Parades and candy

We found out Saturday that the Ferndale (a little town north of us) parade here is similar to the one in Idaho Falls, they throw tons of candy and fun things for the kids. We left with a purse full of candy, two frisbees, a soft ball, beaded necklaces, and lots of coupons. We had such a fun time, the girls were so in to the parade they were cracking us up. Grace was just loving the cheerleaders, and Haylee was a dancing machine to any music that passed by.

The girls waiting so patiently.
It was like this after every piece....I'm surprised we made it home with any left.
My sweet girls.
Grace as the photographer, she did pretty well.


We then headed off to our church who was hosting a meet and greet for the neighborhood. They had free hot dogs and soda, grab bags for the kids and of course the blow up jumpers and slides. Talk about a child geared day. We managed to get through it all melt down free until the very end when Justin and Grace had "words"......she gets a little testy with her Daddy. ;^) All in all though it was a pretty relaxing weekend. We are spending lot's of our evenings at the swimming pool to help pass the time, it's so nice to have this time of year. We are getting ready to head up to north Idaho and that will be a fun blog to do when I get home. Have a great couple of weeks everyone!!!!!!

Grace wanted to try and dunk her but didn't manage to hit the target. :)

Crabbing,fishing, and bowling

We have had a nice relaxing week and the weather is just beautiful. We have been at the pool every day and enjoying the outdoors which is a nice change. We took the girls on a great hike last weekend when the weather was icky just so we could all get out, and they surprisingly did a great job. The whole loop was just under two miles and they walked the whole time, Haylee running so she could be the leader. :) (always) We have definitely decided that is something we want to start doing more often. We love riding bikes too but the girls are still a little young for that, they can't keep up so it's really no different than walking, you just have bikes to push as well.



Last Friday we took the girls bowling and had a great time. I must say that my score on the first game was 155.....that is a record for me, but the reason it pleases me so is that Justin was only at about 107.....he he he he....I find pleasure in this to no end. The second game, not so great, and yes I have to mention that we were bumper bowling so it really doesn't count but still fun to brag. The girls had so much fun and every day ask to go again. Grace had no help and she rocked! Haylee had to have some help pushing the ball so it would make it all the way, she got two strikes and lots of spares. We had pizza and sodas and just had a really fun time.

Crab season is upon us and Justin is getting his fair share that's for sure. He has gone three times in the last two weeks and gets his limit (5) every time. I went with him last Friday when the weather was horrible and I felt as though I was on the deadliest catch. The boat was all over the place and we were clear up out of our seats the water was so choppy. The rain was pouring down and this is all for crab that I don't eat. BUT.....it was a fun experience anyway and it only lasted long enough to get out to the bay and pick up the pots that they had left out overnight. I am glad that I went and it really makes me want a boat, the girls would have such a great time doing that stuff. Grace and Justin have had their crab feast and I am using the rest for dips and cooking. Yum!

Justin had the day off Wednesday to go fishing out in the bay with some customers. They didn't catch anything but a gnarly sunburn. He said they had a great time though and that it is just beautiful out in the bay. Bellingham bay is surrounded by islands and when you get out in to more open water you can see them all more clearly. He took some pictures but I can't remember which island is which. He said there were lots of seals that were playing and really cool boats, just no fish. :)

Five things......

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Getting ready for my junior year in high school.
2. Hanging out with my best friend Julie, (she was living with me at the time).
3. Swimming at the dredge ponds.
4. Going to church camp.
5. Being a bratty teenager I'm sure. :)

Five things on my to-do list today:

1. LOT'S of laundry. (Monday is laundry day)
2. Clean my bathrooms.
3. Make lasagna and french bread. (yummy)
4. Work out
5. Go to bible study.

Five snacks I enjoy:

1. Sweets cinnamon bears. (my favorite)
2. Pop corn
3. big hunks
4. almonds
5. red bull (or any energy drink that is similar)

Five songs I know the lyrics to:

That's a hard one....right now my favorites are:

1. Martina McBride-House of 1000 dreams
2. Peter Gabriel-Book of Love
3. Snow Patrol-Chasing Cars
4. Casting Crowns-While You Were Sleeping
5. Colbie Caillat - Bubbly

Five things I would do if I was a millionaire:

1. Travel
2. Help pay family expenses, and get our own girls secured.
3. Donate to charity and do a lot of travel charity work.
4. Purchase a house (then we could actually afford to live in Bellingham)
5. Invest in real estate, and fun things like that.

Five bad habits:

1. Candy
2. sarcasm
3. caffeine
4. chew fingernails
5. bite my lips

Five thing's I would never wear again:

1. pegged pants
2. spandex
3. short shorts/skirts (I'm with you on that Kristen)
4. Tye dyed anything
5. hair scrunchies

Five things I like to do:

1. Anything as a family, we are pretty easy to please.
2. Play in the sun, go swimming, lay out.
3. Watch movies.
4. Go for walks.
5. Go out to eat.

Five favorite toys:

1. Camera
2. Bosch
3. Computer
4. Ipod
5. Swimming pool ( I guess that's considered a toy)

I don't have many people that actually respond to my blog, they just read it. So anyone who responds then you're tagged. :) Thanks Kristen, these are fun!

Build a bear

Grace has been BEGGING us forever to take her to build a bear, Justin and I both think it's silly to be spending so much money on a stuffed animal....BUT......sometimes it's not about what WE think. :) So for Grace's birthday we finally made the trip. She had such a good time and was a little overwhelmed I think at all there is to get. It was a good starter lesson though on how to make your money go as far as possible and really deciding what she wanted. Her Grandpa had given her money in a card for her birthday so we gave that to her as her "accessories" money. She then was just picking out everything and we would have to add it up and pick and choose what to keep and what to get later. It's actually a fun concept, we had a lot of fun picking it all out. She decided on a cat that meows and a little "hello kitty" outfit to go on her. She even got her a pair of panties. :) She has named her Clair belle and it's an instant bond, she is rarely seen without her.



