Thursday is the new Saturday

John has Thursdays off again and so it feels more like a Saturday than a Thursday as we spend the day working. As you know John has a great work ethic going and it's starting to catch on with the rest of us...well with myself but we're hoping it will catch on with the girls sometime soon.

The Renovations continue...and progress:

The kitchen is getting closer.

The island is all but done, just a 3 more drawers and some trim.

A few more cupboard fronts and some nifty spice drawers:

The Spare Half bath is tiled, toilet installed (and flushed)

and the vanity, lights and faucet are just waiting to be attached

John's way of keeping the kids out while tile dries. :)

John tore off the deck today to finish sealing the foundation and to build a newer, better deck next week when Grandpa Payne gets here. We love when he comes to town as my house gets prettier and prettier.

Best Buy to the Rescue...

Well the dishwasher saga has finally come to an end. Only like 4-5 weeks after it started, but all's well that ends well. The night John went to Best Buy with our old dishwasher he did NOT come home with a new one. The whole process ended up with us getting a refund on our old one, buying a new and updated version (which I believe is quieter than the last) as a cheaper price. With the savings we were able to get the "Geek Squad" 3-yr protection plan and a promise that I'd get a dishwasher the next morning.

Upon returning home we were looking at the "receipt" and realized that Nick, the sales guy's address was on the delivery portion instead of ours. Boy was he surprised to wake up to the delivery guys the next morning. He did make it up to us by sending us a lil credit, enough to get Mario Kart for the Wii. John and I played in Boise at his sister Audrey's house and we loved it!

It seems like through this process anything that could go wrong has. It is now 2 days later and the dishwasher was finally delivered. John installed it this evening and it's running the 1st load of dishes.

YEAH!!!

Sometimes Happiness does come in a silver box-with running water, soap and lots of heat.

Thanks Best Buy for giving this story a happy ending!

Fieldtrip Friday PlayGroup-McKinley Park

Every Friday we try to go to our ward's Playgroup. Leslie made up a schedule for the summer which mostly consists of local WaterParks and its been pretty fun. This last week we were in Tacoma at McKinley Park. Nice lil place with a big park right next to it.

This Friday, Mud Mountain Dam, so excited for this one. 2 Big Parks and a lil wading pool with a big fountain in the middle.

Sam-sung the wrong tune

Dear Samsung,

I'm not a technically savvy girl-my focus has turned to my children over the past 4 years. The name Samsung has always sounded like a brand that was up there with Sony, Panasonic and well the well known brands. So when my husband came home with a Samsung Television, I was pleased. When he bought me a kitchen full of Samsung brand name appliances I felt secure that I was getting a good product, not to mention pretty.

It's been 8 months now and I didn't expect our relationship to take such a sour turn. It started with the banging of the dishwasher, from inside the dishwasher. "No problem," I thought to myself it's under warrenty Samung will take care of it. I called and spoke to a very nice representative who gave me a transaction number and told me that someone would contact me in 3-5 business days. So I waited ever so patiently...

It's now been 4 weeks, a whole month of phone calls every 3-5 business days (on hold for 15-30 minutes) to find out nothing has been or will be done until my next phone call. Are you really so busy fixing so many appliances and things that you can't catch up or has all your money been spent on marketing and making the product pretty? I'm sorry I had to "sic" or rather ask my husband to call you, no one was responding to my calls which were neither defensive or rude, I just wanted help. I have 3 young kids under the age of 5 and although that is not your fault I need all the help I can get which is why I got a dishwasher.

My husband went to pick up a new dishwasher tonight-although I almost had to wait another 2 weeks. Apparently we live in no man's land because you couldn't find someone to even come and look at, let alone fix my dishwasher.

I'm hoping we don't have to speak about this or any other appliance again. Let by-gones be by-gones...and let's hope for the best since we are starting over!

Sincerely,
Sam-Sung to the Wrong Tune

4th of JULY

Since we got home earlier that day from camping we took "chill" version of celebrating the 4th of July. We stopped by "Ill-Eagle Fireworks" on the way home and picked up some sparklers and a few small fireworks that do some colors including a "Unicorn" that had pink packaging so the girls were so excited to set it off. So after baths and dinner we went outside to "celebrate." Before starting we tried to explain what we were celebrating, our countries freedom, but somehow it came out our that this was kind of like country's birthday, which they totally understood. :) A big Birthday party, they were totally down with that. A day doesn't go by thatI don't hear "Happy Birthday" and the Birthday song shortly following.

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We started out with the Sparklers, but neglected to tell the girls to hold them downward and so a few of the "Sparks" hit Tyler's arm and the girls were done with those. We then lit a "purple" fountain fireworks which was apparently too loud because McKenna went running into the house and pretty much stayed there-with an occasional appearance between fireworks. Overall it was pretty funny and a good time had by all!

Running for cover!

John and I spent the evening clearing a path through our family room and putting stuff away. We took a moment to look out our back windows at the various shows that were being put on around the valley.

