We're Havin' A Heat Wave!!!

Today we went to the Tukwila Sprinkler Park. We got there a few minutes before the water turns on at 10am and we were the first people there. The boys got to enjoy the water all to themselves for about 10 minutes. We had fun running around and trying everything out. Ella thankfully fell asleep in the car and stay asleep in her car seat in the shade while I played with the boys. I wasn't particularly excited about wearing her in the Bjorn on the hottest day of the year.

The boys get a little nervous when the park gets overcrowded so it was nice for us to have it all to ourselves.

Owen was a little more adventurous then he was last year, but Jack was about the same. He's pretty timid when it comes to water. I'd really like to get them in swimming lessons, but it's probably not going to happen this year.

It was already 80 degrees when we got there so I even joined in the fun and got soaked a bit. Once everyone started to show up we headed over to our shady spot and ate an early lunch and hung out with our friends the Meyer's for a bit.

Ella woke up then and joined in the fun. I'm really surprised she hasn't been more fussy with all this heat, but she's been great. It's been fun dressing her in her little summer onesies. For a while there I was thinking she'd never get to wear them.

4th Of July!

The Internet is being dumb right now so I can only upload one picture...this is us on 4th of July. We went to church and after nap time headed over to our friend's Al & Ellen. We always have a great time at their place eating, playing games and listening to the 3 Amigos (My Dad, Jim & Al wearing sombreros and singing). This year we were only able to play the games outside and then we came inside due to the rain. That meant no little smokies or smores by the fire, but I did get my glass of wine so it was all good. And yes I did plan our outfits to be festive and match. Poor Michael asked if he could wear a sign that said, "My wife dressed me"!

Does That Count As Fertilizer?

Whenever Daddy is down working in the backyard the boys are with him. The other day I caught Owen down on the backside of the retaining wall peeing in the bushes...then the next day I caught him "teaching" Jack how it's done! Boys!!! Thankfully it's the backyard and he does know that he absolutely can NOT go poo outside!

Standing Strong

Ella LOVES to stand! She is constantly wanting us to hold her so she can stand up on our laps. The other day Michael decided to see if she could hold herself up if he leaned her against the couch. The first time he did that she stood for about 10 seconds. She's so strong!

Sibling Rivalry

Back when we first had Owen we figured he was going to be our only miracle baby so we didn't worry about birth control. If we got pregnant....we got pregnant! When Owen was only 8 months old we did just that...got pregnant. We are so happy that our boys are close in age.

They love to do thing together. When one of them wakes up from a nap before the other one they always are asking where Bubba is. They don't really like being apart.

At the same time they love to drive each other crazy and in turn drive Mom and Dad crazy!

Lately our house has been overflowing with raised voices, counting to 3, time outs, spanks and crabby kids and parents. I think we are in the midst of terrible 3's for Owen and terrible 2's for Jack.


They just love to push each others buttons and they love to tattle on each other too. It really is getting on our nerves. I just want them to behave and enjoy each other! I'm sure my Mom is think....uh huh...right about now! I remember me and my brother bickering so bad when we were growing up...SO SORRY MOM!

I think part of it is we need to have more activities for the kids. They are fine when we are doing things, going places and being entertained. They get in the most trouble when they are just left to play with their toys and they start to get a little bored. At the same time I can't be their playmate all the time. They need to be bored in order to get creative.

If any of you out there have advise for how to deal with sibling rivalry I'm all ears. The part we are really struggling with right now is hitting. They seem to love to hit and no matter how many times we put them in time out and explain that it's not okay they don't seem to get it.

Rollin'...Rollin'...

A few days ago we rented a lawn roller from Home Depot. It's this roller that you fill up with water so it weighs over 200lbs and it compacts the yard down. It was only $14 a day it was well worth it.

See the plant that's climbing up to the top of the deck...we'll address that later on in the post.


It didn't take Michael too long to roll the whole lawn out, but it definitely made a big different.


After rolling the yard Michael built another small wall on the far right side of the yard. That's is going to be my new garden space.

After building the garden space Michael realized how totally annoying the existing retaining wall was. It was old and uneven and just plain driving him nuts so....another project was born. We still have over 60 concrete blocks so he's now in the process of taking the old retaining wall down and he's going to level it off and make it look nice.


