The not so eventful anniversary

Brent and I share our anniversary with Jacob's birthday. So we celebrated Jacob's birthday Friday night with family, by having a burrio bar and costco's enormous chocolate cake. It was a fun, crazy evening. Jacob is turning 8 and will be getting baptized on Oct. 9th. I will be happy to have my camera back by then! More pics to come.
So Saturday Brent and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by going to silverwood amusement park. I had gotten a free ticket and since it is the end of the season, prices were discounted. The only problem is that the weather was pretty yuck...drizzly, cold. But we're troopers and headed up anyways. On the way up I stopped for some motion sickness pills and popped a few of those (roller coasters make me nauseous otherwise) So we get there and learn that our free ticket is only good for kids under the age of 18, we also learn that half of the rides are closed down due to the weather. So we decide to scrap the idea. I'm feeling a bit tired anyway. So, we head to downtown coeur d'Alene to walk around and check things out. By the time we get out of the car I am SO sleepy, the kind of sleepy where you feel almost sick from trying to stay awake. We walk around for a little bit before I have to ask Brent to park himself on a bench, so I can lay down on his lap and have a snooze. I'm starting to question if I have MS or mono or something....I shouldn't be this tired. We checked out a few stores and then headed to a yummy mediterranean restaurant called "the white house" for dinner. SO yummy, but my mother-in-law claimed we made the house smell like garlic for the next 24 hours. After dinner we went to check out our "dream property", went to Cabela's and then headed home, where I fell asleep at 8:30 while Brent watched football. Pretty exciting eh?? It wasn't until the next morning that I realized it was those stupid motion sickness pills that made me so tired! I seriously thought something was wrong with me...so I'm chalking it up as the lamest anniversary ever. But the good news is...we still love each other!! And Brent loves me even if I make him park himself on a bench so I can take a snooze in downtown Coeur d'Alene!
*Update on the house situation*
We have found a couple who are planning to sign a lease to own agreement with us. They are leasing the home for two years with the option to buy after that. They put down a larger downpayment up front and then a portion of the monthly payment goes toward the purchase price of the home. At the end of the two years if they decide not to buy, we get that money. Hopefully they will though :) They want to be in this Saturday, so we are headed down Thursday to do a frantic pack-up and move out.

New school, new shoes

Guess who left their camera in Keizer last weekend. Guess who didn't realize this until it was time for "first day of school pics." I'm so lame.
School started last week for the three older kids. They were all nervous about starting a new school. Heck, I was nervous. But they all came home happy after the first day, and the next day and the next...I think it will all work out. :)
So the week before school started I took the kids to wal-mart to pick out one new school outfit. Gone are the days of several new school outfits...it's been reduced down to one. Well, Malia found a pair of shoes that she really wanted, that I refused to buy for her. They were only ten dollars so I told her she could earn the money herself and buy them. Heck, when I was in school I had to buy ALL of my own school clothes. I got up at 6am in the summer to pick strawberries to buy those school clothes. Nevermind that she's only 9. Around the same time she learned how to finger knit at the YMCA youth zone. She spent hours finger knitting scarves and then decided she wanted to sell them door to door. I would rather have a root canal than sell things door to door, but being the good mom that I am, I agreed. I found myself hiding behind bushes and trees to avoid being spotted by neighbors. Bless those neighbors...they were good to Malia. She was selling her scarves for a quarter, but several people gave her a dollar. Soon she had enough for her shoes...plus a new pair of earrings. I have to say I was pretty proud of my little girl. Lesson learned: when your child wants something bad enough, they will figure out a way to get it. (which hopefully doesn't involve stealing)

summer happenin's

This summer has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. I've never been one for change. So moving out of my home, that I love has been hard. Waiting for the house to sell and wondering if it will ever happen. Everyone who's been through it can attest..that it's no fun. But in the meantime, we are trying our best to just have fun this summer. Luckily i've moved close to some amazing family and it's been fun to get together with them. Last week I signed the boys up for soccer. Neither of them had ever played. The last day I thought I would show up early and take some pictures...here's what I found. (You may have to click on picture)


Every picture I took had Cole standing around, picking his nose or pulling his jersey over his head. Soccer is not his thing. We're still searching for "his thing". Jacob on the other hand loved soccer and was quite the "Star."

Malia took a hip-hop class at the YMCA. She is now ready to dance at weddings, birthdays, etc. Just give us a call to book a show.

