Waterlogged in Washington

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T00:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Family & Friends,
I apologize for the lateness/non-existence of my Christmas cards this year. It has been another wet, overcast, and windy Christmas in Seattle. I just want to curl up in a corner with a fluffy blanket and read books all winter. But give me a few days of sun and I recharge. I am spending New Year’s Day in Arizona with the little kids so I can make it through until spring. The summers are glorious here though. (If you want to visit that would be time to do it. And you are all welcome to visit anytime.)

My family is doing well here. Lily (2) is nothing like Hunter was. She is talkative, likes to include me in every activity she does and reminds me constantly of things I forget. She also likes to explore everything and ask questions constantly. If it weren’t for those gorgeous big brown eyes, she’d be toast sometimes. Last week we took the kids up to Pike Place Market and wanted to show them the gum wall. (There is a huge wall covered artistically with pieces of abc gum.) We admired the wall, added our own to the effect and turned to leave, when Lily grabbed a fresh piece from the wall and popped it into her mouth before I could stop her. People all up and down the street were grossing out for her. Ugh. I hope she doesn’t catch anything nasty. She just gave me a look like, “What, this is perfectly good gum.” That is the essence of Lily and we love her.

Hunter (7) is the quieter child sometimes. He loves to sing, play the piano, read and figure things out. His most favorite thing to do is getting the family together to play board games. He likes playing soccer and baseball. He also just confessed to me that he was interested in taking Ballroom dance lessons as well. (Megan is thrilled about that.) He’s also quite a nurturer. He is father to 4 dozen stuffed animals whom he cares for. He loves to snuggle them and even shares with Lily (Her crib is now so full of stuffed animals, there is barely room for her to sleep.)

Dylan. One word that describes him is “explosive.” He has an obsession with all things related to fire. He put salt peter and canon fuse down on his Amazon wish list for Christmas. I told him that the ATF might be knocking on his door if he ordered those things together. Dylan also has a sparkly enthusiasm for life and he is my right hand man. He loves watching the younger children and he is such a help to me. His goal this year is to get good grades and he is doing a great job accomplishing it.

Megan is our busy 16-year old. When she was 15 I was terrified for her to get her driver’s license. Now I can’t wait. I spend at least half of my life driving her to and from things. She continues to perform with the top ballroom dance team with the Pacific Ballroom Dance Company. She is president of Girl’s Camp for next summer, has an active social life, attends early morning seminary each morning, and is taking 2 AP classes and applying for numerous scholarships. She is also in the midst of 40 hours of driving instruction mandated by the state of Washington. She will be finished the middle of January and can’t wait to get her license (neither can I).

Alex was released from Elder’s Quorum president and asked to be the Scout Master (his dream calling.) He is excited to camp with the boys every month. Although his first campout was at an RV resort near Mt. St. Helens with a big screen TV, pool table, heater and steak and shrimp dinner. They got caught in a wind storm that flattened his tent, but that did not deter them from hiking the lava tubes around the mountain the next morning. Let me just say that we need to buy stock in REI now. Alex is still with Amgen and has been traveling quite a bit to Boston and North Carolina this year.

I have a new calling as Nursery leader. I guess if you hang out in nursery long enough, they will put you in officially. I am having fun playing with the two year olds and trying to get them to sit still for 60-second lessons. I played cello in the Messiah this year and continue to teach my 1 cello student.

We went on our first big trip as a family this summer. Although we live 20 minutes from the ocean here, we flew 3000 miles to North Carolina for two weeks. We stayed with the Rays and had a good time. We were also excited to see Ken & Alisyn and their beautiful girls and Conner. We spent 1 glorious week in a house right on the beach with my brother Michael and his family. It was absolutely paradise. We walked hand in hand on the beach and watched the sunrise on the ocean on our 18th anniversary. Then we got in the car, drove 3 hours to the airport and flew 10 hours in two plane with a 5 hour layover and a delay in Chicago. It was worth every minute.

Love,

Jennifer Boren Wright

P.S. Here are some pictures that my sister-in-law, Diana Boren, took of our family on our trip to North Carolina. She is a professional. You can see more of her work at http://www.rightontheshot.com/. If you are in the Cleveland area, give her a call if you need a photographer.

I made a Picaboo book of our family vacation. To see the book, click here

For more beautiful shots of Emerald Isle, click here.

I'm Back.

2010-05-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

Due to some encouragement from from friends (you know who you are), I am actually posting. I have some cute pictures of the kids. Enjoy.

Can you tell

Who is Who?

Give up? I'll tell you at the end of this blog.

So long story short. I kept this cute dress from Megan and she took such a darling picture in it. It's like a little Alice in Wonderland outfit. Last week I decided to get Lily's picture taken in it before she out grew it. (She is really growing lately. I can't keep her in clothes.) So the photo on the right was Lily's first attempt. (There, I just told you who was who, but they look quite similar, but have definitely different personalities. Lily did not want to take her picture. He didn't want to walk on the white backdrop. She clung to me sobbing, her pacifier clutched tightly in her sweaty hands. Tears and drool graced her face, the photographer snapped this shot. This is in fact, the only shot we took with her that day. We rescheduled for the following week. Same thing, gave her a bath, worked on the hair, rushed her into the car to go to the mall. We have a portable DVD player and I let her watch Dora the Explorer when she is in the car. We ended up bringing the thing into the studio. The photographer suggested we leave the player on the floor in from of her. The brought her a cool yellow chair in her size to sit on. She wouldn't leave the chair and she spent most of the time, watching Dora, but we got some really neat shots in between scenes.

The secret behind the successful photo shoot--Dora and Diego. She's just adjusting the volume.

The bear needed a variety of hair bows as well. Lily was used to me styling her hair. She kept feeling the pony tails and trying to rip them out.

As you can see, Lily certainly has a personality. She walks around the house in the high air voice: "I love Hunter." She sings the backpack song from Dora and can name all her colors. She also counts to 12 in spanish and english. She loves to do puzzles and is very smart. She can bypass any of my baby safety mechanism in no time flat. She can even us the latched with the magnets that are a pain to open. Enjoy the pictures and I'll more up soon. Coming Next: Pictures of all the cousin at the Boren Family reunion in Mesa, AZ in December.

P.S. Which one is Megan? The first one taken on a red background---13 1/2 years ago.

Portraits

2009-10-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Here is Lily's 18 month picture (a couple of months late). She hasn't had a picture taken since 11 months. She is quite photogenic, although the photographer had quite a time trying to keep her from pushing the chair around. Hunter missed his school pictures, so I brought him as well. They love to take pictures together. They are good friends and adore each other.

Lily's current vocabulary: "go away" (taught by brothers) "thank you," "bye" "hi" "mom" "dad" "shoes" She can sign "hat," "thank you," "please," "more," "eat," "drink," "out," "bed," and "blanket"

To see more pictures of these two, click on this link and enter Jennifer Wright under the name.

Harry Potter and Hedwig

2009-10-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Some portraits of my cuties. Hunter picked the theme this year. He is, of course, Harry Potter and Lily is Hedwig. I made both the costumes. The owl was actually harder than I thought, but I enjoyed it. I think making costumes is therapeutic for me. Lily isn't too thrilled with it, especially the hat, but this may be the last year I have to decide what she wears before she insists on being a princess. She is so cute walking around in the owl costume. It is stuffed and she waddles around in it.

First Haircut

2009-10-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

Lily's first haircut at almost 20 months. She really didn't have much hair to cut, but she was getting the comb-over effect, with some really long strands on top and nothing under. I fondly call her my little duckling because she still has that downy fuzzy hair. My girls were very late to grow hair (and once Megan started growing hair, she discovered the scissors and kept chopping it off.) The boys on the other hand had full heads of beautiful hair early on. Hunter had his first haircut at 6 months. My friend Alethea agreed to cut Lily's hair for me. She is also Lily's nursery teacher.

Father-Son Bonding Trip

2009-10-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Alex has started a tradition that when his sons turn 12, he will take them to their first priesthood session in Salt Lake City. Since Dylan turned 12 in August, he got to experience his first father-son priesthood bonding session. Here they are in front of the grain silos at Welfare Square.

The men in black at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

Doing manly, dirty and slightly dangerous things together.

Future missionary ready to serve.

Is it snow? No, just the Y above Provo. They climbed there with buddies Harrison and Mark from North Carolina.

Breathtaking view of the city.

Such studs--Dylan and Harrison.

They visited grandma on the way home.

Buried in Berries. What a Jam Jamberry!

