.summer vacation- washington part 2.

.saturday- we woke up early to get everything finalized and put together for bre's baby shower. it was choas, and stressful at times...but we had a great turn out, and bre got some awesome stuff for it for maverick. it was worth it when we got to see old friends we havent seen for years, and when your sister has 2 boxes full of stuff from the baby shower to get home. 

.after the baby shower, we cleaned up, put things way, and than i took my mom and little sister and the kids to shop for parkers birthday the next day. (yes- andrew was not there for his 2nd birthday. yes- i planned it that way so i didnt have to pay for his flight. no- he is too young to remember or care. no- i didnt get him anything before because i wasnt going to fly it there and back on the plane). it was a lot of fun, i always enjoy spending time with my baby sister...reminds me of the rexburg days....and my mom, its so funny. i thoroughly enjoy spending time with her, since it usually only happens once a year. we headed home after being out for a few hours.

.sunday- we attended church, and afterwards had a delicious dinner and celebrated parkers birthday. i attempted to make parkers cake. i didnt really think things out completely, but thank goodness he is 2 and a boy, he doesnt care. we facetimed with daddy as we sang to him, when he blew out the candles and opened his presents. afterwards the kids were wired. they played and played....grandpa pulled out a remote control car and the kids took turns driving it. 

.monday- i went to winco with my baby sister to get some things for her plane ride home to go smoother. i watched the kids while my mom and sister kristina, took baby sister bre to "learn how to drive a stick." I have a ridiculous amount of video from that on my ipad that i will have to upload to another post. she was pretty awful and killed it many, many times. once she got back i watched maverick for her to finish packing, and than took her to the airport with my mom. once we got back, my be ami (who recently finished from beauty school and is now an instructor) came over to do my hair. orginially she was only going to do my hair, but my sisters wanted in on the action....so kristina got hers cut with some layers, and natalies and i got ours cut and highlighted. i absolutely LOVE how my hair turned out. and wish we lived closer, because going through ami i could actually afford to do my hair more than twice a year. 

.tuesday- my 2 older sisters (natalie and kristina) went to the zoo with their kids. my kids didnt get to go bacause im too cheap and cause we did it last year. it doesnt appeal to me when i can get my kids in free at the zoo in san antonio. so i told my mom i would go up to her classroom and help her set things up. we ran a couple errands, grabbed lunch, and headed up to the school. we had the car running, because we were going to unload the kids and the stuff into her classroom and than she was going to go park it. just as i was shutting the door from getting parker out mom says "dont shut the door it will lock". shut. door shut and keys inside and we are locked out.  THANK GOODNESS my kids werent in there as well. luckily, my parents live 6 minutes from the school, and my dad was home, so i called and he brought us a spare key. after working in the classroom for a few hours, i headed home to leave again. this time to the oneal family's house.

.it was kenzie's birthday and it just so happened i was in town for it. they were doing a bbq in their backyard and having her open presents and eat cake and ice cream. the kids and i headed over. the kids were in heaven. running around with the girls, eating food, finding karen's candy drawer. we stayed pretty late, but had a blast. i love seeing the oneal family. karen is a "mom" to me. karen got me my first job right out of high school, and i spend many, many nights over there and at the baseball fields growing up. it was great to see them, as always.

.wednesday-  i hung at home and helped my sister packed up. (she and my mom were heading to UT together in the morning to see my sister and her NEW baby Dallin). Unfortunately, Adi got sick that night with a fever. So kristina didnt know if she was going to leave in the morning or not, due to the fact that my sister JUST had a baby and adi had a fever. that night i got to pick up ANDREW from the airport. it was great to have him close to us again. we were excited for some time with daddy, and more vacation.

thursday- my mom and sister didnt leave until 9 or 10 in the morning. adi still had a slight fever, but my sister figured why hurry to my sisters house in utah when she has to just keep her distance? so she figured if she got their late, she could put adi down for bed, and it wouldnt be absolute torture. the poor souls got stuck in some road closure on the way their and the 12 hour drive ended up to be like 14 or 15 hours! (did not envy then one bit). after they left, i went on a lunch date with the one and only tammy schwanz. she is a "mom" to me, and every time im in town, she takes me and the kids out to lunch. she is absolutely adorable, and i love her to pieces. my kids were a bit rowdy this particular day, so not as much catching up happened....but it was still great to be able to talk for the time my children allowed, and see her again. she has a smile that can light up a room. we went back to her office and b played with her puppy. b was IN HEAVEN. she wants a puppy so bad. it was great to catch up with tammy once again. 

.we got home, the kids napped for a bit, than we headed off to get burgerville with my good friend from high school, Ashley. We talked and laughed just like old times, and they told us how crazy we were to be pregnant again. lol. We got shakes at BURGERVILLE...it is my ONE place i get a shake EVERY time i go to washington (multiple times...like 4-5 times i visit and get a shake). Ashley has this awesome boyfriend Sean, and they are awesome together. We love visiting Ashley!! 