I do love the 4th of July and try not to miss the point of the holiday, to celebrate our country's freedom. I miss the parades, the 5&10K runs and going to the shows that celebrate our country's freedom. Time and a place for everything and I think as the kids get older we'll join the throngs of people amongs the madness. Until then I don't mind our quiet lil celebrations at home.

Tate's 7 Month Picts

My how the time flies-Sometimes 6 month pictures turn into 7 or 8 month pictures

John was commenting on the differences in our children. Tate's hair looks red in the sun and his eyes are still blue thus far (His coloring comes from John's Mom). Tyler has Dark hair, skin and eyes. McKenna's Fair skinned, blondish and hazel eyed. They definitely look like siblings but what a fun contrast.

Today Tate started babble-gaga, Momma...it's really quite cute! We sure do love this little boy. Thanks for the great pictures Leslie!

Camping

With the 4th of July holiday John had a 4 day weekend so we decided to take advantage and go camping with our little family. We've always wanted to be a camping family, but I've always been too scared to go. Mostly the noise factor-others and our own (crying) and the temperature factor-too cold.

The summer after we were married, John and I went backpacking with my sister Amber and some friends up in the Olympic Peninsula. It was a beautiful 16 mile hike along the coast ending at a place called 3rd beach right outside Forks. At the end of the hike as we were getting ready to leave we ran into a family from our ward that had about 4 young kids and we always admired them and hoped one day it would be us camping on the beach.

Thursday morning bright and early the girls jumped out of bed so excited to go hiking, camping AND to the beach. (When they heard we were going to the beach the girls asked if (aunt) Ashley was going-apparently to them she lives at the beach). 3rd Beach is only a mile and a half hike from the car and we figured we could do it. As John researched it further we found that 2nd Beach (original names aye?) was only 3/4 mile hike and might be more reasonable for Tyler and McKenna. So by 9 am Thursday we were on the road and headed for the Olympic National Forest/Port Angeles/La Push.

I have to tell you it was pretty cute-I'm pretty mad I packed my camera because watching Tyler and McKenna pull their lil pink backpacks on wheels up the trail was the cutest thing. John told them they had to carry their own stuff-clothes, flashlight and a book. It didn't last the full 3/4 mile but they were quite the troopers especially for being 2 & 4 yrs old.

John truly was the MAN this trip. He made a couple of trips to get everything we needed to the beach. The girls didn't mind they ran around and in Tyler's case rolled around in the sand so excited to be at the beach. Setting up took a lil longer than planned but after finding a spot to pitch the tent, fighting the wind to get the tent up, and John made us a fire and a gourmet dinner of "Pigs in a blanket" and smores in lieu of a breathtaking sunset. It was almost comical the number of campers/hikers along the beach with camera in hand to take pictures of the setting sun, although can't say that I blame them. We did the same thing:

The kids actually went down for bed easier than I expected and with the waves as a natural noise maker they slept wonderfully. If only we'd had a heater-it was unbelievably cold-I was mostly prepared-I bundled Tate up in a couple of fleece items and then a few blankets...he had John's thermostat because he did wake up at one point a lil too Hot. Oops!

We had only planned on staying one night but things had gone so well and there was so much to do we decided to stay another night. We hiked back out and drove into Forks for a few extra supplies and found that Forks had lost their sites on reality, or else they were really cashing in on Tourism and the Twilight books. There were signs, stores and even a Twilight Tour bus. Really? People it's NOT real! It gave John and I some good laughs.

The rest of the day was spent playing with Dad-building Sandcastles, flying Kites, playing in the FREEZING cold waves and combing the beach for seashells and starfish. That night we made smores and had a yummy MRE dinner of chicken and rice and of course More S'Mores!. It truly was the perfect Day!

We woke the next morning to a cloudy sky and freezing cold temperatures and we knew it was time to go home. So we packed up our belongings and hiked down the beach, over the pile of driftwood trees and up the trail to our car.

We had a blast spending soo much uninterrupted time with Dad-that when we announced it was time to go home the response was unanimous, "I don't want to go Home!" No worries girls, we had so much fun with you too that we'll definitely do it again!

Ups and Downs of Babyhood

I'm getting so behind these days with writing. Trying to keep up with 3 kids but I believe mostly due to the lack of sleep.

I love my dear Tate, but the boy has been struggling in the sleep department. Not conisistenly as some nights he goes to sleep and stays asleep fine, others he deosn't want to go to bed (which I think is just over-tired/stimulated), wakes up and just needs a binki. Last night he wanted to play at 3:30 in the morning-and play with someone. He wasn't very fond of jus the hand on the chest which is the only other way he's been calmed to go to sleep without screaming. So after I plalyed that game for 20 min and went back to sleep only to have him wake a few minutes later so John did 10 min.

We've had enough and I'm documenting because I've found I don't remember what we did with Tyler. I'm not a fan of letting him cry it out, which we did with McKenna. Yesterday after he woke up at 6 am and then didn't want to nap at 9 we let him cry...a lot. I calmed him down a few times and thought he was sleeping only to have him start back up a few minutes later. This morning he slept about an hour and a half this morning and that was reasonable. A few hours later he was tired so I laid him in bed and he went right to sleep-only 45 minutes later he woke up screaming. I could tell he was still tired but he just can't seem to put himself back to sleep. So after calming him down a few times-and feeling myself getting frustrated in the process I put him down and walked away-and did a lil reading in my Baby Whisperer Book. It was the safest thing to do. He "mantra" cried, but not a full scale wale so I think I'm ok with it.

