The Siple Family

Power Outage

2012-01-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

January 19th - 21st we had a power outage. Thankfully we have a gas fireplace for warmth, a gas water heater for warm showers, and a gas stove top to cook on. We survived with play dates and parent games at our neighbor friends with a generator. The boys slept with winter hat on for extra warmth. Another experience to add to our adventure book! --emily

Still Snowing

2012-01-18T22:22:00.000-08:00

Do you see we are the only people on the sledding hill? That is because the wind was so strong and the snow was more like ice. We all had a free microdermabrasion facial. -- emily

No-School Snow Day

2012-01-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome day in the snow today! It dumped almost 12in. worth of snowy goodness yeah for neighborhood snow storms.--emily

Sledding

2012-01-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had our first snowfall of the season!

I am hoping there will be more snow pictures to share this week. It is currently snowing up a storm :) So our finger are crossed for a no-school snow day, filled with sledding and hot chocolate. Yeah we love the snow. -- emily

Christmas Bro. Stash Competition 2011

2011-12-28T00:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning

2011-12-27T22:00:00.000-08:00

Jacob is trying to figure out what Santa has put in his stocking. His mind is saying, "Looks like slime. But what is it?" Only the best boy stocking stuffer ever. Farting putty! When you squish it back into the jar it squeaks like someone has gas. I thought it was funny! Jacob would watch for my reaction as he squished it back into the plastic jar. "Am I going to get in trouble?" :)

The boys are putting together their Santa / Stocking gifts. They each got a Squinky gum ball machine thing. Totally cool! They are so in to Squinkies. They play with them with their Legos, board games and in so many other ways. I love their imaginations when they play with them.

We got the boys an Xbox with Kinect. We thought they'd love it. Sometimes they have a lot of fun with it, but other times they have trouble focussing enough to stand in front of the sensor. The technology is pretty amazing.

Something hand made! I like to have at least one hand-made gift. This year I made Batman and Superman aprons. So they can look like super heros when they are helping in the kitchen, eating messy food, or working on crafts. Thanks to my friend Jennie for letting me use her pattern. I think they turned out so darn cute.

There are way too many presents under that tree, but there were some practical gifts under there too. What a Wonderful Christmas! Thank you friends and family for making this the best Christmas season ever. So much thoughtfulness and love shared by all of you! Love you all --emily

2011 Christmas Card

2011-12-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve morning we ventured out downtown. We parked in Kelly's office building so that Jacob & Andrew could see dad's new office digs. Andrew loved to play with dad's office phone. He thinks it is so cool that "work phones" have a head set. Kelly was explaining to Drew the reason his phone has the head piece is so that dad can type while he is on the phone. Explained like that; Kelly sounds like a catalogue dispatch person, but he isn't.

We then rode the underground bus a few blocks to the mall so we could take the monorail to the Space Needle. The weather was awesome! We only needed sweaters. That is a big deal here in the rainy Northwest.

While up in the Space Needle we had a crystal-clear sky. Jacob & Andrew loved exploring the city from a birds eye view. They enjoyed pointing out dad's office, and this cute little park with very large tomatoes.

I love this picture of Jacob, he looks like a director in a major motion picture.

See the blue Washington sky? That doesn't happen every day!

Still at the Space Needle they had cookie decorating for the kids. The kids were given a cookie, a packet of frosting, and a variety of colored sprinkles.

They decorated, enjoyed and ate their space ship shaped cookies.

We then wished Santa good luck. Earlier in the month we asked for our wants. So we thought good luck was appropriate. He was in a darling "space ship" for the Space Needle. It was so darn cute. All his decor and the elves were so modern and futuristic.

We then drove home among crazy Seahawks football fans, and enjoyed a yummy dinner with our neighbor friends. It was the perfect ending to a wild day. After we were home for the evening. We put on our matching Grinch jammies and tucked our sugar filled, adrenaline flowing, children in bed for the night. I hope they stay in be 'till at least their regular hour of 7:30. Eeee!

I'm so excited for Christmas morning!

As I was looking through this post before publishing it. I realized that my jammies pants look so different. But there is a matching Grinch cuff on the bottom of my legs. I ran out of fabric so I had to make something that coordinated for mommy. I had waited to long and the fabric was all sold out. I like how it turned out even though. --emily

Candy Canes

2011-12-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today after school the boys made Reindeer candy canes for the Christmas tree. They turned out super cute. Jake & Drew were so creative and crazy funny while doing this project. This was the first time I let Jacob use the hot glue gun mostly by himself. He didn't even burn himself. I was impressed because I always get a finger or two. --emily

Gingerbread House Decorating

2011-12-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

The boys worked together to decorate this fun gingerbread house. It was hard work keeping them on task and not eating all the candy. --emily

Christmas Tree 2011

2011-11-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to cut down our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We had great weather, it was a perfect day for tree hunting.

Jacob loved that he could stand under this tree. He is so cute.
We found a couple of great trees, and Jacob found some large shiny rocks. So random I know!Here we are in front of our tree right before we cut it down. With Mount Si in the background.
Jacob and Andrew helped by pushing on the tree as Kelly sawed it down. Then Jacob used the saw to clean up the stump. He had fun using the saw.

Andrew helped Kelly carry the tree back to the car. Kelly carried the trunk and Andrew carried the top. What a great helper.

Jacob enjoyed jumping in the mud left over from a weeks worth of rain. Nice air buddy! --emily

Andrew's Surgery

2011-11-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Andrew had surgery to remove his adenoids this week. adenoids: "A mound of tissue in the back of the nose that can become enlarged by infections and lead to narrowing of the airway." We had a week to prepped Andrew as best we could without freaking him out. Jacob picked out this stuffed owl for Andrew to take with him. The owl is Andrew's power animal.

The day of the surgery, Andrew was noticeably apprehensive.

All the medical staff was very helpful and so kid friendly. After Andrew was dressed in his surgery clothes, they brought in his oxygen mask and let him decorate it. They had a tackle box filled with stickers and yummy smelling chap sticks. Andrew picked out some stickers to decorate the outside of his mask. His stickers of choice were Sponge Bob and smiley stickers. He then picked out a chap stick flavor to line the inside of his mask with a pleasant smell. Andrew chose banana flavor, it was sweet and sugary smelling.

With that, he was ready for surgery. I carried him to the operating room as we walked with the surgeon and nurses. We pretended he was going back to a space port. The operating room did look like a space station. Andrew was really worried, but he was a good sport.

The surgery was successful. Andrew was really agitated when it was all over and couldn't wait to get the sensor off his finger and the IV out of his hand. He was grumpy for a couple of hours after the surgery. Jacob said, "He's really grumpy without his adenoids. When are they going to put them back?"

After a little rest, Andrew was back to his old sweet self. He was running around and playing with Jacob. We are thankful for our cute boys. --Kelly

Snow day

2011-11-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

With all the cold weather we've been having lately, we knew there must be snow in the mountains. So Saturday morning we drove up to the pass that is only about 20 minutes from our house to play in the snow. Andrew was having a great time laying in the snow and eating giant mouthfuls. No hands needed.

The snow was amazing! It was about four feet of powder. We had fun sledding and throwing snowballs. The snow was almost too soft to form into a ball, but we had a fun time throwing it anyway.

Jacob is totally a snow dude. He kept asking when we could go snow boarding. I think this might be the year to start hitting the slopes as a family. Yeah . . .

We brought the tripod so that we could get a family photo. After working out the hiccups of the tripod that kept sinking into the snow and the camera remote that wouldn't register because we were on a decline and the fact that it is super cropped because my left arm is way up in the air to line up with the camera sensor, I think it isn't too terrible of a family picture. I love my little family!

Everyone stayed warm and happy for the most part. It was a great Saturday adventure. I can't wait to do it again. --emily & kelly

Halloween Party

2011-11-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

Jacob's Kindergarten Halloween Party. Some fun photos taken by the class photographer. Andrew was super sick so I didn't make the party, but it sure looks like they had a fun time. --emily

Halloween

2011-10-31T21:37:00.001-07:00

The boys wanted to be M&Ms this year, so I made their costumes. They were so cute dressed up as M&M candies. We started trick-or-treating early. Kelly took an early bus home, we had a quick dinner and headed out. Andrew was feeling sick so he only made it a few houses before he asked, "Can we go home now?" Poor little Andrew wasn't even up for a good candy hunt. So Kelly and Andrew went home to hand out the treats! Andrew wanted to hold the candy bowl while Kelly put candy in the bags of the kids who came to the door.

