Kate's 10th Birthday Party

Happy 10th Birthday Kate!!!

She wanted an Ever After High party. I made the girls top hats out of felt and they decorated mirrors with sequins. It went along with the Ever After High theme and characters in the story. Kate has been obsessed with these books and shows ever since her friend Grace told her about them a little bit ago. We invited several friends from Church and School. It was fun day for her. 

L-R in back: Amanda Merrill, Sara Fennell, Alyssa Owens, Shyanne, Emelia Jensen

L-R in front: Severa, Kate, Grace Wright and Berlyn. 

Having a tea party with mini BBQ chicken sliders, chips, fruit kabobs and then cupcakes with ice cream. Kate chose the menu. 

Awww, when Kate was a baby. Doesn't seem that long ago. Cute baby face. 

Dee Ann was back from her trip to Utah so she came with me when I took lunch to Kate on her birthday. I brought taco bell for Kate since that's what she chose and mini donuts to share with her class. 

Kate was SOOO nervous to get her ears pierced. This picture makes me laugh, but then makes me sad seeing how terrified she is. What's funny is afterwards she was like, "that wasn't bad." She was more nervous just sitting there waiting for it then when it actually happened. They were able to do both ears at the same time which is really nice. They look so pretty and make her look so much more grown up!

The kids were wanting to go to Old Country Buffet ever since we went after Jared got home from his mission last Halloween. They hadn't been before that, but loved it. So Grandma Dee Ann treated us to lunch there. The kids were in heaven getting all the random things they wanted along with all the ice cream they wanted. 

Wild Horses

We went to my parent's house for Memorial Day Weekend. The pool was opened and it was fun as usual. 

This picture of Kate was actually when my Mom was watching the kids for our anniversary...starting them young to sunbathe. haha. Just like I used to do with my neighbor Meegan. 

Landon's cheeks are so kissable!

All of my family decided to hike to the Wild Horses Monument by Vantage. None of us had ever been and we all have lived there forever! We needed to make the hike. It was worth the gorgeous views. Unfortunately, lots of horses had graffiti on them. 

We got a good laugh out of Kyle's outfit. Those shorts with socks and work boots are quite the look! hahaha! My Mom took the picture. Going down was scary because of how steep it was and slippery with sand/rock. That gap of the Columbia River is one of my favorite views. 

Zane, Lindsey, Preston and Chelsea enjoying an otter pop. So cute how they were all sitting together in a row.

We celebrated Kate's birthday with my family. My Mom made Kate a yummy cake piled high with fresh picked strawberries from her garden. Kate got an earring mirror stand from my Mom and Dad because she's getting her ears pierced next week for her birthday!

Women's Retreat

There's a couple women in our ward who plan this Women Retreat around Mother's Day. They have it at Ensign Ranch for 2 days and a night. They have activities planned, a craft to make, exercising (we did yoga this year) and a discussion on motherhood. I went for my first time since we are newer in the ward and I had a good time. I rode over with some women and we stopped in Issaquah at a popular burger/root beer joint. Some of the girls hadn't been so we had to stop and let them experience it. 

We went on a walk and found the ropes course and had to try it out. 

Front to Back: me, Shannon Wright, Lorane Willyerd, Laura Allred, Natalie Scollick (purple), Rebecca Davis (blue), Amy Demoulin, Rauna Metcalf (blonde hair), Bretta Greely (in hat), Robyn Vanderheyden and Angie Griffith. 

Kyle's Birthday and Mother's Day

Happy Birthday Kyle! I made him one of his favorite desserts, four layer pudding dessert. Dee Ann was flying to Utah to visit a friend so she was able to be here for Kyle's birthday. Then when she flies back to Seattle she will be here for Kate's birthday at the end of the month. It's fun to have her around and what good planning!

Them singing happy birthday to Kyle at Red Robin. Kyle hates this so we had to just laugh. He doesn't like the attention. :) 

The kids got plenty of snuggle time with Grandma Dee Ann. We also went to the Children's Museum and had a good time there. 

Happy Mother's Day to me and all the mother's out there! I'm glad I get to be a mother. It's a hard job, but I know it's well worth it. I'm grateful for the time I have to be home with them too. They make me crazy, but then make me so happy too. 

We found a new park near us and it's quiet and has a pretty view. The kids like this fire truck there.

The girls playing around. 

