Mariners vs. A's

We just got back from the Mariners and Oakland A's baseball game tonight. It was so much fun-a little chilly-but super energetic and fun. My sister, Desi, also came with us as she had never been to a game before. We decided to park far enough away from the stadium so we wouldn't have to pay :) and hoofed it all the way there. Mike was a super trooper and gave Elijah a shoulder ride the entire way. We bought the boys some dinner at the park and found our place right behind home plate on the third level. Our seats were great and we all had a super good time. Ichiro and Griffey Jr. both had good nights. It was also super neat because we saw Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run (which is memorable in and of itself since he's through after this season). Around the 3rd inning a lady came up to us with a huge backpack and said that we won it because we are awesome!!! Seriously I'm not sure exactly how we won it but we did-it was a huge backpack chock full of emergency supplies for 2. It included a tarp, flashlights w/ batteries, rope, a knife, emergency food and water, heat warmers, a radio, toilet paper, masks, matches, etc...It is really cool. I am going to put it in our van!!! All in all it was a super fun night. A big THANK YOU to Aaron and Juliet and Kingston for letting Brandon hang with you while we enjoyed the game:)

Family Home Evening at the Fair

We decided to take the boys to the fair again tonight to look at the animals one last time and see what kind of things were in the showplex etc. We first saw a juggler which truly amazed the boys-his first juggling act involved a machete (need we say more?) We looked at some animals and walked through and saw some of the booths. It just so happened that tonight was the night that Wynona and the Seattle Symphony were playing and although we didn't get to see Wynona...it was fun hearing the Symphony. We stopped by one of the carmel apple stands by Marcoe and Sons (they are a tenant here at BSS) well we saw "Bob" and went and said hi and then he came out and was so excited that we stopped by that he gave us a tour of his candy shop and let us pick out anything we wanted. The boys were in heaven. We even happened across a couple of families from our Puyallup Ward at the fair. The boys had fun and we walked back home just in time for bed. All in all we had lots of fun and offically did the wallup in Puyallup.

Happy Birthday Dallas Isaiah!

Happy Birthday Dallas-WE LOVE YOU!!!

Make a wish Dallas

Dallas being really excited about one of his many presents

Birthday hug from Cody and Elijah

Eating dinner with our camoflauge table setting and decorations...it was an army themed party!

Our snake cake complete with a half eaten mouse:)

Today we celebrated Dallas' 8th birthday. I can't believe my first born son is 8 years old! It does seem like only yesterday he was 2 and we would lay on the couch and watch Sesame Street and Calliou while he got ready for his afternoon nap. I miss those days...now he is a full blown second grader that loves motorcycles, cars, guns, x box, skateboarding, (well pretty much anything that has to do with boy stuff)...I'm so lucky to have Dallas in my life and to get to share so many wonderful things with him. He is constantly teaching me and making me think about things in a different way. I love you Dallas. Happy birthday sweetheart:) *On a side note...the kids in his class loved the cupcakes and he had a real fun party with family out at the Stone Property tonight. We had lasagna for dinner-special request from the birthday boy-opened some awesome gifts from family-and ate a cake that looked like a snake. Michael helped me decorate the cake last night. It was fun being able to be fun and do something creative with my sweetie.

Birthday Cupcakes!

I just finished making Dallas' cupcakes that he's taking to school tomorrow for his birthday. We looked at tons of different cupcakes and this is the one that Dallas wanted more than anything. It's a dog (made out of tootsie roll), digging into the cupcake. I think they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. Hope the kids like 'em.

Fun Saturday at the Fair

Mmm...what's this?

Enjoying some cotton candy

Cody and Eli on the roller coaster

Bino and Daddy on the carousel

Having fun at the fair;)

Cody showing off his cubby...very proud!

Dallas showing us his picture of himself. For gender he put Male while all the other kids put either boy or girl:)

We told the kids that we would take them to the fair today after work so that is exactly what we did. We decided it would be easier to walk from our house to the fair (it's only about a mile walk) and save a few dollars and avoid the headache of parking. We spent the entire afternoon and evening there and didn't call it until we were all out of ride tickets. Juliet and Kingston went with us so that made it extra fun. We were eating dinner and someone came up to us and gave us a bunch of ride tickets so we were fortunate to take the kids on rides whereas they wouldn't have gone on any otherwise. We all got to go on some kind of ride. Brandon and Kingston even got to go on the carousel, which they both loved! The farm animals were a huge asset to the fair for the Brandon. He was smiling so much pointing at the cows and looking at all the animals. All in all they boys had lots of fun and I think we may make it again next year. WE did the wallop in Puyallup. Earlier in the week we had Dallas and Cody's open house at school and we got to see their desks and meet with their teachers. The boys were sure excited to show us all their stuff. Both the boys seem to have really nice teachers so I think this is going to be a good year. Well time to hit the hay:)

Our Labor Day

Our Picnic at Bradley Lake



Some of the fishers we saw in the river today while we were out and about


Me and the birthday girl

The Cake

We had our monthly FHE at the Stone Palace yesterday and also celebrated Desi's 26th birthday. I made her a giant cupcake cake and then lots of little cupcakes around it. I think it turned out pretty cute. We also had super delicious dinner with homemade rolls, cornbread, ribs, mashed potatoes, and corn from the garden. Lisa gave a really good lesson on families and how we should treat our brothers and sisters which was a much needed lesson for our family. Then today, since the office was closed for Labor Day, we took the kids to a park and had a picnic lunch and then we went and toured the new Spirit Halloween store at the mall. Of course Brandon was real polite waving to all the scary monsters while Elijah was saying he wanted to leave the whole time. Now we are at home, watching a movie and all cuddled up the couch staying warm and dry in the rain:) Hope everyone had a good holiday.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Happy birthday to my mom!!! My mom was born in La Grande, Oregon and is the oldest of four kids. My mom was raised in La Grande and lived there most of her life until her and my dad most recently moved to Salem, OR. My mom loves to do just about everything. She loves tennis, crafts, playing the piano, singing, snuggling the grandbabies, cherry limeades, a capella groups, baking, rides in the country, walking along the beach and collecting sea shells with my dad, etc...My mom is always there and willing to help with my many projects. She always has a listening ear and is eager to give help and advice whenever I may call with a question about something...especially recently with all my many canning questions;) I love my mom so much and am grateful for her sweet spirit and the wonderful smile she has for me. The boys love grandma Cooper so much and had a couple nice things to say about her as well. Cody says she likes nice pretty blankets, and Dallas said that she loves us. We all hope you have a great day mom *grandma*!

It's Started

We had our first offical day of school today here in Puyallup. The boys were so very excited to go and we are happy to report that they had wonderful first days. Cody got home at 11:33 and liked his class and teacher, Mrs. Kachman, very much. Dallas' teacher is Mrs. Holland, who coincidentally was a 1st grade teacher last year so Dallas is very familiar with her and already liked her:) Whew...Dallas asked me this morning if he flunked first grade since Mrs. Holland was his teacher. It was funny...Business was business here as usual. Had a good productive day getting more scrapbooking done and putting away all the jars of canning stuff:) Glad that that is over for a while but glad that I finally got to work on it and accomplished something good. I think we will be enjoying the "fruits of my labor" for quite a while;) Well gotta run to Zumba!