2009-09-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

Our kids love the book Jamberry by Bruce Degan, but I'd never thought we'd be living it until we moved here. We picked blackberries this year and found out about "blackberry brambles." Blackberries are Washington's answer to North Carolina's kudzu--with a few "pointed" exceptions: yummy delicious sweet berries, vicious jump-out-and grab-you thorns.

This is where we picked our blackberries. It's a house just down the street from us. We aren't sure where the front door is. The kids call it the Sleeping Beauty house. We just picked berries around the hidden trucks. Blackberries grow so fast here.

The end result of our work was 4 pints of blackberry jam, and 7 pints of blackberry pie filling. Oh, a few scars on legs and arms.

We've also been picking blueberries this year--much easier than blackberries.

There is a park in Tacoma that has free blueberries. Volunteers keep it us. They have over 3000 bushes there. You can pick to your hearts content.

We went with Esther and her kids. Lily even had her own little bucket.

Of course she ate more than she picked. She is a blueberry fiend. She loves all fruit actually. I got a water bath canner this year and put it to work canning apricots, peached, pears, applesauce, and pizza sauce (from our own tomatoes.) I worked with a couple of other ladies and on each marathon canning session, Lily helped us out by sampling the produce (and then putting them back in the box for us to find). By the way, never try to put up 240 lbs of pears at once. Believe me, it's not a good idea. Anyone want pear sauce?

Hunter Scores!

2009-09-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hunter scored his first goal ever at yesterday's game. We are so proud of him! He has some awesome and encouraging coaches this year. Team Fury rocks! I felt sorry for the other team. (Of course we have often been the other team.) It's a good thing they don't keep score at this age. I lost track of their goals.

Happy Birthday Megan!

2009-08-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Happy 15th Birthday, Megan!

My baby is a grown up. Soon (very soon) she'll be driving. We are so proud of her and the young woman she has become. Keep up the good work sweetheart.

The First Lost Tooth is the Specialest.

2009-08-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hunter had two gaps this week. One was in the front of his hair--due to a self-inflicted haircut. He ended up with a buzz cut. The second was more painful. This tooth hung on forever. He even had to have a special diet for a few days because everything "hurt his tooth." Alex was finally able to yank it out. He is so proud of his tooth. He put in under his pillow for the tooth fairy and Alex had to pry it out of his hands to replace it with the money. He had an iron grip on it. The tooth fairy decided to leave his tooth for him since "the first lost tooth is the specialest." (note the Fairly Odd Parents) Hunter has been carrying around his tooth all day and showing it off. Isn't he cute?

Smitten in Forks

2009-07-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Megan and I went on a mother-daughter bonding trip to Fork, WA--home of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers. We both like the series, but certainly wouldn't have made the trip if it were more than 3 hours away. We did meet some die hard fans there, however--a family from Boston, an 11-year old boy who hooked his mother on the the books, and a couple of young girls from Hungary. Here are some pictures in random order of our trip.

The famous picture in front of the Forks Welcome sign.

Forks is actually named that because three rivers come together there. This is a pic of where the rivers reach the ocean. The town of Forks itself is kind of quaint in an over-commercialized kind of way, but what we really fell in love with was First Beach at LaPush on the Indian Reservation.

First Beach is jammed with tons of bleached driftwood. They made all sorts of interesting and photographical (is that a word?) designs.

Taken through a piece of driftwood.

Some of these pieces of wood were huge--entire trees. In the summer the tide is low and the trees are pretty far up along the beach, but in the winter, the water becomes treacherous with all of these floating pieces of wood.

A look out onto James Island--sacred to the native americans.

Beautiful (and frigid) water.

More scenes from First Beach (There is also a Second and Third Beach, but we are saving those for our next trip).

Get it? Edward doesn't sleep. LOL

The coffee shop where Bella and Charlie eat every week. Megan didn't want to eat there because it looked scary. Heard the food is pretty good though.

The busiest store in town. They have about every item of Twilight merchandise you can imagine. We got Lily a onesie that says "Imprinted" on it. Cute, huh?

Halfway between Forks and LaPush.

Back at the beach in LaPush.

More beautiful scenery. We must have taken a hundred pictures there.

Outside Billy Black's house.

Jacob's motorcycle in front of his house.

The hospital where Carlisle Cullen works. By the way the cafe there is called "Spoons."

Dr. Cullen's reserved parking.

Bella's house.

Bella's truck, complete with photos.

Outside Forks High School. Megan noticed that next year she will also be attending FHS (Fife High School) with the same colors and the same mascot (but their mascot is actually called the Trojans.)

Outside the Cullen's home. It didn't look anything like the one described in the book and wasn't exactly secluded, but I guess the house that really fit the bill, actually burned down in March. Bummer. It must've been the Volturi.

The tour bus.

It took us over an hour to drive from Port Angeles to Forks. By the way, there is nothing inbetween and the two places that looked like they might have restrooms, were closed. Word of advice, use the facilities and gas up in Port Angeles if you go. There was however a beautiful lake--Crescent Lake--that we drove along for a good 25 minutes during sunset. It was spectacular.

More views of the lake.

Sign outside the Dazzled by Twilight store in Port Angeles.

The movie theater (Lincoln Theater) that Bella goes to with Mike and her friends.

Look who we just happened to run into.

The restaurant that Edward take Bella to on their first date after he saves her from the thugs. This restaurant is actually mentioned by name in the book. It's a nice kind of upscale place. I couldn't resist. I had the mushroom ravioli and it was to die for.

Kodak moment.

One of the bookstores Bella might have popped into looking for books on vampires. By the way, Port Angeles is the "big city" to Forks. Interestingly enough the population of Port Angeles is only 19,000. They get quite a bit of tourist traffic in the summer because they are one of the ferry ports to Victoria, Vancouver Island and the San Juan islands. Forks, on the other hand only has a population of 3175--half the size of Milton--but no fast food, or movie theater. Seattle is at least 3 hours away. Don't think I could live there permanently, but it was gorgeous to visit. Next time we'll bring the whole family and camp in the Hoh Rainforest.

Megan Dancing the Rumba

2009-07-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Megan is on the summer youth team and they performed at a ballroom in Bellevue last weekend. Enjoy.

San Juan Islands

2009-07-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Alex' parent came to visit last week and we made a trek to the San Juan Islands.

This is me and Lily at Deception Pass.

View from the bridge.

Skipping rocks off of Whidbey Island

On the ferry to Friday Harbor

Lily getting her sea legs.

Alex and Hunter

bon voyage.

Goofy Hunter.

The girls

Disembarking

The whale museum at Friday Harbor.

Friday Harbor

more whale museum

Grandpa & Dylan riding around in a little electric car.

Hunter and Alex

Heading into shore.

my man Dylan

checking out the beautiful scenery. This is why I love Washington in the Summer.

Princess Lily

Megan & Grandma with Mt Baker in the background.

Outlook over the San Juan islands from Anacortes.

Megan and the monkeys

She Made It!

2009-06-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

After a grueling audition and call-backs, meet Megan, the newest member of the Youth Premier Ballroom Dance Team. (That's the top team in layman's term)

This is from her performance on the Junior Premier team a couple of weeks ago.
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" polka. Megan is in the back middle.

From "The Chairman's Waltz" (Memoirs of a Geisha)

Isn't she beautiful (and talented). (Don't blush, Megan)
She also did a samba with a black light and funky costumes, but frankly couldn't tell which one was her, let alone take a picture.

Seattle Fine Arts Examiner: Pacific Ballroom Dance - Dancing Through Life - review

2009-06-02T15:07:00.001-07:00

Seattle Fine Arts Examiner: Pacific Ballroom Dance - Dancing Through Life - review

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Happy Birthday, Alex!

2009-05-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

Alex officially celebrates his first year of being 39 today! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. I love you.

Take Your Kid to Work Day--Part I

2009-05-07T23:28:00.001-07:00

Alex took Hunter with him to work for Amgen's Take Your Kid to Work Day.

He let Hunter decide if he wanted to take the train to work or the bus.

Guess which one he chose. He's been reading books about trains all week to get ready.
This is the train they took. They got to ride on the second story.

They even had a little table inside.

Hunter on the Helix bridge going into Alex' building. It's shaped like a strand of DNA, so they call it the Helix bridge.

Having pancakes for breakfast at the Watson & Crick Cafe.

The future scientist (or train engineer)

Decked out in Alex' lab coat.

Decorating T-shirts.

Doing top secret experiements.

Observing the centrifuge.

Sterile and safe conditions must be observed.

After work, Alex took him up the space needle. The outside observation deck is not covered. Hmmm, was that an engineering oversight or what?

The train station down town and passing Quest stadium.

This kid was beaming all day.