Friday night we went camping at Lake Coeur d'Alene with the other brothers (refers to all of Brents family in the area...which in case you are curious, consists of a mom, three brothers and a sister) The kids had a great time playing with cousins, but we had to pack up early the next morning and head to Schweitzer mountain because brent's work was having a "get-together" there. We rode the chair lift up to the top of the mountain and looked around. Amazing views. We ate at an overpriced restaurant, hiked and picked huckleberries. Again the views were amazing...but if we could do it again I think we would have stayed in Coeur d'Alene and waterskiied with the family. Oh well, you learn! That evening we ate our huckleberries with waffles and whipped cream. Yum! One thing I can say about huckleberries is it's a lot of work for little reward. I'll stick with blueberries.


When looking through all of the pictures, the best ones were all taken by Malia. I may have to hand over picture taking duty to her permanently.

Summer fun

Who needs a swimming pool when you have a cooler??

Cole Turns 6!

Cole turned six last week, we celebrated his birthday in Spokane. It was great having all of his cousins around. We started out the day with his birthday breakfast request of sausage and pancakes. For lunch we headed to chuck-e-cheese, skipped the pizza and just played games. I've finally learned that's all the kids want anyways. Instead of a cake Cole requested Doughnuts. We had a small barbeque that night and opened presents. His only request "legos". Cole is my quiet mellow boy. I'd describe him as a lover not a fighter. :) And although he's quiet he's my most mischievous. For example, last month I asked him to empty the dishwasher. I was in the other room and heard some strange, i'm not unloading the dishwasher sounds. It was Cole taking a large kitchen knife to one of my kitchen drawers. He was making little notches in the wood. Curious or just trying to get out of EVER doing the dishes again? Probably a little of both. Cole's really loves to build things. Someday he'll be Brent's best helper in the garage...doing whatever guys do in the garage. Can't wait for that day.

Spring in (quick) review

Malia played on a 10 and under softball team this year. They were a very young, inexperienced team. Which meant quite a few losses. But, she had an amazing coach who made each game fun and she learned a lot. She even had her first slide into home plate. (even though I had to bribe her with $5) She did it! It was one of the wettest springs in Oregon history so we had quite a few games cancelled. But with each game they had, they improved.

Jacob on his 2nd to last day of school. Camping out in the front of the school and wearing pajamas.

Cole on his last day of Kindergarten. The teachers sprayed shaving cream on the tables for the kids to play with. On to bigger and better things in ALL DAY 1st grade next year!

Giving one of his teachers (mrs. Morrow) a final hug.

Cole's field trip to enchanted Forest. It POURED! But the kids didn't seem to mind..I on the other hand was counting down the minutes to when it was over. :)

Claire playing with her dollhouse, she has quite the imagination and set up this little house on her own. She keeps us laughing!

So for those of you wondering. No, we still have not sold our house. We will be heading to Spokane and staying there with Brent's mom until our house sells. Please keep praying for this to happen quickly. Luckily we have a "house sitter" to stay here and to make sure everything is taken care of....on to the next adventure in our lives.

Is it the end of May already??

Brent hinted that I should update the blog. I agree i've lost the blogging bug, but I'll try my best to update occasionally. Mostly their is nothing too update...but here goes.
It's been almost two months now that i've been a "single mom." Brent is loving his job at ALK abello. He loves the people and the atmosphere. I'm thankful for that. I can't say that i'm loving my job right now :) but i'm trying my best to remain positive. I feel like 80% of my life right now consists of cleaning, and more cleaning. Trying to keep the house clean enough to show it, with four kids, is a full time job. The other 20% of my life is sitting at baseball games. (freezing cold ones I might add) We have had one of the coldest, rainiest springs here in Oregon. Just so I don't sound totally pessimistic, I have amazing friends who are always willing to help. Friends who have brought me dinner, taken my kids so I can have a break, and just called or stopped by to say hi. I'm so thankful for good friends.
I've been trying to keep myself busy with other projects. I made a dress for myself, and the pillows pictured below. I also made some decorative fabric balls (pic below), I just need to find something cute to put them in.
The newport marathon is coming up in a few weeks. Brent is running with his brother and another friend and his training is going great. I on the other hand have not been able to train, so I am planning on running as far as I can and then walking the rest. Definately not expecting to beat my time from last year...just trying to complete it this year. We are looking forward to a fun weekend on the coast.


Jacob is doing great in baseball. He is a good little infielder! Cole is...well in his first year where no one can catch or throw. They are just cute to watch!