Summer Lovin'

I can't believe it's already July 19th! I swear it was July 4th just yesterday. Let's just pretend for a moment that it was and then I won't feel too bad about taking so long to publish this post. So speaking of yesterday, we went up to Spokane, WA to spend some quality time with our good friends Adam, Heidi & Campbell. It was a lot of fun! To honor our nation's independence day, we had a great bar.b.que, watched movies, and saw a fantastic fireworks display!

Here we are with our boys!

While there we enjoyed a lovely bike ride with kids-in-tow. My butt was sore for days after, but it was well worth it!

Close to their house is a fun park with a water structure right next to the play area. Not only did Grace love it, but as you can see by the look on his face, Clark loved getting his feet wet!

Here we are sporting our red, whites, and blue!

Heidi and Campbell enjoying the great outdoors!

Since they live in Liberty Lake, we decided to watch the fireworks at that lake. It was perfect! We found a perfect spot, with not a whole lot of people and saw a great fireworks display. Here we are waiting for the show. And the view was gorgeous!

Grace has been into making a funny face for the camera lately. This was no exception.

What I Did This Summer

So I know that summer is far from over, but I couldn't think of anything else clever. Anyway, to catch up on our lives, we celebrated our 7th Anniversary on the 14th of June by eating out at the Olive Garden, without the kids! It was delicious!





Earlier that morning I ran a half marathon. Since I wasn't able to train all that much the last couple of weeks because of sick kids then I got sick, it kicked my butt! It really helped that Andy, the kids and my friend, Ciara with her kids were at mile 4 and then mile 10. Thanks for the support! I didn't do much else that day. I finally got my strength back just in time to go out to eat.




I realized the other day that I haven't posted much about the kids. So here goes:
I am amazed at Grace sometimes. She is a quick learner! We are big fans of the videos Signing Time. She has those songs memorized and is always repeating the signs. This fall I am going to have her in a preschool co-op. By the way, if anyone is interested there is a gal in our ward here who developed a preschool curriculum called Smart Cookies. They are working on a website, but the lessons are amazing! I'll give anyone the info if you'd like. She talks of going to school, everyday! She's so excited! She can write her name, kind of (she writes her G and C backwards and the R is a tricky one!). And lately she has become a great help! She loves to set the table, sweep (that one is going to take some practice), and feed Clark (carefully supervised)!

Then there's Clark. He is such a mama's boy! It seems the more I try and get him to get use to other people, the worse he gets. We call him our little 'stinker'! And whenever we feed him solid foods and ask him if he wants more, he cries really hard. I am not exaggerating! But he is also the sweetest little baby I've ever known. He loves to snuggle (which I love!), blow raspberries, and take baths. He could be crabby, but once I get him in the tub, he's happy! It's really hard to believe that he is now 8months!


So far, the kids just love each other! They just both light up when the other is around. If Grace wakes up from a nap and she's not too happy, all I have to do is sit Clark in front of her and her bad mood disappears! And Grace can get Clark to laugh like no one else! I just hope they continue to be good buddies.

My Dad

Happy Father's Day!

Recently, I've thought a lot about my dad. I've actually wanted to post something about him, but now I'm glad I have a good excuse to do so (not that I need one). I was thinking of what a terrific dad he is. I'm just so thankful that I am able to still talk about him in the present. He gave us quite a scare a couple of weeks ago when he suffered a heart attack! Luckily for all of us, he survived it and now is on the road to recovery. I was able to see him on my very quick trip to Utah (pictures and details to come) last week. He has been a very good example to me and someone I have always admired! One of the things I admire about my dad is his 'poems'. He's quite clever in his use for words. I would like to think that he passed on some of that trait to me. So here is an ode to my dad:

My dad is of great importance in my life
Without him, I wouldn't make such a good wife.
He taught me everything I need to know,
Especially how to ode!

Love you Dad!