One pooped (but happy) little boy.

Please DO feed the animals!

2009-05-07T22:44:00.001-07:00

Hunter loves to help out feeding his little sister.

The little man in action.

Easter Digs

2009-04-13T17:08:00.001-07:00

This year I attempted to make the girls matching Easter dresses. Megan agreed as long as she could pick out the fabric so it wasn't too "little girly." I think she made a great choice. It turned out to take quite a while to make them though since I had to do it after Lily went to bed. She wanted to help me by pushing the pedal and the reverse button. So after several nights of very little sleep, they were finished. Lily even let me put that ridiculous flower on her head.

The boys got black suits. Hunter wouldn't put the tie on, but he's still cute.

Easter Eggs

2009-04-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

This was the first Easter Lily could participate in the Egg Hunt. The big kids hid the eggs and the little ones hunted them. (Hunter was so excited that "Hunt" is in his name by the way.)

Lily didn't quite get the concept that you are supposed to put the eggs in the basket though. She did, however get that there were yummy things to eat inside the eggs.

Lily trying out a Peep. She wasn't too thrilled with it. Frankly, neither am I, but it's one of thoses traditions you just have to get--like chocolate-covered cherries at Christmas (yuck!). Somehow every year we think we are going to like them and every year we end up taking one bite and throwing them out. In Lily's case, she was covered in yellow slimey stickiness.

The manditory dyeing of the eggs. We got a "glitter kit" this year. Mistake.

Lily's Stepping Out

2009-04-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

The weather finally cleared up enough to take Lily outside for the first time. Hunter showed her the ropes on what to do in the Cozy Coupe. She seemed a little unsure and was quite funny trying to walk up the drive way--She ended up going backward and seems surprised by it.

Seattle Space Needle

2009-04-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Alex decided he would get season tickets to the Space Needle. (I suggested maybe the Children's Museum, the Zoo, Wild Waves, but he was enthralled with the Space Needle.) By the way, we can bring guests, so if you decide to come visit us, your Space Needle visit is on us.

I think we'll go again when it is warmer and drier--oh, and lighter.

Farm School at the Puyallup Fairgrounds

2009-04-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of escorting Hunter's Kindergarten class to the Puyallup Fair School. It was actually a lot more interesting that I originally thought it would be.

If we ever get chickens, it would have to be these Polish hens. Loved their mops.

Petting the chicks with one finger.

Sorting tomatoes

Hunter is 12 hands tall

An interesting note: I just finished reading Glen Beck's The Christmas Sweater (an excellent tear-jerking book by the way) and he mentions the Puyallup Fair in the book. Kind of cool.

Toddling

2009-03-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

At long last here is a video of Lily walking. She took her first consecutive steps on her 1st birthday. She walks everywhere now.

Random Cuteness

2009-03-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

Skiing on Crystal Mountain

2009-03-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

We went skiing as a family on Friday the 13th (I know that sounds a little ominous). We went with Tom and Carma and their 3 year old and a six year old. Honestly, I was dragging my feet a little because I thought it would be lame hanging out at the lodge with Hunter and Lily. When we got there though, we found out the lift ticket for 6 and under is free and ski rental is only $15. So I figured, what the heck. Let’s try Hunter out. I really had no hope that he would like it since he absolutely hated roller skating, but figured we’d only be out $15. Turns out he loved it. Alex and he tagged along with a little beginner class and they practiced gliding on this cute little obstacle course. Then our friends got him to go up the ski lift (amazing) and ski down the bunny slope. He loved it and kept asking to go again. I think we’ve created a monster. Next year when he turns 7, he’ll cost quite a bit more. I ended up being stuck in the lodge with Lily. She flirted with everyone, ate, and took a nap. I probably should have gotten a sitter for her, so I could ski. Oh well, next time. Megan and Dylan had a blast. Both ventured off the bunny slope onto the next level and loved it. Alex, however, hit a black (difficult) run for his first time down and ended up really sore the rest of the day. He got on the wrong lift and there is only one way down once you get up.

Hunter and Ella playing in the snow.

Hunter with his "ski instructor," Tom.

Hunter getting ready to ride the lift with Carma. He said that was his favorite part.

Megan and Dylan.

Carma and Hunter. She and Tom were so nice to take him down the hill 5 times!!!

Hunter looking all studly.

Alex right before he went over the ridge. Yikes! Mt Rainier in the background.

Lily in her bunny suit.

Hunter showing off his lift pass.

This is why I haven't blogged for a while.

2009-03-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

I have helping out the Bellevue South Stake with their production of The Music Man. I was the only cellist in the orchestra. It was a lot of fun, but also time consuming since just driving up there was 30-45 minutes each way in addition to rehearsals.

The photographer didn't get a picture of me, but I was sitting next to these two.

Marian and Harold (who is married to the flute player, by the way.)

Julienne Dance, our director.

The music.

Lily's First Birthday

2009-02-25T21:12:00.001-08:00

Yum. They are actually giving me paper to eat.

Yes, my own cell phone. What??? It doesn't do text messages!

I thought dolls were boring, but this one actually crawls and giggles just like me. And I can throw it around and bash it and it doesn't complain, just keeps giggling.

This looks interesting.

Hmmm. Not bad.

Where's the ice cream?

Ah, satisfaction.

(Editor's note: This child was the cleanest of all the kids. She never tore into the cake. The big kids had to show her how. She just picked at in in her own dainty way. She didn't even need a bath when she was done. By the way, she took her first consecutive steps on her birthday. I'll try to get a video up of her doing it. It's so cute and she is so proud of herself.)

Hunter's 6th Birthday

2009-02-25T20:57:00.000-08:00

The big man showing off his new age.

Hunter had a Monster Jam themed party. For some reason, he nixed the heart and flower themed idea.

No Monster Jam party would be complete without a Grave Digger pinata to smash--and smashed it was. No part of it remained.

Showing off his camcorder from Dappy. He carries it with him everywhere.

Megan Dancing the Mambo

2009-01-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

Megan is the understudy for the main girl in the mambo dance. On Saturday, she got to take the lead role since the regular girl couldn't do it. She is so cute. By the way, they were dancing at a nursing home, so the "stage" was a little smaller than usual.

Family Pictures

2009-01-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

As you can tell, I'm not that great at getting our family picture taken, but I decided it has been several years since we've all gotten one taken (with Alex) and we have a new family member who is in her cute phase so I scheduled an appointment. Here are the results.

For more pictures, go to http://www.smilesbywire.com/ and type in access code LTPP0100117040JCP and my name

Monster Truck Jam

2009-01-18T19:22:00.001-08:00

Alex took the boys to a Monster Truck Jam last night. They had a blast. It was loud and dirty.

Their favorite was the Grave Digger. We got to see it up close at the Chicago Natural History Museum a few years ago. Hunter brought his matchbox version of it to the event. Hunter took this picture.

They went with some friends of ours. As you can see, it was pretty loud.

They didn't mention to me that Friday night a 6-year-old high up in the stands was hit by a frisbee sized piece of metal that flew off one of the trucks. He died of his injuries. That would have made me a bit nervous. They pulled that particular truck from the show though, and they had a moment of silence for the boy.

Is it in you?

2009-01-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me this cute video. Enjoy.

Survival Kit for Washington

2009-01-08T01:06:00.000-08:00

My dear brother, Mike, is graduating from MIT this semester. He was offered a job in Cleveland. After this winter, he told me he is planning on buying the following survival kit for his new life in the Midwest:

Back up Generator
All Wheel Drive family transportation
Emergency Propane Heaters
Snow Blower
Several Hundred Dollars worth of down coats for everyone.

After careful consideration, I decided to put together my own survival kit for Washington State. (Although I admit several of the above items would have been nice a couple of weeks ago.)

Good windshield wipers. I cannot stress this enough.
Rain gear. A really heavy duty umbrella--You know the huge ones with the wind flaps. I think most Seattl-ites don't bother with umbrellas since the less than heavy-duty ones are pretty much disposable. Rain boots. Rain Slicker.
Dawn simulator. I got mine last year and it is indispensable. The natural tendency here is to hibernate all winter. My regular alarm was so painful to wake. This alarm starts about 15 minutes before I want to wake up to slowly get lighter. It hits full light at the time I want to wake up and has a nice pleasant beep. With my other alarm I was startled awake every morning and would spend the next 15 minutes shaking.
Along those same lines, a light box has been very helpful. It simulates the sun on a very bright day. I sit under it and read for 30 minutes a day and it helps my mood. I used it when we lived in Indiana too.
Caffeinated Beverages. (Being LDS, the choices for this option are very limited. Although I must admit, its position on this list is tentative. I have actually stopped drinking caffeinated beverages after reading an article in the Ensign. I am proud to say that I have been "clean and sober" for 3 weeks now. But I seriously need to find an alternative for this option. I've been recommended a variety of herbal remedies and I understand diet and exercise might be a good replacement. Jury is still out on this one.)
(optional) After the amount of rain we had gotten in the last week, I think I might have to add a boat to the list.

