Visit

Last Sunday (I'm just getting around to this a week later) I drove over to visit Rebecca with the girls. Melisa (my oldest sister from SLC) was visiting also since she came to Seattle for a business conference. It was fun to get to spend some time with my sisters for a few days. Melisa left the next night. Their was no school on Tuesday so Morgan and Chelsea only had to miss 1 day. Morgan and Logan are only about 6 weeks apart and they really have fun playing together. Chelsea and Mia loved playing with Sydney although Mia and Sydney fought alot over toys. We shopped at IKEA and Aaron brothers while I was there. I got lots of new frames for the family pictures I had taken.

Ready for Winter

Does snowboots make this swimsuit appropriate for winter? This girl was made to be born in a warmer climate. We were cleaning out closets today and going through snow clothes! Fun for me!

Halloween

My Mom told me the other day that she didn't know what my kids were for Halloween. I'd forgotten to post the pictures. I think I tried one day but somehow lost my post. So here is halloween in pictures.

The day before Halloween I tried to get Mia to take a nap. She said she wasn't tired. Probably less than 20 minutes later this is where I found her! Looks like she was tired to me.

This is before the school Halloween carnival the night before. Morgan is a Halloween fairy and Chelsea and Mia are masquerade cats? They loved them and I loved them because they were store bought from Childrens Place at a reasonable price. Chelsea class had a fun party and parade. All the kindergarteners got to dress up and parade through the 1st grade classrooms. Some of the teachers handed out candy as they went by. (Her school is only k-1st) I remember the Halloween parade at Graystone growing up and was sad my older kids never got to experience that. So it was fun to see all the costumes at Chelseas elementary school parade this year.

Collin resurrected his tractor costume again this year! Made it easy for me. It has a fan in it that blows it up and he made sure that worked and the lights before hand. When he got to the primary carnival it broke but he took it apart and had it up and running again.

8 Things About Me

I was tagged by Yasmine

*TV shows I like to watch

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Ugly Betty
3. Life
4. Gary Unmarried
5. Office
6. Project Runway
7. The Hills (ok I admit it- But Debbie watches it too and then we discuss)
8. Survivor (I also like Dancing with the Stars but I could never watch these kind of shows without DVR so I can fast forward the the lame parts and recaps)

*Favorite Restaurants

1. Red Lobster
2. PF Changs
3. Olive Garden
4. Pizza Hut (not that I usually eat in there -just order out)
5. Claim Jumper
6. Chevy's
7. Chili's
8. Fiesta's

*Favorite Places to Shop (is this for myself or my family?- I did both)

1. Target
2. Macy's
3. Old Navy
4. Gap Outlet
5. TJ Maxx
6. JcPenney's
7. Costco
8. The Supermall with my sister

*Things that happened yesterday

1. made the kids breakfast
2. drove to Tri cities
3. shopped at JoAnns, Michaels, the mall, Walmart and Target.
4. got lunch at Sonics
5. picked up pictures
6. Saw Desiree, Ben and Camryn at Walmart
7. went to the girls dance class
8. did homework with the kids

*Things I'm looking forward to

1. our house selling
2. building our new house
3. Thanksgiving in St. George
4. Christmas
5. Skiing in Utah
6. excersizing with out interuption
7. going to visit Rebecca
8. a clean house (how is that going to happen if I'm doing this)

*Things on my wish list

1. Our house selling
2. building our new house (sound familiar)
3. a piano
4. a maid
5. a smaller size (guess I'd have to get that excersize done)
6. shoes, shoes and more shoes
7. more jewelry (not expensive just more accessiories to complet my outfits)
8. some wishes I am not willing to post

*8 people I am tagging

1. any 8 people who have not done this already and want to!

Monkey Dooz

My girls were in desperate need of haircuts. Really since school started they have and I kept putting it off. I tried cutting Chelsea's myself (which I used to do regularly) after her accident and failed miserably! Her thick hair was super crooked. Morgan's was just too long and hard to deal with some days. Mia's was long and thin (although I didn't have them cut enough off). They loved being pampered and Mia love the little french braids they did. Funny thing - 2 days later Mia climbed in the shower with me so I took out her braids and she started screaming and crying to me that I ruined her pretty hair! I told her I could fix it, that I knew how to braid but she cried and screamed and held onto the pink hairbands until I did fix it! Amazing - Mom knows how to french braid baby fine hair too- I just had never attempted it on her.

