30

I turned 30 a couple months ago. Wow the big 3-0. To be honest I was pretty much dreading it. 30 seems so old! But life is pretty much the same, so what do you know ;)

 

Ryan had lots of surprises for my big day. He threw me a little surprise party with our family and friends at the park on my actual birthday. Then the next night my parents spent the night with our kids while we went out and stayed at their house. Ryan took me to dinner at a delicious restaurant at Sundance. It was so good!

 

The rest of my birthday was a plan to visit New York. We had sky miles, a Delta voucher, and hotel points to use. We just got back from the trip and I will blog about that soon.

 

It was a great birthday and so far being 30 is great!

Swim Lessons

 Hayden and Cole had swim lessons for a week this summer. They took them from a lady that lives fairly close. They just had them in her pool at her house. It was fantastic!

 She only teaches individual lessons to young children and that made a huge difference. On Monday, Cole was clinging to her for dear life. By Friday, he was floating on his own and loving the water.

Hayden learned and improved a lot, too!

Brooklyn got to just hang out!

 

My kids are all water babies and we got to spend a ton of time in the water between Grammy and Grampa's pool and going to 7 Peaks. So much fun!

Hayden turns 6 (2 1/2 months ago)

 We have one crazy week in June. Brooklyn's birthday, Hayden's birthday, Father's day, and my birthday. Complete chaos and fun for that week. We got to spend time with Ryan and both Grandpa's on Father's day. Too bad I'm horrible and didn't even get a picture of the kids with Ryan. Oops! Love you, Ryan :)

 Hayden had such a fun birthday. Brynli got to spend the night the night before her party. We let Hayden open a couple presents before Ryan headed to work. Roller skates and a scooter! She was so excited!

 Later we had a water party with a bunch of her friends. I'm so glad she's been able to make so many friends here.

 She picked to have these fishy cupcakes, and I didn't complain. They were so easy and she loved them.

 Hayden and all her loot!

Hayden is such a fun, smart, usually sweet but sometimes sassy, little girl. She's a great big sister, loves art and being outside,  and doing projects.

We love having this little girl in our family!

Happy birthday, Haydie Babe!

Brooklyn Turns 1 ( 2 1/2 months ago)

Our sweet little princess turned 1! Well it was actually over a month ago, but life is crazy. She's still one ;) 

 We had a lady bug party for her and invited family over to celebrate with us!

 She wasn't so sure about her cupcake. She didn't really eat much of it.

 We had a bunch of fun party stuff going on including snow cones and cotton candy.

 Sugar, sugar, sugar!

  This little bug is so loved and she got so spoiled!

Her one year stats were:
weight 18lbs 10 oz- 10 %
height 30.75 in- 90 %
head 45.2cm- 50%

So, she is tall and thin. Her doctor was worried about her weight because she is so thin and her percentage dropped a little. We will check in a couple weeks at her 15 month appointment to see where she's at.

14 month update:
-Great walker
-Climber, just learned to climb on the kitchen chairs, I'm sure the table is coming soon
-Says "Hi" and "Uh-oh"
-Gives great wide open mouth kisses
- Blows kisses
-Very busy, always on the move
-Very ticklish
-Friendly, will go to almost anyone
-Plays peek-a-boo
-Loves to get in other baby's personal space
-Can find her belly button, nose, eyes

This little girl is the sweetest thing ever! We just love her and can't get enough :)

Happy Late Birthday, Brookie!

Kennewick

When we left Seattle, we headed to Kennewick (which is a desert, we had no idea). Damon was getting the Priesthood, so we went to stay at Aaron and Annette's for a few nights.

 They have a great house, with an amazing wrap around porch. We had so much fun just hanging out around the house.

 We went geocaching. None of us had ever been, but it was a lot of fun. Uncle Lucky and Aunt Laurie were able to come and the kids took turns going for rides in their convertible.

 We always pick out slug bugs and convertibles, so Cole was excited to be riding in one!

 Uncle Aaron took the kids on motorcycle rides.

We played games, went to the splash pad, and enjoyed every minute!

 Sean was able to come up and bring Brynli, Anika, and Celtin. The kids had a big sleepover, with only a couple meltdowns.

 Then Sunday, Brett, Hunter, and Griffen came. It was so wonderful to have so many of us together! Lots of fun and laughs :) 

Cole thought Hunter was the greatest thing ever.

The cousins with Grammy and Grampa

 (Hunter, Grammy, Damon, Tavis, Grampa, Hunter, Celtin, Brynli, Makayla, Brooklyn, Anika, Hayden, Ivy, Cole)

We had lunch after church and headed home. Our fun on the drive home was Brooklyn having a major blow out. She was covered head to toe with poop. It was all over her and her carseat. We pulled off on some little dirt road to clean everything up. Good times!

Seattle

We got to go to Seattle the first week of June, and it was wonderful. I haven't been up there since my Grandma's funeral 9 years ago. Way too long!

Hayden, Cole, Paige, Baby Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Gage, Parker

 We stayed with Aunt Christy for a few nights. after church on Sunday, we had a bbq with Nicole and Angela's families. It was fun to get the "1st cousins once removed" (or something like that) together!

The Brooklyns

Big girl Brooklyn was so excited to see baby Brooklyn. She asked Angela if they could come back to play with Brooklyn without Paige, because she was hogging her!

 The next day started with a little hike to a waterfall, 

 Then on to Mukilteo for lunch and time to play.

 We ended the day with a ferry ride out to Whidbey Island. We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather the whole time we were in Seattle. No rain!

 We started the next day by meeting Nicole and Justin and their boys at the aquarium. The kids got to touch star fish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. We saw a star fish and a octopus eat (did you know they change color), and we saw a seal show. We only lost Cole once (sheesh, poor boy will be traumatized by the time we're done with him).

 Then we had lunch at the Crab Pot and headed to Pike's Place.

 By this point, the kids were exhausted and not very cooperative. We were pretty much just running through the market trying to get done. At the gum wall, Cole refused to stand up. He kept knocking me over and I lost my balance. My knee went right into a pile of gum! Lovely. Not my greatest experience at Pike Place.

 We then headed to Uncle Lucky's house for a couple nights. We started the next day at a Mariner's game. We are working on Ryan's goal of going to every MLB field. The kids got their first game paperwork and some baseball cards. Brooklyn loved the game! I was really worried about taking her, but she laughed and clapped and charmed everyone sitting around us. We had people asking to hold her because she is so cute!

 Hayden and Cole did a great job, too. They watched for a long time and then I took them to the playground for a while. The game went super long. We left after the 10th inning and it ended up going 16 innings!

 After the game we headed back to Uncle Lucky's and had dinner with Stephanie, Kelsey, Jamie and her girls.

I seriously love family time! We had so much fun in Seattle and can't wait to go back, hopefully soon!