An mmmm mmmm day!

So....I am moving backwards in our summer. Mom and Dad came for a visit on August 2ND. On the 4Th Marc joined us. We picked him up from the airport and went straight to Pikes Market for some homemade donuts and roasted almonds. Mom drooled at the fresh flower bouquets. We met Jeff at the Market...got on the ferry...headed to Bainbridge Island. Now, right now from what we know of Bainbridge Island there is only one reason why anyone would want to go visit. Although we could hardly contain ourselves we had to get some dinner first. Jeff meant business and walked in the first restaurant we found. Ady is showing you her delicious Mexican presentation. We usually encourage everyone to finish their plates, but since we knew what was coming, we had to leave some room in our tummies.

With the dessert section of our tummies very much empty we walked to Mora's ice cream shop. The very place! ...homemade daily ...gourmet flavors and everything ...probably some of the finest, yummiest, ice cream you will ever find...ever! We were proud to introduce Mom, Dad and Marc to Mora's. After several sample tastes they unanimously agreed, it was fabulous. They were delighted to make Mora's acquaintance. Oh my! Marc and Dad are speechless here. Before they finished their ice cream they were planning when they could return for more. We called McKay and Danielle while they were there and made them VERY jealous.

HEAVENLY!

MOUTH-WATERING!

"A PARTY IN YOUR TUMMY" good.

We were so full and so satisfied on our ferry ride back to the city. It's not too often that you can witness an actual sunset in Seattle so when you do you must capture it. It just topped off a perfectly scrumptious day.

It was neat to see Seattle at night from this view. I'm not a professional so I was pleased to get a few night-time shots of the city that weren't blurry. We really are enjoying living here.

A cool August field trip

I am now moving backwards to catch up on our summer fun. My parents came from August 2ND-14Th to visit us in our new home. It is so nice when they come because my mom comes with all sorts of nifty projects to sew or cook or craft with the kids. Dad comes with his tool belt ready to get involved in lots of handy projects. (actually this time he wished he brought his tool belt.) They did so much this visit to make my life easier. Dad put up shelves in a closet, shelves in the laundry room, he fixed all the towel rods and toilet paper holders in all the bathrooms that kept falling off the wall. He painted our red butler's pantry to match our kitchen color and he finished painting our family room area. I know he did LOTS more stuff but at the moment I am amazed that he did all those things. Marc arrived on the 4Th to join in on the fun. He and Dad went to a Mariner's game together which was a super highlight for them both...eating hot dogs and peanuts, throwing the shells on the ground. Dad admitted that he was reliving his childhood. Even though Dad was focused on crossing off my list for him we were able to enjoy a few family field trips. We went to West Seattle visiting one of the few lighthouses in the area. Our tour guide happened to be a guy named Hyrum Smith from Provo...a Mormon guy ya think? Much to our surprise (not really) it was a chilly, breezy day. Marc and I kept an eye on this sailing cruise. It had us freaking out that it would take on water and go under. It seriously was sailing with 1 side nearly in the water and the people huddled together on the high side probably praying for their lives.

Because of the steep steps and balancing act once inside the lighthouse kids until 6 could not go up. Emmy and Kaden were good sports anyway.

Marc with his mommy.

We're huddled together only because we're freezing!

We next went to Alki Beach. On a sunny day this would have been lovely to sit and let the kids play in the sand for a loooong time, but sometimes you have to get used to disappointment

We had reason to believe because of some familiarity and because of a coffee shop named Sleepless in Seattle that this was an area where the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" was filmed. There was a fish 'n chips place that someone told us to go...so we did. YUM! Even though there were outside tables 10 feet away from us, for some silly reason we stayed in the car, squished and ate.

We then drove to North Seattle and found a fish hatchery/gardens place with outdoor music. The bad news was that as we were pulling into the parking lot the rain started pouring down and the music quit early. It was pouring!! Rain doesn't stop a true Seattlite from anything. We hopped out of the car and ran to see the Salmon returning. It was fascinating. The Salmon were huge! It was neat to see them in an observation room as they swam around. My only regret was not getting the "after" picture of us totally soaked. Our shoes sloshed and our eyelashes were dripping.

Kaden loved that he could almost touch those Salmon that were almost as big as he is.