Jacob and I kept on the hunt. We enjoyed a hayride, and more door knocking with friends

The boys checking out out their loot! It was quite the haul. --emily

Amazing Fall Afternoon

2011-10-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the fall leaves were amazing and so was the weather outside. We found this great pile of leaves the wind had gathered, and played to our hearts' content. We then ended at the park with our friends to swing and play. Thought I would share this fun moment! --emily

Farm with the Kiddies

2011-10-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Andrew's Pre-School went to Remlinger Farm this week.

We pet the farm animals,

Andrew stood behind almost every face board and posed for a picture even without being prompted,

also with his friends Esme and Jane,

he drove a tractor,

and we picked out pumpkins! --emily

Andrew's Birthday Week

2011-10-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Andrew started his day celebrating at preschool.

He picked pizza for his birthday dinner, "But not like the kind we had for Jake's. The kind that they bring to our house." So we ordered a pizza dinner.

Andrew then opened gifts and has been playing non-stop with his batman cave and guys ever since.

Andrew's friend birthday party had an Owl theme. Here are his party invitations. Of all the invitations I've made, they are one of my favorites.

I made owl masks for all the kids; they looked so darn cute in them. Andrew is showing us his talons.

We did a kid owl craft.

Cute Jake in his owl mask! He was a really good helper at the party.

We played an M&M game with kid chopsticks.

Andrew picked out a Bat pinata.

The bird beak got in the way a little when blowing out his candles, but he made it work! It was a fantastic birthday week. Thanks for being such a darling little boy. We love you so much! --Mommy

Fall City Farms

2011-10-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today was the perfect day for the pumpkin patch. The sun was shinning, the sky was blue. There were happy smiles upon little faces. The doughnuts were warm and yummy, cider was full of amazing flavor.

Going to the pumpkin patch is definitely one of the activities we most look forward to each October. This was our second year going to the Fall City Farms pumpkin patch. The boys got new boots this week, so they were all ready to hike through the dirt and mud looking for the perfect pumpkins.

We loved watching the process of make apple cider. They shredded the apples, wrapped them in a cloth, then pressed them in a hydraulic press to get all the juice out. They even gave us some free samples. Yummy . . . It was fun to see the whole production.

The Boys picking the perfect pumpkins.

Jacob has a wonderful smile, but he doesn't like to show it in pictures. In this photo, we are sitting on some large pumpkins that made excellent chairs.

The boys love to spray water, so we put them in charge of cleaning the pumpkins. Here is Andrew washing the pumpkins.

Here is Mr. Jacob having his turn. I think Jacob enjoyed hosing down the pumpkins more than he enjoyed picking them out in the field.

Here we are getting ready for a hayride. Kelly had to resort to tickling Jacob to make him smile for the photo.--emily

Born To Run

2011-09-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Today was Jacob's elemantry school walk-a-thon!

He was so cute! He ran with all his might. He was weaving around people, and had darling arm pumps. It is in his blood to run. He looked so natural.

He was so excited to show me how many laps he had run. Every time he lapped pass me he was so proud to show me he had earned another punch. They ran for one hour and Jacob lapped 23 times. He was so disapointed he had to stop. He would have run for another hour if they let him.

I am so proud of you Jacob, you worked so hard and did your best. --emily

Walking Field Trip

2011-09-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

I joined Jacob today for a walking field trip. It was a scavenger hunt type of field trip. We all walked through town and the kids looked for things to mark off their list, like a stop sign or a open store sign. It was fun to participate with Jacob and his class. Jacob was happy to have me there.--emily

Birthday Week

2011-09-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Jacob's birthday breakfast request was pop-tarts and milk.

Jacob's kindergarten class has a cool tradition. On each kid's special day, because not everyone celebrates birthdays, they get to share their "me person". It tells all about his favorite things and his likes and dis-likes. He was deathly shy sitting in front of the class talking about himself.

In Jacob's class there are a few kids with allergies, so they have a strict no food rule. Jacob picked pencils as his gift for his classmates. Here he is handing the pencils out to all his friends as they line up to leave for the day.

Jacob wanted home-made pizza for his Birthday dinner. The boys had so much fun helping with dinner prep.

Jacob's dessert request was cake pops.

On Saturday we had a kid party with a few of Jacob's friends from the neighborhood. Here they are playing a chopstick-dice-candy game. It was so fun to watch.

We also had a bug hunt. I hide plastic bugs around the house and the kids filled their jars.

And a pinata of course. I think Kelly likes the pinata more than the kids at times. He is such a cute pinata leader.

I love it when the kids gather in so close that no one else can see. What a darling group of kids! It was a good group. They were all so nice and kind to each other. It was a successfully fun party!

For dessert I made, dirt and worms and worm cake pops. Yummy . . .

Happy Birthday big boy! -- Love, Mom

Super Star

2011-09-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Jacob came home from school one day with this super-star sticker on his shirt. I had asked him about his day at school. I inquired about his sticker and his lips were sealed. So I did some mom detective work to find out that in his class they have a super-star of the day and Jacob's name was chosen. What that all entails, I may not know 'till Andrew is a kindergartner. --emily

Pre-School

2011-09-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Andrew has started pre-school and is so excited to be doing his own thing. Here he is with his teacher and friend Jane. Today he told me that they have too many girl toys at his school. So I suggested we donate some of ours and he was excited about that. A toy room clean-out weekend, yeah. --emily

Pool time

2011-09-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the warm summer sun with friends at the pool! --emily

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend we were supposed to be camping with our friends at Lake Wenatchee, but we kept having things come up that prevented us from going. Then the evening before we were to be on the road, I broke my foot. So as a family we decided to stay home and make the most of this long holiday weekend.

Saturday afternoon Kelly put up the tent in the back yard. We invited a

few friends from the alley over to roast marshmallows and make

s'mores. The kids played in the dark tent with glow sticks. They giggled for hours!

Then at about 10:30 everyone went home and the boys settles in for the night. They slept in our awesome giant tent that filled our teeny yard. They had a uneventful and fun night sleeping under the stars. Our tent has a mesh top so you can see the night sky, but if it is rainy like it often is in the Northwest it has a cover. Don't they look cozy!

The next afternoon we were out in the alley. When our neighbor informed us that she saw the mama bear, out her bathroom window, in the alley last night. Our neighbor lives only 3 houses away. So my boys were only feet away from "mama" bear with a teeny picket fence keeping her away. I am glad she wasn't feeling aggressive. Otherwise this would be a sad blog post.

Sunday evening we went to our friends' house for an amazing dinner and fun conversation. Then with all the camping gear still in the yard, the boys wanted to roast more marshmallows, so we did. But this time they didn't spend the night in the tent.

It was a great weekend spending quality time together as a family.

--emily

Getting Better Soon!

2011-09-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

On Friday evening, we decided to walk into town to eat some dinner as a family. When walking down a steepish hill that was newly barked, I slipped and broke the top of my foot. I have been in a walking cast all weekend and will be for 4 to 6 weeks. So my darling girls Nathalie and Abby made me a cake, brought a gerbera daisy and balloons all coordinating of course. You girls are the best. I feel so loved!

Look at all their hard work and attention to detail. Girls, you are so talented! Thanks for your thoughtfulness. --emily

My foot . . .

Jacob's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Friday was Jacob's first day of Kindergarten. He has been looking forward to this day for quite a while.

Jacob had his backpack all packed with his lunch, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, and a peachy folder. I made his lunch, but he selected and packed everything else himself.

It was a beautiful day for a walk to school. We're proud of both of our boys. We can't believe how fast they are growing up.

We walked to school with our good friend and neighbor, Will and his family. Kelly went in to work late so he could join us in taking Jacob to school.

I didn't find out much about what actually happen at school today. I asked him how his day was and he said, "Long! Even longer than church." --emily

Day at the course

2011-08-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

It was time for the Boeing Classic golf tournament once again. We love this tournament because it is held at the golf course in our neighborhood, so it is in walking distance. It is always fun to spend time as a family walking the course, enjoying the beautiful view, and seeing some amazing golf being played.

