Some of the Latest Fun...

So it has definitely been tooooo long since I wrote on here. Our family has had several bouts of the flu and it has been so non-fun, and crazy. However, we have had some fun over the last month or so that I thought I would post on here. I am really bad at figuring out how to post these pictures in order, so we are starting from most recent :). Yesterday, for Labor Day, we were able to go boating with our good friend's the Mann's. We thought the weather was going to be pretty bad, but thankfully it was actually pretty nice, and a lot of people weren't out on the Sound with us because they were listening to the weather report unlike us.

The boys weren't a huge fan of boating, but thankfully Kai had his blanket and me, and he calmed down for the most part. Doesn't he look like he is having a blast in his life jacket? I look pretty scary, but what can you expect when you are the picture taker?

Here is Captain Ron (Evan Mann :D), who didn't know I was taking a picture of him, haha. He also made us all a delicious, hearty breakfast that morning, treated us to some fun boating, and then introduced us to Korean BBQ that night, which was really good. Thanks, Evan!

Here is the lovely Heather, somewhat bundled up trying to keep her boys feeling secure. Too bad Orion and Merrick weren't paying attention to me taking their picture so I could have captured their cute faces. They were great sports about the whole boating thing...too bad my boys weren't as good.

Here is their oldest, Connor, who was majorly brave and figured he could sit by himself and still hold on. He did a great job, but on the way home, when I took this picture, it was really windy and their was some water spray on him that he would hold his hood down to shield his face. He is a funny one :)

I love Nathan. He is such a good dad that he held Chase, who was seriously FREAKING OUT most of our boating time, and he did his best to keep him calm, or really, from passing out. I am glad he has more patience then me!

My grandma also came over to visit us from Colorado for a week, and that was a ton of fun. It was nice that she was able to meet Chase and Kai, and get to know Nathan better, and it was really fun for me being able to have another helper who was always happy to play and read the boys a story. We all really enjoyed having her here...thanks Granee!

Then before my grandma came, Kelli and her family came down from Bonners Ferry, ID to visit us for a few days. Here is Chase and Payton, her youngest, sitting in their PJs watching some morning cartoons. Payton really liked hanging out with Chase since he thought he was cool :), but Chase wasn't as big a fan of that. Payton is only two weeks older than Kai, and 18 month olds aren't so fun to play cars with I guess.

While the Bateman's were visiting we also went to the beach in Tacoma and that was a lot of fun. We had never been to Ruston Way (I think that is what it is called), and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand and water.

Our boys liked it a lot too, until we showed Chase the jumping little sand "crabs" and that was the end of Chase's fun. Thankfully Chase is recently getting over his fear of bugs, but at the time the little jumping critters sent him into pure terror. This posting seems to be addressing all of Chase's fears :), unfortunately he has a lot to work through.

We have had a good time with family and friends these past few weeks, and look forward to hopefully some more soon!

Having Fun with Cuppie and Nammy

Last week my parents came to visit from El Dorado Hills, CA and we had a lot of fun with them! I wish we lived closer to them like we used to, but it was nice having them "captive" with us for four days so we could spend all of the time together doing fun things like reading as a family (see above), and...
going to Dairy Queen (DQ) and getting messy with ice cream...

Chase loved his ice cream cone, can you tell?

We also enjoyed visiting Redondo Beach 2 out of the 4 days. Of course the boys loved throwing rocks in the water, and...

playing with big sticks. Thanks "Cuppy" (Grandpa/Dad) and "Nammy" (Grandma/Mom) for making the effort to come up and see us, we already miss you!

"I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It!" :)

So some of you already know that I have been working, and working, on a drawing of President Monson, but I am FINALLY DONE! I got the idea to do this a little while ago because I was thinking that I would like to have a picture of our Prophet in our home for our boys to see, and then found the perfect picture that I wanted to draw. I contacted the photographer who said to do whatever I want with it (thank you so much to him!), and so I think the drawing has finally met my expectations. I had so many fun and inspirational thoughts along the way that inspired so many of the ideas behind it. It probably looks simple to all of you, but there were so many decisions along the way, and sometimes I have a really hard time making decisions, especially when it comes to a project I am working on.

So today I am mailing a matted, hand-signed print, with a letter to President Monson and his wife to have, (I hope they like it :S), and I am offering the same to any of you that are interested (minus the letter, but I will put a special note in it instead, haha). If you are interested in seeing the three different quotes you can choose to have on yours, or would like to have one, I created a separate blog where you can buy it online with cheap shipping. I priced it cheap so anyone and everyone can have one (and I am crossing my fingers that someone else might want one of these, but no pressure, only if you want a picture of the Prophet like I did :) ). Click here to go to the website.

Also, I would love to have any feedback, advice, thoughts, suggestions, etc. as well...thanks! So, please let your family and friends know about this if you think they would be interested. Thanks everyone, and hope you like it!

