Lublin Family Reunion

We drove over to Moses Lake yesterday just for the day. Yeah, 6 hours in the car is a long time, but at least for the 3 hrs home the kids mostly slept. Kyle's family was having a reunion in Moses and we haven't seen his Dad for 2 yrs so we decided we better go. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved the aquatic center. It was great to see family that we haven't seen for 4 yrs and we had a lot of fun catching up and visiting. For some reason I don't have a picture of us with Kyle's Dad or other family members so Melanie you'll have to send me all your cute pictures you took!

Kyle's uncle's house flooded while we were all at dinner. His uncle rushed home to turn off the water and then we all left shortly after to go help clean up the mess. While the men tore out carpet and cleaned up the water all the women were in the yard visiting. It was good for his uncle to have all the help, but it's a bummer it happened in the first place.

This was Preston's face going down this kiddie slide over and over again. It was hilarious. Other people were laughing at this face too.

Kate is a fish. She was in heaven yesterday. It's nice because she is more independent and can do these bigger slides on her own now. She was under the water more than above. It was fun to watch her have so much fun.

Bridal Shower

Sara had her Bridal Shower over Memorial Day weekend. Sara got some "fun" stuff and we all had fun visiting with family and friends. Sara also went to the Temple for the first time and that was neat to have everyone go to that. I can't believe she is getting married soon! Ahhh!!! I am excited for her, but it will be sad not to have her at my parent's house whenever we go there.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Kate officially turns 4 tomorrow, butwe celebrated it early on Memorial Day with a cousin party. She loved having a party with her cousins and when we ask her what she wants to do for her birthday tomorrow she says, "go to Grandma Vicki's house and have a party with my cousins."

Kate wanted a Dora birthday party and so we that's what we had. I found some cute ideas online, but we also came up with some of our own. I think it turned out well. I only lost my patience once so that's not too bad. :) My Mom made the Dora cake. She had made one for Aubree's 3rd birthday and so we pretty much did the same thing. It turned out adorable. Thanks Mom!

We started out by having the kids make binoculars (out of tp rolls) and they could decorate them however they wanted.

Then, we went outside to do the Pinata, but it was gone!!! (gasp) There was a note from Swiper saying that he took the pinata and hid it by the Chocolate Tree. I had Kate's Dora backpack filled with things for our adventure and also had a map in there. First, we went to the Trampoline then the Dirt Pile, then the Rocky Ridge and then to the Chocolate Tree. At the Trampoline they had to jump 10 times together and on the side of the trampoline was a sack full of squirt guns. I had made little cloth bags for each of the kids to carry along on their Dora Adventure so each time they got something they could stick it in their bag.

At the Dirt Pile there were puzzle pieces all over the dirt. They each found a piece and put together the Dora puzzle. Then they found the "X" on the dirt pile and used the shovel from the backpack to dig up their treasure.

When they got to the Rocky Ridge, Swiper was in front of it and it was hilarious to hear all the kids in unison say, "Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping!"

In the treasure at the Dirt Pile they got a magnifying glass so at the Rocky Ridge they had to use their magnifying glasses to find lizards hidden around the rock.

This is the Chocolate Tree with hanging mini candybars. They had to use the scissors from the backpack to cut the candybars off. They found the pinata nearby and then we went and did that.

It was a fun Dora Adventure. Kate is still talking about wanting to go on another Dora Hunt. Afterwards, Aubree came up to me and said, "that was the best birthday party ever and thanks for inviting me!" How sweet!!!

The kids were so excited to go swimming so after the pinata they took off to the pool.

We opened gifts and of course, Kate loved them all.

This is a card from Kathryn for Kate. She drew all the princesses and it is absolutely ADORABLE!!!! If you can, zoom in to see them. They are hilarious. I will be laminating this soon. Love it!

We are so glad to have Kate in our family. She is spunky, fun loving, caring, such a good big sister and keeps us on our toes. Happy Birthday Kate! You can stop growing up now!

The Latest

My Mom, Jeni and Sara came over for a short girl's weekend last Saturday and Sunday. We called it a Bachelorette party for Sara. But what bacherlorette wants to spend their day at IKEA? Not her! We made it more fun by going to Cheesecake Factory and the Mall where she found a million rings to buy. :) Sara even finalized the idea for her wedding invitations and my Mom found a lot of things she could use for the reception. Then, we all went to Marci's and stayed up late talking. We were able to go to Marci's church and meet her friends and then we all had to get back home. It was short, but always fun to be together.

We had a great waitor. He was funny, did some in depth research for us (ha!) and even took our picture!