On an upbeat-as it's always best to end on-he got his new lil Space Saver chair. It looks and reclines like a high chair, but it straps to a regular chair. I LOVE IT. Now I won't have to hold him in my lap while I feed him anymore.

He's quite the champ in eating, liking most everything. Peaches, Pears, Peas, Beans, Carrots (sometimes he likes and sometimes not so much) sweet potatoes, bananas, and then rice and oatmeal at each meal. I've been trying to make/puree from fresh fruit & Veg and am currently waiting for my own copy of Ruth Yaron's "Super Babyfood" which a friend of ours has highly suggested. Can't wait for more direction-I'm definitely a rule follower.

Fences & Heirloom Chest

He's done it again-We decided with a fancy new playhouse we needed to coral the kids in the backyard so John's built us a beautiful fence. The kids have had a good time with it, they love going in and out of the gate.

We also had some Cherry Wood from my Grandfather's Trees and he came up with the idea of making Amber's wedding gift. I think it turned out beautifully and Amber & Norm's face lit up when they saw it so I think they liked it. :)

Thanks and Good Job John!

Amber's Wedding

Amber's Wedding

My little sister Amber got hitched on June 11th to Norm Wahlstrom. I can honestly say he is one of the few people who I think might be worthy of marrying Amber. He's a great guy and he's quite her equal. This blessed event was the reason for our lil roadtrip to Utah and we're so thankful we were able to make it.

I was thrilled to also spend some extra quality/girl time with Amber as she worked on her cake one night and also by crashing her pedi/mani party with her future in-laws (Who were all very cute and sweet!) The night before she got married we had a "Sister" Send off party. We were sad Laura and our Mom couldn't make it but it was fun times with Shelly, Amber & Brooke. Don't know the last time we all got together. It was pretty funny, learned alot about Mafia on Facebook and we just chatted about this and that.

The next morning things were crazy-there were baths to take, hair appointments not too mention we had to get down to the temple and meet Ashley & Jordan (Who looked blissfully happy as a newly wed couple should) who were nice enough to watch the kids for us. I love weddings as you are able to see family you don't otherwise get much of chance to see-lots of Aunts and Uncles I haven't seen in years and a few friends from High School. It rained off and on through the day but I hear the overcast is always best for pictures, and there were LOTS and LOTS of pictures taken. Amber and Norm were ever so picture perfect with a dip and a kiss when bidded. (With 3 kids and a lot of family around I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I usually do, I was lucky to have John there taking pictures otherwise I'd have nothing!)

Amber did an amazing job with the wedding. She seriously took everything upon herself-although it was good that she hired the photography, the flowers and the catering out. She made the jewelry, the place cards, picked out and bought all the clothing so we all matched. She even made her own cake which tied everything from the kids dresses to the flowers in. All the decorations were amazing-I'm starting to wish I'd hired her to do my wedding.

She had a dinner instead of a reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building-which included a chocolate fountain (Sadly we never let the girls see it or they may never have left). My Dad MC'd the even and each of the parents spoke and thenAmber and then...Norm sang. It was awesome! He can't sing, but he can perform and it was fabulous! I still smile just thinking about it. The evening ended with Dancing, cake cutting and the tradition throwing of the bouquet and garter. Then we all lined the hall It really was a Picture Perfect Wedding! Thanks Amber for letting us be apart of it!

PS-While taking pictures in the JSM Building I looked over and saw none other than this intimidatingly beautiful girl I knew from Utah State. Her name then was Julianne Ball, and we took Business Law together where we learned about a girl who wasn't hired because she was Intimidatingly Beautiful and so she sewed the company I think it was. We thought that was pretty funny and realized that was pry why we didn't get a lot of dates or hired at the big companies. :) Julianne was there with her husband Dan to see an old roommate of hers from BYU who was getting married. Sometimes the world doesn't seem so big afterall.

Happy Father's Day Big John

The night before Father's Day I asked John which Father's Day he wanted-a day of pampering from his children or the "boy do I feel Like a Dad" kind of day. I was planning on pampering him, but it turned out to be more of a "Feel like a Dad" day. We did make him pancakes with homemade strawberry Jam and cream and the girls gave him a big bag of S&P pistachio's. We tried to make him homemade strawberry ice cream which was was creamy, soupy and delicious. :) The girls sang him our Official Happy Father's Day song to the tune of Happy Birthday. He bought himself a wheelbarrow that we're claiming as his great gift, although he did get a 2 hr Sunday afternoon nap, don't know if there's a better gift than that when you have young kids.

We sure do love our Daddy and our Grandpa's, whom we can't be forgetting as none of us would be here w/out you and our Dad wouldn't be the great man that he is. Thank for all you do for us!

Grandpa Payne

"Papa" Harris

Great Grandpa & Harris-Still kids at heart!