Gingerbread Men and Dads

On Monday, I taught Lindsey's little preschool group. It's only for 1 1/2 hrs because they are only 3 yrs old. It's fun though. I like to teach when it's my turn and it helps that the kids are so good. This day we learned about the letter "G" and the color brown. So we glued gum balls on the gum ball machine, played golf, traced "G" letters, made brown gingerbread men, read Go Dog, Go and watched the Gingerbread Man Story on You Tube. It was fun and we barely had time to do everything! The little kids are Pax, Ellie, Rylee and Lindsey and are all from Church.

For Family Night the kids wanted Kyle to play with them and swing them around and chase them. There was lots of screaming and laughing and jumping. He was a good sport because he just had eaten dinner! Then we loaded up in the car to run some errands, on the hunt for basketball shoes and shorts for Kate. She started basketball this week and is SO excited. She loved it last year so I hope this year is just as much fun for her. We went through the YMCA last year and this year we are going through the Boys and Girls Club because it's cheaper and longer playing session. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are busy nights for her. Ballet from 5-6 and then bball from 6:45-7:45 (in different cities). Then Wednesdays she has Activity Days from 6-7pm 2x/month and then bball practice from 6:30-7:30 (she might have to skip some activity days b/c it overlaps). It will be interesting being this busy running her around. Good thing it's temporary because I wouldn't want to do it all year long. 

Laughter

These pictures make me laugh whenever I look at them. Chelsea is funny. But I think most babies/toddlers are funny when they are this age (18 mo's). What makes it even better is when we all sit around and watch her and laugh together. Isn't laughing the best? 

Dee Ann gave me her fancy schmancy camera because she wasn't using it and figured she might as well let me have it so I could use it. How nice is that??? I was surprised and excited. Now I'm overwhelmed because I don't know anything about using a fancy camera other than point and shoot. I don't know how to edit and I'm clueless at what shutter speed and IOS and all that jazz is. I hope those are the right words. ha. Anyway, I've been using it lately and so thanks Dee Ann for such a generous gift! 

And P.S. I usually never edit photos other than to fix red eye...I might have to start. :)

In Memory of Ryan Runia

This was our house's scene last Thursday night as I was leaving to go to a Favorite Things Party and then onto Mattawa so we could leave for Utah for Ryan's funeral the next morning. I was nervous and sad to leave because I think of the worst and was worried I wouldn't see them again so I took pictures on my phone as I was crying and walking out the door. Kyle was half laughing at me because he kept saying "it'll be fine". He was nice to stay home so I could go. He took the kids to Costco for dinner one night then Preston to a bday party the next day, the girls to the American Girl Store, he cleaned a couple bathrooms, did laundry, vacuumed out his car and even took them to 9 am Church all by himself. He was pretty awesome! 

I went to the Favorite Things party (we all bought 3 of the same thing $5 and under to give away so we all went home with 3 new favorite things!). Jenn Mize (a new girl in the ward) and I planned it and had it at her house since it was bigger. In the end it worked out good it was at her house because I had to leave early to meet Marci and get over to Mattawa that night. I gave away a cookie scoop, it's technically called a disher. It's a yellow handled disher (#20 to be exact, they color code them in the food industry to make it easy to distinguish between the sizes) and perfect for scooping batter to make muffins and/or cupcakes. It dishes out the perfect amount...thanks to my Mom for figuring it out from trial and error. I got them from Bargreen and Ellingson, a restaurant supplier open to the public, and it was the ABC brand.

We left at 7am on Friday morning and stopped in Kennewick at my Gpa's house to pick up him and Jeni. Then we headed out. We stopped in Nampa, ID for lunch at Panda Express and then got back on the freeway. We had just gotten on the freeway when a white truck passed us and my Dad said, "is that Dallas?" My Mom and Dad have visited him before so they know he lives there and my Dad noticed his work sticker on his truck. Dallas Jensen is from my hometown, near my age, who worked for my Dad on the farm and are good family friends. Well, my Dad speeds up to get beside him and we are all staring weird at him and realized it was him!!! Crazy! We rolled down our windows and he did too and we were waving and laughing. He ended up calling my Dad and found out why we were passing through. Small world. If we were a few seconds earlier or later leaving we would've missed seeing him. 