Kyle went on an overnight hiking/camping trip with the young men from Church. He had to buy lightweight sleeping mat, tent, sleeping bag and back pack. Expensive camping trip! He survived and said it was fun. The boys had a good time. 

We've had warm weather already and once the sun is out the kids want to get wet. They love spraying each other on the trampoline. That leads to some fighting and crying sometimes. haha. 

I wanted Kate to try volleyball so I signed her up for a volleyball camp. She had a lot of fun. Maybe she'll want to play more! 

15 Years of Wedded Bliss for Us!

Kyle and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary on May 4th by having a stay cation. My parents watched our kids for the weekend and we planned lots of fun things to do. It was awesome to have so much freedom. We could do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted and could eat wherever we wanted. We had a great time and were so grateful for my parents for taking them. We started off by going to the Temple and out to dinner after dropping off the kids with my parents at Snoqualmie pass.

On Saturday, we went on a 10 mile bike ride in Snohomish. Kyle likes riding bikes more than I do. I told him he should start doing it more. There were some serious bikers out on the trail. 

That night we went to dinner to Azul's in Mill Creek with some friends then out to a comedy show at Jet City Improv in UW area. Mark and Shannon Wright and Tom and Natalie Scollick came with us to the show. Eric and Laura Allred were at dinner with us too, but couldn't make the show. 

The next day after Church we headed out to the San Juan Islands. We have never been. It was a beautiful day and great for sight seeing which is what we did the whole day. It's a 2 hour ferry ride to Friday Harbor. We got off and did the driving tour around the island. It was perfect. A great way to see the island and see different sights. It would be interesting living on an island where you have to have everything brought over on a ferry. I wouldn't like it. I would feel trapped. It's fun to visit though. :) 

A pretty lighthouse...this spot was also good for seeing orcas, but unfortunately we didn't see any. You can see Canada across the water in the distance. 

Funny story about this bright yellow Camaro. We were on the ferry out on the dock and I was friendly and said something to the guy next to me. Well come to find out he was visiting from Mumbai, India! He asked me what we were doing and I told him we were going to do the driving tour and showed him the map we got on the ferry. He told us he liked that and how he got a car to rent. He only wanted a German car, but they didn't have one so they gave him a sports car. Well, soon after we had to go get in our cars because we were unloading from the ferry. As we were headed to our first stop on our tour Kyle saw this bright yellow Camaro turning around along the road. Kyle said, "I bet that's the guy from Mumbai." and sure enough it was because we saw him as he went past us! ha. We figured they must be lost or something. We went to a few more stops and ended up at the lighthouse one. We pulled into the parking area and saw the Camaro again. Sure enough it was them. The guy immediately started talking to us and said how they got lost and how he wanted to follow us. Kyle and I both didn't want him to follow us because we wanted to do what we wanted to do! But then we felt bad for this guy because he was from another country and if we were in another country we would want help. So we told him where we were going (he wanted to go to a beach, but we didn't want to go there b/c we didn't have kids and wanted to go to other areas. We only had limited time before we had to get back to catch the return ferry.) SO...the guy and his wife and little kid followed us to our next stop. We were laughing so much about this whole story! Hilarious. But after this next stop the guy decided they wanted to go to the beach so he went a different direction and we went on to Roche Harbor. Fast forward to back in the line to get on the ferry...we see the guy carrying a pizza to his car. He stopped and we talked to him. They said the beach wasn't very good and eventually made their way back. Kyle and I thought he should have followed us because we did way more in the time frame than he did. We were just glad to see he made it back for the ferry. Funny and random experience. 

Roche Harbor 

I liked the store fronts near the Friday Harbor ferry area. So quaint.

 On our way back we saw the beautiful sunset and this full moon. So pretty out there with all the greenery, blue water and white snow capped mountains in the distance. 

The next morning we went to see the Avengers movie. How nice to go to the theater on a Monday morning with hardly anyone there! Then we headed to North Bend and hiked the Little Si Trail. It was our first time doing this hike. It was perfect for us when we haven't hiked for a while. It got tough near the end as you made your way to the top of the mountain, but overall it was great. It made us want to go on more hikes. It's just time consuming and expensive when paying for a babysitter. 

Beautiful views along the way and at the top. It was a nice end to our fun stay cation. We headed to Cle Elum to meet my parents at a Mexican restaurant and to pick up our kids. The kids were acting crazy, but we were excited to see them. My parents shared funny stories they had with them.