ALL KINDS of Good Stuff!

Noe had a father-daughter dance at her school. She was so into getting ready for it. It was so fun!

We had a mani-pedi in my tub.

She advised her date on what to wear:

After a long shower with deep conditioning for her hair, we STRAIGHTENED it! Only for special occasions...

After her preening and primping, she was ready. She sat out front to wait for Mr. Right. She kept watch for his arrival, checked the minor details, and got more excited by the minute.

He finally arrived, and Little Miss Thang got her first corsage. She was amazed that it was real, and after securing it to her wrist, the two set off. They had a fantastic time together for the first ten minutes, and then her friends showed up and it was "Daddy WHO?" He did manage to steal a few more dances, and kept her out hours past her bedtime. She loved every second of it!

And speaking of this great guy... guess who had a birthday today? He made a sweet score with items for his new man-cave.

got all kinds of loves,

and Ann made him this DELICIOUS cake, which we inhaled half of in one sitting.

So many good things, which we were happy to welcome into our lives.

This Is Us... Now.

Here are a bunch of pictures of us around town, at the beach, and the very best of all... Jordan's Priesthood ordination. It was so amazing, and we are so proud of him. He turned 12 last February, but no one had really been taking him to church, so he was never able to be ordained. As soon as he came, he and Skip talked about it, and he said he was ready and wanted to have it done. He is a remarkable kid. We watched both he and Mika pass the sacrament on Sunday, and I was all choked up. Great kids... except maybe not so much during family home evening...

Summertime!

Oh man, do I love this guy. I am dying that he has to go back to work on Monday. We hit the beach in Port Townsend and Seattle, went to Pikes Place, and visited with friends. It's been great. We've had more house guests in the one month we've lived here than we had in the 3 years we lived in Idaho! Here's to many more.

Here's us after a day at the beach. Hungry.

My lady love, Lisa, came to town with her fam, and we had a great time together. I really want her to move here.

And here's my friend Ann. We used to work at Bath and Body Works together when we were both stuck in Oklahoma. Now we're practically neighbors here. Total coincidence. Isn't she darling, and her little boy is super cute.

And of course, all the produce you could dream of at Pikes Place. Eat your hearts out, Trinity and Robin! I mean, if you come see me, you literally could. Mmmmm... yummy.

Do You Kindof Want To Cry?

Mika turned 12 this month and was ordained a Deacon in our church. He got a suit, and suddenly he grew about six inches. I adore this kid. Make no mistake, he can be a booger. But most of the time, he is helpful, obedient, and he is really growing into his sense of humor. Plus, he remembers to wear his deodorant, and I appreciate that.

Birthday Girls and The Fam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR TWO BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS!

We love you more than words can express, and are proud of who you are.

And this was the best we could do for a family pic while we were all together. We had planned a formal coordinated one, but the weather disagreed. We were lucky to snap this one in the five minutes of sunshine we were blessed with. Pardon the over-vignetted edges. I'm too lazy to go back and correct it.

Spring Break Recap

We are coming off the heels of our spring break. It was fantastic. Really. The weather was not to be believed, and by some freakish twist of fate, my kids hardly fought! No, I'm serious. I don't know what got into them, but they enjoyed each other's company. Yeah. I know. Weird.

We intentionally kept ourselves underscheduled. We lounged, snacked, and played, and it really was nice. St. Patricks Day was low key... Mika made us all some green pancakes. I heard a statistic the other day that there are some-number-which-escapes-me of people in this country who cannot cook ten meals for themselves, they are so dependent on fast food and pre-packaged meals. While these bad boys did come from a boxed mix, I feel confident that my kids will not fall into that category.



Not to be left out, Noe wanted to try her hand at green eggs. Perhaps a lesson on the primary colors would've been effective... purple seemed a little icky. Keola opted for the grapefruit instead. Where's the sense of adventure, I ask?



And what vacation would be complete without a bazillion pictures taken?? I got to try out the new fixed lens, and I was really pleased with the results.

Oh yeah. I do have two sons as well. Here they are:

Keola thanked me for "fixing his unibrow" when I was editing, and Noe will thank me some day too, I'm sure of it. At what age is it appropriate to wax children???

