Our Lives: March - July

Time for another big up date.  Again it’s been almost 5 months since our last update, so this will be another big one.  Thank fully now that we have “smart” phones we do take a lot of pictures…and since a picture is worth 1,000 words, this will mostly be a picture diary with some thoughts and memories attached.  

A few pics of the family.

Volleyball - Malia played volleyball this spring.  After the first couple of practices she was a bit nervous that the team she was on would not win any games.  Once the season started she realized that her team really was not that bad.  In fact they had a tournament at the end of the season and her team won!  Malia did awesome.  She is a great server and sets really well.  She has a good feel for the game and understands that there should be a bump, set, then spike.  We really enjoyed watching her play.

Mothers Day - Deena has really been hitting the gym hard these past several months.  She's really been into cycling, and has started to teach some classes.  She really works hard to make some good playlists and keep the class on their toes.  She is always running her creative ideas by me (Brent) to see if I think the class will like it.  They must...she's been getting a lot of compliments.  So for mothers day I thought I'd feed her hunger to "spin" and buy her a new bike...one that actually goes somewhere :-)  She's been spending quite a bit of time riding and is planning to do a race in August.

Baseball - For the third year in a row Tim Bastedo and I decided to coach a little league team (Upper Minors).  Tim is a die hard Dodgers fan, so again we were the dodgers.  I was very excited for this year because I was going to get to coach both Cole and Jacob on the same team!  During the regular season we went 14-3.  Two of our losses were to our rivals...the Giants, and the other one was to a team we split with during the regular season, the Tigers.  Then came the tournament.  Our first tourney game was pretty easy, but then we had to play the Tigers.  Jacob pitched most of the game and did a great job.  We won 9-4.  Then came our arch enemies...the Giants.  The second time we played them we lost 11-0 (both games were early in the season).  We worked hard to get our kids ready for the big game and they had improved each game.  The game was awesome!!  Jacob pitched the whole game and held them to 1 run (we also had some great defense) with 10 strike outs and no walks.  Jacob and Cole each had 2 RBI's and we won 7-1.  It was awesome!!! Even more so because the Giants came in to the game undefeated!  Jacob ended the year with 95 strikeouts and an .852 on bas %.  Cole developed a lot during the year and ended the year with 11 RBI's.

Our season did not end there...  Jacob tried out for the 10-11 year old all star team and made it.  Again, I coached the team with Tim (and a few other assistant coaches).  We started the all star tournament with a field of 5 teams...the top 4 would go on to regionals.  We ended up winning enough games to come out of the pool as the #3 team.  Jacob won both games he pitched.  The team had 4 LDS kids on and none of them played on Sunday, so we had to have 14 kids on our team just to make sure we did not have to forfeit any games.  In regionals we played pretty well, but only the top team moved on to state....and it was not us.  The highlight of the all-star season was when we played a team that had beat us 30-3 and 19-1.  We came in to a loser out game and we ended up losing by only one point... 12-11.  We had an inning where we scored 8 runs.  We had them on the ropes, but could not quite get it done.  It was a great season though.  Baseball started in April and went through Mid July...a long season.

 Our game vs the Giants

All star team

My work sponsored a family bowling night.  One of Brent's best bowling nights ever. 

Claire and Jacob helping me with the garden!

Guns! - One of the things I love about Idaho is that everyone has a gun and there are lots of places to shoot.  This year Deena, Malia, Jacob and Cole all got to shoot guns for the first time.  Jacob's first experience was at the Father and Sons camp out.  He got to shoot a pistol.  For the 4th of July we went to some friends house and they had a shooting range, so Deena, Malia and Cole all got the chance to shoot.

Gap to Gap Relay Race - In May we took the family over to Yakima for my nephews Eagle Scout court of honor and Cooper's baptism.  The weekend we were there Yakima was holding their annual gap to gap relay race.  The race involves a run, bike ride, kayaking and an obstacle course.  They had many different team categories for age and gender.  Jacob and Cole formed a team, Claire was on a team with her girl cousins and Malia was on a team with her cousin Tyler and his friend.  The event was really fun.  There were kids everywhere and there was always lots going on.  Claire and her posse ended up 3rd in their age group and Malia and her posse ended up 2nd in their's.  It was a great day.

School Ends - The kids all had end of year assemblies.  Malia's was a school talent show and prize give-away.  Malia and two of her church friends sang the song "Popular" in front of the whole school.  It was so awesome.  Malia practiced really had and sounded great.