When he was removing the old concrete blocks he was finding all sort of creepy crawlers. There were HUGE spiders under there. Click on the picture above and see if you can see the spider...do you see it? I think the spiders were mad that we were destroying their homes because the next morning a really big one was on our dining room ceiling almost directly above Michael's head. GROSS!!!

We are kind of kicking ourselves for not thinking about taking down the old wall earlier. It could have just been tossed into the yard for filler before we got all the dirt. Now we have to do something with it. Taking it to the dump would be one option, but a spendy one...so...

We are the ghetto folks that throw stuff down our back hill. Oh yeah! Michael says we are making a new habitat for really big spiders! Great honey...GREAT!

Here's what the yard looks like now. You'll see the new raised garden section under the stairs and the other stones on the left are part of the stairs to get out of the yard.

Remember the clematis that I was talking about at the beginning of this post....gone! I hated to see it go, but it was necessary. With the stairs being there there was no chance of saving it. We both were so shocked at how open feeling the yard and deck is without it. That whole under the stairs area is going to get overhauled as well. That silly slanted fence under there is coming out too. We're getting closer to seeding the yard though so that's nice!

Pinned Ya!

Ella's Baby Dedication

On Sunday we dedicated Ella at our church. It's something we've done with both Owen and Jack. We don't believe in baby baptism because we believe that a person should make that choice for themselves. We do believe in making a covenant before witness about our desire to raise our children in a godly home. It is truly our desire that one day our children will meet God on their own with help and guidance from us as their parents.

Ella slept during the beginning of church, but then woke up and wanted to eat. Of course I had just finished nursing her when they called us forward for the dedication ceremony. Thankfully she didn't puke on the pastor!

Lots of family came to celebrate this special day with us.

My Dad got these next few shots and even though they aren't the best quality it's still really nice to have them.

We were totally ready for Ella to cry her eyes out when the pastor held her, but she did great...Jack on the other hand threw a fit when Michael took him out of Ga-Ga's arms so we could go up on the stage. Cute Ga-Ga boy!

Afterwards we all headed out to Roasters in Sea-Tac to eat a nice lunch. Love the food there!

Don't Aunt Linda and Ga-Ga look so much alike? I loved having them here for this!

Michael's Mom and Dad got to join us as well.

Of course Uncle Ry and Stephie were there!

And GG too!

Owen was such a stinker and didn't eat anything at the restaurant.

Jack ate the hot dogs out of the corn dog crust, but refused to eat the apple cobbler dessert. There is something wrong with that!

We feel so blessed to have this beautiful little girl in our lives. She's truly is wonderful! Love you Ella Grace!

Pa's 60th Birthday Party!

On Saturday we celebrated Pa's 60th Birthday. It was a western theme since we are from Wyoming and really you can take the man out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the man...or something like that!

Uncle Ry and Uncle Lee were the cooks...excuse me grillers!

Trust me no one went hungry!

Aunt Linda and Uncle Lee came on vacation to visit us from Wyoming. Part of my Dad's present from them was my Dad's very own brander for his steaks. See the DG? Super cool!

The party goers! Owen wasn't feelin' it!

Ella slept most of the time out under the gazebo in the midst of all the noise.

Some people wanted to stay inside with the AC. This is Ellen and GG. GG is visiting from Denver...it's been fun seeing family so much this last week!

Pa had set up tables outside for us to enjoy the nice weather. It's about time!

And finally...here's the birthday guy...boy sounded weird, after all he is 60 now!

Ga-Ga got Pa a cake with the Wyoming bucking horse on it. Of course when they told the boys that Pa's cake was going to have a horse on it naturally the boys thought it was going to be Bulls-Eye from Toy Story....hence Woody and Bulls-Eye on the cake!

Owen helping out Pa with his candles!

Along with loving all things western Pa is a huge fan of all things Chrysler so he is loving this picture Uncle Ry and Stephanie got him of the Chrysler building with a little excerpt of how it secretly beat out other skyscrapers in NY to become of the tallest of its day. It really is an interesting story!

Pa also got these cute cowboy boot slippers and a bunch of other cards and some gift cards and money.

It was a fun time had by all celebrating a wonderful person in our lives!

They're Engaged!!!

Last night on Stephanie's Birthday Ryan gave her the best present....a ring!!!

What a cute couple!

Look at that ring! Congratulations Uncle Ry and soon to be Auntie Stephie!