Almost 10 months old...

Willow turns 10 months old on Sunday...don't ask me how it happened. She is working on her 3rd tooth, waves bye- bye. Loves to play peek-a-boo. Gives kisses. Is still nursing. Loves her brother and sisters. Plays with her toys. Crawls down the 2 stairs in the family room. Plays in the toilet. Pulls things out of drawers. Puts everything in her mouth. Sleeps all night. Eats baby food as well as "human food". Is the best little traveler in the world- she rode 4,400 miles with almost no tears! AMAZING!She always smiles and is simply a joy. We couldn't love her more!

Daisy & Grace...

The girls were so cute yesterday. They put in one of my Pilates videos and completed the whole thing! (It was only 20 minutes, but still!) I thought they were adorable.

Yummy carrots...

There's something magical about growing a garden. The kids pulled some carrots yesterday to eat with lunch.

My little man...

I love Tristin with all my heart. Last week he came out to me and whispered, " Mom look." When I turned around, this is what I saw.

Crazy Daisy...

Where did my normal Daisy go? Here is my wild child wearing... you guessed it, a shopping bag!

Celebration park...

I love Travis because he is so selfless. On his day off, he wanted to go sit in 95 degree weather and fish with the kids. Since I'm big on "family activities", I went too even though I really wanted to stay home and rest after working all morning. We drove out to celebration park about 25-30 minutes away and finally found the park tucked down in this canyon. The kids ran around chasing lizards while I wiped away pools of sweat from my body. Trav set up the chairs and fishing polls while I watched the kids frantically chase ugly creatures around in the dirt. I noticed that one of the docks was empty, so the kids and I walked over to claim it. Just as all 5 of us were about to step on the dock and set up camp, a man yelled out, "Hey, there's a rattle snake over there." " Uh, thanks" I yelled back. Come on, really? I thought. I mean I knew we were in a canyon out in the middle of no where in almost 100 degree weather, but really, a snake that would want my kids for lunch? I quickly gathered all my little hens and got the heck out of that area! We went back to where Trav was and fished for a hour, but it was terribly hot. Tristin put in line in and literally 2 seconds later, he had a fish- it was so amazing! Grace caught one too and it was adorable to watch her sitting there with her pink fishing poll and then get all excited when she pulled it out of the water. We had a great time even though we were all exausted from the heat. We ate ice cream cones on the way home and made another memory as a family!

The amazing Tristin...

Here is his final project. He did it all by himself too, I drew the circle for the head, but that's it! Isn't he adorable???

A crafty mom + the only boy in the house= 1 crafty kid...

Last night I taught Tristin how to embroider- we found a ton of floss at a yard sale, which reminded me that I had been promising to teach him for the longest time, and we discovered that he LOVES it! I couldn't find my hoop anywhere, but guess what? We found one at a yard sale today! He's been working on his project all last night and today. He can do his own knots, tread his own needle and even tie it off when he's run out of thread! I'm so proud of him. Buttons, here we come! Maybe a latch hook rug? (I loved those things growing up! I made them all the time at my G-ma's house. She was the one who taught me how to embroider.)

1st day of swim lessons...

The kids are LOVING swim lessons this year and I am loving that they are all at the same time! Grace is in the Preschool class, Daisy is in level 1 & Tristin is in level 2. Grace was a little shy the first day, so here are the pictures of her sitting on the side, then putting her legs in and then finally- participating with the class! We have 1 more week to go!

Why I adore yard sales...

If you know me well, you know that my passion for yard sales is GINORMOUS! Huge enough to take my 1 day old newborn out shopping (That was Tristin- he was born in May,so we went thrifting right out of the hospital, what can I say, it was a Saturday!) The girls were all born in non- yard sale months- Oct, Dec & Feb so they were a few months old before the fun began.
Anyway, this weekend I hit the jackpot for clothes. I literally got over a thousand dollars worth of clothes for just a few bucks! Here are just a few of the biggest saving items (yes, I googled all the prices!):

2- ski coats= .08 each *** Retail 30.00 each
1- brand new pair of girl Sketchers= .07 *** Retail 35.00
1- almost new girls cleats= .10 ***Retail $ 28.45
1- pair girl zebra flats= .07 **Retail= 19.99
2- iDOG toys= .25 each ***Retail= $ 29.88
1- triple set of scriptures (leather)= .25 ***Retail= $ 30.25
1- quad set of scriptures (leather/ no name on front)= .25 ***Retail= $ 60.00

Total Retail Price= $ 293.45
My yard sale price= $ 1.40

Scroll back a few pages to see all the pictures...

Yesterday I posted a ton of pictures, so if you want to see them all, click on older posts at the bottom of the page! Hope you enjoy!

Goodbye Shane & Chelsea...