So Saturday we headed off for our girls day in Tri-cities. We did some shopping then the haircuts at Monkey Dooz. It's a fabulous place to get a girls haircut! Afterwards we went to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year! I loved it and so did the girls. Then girls time was over and we met the boys for dinner at Applebee's before heading for home. Boy do I hate the long drive back to Mattawa when I practically pass my still empty, unsold home there.

I forgot to take a picture of Morgan's finished hairdo. This one I took in the car does not do it justice. She had 4 inches cut off plus I had them long layer it like mine then finished it off with some cute twists and flippy pony hairdo.

Beach Vacation

We resurrected our annual Oregon Coast trip with the Harkers this year after a 3 year break. 2 years in a row back then we went to Seaside, Oregon together with our kids for a long weekend on the beach. This year we decided to try a different location. They found this great beach house in Lincoln City for us to stay in. It was 4 bedrooms plus a bonus play room on 3 levels and a hot tub with great views of the ocean.We drove down on Thursday after school and left on Sunday afternoon. We played on the beach and in the ocean, crabbed, played mini golf, flew kites, ate out lunch and some good meals in, sat in the hot tub, shopping at the outlets, and on the way home we stopped at Tillamok Cheese factory, Jetty fishery, and Indian and Cannon Beach . We just had fun hanging out and enjoying our good friends. Here are too many pictures of the trip.The guys after their swim. Mia (her first time to the beach) and Bruin got knocked down by a wave soon after getting down to the beach the first morning and were ready to head to the hot tub to warm up right away. Mia never ventured so far in after that first morning. Luckily I was quick too rescue them but not before they both rolled a few times across the sand in the water!All but Chelsea (who thought the tub was too hot on her cold toes) and Meredith (who thought it would overflow if one more adult joined the party.crabbing by Moe's. The lazy sea lions sunned themselves across from where we were crabbing. I don't think most of the kids even realized that they weren't just more rocks and drift wood.

The kids did NOT want to leave Indian Beach to head for home. They probably could have played for hours longer if we let them. Too bad the tide was coming in and we missed seeing all the good tide pools by the time we got there. Thanks to the Harkers for planning such a fun trip and inviting us along again. We're working on finding a place for our next adventure.

Our Dog Max

I took these the first night. Mason came over to meet Max too.

So a few weeks ago Cameron called and said, "Don't be mad" so of course I think - what am I going to be mad about? He said he was sending home a puppy with his mechanic for us. He was too busy with harvest to bring it here. He was a lost puppy that showed up at their Mattawa shop. Cameron thought he seemed like a good dog and didn't want him to get run over by all the trucks and equipment that comes to the shop. So we got to keep him. He's been a good dog except for the fact that Mia and especially Chelsea hate dogs. They have pet him a few times but tend to steer clear of him. Chelsea pretty much refuses to play outside now which is annoying and has to have her hand held every time she goes out to the car. Doesn't this sweet little Max look vicious? Other than jumping up with excitment he has never done anything to these girls to make them scream. More than once Chelsea has come off the bus instantly screaming all the way to the door (down the long driveway) with Max in chase (he thinks she's playing). Collin and Morgan love him and are enjoying our pet. Other than the smell of dog on my hands when I pet him I've been enjoying him too. He rarely barks (which I can't say about some other neighbors dogs around here who I've heard in the middle of the night! I chose the name Max (short for Maximillion) after the first suggestions from the kids were things like Cuddles and Goldie. So there it is. . . we live on a farm and now we have a dog.

I took these of Max this weekend. He's grown a lot in the 2 weeks we've had him.

Collin is our crazy kid who goes at first thing in the morning in his short (jammies) and flip flops in 40 degree weather to play with the dog and in the dirt. (BTW Max has a pig ear in his mouth)