Memorial Day, a.k.a. Sami's Birthday

Sami's birthday frequently falls on Memorial Day weekend, and some years, like this one, it falls on Memorial Day, itself.  Fun!

This year, we went laser tagging.  We had never gone before we were excited and really looking forward to it.  IT WAS A BLAST!!!

After the laser tagging, we headed over to *Uncle Scott's house.  We had a lot of fun playing games, exploring his property, visiting emus, and of course, BBQing (it *was* Memorial Day, after all *wink*).

Upstairs, there was ping pong, pool, and foosball to play together.  Spencer was so patient with Rori! lol

Outside, we visited the emus.  Acadia was obsessed with them!  She insisted on going into their enclosure.  She wanted to hug one.  She was adamant, even though most of us thought it was a STUPID idea.  Andy went in with her, though, and when it came down to it, she totally was scared.  She still claims she wasn't, but every time one came close to her, she hid behind Andy.  lol

So, instead, we hugged all of these emus...

While Acadia was having her adventure with emus, Rori was having an adventure with Debbie and Scott.  They went off roading!  They traveled all over.  I think I heard they went to New York City, even!  Rori was having so much fun!

On Scott's property, there is a river, so we took the little walk and explored it a bit.  It was beautiful. :)

Finally, before we headed home, we helped with some chores that Scott needed done.  Everyone pitched in.  Even Rori helped!  We cleaned the drive and entry area, the kids liked using the pressure washer.  lol

It was a beautiful and very fun day!  We were so glad to have an extra reason to celebrate and such a great group to celebrate with!

*Scott was Mary Jane's brother.  Since then, Scott has passed away.  It was sudden and completely unexpected.  He was a very loving and important part of their family and I know his loss has been deeply felt.  He is missed very much.  Thank you for being a part of our lives, Scott!

Easter

I mentioned that I just haven't been very good about taking photos lately.  But I do have a few from Easter this year.  Just not a ton, and what I have isn't all that great. :S

We always have fun dying eggs.  We like to dye a lot, and it's way more than we can eat ourselves, so then we went around and shared some with some of the older, single ladies in our ward.  We figured they probably wouldn't have colored eggs to enjoy but might like some spring fun.  They all seemed to really appreciate it - and the little visit that went a long with it. :)

After the eggs were all dyed, the girls decided to dye their hands!  lol

There are even fewer actual Easter photos. :(  So, this collage includes the fun girl-trip we took to the nail salon to get our toes done, as well as a picture of each girl and her basket, and of course a pic of the girls in their Easter Sunday dress.  At least I have this much. ;)

I am really going to try to be better about taking pictures again.  I do love it, usually.  I guess I just needed a little break.  Break's over! ;)

Mother's Day

I love my family!  I feel very blessed to have my wonderful husband and two delightful girls.  Mother's Day is always a joy for me.  I have few expectations.  I don't care about what I get - in fact, I usually prefer that they don't spend money on me at all.  I just love getting a day of them serving me. lol

From the moment I get up, I'm being told to stay in bed while they bring me breakfast.  And with breakfast, they always bring in homemade cards and gifts and I love it!  I especially love that as the girls get older, these cards and gifts are completely from them, their words, their ideas, their creativity.  Ryan did give me some fudge this year, with this cute little note:

Your love for me and the children is like fudge.  Sometimes soft, sometimes hard, but always sweet (and a little nutty).

LOL  I loved it!

I really enjoyed the talks in church about motherhood.  I especially appreciated the thoughts that motherhood is not just bearing children; that all can mother.  There are many who love and nurture those around them and they should be honored, too.  And I am reminded that I am not to mother only my children, but others as well.  I am grateful for all who help to mother my kids.  It is comforting to know that there are others who care and are interested in them and in helping them to be happy, healthy, safe, and successful.

