Happy Birthday ME!!

What an old women I am turning out to be.......

today I turned 32.

I couldn't ask for more than the many many blessings that I already have. Not a day goes by that I don't think about how blessed I am. For my five beautiful children, my husband that loves his job, my beautiful home, the cars that we have to drive, the ladies that are willing to carpool to far places, the food we have to eat, that I can take a hot shower anytime day or night, for a washer and dryer and I couldn't forget a dishwasher. I feel so blessed to have a relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ and for his willingness to die for me. I am so grateful for his love as well as the love of family, and friends.
It was a quiet, perfect day.....a day for reflextion. Alan took me to lunch and we then had dinner with the kids and opened presents. Alan gave me the perfect gift.......he gave me an airplane ticket and a week off!! Can't get better than that!! It will be fun!

First Day of School!

It was an interesting first day of school. The day before Hannah and Peter started getting a cold and I told them the night before that I didn't think they would be going. I got up the next morning to find them ready and waiting to go.....they still had another 45 minutes until we had to leave. How can I deny them the first day of school? I let them go after they told me that they felt fine. Sorry to all those who might have gotten this nasty little cold.

Hannah is repeating the 5th grade this year for social reasons. She is perfectly fine with it and hasn't had any problems with kids teasing her. The school district strongly discouraged this decision, but we really felt like this was the right thing to do. After meeting with Hannah's teacher from last year we got the impression that even though she couldn't go against the school district, she thought it would be a good idea as well. So instead of being the youngest in her class she is now one of the oldest. She was able to get the teacher she wanted as well!

Peter is now in the 3rd grade. He is one of the tallest kids in his class. He has only about an inch until he passes up Hannah! Peter's teacher had to miss the first week of school because of her mother's death, but Peter was able to meet her the following Monday and really likes her. We have heard nothing but positive things about his teacher! Always makes you happy when you get a good teacher like that!

Joseph is a big first grader this year. He is so excited to be able to go to school all day long and loved his class. He doesn't have any of his friends in his class, but I am not worried. Joseph has never had a problem making friends! We don't know much about his teacher, but it made me a little nervous that his class was waiting lined up outside like they are supposed to and everyone else's teacher had already come and gotten them and I saw his teacher run out and exclaim, "I'm so sorry, I forgot you!" Should be an interesting year!!

I also get to start school this year!! I am going to be attending Bellevue College working toward getting my BA degree in Interior Design. Having already gotten an AS degree I won't have to take many general ed classes. Just a couple of art classes that I am getting taken care of this quarter. Alan doesn't teach this fall so he will be watching the girls while I am in class. I am nervous but very excited for this next step in life.

All in all it was a good first day! I was able to get some things done at home with three gone and they came home with all smiles!!

A day of clamming

My visiting teacher invited our family to go clamming with them. I had to buy a clamming licence.....never thought that I would get one of those! We went when the tide was the lowest all year and had a great time! Miriam just wanted to jump in our wholes to swim. She finally made it and had a blast! Eden was far more particular.....didn't want to get her hands dirty! The older three just ran around and played and discovered......crabs, clams, starfish, hermit crabs, sand dollars, shells of all kinds, sea anemia, barnacles, and little fish. We stayed until the tide came in......What a great day!! So fun!

Temple Trip

What a beautiful experience this was, to take our family to a temple open house. We live about 3.5 hours from BC temple and it is a rare occasion to get to tour a temple and we wanted the kids to be able to go inside a temple so we took them out of school and crossed the border and went!
It is a beautiful Temple with so many intricate details. All the decorating and woodwork was done around the Dogwood tree. The Celestral room was breath taking.....we gathered our children around us and told them that we would be together forever and that the feeling they were feeling was the Holy Ghost confirming that this was true. It was an experience of a lifetime!

I think the best part for me was to share it with my kids. I remember as a kid going to the Portland, OR temple open house with my family. I was around Hannah's age.....I will never forget how I felt there and I knew that this is where I wanted to be married. It was an amazing experience. I feel so blessed that we were able to go and share this with our children.

Families are Forever!

Tulip Festival

My neighbor and I went to the Tulip Festival with the kids that were home today! We had a picinic lunch. It turned out to be a hot day.

Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous!! We decided that we needed to plant my yard like this!!
Joseph wasn't supposed to go between the rows, but before I told him to get out I snapped the shot!!

My blonde beauty was just as pretty as the tulips!

I loved that you could see the mountains surrounding the valley.

They had kites that were being flown by themselves. They were just stuck in the ground with a stake. It just added to the feeling!!

These were my favorite......the color just stood out. They were so striking.

This photo was my favorite with the old barns in the background. It looked like we were there all by ourselves. It was so pretty!!

I had Miriam in a backpack most of the time. When I got her out to look at them she was thrilled and loved to feel them!!

The size of the heads of these tulips were huge and gorgeous!! Of course, Yellow being my favorite color, I had to have a picture of these!!

Mid-Winter Break

For our mid-winter break we went to the Pacific Science Center (I forgot the camera. :( What was I thinking?!! They had so much fun!! They loved it and can't wait to go back!

The following day we went in search of tide pools. We went to Edmond's Beach, and having never looked for tide pools in February we FROZE!! 55 degrees in Bothell, is not 55 degrees on the ocean. I knew it would be chilly, but not that cold. After that trip I thought we needed to invest in some rain boots!! Just so we could try again with long pants on!
Eden cried the whole time.

We never saw any pools...maybe next time. The view was gorgeous though!! I love the ocean, and to see those beautiful mountains as a back drop was breathtaking!!

Something I remember as a kid was seeing all of the drift wood that lines the beaches. There was a fort someone had built that the kids had fun exploring!!