Zoo Trip

Makayla turned her own hat sideways, apparently she wanted to be a thug.



I thought these pumpkins were really impressive! These people must have amazing patience or... to much time on their hands.


The new baby elephant was so cute!

A weekend with a good friend.

Jonathan Alexander has been a good friend for a long time. He was the best man in our wedding, lived with us for a little while and will be a lifelong friend. We cherish his friendship and had a great time catching up with him in his current hometown of Seattle.

Here we are at Alci, less than a mile from his house.

Levi loved throwing rocks of course.

Then we walked over to a local park and Levi decided that he wanted to hold Jonathan's hand instead of ours. It was so cute. He took to Jonathan so fast and they were buddies all weekend.

Hopefully this will be one of many times that "Uncle Jonathan" can be an example and friend to our children.

Later that day we had lunch at Red Robin, walked around at Pike's Place, got some delicious caramel apples and just enjoyed spending some time together.

The next day we went to a little cafe for breakfast and then took the kids to a park to wear them out before heading home.









It was a short weekend but we had a lot of fun! Thanks for having us Jonathan!

How shutterfly and this blog saved me a flood of tears!

So, I haven't blogged at all this week and most people probably didn't think anything of it because I sadly don't blog as much as I would like to but... this week it was not by choice! Our computer DIED and I don't mean it ran out of battery or froze momentarily, or anything like that, I mean it DIED, never to come to life again (at least not with that hard drive), and why you ask is this so sad? Because I download all of our pictures on that computer and I do back them up on CD but again not as often as I'd like, I have done all of 2007 and NONE of 2008. In case you haven't caught onto the dates, Makayla was born in January of 2008 and that means NONE of the pictures of her entire life are backed up on CD! Now before you start to tear up with me, remember the title, "how shutterfly and this blog saved me a flood of tears!" I luckily had uploaded all of our photos from January through July on Shutterfly (thank heavens for my laziness when it comes to getting pictures printed at a store instead of online and shipped to me) so that leaves August, September and October with NO PHOTOS and that is where the blog comes in! If I had not put pictures on this blog I would have lost all of the pictures from our Hawaii trip, Pumpkin patch, and many others! THANK YOU LORD FOR THIS BLOG! I have a new found reason to blog more often and as soon as I get our computer back I intend to do so!!!

Photo Shoot

These are just a few of my favorites. Her personality is really starting to shine. She is such a sweetheart, she is a determined little one, she LOVES her brother like no one else, and she has a smile that stops people wherever we go. We love her so much and are blessed to be her parents.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Today we went to Sauvie Island Farms to pick out a few pumpkins. It was a wonderful cool crisp fall day and we had the pleasure of enjoying many of falls best treats. This was our first year going to Sauvie Island and it was everything we were hoping for! We went on a tractor pulled hay ride, picked out pumpkins, watched a puppet show, climbed the hay pyramid, watched some pumpkins being shot out of a sling shot, walked through the petting zoo, and ate caramel apples, and we didn't even do everything! There was also face painting, a child size hay and corn maze, and a large inflatable slide. Makayla is unfortunately getting a cold and so she was not quite herself and didn't enjoy it as much as she could have but Levi was excited and ready to go. As soon as we wheeled our wagon out to where the pumpkins were Levi got out, picked up a cute little pumpkin just his size, and was ready to go. He could have cared less about the rest of the pumpkins. My mom and sister and my niece and nephew went with us and Levi really enjoyed following them around and being a big kid like they are. He is definitely at the age now where he wants to do everything HIMSELF and today was no exception. He climbed the hay pyramid BY HIMSELF, he picked out his pumpkin BY HIMSELF and he didn't want to hold my hand while we walked or sit on my lap or anything. I was very proud of him but it also makes me sad. He is such a big boy now! At least Makayla is still my baby! And though I hate seeing her sick and feel terrible for her I do like the way she cuddles me when she doesn't feel well, she's such a sweet heart! So here are our pictures, beware there are a lot!

Just getting there


Makayla's first trip to the pumpkin patch and the poor thing slept through part of it
Enjoying our hay ride


Conquering the hay pyramid




Watching the puppet show

My sister Kelly and her daughter BrookKelly and Casey





Proud of their pumpkins

Levi's first caramel apple

An Enjoyable Day

Levi and I always have fun together and he is such a good little boy but the other day we had an exceptionally enjoyable day. We started it by going to the library for storytime which Levi just loves. We read at home everyday but there is just something more exciting about getting to go somewhere to read with a bunch of other kids his age. After that we stopped by Daddy's work and had lunch and then came home for a nap. (I know it seems pretty ordinary) So now for the good part. When he woke up from his nap he was in a great mood and Makayla just happened to be asleep and so Levi and I were able to have some good quality one on one time. We played with playdough (see the pictures, I was pretty proud of my molding skills-he was really testing my creative ability), raced cars, and played Rockband (okay I played Rockband and he "played" with his toy guitar, but it was his idea and he thinks he is really playing and he really rocks out!) It was such a good time and the evening went well also. And then to finish it off we fell asleep cuddling on the couch at bedtime. It was a sweet day!

Sunglasses (warning: no UV protection)

A race car, with a missing wheel in his left hand

A rocket ship just after blast off

The inspiration for Rockband

Levi playing Rockband with Daddy when he came home, unfortunatly I didn't get one of me and him.

P.S.- This day was a gift from the Lord who knew that the following day Levi would push all of my buttons and test me in EVERY way he knew how. Thank you Lord for your Grace, you know exactly what we need!