Chillin With the Chitlins

It's cold and no one in this house wants to go outside to have their picture taken. How am I supposed to get any practice with my new lens or my diffuser?? Huh? Tell me!

I offered to take the kids for a walk. By "walk" I guess what I meant was "unleash them at a full speed run and try to keep up."

We were walking in some woods that run alongside the golf course. Suddenly, Mika found a golf ball. You would think he'd just discovered a secret passage to Wonka's factory. Of course, ten seconds after he finds it, some guy yells down from the top of the ridge, "HEY! You guys see a ball down there?" Mika was good enough to return it, but frankly I was confused by the thrill of the find.

Anyway. We hung out on the golf course for awhile and watched the sunset. It was awesome. I tried some metering, but it didn't go well. Photography is becoming frustrating to me because I really do not have any time to practice or learn. And because I have the world's most useless memory, I forget a lot of the things that I HAVE learned. It's sort of like chasing my tail here. Anyway. Here are a couple of fun ones we came away with:

Everything outside is dead and brown, so I end up converting all my pics to black and white to hide that fact.

End of boring post.

Checking In

We have been super busy lately. That, combined with recent events, has made it less exciting for me to update my blog.
By way of updates, here's the skinny on our bidniz:

1. We have to travel to Oklahoma in a few weeks for a court date. Not excited about that. But looking forward to some closure. Being divorced can really be a nuisance.

2. I recently discovered I need to have a hysterectomy. This is okay with me because a)I am done having children; b)it will alleviate many annoying and uncomfortable physiological issues I'm having; c)I will have a rare opportunity to compose a little masterpiece I'm planning to title "Ode To My Uterus." I'm putting it off for a few months though so I don't have to miss work.

3. Noe got bitten by a spider. It developed into an abscess, which had to be lanced. They "packed her wound" and we had to bring her in every 2 days to have the packing changed. She literally has a hole in her thigh. It's creepy and weird and gross, and a little teeny bit fascinating.

4. I got sick. The medical professionals referred to it as a "severe cold" but I referred to it as an "80 year old emphysema patient still smoking while hooked up to her oxygen machine." It was a horrid, ugly, hacking cold. I even missed work because of it! I rarely miss work. I knew it was bad though when my husband spent a night on the sofa to "get some sleep." Apparently my snorting, nose blowing, and desperate moaning were "annoying". Whatevs.

Other than those big deals, it's been bidniz as usual. Basketball season is upon is, Keola is playing. Mika placed 5th in the school in our Geography Bee. We enjoyed Keola's first Pinewood Derby (pictures to follow, try to curb your enthusiasm). Things are good, and I feel pleased at my ability to manage the latest round of stress and trial. I usually get fairly distraught with all of it, but apparently lots of therapy combined with prayer is paying off for me.

Sweet.

Extended Play

I try not to be too repetitive between the two blogs. This one seems a bit redundant however. Ran a 5K, went to Spokane for First Night. Sound familiar???

Considering some of our family members ran in Chuck Taylors, I think it's impressive that we all finished!

First Night in Spokane was a ton of fun. We passed several hours weaving in and out of ice sculptors, tap dancers, snowboarders and jugglers. We spent the night in the city and then drove to an indoor water park the next day. There was some laser tag, mini-golf, and a lot of water sliding. Remarkably, the entire family really enjoyed each other's company. There were no melt-downs, no fights, and barely any whining. Until, of course, the car ride home. I noticed Skip kept turning the radio up louder and louder, and I kept closing my eyes tighter and tighter, waiting for a little nap to relieve me from the ruckus of the back seats.

The highlight of the night was catching some free Rockstar Energy hats thrown to the crowd during the snowboarding competition. Then we got to walk around for the rest of the evening with a buncha little thugs. Nice.

These tap dancing brothers from Oregon were really talented. The kids, especially Samie, really loved watching them. I thought it was fun when she leaned over and asked me if I thought any of them were cute. I did. So did she. We both fell for the Mr. Charisma of the group (pink shirt). But we're both still hopelessly devoted to our main man... the one who got our kisses at midnight.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!