Fair Time

We went to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe on Saturday and had a great time. I've never been to this fair before, but it's probably the best fair I've been to. In the morning, it looked like it was going to rain, but while we were there the sun came out and ended up being a beautiful day. I was so sad though because I forgot my camera at home!!! Kate loved the rides and all the animals. She insisted on seeing the bunnies for some reason. There were SO many food booths it was crazy. Amazingly, all we bought was some blue cotton candy for Kate. It was the first time she's had that and she LOVED it (yuck). I had brought us a lunch so we were boring and ate that instead of buying food. Normally, we go to fairs just for the food, right family?! We watched a lumberjack show and Preston cried when they fired a gun and Kate cried when they climbed a 75 ft pole- she kept saying "he's falling! I scared! I want to go!" It was funny. A nice lady (who Kate kicked in the bum many times) turned around and talked to Kate about the show and how it's all pretend. She ended up calming down. Then we saw these horses running around in a corral and one came up to Kate and showed all his nasty yellow teeth and got in her face- she was so scared! It was pretty funny. There was also a pig race I wanted to see, but we ended up not seeing it. I'm sure it would have been funny.

For dinner, Kyle and I went to Outback. Darbi watched the kids while we went. We switch off every month or so babysitting each other's kids so we can get a date night. I went to a baptism for a girl in the primary and then came home and we watched a movie. Fun day.

Bloglines

I have to give a shout out to Bloglines. My friend, Megan, told me about this blog manager a while ago and it saves so much time!!! I like to read blogs, but typing in each individual blog address was annoying and I couldn't remember them all. Plus, I would check someone's blog and they wouldn't have updated so it was time consuming. But thanks to bloglines it manages them all for me and tells me when someone has updated and how many new posts they have. Trust me, if you don't have a bloglines account you need to get one. It will save you SO much time! Several of my family members have set one up and they love it. Just my two bits. :)

(P.S.- it is free and easy to set up!)

Floating Down the River

Last weekend, my Dad, uncle and siblings went floating down the Yakima River by Ellensburg. My Mom and Jared were SO nice and stayed home with the grandkids so all us adults could go (Jared had 2 a day football practices and couldn't come with us). It was lots of fun and a gorgeous day. We rented a couple rafts from Central Washington University and had a couple of our own. It was a 7 mile stretch down the river with a few minor rapids, but we had fun splashing one another and watching people get attacked (namely my Dad- who lost his glasses!). Then, we hit a lunch place called The Pita Pit and grabbed some ice cream at Winegar's before heading home. Fun day. Jeff's girlfriend, Sadie, was visiting all week so we had a big family dinner on Sunday after church and got to see both grandparents.

Preston with his new haircut. Jeff and Jeni were showing me how to cut his hair with clippers (then my Mom blended it better after we were done). He's growing up fast and looking like a little boy. He's been eating 2 extra bottles each day making up for when he was sick last week.

Happy Canning

A few months ago, at a church activity, I bought several buckets to use for long term food storage. I had 25 lbs of pinto beans and 25 lbs of quick oats to put in these buckets. (I was going to buy other foods to put in the other buckets, but hadn't gotten around to doing that yet.) I went to our Church cannery and got oxygen packets. I was told the food would be fine in these buckets. Now fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was doing some research on Provident Living's website regarding other food storage items and I came across "storing food in plastic buckets". It said that oxygen packets weren't sufficient to use in plastic buckets with long term food storage. What?! It said you would need to use dry ice to keep the food safe in plastic buckets for long term. I had just bought these buckets and I thought I was doing good getting my food storage going. Grrrr... I called the cannery and talked to several different people and finally decided to not use the plastic buckets anymore and transfer all the food into #10 cans, which are rodent free and will last up to 30 years for sure. I was also told that I could reserve (for free) a sealer/lidder for the #10 cans and use it at home! What a great idea. So last week I picked up the sealer along with 58 cans (half were for a friend) and off to home I went to get busy.

All the cans loaded in my car.

The sealer/lidder on my counter. It was really easy to use and it was nice to be able to can my own food I already had on hand. I ended up doing 25 lbs of flour, 25 lbs sugar, 25 lbs quick oats, 25 lbs pinto beans, 4 lbs corn meal, 6 lbs dry milk, 1 can spaghetti, 1 can of macaroni and 5.5 lbs black beans. I started at 8 am, ran to Walmart and Costco to pick up a few more food items to top off some cans, came home and fed the kids lunch and then I finished and had everything cleaned up by 12:30. Not too bad. It was fun too. Then my friend, Michelle, picked it up that afternoon. She called me later to tell me that you aren't supposed to put oxygen packets in with the sugar because it will turn it rock hard and I did!!! So she let me use some of her cans she hadn't used yet and I recanned my sugar. It was nice of her and I'm glad she told me. Overall, I would recommend this to anybody. It's easy and actually fun to do.

