All I want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

I think it's so cute that he lost both his two front teeth, right before Christmas. He lost one on Thurs. and has been working on the second one since then. His sister finally got it out for him this afternoon. She was persistant in helping him twist and wiggle until she finally pulled it out for him.

BJ's 10th Marathon

BJ had a PR on his 10th marathon. 3 hrs and 56 minutes. His friend Cody paced him and BJ said he was like a drill sargent but humorous. Afterwards he decided to go take a dip in the freezing cold water. Crazy. I'm so proud of you BJ!

BJ and Cody mile 20


Finish Line


Cody, Bob and BJ


The Marathon Maniac


Going for a little dip

Facebook Hookup

The day we were leaving to come home from Idaho, BJ saw that our friends, the Larsen's, who live in Lewiston Idaho were leaving for Utah. We realized we'd be passing right by them so I called Syd. We decided we would probably meet up in Boise. Along the way, we realized it would take us longer than them to get to Boise so I called her back and asked if there was another place we could meet so they wouldn't have to wait for us. She said, Mountain Home Idaho, which is where our other friends Tom and Lisa Brown just moved to this past summer. I quickly tracked down Lisa's phone number and called her too. We all met in the Walmart parking lot and visited for a couple hours while the kids played in the grass and at our picnic lunches. It was so much fun and not even planned until the post on facebook. Thank you Facebook!

Victor Idaho

We decided to go visit our rental home in Victor Idaho the weekend before Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to have our friends, the Thorpe's, come and join us. We always have so much fun with them. There wasn't any snow on the ground when we got there and we were a little worried the kids wouldn't have any fun on their sleds. Luckily we woke up Sat. morning and it was snowing. It snowed most of the day Saturday and Sunday so by Monday, it was great sledding. The kids even got me out there with them. I promise to go out with them at least once a year so I can check that off. I do not like the cold but thanks to snow boots, snow pants and a down coat, I didn't get that cold and it was really fun sledding with them and having a big snow ball fight.

Our Cheerleader

Sarah cheered for the Maple Valley Raiders this fall. It was a real commitment for her. She practiced 3 nights a week and towards the end it was 4 nights a week before their competition. She had so much fun!

Review

So, our camera's are on the fritz so we haven't been taking very many pics. I thought I'd catch up on some nice pics that I haven't posted yet for this year. Enjoy.

Here are a few sites that we take everyone to see when they come and visit. We love to have visitors so come and visit if you haven't yet.
Kerry Park, Seattle


Pike Place Market




The Space Needle



Mt. Rainier

Snoqualmie Falls






Poulsbo, Washington
We went to Pouslbo when my mom and dad were here earlier this year. My mom has a friend there that she hasn't seen in about 30 years. That's always fun when you meet someone who last saw you when you were 5. Sue was great and I'm so glad to have met her since I have heard my mom talk about her my whole life. Pouslbo is a really fun little Bavarian town with cute buildings and shops on the West side of the Puget Sound.

Mom, Dad and Sue


Being of Danish decent, this sign with the Lutafisk TV dinner was very funny to me.


Yes, that is a donut. They call them spare tires, they are so big.



The Japanese Tea Gardens, San Fransisco Golden Gate Park

My Hero

So, BJ walks into Eric's room and finds this. Some kids have their favorite sports star's jersey up on their wall. Eric's first season of baseball was last spring. Now he is playing fall ball and I guess so far, he is his own favorite player. It just cracked me up that he would come up with this on his own. He got some thumb tacs and just hung it up on his wall, number facing out and all.

First Day of Freedom, I mean School!

Today was a one of those milestones in my life. My youngest is going into 1st grade. All my kids are going to be in school all day. I never thought this day would come when I was up in the middle of the night with them and taking them to every errand I had to do when they were younger. Today, I went to Institute, without kids. I went to Walmart, with out kids. I went to lunch with a friend, without kids. Of course I had to rush home to see how Justin's first day was. O.K. Laura, next phase. Move on.

Kate's starting 6th grade at the Middle School.

Sarah's starting 4th grade and she is so excited, she got the teacher she wanted, Mr. Hartke.

Eric's starting 1st grade. The last one going to school all day this year. I had mixed emotions. Freedom being the first but loneliness and sadness not far behind. He is such a good kid, he really was a joy to spend the day with. I will miss him while he is at school!

Unfortunately, Justin slipped out so early this morning, I didn't get a picture of him. We said family prayers and he was out the door. He started 8th grade this year at the Jr. High.

55 Cents for Cereal!

A friend of mine here in Maple Valley introduced me to a new way of grocery shopping (thanks Rachel). I have been catching great deals here and there but today I had my biggest shopping trip. After 10 transactions and 3 trips to the car (because I couldn't fit it all in the cart), I got cereal for 55 cents a box! I bought 90 boxes of cereal! It doesn't expire until Nov. 2010 so with four kids and a husband that likes cereal a lot, we will eat it all. I'm not even sure that is a years supply as much as my family likes cereal. It was fun, exhilarating and I got kudos from all the cashiers. It was like getting an A on a test. Can I post my receipts on the refrigerator to show off? My friend describes it as a "high". I never liked grocery shopping before but it has become an adventure and I love it now!

DisneyWorld

We took loads of pictures but I believe this one says it all. If you go to Disney you have to see Mickey. It only took us 45 min to see him. Not bad for a summer day at DisneyWorld. The kids were tired after the whole day at the park but we couldn't leave without seeing Mickey so we waited. Luckily we caught the last train from toontown for the night so we didn't have to walk all the way back up to the front of the park and we caught the tail end of the lights parade too. It was a fun trip but we sure were exhausted every night.


As we all know, Daisy Duck has a flirty side. After standing in line to meet Daisy at Epcot, she got so giddy and tiptoed around Justin as if he was the cutest thing on earth. She was getting fresh with my 13 year old son and I've never seen him get so red. It was the funniest thing and I remembered towards the end to snap a few pics. Unfortunatley I missed her giving him a kiss. You can see that even in the group picture, she wants a hand on him. Too much fun!


Grandpa got the picture!

Sea World

I just itch to hold this little girl, our niece Jaden. She was so cute and so much fun, as was her big brother William. She would come up to me every now and then and put her arms up for me to hold her. You can see in the very next picture that she is a mama's girl and shortly after she asks me to hold her she reaches for her mama. We just loved spending time with them.


Papa, Donna, and the kids riding the Sea Carousel

Shamu "Believe" show




The Dolphin and bird show was amazing too!


Half way through the first day at Sea World Eric wasn't feeling good so we took him and his cousin Jaden who wasn't looking too good either to the first aid station. They were both running fevers. BJ and his sisters family took the kids back to the condo for some rest and things just kept getting worse. The next day Eric still wasn't feeling that great and so goes the passing of the germs. Sarah and Kate started to get sick too. We finally took them all to a clinic to get checked out and they all had the Flu. $200.00 in copays and medecine later, the kids all went back to the condo and took a couple days off from sight seeing. BJ and Justin went golfing while we watched videos and just relaxed and got better. It's no fun to be sick, especially when you're on vacation but they had pretty good spirits about them the whole time.