In the afternoon, we cooled off with some ice cream. This was one of the highlights of the day for the boys. It was so hot, the ice cream melted fast, so we had to eat fast.

Here we are at the 9th green. It is our favorite spot on the course.

There are a number of vendors with booths set up at the entrance of the course. Many of them give away free gifts. We got some cool things including the wrist bands Jacob is modeling and some golf tees that Jacob hid in his wrist band. We also got some cool Fred Couples bobblehead dolls.

We had a great time. It's always fun to spend time together as a family. --Kelly

Soccer

2011-08-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Andrews last day of soccer.

He loved playing and was supper good too.

Congratulations on the great season Andrew. 'Till next year! -- Mom

Andrew is in the gray Star Wars shirt.

Bus Wash

2011-08-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Our yearly tradition of helping grandma get her bus ready for the first day of school was fantastic as always.

The boys washed and squeegeed the windows.

Then scrubbed and sprayed the outside of grandma's giant bus.

Andrew even swabbed the decks :)

Poor Mr. Jake had woken up with a really bad stiff neck. He is much better now, but for two days his poor little head was on crooked, as you can see in all the pictures above. --emily

Pancake Breakfast

2011-08-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

Our local fire station hosts a yearly pancake breakfast with the proceeds benefiting their station. We donated our empty bellys and a few bucks to our local heroes. If my boys could pick the perfect breakfast, it would be pancakes. I am not a huge fan. I will eat them yes, but I wouldn't choose them if I had a choice. Needless to say, the boys were in heaven! A great morning seeing friends and neighbors. The boys enjoyed climbing all over the firetruck and ambulance and of course the free balloons. --emily

Girls camp 2011

2011-07-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Our stake divides the girls into units. My unit had eight girls: three junior counselors, me, and a partner adult counselor. We had girls from several different wards. We were such an amazing mix of girls. No major drama. They were kind, helpful, and happy girls. Here they are working through some ropes course activities.

This day we decided to dress up and be silly.

Every morning my unit girls participated in the polar dip. I went as the supportive friend/counselor, but I was too much of a chicken to jump in. Way too cold for this old lady! Here are my cute girls looking frozen.

Here is Fred our unit chipmunk. He wasn't afraid of the girls at all. They even tossed rocks at him and he just hung out. Stupid chipmunk!

This is our ward group. What a good looking group of dirty girls.

This Amazing hair belongs to Annie. The more stuff in your hair the better. 2 chopsticks, 2 braids, 1 glow stick, a bandanna, and an Asian fan. Her group was the kung fu pandas.

Sisterly Love! Cute Kate and Meg.

My car filled with darling girls. "i i love you like a love song baby, i i love you like a love song baby, i i love you like a love song baby and I keep hitting re p p p p p p p eat"

This group of crazy girls went down the freezing cold river 10 times this day. I was there to capture their fun. I sat in a folding chair placed in the river with my feet cooling off my warm body. I chatted with the adult ladies and loved my girls as they ended their river run right in front of us. Here they are proudly showing me what run they are on.

Who can forget the friendly pranks. One evening I was lovingly greeted by Miss Beverly neatly tucked into my sleeping bag. She is just a little creepy, don't you think? Thanks Mara and Katelyn. She is a perfect, pee-your-pants, not-mean type of prank.

My first time ever shooting a gun. Not too bad for a girl who doesn't like guns.

Ward night we played fun Minute-to-Win-It games. Here they are sporting their straws that they used to pick up (suck) an M&M and carry it to another bowl 10 feet away.

After memorizing each "value scriptures," the stake YW presidency painted one nail with the coordinating color for the value. After memorizing all 8, you received a root beer float. Your painted nails were the ticket to get a root beer float everyday after that. This was good motivation to get the girls to do their memorizing done early. Only at camp can you get away with awesome nails like this. My toes happen to be purple. I think they look good together.

It was a great week up at girls camp! To the average person it looks FUN, but the reality is it's an emotional, hard-manual-labor, exhausting, no-sleep week. Some of the girls have never had to be responsible for cooking a meal or pick up after themselves. I am not complaining. I had an amazing group of girls, and I can't wait till next year, but camp doesn't just happen by itself. There are so many pre-camp hours before we ever get up to the dirt. Ahhhh . . . camp is complete 'till next year. --emily

Day at the Beach

2011-07-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the beach with the cousins. It was a great day for playing in the sun and checking out the low tide. Rachel did the research and found this great beach in Burien. It was Awesome!

The kids had a great day digging in the sand and swimming in the surf, but I think the highlight of the afternoon was combing the beach for dead crab bodies. By the end of the day the kids had quite a large collection. Here is one Jacob was proudly showing me.

Before we left for home I wanted to get a picture of the gang. Like always it is almost impossible to get my boys to stand and pose for a picture, so here we have "the bribed posed picture." It kind of worked. They all earned a few red swedish fish. --emily

Lavender Festival

2011-07-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

It is tradition to go to the lavender festival with the girls of my family. This year we were half-way through the farms when we were rained out. The farms were in the middle of a separation/debate of some sort too, so this made things feel odd. Even though all this was going on, we still had great company and fun conversation. --emily

Ward Party

2011-07-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

On Saturday or ward had a BBQ at a local park. It was a fun party. They thought of everything. The boys favorite part was the balloons. The Primary was in charge of bringing activities for the kids. They brought sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and balloons to tie! In my option the best part about the balloons was the cute mom tying them. She admittedly had no ideal what she was doing, but the kids didn't notice or care. They thought it was great. Jacob has on a balloon hat that is an amazing mess, but he believes it is the best thing ever because a 14 year old boy made it just for him. --emily

Trying New Things

2011-07-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend I joined the crazy world of "Cake Pops". After watching a few tutorials on You-Tube about how they are made, I felt like I had graduated from chocolatier school and could make them like a professional. So a "Cake Pop" is this desert item where you take a perfectly good cake and cut it up in pieces, mix it in the Kitchen Aid until it is the consistency of Play Doh, role it into cookie-size balls, chill, and cover in chocolate. I had a hard time bringing myself to take a perfectly good cake and chop it up into mush, but after making and tasting them, I am now converted. Jacob, whose birthday isn't until September, told me today that this is the desert he wanted for his birthday celebration. This is saying something because I make a mean cupcake. --emily

Soccer

2011-07-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight Andrew had his first Soccer class. He loved it!

When Andrew got dressed for the day, he put his soccer clothes on. In the early afternoon he even put on his shin guards and socks. He wore them for hours before his game. He was so excited.

Andrew, you did a great job tonight. Keep up the good work and your enthusiasm for doing fun things and meeting new friends.

--Love, Mom and Dad

The Best 4th of July Ever!

2011-07-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my family was often invited to the Bowen's family cabin for the 4th of July. As a young girl, I grew a huge love for this festive day. I was shown how amazing and fun this holiday could be. An all-American day BBQ, family, friends, games, relaxing by the lake sort of day. Thanks for throwing such great parties and being a great example for me to try to emulate for my own family. Today was up there in the perfect day catagory.

Our morning began at 9:00 a.m. with neighbors gathering in the alley behind our house. We decided to host a pre-bike-parade-party. We decorated bikes and all forms of wheeled transportation. We ate doughnuts and drank chocolate milk. But most of all we had a great time gathering and enjoying each other's company.

We then walked to the school were the parade would start, for the big loop through town. They were handing out red, white, and blue star silly bands. This girl was applying "water stickers" as we call them in our home.

Boys patiently waiting for the parade to start.

And we are off. That is Kelly in the blue polo, and there is little Drew on the bike in front of him.

The parade ends at a local park. The city provides bouncy houses and lots of family fun activities! A good use of our dues in my opinion.

After the community party, we went home for a few hours of down time. I then mixed up our contributions for our next party, BBQ, firework extravanganza. Call it what you want. It was amazing. Great food, fun friends and neighbors, and the kids all played so nicely! Kelly and Andrew enjoying some white chocolate dipped strawberries with the ends dipped in blue sprinkles. Darling and yummy!

The boys enjoying setting off good smoke bombs.

Andrew was showing me this little tank firework that he thought was so cool!

Andrew and Jake were enjoying some fun foutain fireworks. They did a great job keeping a safe distance and staying out of the danger zone. It was a good, safe and fun year!

Here we have the classic Jacob hammin' it up picture. I think I get one every time I shoot pictures. He is going to have an awesome senior picture video reel in 12 years!

