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. 

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.