Flynn Ryder

Just had to brag, I have met the real Flynn Ryder. Would you believe he auditioned for the part at Disneyland and didn't get it because his nose wasn't right? I'm just saying.

Visiting Teaching

I have really grown to Love Visiting Teaching. I really appreciate my visiting teachers and I am sad that one will be leaving me this summer. I decided this month to do something special for my sisters that I teach. I wish I could say it was my idea but it wasn't. I found a website that I love called small and simple things. That is where I got the idea for the cone. I had already made the roses and was looking for a way to utilize them. This seemed to work great.

Pasco Childrens Museum

There is a Children's Museum over in Pasco. I went with a couple of freinds and their kids not too long. It is a very relaxed place. I wouldn't really call it a museum but the kids had a lot of fun!!

Jack, of course, spent a lot of time at the car track. I was a little irritated with the two staff members that worked there. They took the track set to another room (I assume to be cleaned) and didn't bring it back. Jack was having so much fun I wish they would have waited until we were gone.


Jack followed Mariska everywhere. He loves his big sister so much. I am so glad that they get along the way they do.
Mariska carried this box with her for a long time. It went down the slide with her. It went in all the cars with her. I think it has a dog in it but I am not sure.

Getting good on those feet.



Don't mind me. Riska really wanted to take a picture of me as the princess. She did a good job. It was very uncomfortable, I didn't fit into the space very well.


Mariska ran around as the dragon for 30 min. She was dripping sweat and it took a lot of talking to get her to take it off. She thought it was really cool.
Jolie and Sara are two of the most incredible women I have ever met. I love them dearly and am so grateful to have both of them in my life. Thanks Ladies for being who you are to me and my family.

New Years 2011

We had so much fun this New Years. We went to our friends the Mason's (Thank you so much for having us Sara and David!!) Sara was really my first freind here in the Tri-Cities. Mariska loves their Daughter Sammy. They are really cute together!
How can you not love this face!!
I swear this boy is always eating
Happy New Year to you all!!!!! We love you and hope that 2011 is a great year!

Catching Up

Bear with me there is a lot of information and pictures.
October was a bit crazy and a lot of fun. Mom and Aurie arrived here on the 7th and stayed until the 24th. I am so glad mom remembered her camera. The day they got here my camera broke. All the pictures you will see in the next posts were taken with her camera. Thanks again mom!
One morning on the way to preschool mom saw a sign that said free grapes. We had to pick them but they were free. Yeah!!!!
Yes Jack is in a pink stroller. We ran over the gender neutral one with the car... by accident.


Riska was a lot of help. She couldn't get the grapes herself so she went from me to mom and then to Aurie asking us to give her grapes to put in the boxes.
I think Aurie was a bit disgusted. :)
Riska had her first Primary program. At our church, once a year, the children (3-12) put on a program during the first hour of church. All the kids are assigned a small speaking part. The program is a summation of what they learned over the year. I was so proud of Mariska! She ran right up to the stand and said her little speaking part. My favorite part was when she was walking back to her seat. She looked at me and I gave her a thumbs up. She gave me one right back. I was glad mom was there for that.
Jack has become a great mimicker. He copies everything we do. This is good for us because we have been teaching him sign language and he is really getting good at the words we have taught him. The funniest thing he has imitated so far is covering his ears. Thank you Aurie. I swear she is the best teacher. ;) Not sure what the spinning around is about

Speaking of Aurie, My kids love her!


I was so glad she came with mom. Riska was too. Dad would talk to her and ask if he could come see her. she would tell him that Aurie was. Sorry Dad. I wish you could have been here too.

We had a fun time at Lowe's building a fun house mirror. Mom helped me sew on the patches Riska has received hopefully I will remember how to do it with the new ones. We went again this saturday and saw two kids with at least 100 patches on their aprons. We are building a shelf in Riska's room to display all her projects.
Jack isn't much of a cuddler unless he is sleepy then he gives all the cuddles a mom could want!
John is really enjoying his job. The people he works for are awesome! His boss came to him last week and asked if we were interested in having some meat. Keith (John's boss) brought home a good sized moose this year and they have more meat than they can handle themselves. They gave us two coolers filled with all kids of meat from his moose. He even gave us some gear meat. I am a little nervous but excited to try it all. He wants us to find what we like so he can give us more. Tonight I am trying some ground moose in my moms chili recipe.
I love being at home with the kids. I taught Riska's preschool group for two weeks and had a blast. They are a good group of kids.
I have asked Santa for a new camera and I am hoping to get it soon. I miss having one that works. Feels like I might miss something important.
I was glad to have mom and Aurie here. I miss my family a lot right now. I miss living close to John's family and I miss our friends. I know this were we are supposed to be and I have seen the Lords hand in everything we have done. I am grateful to all of you for your love and support. I hope you know how much you mean to me and my family! Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

This was the first year Riska has been to a pumpkin patch. We went with her preschool class and had a blast! Riska was so excited to pick her very own pumpkin. We kept it in the kitchen on the counter when we frist brought it home but I ended up moving it because it would disappear. i would always find on the top bunk of Riska's bunk bed. Hmmmm. I am still wondering whether she actually climbed up the ladder with the pumpkin in her arms, or threw it up there. Would have been a site to see either way.
It was nice having some one on one time away from the house with her. She is such a little character.
The Pumkin Patch had a pyramid built out of straw bales. It was big! I was very impressed with all our kids. they were so excited to climb it and even more excited when they got to the top.
I couldn't beleive we got all the kids to line up and stay at the top so we could get pictures.
I will be honest I wanted to do the corn maze. I was a bit disappointed when we arrived at the straw maze instead. I get it. They are little but I would have gone with her. She did have fun trying to find her way back out.
Mariska's school class plus 3. She loves the kids in her class. I do too. They are a fun little group.
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the past two weeks.

Glow Stick Fun

Last week when My Aunt Toni and her boys Bryce and Drew were visiting they taught us a really fun game. We tapped Glow Sticks to our bodies and went outside after dark to play. It was so fun and way cool. I had so much fun with them that when I went to visit family and friends in E-burg we did it again with all the cousins and our close friends the Ramsey's. This was Bryce and Drew in the light. The pictures I got of them in the dark didn't turn out but I got a lot of the little kids when we were playing in E-burg.
The kids all lined up before we let them run around and play tag. From Left to Right. Jimmy, Levi, Riska, Joanna, Jaclyn and Audrey.
It is hard to tell who is who in the dark but I think the tall on is Jimmy the one in the middle is Riska and then I think the others are Jaclyn and Joanna. My nephew Jimmy thought it was so cool that the pictures only showed the glow sticks.
All the kids had so much fun we will surely be doing this again!

Mommy Moment #8 Forget your fears

I used to be a really big wuss. The thought of touching animals like cows and horses freaked me out. I had bizarre images of these animals biting my hand off. (Don't ask. I am not sure where it comes from.) Well people I am proud to say I am over my fear. Since we have lived in a place that has a county fair every year I made it a point with Mariska to not be scared of animals the way her mother is. She isn't for the most part and loves to pet any animal that will let her (except chickens she just likes to chase those.) We have been to the fair every year and she loves to see the cows and the horses. She has ridden a horse before at a friends birthday party and loved it. A good friend of ours has horses and when we were celebrating his birthday a few weeks ago we got to ride the horses. Riska is a pro. I on the other hand had to have someone guide the horse for the first little bit I was on it. Eventually I took the reigns and although I was a little intimidated at first I had a blast and cannot wait to do it again. I can see why people do this for fun.
I was a little nervous. Held on really tight to the saddle horn.