Jacob and his friend Will being sill boys, having a great time with sparklers.

Andrew right before he began to crash for the night. He was so tired. We had a great day! We are so blessed to have so much fun as a family. --emily

Trip to Sandpoint, Idaho

2011-06-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

We spent the week at Sandpoint, ID. My aunt's sister owns some amazing property on the lake out there. We had a lot of fun visiting with family, exploring the property, and enjoying the sun. All the pictures in this post were taken on the property.

The best part of the property is an amazing three-story tree house that overlooks the lake. The first floor has a sitting room, kitchen, and bathroom with a shower. The second floor has a bed and sitting area. The third floor is called the "Eagle's Nest". It is an open space with large windows that provide the best view of the lake.

We spent some time on the lake cannoeing. There was only one oar, so Kelly did all the rowing, but he didn't mind. He loved it. We explored the coast line and paddled out to a penninsula. Jacob and Andrew got a little bored because they didn't appreciate the sites like we did.

The boys enjoyed swimming in the lake, even though the water was cold.

We flew kites in the orchard on the property with the best kid kites ever. Thanks Grandma, for bringing the kites.

Jacob really enjoyed fishing with uncle Al.

Here is Jacob relaxing right before some intense fishing!

Here is Andrew being silly. He wasn't really into the whole fishing thing.

Yep, that silly boy who isn't much into listening or paying attention fell into the lake. I am so glad I insisted he wore his life jacket. I ran to his rescue, but be in the end Andrew just wanted dad. The joys of being a mom: putting in 100% all the time and they just want dad!

Jacob and I enjoying a shake from the local burger joint.

The Big boys playing crocket!

Even my dad enjoyed the game. He won two out of the three matches they played. I think we found his hidden talent.

Here my boys are getting ready to break the wishbone from our chicken dinner. Andrew won! We all wonder what he wished for. He claims he wished for world peace, but he probably just heard Kelly recommend that.

Here is Jacob chillin' with my grandparents. They are reading and Jacob was playing a fishy game on my dad's iPhone.

The girls who work on the property found this crow and had been taking care of him because he couldn't fly. He lasted a couple of days before he died. May he rest in peace! He's alive in this picture.

Here we are enjoying a fun week with family.

We took our time on our drive home. We stopped when we wanted to and had a enjoyable time. This is in Elensberg at a gift shop/ice cream store--the perfect stopping place.

More ice cream! Yummm . . . --emily

Catch This

2011-06-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Jacob's last T-Ball game. It was a bit sad for us all. We has such a great team and coaches. We will miss not seeing them a few times a week. Jacob had such a great season. He learned lots and enjoyed playing the game. Jacob made some fun new friends whom we hope to stay in contact with. I feel so blessed for the great experience this was for Jake and our whole family.

Jacob loved being the catcher! He thought it was cool to put on all that gear. I agree he does look very cool! --emily

With a Little Face Paint

2011-06-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

At some local festivities today we waited in line for what felt like an hour to have the boys' faces painted. Jacob chose to be painted as a darling little dog. He spent the afternoon crawling around on all fours and barking like a dog. He even mentioned to me that he is now a brother to Gordon our dog. Andrew picked batman. He was so excited to have his face painted. I think he felt like a real supper hero behind all of that paint. Although every time I looked at him I giggled a little on the inside because all I could see was Gene Simmons from Kiss. Thanks for such a fun day! Love you boys. --Mom

Mini-Golf

2011-05-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Monday being a holiday, Kelly didn't have to go to work! So we went mini golfing as a family. The boys and I had a great time. We went to a place that Kelly and I had been to, many years ago, before we had kids. Kelly had wanted to take the boys there for quite a while. So today was the day. The weather was nice enough, not raining!

So off we went.

Andrew enjoyed golfing and also playing in the sand. My kids love the beach! I wonder if I am living in the wrong state. They would be so happy playing in the surf and sand all day. Me too!

Anyway back to golf.

In the above picture Jacob had just shot a hole-in-one.

Jacob had good focus on the game. He had a great time. I wish we had a little more time to practice our shots. Because it was a holiday, the place was packed. We had to wait for the people in front of us, and then hurry and golf so that the people behind us didn't have to wait too long. Because of this, I felt like we had to rush Jake a little. He would have enjoyed practicing the same hole several times over. Next time, I think we should go mid-day on a non-holiday. --emily
P.S. Kelly also got a hole-in-one.

Jacob's First T-Ball Game

2011-05-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Jacob's first t-ball game was Saturday, the day after we got back from Chicago. It was a lot of fun watching him play. He did a great job. In his t-ball league, they play two innings. Everyone gets to bat each inning. Jacob played 1st base the first inning and left field the second. After the second inning they have a relay race. He really liked playing 1st base because the ball was thrown to him a lot. Here is a video of Jacob's second at bat. --Kelly

Top Chef

2011-05-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

Walking through Millennium park we happen upon the filming of the top chef tour.

I was asked if I wanted to be a judge for the next group. But had to say no knowing my family wouldn't want to hang out for that long. It was fun to be in the tent and part of the action anyway. --emily

Chicago In Bloom

2011-05-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite things about Chicago were all the amazing flowers everywhere. All the planters were in bloom, so bright and amazing! The trees too.

Some of my photos are blurry I know they should be perfect because the aren't wiggly children. But some of them like the one above were taken out of a moving car window.

There was so much cool art and architecture everywhere.

These potted plants were one of my favorite. They were huge pots with an amazing assortment of flowers. I want them for my yard! Not kidding.

This is our hotel in the foreground.

Down one of the main streets there were beautiful tulips grouped together by color. With all the tulips there were spray painted willow branches to match the color of the flowers. So here orange/yellow flowers with willow branches painted the same color as the flowers. But on the next block, pink flowers with spray painted pink branches and the next block purple flowers and purple sprayed branches it was supper cool looking.

Notice the darling little bird house in the planter. --emily

Chicago Style Pizza

2011-05-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

While out enjoying the city, we had asked a random gal what the best Chicago style pizza place was. She said Giordano's. So we pulled out our little map and navigated a walking route a few blocks away.

As we began our walk, we came upon this cool one man, puppet show attached to a bike. Jacob thought he was mighty interesting!

After about 8 blocks into it we decided to ask another person if we were going the right way. To find out that, that location had moved. The new location was one block from where we started. So Kelly grabbed us a cab. The boys thought it was fun to not be in a car seat and that the cab had a little TV in it!

We found the pizza place! Yeah . . .

It was worth the wait. Look at that that yummyness. Writing this it makes me want a piece right now.

The best pizza ever. No, really. We went the next day for lunch too. I totally get the big deal with real Chicago style pizza.--emily

Model Shoot

2011-05-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

While shopping the Magnificent Mile, we came upon a modeling shoot for Vera Bradley. A few days prior we had walked pass an RV and a rack of her bags at Millennium Park, but we didn't see any models or filming, so it was cool to happen upon this a few days later. --emily

Lake Michigan

2011-05-14T20:46:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, we spent the morning at lake Michigan, Chicago side.

We dug in the sand,

Splashed in the water,

Soaked in some vitamin D,

Chased some birds,

Warmed our bodies on the sand!

This was the boys favorite day.

The beach and the city! A perfect day. --emily

Sky Deck

2011-05-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

Chicago is home to one of the tallest buildings in the world--the Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower). They have a great observation deck on the 103rd floor called Sky Deck. On a clear day you can see all the way to Wisconsin from the Sky Deck. It was a little cloudy the day we went there, but the view was still amazing.

Sky Deck has four observation areas that are made of glass on all sides, including the floor, so you can look straight down and feel like you are flying high above the ground. Even if you're not afraid of heights, it kind of takes your breath away to step out onto the glass floor. Jacob and Andrew didn't hesitate to run out onto the glass. They were fearless.
Jacob really didn't want to leave.
It was a great view from the top of the city. --Kelly

The Bean

2011-05-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Emily had heard about the Bean in Millennium Park when she researched Chicago prior to our trip, so we decided to make sure we made a stop to check it out. It was totally cool. It is a giant bean-shaped mirror ball. Jacob and Andrew loved it. You can see the whole city reflected in it as you walk around it, but the boys' favorite activity was to lay underneath it and look at their reflection. The Bean was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we passed by it several times throughout the week. --Kelly

Cubs Game

2011-05-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to attend a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. It is such a historic venue. After Lego Land, Wrigley was the place I most wanted to visit in Chicago. We attended a game Tuesday night.

