Paige's Baptism

Preston was Star of the Week and had to make a poster. I wanted a picture of it for memories. He wants to be an "engennear" when he grows up. His favorite subject is math. His favorite pet is a dog. His favorite food is hot dogs. 

Lindsey jumps to help me when I'm making cookies or anything really. I was making some poppyseed muffins and she helped me put he liners in. I loved this shot with her foot sticking out and her cute yellow shirt. I want it in my size.

We went over to Pasco for Paige's baptism. I can't believe she is 8 years old and old enough to be baptized! We left Friday afternoon. I pick up Kyle at a park and ride near his work. We leave his car there and then head out. We stopped at Miner's for dinner in Yakima. We got to get it when we can! Delish! Then we went to Kevin and Jeni's house. We stayed up talking late and had fun there. The next morning was the baptism and it was nice. They had lots of support for Paige and the other boy. We had a yummy luncheon afterwards at Jeni and Kevin's house. Kevin's sister's kid, BriAnn, got hurt though. She fell off the trampoline onto rocks below and it split her head open. She was bleeding pretty bad like head wounds do so they rushed her off to the insta clinic. She needed 5 staples, but I think only 2 or 3 stayed in. Poor girl! They live over in Kent so they had a ways to drive later that night and I felt bad they had to deal with this as well. My Mom, Sara and I went to the mall to do some shopping and then Kyle met us at Costco to pick me up. 

Jeni and Kevin with their kiddos

Mom and Dad with Paige

 Melanie, Dee Ann and Me

We went to Melanie's house to spend time with her and Dee Ann. Melanie's kids were with Milo, but Kathryn got home early from a camp out/hike thing she was on so Kate was happy to have someone to play with. Kathryn "borrows" their neighbors dog and plays with it. That was a hit for Preston and Kate. They loved it. I told Melanie she has a sweet set up because then she doesn't actually have to have a dog and clean up it's poop or even feed it!

Melanie has a nice backyard, big, but not too big. Chelsea got into some nail polish in Kathryn's room and spilled it on the carpet. It was hot pink. Dee Ann and Kyle went to the store to get some acetone nail polish remover, but it wasn't working. I needed the strong stuff that I usually have on hand. I've dealt with this too many times to know. Ugh. It has to be pure acetone. Melanie and I went to Sally's to pick some up and then picked up some pizza from a local Italian restaurant. It was tasty. We ate and I cleaned the carpet, yes it all came out! Woo hoo! Then we headed home. It was a fun, but fast and furious 1 1/2 days!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

A company that does things for kids with disabilities will offer tickets to various places and I got an email about free tickets to the Mariner's game so I got some. We got enough so my parents and Marci could come if they wanted to and they did. When Kyle told Preston we were going to the game he said "that sounds boring. Will it take a long time?" Hahahahaha! We laughed at that. We are going because of him basically and he's not even that interested to go. It was funny. He had a good time and my Mom taught him about the rules of the game. Unfortunately, the Mariners lost this game, but it was an exciting game because they came back and were ahead at one point. 

Chelsea was enjoying the cotton candy a little much...she had it all over her face.

My mom and Kate with my favorite, the lemonade slushy. I could be content with that and kettle corn. Yum yum. 

Marci and Chelsea taking a selfie. Told you she was a mess with the cotton candy.

We had beautiful weather and a pretty sunset overlooking Seattle. I love this view at the ballpark. 

My Dad and Lindsey. Lindsey is a cuddler and likes to be held or sit close to you. 

Puyallup Spring Fair

Marci had free tickets to the Puyallup Spring Fair because the CFO has a kid in her class. She asked if we wanted to come down and go with her. We said sure, why not! It was a beautiful day and there was a good amount of people there. Marci said the real fair in the fall is a lot bigger and even more people. We were greeting by this Spring Fair bird as we walked in. Preston walked right up to it no problem. Chelsea is checking him out. 

They had a barn with little kid activities like digging in dirt, races with pumping the water down the gutters and other things. They even had a petting area, but the line was way too long so we skipped that. We headed over to the Sheep Extravaganza (yes that is what it was called and we died laughing). 

Kate thought this was funny and Marci had her take a picture with it. Kate's growing up!