Dinner Rules and Marc

A couple of weeks ago Jeff surprised me with an overnight er to the Seattle Marriott waterfront. We ate dinner at Anthony's, a scrumptious seafood restaurant, walked to the movie theater and had a great time being together, enjoying the sunshine and waterfront. Marc was a great sport and watched the kids overnight. He took them to the park, got them pizza and had a movie night with tons of snacks. He was the best uncle ever! At dinner he resurrected an old family game that we used to play in order to keep everyone at the table longer. It's called "Rules." You go around the table and everyone makes a rule that has to be obeyed while at the table eating. For example some of the rules were, every time you ate a tomato you cried like a baby... you had to eat your Spaghetti with the handle side of your fork... when you ate a piece of sausage you had to yodel... when you ate your salad you couldn't use your hands at all, etc. Of course the kids never left the table thinking that was the funnest game ever! So, when Jeff and I got back we played the game again everyone making dinner rules. The one rule that was called back from the night before was no hands when eating salad.

So, if you're looking for some creative ways to keep your kids at the table or to have some family bonding at the dinner table then just go around the table with each person making some RULES.

I can't go a moment longer without speaking a moment about my brother, Marc. He came out while my mom and dad were here in August and just found himself staying on and on and on. We actually strapped him to a doorknob every time he thought about leaving us. He was at a point in his life when he could stay with us for as long as he did and we LOVED it! Marc was fun! He was silly! He was helpful! He was the garbage emptier, the dishwasher loader and emptier, the story reader, the floor sweeper. He was Kaden's best buddy! I loved how Kaden would run from down the hallway into his arms saying, "Maaaaaaaarc!" They played "fighting" or football or basketball." Marc was my house-boy and made my life SO much easier. He picked up the kids every day from school and walked home with them making friends with all the neighborhood moms. The ward was wondering if his church records should be sent over to our ward. He even changed a poopy diaper on his last day here. WOW! Marc got me so used to having his help I was teary-eyed wondering how I could go back being a mom without him. Marc is proud to say that he is the new record holder for the family member to have stayed the longest... 5 weeks and 2 days. It went by so fast and we did SO much while he was here. The challenge is now out for anyone to try to top that record. I personally challenge any family member to come on out and top Marc's new record. Some people can come and visit and you're ready for them to go when it's time to go, but I was scratching my fingernails in the dirt hanging on to Marc for him not to go. He treated me so nice. He wouldn't let me do lots of things so I could be freed up to do other things. Marc only came with enough clothes to stay for a few days --4 shirts to be exact. The kids begged him to go home to get more clothes and then come back. They wanted him to live with us so he could be their brother. Not many people have such a nice brother as I have... I know, I'm lucky! Thanks Marc! Love ya! You're great! He actually had to go home to have a vacation and rest up from all the work we put him through here.

Kenny on t.v

So one night Marc and I were watching t.v. together and here is what we found. There's something so exciting to see your dad's name on t.v. We always felt proud of our dad growing up thinking he was super famous speaking for BYU Know Your Religion, BYU Education Week, doing church firesides or workshops, or taking our family across the country for some of his speaking engagements.

We always loved it when he came home from a speaking gig and said, "I spoke about you in my talk tonight." That made US feel famous and special like there was something special about us worth sharing with the world. Even if it wasn't a positive thing he was sharing about us in his talk we learned early on that we can always learn from our mistakes.

So, here's a plug for my dad...In the Spring his 1st, long awaited book will finally hit the shelves. Look for it and buy one for yourself and 10 for your friends. We are all predicting that he'll be seen on "Good Morning America" but he's too bashful to think even 1 book will get sold. If I'm not mistaken I believe Glenn Beck has written a little blurb about the book too... now that's famous! Dad, we're proud of ya!

Caught ya!

I am posting the following pictures as small as I can. Jeff will be pretty mad when he sees that I really did post them on our blog. He wasn't happy when he saw that I took them and what I allowed. We have a trillion dress-up costumes and pretty much all the Disney Princess dresses. Especially when the girls have friends over the dresses come out and worn. This day Kaden was wanting so badly to put a dress on with all the other girls, so I helped him put it on and become a lovely Snow White. You could tell he felt a big awkward in it and actually didn't keep it on very long, but what little boy isn't caught wearing a dress at some time in his life?