We got to the stadium super early so that we could walk around and watch batting practice. We all got Cubs hats, and it was t-shirt night, so we got free Cubs t-shirts. The boys enjoyed watching the players warm up.

In this picture the fields man is using a watering can. Emily thought that was so cute.

I remember seeing the "roof top" seats on top of the building across the street from the ball field when I used to watch Cubs games on WGN as a kid. Totally cool. They are more sophisticated now.

I knew the boys wouldn't make it to the end of the game. My goal was to make it through the 5th inning. As you can see from the sign behind us as we walked from the stadium, we made it to the top of the 6th. I'm glad we went to the game.

Wrigley is the most beautiful stadium I have been in. The staff was totally awesome too. They gave Jacob and Andrew certificates to commemorate their first Cubs game. --Kelly

Lego Land

2011-05-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Our first day in Chicago we went to Lego Land Discovery Center. What a fun place for two little boys that love everything Lego. This tourist is made completely out of Legos.

One of the reasons we decided to go to Chicago on vacation was that they had a Lego Land. Kelly and I had planned everything weeks in advance, but we didn't tell the kids we were going there until the night before. Jacob and Andrew both love to play with Legos, so we expected them to be totally excited when we told them about Lego Land. Jacob's reaction, however, was a little surprising. He said he didn't believe us and didn't think it really existed. He was happy the next day when we pulled up and saw that it was real.

The first exhibit was a jungle, where all the animals were made of Legos. Don't try this with a real hippo.

They also had some reproductions of famous artwork that were made completely of Lego blocks.

There was a testing station where the kids could make cars out of Legos and roll them down different ramps to see how fast they would go. Jacob and Andrew took the cars apart and just rolled the tires down the ramps.

There was a area with over-sized, soft-foam Lego bricks that the kids could build with and climb in.

One of the coolest exhibits was the 4D Lego movies. The theater blew wind, mist, and fake snow on the audience when those things occurred in the movie. Jacob was being so silly!

Here is Andrew through the mouth of a Lego lion.

At this Lego building station we built the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower) and a spinning hamburger top. I was impressed how well the boys followed directions. Jacob didn't need any help at all and Mr. Andrew needed hardly any extra directions.

We finished our night at the Rainforest Cafe with some good food and an amazing desert that we all shared. Yummm . . . --emily

Indianapolis Speed Way

2011-05-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

On the way out of town, we stopped at the famous Indianapolis speed way. It is an amazing place.

Here are a few fun facts about the speedway:

The first event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a helium gas-filled balloon competition on Saturday, June 5, 1909, more than two months before the oval was completed.

In 2009 the speedway sold More than 16,000 gallons of Coca-Cola products. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the world’s largest spectator sporting facility, with more than 250,000 permanent seats. If the seat boards from the grandstands at IMS were laid end-to-end, they would stretch 99.5 miles.

The track is 2.5 miles long. If all the post cards sold in IMS Gift Shops were laid end to end, they would span more than 3 miles.

--emily

Graduation

2011-05-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

For the past year two years I have been attending a distance MBA program with Indiana University. It is finally time for graduation, and I was excited to be able to fly back to Indiana to participate in the commencement activities. I will complete the program in August, but everyone who will complete the program this year was invited to participate in the graduation ceremonies on the beautiful Indiana University campus in Bloomington, Indiana.

The first ceremony was for all graduate students across all programs. I got to meet some cool people from some of the other master's degree programs in the business school.

I was glad that Jacob and Andrew were able to attend and see me graduate. I hope they will be inspired to attend college when they are older and get all the education they can.

Emily brought lots of fun activities for the boys so that they wouldn't be too restless during the commencement ceremony. She also dressed the boys in cute Indiana-crimson ties that she made herself.

I can't say how glad I was to have my family with me. Emily has been such a great support throughout program. Jacob and Andrew had heard so much about Indiana, I'm glad they were able to finally be there themselves.

My dad, mom, and stepfather all flew out to attend the graduation as well. It was wonderful to have so much support.

On Saturday we attended a special dinner for all MBA graduates in my program. It was fun to mingle with some of my professors and friends. Jacob and Andrew were more interested in the Legos grandma Allred brought. We were so glad she brought a fun gift for the boys. It was perfect timing because they had already played with everything Emily brought for them to play with.

Later that night, we attended the graduate recognition ceremony specifically for MBA students in my program. Alan B. Gilman was the keynote speaker. Daniel Smith, dean of the business school, also gave inspiring words of advice. It was a great ceremony.

I was humbled to be selected as a recipient of the Student Leadership Award along with my friend, Jen Oberholtzer. It was a great addition to a wonderful night. --Kelly

Flying to Indy

2011-05-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Our family adventure began on Thursday May 5th. Kelly, Jacob, Andrew and I boarded an airplane headed to Colorado. It was a flight that lasted 2.5 hours. We transferred in Colorado and took a 2.25 hour flight into Indianapolis, Indiana.

The boys were great on the flight. Jake and sat together and Kelly and Andrew sat next to each other. It worked out quite well. Jacob and I colored, played games and opened a few packages sent by grandma Mark. Jacob had a great time; he was still a little in awe of the whole airplane ride thing. The last time he was on a plane he was a teeny baby. So everything was pretty much new and super exciting for him.

Kelly and Andrew played, read books, colored, and played. Andrew was worn out by the second leg of the flight, so he and Kelly took a nap! Andrew was not happy when the flight attendant made him sit in his own seat with his seat belt on when it was time to land.

After waiting for our bags, renting a car, and all that exciting stuff, we headed to our hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana. But no one local calls it that--it is known simply as Indy! We went to a local restaurant and filled our bellies and then crashed for the night! --emily

Fire Department Annual Safety Fair

2011-04-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I attended the annual safety fair at the fire station today. Andrew wanted to come too, but he was too sick to leave the house, so Emily stayed home with him. Jacob had a great time learning about fire safety and trying out some of the firefighters' equipment.
Jacob was a great shot with the fire hose.
They had several fire and police vehicles on hand for the kids to see. Here Jacob is standing next to a police dirt bike. He also got to sit in the police car.
One of the coolest vehicles was the firetruck. It was full of cool equipment and gadgets. They also had balloons, snacks, and a bouncy house. Here Jacob is getting a firetruck painted on his face.
Jacob got to meet Smokey the Bear, who was there to promote fire safety and the prevention of forest fires.
The firefighters demonstrated their life-saving tools by ripping apart an old car. They pulled off the doors and then cut off the roof.
Jacob had a great time and didn't want to leave. --Kelly

Easter Morning Family Photo

2011-04-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

I enjoy coordinating my family's clothes for church as often as I can, and Easter is no exception, so I set up the tripod to capture the darling outfits I bought them this year. I handed Andrew the camera remote to take a few family pictures. He enjoyed the responsibility. When I uploaded the pictures to my computer he announced with excitement, "Those are my pictures." The majority of the pictures turned out silly, but I love them all! --emily

Enjoying the Sun

2011-04-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

After dying Easter eggs with Grandma and Grandpa Mark, we all decided to get out and enjoy the sunny weather. We headed over to Coulon Park to have some fun on the waterfront.

Our first stop was Ivar’s, where ate fish n’ chips while watching all the boats.
As I walked down the dock with Andrew, people kept asking if we were twins.
We had gotten the boys new Spiderman sunglasses earlier in the day. In this picture, Andrew is lifting his sunglasses to get a better look at the boats.
Jacob and Andrew had fun digging in the sand on the beach. Jacob met some other boys who were also digging. He helped them dig a big moat and let it fill with lake water. He had so much fun he didn’t want to leave. --Kelly

Coloring Eggs

2011-04-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

After the neighborhood Easter egg hunt, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Mark’s house to color Easter eggs with the cousins. This is another one of our annual Easter traditions.

Jacob found some alternative uses for the wire egg dippers. They make handy eye glasses. . .
. . . they can also be used as antennas.
The boys did a great job with the dye. No clothes were stained this year.
Andrew took a break from coloring to sample one of the eggs.