Jacob had a big award ceremony and was fortunate enough to be the recipient of many awards.  One of the awards was only given to 3 students in the whole school and the other was the attendance award for not missing one day of school.  Toyota gave all the kids who did not miss a day of school a 18 speed bike!  Cole's class got to roast smores at the end of the year along with making homemade ice cream!  He also got to shoot a bow and arrow and play some other games.

Claire had a recital that she performed in.  Of course it was really cute.

Claire holding a rabbit that the cat was chasing.

Kid Camp - Malia did her annual kid camp again this year to earn some money.  She really works hard to make the kid camps fun, and is very prepared.  She had a different theme for every day and also fed the kids some snacks.  The weather was not great, but at least it did not rain every day like it did last year.

Sunriver - we had a great time at Sunriver with Deena's family as usual.

Playing at the Lake - We had so much fun playing at the lake on our boat, and our friends boat.  Playing on the water is one of our most enjoyable family activities.

Dallin's Birthday - For Dallin's b-day we went to Coeur d'alene's new waterpark and played.  It was really fun.

Nicaragua 2014

In February we took a trip to Nicaragua with Brent's family.  I find the first question I get asked when I tell people this is, "Why in the world did you go to Nicaragua?!"  I received comments like, "don't get kidnapped", "Please be safe" and from my mom..."do you have a will yet?"  Obviously Nicaragua has a bad rap in the U.S.

 So to answer the question, "why did we choose Nicaragua?"  Well, I somehow ended up with job of "vacation home hunting."  We were planning this trip with my husbands siblings and mom.  We really looked everywhere.  We wanted it to be warm, and we wanted it to not cost an arm and a leg.  We finally narrowed our search down to a couple places in mexico, nicaragua and maybe costa rica?  As a family we voted, and Nicaragua won.  We were looking for somewhere a little more "adventurous" than the usual puerto vallarta, etc.  We found a great place, on a private beach in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, for a great price.

  I have to admit there were some fears amongst the group before we left.  Wondering if we were headed into a hostile, unsafe place. Brent wasn't worried at all, I was only worried about driving around in a strange country, and I was a little worried that our accomodations wouldn't be what we thought.  Being "responsible" for finding the place, I was feeling a little pressure. Mostly I was worried about leaving the kids behind with my Mom.  What a big job for her! :)

  So we left Spokane Friday afternoon and drove to Seattle for our first flight.  The drive over actually went really quick and we got to Seattle early enough to run a few errands....

It has now been several months since our trip and Brent it taking over the rest of the blog...  We had a great time in Nicaragua and really enjoyed spending time with each other.  We did so many fun things and are still very much in love!

a little time off

Well, I took a little time off.  I mean I just missed Dallin's first year of life, that's all.... I've decided I should try again to keep up with my blog posts as it's the only "journal" this family has.  So recapping
2013 in pictures!

Can't remember anything about January, so we'll start with February.  We usually have a valentines themed family dinner, this year it was heart shaped pizza. Luckily the kids are pretty easy to please.

I had my first real garden this year.  Brent put up a fence to keep the deer away.  Towards the end of the summer the rabbits did find their way in though.  It was fun to have a garden, but I definitely need to learn how to keep the weeds down, they were out of control and I couldn't keep up.  I gave up after awhile! I grew tomatoes, beets, basil, carrots, strawberries, squash.  The beets and tomatoes grew like crazy, but got hardly any squash.  It's a learning experience!

Dallin LOVES being outside.  He's 9 months old in this pic.

Claire and her best kindergarten friend Sophie, on the last day of school.

Dallin, looking quite dapper

Cole hurt his lip at school, he somehow fell off a slide.

The boys, our Oregon state fans.

 Malia before a 6th grade choir concert.  She looks so pretty in this picture.  She decided to continue with Choir in 7th grade and has even started voice lessons.

The boat received a much needed upholstery job.  The boys were all so happy. :)

Cole was lucky enough to celebrate his birthday at sunriver this year.  We had a fun "amazing race" with the kids.  The morning of his birthday I went around and set up my clues in the village.  The kids were divided up into teams and were given certain roadblocks/challenges to do.  The first team back to the house wins.  The kids loved it and it just may become an annual tradition.  Cole of course requested costco's chocolate cake.
     

Dallin's first time swimming.  After a few minutes of getting used to it, he loved it.

While in Sunriver I ran a half marathon. I connected with a couple of friends from Keizer.  We didn't stick together as they are much faster than me.  I wasn't in love with my time, but just happy to finish.  It was something that i'm glad I did.  My brother-in-law Jon also ran.  (and beat me without training) :(

After Sunriver we were blessed with a quick visit from the Jones'.  We dragged them to a boring 4th of July parade and went boating at the lake, followed by an outdoor movie.  We loved having them and tried to pack 1000 things into one day. (i'm sure they loved that)

Jacob, Cole and Claire all played baseball this year.  Jacob was able to play on the little league's all star team.