We met up with Jeff and Sadie around 7pm at Tai Pan, decorating mecca, and shopped for a bit and found some cute things. Then we ate dinner at Brick Oven (disappointing from what we remember so that was a bummer because we were excited to eat there). We headed to Tom and Liz's house after that. We visited with them before my parents and Gpa left to go to Jim and Shellie's to spend the night. 

Ryan's funeral was on Saturday Nov 16th at 11am. They had a viewing beforehand from 9-10:30am. We got there and stood in a long line to see the family. It was good to hug them and see them. They were so positive and comforted US! There was even a viewing on Friday night for a couple hours that we heard went over. There were a lot of people paying their respects to Ryan and his family. Incredible. The funeral was amazing. Cari spoke and did such a good job. She shared that Ryan had gone hometeaching the night before he passed away and came home and told her what he told this person he visited. He said, "You have a choice right now and it's a big one. You can choose to blame the Lord and be mad at Him, or you can rely on Him and His grace to comfort you and get you through this." Cari said, little did she know that the very next day she would need to hear the words her own husband had told her the night before. Her two older kids Jaac and Gracie also spoke and shared their testimonies. Jaac shared his talk he had given in primary recently about how the instruction manuals for Legos are like the Plan of Salvation. We don't know what will be created until we follow the instructions. Just like in life we need to follow the commandments and we will eventually become something wonderful. (This is my interpretation of it :)) It was a great analogy. Ryan's Mom and Dad spoke as well as a sister and brother. Everyone did a good job. The funny thing was while we were waiting before the family prayer we saw Steve Young walk right by us in the hallway. We were trying to act cool. haha. He is good family friends with Ryan's family (Ryan's and his brother and Dad are financial planners). Danny Ainge was also there at the funeral. My Dad (and others) got their picture taken with Steve Young at the luncheon. My Dad said he was very personable. The luncheon after the funeral was amazing. It was catered by Costa Vida. Yum, yum. Good choice Ryan! (His family said it was one of his favorites.)

It was snowing pretty good while up at the cemetery. Cari said it was fitting because it always snowed on their significant days together like their wedding and I think engagement. Jaac was cute and helped carry the casket.

Here is a recent picture of their cute family. Cari holding Thys, Ryan holding Piper and Grace and Jaac in front. Ryan was funny, happy, smart and made you feel like you were his good friend. It was fun to have them come visit and/or stay at my parents house. He will be missed by many. Cari is a strong person and has lots of family around which is good. She has a good attitude that impresses me. It's inspiring how she handled the funeral.

We went to Cari's house after the luncheon and visited with her and some of my aunt Dana's family. It was nice to relax with her and Cari shared some fun stories of Ryan. Then we went to JCW's to eat dinner. It was delicious. Cari's family and Ryan's family were both invited to go to Provo Beach Resort. Ryan's family are friends with the owners and they invited us to go there for free and have a fun night. How generous! I thought it was mainly for kids, but I was wrong. We bowled, played croquet, played arcade games, some did the ropes course, rode a carousel and visited. It was a fun night and we didn't leave until 10:30pm! 

We left early Sunday morning to head back to Washington. It was a quick and good weekend. I'm so glad I was able to go and support Cari. It was fun to spend time with my family and we had lots of laughing and joking along the way. My kind of fun. :)

Zoo and Sad News

Last Monday, on Veterans Day, the kids didn't have school so I took them to the Zoo. Marci met us there and hung out with us for the day. It was funny because I had parked on a side street and as we were walking down the street I was just about to call Marci to see where she was when I saw her drive past us. I ran after her waving my arms (these were residential streets so it was fine that I was running down the middle of the road, ha). She stopped and then went and parked by us. Talk about coincidental. 

The kids in front of the penguin exhibit. Marci was excited to see it because it's fairly new to the zoo, but she was disappointed when she saw how little the penguins were. They aren't big like she expected. Kind of funny. The weather was perfect. Sunny and not too cold. We ate lunch there and then headed home soon after that. 

Chelsea was exhausted and fell asleep pretty quickly and I was going to try to keep her awake and even rolled down her window a couple times, but it didn't work. I think she's cute when she falls asleep in her car seat. It's not too cute when she won't stay asleep when we get home!