Inside the Sheep Extravaganza, this lady (she was super nice and also a school teacher so Marci and her were chatting about that) was spinning sheep wool into yarn and we were watching her. She had Lindsey and Kate choose a color and she made a necklace for them out of the sheep wool. It was time consuming, but a good learning experience for us on what they do with the sheep's wool to get it ready for spinning.

Marci also had a deal for tickets for the rides. Unfortunately, the lines were super duper long. Marci waited in a long line for the younger girls to ride and while she waited there, Kate went and rode another ride that was pretty intense. Kate said she felt like she was going to fall out because she couldn't hold on good enough because she just put lotion on. But she did like it still. Then the younger kids got to go on another ride and I forced Preston to ride on the motorcycle ride with them. But that meant we used the last ride ticket (another random lady gave Marci a card with tickets on it and I thought it was a ticket for a single ride, but they were just individual tickets and not enough for a ride) so Kate couldn't go on her 2nd ride she has chosen. Oops. I felt bad and Kate wasn't happy. We were tired and said our good byes and left. Such is family life! 

Chelsea crashed soon after getting in the car. 

It was a fun day and we got to eat some fair food like corn dogs, taco salads, teriyaki and donut holes. 

One of Chelsea's melt downs because it's hard to wait in a long line for a ride and she's 2 almost 3. Sigh.

Relief Society Airplane Ride Activity: Sister Around the World

We had our Relief Society Birthday dinner celebration in April instead of March because the gym floor was getting a finishing coat. We had the theme "Sisters Around the World" and we visited 3 different countries and heard stories about women there who were furthering the purpose of Relief Society where they lived. We did a plane ride and it was a fun night. We had about 30 people come in total, which was low for us especially for an activity with a dinner, but those that came said they had a good time. 

Everyone got their own boarding pass as their invite to our activity. I had a blank template that I found for a previous activity in our old ward so I just switched up the words and graphics. Then I printed them on card stock, used my sewing machine to make a perforated look along the bar code (this picture doesn't show the sewing holes because it was a test copy) then cut them out, rounded the corners and cut out the notches. 

As they boarded the plane our lovely flight attendants, Laura Allred and Zilange McCoy, passed out water bottles and trail mix to the sisters. I gave a little speal similar to the ones on the airplanes (showing the exits, introducing the crew and pilot, etc) and then talked about the organization and purpose of Relief Society for a couple minutes. Before landing in each country, I would give the weather and the ETA.  First stop...Hawaii. Everyone got a lei as they were welcomed into Hawaii. Sis Chung had a table of all her Hawaiian things (she's from there) and then gave a 5 minute thought. We boarded the plane again and watched an in flight movie (a Mormon Message on RS called Something Extraordinary). Then we landed in Japan. We were greeted by the sister missionaries and Patty Renda in kimonos. Patty and Diane Guthrie both had tables with Japanese things on them. 

We ate teriyaki chicken, rice, steamed veggies and spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce. It turned out yummy, but I was worried about the teriyaki because I made that and tried a few sauces before finding one that I liked. It turned out fine. Phew. After dinner, Diane Guthrie (RS president and served her mission in Japan) spoke to us for a few minutes about women from Japan. Then we boarded the plane for our last destination. Our pilot, aka Bishop Davis, spoke for a couple minutes about Relief Society and then we landed in Italy. We served gelato (strawberry, chocolate and stracciatella- all from Costco) in little cups while Mindy Dabell (she served her mission in Italy) spoke about women from Italy. We had a closing song with a video with women from around the world singing I am a Child of God and we all joined in on the last verse. I told them they had to find their way home from Italy. ;) 

L-R: Melissa Egan, Cambria Vanderveen and Laura Allred

They were dishing the gelato up. Some of my members on my committee. I'm lucky to have dependable people on my committee. 

Cambria made these airplane windows by hand. She did a great job! They are pastels I believe. I was so impressed when she showed me. 

Preston and Parks

Preston could eat all day long if I let him. He likes to snack and loves cinnamon toast crunch cereal or goldfish or pretzels or apples. Crunchy things. Today after school he had a little of everything, oreos, toast with cinnamon sugar, milk and sour gummy bears. I had to laugh. What a terrible snack. I didn't care. Oh well.

