A Day in Seattle

Since our trip to Seattle for our anniversary, we (or maybe more accurately I) had been wanting to take the kids there. We thought it'd be fun to take the kids to a MLB game, so I checked the Mariners' schedule and found a game that would work for us (September 21st at 1:00 pm) and planned to make a (quick) weekend out of it. 

Our family pictures had previously been rained out and then got rescheduled for the night we were leaving for Seattle. We took them at 5:00, got some gas/dinner, and then headed up to Seattle. We figured the kids would just fall asleep, but with the DVD player, they stayed awake much longer than we had anticipated. We finally made it to our hotel (the same one we stayed at on our anniversary trip) around 11:30. 

We happened to be in room 210 which is significant because our first apartment where we lived for the first 3 years of our marriage was apartment 210.

We ate breakfast and then checked out of our hotel. Corbyn had learned about the Space Needle in school (or maybe just learned of it) and was excited that he could see it from our hotel.

We walked down to the waterfront and got this awesome shot on the way.

We had considered going to the aquarium, but decided against it when we saw the price. (We knew it was expensive, but not that expensive!) So we just enjoyed the view at the waterfront.

And took pictures with this wooden fish statue. (We'll do the aquarium another time when we have more time and can do it as part of the Seattle City Pass.)

We stopped by the gum wall and added some gum to it. It had been cleaned just a week before (apparently they do it once a year), so it wasn't nearly as impressive as when we saw it, but the kids still thought it was cool and loved chewing gum to stick on there since we don't usually chew gum at our house.

We had lunch at Pike Place. 

Then we got a Cream Cheese Vatrushka from Piroshky Piroshky and headed back to our car.

Finding a parking spot for the game was impossible, but we eventually found one (probably a half mile away) and walked to the ballpark. The Mariners were playing the Indians who were the best team in baseball at that point, so we lost. But seeing as how we aren't huge fans, it wasn't that big of a deal. We just had fun watching the game in near perfect weather. 

The kids joined the Kids Club while we were there and got free bags, lanyards, and whiffle balls which they thought was cool. They weren't super into the game and were tired from their late night, so we ended up leaving after the 7th inning stretch.

We had dinner at Red Mill Burgers (pretty good burgers, amazing shakes) and headed home.

It was a quick trip, but a fun one! We love living close enough to Seattle that we can visit it frequently!

Family Pictures 2017

We had Jake Egbert (the captain of my Hood to Coast team) take our family pictures this year at Happy Valley Park. I follow him on Instagram and he takes amazing pictures of Oregon (mostly scenery, sunrises, sunsets). He gives you the rights to all your pictures and then edits 10 pictures of your choosing. He charges a little more than we like to spend, but I think it was well worth it for the pictures we got!

He even got some good ones of Logan who was not being cooperative at all.

Lol, I love this one of Logan with the other two in the background.

Peyton has always been fairly good at pictures, so this was no surprise.

Corbyn's come a long way since his uncooperative picture years. Handsome big boy!

These three. 😍

I could post so many, but I'll try to limit myself.

This one was almost the winner. 😂

But if you got our Christmas card, you know this one was the real winner. I always say I just need one perfect picture and this was the one!

Love my Peyton girl.

And these three boys.

I can't imagine going through life with anyone, but this hardworking, selfless guy by my side.

Back to School

August 31st it was finally time to start thinking about going back to school. Our elementary school hosted a back-to-school barbecue that night where everyone except Kindergarten finds out who their teacher is going to be.

Corbyn got Ms. Rowland - the one teacher I was hoping he wouldn't get. (She taught Kindergarten last year and I hadn't heard great things about her.) She has suffered in comparison to Mrs. Christensen, but has been fine. Corbyn says he likes her, so I guess that's all that matters. 

We had a back-to-school dinner on Sunday (the 3rd).

My friend, Emily, told me she found trays at Walmart. I was excited when I saw them at our Walmart! We had Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas with Coconut Rice.

For dessert we had Peanut Butter Cookie Bars. (A tradition we started last year.)