After church, Ryan went to visit an older sister in our ward (that he Home Teaches) who has been in the hospital with some painful health problems.  He was concerned about her spending Mother's Day alone in a hospital room.  Initially we were all going to go with him, but it worked out better for him to take along his companion so they could administer to her while the girls and I phoned the moms/grandmas and prepared to spend the evening at my aunt's house.  I was touched that he was careful to take her some chocolate and a flower.  He is so thoughtful that way. :)  And, he was also careful to be back in time for dinner with family. :)

Our evening at my aunt's house was fun, as always!  We surprised her - she didn't know we would be coming over!  But her kids had asked us to and they prepared the house and food for company.  It was a good surprise, she loved it! :)  

I forgot my camera, but I stole some of the pics from Sami's camera:

And watch this funny video that Matthew took:

LOL... we always have fun with them!  I just wish I had thought to tell Sami to take a picture of her mom and I.  And one of me and my girls.  :S   Well, that's what I get for taking my little camera break.  ;)

I am grateful for my mother.  I am grateful for the example she has always been to me throughout my life.  And I'm grateful for the lessons that I continue to learn from her - whether it is me reflecting back on things she taught while I was younger, or things I learn from her now.  I hope she knows how much she is loved and valued by her children. :)

I am especially grateful to be a mother.  It is not an easy job and I sometimes get very tired of the mundane tasks and responsibilities, but I love my girls and I love that I get to be the one who raises them.  I love that they want ME.  They are so good to me.  It makes me want to be a better mom for them.  I love them so much!  

St. Patty's Day

On Friday morning, I quickly tried a St. Patrick's Day "do" for Rori's hair.  We were running a little short on time, so I couldn't put as much effort into being as neat and clean with it as I'd have liked, but it still turned out pretty cute.  I figured I'd master it "for reals" the next day (on the *real* St. Patrick's Day).  Good thing I took a pic of it instead of waiting for the "real" one...

Because in the wee mornin' hours on St. Patty's Day, Ryan and I heard a wee li'l knock on our bedroom door, followed by...

"Dad, my tummy hurts and I think I'm hungry."

She asked for Dad, so I was happy to let him take this one.  I questioned the idea of giving her food in the middle of the night and when she said her tummy hurt, but he said, "Don't worry, I'll just give her something simple."

Oh, okay, that's a good idea.  I went back to sleep.

About 15-20 minutes later I heard, "Dad!" called from the other room.  Conveniently, he didn't hear it.  Then, "MOM!"

When I got to her room, she said, "I barfed."  Hoping for only a little mess, I went to check out the damage.  It was not little.  And I knew right away that whatever he had given her a few minutes earlier was NOT simple.  I called out to him, "What did you feed her????"  ..."String cheese."  "Not the best choice, Hon!" (Not said in the most loving tone.)

Figures.  He has the wussiest stomach when it comes to this.  He gags at the very thought, so I knew I couldn't even make him clean up the mess.  I will spare the details here, but she was thorough and it was not fun.

After stripping the bed, bathing her, and starting the first load of laundry, we set her up with a bed on the couch... and a bowl, which she unfortunately did end up having to use but thankfully, this time, it was contained and easy to take care of.

Needless to say, St. Patrick's Day wasn't so jolly and we didn't do any fun hair-dos.  Instead we lounged about eating soda crackers and watching movies.  :S

Rori's Valentine Hair, pt. 3

This will be the last of our heart hairdo's... for now. ;)

I only did it today because we actually did this on Sunday but I forgot to take pics, and I really wanted pics. ;)

This was another one that I copied, and I found it on The Story of a Princess and Her Hair.

The only thing we did differently on Sunday, was that I used normal braids for the pieces that formed the heart, while today I did twist braids, and we used a flower instead of a bow because it matched her outfit better.  Cute, easy, fun! :)

Rori's Valentine Hair, pt. 2

Yesterday's do was something I came up with myself, and I think it turned out really cute!  It even held the entire day at school, which isn't always the case with these extra cutsie dos. :)

Today's do is totally copied; I could never have been clever enough to come up with it myself! lol  Here is our attempt (mine isn't as neat and tidy as the original, but I think it still looks pretty good), followed by the link to the blog with instructions on how to do it.

Shaunell's Hair: Valentine's Hairdo Contest Winner

Rori's Valentine Hair, pt. 1

Rori doesn't love for me to play with her hair, but she endures it because 1) I love it, and 2) she loves all of the compliments and attention she gets when we do something extra cute/fun.

For Valentine's Day, I had a couple of ideas.  Okay, well, I had one.  And then I stole a couple. lol  Yesterday I used one that I stole, but I forgot to take a picture, so I will just have to recreate it later this week and post a pic later.

