Mariners' Game

We decided to take a real adventure with this crew and head to Safeco Field Wednesday afternoon for a matinee game of the Mariners vs. the Oakland A's. And because I thought it might be fun for a change and possibly cheaper than parking (I don't think that ended up being true, but hey...), we decided to take the bus there. We drove to the Everett Transit Station and caught the bus to downtown Seattle. A crowded bus no less. The nice thing though was we had no screaming baby. Tripp, as many of you know, hates the car. I am learning that is probably isn't so much hatred of the car as much as hatred for not being right with mom. So he was happy as a little clam, wrapped up on me the whole ride to Seattle.

Elliot waiting for the bus, very excited!

We got to downtown Seattle and Justin said, hey let's get off the bus and just walk the rest of the way...it's not far. Famous last words considering you have a 5 and 2 year old and an infant. But we made the trek (a little over a mile when it was said and done) and found the ballpark.

We made it to our bleacher seats directly in the sun. It was HOT!!! Justin went to get everyone a hotdog which we all enjoyed. Then I went to go get some drinks, but at 3.50-5.50 a pop, we shared and visited the drinking fountain.

There was a little play area for kids so we let them run around there for a bit during the game as well. Then we moved to some different seats out of the sun and it was much nicer. We actually made it through about the 7th inning before we decided it was time to see if we could catch another bus back. After a little confusion with the buses, we made it back to downtown and headed to McDonalds for a MUCH needed drink. We ate a few french fries and downed a couple sodas as we watched the serious riff-raff that are in a downtown Mickey D's. Down right comical.
I could have spent all day there people watching. As we were headed back to the bus though this is poor Grey, asleep on daddy's shoulders:

We made it back to our bus and had a nice ride back to the Everett Station. Hopped in the car and true to form, Tripp cried the whole way home in the van. Hadn't made a peep the whole rest of the day. It was a fun outing and a good memory. Although, Justin and I had to laugh. We love public transportation especially after visiting NYC, but it is far more glamorous there and without kids. And as a side note, why are the scuzzies scuzzier in Seattle than in New York? We just made that observation on this little excursion.

Nine years thus far

Justin and I were married nine years ago yesterday. It is crazy to think it has been that long but at the same time, hard to remember life without him. I am so thankful to have him as my husband and love him so much. Thank you, Justin for all you do for me and for our children. It has been a wild ride so far and has turned out much different than I ever imagined. But I am as happy as I could be and we are building a great life together.

We were married in the Spokane, WA temple. I am so grateful that Justin and I were worthy and ready to enter the temple and be sealed there for time and all eternity.



And just because it was on my computer and I didn't have to do any scanning (because I was married in the stone ages before digital photography), this is one of my favorites with all my brothers in tuxes with me.

Strawberry Jam

Today, this.... turned into this...

Yumm-o!!! Just need some fresh bread now.

Birthday Boys

This post is coming a couple days late...such is life these days. But Sunday was the two main men in my life's birthday. Justin and Grey share the same birthday. I can't believe that my little boy is two years old! It honestly seems like just yesterday he was born (or maybe that was Tripp...).

He was induced, but really more like an "augmentation" according to the doctor as I was already having fairly regular contractions. Add some pitocin and break my water, and out he flew. It was such an easy delivery and he was so calm to begin with that the name Grey was so fitting.

Elliot was so excited to have a baby brother. And what a good big sister she has been. He loves her so much and they get along really pretty well.

Grey didn't stay a newborn long at all. He didn't lose any weight in the hospital and has been growing ever since. He was a little more of a challenging baby than Elliot was, mainly because he did not sleep much. Just little cat naps all day. Thankfully that has changed now and he sleeps for a good 2-3 hours every afternoon and goes to bed relatively easily at night.

He is a man of few words. He still doesn't talk much, but is making some progress. His favorite word is "horse" and it is one that is clear as day. He attempts words like "car" and "truck" and "mom" and "dad" and "bus" but usually the first sound comes out and nothing else. And ask him to say anything on command and he rarely does. All in good time I am sure...

Here are some pictures from his birthday:

It was a pretty quiet day. We went to church and then opened presents- little cars and a big truck. Well worth the money as he has been playing with them ever since. And then ice cream cake after a ride around the lake.

I can't forget Justin on his birthday as well. I try to not let his get shadowed by Grey's but it is bound to happen eventually. He got to go the Mariners game on Friday with a friend and came home reeking of garlic fries. And I got him a Wall Street Journal subscription. Kind of nerdy, but I knew that he was missing his subscription since we let it expire.

We are enjoying the lake, but wish we had more people to enjoy it with. Family isn't around, friends are few in the area because we don't know many yet, and everyone is busy to boot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN AND GREY!!!!

How I Get Things Done

Tripp has definately been a difficult child. I was really hoping for an easy baby this go around with all we have going on, but no dice. So in order to get anything accomplished I have had to learn how to improvise.