It’s always fun to celebrate holidays with friends and family. --Kelly

On An Egg Hunt

2011-04-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite Easter traditions is the annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt held at Azalea Park. Our friend started this tradition a while back and facilitates the activity each year.

The weather was so nice we couldn't help but just hang out! Jacob was playing on the play equipment. Andrew sat in the bark eating his candy and organizing his eggs.

Jacob and Andrew had a great time hunting for eggs and basking in the sun.

After our walk home we sat in the front yard and Jacob showed me his egg contents. This egg was his favorite. It had a small fuzzy chick in it. --emily

Zoo

2011-04-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

Jacob’s pre-school class took a field trip to the zoo. Andrew and I came along for the fun. The boys had a great time running around with their friends and seeing all the fun animals. The weather was nice so lots of the animals were out basking in the sun. It was a good day for the zoo! Jacob’s favorite animal was the Jaguar. Andrew’s favorite animal was the penguins.

Jacob was a great tour guide on this adventure. He did a great job reading the map, figuring out where we were and how to get to the next spot. Kelly enjoyed hearing about the boys' fun adventure that evening. I’m glad Jacob’s pre-school teacher plans such fun activities for the kids. --emily

Train Dinner with the Mayor

2011-04-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

Snoqualmie city mayor Matt Larson treated the many city volunteers to a dinner aboard the Northwest Railway Museums’ antique train last week. Since I am on the Parks Board for the city, I was invited and got to bring the whole family. It was fun to be on the historic train again and see the beautiful sights of our city. We enjoyed mingling with some of our friends and neighbors who were also on the train. Mayor Larson was kind enough to pose with our family for this photo. --Kelly

What the Hail . . .

2011-04-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

This week, Monday April 18th, we has two hail storms in one day. The first one was an afternoon hail storm with small bits, but the end result looked similar to this picture that was taken after the evening storm. The remnants of this storm were melted in less that thirty minutes. The second storm was in the early evening with thunder, lighting and quarter size hail. Roof tops were still covered in the morning because of the evening temperature drop.

Welcome to our Northwest bi-polar spring.

We are ready for some real spring/summer weather. --emily

T-Ball

2011-04-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

Today was Jacob's first day of T-Ball practice. We walked to the field near our house to join the team for practice. Jacob was a little nervous at first, but warmed up quickly. The coach was such a nice guy and did a great job of explaining things to the kids.

Jacob enjoyed hitting the ball. He had great form and hit the ball almost every time. Today they started with whiffle balls and ended with a hard balls. Jacob had good confidence in this because Kelly and the boys often play a mini version of baseball in the alley. It was fun to see Jake relate this as a similar thing and use his skills today.

The kids also learned fielding skills today. They had a contest to see who could throw the ball the farthest and Jacob won. They also had a team race to see who could run the fastest around the bases two times and Jacob came in second. Jacob had a great time playing today and I had a fun time watching him. I Love that in this picture Jacob is chewing on his gum like a real baseball player. --emily

Tulips

2011-04-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend we have our grandpa in town and he has always wanted to go and see the tulip festival up north. It is still a little early in the season, but we decided to go and check it out anyway. Grandpa is only in town for a couple of days, so Saturday morning we woke up and got dressed warmly in hopes that we could see some tulips before the weather was too wet and cold.

It was a bit muddy! But it was great fun for the boys. Andrew kept slipping in the mud and catching himself with his hands. Kelly had him rinse his hands in the deep muddy water to get clean, or less sloppy muddy! Good thing I brought a change of clothes:)

The flowers were amazing!

All the reports I read online said it was still a little early for tulips, but I am glad that we made the trip. If we had waited, we would have missed the daffodils! They were worth the drive. Grandpa enjoyed all the amazing flowers too. I am glad we went while he was in town.

As we were driving to find some good food to eat we came upon a field that had 10,000 white geese in it! Not that we counted them. What a amazing sight. There must have been something delicious in that grass. I was even brave enough to go in the field with them to take pictures. Yes, that is a big deal! When I was a little girl I was bitten on the bum by a goose. I blame it on the terry-cloth shorts I was waring at the time. Wearing jeans today I thought I would be okay. Sure enough I survived!

We ate dinner at this yummy restaurant, changed the boys into their jammies and headed home for the evening. It was a perfect day trip. I love a good day trip! --emily

Hair cuts

2011-03-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today I took the boys to get their hair cut. The places we have been going haven't really been working for "us" (well me). So I wanted to try a new place. We went to try this hair chain place in a new location. When we got there the shop had been replaced with this awesome new place. The place was revamped into the cool "Barber Shop" place. I felt as if we had stepped into a movie. The boys had a great haircut and we will be back. --emily

Yogurt Fight Night

2011-03-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

I found this video while archiving some old home movies. This brings back happy memories. Emily and I made this when we were dating back in March 2002. I had wanted to make an action movie where Emily would beat me up. We didn't use a tripod--we took turns holding the camera on each other. That's why we're never in the shot at the same time. --Kelly

Go Cougars!

2011-03-24T16:44:00.001-07:00

Jake and Andrew sporting their Blue and White! For the big game tonight. Yes, this is a old picture but I though it was a perfect post for today. --emily

Wedding Week

2011-03-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had lots of extended family time. I wish we did more of this! I love my crazy, funny family.

My cousin Miranda was married on Saturday. I had a great time helping where I could. My Mom and Aunt pulled this whole reception together. It was amazing!

Here are the cupcakes I made for the party. I made lots of them. They turned out so yummy! I realized that I find joy in this sort of thing. Isn't this stand amazing? It belongs to my cousin's wife. It is a perfect girly party stand. I think I might need to find one for myself.

I also did the flowers; they were simple. Her colors were navy, silver and white. So I used white roses. They turned out very elegant. It is funny I was watching "The View" at the gym a few week ago and they had a center piece on their table that was my inspiration. Open flowers, short stems, balled together, close to the rim of the vase. I love how they turned out!

Here are the bride and groom stuffing each other with cake!

Congratulations! We wish you much love and happiness. --emily

Fun Run

2011-03-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

Today our YW and YM volunteered at our local St. Patty's day fun run in our neighborhood. The people who organize this event are in our ward and every year they allow the young people to help with this activity. They then donate the money to girls camp and scout camp. It is an amazing way for the kids to be involved in the community and a fun way to earn money for camp! Thank you Sundwall family for the fun morning.

Girls, you did a great job today. I am so proud of your hard work and your up-beat attitude so early in the morning. --emily

Joy Filled Day

2011-02-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

That is Jacob licking the snow right from the ground.

His arms are straight down. That is how deep the snow is.

Andrew balancing on a large snow ball made by other kids.

The snow is up to Jacob's knees.

The joy on there faces. They love playing in the snow.

And so do I! --emily

More Snow . . .

2011-02-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

The storm did come, Yeah! We have had a ton of snow today and more is still predicted to come. Today we played in it, ate a ton of it, threw it, and sculpted it. What a multi functional activity. --emily

Spring Snow

2011-02-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

After dad was finished working, we took the kids to the sledding hill right next to our house. We have a BIG snow storm on the way. This year we have only had a small amount of snow the weekend of Thanksgiving. So we are super excited for this snow. We live in the perfect place to enjoy great winter weather. I hope we have more to write about this week. --emily

Weekend in Bloomington - Sunday

2011-02-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

We flew home from our fun weekend in Bloomington, Indiana. Our flight was from Indiana to North Carolina and then home to Seattle. Yep, that is right we backtracked. It was a long flight but surprisingly upbeat. I got super close to finishing the book I'm reading! I hope to finish it this week. --emily

Weekend in Bloomington - Saturday

2011-02-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

We woke up early in the morning and walked around campus before Kelly had any responsibilities with the school. It is such a beautiful and historic campus. The school was founded in 1820. The majority of the buildings are made from limestone. Walking around campus it feels royal with all the Gothic architecture. The buildings resemble castles and the campus has amazing giant old trees. They have a forest on campus called Dunn's Woods. Kelly saw fireflies for the first time in his life in this forest back in August 2009. We heard a legend that if they ever build in this forest the deed to IU's property goes to their biggest rival, Purdue! So it will never be built on :)

Here are The Sample Gates, the archway into the school.

Kelly's responsibilities began at the orientation desk. Kelly sat with the Student Advisory Board answering questions the new students may have. Next the students gathered in the Whittenberger auditorium for the 2011 Induction Ceremony. Kelly and Kenn ushered the new MBA students to their seats. Dan Smith, dean of the business school welcomed students and introduced some of the faculty, who where there for the event.