But, today's hair was my idea and I think it turned out cute!  It was super easy, too. :)

Directions:

Pull top half of hair into a pony, divide the pony into two equal sections and braid each.  Join both braids at the ends with an elastic to keep them together.  Then pull each braid up a little and bobby pin into place to form the top half of the heart shape, allowing the ends of the braids to hang down, naturally forming the bottom half of the heart.  Gather remaining hair, along with the braid ends, into one low pony.  Secure with elastic and add a bow - Super easy!  And really quick. :)

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, we woke the kids up early - yes, WE woke the kids up!  It was Sunday and we had church at 9am, but we knew it would be easiest to let the kids enjoy their stockings before church than to expect them to get ready with the stockings sitting there exposed and waiting. ;)  We had fun seeing what Santa had brought, then got dressed in our Christmas Sunday finest and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas centered Sacrament meeting. 

After church, we came home, changed into our comfy Christmas jammies and opened gifts.  We spent some time on Skype with some of our family, too.  Then, when it was time for dinner, we went to the Hills to spend the rest of the day/evening with them.  We had a delicious dinner, exchanged a few gifts, played some games, and had a lot of fun!

Chad played with this cool setting on his camera...

Chad also went around making sure he was in a picture with EVERYONE.  Well, almost everyone. :)

I do not know how it started, but at some point, we began having fun with magazines.  It was so great to have some of these celebrities come to our Christmas dinner/party.  We had fun interviewing them. ;)

Even Rori got in on the fun. lol

Christmas Hair

I'm almost 2 months behind, but I'm fixin' to do some catching up.  Are you ready?  Get set...  Let's go!

I contemplated for weeks about what to do for Rori's hair on Christmas.  Being on a Sunday morning, I wanted it to be gorgeous, but easy.  I was looking for that "WOW" hairdo, I admit it.  I decided to try a new way of curling her hair, using nylons.  We've used the sponge curlers in the past but they are not comfy to sleep in.  Using the nylons was much more comfortable, easy to take out, and gave us the same cute curls.  I took pics of the girls with Rori in her nylon curlers and them both in their Christmas jammies.  Rori got a little crazy... lol. 

Acadia rarely lets me do her hair.  She usually just likes it down and straight, and it is beautiful that way, so that's okay.  But after we took the pics above, she decided to let me put the nylons in her hair, too.  Her hair is very thick and heavy, so it didn't hold the curl quite as well as Rori's but it still gave her a nice, soft curl that she pulled up and I think she looked beautiful!  (While we were taking the pics, she kept blinking - every time!  It had us laughing as we tried to get just one decent pic of her with her eyes open. lol)

For Rori, we did something a little more fancy and I LOVED how it turned out!!!

The pictures don't quite do it justice, and I definitely did get the "wow"s that we were going for. ;)

Here are a couple of the girls together right before we headed to church...

These are a few of her favorite things...

For the last 11 years, our stake has hosted an annual Festival of the Nativities and a few years ago, my mom started coming up that weekend to attend with us.  This year she brought my brother, Andrew with her.  We had a really nice visit!

On Saturday, we headed into the gorge for a small hike to Punchbowl.  My mom loves nature and she loves the green Pacific Northwest, and I think she really liked the hike.  It was really pretty.  It was easy to imagine it even more green in the spring or more vibrant with fall colors just a month or two earlier, but even as it was, it was beautiful.

On Sunday, after church, we went to the Festival of that Nativities.  My mom loves nativities as much as I do; that's probably where I got it from.  We loved seeing the beautiful displays, listening to lovely music, and checking out the hundreds and hundreds of nativities.  I had several of my own displayed, including one from the Philippines.  I want to collect a nativity scene from the countries where we have family history, and the Philippines is one of them (my mom's father was Filipino).  There were a few Filipino nativities and my mom didn't know that one was mine, so I was so glad when she showed me her favorite one... MINE! :) 

Another really fun part of visiting the nativities is the children's room.  Rori always loves it!  There are lots of things for them to touch and play with.  And they can dress up!  

After the Festival of the Nativities, we invited the local family to come say hi and visit a little with Mom and Andrew.  I know mom likes seeing her siblings and neices and nephews.  And Ryan made a cake that he has made a couple of times before for my mom and she really likes.  It's a super rich, dark chocolate cake.  Visiting family, eating rich chocolate... yes, these are definitely more of her favorite things.

And I like to think that we are some of her favorite things, too. :)  We were so glad to have them come visit and hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Be Thankful

We made our normal drive down to Sacramento for Thanksgiving this year.  The weather was great and the timing good, so we stopped in Reno for the weekend before ending up in Sac for the rest of the week.

One of the stops we made along the way down to Sacramento, was at John's Incredible Pizza to meet up with Heather and her kids for lunch.  It was a lot of fun!

