toooo long!

It has been far too long since my last post! Facebook is the enemy of my blog. It is so easy to upload photos there and not take time over here, so I thought I would sit and add a bit to my poor neglected blog. We had a wonderful time yesterday, the family went out to the Pilchuck River with the dogs. We hiked up and down in the river, throwing the ball for Gunner and encourging Kayli to swim in the deeper parts. Her favorite thing to do was to get out of the water and roll all around in the dirt. She was FILTHY...but VERY happy! Gunner loved the ball, that was all he wanted, throw the ball, again and again and again. That dog needs an intervention done. Atira and Jordan loved showing dad all the cool spots they regularaly play in when we are at the river lot. (We go here once a week with our friends, but we are usually on their lot which is right next door to the public access.) We were even blessed with a break in the clouds and some sunshine. It was a very nice time to spend together, I hope we have some more nice days so we can do it again.

Love for Israel Conference 2009

 

Wonderful weekend at the conference...time in the word, time with friends wonderful memories made! Can't wait for the next one!! Enjoy the pics. 

Happy 4th of July!

WOW! What a wonderful 4th of July celebration we had! The weather was perfect, the company was even more so. We had Grandma and Grandpa Joan & Curt over for dinner and fun. The menu was very traditional, hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, ya know, the usual. We had an awesome berry dessert and had to top that off with smores later in the night. We enjoyed fireworks of our own as well as our neighbors as we sat by the firepit throughout the evening. In all, it was so much fun. Atira woke up this morning and her first words were, let's do yesterday all over again today! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July celebration as well!

Happy Anniversary

Scott and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this year! This is a picture of my bouquet of flowers he brought home for me, they were so beautiful and had such a wonderful fragrance. We decided to not stress our budget this year, so instead we had the kids stay the night at my mom's house. We made reservations for PF Chang's, (we had a gift card that was WAY too old to our own embarrassment) and after dropping the kids we headed out to Lynnwood. We got to the restaurant, and realized it was not a very intimate setting, wide open, tables all together in the center of the dining room. After they had seated us, Scott went up and asked the hostess if we could possibly wait for a table on the side of the room, explaining it was our anniversary. She was eager to help us make our night more special and asked us to come back to the waiting area so she could see what she could do for us. A few minutes later she shows us a private table that was just off the bar, it was a HUGE round table surrounded by a rounded glass wall open to the front, kind of looking over the restaurant. We were delighted, they seated us there and our waitress came up and immediately wished us a happy anniversary, (we were so pleased, the hostesses had told the other staff about our special day and they were going out of their way to make it memorable.) She asked us if we had been before, which we had not, so she proceeded to explain some menu items and teach us about the dipping sauces. We knew (because so many friends had already told us) that we wanted to order the chicken lettuce wraps (OH YUM!!) which we did and as well as a couple of drinks. We needed more time to make a decision about dinner. She brought our drinks, wraps and took our order. It was wonderful having this table all to ourselves, able to sit and talk, enjoy the amazing food and drinks. Our dinner came, which was equally wonderful and we splurged some figuring we had a gift card, so we ordered the salmon, garlic noodles (I think I could become addicted to those and need rehab) and sweet and sour chicken. We were finishing up when the waitress came by and told us they wanted to treat us to dessert! Scott explained that he cannot eat dairy and so he wanted them to just get something for me. Which I chose a chocolate raspberry cake that comes in a large shot glass, it was incredible. A few minutes later the waitress comes back with deep fried banana egg rolls with a berry sauce, she explained Scotts issue to the chef and he created this for us and assured us it was dairy free. Now, I would never have ordered something like this off the menu, but like they say, anything deep fried is fabulous! And this was FABULOUS! We were very touched by the thoughtfulness of the staff. The waitress proceeded to tell us the head chef may be coming out to talk with us. As it turns out the restaurant manager came out and wished us a happy anniversary, asked us about our experience at PF Chang's, thanked us for making this our choice for our anniversary and told us he would like to comp some things on our bill to help make our night more special. Well, let's just say, he was not kidding. After all that food, two drinks, dessert our total bill as $13.84. We tipped more than our bill and we still have lots of money left on our gift card! We were SO incredbily blessed and the Yah for always providing such amazing blessings to our family! After our incredible dinner experience, we headed home and we popped open a bottle of champagne, toasted to 20 amazing, incredible and memorable years and then sat on the couch together going over our wedding photos. It was such fun. I cannot imagine how our anniversary could have been more special if we had spent hundreds of dollars. The time together, the special blessings and the memories made for a truly unforgettable time.

Tea party ladies

Atira and Monique were invited by Grandma Joan to have tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room. It was a belated birthday gift for the girls. They got all dressed up in their lovely dresses, had their hair done "just so" and they were both wearing brand new shoes! Because they were birthday girls, they were able to wear a tiara during the tea. They had such a lovely time at the tea, ate lots of delicious little treats, but more than that, they had time all together. What a memorable fun day this was for them all.

Atira's 9th Birthday Party

This girl can be so indecisive! She wanted a polka dot party...ok, but what games do we play at a polka dot party? Then a stripe and polka dot party, OK! Again, what games?? Then we hit the jackpot, polka dot, stripe, Webkinz party! JACKPOT! This was easy and FUN! Webkinz (to catch you all up) is an online game, you purchase a stuffed animal, and it comes with a code, you then log into Webkinz website, enter the code and adopt your pet. You can customize a house for them, play games, earn "kinzcash" etc etc. So what did we do? What else but bring it to life!! I think she had a really wonderful time, and her friends too. It was certainly memorable. We made pizzas in "Chef Gazpachos Kitchen", did work at the employment office, shopped at the W Shop, took care of our pets at the Kinzcare center. I am also incredibly proud of our wonderful gracious daughter. After she opened all her gifts, she went to each girl, thanked them and hugged them, I was so touched and so proud of her. What a wonderful young lady she is and a blessing to her parents! So, here are the pictures, enjoy! and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ATIRA!!!

Ripstick

Last weekend we spent the day with our friends in Marysville for a home fellowship/bible study. While we were all discussing scripture, the kids went outside with our friends husband and he was teaching the kids how to ride a ripstick. Atira came home and made it a goal to have one for her bday, which Grandma Sheila naturally obliged. It showed up and she was like a pro right off! She was on it and sailing down our street! She loves it! For those of you who do not know what this is (I certainly didn't) it is a skateboard with only two wheels a front and back one, and they are on casters. Yipes! Jordan has also quickly found his balance on this toy and is now hankering for one as well. I wasn't so sure if they should have it at first, but it has turned out to be a hit! Who knew??