A Seattle Rockin' New Year

2009-01-01T23:24:00.001-08:00

Paul Allen's Sci Fi/Rock Museum, the Experience Music Project is free to the public the first Thursday of each month. This happened to fall on New Year's Day this year, so we decided to check it out. They even had live music. It was a happening place. The museum has the most bizzare architecture I've ever seen, but the exhibits were pretty cool. We loved the Science Fiction part, but they wouldn't let us take pictures. Even hunter enjoyed it. They had a replica of the Iron Giant.

Dylan standing by a picture of Bob Dylan and not looking happy.

This sculpture is huge--maybe 40 or 50 feet tall--all made from musical instruments--mostly guitars. It's called Roots and Branches.

I think it was Eric Miller playing that night.

A Wright Family Wreunion

2009-01-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

Saturday, Todd and Lisa, Travis and Nikki, Brenda and Gene and all the kids got together. It was a lot of fun.

Rock Bank junkies.

The three amigos all have birthdays within a year of each other. They played the Wii together really well.

First Tooth

2009-01-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

Lily finally cut her first tooth. It's a tiny one on the bottom right. After 10 1/2 months, she is quite proud of herself.

Some Images of Our Christmas

2008-12-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

Hunter is our most consistant child. He has been asking for a remote control monster truck for months--never wavering. He was so excited that Santa brought it for him.

Hunter and I went to the Nutcracker together at the Pacific Northwest Ballet earlier this month. Maurice Sendak designed the costumes and the sets. It looked like a giant story book come to life. We loved it and can't wait to go back next year. Since then, Hunter has really been into nutcrackers and wanted one for Christmas too.

Alex had to have the Alton Brown salt cellar--you know the one with the flip lid. The tupperware container wasn't cutting it for our Kosher salt.

An Easy Bake oven for the manly man. Dylan put an Easy Bake oven on his Christmas list. Alex said "I am qbsolutely not getting my 11-year old son an Easy Bake oven." He has no aversion to men cooking (see picture above), just thought his son was a little old for an Easy Bake. We compromised on this Star Wars creepy crawly oven. Dylan liked it. It doesn't do muffins, but when he gets hungry he can make muffins in the regular oven.

A coffee grinder. This is Seattle. What home can be without a coffee grinder? There is the best spice market downtown and now he can grind his own spices.

Matching Sock Monkeys and their stuffed animals too.

Thanks Hunter.

Megan loves princess movies.... Okay, I must admit so do I.

Lily slept in until after all the presents were opened. Then it was her turn. She loved eating the wrapping paper and banging on the boxes.

She looks like one of Santa's elves here. Our little girl, already hogging the phone.

Can you guess what this present is? An umbrella stroller.

And last, but not least, the Nerf Vulcan machine gun--apparently this year's must have toy as evidenced by the outrageous prices on amazon and ebay. We did manage to find one at a rockin' price at Target. Dylan was thrilled for the day that it lasted until it broke. We returned it, but there was not another one to be had for quite a while. We managed to secure another one in Seattle. Hope this one lasts longer.

Christmas Eve Traditions

2008-12-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is traditionally our spiritual celebration. We have a nice dinner. We invited friends to join us this year. We can't forget the traditional cranberry sauce. Alex likes the kind that conforms to the can when you take it out. I prefer Trader Joe's fresh cranberry sauce, so we compromised.

After dinner we had a Christmas Eve devotional put on by Megan and her friend. We sang, Dylan played the trumpet, I played the cello and the children re-enacted the nativity story. It helped that our friends have 5 children, so we could fill more parts. Here are the highlights.

Joseph is confident that everything will work out.

Mary and Joseph and a very wiggly baby Jesus.

Shepherd keep watch over his toys. An angel appears to him and his is sore afraid (note the sucking of the fingers in the mouth.)

The wise men visiting the finally calm baby Jesus and playing the trumpet for him.

Another Christmas Eve tradition we have is that the children get to open one present--It's always new pajamas. This year the pajamas weren't even a surprise since they were home on snow days when I was trying to sew them.

The boys matched and the girls matched.

Finally everyone sat down together to read "The Night Before Christmas."
By the way the only creature stirring in our house on Christmas Eve was Lily. She still gets up 3-4 times a night.

Fireproof

2008-12-26T02:26:00.000-08:00

Alex and I braved the snow and went to see this movie this week. It was a great movie. Megan called it a "church movie, only not from our church." Alex called it a "chick flick." But I loved it. It's about saving a marriage. It had several sweet moments. Bring tissues. There was nothing bad in this movie either. It was refreshing to see that.

Ironically, the next day I went to see Nights in Rodanthe (which I loved because it took place on the Outer Banks which I miss terribly), but it was the total opposite. The lady decided to leave her marriage because she didn't feel fulfilled. Because she didn't want to work things out with her husband, she had an affair (okay, it was with Richard Gere, but still...). Now I've ruined Nights in Rodanthe for you, but I thought the juxtaposition of the two movies was ironic. The marriage in the first movie could easily have gone this same direction, but didn't. Maybe that is why our divorce rate is so high now.

The music in Fireproof is nice too. I put some of the songs on the right side of the blog at the bottom. I especially like "Love is Not a Fight."

Skiing Down Bishop's Hill

2008-12-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

Alex and Dylan skiing...down 28th St, around the corner from our house. We call it Bishop's Hill because the Bishop lives at the top of the hill.

Boot Scootin' Boogie

2008-12-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Dylan had his first concert for beginning band last week. I was 15 minutes late in traffic and missed his whole performance. Alex called it "horrifyingly cute." I did manage to make this gem of a performance. His band teacher thinks dance is essential to rhythm, so he had all of the band perform the Boot Scootin' Boogie at the concert. It was priceless. Enjoy.

I feel like I'm in a Snow Globe

2008-12-22T00:23:00.001-08:00

When we looked out the door tonight, it was again snowing--big flakes. The kids said, I feel like I'm in a snow globe. That sparked my creativity. What do you think? Just shake us up.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

2008-12-21T18:49:00.001-08:00

Well, we are going on day 8 of the great Seattle Snow-Out. Days 1-3 were fun... We've missed Church for the 2nd week in a row. The kids had 2 hour delays on Monday and Tuesday and school was canceled for the rest of the week. We've got at least 8 inches on the ground. This is incredible. If I wanted weather like this, I'd have moved to Cleveland (sorry, Mike and Diana. Enjoy the sun now.) The only problem is that this is so rare here, that they aren't very adept at handling it, so the roads are treacherous. As you can see below, the road leading to our house is at least 200 feet tall. Not gonna happen. (Luckily there is a back route.) Alex has been home from work for 2 days. Luckily, my Christmas shopping is all done and we can hunker down for the spell. It looks like more snow the rest of the week. Enjoy the pictures of our adventures in the snow:

the trampoline, the swingset, and Alex sledding.

a makeshift baby sled and the baby enjoying it, Dylan enjoying his early Christmas present from Megan.

Megan pulling Lily in her "sled", We even got Hunter out to enjoy it. Note the glove on his cast.

Hunter attempting a run down the hill. Alex showing him how.

Have you ever seen this much snow on a palm tree????

Alex shoveling the walk. Megan set up our lights in the snow. Thanks Meg.

Hunter's reaction to the snow. Lily's reaction to the snow after about 20 min.

Tree Lighting Ceremony

2008-12-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

One of the advantages of living in a small undisclosed community in the south puget sound area, is that you get to know all your neighbors and the local community workers (although they will still give you a ticket if you speed in a school zone, I've learned from painful experience.) Every year our small community has the cutest tree lighting ceremony. Santa rides through the neighborhoods on a city bus accompanied by one of the two city fire engines. Quite exciting. There is free punch and cookies. Local people perform. One of the churches has crafts for the kids to do and the highlight of the night is visiting Santa. He actually gives out pretty rocking presents--not just candy canes. We had a blast this year.

Dylan sitting on Santa's lap so he can get his present. Megan couldn't be enticed.

Lily trying to figure out just who this guy was.

Hunter sat on Santa's lap too, but we weren't quick enough with the camera.

Santa arriving via City Bus. I guess he is going green this year.
Quite an endorsement for the bus I'd say.