.After Burgerville- Andrew went to a movie with my dad, and i took the kids to a dinner date with Ami. When she was doing my hair, we got to catch up, but not enough. So we planed a dinner date to talk more. This girl amazes me. She works full time, has 2 kids, and her hubby is deployed. She balances everything EXTREMELY well, and her kids are more adorable than ever. i love Ami to death, and am inspired by her strength.

.friday- andrew and i went to Hockinson Cafe. A local place that use to be in our small town, and just down the road from the high school...but since expanded and moved to Battle Ground. the cute little place brings back so many memories and just "feels" like home. this is another place i go at least once, when i visit. so we took the kids for breakfast. on the way home, we stopped by Tammy's office and said our "good-byes" and got pictures. we drove up past Andrew's old house and looked at how different it is, and than stopped by Chelsea's (Petey) gravesight. It is such a peaceful place. Her headstone was just as beautiful as I remembered it. The kids picked wildflowers and put them in her vase on the headstone. We told the kids how one of mommy's friend's died, but she is now with Jesus. It was a special time, to be with my family, to have my kids there, and my hubby, and to visit Chels. Her presence was definitely there as well. 

.we got home, and our BF Megan stopped by to visit with her 2 kiddos. I cannot believe how much both of them look like her hubby arom, and how RED Ryker's hair is. Megan is another friend who has been through A LOT, and still stands strong. I also do NOT envy her for her children's food allergies. We visited and laughed and the kids played. It was fun to see our children interact, and think how it was not too long ago we were in high school dating guys who were best friends. CraZy how things have changed, and how different our lives are now, compared to what we "thought" they would be when we were young, dumb, teenagers. I love this girl and glad we still have a friendship even through the distance. 

.friday evening we had dinner with our "family". the kirby family. gosh, how much i miss them every time we get together. every time i leave i still have to hold back tears for this family. they have been there for me for A LOT. especially tammy. i remember one night coming to tammy (kyle was working a shift at the firestation) and just crying my eyes out to her. she just sat, hugged, and listened. her kids are growing like weeds, and i cannot get over how much these kids are going to impact their friends and the community around them for the better. they are absolutely fantastic. we love them. we ate a great dinner, and sat in the backyard watching the kids play and run around and be loud. once it started to get dark, we moved into the house and continued talking and catching up. i hope when we visit next, we can go on a camping trip with the kirbys. we love this family and hope they come visit soon. once we got home, i packed us up to leave the next morning. 

.morning came. i ran a couple quick errands, loaded up my parents surburban with our stuff, stuff for my sister in utah, stuff for my sister in idaho, my dad's goldclubs. i could not believe how much room it took up, and how packed the car was. we went to breakfast with my dad, his friend mike, and an older lady in the ward ann, and her grandson jessie. ann absolutely adores andrew, and thinks the world of him. when she found out he was in town, she insisted on seeing him. our days were already so packed, so the best day that worked for us was Saturday morning before continuing our vacation to oregon. we enjoyed the food, and the company. ann is the sweetest lady, and we look forward to seeing her every time we visit. 

.mike gave my dad a ride home, and we started our 4.5 hour drive to medford oregon to meet up with andrew's family (who had driven down from utah) and see uncle dave and aunt lisa and stay with them. but first, we stopped at Emma's gravesight (andrews friend) and left some flowers for her, and visited her. the kids were asleep, so we made the visit really quick. we just hugged each other and looked at the beautiful headstone. Another special experience where we could not see Emma physically, but we felt her presence....we cannot wait to reunited with Emma and Petey again.

.we continued on the drive to medford. we talked about how much we took for granted the BEAUTY of our "old homes" and how GREEN it is. we love loved our washington trip, and cannot wait to visit again- come june 2015. 

.summer vacation- washington part 1.

.flying home to washington was hell. 

.and it wasnt because of my kids. they were SO good. 

.it was all the stupid delays. 

.our flight out of san antonio was delayed by 1.5 hours....and our connecting flight was suppose to leave 40 minutes after we got to arizona. 

.i called southwest and asked what would happen, if i should change my flight right than, if i would be put up in a hotel, etc. he said it completely depends on what would happen in arizona at my connecting flight...but more than likely i would not be put up in a hotel. i told him all hell would break loose, if they thought i was going to stay in a airport overnight with 3 kids. no way.