The fun didn't stop once we were in Sacramento.  We stayed with Ryan's mom for the first couple of days and while we were with them, we visited the zoo...

The weather was SO NICE!  We took a walk down by the river and enjoyed a beautiful fall afternoon...

We spent the last couple of days at my sister's house and that is where we had our delicious Thanksgiving meal. 

Our visit for the holiday is always too short but we had a really nice visit and loved being with family for Thanksgiving! 

Two Weddings and a Front Door

We had the opportunity of celebrating two new marriages today!  The first was for a woman that Ryan home teaches in our ward.  It was small and quiet and really nice.  The second was for a young woman that used to be in my Mia Maid class years ago... I just can't believe how grown up these girls are now!  She was absolutely beautiful and I'm so happy for her!

Almost nine years ago, we moved here and bought this house.  It has had a banged up front door with poor weather stripping around the sides and a scratched up door knocker that says "LEE" on it.  Well, finally, today, we bought a new front door.  It will be installed in a few days and I am excited!  I know, it is slightly pathetic to be excited over a new door, especially since this is not a super fancy door in any way... but I am! 

Today is one week away from Christmas Eve and I'm really looking forward to this week.  We're all ready here, and I love it because it lets us just enjoy the season with no stress or crazy shopping trips to fight our way through.  I think instead we'll do some caroling, spread some Christmas cheer, visit with friends, and watch some holiday movies. :)

What are your favorite ways to spend the last few days before Christmas?

The Nightmare Before Christmas

This is Halloween... or was... or... you get the picture...

Acadia dressed as a nerd... quite a stretch for her... NOT!  She is not a "nerd" but is very smart and loves to wear those socks no matter what day it is... and may or may not have sported those glasses just for fun for days before and also days after Halloween... oh no, not a nerd at all. ;)

Aurora was Minnie Mouse and it was extra fun this year since we had just been to DisneyWorld and she had several chances to meet Minnie in person.  It was fun to "be" her for a night! :)  And for the record, she did not wear the vampire teeth with her outfit, lol.  She got those trick-or-treating and really wanted to wear them as soon as she got home (and washed them). ;)

Ryan took the girls out trick-or-treating and they had great weather - which meant they were out for quite a long time!  They ran into lots of friends along the way and ended up trick-or-treating with them for part of the time.  Extra fun! 

I stayed home to pass out candy but we didn't get as many trick-or-treaters as we normally do.  So the ones that came got a handful each! lol

Our girls made out pretty dang good and had a lot of fun... it was a pretty Spooktacular day!

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 28

Well, I knew posting would be sparse during our visit home for Thanksgiving, but it ended up being non existent!  We had a great visit though and THAT is what I'm thankful for now.

I am thankful that the car did run great, the weather was perfect for traveling, the kids didn't get carsick, and we arrived home in enough time for me to finish planning my Sunday School lesson (and for Ryan to clean the gutters while Cadi raked the backyard).  I'm also glad we were able to visit and see so many of our family and friends, though we never have enough time to see everyone.  I'm thankful for those who opened their homes to us, fed us, put up with us, etc.  I am thankful for Thanksgiving dinner because it was so incredibly delicious!  I am thankful for Forced Family Fun day (what we began calling the day after T-day because it is usually the one day that my family can all get together, and whether or not we all want to do whatever we're doing, we do it because we can do it together... sometimes other days are called Forced Family Fun days, too, but this is the original).  I am thankful that Ryan's parents were able to join my family for Thanksgiving again so we didn't have to go back and forth in order to see both.

Now that I'm home, I'm thankful that it is officially the Christmas season!  I am thankful that we have begun decorating.  (4 trees up, 3 to go!)  I am thankful for the music, smells, sights, and sounds of the holidays.  I love this time of year! :)

Spook-tacular Party Pics

On Friday night we went to a Halloween party at the Hills.  It was super fun because they are super fun!  I think just about everyone who came had a costume on - yay for festive pary people! 

Sami was a unicorn with wings... um, in PJs (lol).  Joy'el was... I don't remember what.  She was going to be Adele but changed her mind and costume at the last minute.  Whatever she was, she looked pretty! :)  Quin was a vampire, Ki was a unicorn (Sami was her Unicorn Mommy), Chelsie was a mouse, Kris was a little kid, Acadia was a nerd, and Rori was Minnie Mouse...

Andy came sans costume but wanted to join the cool crowd, so Chelsie hooked him up.