My brother Mike was visiting from Detroit where he is doing his internship with MIT. He got a job offer from Boeing and was kind of checking out the area (and enjoying a free trip and free cookies.)

Who needs a iRoomba when you've got Lily

2008-12-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

Lily is a crawling and a cruising machine. She also makes a great vacuum cleaner. We have to keep the floor really clean. (By the way, not our dog in the window. We took this a Cody and Nicholes' house at Thanksgiving.)

The First Broken Bone

2008-12-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

Hunter has the distinction of being the first of the Wrights (including Alex and me) to break a bone. How did he do it? Skiing, Sky Diving, Base Jumping? No, he slipped on the hardwood floor and fell 2 feet. In fact his mother didn't believe him and made him sleep on it. Talk about guilt. The next morning his arm was swollen so I took him to the Dr. and sure enough, it was broken. He got to pick the color of his cast--and he got out of swimming lessons for the month of December. He gets his cast off on the 22nd just before Christmas.

Dylan's 1st Trumpet Solo

2008-12-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Dylan began playing the trumpet at school this September. He has done quite well actually. I was a little worried when he told me he wanted to play the trumpet, but practicing hasn't been too bad. He's done so well that his teacher, Dr. Kassner asked him to do a solo during the intermission at the Holiday Jazz Night and is even going to move him up to concert band (the most advanced band) next semester. Grandpa Wright is so excited. He was a brass instrument major at the U and Dylan is the first one of his kids or grandkids to take up a brass instrument. Way to go Dylan.

What I'm Thankful for

2008-11-24T22:17:00.001-08:00

With the economy getting scary and the world around us falling to pieces, I've been thinking a lot about what I'm grateful for at this time of the year. Here is what I've come up with:

1. I'm grateful for a husband who loves me and puts me and our children before his career. He was willing to give up working for his dream company in California to come up here to a place where he has to commute two hours a day just so that I wouldn't have to work and could stay home with the kids. He comes home exhausted from work sometimes and jumps in to do the dishes without being asked or complaining. He loves spending time with the kids and teaching them new things. He has made a huge effort to have a regular date night with me. I am grateful that he loves the Lord and tries his hardest in his calling at church and in leading our family spiritually. Plus he makes me laugh.

2. I'm grateful for awesome kids. They wear me out sometimes, but they are constantly teaching me things (and not just patience). They say the most profound things sometimes. I am grateful to be able to stay home with them and drive them to lessons and watch the wonderful young people they are growing into.

3. I'm grateful for where we live. I wasn't sure I would like Seattle with all the rain, but I have to say after two years here, I really love it. I don't even mind the rain. I don't think I could go back to the desert after living here. The rain makes everything so beautiful and gives us an awesome garden. I love the breathtaking views from everywhere and the constant reminder of the majesty of God. I love being within 20 miles of lots of museums, parks, beaches and shopping centers. I love living in a hamlet of 6,000 people right in the middle of a huge metropolis. I love having my kids in a small school district with very few discipline problems and where everyone knows each other. I love their friends that are members of our church and members of other churches. I love that there are so many things for them to be involved in with good friends--soccer, ballroom dance, scouts, etc. I'm grateful for the neighborhood and the friends I've made in the preschool co-op. I love the ward (church) here and being a part of it. I love playing the cello in church events.

4. Most of all, I am grateful for the Savior and his atonement, for his life and his teachings. I know I don't always follow them that well, but I am so grateful that He lived and is willing to forgive me of my shortcomings. I'm grateful he made it possible to return to our Father in Heaven and to be with my family forever.

Swimming Lessons

2008-11-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

Hunter is my timid child. I never had to put a gate up on the stairs when he was a baby because he was too afraid to go anywhere near them. He would get on the trampoline until this summer and he still won't go down the slide. When we lived in California, we went swimming everyday and it took him two weeks to even touch the water, let alone go in.

Now that he is a big kindergartener, I thought the time was ripe for him to take swim lessons. He was a full head taller than the other 3 year olds in the class. It was kind of funny. One of the other kids called him "Mr. Hunter" because he was so old.

Age notwithstanding, I spent the first month of lessons (twice a week) dragging him to the pool screaming at the top of his lungs. I felt like such a rotten mom dropping into the water into his teacher's arms. He tried every kind of coercion possible to get out of it. He tried threats, bargains, the whole nine yards. Luckily his first teacher was so patient with him. He told me Nancy was the nicest teacher in the world.

The second month (session) of swim began and I got him into a class with all his buddies from preschool. He had a different teacher, but he ended up really enjoying lessons. He is quite proud of himself now. He tells everyone "I take swimming lessons." Unfortunately we have to quit for a few weeks. I hope we are not back to the screaming when we resume in January.

Something I Never Expected to See Again in My Lifetime

2008-11-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

This is something I never expected to see again.... especially in Seattle.

Halloween Trunk or Treat and Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-03T17:04:00.001-08:00

Photos from our ward Trunk or Treat Party, which I was in charge of.

Dylan actually wore this banana suit to school this year. He said he got a lot of hugs from girls in it. Hmm. Alex and Hunter were chefs. I couldn't convince Alex to go as Alton Brown. He wanted the whole iron chef costume. This episodes's secret ingredient: lobster.

Bonding with the secret ingredient.

Pumpkin Carving

Hunter kept carving his pumpkin over several days. It ended up with about 6 faces on it. He actually did a pretty good job on his own.

Dylan's pumpkin was beyond description.

I had to put this photo in because it just screams, "Mooommmm!" The ultimate teenage look. Her pumpkin is the one with the whirling eyes.

Hunter's pumpkin is on the left. Mine is in the middle and Dylan's is on the right.

Alex got to carve the granddaddy pumpkin. He initially did the grim reaper face, but decided it didn't fill the pumpkin up enough so he added the other face. We affectionately call it two-face. Megan's is the whirly eyed one.

The whole pumpkin-carving crew.

Lily at 8 months

2008-10-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Kindergartner

2008-10-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

Hunter's school pictures didn't turn out great this year, since he fell the day before and had a huge goose egg on his forehead. I had Penny's take this one and it turned out much better.

What is Cuter than a Lobster in a Pot?

2008-10-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

A lobster in a pot with the chef.

These two were so cute, I had to get their pictures taken. for more pictures, go to https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0100113998JCP and enter Jennifer Wright under the name.

What do you do with those pesky pumpkins that are too small to carve?

2008-10-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Spooner Farms

We visited Spooner Farms in Puyallup on Saturday and discovered the answer to that burning question.

The answer is, of course, to fling then with a giant slingshot and try to hit a target a football field away at which point a huge loud horn sounds and you win a giant pumpkin. All this only costs you 50 cents a shot. The folks at Spooner Farms are brilliant.

The Corn Maze

They also created the most amazing corn maze. 5 acres large--I kid you not. There theme was Chronicles of Narnia and according to the boys it was impressive. (I didn't want to spring for the extra $8 to get in, so I waited outside. Told you those folks at Spooner were brilliant business people.) Here are some pics of the maze.

Hunter walking through the coats in the wardrobe to enter the maze.

Dylan in the maze.

Hunter visiting at Mr. Tumnus' house.

The Beavers' home

The mighty Aslan and the white witch. There was much more, but they didn't even have time to finish it all. It was over 2 miles long.

Some more cute pictures from the farm.

My little pumpkins

Big spider

Dylan with a snake gourd.

Who does she look like?

2008-10-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by a friend who posted photos of her two girls at the same age. I've also been asked by a lot of people who I think Lily looks like. Here are the photos and you can make your own decision. I have added a poll at the right, so you can voice your opinion. What do I think? I'll let you know at the end.

On the left is a picture I took of Lily this morning. On the right is Hunter at about the same age.

Here is Lily at 8 months on left and Megan at 8 months on the right.

Dylan at 9 months and Hunter at 9 months.

What rhymes with t-rex?

2008-10-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

As "star of the week" Hunter had to put something in the rhyming bag. I suggested things such as balls, or blocks, or cars. You know, something that would be easy to rhyme. The object is to guess what is in the rhyming bag. Hunter insisted on putting a T-Rex in there. We could not think of a thing to rhyme with it. Finally we decided it was a dinosaur. We wrote on the outside of the bag, "rhymes with rhino-roar." Sounds like something Scooby Doo would say. I asked him if the kids had a hard time figuring it out. Not really.