These next pictures are things we've been up to. I'm so far behind in blogging so I'm cramming into one post. I have been working 3 days a week, but lately I've been working 4 days. This week, I was expecting to be off on Monday, but was called into work for a sick co-worker and was going to be working a 4 day work week again. This is usually fine, but not when we are heading to my parent's house this weekend and I have to be prepared for Kate's Dora party with her cousin's. I didn't have anything prepared. So when the dental office (for where I was working on Thursday) called to tell me they didn't need me I was actually happy. Now I can get some things done before we leave (like blogging!). I also had a Primary Activity Day last Saturday (before meeting up with my Mom and sisters). We did a "We Beelieve" activity with the Articles of Faith. It went well and we had different stations with different activities focusing on an article of faith. We also had the kids make Article of Faith cards that you put on a book ring. We laminated them there at the church so they would last longer. Then we had bee cupcakes.

Preston climbing on a toy at the play area in the mall.

Kate made this out of popsicle sticks. I just love how she puts so many lines on her "E". And yes, the picture turned on it's own.

Kate is in swim lessons again. I was nervous to put her in because of the experience from last year (her crying because she doesn't want to get into the pool and me mad that she won't get in the pool). However, so far so good. She is doing great, loves her teacher and even has her best friend, Alyssa, in the class with her. She actually stays with her teacher and listens to her. Phew. She bugs us all day with "is it time for swim lessons?" until it's time for us to leave.

Our good friends invited us to go to a Mariner's game with them. It was so much fun with them. The weather was perfect and the game was really good. Sorry Boston Red Sox fans, Mariner's totally won that night thanks to Ichiro's 2 homeruns!!!

This stadium is so BEAUTIFUL! It has a fabulous view of downtown Seattle. It really is pretty.

Celebration Week

It's been a week of celebrations. We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on Monday. We went to the Temple the Friday before and then out to dinner and dessert on Monday. The years have flown by and we don't feel like it's been that long. That's what you get for getting married so young! We've come a long way in those 9 years and we are both grateful for what we have now and for our fun little family.

Kyle's birthday was on Thursday and I had to work until 7 pm that night in a town 30 minutes away so by the time I got home Kate was about to go to bed. He had been home all day cleaning and doing laundry. Not your typical fun birthday. :) So on Friday I told him he could do whatever he wanted. I took the kids to the gym so he could have some quiet time in the morning and then I brought him Panda Express home for lunch (which it was Kate's idea to even get "Panda Bear"- she loves their orange chicken) then I made red velvet cupcakes for him. I think he ran some more errands and got a nice break from being home. I wanted to have a party for him and invite friends over, but if you know Kyle that is not what he wanted. It's something I would want!

On Saturday, my Mom, Dad, Jared and Marci came over for the day. They almost didn't come over because their well broke down and they didn't have any water. My Dad, the awesome fix-it man, had to get that fixed before they could come over so they would have water. The guys went to the movie Wolverine while the girls and kids went shopping to the mall. We met up with the guys at Spaghetti Factory for dinner and then my Mom and Marci helped me pick out new bedding for our bedroom. I want to redo it and it needs an update. I've had the same bedding for a while and it's ugly (right Marci?!).

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was a nice day. I did sharing time in Primary and had the kids make candy necklaces with a cute mother's day poem on it for their mom's. They turned out cute and I'm glad that's over with. :) Then after church I took a fabulous nap because I was exhausted from staying up way too late the last couple of nights. It was a relaxing day.

Sunday Sampler

I stayed home from Church today with Kate and Preston. Preston has an ear infection and possibly bronchitis. He is wheezy and coughs (then throws up-yuck- I think he should get an award for how many times he's thrown up in his short lifetime!). We are doing breathing treatments on him when he gets too wheezy. Today, he actually seemed to do better and kept his food down. What's ironic is when the pharmacist gave me the antibiotics for Preston she raved about how good it tastes and how she wishes all antibiotics tasted this good and so it won't be a problem to give to him. Well... it is awful to give to him! He spits it out every time so we have to hold him down and basically put it down his throat for him to swallow. Then he gags and almost throws up! Annoying... Kate started the barking cough more yesterday so we had her stay home too. Kyle had to teach gospel doctrine so he went to church. He said it was lonely without us there with him. Ahhhh.

It's always weird when you don't go to church. It's part of our routine in our week and we enjoy it. So at home we listened to the primary songs we are learning for the year in primary and actually had a fun morning together playing. After naps, we headed on a Sunday drive (we used to take them growing up and we loved them). We went to the Ballard Locks to watch the ships come in and out. Kate and Preston had fun, it was beautiful weather and a nice break from being in the house. Right before we were about to leave to go home Kate said, "I miss my home." HA! I don't know where she got that from. Like our home is that exciting, but I guess I'm glad she likes it. :)