.we killed time at the airport. i knew a high fat/high calorie snack would make me feel better...and a cinnabon was just the answer. i walked the airport, i let the kids run. we finally boarded the airplane and was on our way to arizona. the kids were SO good. i was SO uncomfortable with holly on one side, and brooklynn on the other and parker on my lap. but i could not complain with how well they were. this water coloring book is AMAZING. it made the flight. i got new ones for the kids, just for the trip. you fill the little pen with water, and they color and than drys back to white so you can recolor it again and again. amazing. b colored almost the entire first flight. as we flew into arizona we had lightening on both sides of the plane just lighting up the sky.

.we arrived in arizona and hurried off to our next gate to see what was going to happen. DELAY. only 30-40 minutes....and than it moved to 1 hour....than 1.5. it was awful. i laid the stroller back and tucked in the kids in and pushed them around the airport. it was late. for us we were 2 hours later, and they were so tired. all 3 kids fell asleep for almost an full hour before i had to disturb them while we boarded on the plane. i was quite a sight. 2 backpacks, 2 blankets, and 2 kids as i walked onto the plane. they slept the entire plane ride. we finally made it into portland close to 1am. by the time i got home, got the kids in bed, and myself in bed it was almost 2:30am (4:30 my time)...i had been up over 24 hours! i was SOOOOO tired. my poor pregnant self was so tired. but we made it to washington and were excited to spend time at gma/gpas house and we had cousins too!

 (this trip made me totally fall in love with my phil & teds stroller. i got MANY compliments on it, and it was just SO nice....and than they both fell asleep and i fell in love with it again)

.my sister's both were already to my house..with another one arriving friday. ronnie was due any minute, so she couldnt make it...but it was chaos. we had 9 kids ages 9 and under all at my mom's house. the kids had a total blast. they had someone to play with all the time. kristina and her hubby and 4 kids drove from arizona. and natatlie and her 2 days drove from spokane area. my kids LOVED seeing their cousins....its sad it only happens once a year if we are lucky.  

.anyways- wednesday we hung out at home. i was SUPER tired, but my kids were happy reuniting with their kids....well brooklynn was. parker was ATTACHED to me at the hip. he wouldnt let anyone touch him, anyone help him, etc. IT WAS AWFUL. it was hard enough without my hubby to help...but when parker literally would not let ANYONE help him with ANYTHING...it was so hard. we hung at home...and the kids experienced "country life" they ran outside in the grass, they climbed trees, played in the dirt, swung in a tree swing...brooklynn did one of her favorite things when we go to grandma mcdonald's house...mowed the lawn with me on the riding lawn mower. it is one of my favorite things as well. (we use to fight over who would do it when we were younger). later that evening my sister natalie, needed to run to home depot/lowes for a few things. we left our 2 oldest at home, and took the 2 youngers with us. my kids also came **sick**. they each had one oral medicine they were to take once a day, plus breathing treatments once a day and allergy medicine in the morning, it was crazy. i had to fight them starting off, but they finally both ended up doing the breathing treatment on their own.

(driving the lawn mower) 

 (grayson and parker- 3 months apart)

.thursday- my dad made arrangements with a family friend to go to his house and ride a pony. we did this last year, and my kids LOVED it. we took turns leading the horse with a kid on the back. my sister kristina, HATES animals....her face totally shows when she had to touch the horse while leading it. while the kids waited their turn, they got filthy, watched goats poop, chased goats, fought over little trikes, and experienced "farm life." we had an absolute blast, and we look forward to "going to a farm" when we visit gpa mcdonald (yes, i meant to connect old mcdonald and having a farm). afterwards my dad, sister and her hubby took the older 4 kids blueberry picking. b had never been, so i warned them, it may be a nightmare.....they came home and said she was one of the best blueberry pickers! i was impressed and proud...looks like berry picking will be happening next year for us, for sure. later that night we lit fireworks...the youngest 2 (adi and parker) wanted to be held the entire time, and didnt like how loud it was. my dad had some pretty awesome fireworks. than sparklers for the kids....where my daughter almost took a few different kids eyes out, or close to burning their arm or hands, etc. it was hilarious seeing all the grandkids all together and the sparklers all flying. 

 (snuggling gma during the fireworks)

(sending pictures to daddy) 

(how we did it...i dont know. my pregnant self, parker and b on a full bed.)

.friday my baby sister flew in for the weekend (we threw her a baby shower...she never had one). i FINALLY got to meet her son maverick. he was 3 months old when i finally met him. he was adorable, and she would bring him into my room in the mornings or whenever she needs a quick shower, or to do something. i loved it. he is adorable. anyways- we picked her up from the airport, made a quick ikea run, ran a couple other errands, than headed home to clean the house and prep for her baby shower that next morning. my kids adored maverick. b has ALWAYS been a big helper....she has changed parker's diaper multiple times, and just loves to help. parker LOVES to hold babies. maverick got plenty of attention with 8 other cousins, 1 grandma, and 3 aunts. 

.stay tuned for bre's baby shower, parker's birthday, visits with friends, and more cousin time.