Matthew was a rockstar and MaryJane was his groupie. ROFL!!! Spencer came as a hipster, but you will see that later his costume evolved some. ;)  I think only Debbie and Scottie were without costumes, but we like them and were happy they were there, anyway.  ;)



Let's see... who else?? Oh yeah!  US!  Ryan was Tom Brady and I was Wes Welker.  That's a good duo, right there! ;)

I brought some witch's brew to have as a special drink.  It looked creepy!  But it was very sweet.  Almost too sweet.  I couldn't finish a second glass.  Otherwise, it did taste good!  Ryan, as usual, was the favorite person for the kids to gang up on. lol  Cadi taught Joy'el part of a song she liked.  And everyone just had fun hanging out!

After everyone had eated and visited a little, we started the games!  First up, bobbing for apples!  Little ones went first and we let them just grab the apples by the stem.  They had so much fun that after everyone else was done, they kept doing it over and over again. lol

Next up - donuts on a string!  It was harder than it looks!  They had to keep their hands behind their backs and try to eat the entire donut as it hung on a hook, dangling from a string... swaying back and forth.  Everyone ended up with messy faces.  Messy, but tasty! lol

They had some fun props to take pics with, like these mustaches!  I love these pics of Rori!!!  Also, after the apple bobbing, Spencer's hair needed a make-over and that led to the next phase of his costume... like father, like son!

We gathered around the table to play some card games and ended up laughing an awful lot!!!

Thanks for another great night, Hill family!

Fireworks

I usually just try to take photos during the fireworks (still haven't perfected it), but this year I also tried getting some video.  I found that some of the fireworks were just too big for how close we were, so they were pretty fuzzy.  And I wish I had taken the camcorder to the balcony, which had a great vantage point to see all of the fireworks going off all over the city.  I didn't record the finale, in fact, I didn't take any pictures of the finale either.  This year, I just WATCHED it.  And it was great! :)

But here is a little sampling of some of the firework fun we had. 

Ryan opted to sit out most of the fireworks this year.  Usually he is the head hauncho, with Chad as his wingman.  This year he passed the torch (quite literally) to Chad who managed most of it by himself with a little help with Spencer.

4th of July

We LOVE the 4th of July!  We love it for many reasons, not least of which is for the great blessings we enjoy by living in this great country.  We are so grateful for all who have fought and made it possible for us to enjoy those freedoms.  We are grateful for our founding fathers, for their courage and determination to create a safe, new country where people can live and worship as they please.

I did precious little to deserve or earn my freedoms, but people I have never known sacrificed all so I could have them.  I am profoundly grateful.

I have always loved celebrating our Independance Day, but since moving here to Washington where so many more fireworks are legal than any other place I've ever lived before, the enjoyment has been raised to a whole new level. lol  Ryan discovered his inner pyro shortly after witnessing all the glorious possibilities and we soon became familiar with the Indian Reservations where you can get some totally awesome deals on fireworks.  *insert evil laughter here*

So, with all that great anticipation, we began our preparations for this fantastic and meaningful day.  Starting with Rori's hair.  Yep, even hair can get into the patriotic spirit.  I tried this last year and it ended up kind of lop-sided, so I did it again this year and it turned out much better. lol

I brought two red/white/blue desserts to our family BBQ/party.  I wish I had taken a picture of the one that my cousin brought though!  It turns out that my sister did the same thing at their party in Sacramento though, so you can look at hers and get an idea of how Alisha's was.  Alisha used red velvet cake for her red, so it was a lot darker, but other than that, it looked just like Debi's.  It was pretty impressive!

The BBQ was delicious and it was a lot of fun visiting and playing with everyone.  We invited a family we are friends with to come join us and it was fun to introduce them to my family and have them join in our fun.  After the BBQ, most of us walked up the hill to the park to have a water balloon fight.

It was a fierce battle and I believe that more than one person went home with a bruise or two, but everyone had a fun time and eventually when the balloons ran out, we took the walk back home and started getting ready for fireworks.

Have I mentioned how much Ryan enjoys this portion of the festivities? lol  We always end up with a fantastic show!

And after all the mortars, shells, cakes, and fans had been blown up, we kept the fun going for a little longer.  We hadn't used very many of the sparklers yet, and Sami had an idea she just wanted to try...

Fun! But then we ran out of sparklers and really did have to admit that the fun was over. Time to clean up (Rori was such a good helper!), pack up, head home, and start dreaming about next year's Fourth of July!