The Moby wrap has become my best friend. I still have the baby bjorn (a front pack carrier) in the car for grocery shopping (he hates his carseat so no leaving him in that and putting it in the cart- and don't even get me started on car rides...), but I LOVE this wrap for just about every other time in the house and elsewhere. I had a long piece of material first and learned on youtube how to do it, but when I realized that I was using it literally everyday I decide to fork over the $40 and buy a real one. This is how I packed and unpacked my house, how I get dishes done, how I work on the computer, how I help the other two kids, how we do darn near anything.

I also have used the baby bjorn when the elliptical was still here (my mom took it with her to St. George). I used to do this with Elliot on occasion when she would fuss in the stroller at the gym. It is quite a sight to see this little body bobbing up and down on the elliptical and it makes the work out a bit harder!


I have a love/hate relationship with the big blue yoga ball. I love it because bouncing on it almost always calms him down. I hate it though because I am soooo tired on bouncing on it! It is how I watch tv, visit with anyone, eat dinner, work on the computer, etc. Someday I will be able to sit in a normal chair again...

And most recently, we have found that the baby backpack works well for little ol' Tripp. We bought this at a garage sale for a couple bucks when Elliot was a baby. We have had a HUGE job of washing the vinyl fence that surrounds the property. So for several hours on Saturday, I loaded Tripp in the backpack and went to work. I got quite a bit done although my body was hurting something fierce when I was done for the day (we still have a lot of fence to wash!).

Visits

My parents left on Tuesday and even though I was sad to say good bye, it has been so nice to have just our family here and get some sort of normalcy back to our lives. Right now, it is after 10:30 PM and I am the only one up. I really should go to bed, but I am so enjoying the quiet and getting a few things done that I usually am fighting to get done, like blogging :)

We didn't waste any time having visitors at our new place. Our good friends the Plaisteds and Hansens stopped by on their way to Bellingham for a mini vacation. The weather was in our favor too so we played outside and the kids loved visiting with the horses, Ty a little too much as we had to fish him out from the other side of the pasture. It was so nice to see them, but made me miss them a little more than I already did.

Then Thursday Justin's sister came to stay for a few days with her boys, Kolby and Ryan. The weather again was so nice that we were able to go out to the lake house Thursday evening and the kids were even brave enough to get into the water. We had a great visit with them and it is so nice to have plenty of room for everyone to use.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to get myself and early birthday present (and anniversary and Christmas probably, considering what it cost) and bought a nice camera- a Canon Rebel T1i. I almost took it back though because it was getting ridiculous thinking about when in the world am I going to have time to figure this camera out. But I was convinced to keep it and slowly figure it out. So we pulled it out while Lisa was here and went for a photo shoot. Now I am almost embarassed to say this, but we went 3/4 of the way through the photo shoot with the lens only halfway on. I couldn't figure out why the pictures were partially out of focus. I just figured I didn't know really what I was doing (and that was partially right). So some of these pictures are a little funny because of that. The family one is over exposed but a cute picture and I may try to adjust it in photoshop (in my spare time...). I am hoping to learn more about photography and be able to use this camera more and get some great pictures over the years.

Update

While the kids are outside and Tripp is content for a few brief moments, I thought I would upload some pictures and give a little update.

Tripp is growing well and is almost 3 months! He is still a bit tempermental, but generally getting better. He sleeps pretty well at night (although still in bed with us). The big unfortunate thing about Tripp is that he HATES the car. Going anywhere is a challenge because we have to listen to him cry and cry. We have tried it all too, but nothing seems to help so we will have to just wait for him to outgrow it. Sorry this picture of him is sideways. I don't know how to change it easily and don't have the time to tinker with it at the moment.

At the beginning of the month, Mark came to visit and brought home is fiance, Hannah, with him. It was so fun to meet her and get to know her a little bit. They are planning to be sealed in the Portland temple probably on September 25th. They are still working out all the details, including the date. We are all very excited for them and Elliot LOVES her new future aunt.

Grey has found a very soft spot with his Grandpa Keith. Grandpa will take Grey anywhere and Grey happily rides along. He loves to go with Grandpa in the truck. And whenever Grey is upset, Grandpa can usually calm him down. The other day he was upset about something and the two of them fell asleep in the recliner probably watching Fox news. Grey is definately going to miss Grandpa, as we all are.

The other favorite thing lately, has been the horses in the pasture. I think we have the best gig with these horses. My dad has about 2 acres in pasture field around the house. To keep the grass short, he has some people keep their horses there for free. So we get the country embiance of horses and none of the work. And the kids LOVE to go out there and visit with the horses. They have even become brave enough to pet them and feed them some grass out of their hands. Grey even has clearly said "horse" which is a huge feat considering his vocabulary is extremely limited.

We have one more week with my parents here and then the real adventure starts for all of us. I think they are anxious to get their mission started and we are anxious to get settled here. I am so glad that Justin is here for good and that summer is here so that we can get settled without work to deal with yet. It is still up in the air what he is going to do this fall. He will continue to look for a job, but subbing may be the best bet for him. He has been seriously considering going back to school for his master's so subbing might provide the flexibility that would be very advantageous in that situation. We are excited for what all will be in store for us!