Visit with Marci

We ventured down to Puyallup to visit my sister, Marci, yesterday. It was fun to spend the day with her. We took a grocery shopping trip to WinCo (love that store) and then to the Mall to go to Old Navy. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant, Indochine (sp?) in Tacoma. Marci insisted we order this appetizer and I must say it was delectable. Yummy flavors with chicken, mango, cashews and a fabulous sauce on pita bread stuff. Mmmmmmm... I want some more now. While in this quaint little cafe' Kate said her tummy hurt so we thought she was hungry, but when she threw up all her pickles from her sandwich and gummy candy that Marci bought her from WinCo I knew she was sick. The poor waitress cleaned up the mess (it was gross!) so she got an extra big tip. The sad thing is Kate probably got the bug from Preston. I hope I don't get it. It was confirmed this morning that she is sick when she threw up all over my newly shampooed carpet after breakfast! Good thing the carpet cleaner vacuum was still out from last night so I quickly cleaned up the mess. Now onto cleaning bathrooms and doing lots of laundry from our trip to Canada.

Trip to Canada

We went to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada on Thursday and Friday. Kyle's Mom, Dee Ann, came with us and it was the first time for everyone, but me and Kyle, to go to Canada. We had a fun time there visiting the sites, but keep reading to see how fun our trip back into the good ol' USA was.

Beautiful flowers made into Canada flag at border crossing getting into Canada. The Peace Arch Park there had the most immaculate garden, grass, shrubs and flowers. Very pretty.

Our first stop was Kitsilano Beach and this picture shows downtown Vancouver. We had beautiful weather while there and the views were amazing. There are huge green mountains surrounding Vancouver.

Kyle and Kate playing on the Beach. Kate loves digging in the sand.

The water was not too cold so it was fine to play in.

Poor Preston tried to take a nap while we were on the beach. He was sick (threw up in the car on the way up and down and once in a park and another in the hotel room. Fun times for us and him.)

I LOVE these lamp posts and hanging baskets. They were up and down the street, very quaint.

After the Beach, we checked into our hotel room and let Preston take a quick nap. We did Priceline and got a 4 star hotel room for the price we would have paid for a cheaper hotel downtown. It was a pretty nice room. Then we strolled the streets into the old downtown of Vancouver- Gastown. It was fun to look at the old buildings, see the waterfront and walk the cobblestone streets. We ate at Spaghetti Factory, which doesn't have the same menu items as the restaruants in the US- interesting.

Our family in front of the steam clock. It's a landmark there and chimes and makes noises every so often. It runs off steam and has since the late 1800's.

Kate watching Cars on the IPOD in the hotel room. Cute.

The next morning, we went to Stanley Park first thing and went to Vancouver Aquarium.

Beluga Whales, the little one is a baby and was just born in early June.

The dolphin show. We barely made it in time to watch this show and I'm glad we did because this was the highlight.

The miniature train ride in Stanley Park. Kate loved riding on it and it took us through cute forests and scenery. It was nice to sit for a bit. This Stanley Park is HUGE and we walked a lot.

The farmyard animals in Stanley Park. Kate liked petting the goats, but she was scared of them too. The farm stunk and we weren't all that impressed with it.

Stanley Park has lots to do and we stayed in the park most of the day. Before going home we drove around the park and saw totem poles, lighthouses and then went to a swimming pool right on the beachfront. We left around 5 pm to go home and it's a good thing we did because we had to wait 2 1/2 hours to cross the border!!! We were all so irritated. Preston was crying so Dee Ann walked outside in the Peach Arch Park while we inched slowly to the front and Kate ran around the park. It was ridiculous waiting that long. They only had 3 lanes open and the back-up of cars was very long. We went 1/2 mile in 2 1/2 hours! The Canadian side had like 5 lanes open and their back-up was minimal. It doesn't even take 2 1/2 hrs to get up to Vancouver! So needless to say, we were pretty tired when we finally got home around 10 pm.

Oh, What do you do in the Summertime?

Summer has flown by and we have stayed busy visiting family in Moses Lake and having Grandma Dee Ann stay with us this last week. I've worked one day at work and I had to go in another day for training because our dental office switched over to digital x-rays so we had to get trained on the software. Some of my friends have asked where I've been in the blogging world and I guess I took a summer vacation! I didn't feel like blogging so beware this is a long post with lots of pictures to catch up.

Repainting our deck- the white railing and brown deck. This picture is actually of our neighbor's deck, but ours almost looked like this just not as bad. :)

The deck finished- yeah! It looks a 100 times better now.

A friend, Erin, LOVES eating double stuffed Oreos dipped in Peanut butter and when I said I had never ever heard of such a thing she insisted I try it. She brought some to playgroup so here we are chowing down. It was pretty good too! It was like Nutter Butter meets Oreo.

Preston eating his first Oreo (what a mess?!)

Going to Mukilteo Beach for family night, eating at Ivars and enjoying the sun. Kate playing in the water.

Kate and her Daddy playing.

Preston loving blueberries and making a royal mess.

Picnic lunch with Grandma Dee Ann in the backyard. Kate LOVES eating on a blanket outside. Thank goodness for a Grandma who is willing to do it for her.

Meet Fancy Nancy! Grandma Dee Ann spoiled her with this dress and purse and Kate has been non stop twirling in it. Fancy Nancy is a character from some kid books.

Preston swinging- he's been sick this last week (throwing up and fun stuff like that).