In my family, "What About Bob?" is a classic, a favorite....it's highly quoted. Bob is one of our favorite people...he feels like a friend. Since Jeff and I have been married I have bought the DVD and find myself quoting, when appropriate from the movie. Jeff however, is very much anti-Bob. He can't stand the guy. He finds him so annoying. Between you and me I think it's because Jeff is more like Dr. Leo Marvin. Since I rarely get to watch the show with someone else Marc and I had to watch it before he left. It was great to have someone to laugh with. During a potty break we were both up off the couch at the same time and when we both came back look who was sitting watching "What About Bob?"

He says it was because kaden was sitting there and they both wanted popcorn, but I say it's because secretly Jeff likes the show. We had to capture this picture of Jeff and Bob together because it might never happen again.

Oh my Shrek!

One of the things I love about our move to Seattle is that we are surrounded by wonderful cultural events. As soon as I heard that Seattle was the place where "The Musical Shrek" was to open before it was to open on Broadway I knew we had to go! We are big fans of the 3 movies. I guess Seattle has been the city where a few other Broadway musicals have been "tried out" because the people here are open minded and have a good sense of culture. Kaden couldn't go because they wouldn't sell tickets to 2 year olds but he's a huge Shrek fan and would have loved it. But the rest of us, including Marc went to see "The Musical Shrek." Maryn is showing how excited we were about being there.

The show was fantastic! The music was beautiful. The story was clever. The set was tricky and one of the best we have ever seen. The costumes were amazing. We loved it!!! It was one of those shows where the more you talk about it afterwards the better it gets...and certain songs were stuck in our head the whole weekend. It was awesome and it wasn't even officially "open" yet! Someday after it's won tons of Tony Awards and is consistently sold out on Broadway we can say that we were some of the first to see it.

Yikes, the first day of school

The first day of school came on September 3rd and hit us hard. I personally wasn't looking forward to school starting because I knew what that meant...homework, waking up early, making lunches, projects, going to bed early and doing everything in between to keep the family schedule flowing smoothly. Like it or not the first day of school came... Kaden was wanting to be a part of the picture-taking tradition thinking he was going to school too. He was the first to be photographed since he was the first one ready. He is getting so big and so darn cute!!!
Adyson is in the third grade with Mrs. Trull as her teacher. She was excited especially because her teacher has a pink reading booth in her class and she was starting out sitting by her friend, Georgia. (We always laugh at her being friends with Georgia because one of her best friends in Redding was Virginia.)

Does it look like they're ready for school? Ady's missing a shoe and Maryn doesn't even have her shoes but we just had to get our token picture taken on the first day of school. Maryn going to middle school as a 6th grader was scary for me...her only fear was not being able to open her locker in between classes...I'm afraid of the homework load for my little Maryn who thinks that school was invented to make friends.

Emmy's situation is a bit weird...this day was her first day of Redgate Farm preschool. She is the 1st on the wait list to get into full day kindergarten so currently she is in 1/2 day kindergarten in the afternoons with no school on Wednesdays. (It gets more confusing.) So, 2 days a week she is going to an awesome school that is on a farm taking care of animals and a garden and lots of hands on learning. She is super excited about both schools...I am too but I am having "4 school anxiety" and scheduling stress.

This is Emmy on her first day of Kindergarten. She has Mrs. Osotio. She is lucky to have had 2 "first days of kindergarten"...one in 2007 and one in 2008. She was in full-day Mandarin immersion kindergarten at Redding School of the Arts for 3 months. The Washington age deadline is later than California's so we chose to keep Emmy back after we moved here, thus giving her 2 first days of kindergarten....in every way she is MORE than READY to start school.
Marc and I went on a scrumptious walk. We took a picture of the day because it was 75 degrees and sunny. I want to be able to remember this in a couple of months when the weather turns sour and we forget what the sun looks like. At the end of our street in our neighborhood there is a walking path called "Soaring Eagle Park." I have wanted to try it for a while but never dared venture alone because of the sign at the entrance...

...now what would you do? This sign had all the directions of what to do if you encountered a bear or a cougar. Oh my scary! Marc and I and Kaden (in a stroller) walked in for about 20 minutes and then back out for a pretty hefty hike. The whole time we kept our eyes scanning the woods and listening for strange sounds and trying to decipher all the animal footprints we saw. Saying that I was uneasy was a bit of an understatement, but I tried to act brave and keep a LOUD conversation going with some occasional whistling. We lived to tell about it...right here in our own neighborhood.

Happy first day of school 2008...hold on for your life...keep your arms and legs inside the ride until the ride comes to a complete stop which won't be stopping until next June.