I Give Up!

Josh has been going to preschool for a couple of months now...and since his 2nd week of school, has become obsessed with school buses. Making the 15 minute drive to his school and coming home, he points out to me EVERY bus. And usually when he points to a bus, he says "me". And to top it off, he has a toy bus he has to carry with him on his lap on the way to school. See what I mean...completely obsessed! So with only 4 weeks of school left, I finally gave in and beginning last Monday, allowed the bus to pick him and and bring him home (it's at my doorstep). It was heart wrenching the first day -- but he is SOOOO EXCITED. Loves it....and I'm just discovering what to do with all this free time at home -- for the time being, it's been helping a friend pack up her scrapbooking store, and laundry laundry laundry. Can't wait to see what next week brings!

Happy Birthday, Steve!

So tired of birthdays, but we managed to pulled ourselves up and have one more celebration for Steve on Thursday. We decided to just have a small family party with his favorite and requested EVERY year pineapple upside cake....so with a night off from mutual and ball games, he just wanted to play Rock Band with the family and chillax!

Saturday night we went out to dinner with friends to celebrate AGAIN.... these pics are taken with my phone.



The ice cream dessert!

Starr's 11th B-Day!

It doesn't seem like that long along ago, our little Starr was just a baby...she's grown up so quickly and is blossoming into a beautiful young lady.



This year for her birthday, she decided she wanted us to take she and 6 of her best girlfriends to the drive-in to see the newly released HANNA MONTANA MOVIE! We loaded up our van and our truck with her friends and all of our own family and ventured out on a cool rainy Saturday. Knowing earlier they had Easter festivities planned, we arrived 3 hours early and ate pizza, watched Starr open presents and then went to the main area where the theatre had FREE train rides, a jumping house, games, magician, bunny walking around, and balloons. It's like they did my party for me -- and for free! And because it was cooler than normal -- there was hardly anyone there....it was awesome!

Once the movie started, we filled the back of the truck with blankets and sleeping bags and let the girls have that area while my family took the van. Every time Hanna Montana would start singing, they would get up and start dancing....so cute. What a fun age! Starr said it was her 'best birthday ever'!

The group of girls eating pizza...

Starr really really wanted a Yo Gabba Gabba Cake (go figure....)
She's a happy girl!
Getting ready to open presents....
Yes! Yo Gabba Gabba toys!!!

Now to play.....rides on the train were first on the list....however, they rode over and over and over again! The Easter Bunny rode with the girls most of the time.

The EB posing with 2 of Starr's friends.
I had to FORCE Starr to pose with him -- she tried to avoid him most of the time.
Steve's having way too much fun! What a good sport!
My kids playing this game -- pick a duck and see what prize you win!
Starr and Josh in the jumping house!
The girls settled in the back of the truck getting ready to watch the movie!
The boys set to watch the movie, also.

Three Years Old!

My BIG BOY (so he thinks), Josh, turned 3 yesterday. And NO people....this does not mean it's time for another one. Joshua is absolutely wonderful and makes the perfect LAST child. Besides that, we can hardly keep up with the ones we have have.

So Sunday was the big day, we celebrated Spongebob style, of course! The Urie's came over and joined us for cake and presents after the afternoon conference session.



He has been practicing his 'blowing' all year long for this moment!


We love ya Joshua!

Ephrata Anniversary Trip Highlights

I really need to finish getting this trip blogged....ball game practices have started and my life has become crazy, which is only going to get worse. So hopefully this is it!


Of course, no trip to Ephrata is complete without a trip to DK's restaurant....where we scarfed down huge burgers, onion rings, tarter sauce, etc. It's our favorite place and usually first stop when we're in town. Jeff and Jessica enjoyed it -- along with all of us!



Grandpa and Terri are fed well.

Here we are eating yet again.... On Friday late afternoon, we reserved a room at Time-Out Pizza where family and close friends from out of town had a place to gather and eat dinner before the reception that evening. It was sooo fun and the pizza was wonderful!


THE BIG NIGHT! The reception at the Ivy Chapel was a success. Steve's sister, Terri was the brains behind the operation while the rest of us helped her out. It really was beautiful. Here's the happy couple celebrating 50 years!

Standing in line with Steve's mom was her original maid of honor from her wedding.

Emi's job was clearing tables -- she did a nice job.

Starr's job was sitting at the sign-in table. This is a rare glance at her actually sitting there.
Barbara had her actual wedding dress displayed. It was so beautiful!

My sister-in-law Kreanna and her daughter Aleigha. Something must have been funny -- can't remember what it was!


Joseph --- "See mom, it's only water THIS time."
Steve and Starr standing near the receiving line.
Jon, Terri and Aunt Ronnie



Taking time to enjoy some cake.

The wedding cake. It was really gorgeous.


THE FOLLOWING MORNING....
Steve and Jeff ran in the Canal Caper 10k .... an annual race Ephrata has that Steve used to run in while he was HS. It was so fun for him this year to actually run with his son! Jeff's goal was run it in less one hour...his time was 56 minutes. Steve was about 20 minutes later....


Our good friend, Mike Perry, from our days in Montana, came over (he lives near Spokane) to cheer Steve on and to spend part of the day with us.

One of the last things we did while there was to visit the cemetery and the grave site where our sweet Amanda is buried. The cemetery is much prettier during the summer when the grass is green.


What a great trip. It was so fun to re-connect with family members and friends. Looking back, we're so happy we went and can't think of a thing we would change -- except for perhaps left Arizona earlier in the week so we could have had a longer stay!