I saw a cute Elephant and Piggie party on Everyday Reading and decided to throw a Mo Willems back-to-school party. We invited the Martyns, the Yates, and the Sullivans over for dinner on Labor Day. I made these Elephant and Piggie lanterns with a printable from here. I got out all our Elephant and Piggie books and checked out a few others from the library to use as decorations. I also set out the Elephant and Piggie stuffed animals Corbyn got for his birthday.

I got some gray cups (and plates) and used some pink straws we already had. We had pink Piggie drinks.

With hot dogs (and hamburgers for the grown ups). Everyone brought sides to share. We ended up with a lot of fruit and some mac and cheese bites.

For dessert we had leftover Peanut Butter Cookie Bars and Pigeon Cupcakes. This was one time when having a ridiculous amount of circle punches (in a variety of sizes) definitely came in handy!

My friend, Erin, made the kids a Break-and-Snap Toy like this one here and she and her husband, Kellen, read the kids an Elephant and Piggie book. (Erin read Piggie's lines and Kellen read Elephant's lines. It was awesome!)

Tuesday (the 4th) was Corbyn's first day of school.

I drove him, so I could drop off his Epi-pen in the office.

Peyton had a gradual entry day on Thursday (the 6th). 

I had signed her up for the same gradual entry day as her friend, Camille (in line behind her in this picture), hoping that they would get in the same class. They evaluate the kids and also watch the kids to see who plays well together and who clashes. My plan backfired as they got separated at the beginning of the day and probably never had a chance to show that they play well together. Needless to say, they ended up in different classes.

Logan and I dropped her off and then headed to Walmart. He's usually much better for errands when it's just me and him, so I've definitely enjoyed that aspect of having Corbyn and Peyton both at school.

She was home with us on Friday and then that afternoon we went to find out her teacher. She got Ms. Fryback - the teacher we were hoping for! Hooray!

Monday (the 11th) was her first full day.

I drove her (and Corbyn) on her first day.

She was so ready to start Kindergarten and has loved every minute of it! In Oregon Kindergarten is all day and that hasn't phased her one bit. She'd probably be so mad if she could only go half day like Corbyn did when he was in Kindergarten. It's been fun to see her learning so much and doing so well in school. 

The buses were ok the first week, but then terribly unreliable for the first few weeks after Kindergarten started. After a few days of the bus being ridiculously late, I resorted to driving them in the morning until they got things figured out and I could rely on the bus getting them to school on time.

Logan is always so cute waving goodbye to the bus. I thought he'd have a much harder time watching Peyton go, but really he's been fine.

I love my kids and summer is fun, but I also love when they go back to school!

Rest of August

For my mom's birthday on August 1st, I had made her this bear (from the Wood Connection) and sent it home with Diana and Jason while they were visiting in July to give to her.

Rog was gone the first week of August hiking 50 miles (approximately) with the scouts. We had very little contact with him while he was gone. I got an occasional text here and there that they sent out to all the parents and wives letting us know they were still alive. One day he called me when they were on the top of a mountain and he randomly had service, but that was it. It was fun hearing his stories and seeing his pictures when he got back. 

One of the scouts was having trouble and the leaders took turns carrying his pack.

Most of the scouts.

They were scheduled to get home Saturday afternoon, but decided to finish up on Friday and get home a day early. I had taken the kids to Moana in a parking lot Friday night and got a call from him in the middle of the show. I figured he had just gotten service again. He asked where we were, but didn't tell me he was home. On the way home from the movie, I checked Instagram at a light (I know, not supposed to do that...) and saw a post from one of the moms saying that they had gotten home early. I wasn't surprised when we got home and he was not very happy about his surprise being ruined! I was glad he was home, but disappointed to miss seeing him in all his mountain man glory since he had showered and shaved before we got home.

That week Peyton had a princess dance camp at her studio. Everyday they focused on a different princess and made crafts/did dances based on that princess.

Logan was throwing a tantrum for whatever reason while I was changing his diaper. Somehow he ended up climbing the wall into a headstand. 

