This warms my heart

A rare moment

Hanging on..

Ben and Camden

Our $20 waterfall kiss... anyone for a swim?

AROHA!

Ben and I and Dave and Phath got a kick out of saying "Aroha". Alot of the tourist can't say "Aloha" so we got a few good laughs out of the saying. We just found this cute and memorable. We just got back from Hawaii last night. We will always remember where we were on election day '08. ( Of course we voted before we left! ) We had a great time in Hawaii. We went to Oahu and spent the first 4 nights in Honolulu. We walked around the beaches, went snorkeling, went to the PCC, we stopped at a great secluded beach on the way to Dave's side of the island toward Pcc. IT was amazing. The most memorable frightening experience was..... our first ride on a kayak on the open sea. (or ocean) That was a little scary for me... we wanted to go to a bay with calm waters and check out a sunken island. The cashier talked us into this other area .. what where we thinking!! After our kayak tipped twice starting out... I was a little skeptical about going out too far. I am not only afraid of bears.... but you guessed it! SHARKS!!!!!! Anyone that's been in a kayak knows how easy it is to tip. So a little panic attack on my part when I realized we were close to another island and being sucked into a current going further out to the ocean and oncoming waves. It was certainly something that I will always remember.

We ended up staying a few nights at my brother's place and were able to go back to the Pcc and see some villages. This was a lot of fun! Ben got to do a coconut dance.... so make sure and ask him to do a demonstration when you see him next. Also, Phath came and showed us around. We had already wasted 2 hours there before realizing there were actually movies and thing you were supposed to be watching at the villages. While we were also at David's we were able to go body boarding! We both fell in love.... with riding the waves. Alright... kinda! At this point in my trip three things occured to me... that I must be prepared to carry half the beach home in my swimsuit. (p.s. - make sure and invest in an underwire swimsuit as you wear it most of the day under your clothes!!) Secondly, make sure you are in front of the wave breaking while bodyboarding... and last but not least hang onto your trunks before getting out of the water.

Happy anniversary to Ben! Even though we spent our actual anniversary night on an airmatress.... it couldn't have been any better.

Happy Halloween

We had a small scale Halloween party for Ella and her friends today. Here's Ella and Ruby. They have such a great time playing together! Ruby is a witch and Ella wanted to be a vampire. IF you look closely you can see Ella's white fangs.We played some games, and decorated a cookie. I even found the best Jones vampire soda at Target. I am going to be gone for Halloween so this was my way of making myself feel not as guilty.

My Quirks... my one and only tag I will do

1. I once broke up with a "hot" guy... cause he had dirty icky teeth. I don't like dirty teeth.
2. I have a hard time doing nothing.
3. I am motivated to open my mouth and speak up at the dumbest things! Not politics, or life altering decisions.... just the little things.
4. I am addicted to reading... books. I know, I know, LAME! How many can I read in a week?
5. I cannot stand dirty floors. At least at my house. It's like that spot on my floor teases me all day. It's one thing I notice. Besides what purse someone carries, or what shoes they tend to wear. I just find it interesting!
6. I will sacrifice for fashion. I wore brand new shoes to Seattle.... that had a mean heel. We ended up walking around and I ended up with a blister! Luckily, I was prepared and had a few bandaids in my purse! (thanks to my clumsy 2 year old) However, being in the Northwest has broken me of some of my fashion habits. I bought an outdoorsy jacket that I could hike in or walk in. Something I vowed I would never do!!
7. I hate it when people ask me where things are. Look first... then ASK! I had hoped to be more patient with this over the years but I haven't succeeded!

Okay, there's a few of my many!

My fantastic Day

I just got back from a conference with Parker's teacher. He couldn't say enough positive things.... he has motivated Parker and it's been great! Ella is also doing great in school. She has gained confidence in front of crowds and loves school. I also got a call from my doctor saying that my medicine needs to be increased!!! What a miracle.... there's still hope! Just thought I'd take a second to celebrate.

