Ballet

Kate took a Ballet class this summer through the Lynnwood Parks and Rec department. Her last day was last Monday. She loved going. It was a beginner class for 3-4 yr olds. On the last day of class they let all the parents come to watch and see what they learned. It was pretty funny to watch these kids. The teacher was great with all the kids as well. My Mom was over for the bedroom makeover and Marci came up for the day (plus Kyle and Preston came) so we had quite the entourage there. It was fun and Kate loved having Marci and Grandma Vicki there to watch her. She smiled a lot...quite a little performer...she was always wanting to go first. We are working on "taking turns".

She was good at this exercise b/c she walks on her tip toes A LOT!

The 'sun' pose.

Dancing to music.

Bedroom Makeover

I opened my sweatshop so my Mom could come work for a day. I told her I had to take a picture of her at the sewing machine and blog about it. :) I bought a duvet cover at IKEA a while ago, but needed a bedskirt and some pillows made with some fabric I bought to go with the new bedding. I thought about making them on my own, but why when I have a Mom that can whip it up in no time at all?! She was busy all afternoon making me things for my room. I haven't changed our bedroom for a while so it badly needed a makeover. I love the end result so thanks Mom!!!

We added Euro shams, regular pillow shams and then the decorative pillow with matching bedskirt.

With the new curtain rods and curtains.

Kate wanted to take a picture of her room since I was taking pictures of my room (she took this picture). A bit messy... It's always a pain getting her to clean her room.

One Last Hurrah

We stayed at my parents house a couple weekends ago so we could have one last get together with Dee Ann and Melanie before Dee Ann flew back to Vegas. She has been up in WA for 3 weeks going back between our house and Melanie's house. When she gets back home she'll need another vacation to recover! She does a lot when she comes and visits. The kids love it when she is up here (and so do we!). My Mom, brother and two sisters went to Utah so my Dad was home alone. We kept him company and Kyle helped him on the farm. Dee Ann and Melanie's family came down to my parents' house on Saturday to swim and play. It was nice of my parents to let us use their house. :)

A tractor broke down so Kyle and the kids are in the front one towing the other one with my Dad back to the shop. I followed behind them in the car.

Kyle, Kathryn, Nathan and Dane swimming. Kate is too scared to get in the pool. For some reason she won't get in it. She'll swim like crazy in the kid pool at any public swimming pool.

On Sunday, Jeni and Kevin came out to Hebdon's to see Kevin's brother from Florida so they stopped by Sunday evening to see us before we left to go home. The kids had fun playing together. It's been a while since they've seen each other.

My Dad (carefully) taking them for a ride. (Inside story.) He's a good grandpa. Always willing to play with the kids.

Camping

We went camping and survived!!! This was our first camping trip as a family so we had no idea how the kids would do. We figured Kate would have fun, but we didn't know how Preston would do. He got his own very tent for his portacrib. It actually was fun camping. We met Melanie & Milo's family there. Dee Ann had been staying with us so she came with us and then after camping went back with Melanie since she flies out of Tri-Cities. We went to Ensign Ranch near Cle Elum (a church owned camp) and we had pretty good weather. It was windy so getting wet at the slip n' slide was cold. Melanie and Milo had just been there for Milo's family reunion so they knew everything we should bring. Milo's mom let us borrow her nice big 3 burner propane stove so that was very nice to have. We were camping luxuriously. It is SO much work to go camping. Our car was packed and we only have 2 kids! I miss going to girl's camp and just showing up and not having to worry about planning meals and stuff. Camping is so much easier as a kid!

This was our campsite.

Our kitchen and dining room. :)

The kids played on these logs most of the time. This large campsite area (made up of 3 or so different campsites) weren't being used all weekend so this was our "family room/play room". The kids were playing in little groves of tree and we even played games at a picnic table here. It was very nice to have this area all to ourselves. It was right next to our campsite.

Goofy!

Kate riding a horse for the very first time. The parent leads the horse around so while I was walking the horse around Kate said, "I love riding horses. I love camping." That comment made all the work to go camping worth it.

The slip n' slide. Kyle with Nathan, Kathryn, Dane and Kate doing a train on the tubes. They all loved it, but it was windy so they got cold fast.

Kathryn and Kate lovin' the pop.

We went camping Thursday through Saturday. On Friday, we ate breakfast, did dishes, went to the nice bathrooms, rode horses, did the slip n' slide, canoed, ate lunch and cleaned up lunch all by 12:30pm! We had done everything there was to do so we were joking that we could pack up and go home. HA! Our stake girls' camp was going on that week so we were able to watch all the Bishops from our Stake do a race with these boats the girl's made out of empty milk jugs. It was pretty funny. The boats really did float!

Our campsite was prime location for the outhouses. Dee Ann went to go use one and came back saying someone had pooped on the toilet lid. I went to check it out and sure enough someone had pooped on top of the lid and there was urine soaked toilet paper as well. Disgusting! I cleaned it up with clorox wipes and wiped everything down. I told Dee Ann it was all clean and it was the cleanest outhouse she probably would ever use.

A spoon full of sugar...

We found out on Monday that Preston has an ear infection. Everytime we went to give him his antibiotic he would spit it out and we would have to hog tie him to just get it down his throat- not fun. Kyle was talking to his Mom and she suggested putting the medicine on a spoon and giving it to him. So Kyle did that and you know what?.... it totally worked!!! He takes it without us even holding him and says "mmm". This is a miracle! Thanks Dee Ann! Now onto making an appt with an ENT for Preston. He's had 4 ear infections in 8 mo's, about time for tubes. We'll see what the specialist says.

On a random note... Could it be a law that people use cruise control? Seriously, on our way home Sunday night there was this most annoying white pick-up that we passed or they passed us a million times. Annoying!

And a shout out to my brother-in-law who got a job and started today. I'm glad for them. They really needed this and I hope it goes well. I have to admit that i'm a little jealous b/c we are still enduring this thing called unemployment. Not fun. Thank goodness for my education and that I can pick up work, but it's been tough to experience this role reversal. I want to be home and Kyle wants to be at work. It's so easy to get depressed over it and wonder about all the "what if's" and "when will he get a job?" but we have to keep plugging along and try to stay positive. It's hard, so very (emotionally) hard, especially as the time gets longer and longer.

Summer Stuff

At the Mukilteo Beach. It was actually hot enough to get in the water and not be freezing.

Preston being brave and playing in the water too.

Preston threw up in his car seat and then ATE SOME OF IT!!! GROSS!!! I thought it was crazy that he was smiling in this picture. It reeked. Kate cried because he got some throw-up on her. Lovely child.

At the Forest Park petting farm.

Preston chasing this goat around. hee hee!

The kids playing in the pool in the backyard. We have had some crazy hot weather lately.

Kate in her pioneer skirt and hat that my Mom made for her. She wore it to our 24th of July picnic and loved it. She is still talking about it.