Kate with our neighbor and friend Grace. We like to explore and try out new parks. This one is a favorite of ours and close by. Since we don't have a big yard and don't have a playset it gives us even more reason to go visit parks. 

 Preston and this kid behind him in the red shirt were running around following each other. Preston is very competitive and wants to race or play tag (which is hard because he isn't the most coordinated). Well, this other kid is older and faster than Preston and Preston would get mad when this kid beat him. It was frustrating to me and him so I made him take a break. While Preston was next to me on the bench this kid came up and asked Preston if he "wanted to race one more time and he wouldn't pass him." My heart melted. What a nice kid to do that. Preston jumped up and said "okay!" I could have cried and given that boy a hug.

I took Lindsey and Kate out for a girl's date to see Cinderella in the theater. It was a cute show. Lindsey was asking if it was over soon after it started. ha!

Preston had his yearly eye appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital. We see the chief ophthalmologist there, Dr. Avery Weiss, and have been seeing almost non stop since Preston was 6 months old. We had to switch for a bit because of different insurance, but then switched back when we could. Dr. Weiss has seen the condition that Preston has so that was reassuring, but he's an old guy and kind of quirky. He keeps telling me how amazing Preston's eyes are because even though the pupil is located down lower on one eye, his brain adapts and makes it so he can see out of it still. I don't understand it all, but I guess I'm glad. I keep asking him if we should have surgery to fix it if that would help him see better and he tells me that is ridiculous. haha. He doesn't mince words. He says it's fine and who knows what would happen if you did surgery on it. True. So I guess we up his prescription and go on with life. We stopped patching a year ago and his vision has stayed pretty much the same. The eye stops developing at 8 years old and Preston turns 8 later this year so we are good. Preston was very good at this appointment. Much better than in years past when he cries and we have to hold him down for them to check his eyes and dilate them. I didn't even have to touch him once. He just sat in the big eye chair and cooperated. So nice. It's a long 3 hour appointment too with lots and lots of waiting. He earned a happy meal after this which he was so happy about.

Easter and General Conference Weekend

Since we were already in Cle Elum at Ensign Ranch, we came the rest of the way to my parents house for General Conference weekend and Easter weekend and Paige's birthday. Busy weekend! We all took showers, it felt amazing, and enjoyed my Mom's yummy banana cream pie. 

Dying Easter eggs. They tried a new way off of Brooklyn and Bailey (a you tube show that Kate watches about these 2 Mormon girls that do different things.) They used food coloring and the eggs did turn our nice and bright. Smart! Deviled eggs...yummy.

Easter egg hunting is over and they are finding out what they got. 

Preston was eating a ton of his candy and when Marci pointed it out to me I said, "oh I guess it's better for your teeth to eat it all at once than over a long period of time." ha. 

This year, my Mom sent the kids on a scavenger hunt with clues to find their golden eggs. She had them going from the fort in the sagebrush to the dirt pile to the fire pit to the shed, you name it, they were running around. It was fun to watch. They had to take turns reading it so they had to wait for everyone. It was a good idea Mom!

Happy 8th birthday Paige! She gets baptized in a couple weeks. 

The kids singing and performing for us. Cute cousins. 

L-R: Carter, Kate, Paige, Hailey and Lindsey and Grandpa Bill in the background

My Mom's brother, Jim and his wife Dana and their youngest Natalie, came out from Utah to visit my Grandpa so they joined us on Easter. It was fun to see them and visit with them. It had been a while since we saw them. John was doing games and activities with the kids like he always does. :)

We did watch Conference. :) It was great. We are glad for DVR where we can watch the one's we missed and then listen to them again on our phones. Technology is amazing. Lots of talks on protecting the family. Sign of the times and what's ahead. Makes me kind of sad to think of what's ahead. They talked about when the Proclamation to the Family came out (20 years ago) and I remember thinking when it came out "why did they have to come out with this? It was basic knowledge." Now I see why...20 years later things in our world look much different and people are changing their views. Crazy. Thank goodness for prophets and leaders to keep us on the straight and narrow path.