When Chelsea told me thay were moving to Portland, it felt like a piece of my heart broke off and flew away. I was stunned. Shocked. Heart sick. Happy. Excited for them, but mostly incredibly sad. Over the next 2 weeks, I tried to help them pack, clean, take care of the twins, bring food- anything I could to to ease the terrible load they were both carrying. I tried really hard to hide my pain, but over the next few weeks, I just couldn't control the sadness. I was even angry. Angry that we wouldn't have our Papa Murphy pizza nights, our ice cream nights, our long talks, our Target shopping trips & those amazing chocolate chip cookies of hers! My heart ached as I thought about not having her around the corner any more. Not having my kids run up to Shane and hug him, not having them there when my world was falling apart or have them around to pick up our mail when we went on vacations! I could barley think about it and when I did, all I could do was cry to my Mom, or lay in bed for awhile and let the tears disappear. Chelsea is like my sister. I love her to death and would do anything for her. Over the years, we went through so many things together. So much happiness, so many tears, frustration, excitemnet, joy, heart ache and a thousand more memories. It's been a month now and I miss them so much. I miss the twins, I miss Chelsea's smiling face and I miss watching Shane hold the girls at church. I just miss everything. I am so happy that Shane is continuing his education, but I'm sad that they had to go away to do it. I hate going over to get the mail and water the garden, because they aren't there. The house is empty and they are so many memories there. It will take me awhile to adjust, she was so much apart of my heart. I thank the Lord for amazing friends, even if it feels like my heart has been ripped from my chest. I love you guys and miss you so much!

Oh, how it hurts...

The differences between Mom & Dad...

All Summer long the kids have heard the ice cream truck circling our neighborhood- and all Summer long I have said "No." to their relentless pleading.I reminded them of our .25 box of popcicles and almost free ice cream in the freezer, but it just wasn't the same.
The first time the kids heard the ice cream truck and Dad was home, this is what happened...
(Never mind all the ice cream I could have purchased with that $ 3.00!)
What a nice Papa...

What I love about my husband...

What I love about my husband is: that even after a long 10 hour day, he comes home and still jumps on the trampoline and sets up the tent for a camp out! Too cute!

4, 400 miles later...

It was been a very busy few months for our family and I think we are all tired of driving now. We had the most wonderful vacations and were able to see Trav's family, go to G-ma B's 100th b-day, see my brother get married, go to Portland for G-pa's funeral,go the coast twice and home to Seattle twice as well! I feel so blessed to have the family that I do. I am grateful for all of the memories we made!

Saying goodbye to G-pa Arthur...

On July 10th, my G-pa passed away. He was 84 years old, fighting Cancer and too fail to hold on any longer. My heart hurts for my Dad & Aunt Helene, as they have lost both of their parents now. We drove to Portland on Wed. July 14th and stayed 2 nights there. The funeral was very nice. We sang, we celebrated his life and we learned that he had even recieved a purple heart when he was in the Navy. When they removed the flag and began folding it, I couldn't hold back my tears. Watching the military men fold it pefectly and then had it to G-ma Virgina, was so touching.My heart hurt for Virgina as I thought how difficult it would be to lose your husband after taking care of him for so long. The hardest part for me though,was watching my Father during the funeral. As they were reading the letter he had written, I glanced over to see my Father struggling to hold back the tears. I just sat and watched his quivering chin and lips and it hurt to much to see him mourning the loss of his Dad. My love and compassion for my Father grew more in that moment.
The sad part of losing him is that I barley knew him. I have memories from when I was older, when I was in Jr. High and High school, going to see Dad, but we didn't have the relationship that I had hoped for. I sent pictures of the kids, and we stayed a night with them a few years ago,but the memories are few. I do remember him always playing the piano and singing though. We played Yahtzee when we were there, and we always signed the guest book as we entered their house. I hope that my Dad, Aunt& G-ma Virgina will be able to move on, heal, and remember what they did share with G-pa. It was a wonderful day and I am so grateful we could be there to share that moment with them.

After the funeral...

We went to Bonnie's house after the funeral for a picnic. She had the most amazing yard I have ever seen in my life. We visited for hours and had a nice time. It was a great way to end a sad day.

Fun at Bullwinkles...

We wanted the kids to have fun before the funeral (mostly to get all their energy out so they would be quiet!) so we took them to Bulwinkles and bought 100 tokens for them to go wild with. They ended up finding this game that spit out a TON of tickets, so we earned 716! I was impressed!

Cannon Beach...

We left Portland Friday morning and drove over to Cannon Beach for the day. We really wanted to stay a night there, but with Summer prices, hotels were just too expensive. We stayed 2 nights in our hotel in Portland and then drove over in the morning to save a little $. I even scored some canning jars at a yard sale! 56 jars for $ 2.00! Super Duper! We had a wonderful day on the beach. The water was really cold, but we splashed around anyway. I would pay a kazillion dollars to live on the coast- there is something so inviting, calming and relaxing about it. I miss the water terribly and know now, I definatly took it for granted growing up. We ate lunch in Seaside, drove back to Cannon Beach and went shopping and ate ice cream. It was a great day. We left around 5:00 PM for Mom's house.