Mt. Reindeer

We headed out over a long weekend to Mt. Rainer.(In our family it's known as Mt. Reindeer) No camping.... just a little hike. We chose the shortest hike and set off. The kids however along the way decided that they wanted to hike a trail almost entirely headed uphill. So I thought hey "Why not.. this can be my cardio today!" and off we went. Did I mention this was our first hike? So we got maybe a hundred yards when the kids started complainig. They had to rest at nearly every bench along the way. Where was all that energy they posses at home? So we made it about 3/4 up the hill to a plateau and then decided we should head back down. Straight down. Luckily, I had noticed another man coming down in a zig zag style so he wouldn't slip and fall. So we zig zagged down the mtn. and head out to catch another trail. This one led to Myrtle Falls. We got there and it was amazing. We almost lost Camden when he decided to sneak under the guard rail 2 feet from a 200 ft. cliff. However, I managed to snag his jacket before that happened. I don't know if we will be visiting Myrtle Falls anytime soon!

Boating Excitement

Ashley and I went out on the lake a few weeks ago. My dad loves this picture... my dad thinks we look identical here. We had a lot of fun on this tube ride... Jonathan and Camden don't look as sure though!

Ella's cavitiy bugs

We went to the dentist last week only to find out Ella had 2 little cavities. Her appt. was this morning... and I almost had a panic attack. She hasn't had any cavities before so I was nervous. So I decided to bribe her with 2 toys from the toy store. What was I thinking? Ella... didn't even stir while they fixed her teeth. Or cleaned the cavitiy poop out. As we like to say.. So $40 later, here's Ella! (Plus the $75 for he fillings)

Retarded people make me angry

I know...a big surprise! I went to pick up Ella from school. There was a lady who I walk with parked in front of me. She is so protective and sweet with her children. She left her newborn strapped in and took her 2 year old to go see if her Kindergartner was out. Maybe 15 steps.... so she could see the van and still see if he was out in line. I have done the same thing before... There was this retarded older person who was frantically asking "Whose car is parked over there?" Like there was some fire or something! Well, unknown to the lady who was freaking out the mom had heard the baby and went back to the van. Hello!! Maybe offer to help... I said "There are so many other things to worry about" then she said in a threatning tone" It's illegal and there is a cop 3 cars down from the car" (obviously her significant other- lucky him in his beat up blue truck) Maybe she could have just asked if the mom needed help and politely added that she probably shouldn't be doing that.
I can't remember what I said except kinda the same thing.. adding maybe there are more important things like people speeding down streets... and thinking ...like parents beating their kids! Come on! So I will have to take Camden out everytime darn it!

My body is currently under construction

I keep thinking that maybe my body shouldn't be an apple shape. Maybe something more like a heart shape. Since it's full of love and love handles at the moment. As many of you know.... I don't have a thyroid. This past year I have been trying to be patient(a virtue I don't have) and have reached my limits! My body has been slowly gaining weight a sad... 30 pounds in one year. I have recently started a new med. on a higher dose so I am hoping this will change things for my body. I have still been working out... eating good... and all the other fun things. I am still the same crazy obsessed workout person I was. So if you see me.... just know I am not pregnant, or getting lazy, or if you hear any rumors shoot them down for me! If anyone is down with an a.m. workout ... let me know! So hopefully, upward and onward!!!!

Thank heavens..... school is back!

Today was the frist d ay of school. Ella started Kindergarten and parker started fourth grade. Camden was convinced that he was also starting school today. He took his backpack and even had it hung up in a cubby . As I prepared to leave Ella's class I almost left without Camden. He had decided to sit right next to Ella along with her class on the floor. I guess he will be ready for preschool next year! Notice I took the picutre in front of our house. Parker informed me before we left that there were to be no kisses, or hugs, orI love you today! The nerve....

I ordered matching shirts from Macy's for the boys. Camden cried an hour after I put his on. He doesn't like long sleeve shirts. After about 5 attempts at getting everyone to look at the camera.... this is the best one!

Note the tv in the background on our kitchen table. The kids think it's going in their room ... it needs to do a disappearing act!

Butterflies for the day

I love to paint... and had two willing girls to model. Ella and Emily have fun playing together. It seems everytime they are together paint is involved. Hey look!! They are flying......

Us over the years....

Team Edward!!