A Cultural Weekend

2008-10-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

BYU Ballroom Dancers
This weekend Megan and I went to see the BYU Ballroom Dancers perform in Auburn. The fun thing was that 3 of the members on the touring team are from Federal Way or Bainbridge. A couple are former members of Megan's dance team, the Pacific Ballroom Dancers.
The next morning Megan had breakfast with the team and they gave them some pointers on the Lindy Hop. It was really a fun event. Megan's team had a block of tickets for the balcony (really the best place to watch a formation team). They were certainly a lively and appreciative audience. Below is a picture of the end of their Pirates of the Carribbean dance. After this, they pull a red cloth across the stage and all the dancers disappear. Pretty cool.

Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices
Saturday afternoon, Alex and I were able to go to the Seattle Stake Center and see Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices perform. It was absolutely spellbounding. I have never heard hymns sung like that. We were able to take John with us. He's a new convert who is also black. He said he wanted to marry Gladys when he was 10. He had such a good time, he is going back tonight and taking his family with him.

Gladys was so humble and funny. She bore her testimony and sang a few songs, but mostly she showcased her choir. According to the website, they don't use sheet music. She has taught them all the songs and how to sing them in the southern gospel style. There are some pretty incredible singers in the choir. I went right home to check out the album One Voice on iTunes. It had some of the songs, but they sang some other songs in the fireside that weren't on the album. Hopefully they'll put them on a future album. It was an awesome experience. I'm really glad I got to see them.

Reflections of Christ

2008-10-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Megan introduced me to an incredible fine art photography exhibit that is touring now. It's called Reflections of Christ. It is currently on display at the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center and Deseret Book is producing a book of the images. There is a wonderful website that even has videos of the making of some of the images. I think they are producing a documentary too. There is also a slideshow with music and all the images. Hunter and I watched it together and we were able to have a pretty neat discussion of Jesus together. Below are a few of the images, but check out the website for more.

Go ahead jump.

2008-10-03T00:13:00.000-07:00

Lily is exhibiting her appreciation for VanHalen. Notice how she waits for the intro to start jumping.

Kubota Gardens

2008-10-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Hunter and all his preschool friends got the same schedule--All day Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday. Since they all have the same Fridays off, we decided to make those Fridays our fieldtrip days. For our first North Hill Coop Alum fieldtrip, we visited Kubota Gardens in Seattle. It's this enchanting Japanese garden. Absolutely gorgeous. We need to go back and take family pictures before winter. The boys had a blast. There are all kinds of secret paths through the trees--not conducive to stroller travel. . . I learned . . . the hard way. They had a good time until Kaden fell (or was pushed) into the not-too-fresh pond water. He ended up in about 6 inches of scummy water bawling his head out over his new shoes--which were literally hours old. Kaden's mom wasn't with us, so we deposited him with his mom stripped down in a pair of Hunter's extra pants and 5 bags of scummy wet clothes and shoes. Ah well, what is a field trip without a little adventure. Next time: no water traps.

Blending into the scenery.

Hanging out with the guys and his new stick friend.

The infamous scummy pond.

Becoming a Man ceremony

2008-10-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Dylan earned his Webelos and his Arrow of Light last week. He was so thrilled.

He loves his Webelos leader, Sis Stockton. She and Alex collaborated on a special ceremony to celebrate his arrow of light. Alex played the old indian (dressed in a wizard's cloak. Hey, we have a limited wardrobe.) He took something special from Dylan--his webelos scarf (I had to run and buy a new one because he lost his other one and he needed it for the ceremony.) Anyway his "special" item he dipped in the special water and if he was worthy, the item would burn, but not be consumed. We were sure praying it would work. Otherwise our son would end up with an unworthiness complex for life.

It actually did work. Our photographer was so fascinated (as was everyone else) that she forgot to take a picture. I suppose I could photoshop the flames, but you get the idea. The scarf was not even singed. Now Hunter has a hardly used Webelos scarf.

This is Dylan running the gauntlet over to the boy scout side. He is so thrilled to be a boy scout. He supervised me sewing on his patches and made sure they were totally correct. I love how Dylan gets excited about things. This has been really good for him and Alex too. They have already been on 2 campouts together.

Our Star

2008-10-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

Lily is 7 months now and quite a ham. I found a little toy purse mom bought me for Christmas when I was pregnant. This is the favorite toy out of the purse set. She kept this thing hanging out of her mouth for at least 15 minutes--like a little puppy. We run her through her tricks for people--roll over, sit up, beg, shake hands. We are still working on the crawling. She can skooch (is that a word?) on her tummy if she really wants a toy out of reach. She is also starting to pull up. Time to lower the crib.

Hunter with his booboo that he can't remember how he got. It will have a prominent place in his school and soccer pictures. It compliments the butch job of a haircut he just got too. Poor kid.

Lily's favorite thing is to be changed and/or take a bath. She could be screaming at the top of her lungs. As soon as you take her clothes off, she starts cooing. She also loves to have her hands wiped off. She starts giggling. She's pretty ticklish.

The Trumpet Case

2008-10-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

Dylan began playing the trumpet this year. My dad gave him his old trumpet and he was thrilled. Unfortunately it came with a very old and heavy case (without a shoulder strap). All Dylan could talk about since the first day of school was how he needed a new trumpet case. He did all the research on the internet and found the best prices. Derrel offered to pay for the case (and a mute. Thank you Derrel. We love you.). Well, the case came today and Dylan was sooooo excited.

It even came in a trendy teal color.

Hunter felt a little left out and decided he wanted to play an instrument too. He found Dylan's old recorder and set to practicing. Unfortunately recorders don't come with mutes.

The recorder, of course, needed a case. I offered to sew him a bag for the instrument, but he didn't think it would be sturdy enough. After trying to make one out of cardboard, he decided that Dylan's old trumpet case would do great for his case.

He even has a wand for cleaning the recorder which he does after every use. He also washes his mouth out before playing it because Dylan does that too. He sits on the step in the garage to practice because Dylan does that too. Also he told me to wake him up early tomorrow morning because his teacher told him to practice everyday just like Dylan's. Very cute. I'm surprised he can even lift the old trumpet case. It's pretty heavy.

Waterlogged in Washington

2008-09-21T12:49:00.001-07:00

I don't think it really hit me that I live in Seattle until yesterday. We woke up at 8 am to get ready for Hunter's 2nd soccer game and it was pouring down rain. I immediately went to the soccer website to look for the rain policy or the rain hotline. After searching for 20 minutes, it hit me. This is Seattle. They don't cancel ANYTHING for rain. Duh. So my boy played in the rain. He was soaked. Everyone was there too. No no-shows. I was hoping to go home, get dry and curl up with a good book. No such luck.

Alex had gone camping with Dylan for Scouts. They camp home soaked and muddy. We had to unpack everything and set it up in the garage to dry.

Then Alex got to change another tire in the rain. Actually it was the same tire he changed on our last camping trip. I just finally got around to fixing it on Thursday. I don't know what it is about Washington, but we have had sooo many flats here. I'm getting to know the guys at Big O tires intimately.

Finally, we decided to go to the Puyallup Fair. It was supposed to be a pretty neat affair and Megan had one of her art pieces in it. She found out when her piece was described in the Milton-Edgewood Signal, our local paper. The fair ends today so if we were going to see it, yesterday was it. I figured no one would be there because of the rain. WRONG. It was packed. There were babies too. They just covered the strollers in plastic and went on like nothing was any different. Strange place this is. Actually, the fair was rather fun. We would have stayed longer, but Megan had to get home to prepare for her first stake dance. She couldn't be rushed, you know.

Hunter's First Soccer Game

2008-09-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Hunter had his first soccer game. He's on team Crush. This is a picture of him with his buddy Kaden from preschool. Kaden also rides the bus to school with him.

Here are the kids running through the parent tunnel.

Looking rather pleased.

Giving the coach a high five.

Huddling up.

Did they win? They are all winners at this age. Right? Okay, they got smoked big time, but as Hunter puts it, they did come in second.

The little man in action.

Hunter's First Day of School

2008-09-15T17:26:00.001-07:00

This would be me putting Hunter on the bus. He was rather annoyed to have to pose. We actually missed the bus his first day and had to chase it down two more stops, but he got to get on with his friend Kaden. After I put Hunter on the bus, I followed it to school and got another picture of him in front of the school. He is in a school that only has Kindergarten and 1st grade. There are 17 Kindergarten classes!

Hunter stands in front of Mrs. Requa's Stars door. Getting settled in and finally trying to ignore Mom. How embarrassing.

For some reason, it was a lot harder to let this one go. Maybe because he just seems younger than the other ones. (Still working on the potty training. I know, I know, . . .) I'm glad I will have some more time with him this year. He will go to school all day Monday, all day Wednesday and all day every other Friday. He is completely wiped out when he gets home, but he has a whole day to recoup in between.

