Beanser is 6!!!

Yesterday was Kaitlyn's 6th b-day. She had been counting down for weeks. She was so excited. She told us on Monday that since it was her b-day on Tuesday, she could do whatever she wanted and we couldn't tell her no. We politely told her that, yes, it was her b-day, but we could still tell her no. :) Anyway, she woke up and the first thing she wanted to do was open her presents. She got this game from Matt. She loves games, and particularly likes this one after playing it at her cousins house. The thing she wanted most in the world was a Nintendo DSi. Aaron and I debated for a while about getting her one. She is kind of a gamer, and loves to play Wii and computer. We have to strictly moniter her time, or she would play all day, so we were worried about adding one more thing to the mix. Also, they are very expensive. Way more than we usually spend on a b-day. We ended up telling her that if she could save 1/2 the money for it, she could maybe get one. I am so proud of this little girl. She saved for 8 months, and saved up $50. Everytime she would want to buy something, we would tell her to go ahead, but she would stop, think about it, and then say "No, I'm saving for my DSi." It also made her much more helpful at home. She was always asking for extra jobs to do so she could earn more money. So by her b-day she had saved $50, then she has to give us $25 of her b-day money, and then she got her DSi (pink of course.)

Since it was her b-day, we told her she could play as much as she wanted.

She didn't have a lot of time to play though because we had quite the busy day. She didn't get a party this year, so we told her she could pick on place to go. She chose Chuck. E. Cheese. So we headed there yesterday morning with our friends the Every's. Then in the afternoon we headed to the beach with a bunch of friends. I lugged down a cooler full of popsicles in honor of her b-day. We had a blast with all of our friends at the beach. I'm so sad that summer is almost over and we can't go anymore :( She is such a funny kid and for her b-day dinner she chose steak and mashed potatoes. Aaron thought that was the best idea ever, so that's what we ate. Then that night we did cake and ice cream. There is only this one pic of the cake because it is by far the worst cake I have ever made. I didn't plan it out, so it was a last minute cake, so I was forced to decorate with random stuff I had in my house. She wanted a Barbie cake, so here is the result (don't laugh, it truly is awful, but Aaron made me put a picture of it up).

Ramseys thoroughly enjoyed Kaitlyn's b-day. He got to tear up paper, cardboard, plastic etc. and had a blast for like an hour.

We love you Kaitlyn!!!!

It's A Boy!!!

Yes, it is a boy, but not the kind you're thinking of. We did get a new baby in our house, but he walks on four legs, has tan fur and the cutest face you've ever seen. As soon as we got back from camping we picked up our new puppy. Our friends The Jackson's dog had puppies and they let us have first pick. We've visited the puppies tons since they were born and finally decided on this little guy. His name is Ramseys (Aaron will inform you that he is NOT named after the Egyptian pharoah, but rather the wrestler from Nacho Libre). He is a lab/boxer mix, so he'll be a pretty big guy. He is so adorable and has the best temprament. He never bites or barks (excpet at night when we shut him in his kennel, but that will pass). The kids totally torture him and he never nips at them. I will say that it has been a ton of work these past couple of days, and I'm really looking forward to him being potty-trained, but we totally love him!

Grandpa visit, Camping

We have had a busy couple of weeks. First I headed to girls camp for a couple of days with my beehives. It was great! I had forgotten how much I really enjoy a bed, and a good nights sleep. Those couple days at camp quickly reminded me :) Then Aaron's dad came to visit. We had a great time with him. We went hiking to ponytail falls (sorry no pics), went to the zoo and the river. We ran Grandpa around. It was a lot of fun.

The day after Grandpa left we loaded up the car ( and I do mean loaded, it was packed!) and headed to Sacremento, California. We were meeting Aaron's 3 sisters and their families for a camping trip. We went to this great site on the American River called Coloma Resorts. We stayed in bunk houses that had A/C (thank goodness since it was around 95 degrees each day) and they had full bathrooms. We had to cook all our meals outside on camp stoves, but each family took a night so we just had to cook one big meal. I was worried about keeping my kids entertained for 5 days while camping, but they didn't get bored once. There was 10 cousins to play with, a swimming pool, playground, big open spaces to run in and of course the river. We tubed down the river everyday. There was a short run without too many rapids that the kids did. Then we traded off guys and girls going on a long 1 hour 45 minute float down. I never tipped, but Aaron got dumped a couple of times in the rapids. We also got to pan for gold, and even found some! All in all, a great vacation. We are planning on going again for a family vacation and I definatly recommend the spot.

My Baby is 4!