Peyton and I were accidental twinners and had to get a picture.

Corbyn lost a took and then lost the tooth. 😂 I told him to write a letter to the Tooth Fairy and we'd see what happened. 😉

Of course she took pity on him and he got a dollar even without the tooth. (We found it a few days later buried in the carpet in Peyton's room.)

We went to IKEA one day and covered Logan in stuffed bears.

Last summer I thought I made a lot of blackberry jam, but we ran out in February, so I was determined to make even more this summer.

Making jam always reminds me of this episode of Friends.

I think this was right before I left for tap one night. Logan came over and was cuddling with me voluntarily. 

We spent a Saturday afternoon floating around Trillium Lake. It was one of the highlights of our summer.

Peyton got to dance with 3 cute girls from our ward over the summer. The best part was I got to hang out with their moms in the waiting room while she danced.

Wren Tutt, Avery Giotta, Delainey Giotta, Peyton. 

I don't remember what Logan was sad about, but isn't this the cutest sad face you've ever seen?

Our zucchini and yellow squash did well this summer, so I was forever looking for different ways to cook them. This zucchini bread was a favorite.

I wanted to make some blackberry cinnamon rolls, but couldn't find a recipe for exactly what I wanted. I improvised a little using my go-to Clone of a Cinnabon for the dough and frosting and the blueberry sauce from this icebox cake (except with blackberries). I was worried that if I didn't cook the blackberries a bit before using them as the filling, the cinnamon rolls would be soggy. They were good, but I thought the blackberry part ended up a little dry. So maybe I didn't need to cook the blackberries beforehand after all. I will have to try again next summer.

Corbyn did a track and field camp for a week. He learned how to jump hurdles, throw a javelin, do the long jump, run a relay, etc...  On Friday they had a track meet. It was fun going to watch him. If I have my way, they'll be many more track meets in our future. Or maybe cross country meets as he seems like more of a long distance runner rather than a sprinter.

One of the families in our old ward built and hosted the Street of Dreams right by our church. We wanted to go on a date to see it, but the nights that worked for date night swap weren't during the time Street of Dreams was going on. We decided we didn't want to miss out, so we took the kids with us. They surprised us by actually enjoying it. 

Some of the houses had awesome pools with deluxe grills. Rog was pretending to cook us up some hamburgers. 

Most of the houses had signs all over saying not to climb on the furniture, but a few didn't and Peyton took the opportunity to try out this bed.

Logan was the cutest running around in his little booties.

Right after seeing the Street of Dreams, we caught our flight to Colorado for our quick Colorado Trip.

Then right after we got home, I was in charge of this relief society activity. A relief society activity coordinator had recently been called, so I wasn't 100% in charge. It's funny because her name is Shannah (pronounced Shauna) and we have a Shawna on the committee. We called it Throwback Thursday because they had just done a Retro Homemaking activity the year before.

I did a gray/mint green color scheme, so we could use a lot of the decorations from my kitchen/family room. I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures. I only got a few of the apple pie (purchased from Costco) and the decorations we used on that table.

I taught the class on making French Bread Rolls. I baked up the dough I had made to demonstrate when I got home even though I still had to pack for Hood to Coast. (Couldn't let it go to waste!)

And finally the next morning was Hood to Coast. What a whirlwind week!

Sunday game time. We usually play while Logan is asleep, but Hungry Hungry Hippos is a game everyone can play!

Cutie at the dentist!

We went on a date to a nicer restaurant, Stanford's, that our realtor took us to when we were looking for houses. We loved it, but hadn't been back since. We had a coupon for a free desert and ordered the peach cobbler. 😋

I had double booked myself and also had a relief society cooking group activity I was hosting at our house that night. I made this to advertise the activity.

Only 1 person ended up coming, but I got 5 jars of jam made, so it wasn't a complete loss. As a part of the activity, I shared a quote from S. Michael Wilcox about working for something worth sealing in our marriages. Not an official source, but it can be found here. 

Fun times at Party City.

And that was August!