Our Ballerina

Katie has been taking a jazz/ballet class since Sept. It is now time to get ready for the BIG recital. On Monday, she had photos taken in her costume and with the other girls in her class. The outfits were green, pink and blue... they all looked like very bright flowers. I watched them rehearse and she does a great job! Can't wait for the recital in June!

Digging Clams

We have been to Dose Wallips State Park just about every year since Conner was an infant (8 weeks old!). We enjoy the small park and surrounding views and of course, the beach. When the tide is right, we all trek down to the beach on a gravel path. The days are gone when we slogged through the mud and blazed our own trail.

Here are the kids with their buckets, rakes and boots! The trip just isn't the same without the cousins coming. Lauren turns 16 in June (OMG).

Katie actually dug most of her own clams this year, I think she worked harder than Conner.

Garret did great... he can count to 40 fast!

The "twenty"somethings... dug clams and may have needed a bit more recovery time from Sat. night.

Chad, Allison, & Audrey

Lauren, Katie, Ben, Kendra, Garret (Conner & Maya were in the bunk)

The kids watched movies, had popcorn, rode bikes and generally had a ball. We feasted on plenty of clams and oysters on Saturday! Can't wait to go back again next year.

Easter with the Cousins

My brother Michael and sister-in-law Amy came to visit for Easter. The kids enjoyed hanging out together. Ethan is 8 years old and Audrey is 3 (almost 4). They enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and building with Legos. Garret and Audrey became fast friends which was cute.




On Saturday we colored eggs, with help from Michael and Grandpa Dwight who masterfully covered the eggs with blue painters tape for a variety of patterns.






On Easter Sunday we all headed to church, the kids all clean up well!





Audrey is quite the "fashionista" and had fun putting on Katie's dress up clothes.






The guys all helped with a project too. They put up Conner's fish on the wall in the living room... it does look nice.





I have thought for a long time that Conner looks a lot like my brother... more than Marc really. So, what do you think?

Spring Break 2009

We had a busy Spring Break... started with a trip to Ocean Shores for Clam Fest!

I will tell you now that the weather was not good. Rainy, windy and just plain bad. Marc and Conner at least braved going to the beach on Saturday to get some clams for us. Some of us.. never saw the beach, oh well. It was good to get away and rest up.

Here is Grandma with the kids, cleaning clams. When we got home, we were surprised to find that the weather was not any better. In fact, we came home to snow. My poor flowers, they are completely confused.

After we got home from the beach, we rested for a day and then took off to visit Grandpa Dwight in Royal City (Eastern Washington). Going on I-90 over the pass was interesting... lots of avalanche control to try and avoid, snow, ice, etc. We made it over fine and back again. While in Royal City, the kids were disappointed that Grandpa's hottub was broken. (I didn't have the heart to tell them that after 15 years, it is too broken to fix...) We took a trip to visit KC at the hardware store and of course, I took a photo of the gang with Rosebud!

After we got home, we packed up again and got ready to head to the river. We had already planned a fun weekend with our friends the Miracles and the Ladners. The kids were all excited to see each other!

The boys rode their bikes quite a bit and spent time doing what boys do best. The girls took a ride in the boat with Marc. They played quietly and kept to themselves.

Here we are... all the BIG people! The weather was SOOOO nice. I was disappointed to come home on Sunday. Can't wait for summer...

Hawaii here we come...

Papakea Resort on Maui's Kaanapali Coast

We will be going to Hawaii in August. I know it is not the usual time to visit the islands, but that is when all of us have vacation. So, we are taking the kids and heading to Hawaii. We haven't told the kids about it yet. I am sure they will be excited. I can't wait to show them all of the fun things to do there.

Happy Birthday Conner Lee!

March 9, 1995... we welcomed our first baby into the world! Here he is, no longer a baby!

Last year, we went to Disneyland over Conner's birthday. The second time he has been there for his birthday. He loved it even more than the first time I think! I can see by this photo though that my little boy is no longer. If you saw him today, you would look twice. He is so tall and grown-up looking now... Where did that tiny 6 lb. 1 oz. baby go?




Last summer he caught this fish at Rufus Woods. We hope to surprise him with it soon as a special gift. We are having it mounted! I am sure he will love it.




Thank you Conner for all you do for our family. He is the best big brother and dish-washer emptier ever! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY~

Happy 10th Birthday Garret

Garret turns 10 on February 10th. I am thinking that we should get him ten small gifts! I remember the day he was born... the epidural did not work! LOL, He was born just after office hours at the clinic and Dr. Merrill barely made it to "catch" him. He was a good baby, very quiet and snuggly. Not so much now.

He is definitely a question asker. Inquisitive? He loves puzzles and math...boy that kid knows his numbers.

He is playing basketball right now and last game he made his first "hoop"! I am not sure who was more excited, him or his screaming mom. He has such a great personality and everyone thinks he is funny.

I don't have as many photos of him on my computer as I did for Katie... sorry buddy, I will make you a slide show next year.