Recent Happenings

I recently took Kai to the Dr. for a well-baby visit and found out he wasn't so well. He had a double ear infection (no wonder he had been so cranky lately, poor guy), so we got him on Amoxycillin. He loved the stuff, but it didn't do the job. So after a wasted week, he got on some other stuff. His ears like it, but his poor bottom doesn't. The stuff has caused him to break out in a rash all over his body, and it has given him the runs that have done a number in his diaper region. So, since he is often going #3, I didn't want him running around naked to let his skin air out, but thought Chase's undies might offer a little protection and be nicer for his rear. Needless to say he enjoyed the new freedom, looked pretty funny/cute, and then left us with a disgusting mess to clean up, and undies in the trash, (I don't know how some of you deal with cloth diapers--yuck!)
Since fireworks are legal in wet WA, Nathan went and dropped some moolah to purchase some fun. Even though the 4th is still a few days away, every day a little fun is to be had. Chase has already joined in on some of Daddy's pyro enjoyment, and is fond of sparklers.
Nathan's mom came to visit from Santa Barbara for a few days, and so we took her to a trail that Nathan visited before. It was like a rainforest in there, (to think it is only a few miles from our house), and we thought we would take some pics with the nice foliage background.
A somewhat decen family pic minus the stroller :)
Lastly, Mr. Kai loves cookies, and even though he was smiling in most of the other pictures I took after his enjoyment in eating them this time, I decided to post this one since it almost looks like he is a tough guy with stubble growing in.

Attempting to Take Good Pictures--Oh Well

The other day I gravitated toward picking out somewhat matching outfits for the boys. So because they were looking pretty cute, I told them we needed to take pictures before we got to play outside. Anyway, these are how they all turned out. First, Kai would not cooperate and cried the whole time, so I liked this picture because it looks like Chase is giving him a "what is your deal?" look.
Then this picture turned out semi-cute except Kai started bawling as soon as Chase put his arm around him and tried pushing him away.
If I had good editing software I could probably turn this picture into something good.
Then we took this picture a few Sundays back because my grandma said she wanted a family picture of us and we were all looking good, but had no one to take our picture. So needless to say, it didn't turn out :). Oh well, we are excited to get "official" family pictures this next week!

Kai--a funny little guy

Kai is such a funny little guy, and is someone who seems to have so many facets to his personality. I think Chase is so similar to Nathan and myself, that our little Kai, who is so different, is hard to anticipate what he will do next, or what he is thinking in that big head of his. One cute thing he has been doing recently is he will disappear in his room for long periods of time, and just sit on his little bench and take book after book out of his bookshelf (right next to the bench) and "read" books to himself. I came in the other day and found him sitting here reading "Goodnight Moon".
Since our place doesn't have a bathtub, I bought a big bin to bathe the boys in, in our shower. I decided to put bubbles in it, and Kai starts dunking his head into the bubbles to eat them. He of course got a bubble beard, and was making such a funny face that I ran to get the camera. Unfortunately he wouldn't make the face one I had the camera to take a picture, but at least he made a goofy face for this one.
So Kai is still stubborn, and will not walk for us. He is now 14 months old, and has been standing up anywhere and everywhere, but will not take a step once he is standing. Oh well, we know he can, he will take a step every once in awhile, and will walk well when we are holding one hand, he just has to gain the confidence. But what is cute is that when I brought the camera out to take a picture of him he said "cheese" and smiled. He barely says any words except: "Da-dee" (Daddy), Chase, mommy, yes, more, and this, so it is funny that cheese is one of the few words he knows. I love this little guy!

Lake Tapps

So this is a pretty funny picture to start out this post, but it is a funny picture wherever I put it. Chase is quite the ham for pictures, and he posed for me on this tree stump on an outing we did two weekends ago since the weather was really nice. What a goofball :).

Anyway, two weekends ago we decided to go and see what there was to do around us. We wanted to go to where there was water, and in WA that isn't really that hard to do. Lake Tapps is near to us, so we decided to explore, and we are glad that we did. It was such a pretty place, and it made me realize that I should be more grateful for living where we live because Washington really is a beautiful place--so green, so many different trees, so many things to do outdoors, and really pleasant weather (when it is the summer :) ). We had a lot of fun, now the next goal is to find a boat for next time because then we will have a blast!
Of course Kai is gonna go to where the real fun is, and that is wherever he can make the biggest mess of himself. He is always one to experience life to its fullest though, and thankfully Nathan was there to hold him back from jumping right in.
What is nice about boys is that it is pretty inexpensive to provide them entertainment. Give them a few rocks, some water to throw them in, and they are happy for hours.
My picture didn't turn out that great, but this would be my dream home (minus the 6 mo. of rain a year). Surrounded by tons of trees, and right on the water, with a gorgeous home, how fun. I really don't need a big home like this, or in these surroundings, but I still had to take the picture.