Inspiring Impressionism at the SAM

2008-09-07T17:19:00.001-07:00

Hunter and I went to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) on Friday. We went with a homeschool group here in the ward. We saw the exhibit entitled Inspiring Impressionism about the influences on some of the Impressionist artists. It was really interesting. Hunter loved it too because he went on a little scavenger hunt and tried to find all the painting on his sheet.

Here are some of my favorite paintings from the exhibit. This one is by Renoir entitled Child with a Hoop. I love it because it reminds me of my nephew Christian. Renoir captured his expression perfectly.

I love this one for obvious reasons. It's also by Renoir entitled Woman Nursing a Child.

This one is by Mary Cassatt entitled The Family.

The exhibit also included works by old masters that were influences on the impressionists. My favorite tidbit of info I learned was that Monet claimed he wasn't influenced by any old masters. He got a license to copy in the Louvre, but instead of copying the masters, he turned his easel to the window and painted outdoors. I thought that was funny. Anyway, Hunter and I had a good time and we decided that on the Fridays he doesn't go to school we are going to go on our own fieldtrips from now on.

P.S. This was Hunter's favorite work of art from the regular collection. I must admit it was rather impressive--all made of metal dog tags.

Labor Day 2008

2008-09-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

This is what we did over Labor Day this year. We went up to Deception Crag off exit 38 (I-90) in Olallie State Park.
We went hiking, rock climbing and repelling. After a couple of hours, the girls got a little bored and decided to hit the outlet mall. The boys had a rather big shake up. One of the teenage hikers up there (not in our group)fell about 100 feet right in front of them.

This is an old trestle train bridge.

Most of our group.

Daredevil Megan is her father's daughter.

Totally in his element.

Hunter likes his feet firmly planted on the ground. (He's his mother's son.)

Our Vacation--Tillamook, OR

2008-08-25T00:49:00.001-07:00

Miami River Inn
Garibaldi, OR
Thursday-Friday
August 21-22

For our 16th anniversary, we decided to stay in a romantic bed and breakfast on the Tillamook Bay... okay so we brought our 4 kids with us, but it was still nice.

The kids' room.

Our room (with a kid on the bed)

Hunter bonding with one of the toys at the inn.

Our original plan was to visit the Tillamook cheese and ice cream factory and camp this night. We decided to go to the factory, but it took us quite a bit longer than we had planned on and we arrived at Tillamook at around 5 pm. We toured the factory and decided there was no way we could drive home that night, so we checked out tents at Fred Meyer, thinking maybe a dry tent might get us through. But by this point, I was done camping and the thought of dragging out our muddy gear was actually making me nauseous. We passed a sign for a b&b and I talked Alex into splurging. It was so nice. The lady who ran it was very friendly and didn't seem to mind us calling her so late. She made us waffles with homegrown blueberries on them and the room was stocked with lots of toys, games and videos for the kids. She even had one of her grandsons visiting so Dylan had someone to play with him the next morning.

The Tillamook Cheese Factory, a major tourist attraction on the Oregon coast.

Watching the workers package the cheese.

The best part: sampling the products

Even Lily got a taste.

We spent the next day, driving up the coast of Oregon. It was absolutely breathtaking. I have completely fallen in love with Washington and Oregon.

Brrr. This is freezing water.

This was by far the most common sign on the highway.

We stopped for lunch in Seaside, a major tourist trap.

The bridge in Astoria. This thing is really high. I was starting to get dizzy driving on it. I wouldn't let Megan talk the whole way over the bridge.

My muscle man.

Hunter has forgotten what real waves look like (We don't really have waves in the sound. Only when boat pass us.) He wouldn't go any closer to the ocean than this.

The Oregon Coast has all these beautiful rock formations out in the water. It's different from North Carolina.

We rushed to Mount St. Helens to go to the Visitor's Center, only to find out that it was closed. Bummer.

Mt St. Helens was supposed to be in the background, but it somehow disappeared. This is what it looks like.

This was our vacation. Lily was marvelous until we reach Lacey (about 30 minutes from home). She told us she was done and did not want to be in her car seat anymore. We had to listen to her scream for the last 30 minutes, but she was happy once we got home.

Our Vacation--Vancouver, WA

2008-08-25T00:29:00.001-07:00

Comfort Suites
Wednesday - Thursday
August 20-21

This would be our next campsite. It was so wonderful. They probably took one look at us and groaned, but I've never appreciated a bed and a hot bath so much in my life.

They even had a HUGE whirlpool bathtub in the room.

This is my cousin Randy (whom I had never met) and his wife Della. We had dinner Wednesday night with them and their family. It was so much fun. Randy is Uncle Norman's son.

This is their daughter Alexa's family. Her husband's name is Ben. Alexa had to leave to go to Young Women's so we didn't get a picture of her.

This is Shawn and his family. His wife is expecting soon.

This is Dwight and his family. His wife is also expecting.

This is Della with Michelle.
Their last son, Brandt is in Salt Lake City.
Hunter had a blast running around with all his second cousins (there were nine of them there under the age of 7). He thinks he is pretty much related to everyone now. We had such a good time with Randy's family. Hopefully we can see them again soon.

Our Vacation--Beacon Rock Campground

2008-08-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

Beacon Rock Campground
Monday - Wednesday
August 18-20

Beacon Rock (or more affectionately known as "Be a con rock.") is located in southwestern Washington in the Columbia River Gourge. It is beautiful. The rock itself is something like 800 feet tall. There is a beautiful campground right next to the rock. It not only has running water, but showers as well. (Megan and I cried when we saw them.) Unfortunately, not only was there running water in pipes, but it poured rain the whole time there. Apparently they hadn't had rain in 6 weeks until we showed up. After two days, our tent was drenched. The sleeping bags were getting soggy. Everything was getting soggy and muddy.

One night we decided to bag the cooking out in the rain and look for a place to let the kids play. This wasn't it. Obviously. But we did find a little pizza joint.

As we got back in the car to go back to the campsite, we heard a few little voices saying, "Please don't make us go back and sleep in our soggy tent tonight." We were tough though. We did it. Also we had already paid for 2 nights in the place.

Luckily it clear up long enough for us to hike to the top of Beacon Rock that day. (and by us, I mean Megan, Dylan, Lily and Alex)

If you look close enough, you can see over 50 switchbacks and trails leading to the top of the rock.

The start of the trail. There were actually a ton of people there that day.

On the way up.

This bridge is actually where I lost it. I am terrified of heights and I couldn't cross the bridge. It was not even half way up.

This is me chickening out. Hunter joined me.

Those who made it to the top.

The view from the top.

The final insult.

As we were leaving the campsite, we noticed the tire was completely flat. We must have picked up a rock on the 6 mile drive to Coral Pass over "very rough road." Alex had to unload all of our muddy camping gear and change the tire in the pouring rain. We were done camping.

Our Vacation--Coral Pass Campground

2008-08-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

For our "stay-cation" this year, we decided to do Washington and Oregon. We had a huge camping trip planned. Our first obstacle was how to fit everything in our little van for a week-long camping trip. We solved that by taking 2 cars. We figured the gas was cheaper than renting a trailer. It also worked great for splitting up fighting kids. Here's how the trip turned out.

Coral Pass Campground

Saturday - Monday
August 16- 18

We found this campground in a book called The Best Tent Camping in Washington. It is 6 miles up a forest access road that is steep and curved. It was a nail biting journey--especially with Megan making comments about how far the drop over the edge was and how we got no cell phone service there, so if we were in an accident, our bodies would rot . . . anyway, you get the idea. It wouldn't have been so bad, but we had to pass a truck on the way up and the road was basically a one-lane dirt road the whole way. Luckily he was on the outside. The campground itself was pretty primitive--no running water, but the view was incredible.

Our campsite at Coral Pass.

Alex at his dutch oven station. Yum, we had some good eats there.

The boys snuggling for warmth.

At the campground, there is a trail that goes 1.5 miles through the forest and ends up with a spectacular view of Mt Rainier. We were about 7,000 feet up. It was truly magnificent.

Hunter had to be the trail guide on the way up. He made sure no one passed him.

Some of the interesting wildlife on the hike. There were wild strawberries everywhere.

Lily loved the trip. Wouldn't you if you were being carried?

The view that made it all worthwhile.

My Sister

2008-08-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Dylan!

2008-08-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Dylan turned 11 today! We are so glad to have him in our family. He provides the comic relief. He is a very generous boy--sensitive and concerned about other people's feelings. He almost always does the things I ask him to without complaining. And he has enough energy and enthusiasm to power a small city. We love you Dylan

Why I love Seattle in the summer.