I coached Claire's team.  They were so cute, and so....not into playing.  Mostly they would ask how much longer until the game was over.  It was fun though.

Claire in a ballet/tap class that she took through parks and rec.

Malia put on her summer kids camp and was able to raise some school clothes money.  Unfortunately we got rained on the first session, which made for a crowded house.  But we were blessed with beautiful weather for the second session.

While Malia was away at girls camp I gave her room a makeover.  She was so surprised when she got home.

Dallin still wasn't interested in walking, which made for very dirty trips to the beach

we spent many weekends/evenings at the lake.  Malia, Jacob and Cole all got up on waterski's for the first time.  One of the hightlights of the summer (no pics) was a couples retreat we went on with two other couples.  We went up to priest lake and camped.  The weather was amazing and friendships were strengthened.  Thanks to my mom for coming and watching the kids!

One of our favorite summer activities is setting up the big screen and watching movies in the backyard.  Nothing better on a warm summer's night.

Dallin's first birthday was spent at the May family Ranch at a family reunion. Dallin makes everyone smile.  He was a late bloomer, he rolled over at 6 months, didn't sit up until 8 months, started to crawl around 10 months and started to walk at 14 months. He was just pretty content being on his own time table.   I'm not big on 1st birthdays, because really, they don't really know what's going on, but it is pretty sad that this is one of the only pictures of the day. Yes i am lame. Sorry Dallin...we love you!

 

Malia's first day of seventh grade.

Jacob 5th grade, Cole 4th grade and Claire 1st grade.  All at the same school now.

We had been meaning to get new family pictures for quite awhile.  We got together with our good friends, the Holdings and we took each others pictures.  

October brought Cupcake wars!  Grannie went all out this year and I think Julia won "best overall."  We were eating cupcakes for weeks.

This is also the month that Dallin started walking! 14 mo old.

 November we spent Thanksgiving in Oregon.  We were able to see my parents new house for the first time.  They sold the home that my Dad built 30+ years ago and bought a manufactured home to put on my sisters property.  They are now "country dwellers." We loved our visit and loved seeing their new place.  Thanksgiving morning we headed to Corvallis for an early morning turkey trot.  It was a great way to start off the day.  I've been having issues with plantar fasciitis, so I walked it, while Brent and Jacob ran.  I was able to walk with my sister and chat....loved it.  It was a great Thanksgiving.

Christmas seemed to come so quickly after Thanksgiving.  We spent Christmas eve at Grannie's house.  Everyone was there except birch and Sara, who would be arriving the next day.  We had our talents show, play, white elephant and lots and lots of food.  

Christmas morning we spent at our own home.  It was so nice and relaxing.  We had cinnamon rolls and orange juice for breakfast.  We took our time opening presents.  All the boys wanted for Christmas was "skylanders."  (a wii game) They talked and planned for weeks about playing this game.  I can now say that they conquered the game and were asking to sell it within two weeks.  (sigh.....)  Malia got a new touchscreen phone, Claire got some action figures from the movie frozen.  We headed back to Grannie's for Christmas dinner.  It was a fun, family filled Christmas.

Brent spent his birthday on the slopes with a few of his brothers and lots of kids.  I stayed home with Dallin.  That night we had a little party at our house.  He was excited to get a new soundbar for the t.v.!

 I was so excited for my birthday.  I had the whole day planned out. It involved spinning class in the morning.  Malia and I heading out for lunch and shopping, followed by an adult only dinner.  I made it through half of spinning class before I decided I was too nauseous to continue.  Nothing like walking out on a class halfway through.  I felt lame.  I went to cafe rio for lunch with my friend Amy and Malia.  Still wasn't feeling hot.  I dropped off Amy and malia and I headed to the mall.  I made it to one store before I decided I needed to call it a day.  I spent the rest of the day in bed.   I was down and out for a good week. This picture was Malia and I having birthday cake several days after our birthday's.  When I finally felt good enough to eat it.

 Here's a picture of my birthday dinner without me. :)

 Malia did get to do some fun things for her birthday.  In November I took her to the midnight showing of "the hunger games."  She was so excited and we both loved the movie!

She also had some friends over for cake and ice cream and they went to see "the book thief."

It was a great year, and hopefully I can do a better job of keeping up in 2014