I had taken this picture on my way home too because it was a pretty day with green trees and mountains in the distant. Too bad you can't see the mountains very good in the picture. I had a peaceful feeling driving home so that's why I took the picture. Not until we got home and Marci pulled up behind me in our driveway would my feelings instantly change. Marci told me that my Mom had called her on the way home from the zoo telling her that Ryan Runia had died. He is married to my cousin, Cari. She was a year younger than me, the cousin closest in age to me, and Ryan was just 31, so a year younger than Cari. I thought she was kidding. I didn't believe it. I was in shock. So was she. We were pretty somber for a while trying to register what had happened. I eventually called my Mom and asked her more about what had happened. Ryan had collapsed while waiting to do a presentation at a work meeting. They still don't how he died. They first thought a heart attack, but now they are leaning towards an aneurysm. It is just devastating though. Cari is young and they have 4 young kids under the age of 7 1/2. The youngest is just over a year old. My parents were going to go to the funeral and so Marci, Jeni and I all decided to go too. Jeff and Sadie were going to meet us there, but Sara couldn't come. Kyle was able to work from home on Friday so I could go. The funeral was going to be on Saturday in Orem, UT. 

We ended up needing to take our suburban so we could all fit in one car. Kyle squeezed the kids into our Honda Accord while we were gone. So it worked out to take our car. I had to get the oil changed and the tires rotated before I left on Thursday night. We made our trip to Les Schwab and Lindsey and Chelsea loved the popcorn. I loved how the worker ran out to my car when I pulled in and took it right away to start rotating the tires. Love their service. 

Nathan's Ordination

Lindsey and Reagan are good friends and have fun playing together. Her brother, Wilson, is in Preston's Kindergarten class and her younger sister Anna is Chelsea's age. I was watching Reagan and Anna last week for our rotation to volunteer in the boys class. I took this picture of these two and thought it was so cute. 

We made a road trip to Richland on November 9th because Nathan, Melanie's son, turned 12 on Nov 6th and was getting the Priesthood on Sunday. Big deal! I took these pictures on our way over to show the big difference between eastern wa and western wa. It's nice to get out into the big open spaces without any trees. I remember going over to Seattle to visit relatives when I was growing up and couldn't stand the rain and the trees everywhere because I couldn't see! Now that I live here I get used to the trees and weather (well not really the weather), but now it's different because I know where most stores are so I don't need to see as much, I guess.

We, well I, couldn't pass by Yakima without eating at Miner's. Kyle would pass by even though he really likes it too. It's mainly me that plans on us stopping. I plan my trip around this place if I can. :) The fries are delicious and the milkshakes are amazing. And hello, they have fry sauce! Not too many places in WA have fry sauce. We would come here after sporting games that we had around the Yakima area and it was a highlight. haha!

 Kyle, Dane and Preston

We got to Dee Ann's place around 1 pm and visited with her. Melanie's kids were over at Milo's house so we met up with her later in the afternoon once she picked them up and we went bowling. It was fun, but the people running the joint were quite rude. It was an interesting night! We picked up some pizza and went over to Melanie's and ate and visited. The kids had fun playing.

Melanie took some pictures after Church and they turned out so cute. Nathan is a good kid. He is getting tall and he's so smart. Kyle was able to ordain him after Church on Sunday. We were glad to be there with Nathan on his special and important day. Now Kate wants to go back to Melanie's ward so she can see Nathan pass the sacrament. :) I do too because the Sunday School and RS lessons were so good!

Over and Out

Last week was a busy one. With half days all week long at school, parent teacher conferences, Halloween parties, birthday parties, dentist appointments and Halloween it made the week a busy one. It was fun, but I'll be glad for longer school days this coming week.

