My Girly Whirly is 6! Can you Believe it?

Beautiful 6 year old!

So, Tay had her 6th Birthday last week. She had been counting down the days since the beginning of August. For some reason, this birthday was such a big deal to her. She was so excited to be more grown up. I really tried to talk her into getting her ears pierced this birthday, but, she's still too scared. Not that it's a bad thing. I just thought she would be really cute with pierced ears. Maybe in a couple years she'll be ready.

We put her hair in curlers the day before her birthday, so she would be extra curly, and gorgeous. She is our little princess.

Tay is such a joy to have in our family. She loves to sing, dance, and prance around the house. She is as girly as a girl can be. However, she does occasionally enjoy wrestling with her brothers, and climbing all over her daddy. She is very eccentric, and dramatic, which I adore about her. She can scream like no other, and makes sure that you hear her. She loves to be praised, and admired, and enjoys any compliment thrown her way. I can't wait to see what she will be like as a teenager! We love you Tay! Happy Birthday

Goodbye Summer

I can't believe that this summer is over. It just flew by so fast, and now my sister's leaving, and Taylee's going to Kindergarten. I don't know if I can take it!! We tried to enjoy the last few days of sunshine. It's supposed to start raining tomorrow, and the temperatures are already calling for long sleeves.

We have had a mole problem in our backyard. Thus, the mud, too. Jake has tried to flatten out the hills, and push the dirt back down the holes with the hose, and Tristan really enjoys it. He was having such a fun time the other night, I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.

When Rohnie was around Tristan's age, he had a huge fascination with hoses. I'm sure some of you may remember. I'm thinkin' that my baby is headed in that direction as well.

We didn't get to the beach much this summer. It's just much harder to tote 3 kids there, and maneuver around nap time, so, we don't have a grouch on our hands. We took one last trip to the beach park the day before Tay's birthday. The kids could have spent all day there. They had a blast! It made me regret not doing more things with them this summer. And, now the sunshine is gone! Sad. Why do I live in Seattle again?

I thought Tristan would just play in the sand, but, he loved the water too. He would walk right out to the waves, and try to swim with the kids. I rarely had time to snap pictures, because I was chasing him all the time.

Tay sand diggin'

Rohnie burying his fingers and toes in the sand.

Such brave little swimmers!

Fun with the Cousins

We are so lucky that we live so close to Jake's family. My kids have such a close relationship with their Grandma and Grandpa, as well as with their cousins. We like to do lots of things together, and we're so lucky that we all get along so well! Our kids love each other!

A couple weeks ago, we went to Kelsey Creek Farm, to play, and let the kids see the farm animals. It's always so weird to me, that I have to drive my kids to a park to be close to the animals that were right out of my backyard growing up in Wyoming. That's just one of the big differences between city and country life, I guess! It was a beautiful day, and we had such a fun time. The next day, we all went together to a Midevil village in Carnation, but, alas, my camera did not accompany us. Check out my SIL's blog for pictures of that. It reminded me of the Renaissance Fair that Luke's sister, and brother-in-law are a part of on Gilmore Girls. (For all the avid fans out there. Ya know who you are!)

I try to keep Tristan happy in the stroller with treats, but, he's not a very good stroller rider. He would much rather chase after the big kids.

My kids checkin' out the chickens.

Smiling on top of the pig bench.

All the kids, minus babies, saying hello to the horse.

And, here's the giant pig wallowing in the mud. The smell totally took me back to my 4-H hog raisin' days. Can't say I miss it all that much. The smell is really bad. And, our pigs at least, were never very nice. My very first pig I took to Fair, fought with another pig through the fence, and broke her leg. Because of that, I couldn't sell her in the Auction. I cried a lot.

Mariners

Before we left on our Cruise, we took Whitney, and Jake's dad to the Mariner's game. We try to go to a few games a year. And, even though our team SUCKS (for lack of a better word), it was still fun to go and cheer on the Home Team. Maybe one of these days they will get better.

We had such great seats. Probably the best we've ever had. They were right behind the Mariners' dug out. We saw the players up really close. Too bad Boonie wasn't there. He's always been my fave Mariner. Oh, how I miss his handsomeness!

Here's me and Whit at the field. Man, I love ball park food! Cotton Candy, Lemonade, Hot dogs, Nachos. . . Yum!

Jake and his Padre.

Russell Branyan thought I was hot. He stared at me when Jake wasn't looking. Or, maybe not.

Good ol' Safeco!

Jose Lopez up to bat. Too bad he didn't get a hit though. Hooray for Summer Baseball games! We love them!

Cruisin' the Riviera

We did something very big for our 10th Anniversary. We took a Mexican Riviera Cruise for 7 days!! It was such a surreal, awesome experience for us. Thank goodness I have a loving mother-in-law, and live-in sister, who took such great care of our kids while we were gone. I was such a stress-case before we left, and the first few days of the trip, but, I was finally able to let go, and relax, and just enjoy it. And, of course, the kids had a blast without us!

The ship was, by far, our favorite part. It was huge, and so so fancy. We ate way too much food, and came back a lot bigger than when we left. But, it was so great to be waited on, and eat lots of fancy meals, and desserts. I am having a definite buffet, caffeine, and sugar withdrawal since being home. I am still feeling a little "sea-sick" too. I was paranoid that I picked up a parasite, or West Nile Virus in the 3rd World Country, but, the Dr. assured me it was a somewhat normal inner ear roblem. Let's hope it passes quickly. I have 3 very active, demanding children who wants Mommy's attention!

We stopped at 3 ports in Mexico. Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. The first port was very interesting, because Jake did not have his luggage. He had worn the same thing for 3 days, and was getting very tired of it. We were supposed to be getting his luggage shipped to Cabo, but, it took them longer than expected, so we just didn't have time to enjoy it. And, with the 100 degree weather, and humidity, it wasn't very comfortable walking 40 minutes to get to the beach. The ocean was sooo warm though. And, it was my first experience swimming in salt water.

In Mazatlan, we got totally ripped off by a Cab Driver, which made me really mad. They are quite sneaky down there, those natives. . . In Vallarta, we did a Zip Line through the jungle. It was hot, we were sweaty, and got eaten by mosquitoes, or ants, or something. My legs were covered in bites, from the knee down. Really itchy!!

We spent a lot of time on the ship relaxing, sleeping in, reading, swimming in the pools, and hot tubs, and eating. We loved the many shows, and saw all of them. Our favorite was the Ice Show, which was so amazing, and made me totally wish I was a professional Figure Skater. I am so grateful for a wonderful, loving husband, who made this possible. It helped us remember how much fun we have together, and why we fell in love in the first place. We can't wait for our next Cruise!! Who's in?