2008-07-31T23:49:00.000-07:00

Quest for the Best

2008-07-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Megan and her partner Chase participated in the Quest for the Best ballroom dance competition. They won 1st place in the newcomer division for Waltz and 2nd place for Cha-Cha. We are very proud of them. Here they are dancing their award-winning waltz.

Receiving their blue ribbons.

Boren Avenue

2008-07-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted your own street?

This is ours. Right in downtown Seattle. Actually it was named for Carson Boren, one of the founders of Seattle. You can read about him here. He was originally from the midwest, Tennesse to be exact, but I don't know if we are related.

If you give a mouse a cookie. . .

2008-07-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

. . . he's gonna make jam.

I'm convinced that mouse had ADD. Saturday we decided I should run Megan to Seattle for her dance competition, so Alex could finish installing a closet organizer in my bedroom closet. Apparently he had to run to Costco and noticed these lovely apricots and then decided he needed to make jam, so he cleaned the kitchen and yada yada. I'm not complaining about the jam. It is awesome. What I think is funny is that I was pretty sure he wouldn't have the closet organizer done, but I had no idea he would end up making jam. But you know, when you give Alex a mission, he's gonna wanna . . . . (Love ya, hun:))

Camping at Camp Nisqually

2008-07-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Alex invited himself to our enrichment night. The theme was dutch oven cooking and being the avid cook, he just couldn't resist. He told everyone he was working security. (I think they might have bought it.) Anyway, of course after that, we had to dust off our dutch oven. Actually we had to grind all the rust off with a special drill bit and reseason it because we had neglected it far too long. We decided to test it out and invited two families from the ward to join us on our culinary adventure. Basically the whole purpose of the trip was to cook (and eat, of course.)

We decided on Camp Nisqually because it is close (only about half an hour away in good traffic) and the church owns it, so it is quiet. Also we got to sleep in these funky A-frames. Although the girls opted to sleep in a tent. You can see we rigged up some mosquito netting for our portion of the place. It worked pretty well--no bites. Wish I could say the air mattress worked as well.

The kids had a blast. They didn't appreciate our culinary inventions as much. They mostly ate hot dogs, s'mores and lots of junk food. By the time we got our cobblers, shepherd's pies, bacon, pancakes, breakfast casserole etc. etc. done, they weren't hungry anymore. Luckily a Samoan branch was having an Elder's Quorum camp out and were happy to take our leftovers off our hands. They also had the most beautiful singing voices. We, on the other hand, provided the service of being loud enough all night that they always knew where the camp was when they returned from the restroom. Always glad to be of service.

We also discovered a new place on this trip--Cabelas, outdoor store extraordinaire. They have a giant mountain in the middle of the store was tons of beautiful taxidermied animals and an aquarium underneath it. Plus the hugest supply of camping and hunting stuff you've ever seen. The best part was that no one looked twice at our obviously camping appearance when we showed up. We exercised restraint, but it could've been much worse.

Pioneer Park

2008-07-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

After we exhausted our funds at the Go-kart place. (Which took about 1/2 hour), we bought the kids icee's (note the funky colored tongues) and let them run loose at Pioneer Park in Puyallup. As you can see in the last picture, the "kids" were all sizes.

The Need for Speed

2008-07-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

Go Kart Racing
What Ultimate Boy Vacation would be complete without go-kart racing? The first go around Hunter passed, so Thomas got his seat. After watching the action, he decided he was up to the challenge. You can see him smiling in the driver's seat while Alex buckles him up. It didn't take 30 seconds for him to realize he wanted out. The last picture shows his reaction to the "extreme speed" of the track. (or maybe it was just Alex' driving. I have been known to have the same reaction at times. Love ya, hun.) Funny thing is that after he exited the vehicle, I asked him if he liked it and he said, "Yeh, that was fun."

The Museum of Flight

2008-07-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

Mike and Alex took the kids to the Museum of Flight. They had a blast revisiting the Champlaign Fighter Museum, recently relocated from Falcon Field. Meanwhile Diana and I and the girls spent a leisurely afternoon reading, visiting the Pioneer Bookstore and Bakery and Pacific Fabrics and Crafts in Puyallup.

The (Other) Beach

2008-07-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

After living here for almost 2 years, we finally went to the beach. I must admit, I felt I was being disloyal to my true love, Emerald Isle in North Carolina. However, the Pacific Ocean/Puget Sound was a much different experience. We visited Dash Point State Park. It wasn't pristine shorelines and rows of beach houses, but we did get lots of critters and vegetation, a creek with trees to explore, hills and hiking trails, and cool water and sand. At the end of the day, we ended with a hot dog roast and the dirtiest boys I've ever seen.

The Clan

2008-07-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

At Olive Garden. Dappy with most of her grandchildren. (Only one missing)

World Spice Merchants

2008-07-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Alex has newly discovered Alton Brown and Good Eats on the Food Network. In one of his episodes, he talked about one of the best places to buy spices--World Spice Merchants in Seattle, WA. So, of course, we had to visit when we were in Seattle. Thanks to Alton, our food (and food-making paraphernalia) budget has drastically increased.

The store smelled heavenly. We purchased Saigon Cinnamon, Alderwood Smoked Salt, Smoked Paprika, and Tikka Masala. Now he wants a spice grinder for Christmas.

Tillicum Village

2008-07-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

Monday we went to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. It starts with about an hour boat ride to the island. The boys loved that. Especially since the savy boat operators placed their concessions conveniently at kid height. We had a nice view of Seattle from the water. When we arrived we were greeted with a real clam bake (unlike our previous bad attempt) They were pretty yummy and only slightly gritty. The kids loved throwing the shells on the pathway and crushing them. See picture below. After appetizers, we went into the long house and had a delicious salmon dinner. They cooked the salmon over alderwood and it was so good. We also had a special dark bread which was also very good. The event ended with a native american show. Lots of dancing and music. It freaked Lily out, so we wandered the gift shop, but Dylan seemed to like the show. The gift shop seemed to be the highlight for some of the boys though. Christian and Hunter ended up with the same stuffed animal--a beaver. Christian named his Super Beaver and Hunter initially named his Beaverman. Then he changed the name to Super Beaver II.

Bubbles

2008-07-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Last sunday was HOT, HOT, HOT. It was one of those days that made me wish we had air conditioning. For those of you in Arizona, it was a whopping 90 degrees. But again, with no air conditioning and humidity, it was pretty miserable. Luckily it passed quickly and we were again grateful not to have put the money in an air conditioner. To cope, we stripped Lily down to her diaper and for fun, blew bubbles around her. She thought it was pretty funny. It made for some fun pictures though. Thanks to Diana for the cute poses.

A New Cousin

2008-07-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

My cousin Mary Kate just adopted a darling little boy from Vietnam named Jaden. This is at her shower/welcome party.

Lily is 4 months old

2008-06-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

Lily turned 4 months old on the 2oth. We took her to the doctor and she now weighs 14.4 (50th percentile) pounds and is 25 inchs long (75th percentile). She's healthy and happy and can roll over front to back and back to front. She has no antibody markers for juvenile diabetes and she slobbers like crazy. Here are some pictures we had taken of her today.

Am I cool or what?

We had to put the bow on her so I could tell it was Lily and not Hunter. They look so much alike.

Cousins

2008-06-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

Dawn decided to relocate to Washington. We got the kids together last week. Kirah was really taken with Lily. They giggled together and had a good time. Carramon was also intrigued, but didn't want to hold her.

First Foods

2008-06-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

I think this about sums up Lily's first experience with rice cereal.

Jumping Baby

2008-06-28T00:06:00.001-07:00

We put Lily in her jumping seat for the first time. She looked a little unsure at first and then decided she liked it--for about 5 minutes. She starts to slump down after a few minutes and only her head is visible above her bouncer.

Another Cute Moment w/ Hunter and Lily

2008-06-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

Lily in Action

2008-06-16T23:18:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I've rediscovered my digital camcorder. And I figured out how to add videos to blogger, so enjoy.

I discovered this song by Steven Curtis Chapman a few weeks ago. It's called "Cinderella" and he wrote it a little while ago about his three little daughters. A few weeks ago, the youngest daughter was run overby a truck and died. You can read about it here and see his video of Cinderella. It's heartbreaking, but as the song says you really need to cherish every moment with your little ones because you don't know how long you will have them. I'm so grateful for the gospel to know that my children will be with me forever. Anyway, Alex decided that this sweet song would be his special song for Lily. He offered it to Megan, but she already had "Butterfly Kisses" for their special song. I like this video of Lily because you can see her sweet personality. She really is a mellow child and brings alot of peace into our home.