• Sunday night I remembered Preston had pictures the next morning at J.C. Penney's and he needed a haircut in a bad way. So Monday morning I woke up early, instead of sleeping in like I've been doing lately, and ended up cutting Preston's hair before school. He was a good sport and he looked a lot better for pictures. I had Kate and Preston's parent teacher conferences on Monday afternoon. Kate's teacher said if she could clone Kate she would. She is a good student and a good helper to others. I've noticed Kate has become so much more responsible this year. She is doing good at getting her homework and reading log all filled out and ready for me to sign (parents have to sign off their work and reading amounts). She's good about doing her homework right after school before going outside to play with friends. Kate's a good kid and such a big help at home. Preston's conference went well too. He's doing good with reading and counting and all that good kindergarten requirement stuff. He just needs to remember to bring his homework and/or books home. Sometimes they get left around the classroom. But overall, he's doing good too. He's had 2 days where he got a yellow stamp which means a warning. The first one was because he wasn't letting other kids answer the questions, he kept answering them. That kind of makes me laugh though. He's so smart. Then the other time he got in trouble for not moving groups when the teacher asked him to. He wanted to finish his sequence project he was working on. Then when the teacher told him he would get a yellow stamp because he wasn't following directions he got mad and wouldn't participate in the next group activity. When she stamped his folder at the end of the day he yelled at her, "fine then!" We had a little chat with him about speaking nicely to adults. Still working on it. 
• Tuesday I watched kids while a friend volunteered in Preston's class. There are 3 kids from our ward (Preston, Kali and Wilson) in the same kindergarten class so we rotate watching each other's kids so one of us can go volunteer each week in their class (then the mom who isn't volunteering or watching kids has a free morning). It works out good. It's fun to be in the classroom and interact with the kids and see how our own kid behaves in school. Preston likes it when I come in because he can call me Miss Heidi. He says it with a smile and it's pretty funny. Kate is in ballet at a new place this school year. She likes it a lot. We had quit the last place in February because there weren't any kids in her class. It was mainly Kate and she didn't like that. She's a social girl and missed the other kids in there. She's back in a class with her best friend, Alyssa, so she's always excited to see her because they moved out of ward last year. 
• Kate, Preston, Lindsey and I had dental appointments on Wednesday. My friend, Kayla, watched Chelsea for me while we went. It was nice not having to worry about entertaining her. This was Lindsey's first visit to the dentist and she cried. I went back with her because she was hesitant to go, but when I worked I didn't really like the parents coming back with the kid. I'd rather just have the kid by themselves. So I told Lindsey if she cried I wouldn't stay back there with her. She quit crying. Then started crying again when the dentist came in. Ha! I told him he scared her. :) She calmed down again and was fine. Kate and Preston both do great. Preston still hasn't had x-rays because he gags too much. Lovely gag reflex. I love getting my teeth clean so I was excited. They felt great afterwards. I don't like getting fillings done though, but thank goodness I don't need any this time. I still go to Dr. Hopewell, the dentist I worked for for 7 years. They are so nice to us when we go in. Our friends, Chad and Somphien Manivanh, opened up a new restaurant here called Dickey's. It's BBQ food like pulled pork, ribs, brisket, etc., but fast food style. We went the night before it opened for friends/family night and it was good. We will be going back with the family soon.
• Happy Halloween! I sent Preston to school in his costume and Kate took hers in a bag to change into later for her party. They both had fun. The afternoon wasn't so good. Chelsea only napped for an hour. Lindsey wouldn't nap and then got a bloody nose from falling down outside and it wouldn't stop. Preston got hit in the face with a swing and was screaming bloody murder outside. Lindsey spilled a gogurt all over the floor and on Preston's coat. I was going nuts! I got a jack-o-lantern pumpkin pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner then we went trick-or-treating with some friends around their neighborhood. A lot of homes weren't handing out candy (but a couple homes did hand out full size candy bars!) so we went to another neighborhood and that one was much better. We made a quick stop at Linda Watson's to get one of her famous popcorn balls then back to our house for some donuts and hot apple cider. The kids had a good time. 
• I made it to the gym on Friday. I try to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the morning after dropping off kids, but this week I only went Wednesday and Friday. I'm glad I can go in the morning and can put the kids in the kids club though. I used to go at night for years after the kids were in bed and I'm glad I don't have to do that now. It's hard enough trying to find time to go! Preston had a birthday party for Dallin in the afternoon. Kayla took him and her son Wilson there and then I picked both boys up. That night I made a Costco run with some girls from the ward because a couple of them don't have Costco memberships and they have good deals on their toys for Christmas. 
• Kyle helped out with a move all morning and into the early afternoon on Saturday. We have lots of moves in our ward. I made chocolate chocolate chip muffins (tried a new recipe, it was okay, but I'll keep looking), chocolate fudge cookies (from a bucket that I bought from a school fundraiser and they were gross so I gave the bucket of dough away) and mini cheesecakes (for a party tonight). It was nice to stay home and be in pajamas for most of the day.We got a babysitter and went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Sabor a Mexico in Mukilteo. Their carne asada is delish. Then we went to some friends house for a game night with a few other couples. We played the newlywed game and it was so fun.