recovered within seconds.

I am including this picture, because I absolutely love Sadie's double chin.

Self-portrait of me and my bff Rachael. It was another great 24th of July. We were really close to the fireworks and they were quite loud but Sadie didn't even flinch. Jackson did great, and Megan was fine, however she still is my kid that is bothered by loud noises. Every year I don't really want to go (due to the crowds and heat), but every year I am always glad we went.

Jackson Said

Jackson said: "Mom I am all of the good parts of Sadie. Megan is all of the spit and throw-up."

My Finds

I do not enjoy paying full price for anything. I always shop the clearance racks, and frequent discount stores. So today I went to the D.I. and T.J. Maxx. I don't often shop at the D. I. because I have never really found anything good, but they must have gotten a lot of donations recently because they had some pretty nice stuff. If anyone is in the market for a jogging stroller they had one for $15. I almost bought it even though I have no use for it.
I have been looking for a chair for my living room. I want a nice big leather chair, but don't want to spend the money on one. So I adjusted my expectations and found this $5 chair at the D.I. That's right $5. I realize it is somewhat hideous in its current state, but just picture it recovered and with a coat of paint.

I also found these roller blades for Megan for $3, and these roller skates for Jackson for $2. Amazing.


Then I was off to T.J. Maxx. I have also been looking for new bar stools and found ones that I love. I am partial to black furniture, so I was very happy to find these. They were not exactly dirt cheap, but I did find them at T.J. Maxx so you know I did not pay full price.

Lastly, I found these adorable flip flops on clearance. I truly do not need yet another pair of flip flops, but how could I resist.

SPT

"Grass"

I truthfully don't spend much time on the grass. I am quite allergic to it, and usually end up with red marks on the parts of my body that touch it. However, as a child I spent quite a bit of time on the grass, without many ill effects. I do however remember having to jump up many times because I was laying on ants that were now all over my body. I think most of the time I was on the grass I was practicing cartwheels. Let me just tell you, if you attempt these as an adult, prepare yourself before hand. They are much easier to do as an eight year old. It was much harder than I remember. After doing a couple (to get a picture of myself mid-air), I was worn out. I was out of breath, and my back, one leg, and one arm all hurt. But it was kind-of fun.

(Picture courtesy of my 8 year old)

Sink Or Swim

Jackson has been taking swimming lessons the last couple of weeks. He is usually quite brave and willing to try new things, but swimming frightens him a bit. He always did the things his coaches asked him to do, but he did them in a very cautious manner.


It really surprised me that his class was so small. There were only between 3 and 5 kids there everyday, and they were all boys. There were 8 kids on the roll, but I have no idea where they all were.



The pre-school class focus is mainly on getting the kids comfortable in the water. So they pretty much just played different games the whole time. It was fun for the kids, and fun for me to watch. We took the 9 am class this year so it wasn't too hot yet, which was great. Sadie and I could actually sit quite comfortably in the shade and watch. In years past we have taken the 6 pm classes, which were miserably hot.