Seattle-Friday 7/24

John and Grandpa spent the day working on finishing the foundation and starting the new deck while the kids and I played outside and waited for the Chapman's to come.

We thought they'd never get here, but Audrey, John's oldest sister :) and her two youngest kids Alexia (9) and Trevor (7) arrived this evening around 6. We sat down and had Chinese haystacks and then the girls were thrilled to have their cousins there to play with while the adults unpacked and cleaned up.

The girls were even more thrilled to stay up til 9 and then have their cousins join them in their room for a big sleep over. We had story time and then my favorite was all the kids joining in to sing Tyler's favorite, "I am a child of God." I'm pretty sure I heard McKenna and Alexia a time or two after I left but what are sleep overs for?

Friday afternoon we all piled in the car and headed to Pike's market where we watched the fish fly, ate yummy lil donuts, sampled cheese and looked and bought flowers. Pike's has the best flowers for the best price ever, only $5-$15.

Horse cops in Seattle? Lots of Love for Alexia

Taking time to Smell the flowers & Tyler our Lil cripple

So happy

Later we met up with Grandma, Aunt Kathryn & Aunt Ann at their hotel. They'd been out Garage Sale Hopping earlier and had picked up a great lil game the kids had a fun time playing and some books and as many great finds as they could carry home. We then headed to Whole Foods for dinner and then caught up with Cousins Tracey and Keith who only live in Federal Way and also with Jill and her family who live in Everett. It was fun lil impromptu reunion.

Sadly my camera broke, so as I wait for it to come back from the repair shop I'm thankful to Audrey and Grandpa who took and left pictures for me to remember the trip by. My memory is gone so glad I have pictures to fall back on.

Saturday n' Sunday 7/25-7/26

Saturday morning Audrey and I along with Tate and Tyler (the kids who are currently attached to my hip) and we drove back up to pick up our Dear Grandma. We stopped at IKEA on the way home where we were able to find some great lil finds. We hoped the boys would have the taco's made...funny they had hoped for the same thing. had That night we had Taco's, then on Sunday....



We celebrated Grandpa Payne's Birthday a little early with Brisket, Cherry Yum-Yum...

and a Corvette

the girls had mani-pedi's

and with a lil help from Grandma and Grandpa, Trevor made Mr Fluffy(?)

Grandpa Payne!

Today we picked up our Grandpa Payne from the airport for his much anticipated arrival for a week of slave labor. We did get to see our Grandma for a few minutes before she left with her sisters Kathryn & Anne for a sisters-get-away weekend. Tate greeted her with a big burst of tears, he was a little surprised looking over and finding her right next to him in the van. He quickly made up for it with a few smiles before she left.

The girls were ecstatic to have Grandpa and as soon as we walked in the door he was asked to "come play" with them. After he walked around to admire John's latest projects he sat down with the girls and in his best high pitched voice played My Little Pony with them. It was one of my favorite moments to listen to them in the play room while I put dinner together.

That night Grandpa did a little photoshoot of the girls and even began showing John and I how to use Photoshop. He's a pro and LOVES playing on it!


We put Grandpa to work right away-working on lifting the house to prepare for our new deck.

Potpouri of pictures

If you look close, the bink is falling out!

Sleeping Beauty!

Dynamic Duo

Our lil "jammer"

Real FOOOOOD~!

The Potty Training Saga

Tyler at 2-1/2 years old has begun Potty Training. She actually started herself quite some time ago (which is how I think it's supposed to go.) She's been watching McKenna go and she's even done her #1's in the potty, often letting us know when she needed to go. She has a potty book she love's to read called, "Zoe's Potty." She's pretty much has it memorized. She also picked out some Elmo underwear about a month ago which we put on the shelf in the bathroom for her to see. In the past couple of days she's gone longer periods of time and even a 24 hours without an accident (not counting nights) and so when she asked to put them on I said, "yes".

Who wouldn't want to take a stroll in their new Undies

She was so cute and very proud of herself and I think she really liked the way she looked in them. :) Definitely a girl- Sadly it was a short-lived venture as #2 is a hard one to convince her to do in the potty. She's gone to great effort to spend some alone time in "the playroom" to do her #2's in her pull-up. She then comes and proudly tells me she's gone and let's me change her, she just hasn't become comfortable with doing it in the potty.

McKenna on the other hand has come into her own with the whole using the bathroom. Occassionally she'll want to do it alone, but most of the time she wants company while she sits on the toilet. I'm not complaining too much as I don't have to keep asking her if she needs to go. although it's not uncommon for her to come running through the house as fast as her legs will go to get herself on the "Pot".

Good Job Girls!

The Heat is ON!!!

I was thinking the other day that Summer seems to be absent this year. I mentioned this to John and my friend Ady-both reactions were the same, I was crazy and it was one of the hottest summers in years. I don't know how I'm confused as I've mostly been present for a lot of cold, cloudy and sometimes windy days. Not actually very rainy, but cold.

There have been a handful of days where its been extremely hot...especially the last couple of days, but the overall number of warm days are just beginning to add up. I know this because I've been waiting to get out the Dora Slip'n Slide Grandma sent them and a new pool we inherited from a sweet patient of John's.

As mentioned the "HOT" has arrived in the numbers of 85-90 degrees, so we've been getting some good use out of the new toys.

Wish I'd had a video instead of a still shot of this one.

It's only funny because no one got hurt.

The girls have loved this pool and splashin up a storm. It's small, tall, and deep. Unfortunately it's crippled Tyler for what we hope is just a few days. She slipped backwards as she was trying to climb over the wall. Once again, the poor girl has my good graces.

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!