Stuffing her and putting in her heart.


All stuffed and ready for clothes.
Panties. :)
All dressed and ready to take her home. There is a baby that matches the cat but we told her next time we can get that.

Here is little Haylee with her bear (Tim, who is a girl......????) Grace gave Tim to her for Christmas so we told her that she could pick an outfit for her......him.....it's a little confusing. She chose a cute little pair of jammies and she was so tickled when she saw they have a hole for the tail to come through. :)

That was our day at build a bear then we headed out to the beach because the tide was really low and that's when it's the best time to go. Justin was teaching the girls the trick to turn all the big rocks over.....they were amazed at all the stuff they were finding.

See how far the tide was out.....you just walk and walk forever.

Haylee finally brave enough to hold a baby hermit crab, she talks to them like they are babies and then wants to take them home.

We stopped for some Mexican food and sat outside with the beach right across the street and the sun out......it was just one of those perfect days. :)

*Something fun that happened yesterday......Grace is tying her shoes. She learned after showing her two times. I could not believe it was that easy, she hardly wears her tennis shoes and so I don't really think about it. She needed to know for kindergarden though so I thought we would just start parcticing.....or not.......it's done. YEAH!!! I was very excited. :)

I just wanted to share this picture because it's too cute not to. :) This is what summer is all about!!!!!

It's raining.....we must be home

Yes that's right, it's storming outside and the weather has dropped back down to the 60's. We are home! It's good to be back though and in to routine again. We have spent our entire week at the pool (until today) and have just relaxed. The girls have been worn out this week, vacation defiantly takes a toll on them. Our last night in Boise we went to dinner with my Dad and that was fun, the girls just love all of their Grandpa's......I think it's mutual. ;)

Cute
Weird
Sweet

My Dad and the girls.

This is this whole week, I think it was only about 7:45 and they both were OUT! Works great for me. ;) SO now it's all about pool, reading, fairs, and the lake.......save the best for last. Happy July everyone!!!!

Trip part 3

So we arrived back in Boise safe and sound and ready to see our girls. They were wonderful for everyone (so they say ;)) so that made us feel better. We picked them up Saturday morning from my Moms house and headed down to the Saturday market, I love markets of all kinds, it really brings out the freak show sometimes but "hey", it's free entertainment right? So we got the mini doughnuts, some really good Italian herb bread.....(my weakness) and I couldn't pass up the famous Emmett cherries. (another favorite) So all in all we did some (as Mike would say: "mighty fine") eatin'. :)


Listening to some little boys playing the fiddle. They were better than a lot of entertainers we've seen come out of the woodwork.


Then we headed down to the Grove fountain to cool off, this is a great landmark of Boise. Every summer they host a festival called Alive after 5, it's every Wednesday and they have lots of food vendors and live music. I remember in High school a group of us would go down and hang out, we would feel very cool with all of the adults. :) Then we had kids and it was nice because the fountain keeps them entertained and adults can still enjoy it.

Grace........no really you can get wet. (good thing we brought suits.)

Jackson and his "cheese" face.
Justin and Jackson.

Justin, Jackson, and Haylee.....oh......and Grace in the middle not wasting any time.


Justin, Jen, and Jack Jack

Then we did some fireworks in the evening and the kids had a ball. Aunt Jen is always the Aunt with the "goods" and in this case had it not been for her our kids would have missed out this year. They got to see the big ones on the 4th but when I was little those just were not the same as in your own back yard. So "thank you" Jen, we love you and always love your surprises! :)






Mike and Jackson...they are two peas in a pod I tell ya, it's very cute.


I love this man. :)

Anniversary in Vegas....

Vacation part two: Vegas

Let me just start by saying that I did a REALLY dumb thing on our last night of our trip........I reformatted my memory card and lost all of our pictures. I cried........I was so upset, we had been taking pictures from day one and they were all really good ones of Justin and I together which doesn't happen too often. So the last day we took a few but it's just not the same, I guess that's what I get for messing with the camera when I don't know what I'm doing. Grrrrrr

So on to our trip. We had a fabulous time and were wishing we would have made it longer. It was truly one of those "connecting" trips where we just really enjoyed each other. We relaxed and sat by the pool, then when the 116 degrees was too much to take we would head in for an afternoon nap or a movie. We went to see Phantom of the Opera........INCREDIBLE!!!!!! I recommend anyone and everyone see this if they are in Vegas. They have designed the stage just for this and the actors do a phenomenal job. We also went to a Cirque du soleil performance but it was not nearly as good as Phantom. We went to breakfast on the first morning and saw Chris Nunez and Ami James, the tattoo artists from Miami Ink. Justin was very excited and we took some pictures but then........I erased them. (see the frustration?) So that was the only "celebrity" spotting. Then on our last night there was some crazy local that decided to open fire at the New York hotel, luckily we missed that action. There were lot's of people in town for the holiday and mixed with the hot weather it was a good place to enjoy our favorite sort of entertainment....people watching. :) Oh how they shine when that alcohol kicks in.

Here is the Bellagio, we stayed at the Imperial Palace which is right at center strip so the location was perfect for seeing everything.


This was our anniversary dinner, Italian.....our fav! :)


Can you imagine having hands this big, these are Shaquille O neals? Crazy!

We refused to pay the $12.00 for a margarita so we decided a picture was the next best thing.

That was our week in a nutshell, we are already thinking of where to go next........stay tuned for trip part 3. :)