Here we are enjoying dinner with the new MBA students. We were all assigned a table to sit at so we had the opportunity to meet new people. At our table starting on the left Patrick from Utah, Jon from Malawi, Kelly and me, Clark from North Carolina, Professor Maines, and Jason from California. We had some fun and interesting conversations. It was a great dinner!

After dinner we walked over to the famous Nick's English Hut. This is the pup popular among graduate students and alumni. We enjoyed a nice cold soda and the last of the Indiana basketball game. Even though IU lost the game, it was a fun gathering place!

Here we are! Starting on the left Kenn, Jen, me, Kelly, some random joker from the next table, and Darren.

Sunday morning, Kelly spoke at an in-residence orientation meeting that was held in the Kelley School of Business building. It is a newly built building with amazing technology. Even though it is new, it was built to resemble all the old architecture. After this meeting we walked over to the Indiana University Art Museum. We didn't have much time so we had to go quickly and I didn't see everything I wanted to. But they have a amazing curator. They have original art from Picasso. It was my first time ever seeing a original Picasso. They had a bunch of plans for Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work. They are the artists that hug the orange flags in central park in 2005. They also wrapped an entire island. He does very cool stuff. --emily

Weekend in Bloomington - Friday

2011-02-18T23:01:00.000-08:00

Kelly has been attending Indiana University's Kelley School of Business for the past year and a half, getting his MBA. Since he is on the Student Advisory Board, they invited him to come out to help with the first couple days of the in-residence for the new MBA group. They asked him to join for the weekend of orientation and festivities. Kelly invited me to tag along! Yeah . . . here we go . . .

We started our fun weekend by flying into Denver and then catching a flight to Indiana. --emily

Family History

2011-02-13T18:03:00.000-08:00

These buttons are my Grandma's. I wanted to preserve them in the best way I could think of--something modern yet still classic. So my quiet Sunday activity was making this! We all sat together in my big bed while Jacob and Andrew watched a movie and Kelly took a nap. It was the perfect quiet afternoon. I stitched stems and leaves then added heirloom buttons. This picture does not do them justice. They are beautiful pearl buttons that belonged to my grandma who is no longer with us. Maybe my mom will comment and add a story or a memory of her mother and her button collection! --emily

Who had a birthday?

2011-02-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

My day began with a nice sleep-in thanks to my thoughtful husband and helpful boys. Life is always moving so quickly there is no time for a mommy to rest so this was the perfect gift from my little men.

We then had some cake and opened gifts in the afternoon.

The boys surprises me with some new bedding that I had mentioned a long time ago that I liked. I love fun surprises like that!

But my most favorite part of birthdays is the extra hugs and kisses mommy gets!

This is my new bedding. I love it and I love surprises. I am such a lucky girl; my boys take such good care of me. Cheers to another successful year filled with joy, happiness, health and so much love. --emily

Lego Guys

2011-02-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

This morning the boys and I sat in the toy room and gathered up all the Lego guys we could find. When we play with Legos, mom spends most of the time looking for a specific guy's hat, hands or arms. So we gathered everyone's hands and hats and all the other parts that are removable. We then superglued the little guys together. It was a fun project! The boys had a great time searching for all the pieces. As you can see in the picture, not all of the parts were found. We glued what we had and when the other parts show up we will adhere them with a spot of glue. --emily

Groundhog Snack

2011-02-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

We celebrated groundhogs day with this fun snacks.

A simple pudding cup, topped with crushed Nella crackers and a cute groundhog image i found online. The boys thought it was funny!

Also Happy Birthday Auntie Michelle! What a fun day to have a birthday. --emily

Family Fun

2011-01-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

The February issue of family fun magazine has this great idea of turning old winter hats into fun monster hats. We had a great time gathering things from the craft closet that would work for this. The boys picked out the colors and shapes they wanted for their monster. They cut some of the shapes, and I cut the others. It was a fun project we did together and I think they turned out darling. Great job boys! Love, Yo . . . Momma

Mornings With Dad

2011-01-21T23:56:00.000-08:00

Our boys are morning people just like their Dad. They like to join in on the things he is doing in the morning. The other day all three of them were shaving in the master bathroom while I was still in bed. I am not a morning person. I woke up to giggling and laughing. There is nothing better than the laughter of my own children. What a cute little family I have. I am so grateful for healthy happy sons and a great husband! I am so blessed. --emily

Choose The Right

2011-01-17T18:46:00.000-08:00

Jacob has mentioned a couple of times that he would like a CTR ring. Some of his friends at pre-school have one. He has also seen his church class friends with a ring also. So today while we were out playing as a family, we stopped at Deseret Book so the boys could pick out a ring. They both picked the same ring with a blue background. The boys' chubby fingers look so darling with a "big kid" ring on. Now, with this little reminder to Choose The Right, maybe they will make good choices! :) --emily

(Jacob's hand is on the Left and Andrew's is on the Right)

A Sick Day

2011-01-11T21:02:00.001-08:00

This has been our position science Sunday. The boys have had the pucky, throw ups. They haven't felt like eating much. I can't blame them. So because of this, they have been so lethargic and have not wanted to play much. We have been sitting in mom's bed watching movies and shows. Their new favorite show today was "Olivia." It is a darling show about a little girl pig. The only food they can keep down is bread and Gatorade, so I actually let them eat in mom's bed. Maybe tomorrow we will try some real food. Wish us luck that we can make it through the night without anyone throwing up tonight. We all need a good night sleep. --emily

Christmas Eve

2010-12-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

This year we had a low key Christmas evening with just our little family. We ate some yummy soup for a early dinner and made some fresh home made cookies for Santa. His favorite from our home are chocolate chip with oatmeal. We then played games. My favorite game to play with the boys is Uno. After a rousing game that Andrew won, we read the Christmas story in the Bible, put out cookies for Santa, and tucked the boys in for a good night sleep--in new Christmas jammies of course! Their jammies have Lego Star Wars guys on them. They were a hit! --emily

Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! We hope you had a fantastic year as we did.

Andrew transitioned to a big-boy bed this year. He has enjoyed waking up early and keeping his dad company while he gets ready for work. He’ll usually wake Kelly up and say, “I want to watch something on your ‘puter.” He’ll watch old Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons on Kelly’s computer while Kelly makes him breakfast.

Jacob has enjoyed going to pre-school. He has gotten very good at learning the alphabet and he can count pretty close to infinity. Jacob can spell his name as well as several other words. We're proud of him for being such a quick learner.

Last year Emily crafted at a show to earn some extra cash for a new high tech camera. This year she has enjoyed learning to use it and is currently taking a local class. She really is enjoying photography.

Kelly had his 6^th anniversary at Applied Discovery, where he is the Director of Production Operations. He also passed the 1 year mark in his MBA program with Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Kelly has also experienced a resurgence in his guitar-playing career and enjoys jamming with his friend Larry as often as they can get together. --Kelly

The Falls

2010-12-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

On Monday we went to visit the falls. We have had lots of rain so our rivers are quite swollen. It was the perfect time to go to the falls. The boys got soaked from the spray but they had a great time anyway.

I was having a hard time keeping my lens dry. The spray from the falls was so powerful. --emily

Christmas Tree Cutting

2010-11-27T13:50:00.001-08:00

This year I let the little boys pick out the Christmas tree all by themselves. Usually I try to steer them in the direction of the type of tree that I like, but this was their year. Momma said, "Okay boys pick out your favorite tree." And that was the tree that we bought and are going to decorate on Monday. It is a lot smaller of a tree than I would have picked and a little brownish in the middle, but I love it because my big boys picked it out!

After all the hard work of picking and cutting a tree, splashing and stomping through the mud. We were all a little frozen on the inside. So we all went in to pay and enjoy some cider, cookies, and candy canes of course. What a great weekend of tradition! The Christmas season is off to a great start. --emily

Santa Day

2010-11-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season has begun in our home. Black Friday isn't for shopping in our family. It is Santa picture day. It is a great way for us to get into the season. We were lucky and didn't have to wait in line. Santa was so great, he talked with Jacob about the things he wanted and what was write in his letter. Santa read the letter below like it was typed. He didn't stumble over any of the words. He is amazing! As you can see some of the words are split between two lines, but Santa knew just what Jacob was saying. Andrew was super apprehensive and barley made it onto Santa's lap. There were a few small tears, but after lots of convincing he sat nicely with his stuffed puppy in hand.