Matt turned 4 today. It's so crazy to think my little baby is 4. I'm quite sad about it. I wish I could freeze him, so he doesn't grow anymore. He still loves to come and snuggle with me and gives me big hugs. He is such a boy. He loves to play transformers, dinosaurs and cars. He loves to run around outside and pick on his big sister. He is starting to write some letters, but is not really interested in sitting down and doing school work. He has a great imagination and I love to just sit and listen to him play with his toys. He makes up the best stories for them. I just love this kid sooo much!

Here he is on his b-day with his new Woody doll and his cowboy costume. He also got some Transformers, which he loves.

For his b-day party he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese. So we invited 4 friends and headed to Chuck. E. Cheese. After they played for a while we came back and had lunch, and cake and ice cream.

He wanted a SpiderMan party, and SpiderMan cake. So I had Aaron draw a picture for me and then I attempted to put the picture on a cake. So here is the picture Aaron drew.


And here is the cake. It turned out ok. Not the best but it was the first time I had worked with fondant. I made some marshmallow fondant (and broke my Bosch in the process). It was pretty easy to work with, but took me forever. At least Matt loved it!

Soccer

Summer finally decided to come to Vancouver, so this week we've been hovering between 95-100 degrees. It's been great! We headed to the river on Wed. with a big group of friends. I forgot my camera, but the kids had a blast. We were there for 4 hours and I did well with the sunscreen. Aside from numerous mosquito bites, my kids came away fine. I however have some advice, when applying your sunscreen, don't forget the back of your legs. Suffice it to say that I've had to take a couple days off of running, and I've been wearing skirts that fall just to the knee.
On friday we went with some friends to Portland to a place called Peninsula Park. It's a pretty nice park with two big playgrounds that are completely shaded. They also have a little spray park and rose garden with a big fountain in the middle. The kids had a blast at the spray park and playing in the fountain.

On Thursday night Matt had his first soccer game. He was so excited. We got to the park and it was 98 degrees. It was sooo hot! They made all the kids get sprayed off from a hose before the game started, then they shortened each quarter to only 5 minutes. Then at half-time the kids had to get sprayed off again. It was so much fun seeing him play. All of the kids but 2 on our team are from our ward, so he has a lot of friends. Unfortunatly only about 4 of the kids would play, so Matt had to play a lot of the game. By the end he was so hot and tired but he did great. We lost by about 15-3. Our team was so funny, everytime one of the red team would come to get the ball, our players would pretty much just stand back and let them have it! I've included some great video so you can see Matt playing. He runs pretty well, now if he could just run while he has the ball, we'll be good! I was so proud of him though. Isn't he the cutest soccer player ever!?!

4th( or rather 3rd) of July, Vancouver Style

We failed once again to convince anyone how truly spectacular 4th of July in Vancouver is, so no one came to visit this year. Hopefully this post will convince you to come see us next year. We headed to our friends that Jackson's again this year. They outdid themselves with the party this year. I think the people totaled around 150 this year. They provided all the meat, and everyone else brought sides and desserts. It was great. Here is a pic of everyone eating. They had lost of activities around their yard to keep everyone entertained before the show, including a D.J. to keep the party going. There was volleyball, badmitten, and ping pong. We got a big round of around-the-world ping pong going with a bunch of the adults. It was a blast, but I'm sad to say that I was out almost first everytime. Not quick enough. . . They had plenty for the kids to do too. I don't think I saw Kaitlyn the whole night until the fireworks stared. They had a "fishing" pond with candy, face paiting, the bounce house (below), tree house(also below), a trampoline and of course the puppies (their dog Sadie had puppies 3 weeks ago).

A few of the men got together and bought all the fireworks for the show and then we all just contributed to the cost. I won't tell you how much they spent, but it was a ridiculous amount, which means it was a GREAT show. Here is the mortar table where they lit them off from.

And last but not least, the show. It was great again this year. I love that nothing is illegal in Washington. There are a couple of pics, and some video, although the video of the finale didn't come through. Too bad, but the rest will show you how great it is and hopefully intice someone to come spend it with us next year. . .
Amazing that we get to shoot those off in the backyard! (ignore my commentary in the background, I wish you could turn the sound off on the video)

Juneuary

The Pacific Northwest has not been kind to us this June. We've had something like 40 straight days of rain (starting to feel like Noah), then we were teased with like a week of warmer weather. And by warmer I mean we reached 80 like 2 days. But this week has been weak, with high 60's, low 70's. So when we hit 80 my kids begged to get wet, so we bought a new slip-n-slide and a new pool. They played in them for two days, and they have since sat on our patio. Hopefully summer will make it's appearance soon. We're getting anxious to go to the beach, but the river is so high there is no more beach!
Here's the pool:

Kaitlyn told me that she was cute this day and I just HAD to take a picture. . .

And here is what happens when all you play with is girls. He did tell me that it was a boy's color, so it's ok. His dad does NOT agree however!