A friend and I went to the local Borders and anxiously awaited the release of Final Dawn.(the fourth Twilight series book) It was fun to see all the teenage fans dressed up and screaming with excitement! If I were to be changed to a vampire tomorrow (he he) then missing this party would surely have been a "mortal" experience I would have missed out on! I ended up staying up until 3am to read part of the book... I had a purse party the next morning. Otherwise, I would have pulled an all nighter. I did finish yesterday night though. I loved the ending... I won't ruin it for those of you who haven't read it yet!

The Case of the Mysterious brown blob...

This Sunday Camden yelled that he had to go potty during sacrament. Since Ben was speaking I got the honor of taking Ella and Camden to the bathroom. We made it to the bathroom and Ella was in one stall and Camden in the other. Camden likes to go "pee" like his dad standing up. So he was standing up sprinkling in the toilet when I heard him pass a noisy "fart" .(sorry mom.. for the sake of the story) I kinda laughed until I felt something drop onto my foot. I guess I forgot to mention that I was wearing dress heels. Yup... you guessed it. I looked down to find a brown smelly blob of poo on my foot!! Somebody help me! EEK... I discreetly wiped my foot, snuck out of the stall and got some papertowels with soap and water and proceeded to bath my foot..... NUMEROUS times!

It's another girl!?

Take a deep breath Ben. Our neighbor girls enjoy dressing Camden up as a girl! Just a little summer fun! We are missing Parker and his boy influence.

My cheap vision

I have been trying to figure this out in my head since last summer. What do you think mom? I only spent $20 on the lights.... it's now my favorite place to be. Now that it's sunny I needed a cozy place to read. We had Mimi and Jon's "farewell" barbecue out here. I need to be more of a picture taker cause I didn't take any of the event. I know..... I know. So imagine this filled with our friends.... it was our first official barbecue! We had fun...!! So maybe next year we can host another one for the return of Mimi and Jon and I will take pictures!

Potty training

Camden is finally going potty on the toilet. It's day one of this exciting adventure!
So far no accidents and it's 1p.m. I don't have any undies his size and so he's wearing Parker's size 10 undies rolled over a few times. They work and he'll def. know when he has an accident.

Vacation- Is this supposed to be fun?

Well, I am begg. to think that maybe I need a 12 passenger van! I don't think the Pilot is big enough for road trips. The seats are still within striking distance. WE enjoyed Silverwood... and stayed on a lake! I thought of it as camping the REED STYLE! Friday morning we scrambled out of bed cause Ben thought it was 9:45 and Silverwood opened at 11am. Only to find out in the car that it was actually only 8AM!! No wonder I had such a hard time waking up! So we went on a hike (no bears attacked us) and played outside. It was beautiful... and we enjoyed it. We really liked Silverwood. There was a lot of fun water rides, and cotton candy (yes!). We watched a magic show shile we ate pizza. There were not lot of people in line... so that was nice. Ben was bummed at first cause Parker and his friend were hesitant riding the coasters. Finally, they gave in and started to ride them. Sean and Amanda came up Friday and Saturday and brought Frodo. Poor Frodo..... attacked by my kids. It was fun.... and everyone slept on the way back! Thanks heavens!!!

Gymnastics Show

Ella's gym. show was fun. I love it when they do the vault! It amazes me... I was never a gymnast but always am captivated by the things they do. She loves gym. and she has the gymnastic legs to prove it! Where can I order that muscle on my legs??

More Gray hair??

So I am a little frustrated at trying to figure this out! So this slideshow will have to work till I can figure out how to put pictures instead! Also, I tried to download music... this just isn't my talent!! ARRGGHH... the cat in the slideshow is what I feel like right now.

Ella's photography

Ella kept bugging me to scrapbook .. so I decided to buy her her own scrapbook and she can do it herself. My scrapbook stuff is still (gasp) packed in a box. I found this digital camera and gave it to her so she could take pictures to scrapbook. I'm sure these will keep us entertained!

The Returned Check

We received a letter from the Washigton State Account Board that our check had been returned! Keep in mind that Ben was applying for his CPA license. I guess they probably had a good chuckle about that. In my defense, I have to say that the bank accidently canceled all of our checks on this particular account. Now $35 dollars later.... I am proud to say that Ben is CPA certified!!