Silver Falls

Yesterday, we took our young women on a hike at Silver Falls. It was gorgeous! I loved it. We saw several water falls through out the hike. We were able to walk behind a couple of them. The weather was quite cold, but it was quite refreshing, once we started walking.

Clark was quite the trooper! It was his first hike. I think he enjoyed himself.

This doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea!

I let one of my beehives hold my camera. Not bad!

Be Our Guest!

For those of you keeping score at home, we've have had a couple of our friends and family stay for a visit. And we love it! This time was no exception. Chris, Marg, Jared and Spencer Meservy came to see us! We were able to meet Spencer for the first time. What a cutie! He is 9 days older than Clark. Can ya tell? And Jared looks the same (to me that is) only taller! He has caught up with Grace. They are 10 months apart.

They traveled by car and got to our place on Friday (5.23.08) in the late afternoon. We hung out til Andy got home from work, then we went out to eat at a local restaurant called McMenamins. The next morning, Marg and I went out for a run. I first must say that I am training for a half marathon. I was up to 10 miles and was planning on running 11. I was worried at first when I learned that the Meservy's were coming, that I wouldn't get my run in. Little did I know that Marg is training for a full marathon and she needed to run 15 miles! We ended up going 13 miles. We were suppose to go play ultimate frizbee that night, but I was spent! Anyway, that day we took the MAX into Portland and visited Powell's Bookstore (it's the largest in the world!). We then took a street car to the water front and watched the kids run around. That was all the energy I had!

Silly kids!

On Monday, Memorial Day, we took the MAX again to the zoo! The weather was rainy and cool, but we were tough!

I love this shot of Marg! I just had to include it. We sure had fun with you guys! I really enjoy it when people come and see us! So please think of us when you're planning your next trip and be our guest!

Do It Tomorrow!

For the last little while, Andy and I have a had a running gag between us, 'do it tomorrow'. He says it's my motto. And sadly, I agree. I find myself saying it quite a bit. I don't think it has to do with laziness, just the fact that with 2 kids, there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything accomplished. So for mother's day, I was thrilled that Andy made breakfast and dinner! So this last Tuesday evening after dinner, he announced that he had to run an errand with Grace. When they returned, they quickly ran upstairs. I thought they were just coming back down a few minutes later. But he did not finish his secret project until 10pm. So I had to laugh when he finally let me see what he was up to. I just find it ironic that he gives me a bad time for putting things off, when he had this idea since March and didn't do it until after mother's day! Thanks to Andy and Grace for the 'cheap and bad advice'!

Baird Mania

We had a fun little weekend (5.8.08-5.11.08) with our friends Adam, Heidi, and Campbell Baird! We met Adam and Heidi when we lived in Provo. They now live in Washington while Adam is in law school. On the day they arrived, we happened to dress our boys in the same exact outfit.

The next day we took them to the coast. The weather was a bit on the cold side, but that didn't stop Andy and Grace from enjoying the beach. We first went to Seaside, which we hadn't checked out before, then headed over to our favorite, Cannon Beach.

At Seaside they had these swings for the kids. Here's a good back-to-back comparison of our boys. They are 5 weeks apart!

Here we are, yet again, at our favorite spot!

On Saturday we took them to another favorite spot, Multnomah Falls.









After enjoying nature's beauty, we enjoyed a man-made beauty, Bridgeport Village, a large outdoor mall. We had never been there before, and I'm already looking forward to going back! A favorite spot of Heidi's is Pudding on the Rice. Which if anyone has a chance to try, I would highly recommend it, especially if you like pudding! Andy and Adam are not fans, hence the picture.















Grace's favorite spot was the play area, of course! I just thought this was a cool picture of her in the cylinder thing.




Some other things we did while they were here but not pictured: saw Iron Man, ate at Camp 18 (Andy's favorite restaurant on the way back from the Coast), and checked out a bit of downtown Portland (couldn't get very far without the strollers). Thanks for coming you guys!