General Relief Society Meeting

How blessed I feel to be a part of such a wonderful women's organization. I love these meetings and the guidance that I get from them. Most of the time there is at least one of the speakers that are there to talk directly to be( at least I feel that way). Tonight it was Pres. Uchtdorf who spoke to me. I always get that little lift that I need to get me through. I definitely feel inadequate, overwhelmed and crazy at many times. I am thankful for the insight he gave this evening.
You can listen to it here.

General Relief Society Meeting

We are not alone. Our father is there with answers, many times through others.

Happy Anniversary Dad and Terry!

I know 13 years is kind of exciting!


Dad and Terry asked us if we wanted to go to ride the Hiawatha trail and stay at the Silver Mt. Resort with them to celebrate.






Amia was the first to try the continuous wave. It was so funny to watch people on it. I think I was so freaked out to try it because everyone was watching. I had not a clue how to stay on that board. Valencia did not want to go on the tunnel slides but wanted to go on this I think her fear receptor are a little backwards because I was scared to go on this one. Amia did great she stayed on so long that they told her she had to flip herself, then it would shoot you up over the top.





Our room. Becca and Steve came along with us. The rooms were extremely nice. The kids played in this bathtub forever. If we didn't know what they were doing they were here. And if you know where to find one of these leaf bowls I would love to know. I would love it for baby photos.


And for the Finale the Hiawatha Trail. Which was the Hidowanabehereanymore trail after awhile. The day before was beautiful for a bike ride but we got there to late to get done by the time the shuttle would be leaving. So this is us the next day, so under prepared for what we were about to take on. The first tunnel is 1.7 miles long and quite a fun adventure. The rain did not let up for the whole 4 hours we were riding. Ok some times it was at a sprinkle but still we were all soaked through. Thank goodness for the garbage bags they sold us because they were out of ponchos. Steve had a buch of hand warmers which I am sure were the answer to my prayers. I was so worried about the little ones the whole time. At one point I was in front of the group by myself and saying prayers that the kids would not be as cold as I was. I don't remember many times in my life where I have been that cold. The kids were troopers. I kept saying we would go to the water park at the hotel afterward to go in the hot tub, just think of the hot tub. I am writing this so we did make it down. We got to the shuttle about 3:20 and it would not leave until 4:15 but they had to do a sweep down the hill to make sure there was nobody on the Mountain still. We could her them on the radio and there were three more people on there way down they only had 3 more miles left but they were taking there own sweet time. We were all complaining about being on this freezing cold bus, sopping wet for two hours by the time they got down it was 5:20. They wouldn't even turn the bus on so we could warm up. We had all had it. Clint said to me when he saw the people " they have a tandem bike". So we all realized that one of the three people we had been waiting for was blind. All our mouths were quiet for a while. Humility sets in sometimes very quickly. So we had promised the kids the hot tub so we got back to the resort and got all ready and went in and found out that they closed a hour earlier than we though. So no hot tub! Lesson: Be Prepared!
Next time Dad and Terry let us know before hand that it is your Thirteenth Anniversary!
I can't say I had a bad time, it just ended up a little different then I thought. We all had lots of fun.

Hey you guys remember that one time when we rode the Hiawatha Trail and froze our butts off!

Our Big Trip

Clint does not get much time off so when he did we were very excited. So we hit the road to my sister Aimee's to visit her family in Vancouver, WA. We were so excited to spend time with her family. We kept very busy and went to the portland zoo to see the new baby elephant, who was sleeping. They had a dinosaur exhibit that Vincent loved and Valencia hated. She is not a fan of loud noises. The next day we hit OMSI a science museum, which we could have spent a couple days at. We learned about electricity, dinosaurs, reptiles. I think the kids loved the reptile petting zoo. I always thought a bearded dragon was really pokey but they are soft. Learn something new every day. We then headed to Seattle to visit Steve and Jana. I have no pictures with them. What is with that? We hit IKEA and the gum wall. The Space Needle was out of the question. There was some big concert going on so we skipped it.
The Photos:

The baby elephant


Signing the baby book


Scary Dinos!


Mark had a blast with this! The table had a circle in the middle that would spin and you would try to keep the different weighted item in one spot.


Electricity!


When some one cranked the handle on this, the pie tins would fly out of your hand. Very fun! I couldn't convince the kids to try.


One of the only family pictures we have in the last long while


Aimee helping the kids with stencils


Mind Teasers


Big Snake! The kids just love being able to touch all these reptiles. There was about 10 all together.


When we got out it was pouring down rain. We got this wet in a very short run.


Aimee and I
Thank you again for a great time with you and your family.


The gum wall


Totally disgusting


Yes you two are so Buck!


I found some pictures that I had taken on our little camera of our trip.

These are when we stopped in the Dalles. Great little downtown area. Vinny looks like he is the 5th Beatle. Th eone on the bottom Valencia looks pretty sweet in.

Aimee made the kids teddy bear pancakes. You are so fun! She even made me a dinosaur!

I did have some with the Hellers. Oh they are so cute. We hit the Vespa kiosk at the mall. Lily and Valencia had a great time together.

First day of School

Yes I know it has been a while since the first day of school but I am always playing catch up. It is just the way I live. So here we go.

The first day of school they both had a great time. I am not one of those mom's that cries when they go off to school. I know, I know, but I see it in a different light. I get the time I need to get my things done so I can in return be a better mom and have more time to spend with them. I sure get things done quicker when they are not here, thus more time. When they are here it can draw out something that would take me 10 min into a half hour, thus less time.

Swaps

These are the aprons I have sent out for my last two swaps. I love that I get to really use my imagination and create. I am finding that I love, love, love to sew. These swaps make me take the time to sew more often. I will post the one I received when I get some time to take a shot of it. It is so cute. I used while canning all my fruit this week, which is another new found love of mine. I just wish it wasn't during senior picture time so I could really enjoy it. I told my mom I think I am finding out who I really am and what I want to be when I grow up. I am a little more domestic then I thought. Although I still can't find a love of cooking, maybe some day?