Dear Santa, I have been a good boy! [What I would like for Christmas:] Transformer, regular pencils, (boy) Zhu Zhu pets, Soccer ball, Stuffed puppies, Balloons and Marble race. Love, Jake

Dear Santa, [What I would like for Christmas:] Zhu Zhu pets (boy), Space ship and Transformer. Love, Andrew

I am feeling ready for this Christmas season. Let the celebrating begin! --emily

Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-11-25T22:19:00.000-08:00

My mom is a wonderful cook. She always does a great job hosting Thanksgiving dinner, but this year she decided to take a break from long hours of cooking and cleaning. She took the entire family to a Chinese restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner.

It was fun to get the whole family together. The food was good, but I missed the good old-fashioned turkey and mashed potatoes.

Jacob, Andrew and Simon entertained them self on Auntie Rachel's iPhone after they were all done eating. Jacob has been telling me about this awesome game. Where you slice the thought the fruit like a ninja.

Andrew entertained Joshua and Adrianne the whole time. He was eating with his hands. He had rice all over his whole body. Andrew loved the attention!

--emily

Playing in the snow day 2

2010-11-23T23:25:00.001-08:00

Today was an amazing day for sledding. The sun was shining; the snow had a perfect crunch from the cold evening prior. We all went up to the fields behind our house after lunch and spent about an hour sledding down the big hills. Kelly had to get back to work and Andrew was tired but Mr. Jacob wanted more so Jacob and I walked over to the smaller hills. We had an impromptu play date with some friends. The boys took turns riding the jump and also raced each other down the hill. Jacob spent the next hour and a half playing before he was tired enough to go home. What a great day to be a kid! --emily

Let it Snow . . .

2010-11-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Today was our first snowfall of the season. It has been an amazing day. The snow has been falling, swirling and dancing all afternoon.

(Andrew and Jacob)

This morning after breakfast we put all of our snow clothes on and headed out into the blistery cold weather.

(Andrew)

Today is the Monday before Thanksgiving and this winter has come so early. Yeah! We love the snow.

(Jacob, Andrew and Kelly)

We headed up to our perfect sledding hills. We had the place to ourselves because the neighborhood kids were all in school. We heard that it was an hour late and parent teacher conference week, so the elementary kids went to school for a whopping hour and a half today.

(Jacob right after a face plant)

Jacob wanted to go zooming down the hill by himself so badly. But he wasn't quite heavy enough to make the sled go fast. The snow was also so sticky. It is a Northwest thing! We will have to go out again tomorrow to see what the snow has to offer.

(Jacob)

The bright fall leaves in the other wise black and white picture. Those poor trees are hanging onto their leaves so tightly.

Here we are right before we headed home for some hot chocolate and cookies. We were all so frozen. We had a great morning playing in the snow. --emily

(Jacob, Mom and Andrew)

Halloween Evening

2010-10-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween was on Sunday this year so we kept our evening low key. We trick-or-treated at a few neighbors' homes.

We decorated our yard as a grave yard this year. It was so much fun. It is too bad that we lost half of our decor. The wind blew it down the street. It has been a very windy October.

Here is Jacob helping us hand out our Halloween candy. The weather was so nice this year we just sat on the porch for a little while and enjoyed the activity on the streets. I love our neighborhood. --emily

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-30T14:59:00.001-07:00

The rain returned today so we spent the majority of the day inside. We played games and carved our pumpkins. The boys had a great time carving pumpkins.

The boys enjoyed getting their hands dirty and slimy. They both did a great job cleaning out all the guts. It was fun to me to see their different style of digging. Jacob looked like he was scooping cereal from a breakfast bowl and Andrew was scoopin' like it was hard ice cream.

Before we started carving Jacob went up stairs to his room and changed into the same shirt that Dad had been wearing all morning--a small red polo shirt Kelly picked up for him when he was Indiana this summer. He wanted to match Dad. Makes for a cute picture here.

This is Jacob's pumpkin he designed himself. Jacob drew little round eyes, a smiley face, and little arms on his pumpkin with a sharpie. Then Dad helped him cut out the skinny parts. I love how it has little arms. Very nice work Jake!

This is Andrew's Pumpkin. I helped him carve it out. He wanted teeth and eyes and this is what we came up with. A classic Jack-O-Lantern.

Here are all three pumpkins. Kelly helped Jake I helped Drew and Kelly made a Daddy pumpkin too. --emily

Ward Halloween Party

2010-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

Friday evening our ward had a Halloween party / trunk-or-treat. The activity began with us trick-or-treating at each of the cars. I was impressed with how people decorated their cars. My car was so lame. But a mom can only do so many things and an elaborately decorated Halloween car didn't make the cut this year. After going from car to car we were all gathered inside for a well-planned kid Halloween party. They had a cake walk, a coloring station, bobbing for apples, ring toss and bingo. I feel like there was so much more but I can't put my finger on it.

Here the boys and I are playing bingo. They both really enjoyed this game. Note to self: when playing a game like this in public, don't use candy as the marking pieces. Hands get sticky! And the germ-a-phobe in me is thinking about all the little fingers that have touched the pieces before me. As I am writing this, I am remembering my friend, who will go unnamed, grabbed a piece from the table and popped it in her mouth. That is why I am gagging on the inside. Love you friend!

The boys are picking their prizes from winning at bingo. The guy running the game said they could each pick 2 things. Jacob picked 2 little sticky rats, and Andrew picked a pack of candy Dots. We have already lost the little sticky rats. Jacob has had me looking for them all day.

The boys are Transformers for Halloween this year. They look awesome! I had a couple of different people ask me if I made them. Boy do I have some people fooled with how crafty I am. Costco and Target made their costumes this year.

For the cake walk activity, they had asked for volunteers to make cupcakes for the kids to win. Here are the cup cakes I made for the party. It was a chocolate pudding base cupcake with coconut frosting. I have to admit I did sneak one and I sent my friends over to sneak one for themselves also. The kids don't know how to appreciate a good cupcake like that.

It was a fantastic party! --emily

Happy Birthday Hubby

2010-10-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kelly's birthday this last week. We partied with chocolate-on-chocolate cupcakes, a new golf club driver and many wishes. We have had a birthday tradition of having a birthday lunch with dad, but poor dad, he was supper busy with work and we were unable to party at lunch time. So we had to wait till later in the evening to celebrate. We are so grateful for a dad and husband that works so hard to provide so well for us.

Happy birthday Kelly! --Love, emily

White board fun

2010-10-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

This summer we bought an easel with a chalkboard on one side and a white board on the other. We have used it as a chalk board in the garage for most of the summer and now that it is cold outside we have brought it inside and are using the white board side.

This pink picture Jacob drew for mom. "Mom this is you" pointing to the person in the middle. "And here are some flowers because you like flowers." I love that Jacob drew me with a skirt on and in a pink pen.

This blue picture Jacob drew for Dad. "This is dad" as Jacob points the the guy on the Right. "And here are the mountains" as Jacob points to the tall shape on the Left. "Dad is pointing to the mountains. He likes the mountains" Supper cute! --emily

Andrew's Birthday Week

2010-10-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Andrew's birthday this week. It was a great week of celebrating!

Andrew's request for birthday breakfast was hot chocolate, toast and birthday oatmeal, which is regular oatmeal with sprinkles on it. Sprinkles turn everything into a party.

Andrew wanted to help me make his birthday cake. He was such a great little assistant. Upon his request we used the red baking dish. We made a funfetti cake with homemade chocolate frosting. It was Yummy!

Once Dad got home from work we ate dinner, made some wishes, blew out candles, and ate cake.

Andrew enjoyed his cake!

We concluded his actual birthday with opening a few gifts. It was a great evening party.

Then on Saturday we had a few friends over to play games and hang out. The kids played put the symbol on the transformer and we even had a transformer pinata.

Andrew's cousin Simon was so excited here. He is showing everyone the transformer head that flew off the pinata. It was a great week for a birthday.

We are so grateful to have Andrew as part of our family. It has been a great 3 years. It is so fun to see him " Transforming" into a big boy. We love you so much. --Mom