Merry Christmas to Who!

We would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

We had a ward party a few weeks ago and we were supposed to dress up as our favorite Whoville characters. So here is my Whoville family:

I didn't think to take a picture until the party was over. So my hair was starting to fall out and we couldn't separate Deko from his cupcake for even 10 seconds to snap a pic.

 Tripp (6) started first grade this year. He is an amazing student who loves to read and learn. His teacher only has positive things to tell me. He is a great big brother. He loves to play with his brothers and show them how to do things. He played in the Pee Wee soccer league this year and is awesome! He has gotten really good and dribbling the ball down to the goal. I am so happy that he gets to be at home with me for the next 2 weeks of Christmas break.

Deklan (4) is my little preschooler. He fought me every time I had to take him to school and I had to leave him in tears each time I dropped him off. Until recently, he had a change of heart and loves going to school. Deko is my little firecracker. I know which days he hasn't received enough attention because he will start acting very naughty. He is also my most lovable boy. He always tells me that he will be my baby forever.

 Raidon (2) is just as wild as his older brothers. He wants to do everything they are doing. He loves electronics and he loves to dance! His favorite game right now is Duck, duck, goose. He will start playing that game anytime someone is sitting on the floor. Most of the time he calls Baine the goose. He is starting to talk a lot more and it is so fun to see more of his personality come out each day.

 Baine (6 months) just started eating baby food. He is super smiley but can be really loud if you walk away from him. He loves his brothers and gets so excited when they give him their attention. He has started crawling but only backwards. He rolls like a mad man and spins 360's like nobody's business. We are so glad that this bundle of joy is in our home!

 Randy is supposed to be the Grinch if you couldn't guess. He wouldn't let me paint his face though :( Randy started his own business this year and it has been so nice having him home during the day. Randy is the assistant stake athletic director. He has had to ref and help out with the volleyball tournament this year and will soon be very busy with the basketball tournaments that start in January. He is also a teacher in the Elders Quorum and teaches once a month.

 And that leaves me. What can I tell you about myself? I have absolutely hated this year. I have cried almost everyday for the last 9 months. I cannot begin to explain to you how stressful it is to learn that you are being sued when you are 7 months pregnant. I thought I knew what heart burn was but boy was I wrong. My doctor told me that when you are pregnant your body automatically creates more stomach acid. Combine that with not being able to eat and you have a recipe for some killer heart burn. I am so ready to drop kick 2014 out of my life. The only good thing that happened to me this year is being able to bring Smiley Baine into my home. He has been such a blessing to have. Don't get me wrong, he is a pretty naughty baby who loves to keep us up at night but a joy to have nonetheless. Our trial isn't until May which is only if they decide not to push it back again. So most of 2015 will suck too. I have been amazed at the hate directed at my family. But also astounded at the love we have experienced too. I am so thankful for the people around me who love and care for me and my family. You are wonderful! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much a kind word or smile has meant to me this year. It made a difference! I am the assistant secretary in the Relief Society. That means the only thing I do is type up the announcements each week. Super easy! I love this calling and I love being able to attend Relief Society finally. I have been in primary for the past 9 years, so this has been a nice break.

 From my family to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas and the best of luck and happiness for the new year! May the spirit of the Lord dwell within your hearts all year long!

Free Day

We had been feeling bad for our kids lately -keeping them stuck at home every Saturday since we can't afford to do anything. So I found a free outing we could enjoy.

 We went to the Childrens Museum in Tacoma -which is by donation or free if you can't afford to donate. We found out that it is free to park at the Tacoma Dome station and then we would have to ride the Light Link rail for 3 stops -which is also free.

 Our kids loved the new adventure of riding the rail!

  

Raidon loved putting the scarves in this air tube. We stayed there for quite awhile.

 This is Deko on the boat. His favorite place is the water area. Whenever we lost him, we knew we could always find him there. We also discovered that Raidon loves the water area too. His only problem is that he won't wear the smocks to protect his clothes from getting soaked.

We also packed peanut butter sandwiches so we wouldn't have to buy food. It was a fantastic free day!

Hang 10

Yesterday was our 10th Anniversary. How crazy is that! I told Randy that I wanted to re-create one of our wedding photos.

After having Tripp take this picture, I decided that we are really bad at re-creating moments. Randy is doing that dumb "no-shave November" so yes, he looks like a creeper who is going to kill me.

 Haven't changed a bit, have we?

 I bought some crab legs for dinner. My kids love them! The little stinkers probably ate more than we did! We also had sparkling cider and a sea salt caramel cheesecake for dessert.

 Raidon wouldn't try it, no surprise there...

 Deklan said he was going to use that against bad guys 

 I also force Randy to watch the wedding video that we made -every anniversary. I'm sure you made one for your wedding too. The pictures of us as babies and then all of our engagement pictures. Tripp kept shouting out, "That's me!" on all of Randy's little boy pictures. I think Deko actually looks a lot like me when I was little. I told Deko that it was a picture of him in a pink dress. So for the rest of the night he kept asking me why he was wearing a dress.

After all that excitement, Randy let me play in our regional volleyball tournament. It was so fun! It has been awhile since I was on the court. It was a very inexpensive anniversary since we are still stuck in a stupid lawsuit. We always said we would go to Hawaii on our 10th anniversary, that will have to wait. Thank you for a fun night Randy! I look forward to the next 10 years with you!

Family is awesome

My dad, Crystal, and my Grandma came to visit us in October. It was so fun to have them over. My dad had just bought himself a new tool set and needed an excuse to use it. So he built these sweet shelves in my garage.

And this bike rack

And a tool holder. My garage is so organized now! They were actually able to park their car in it. It was pretty neat seeing 3 cars in our garage.

My dad also bought us a city pass. I forgot to take my phone when we went to the Space needle, the Argossy cruise, and the Seattle Aquarium. But I did remember it for the museum of flight! This is my Grandma in front of a mail plane.

 And my Poppy

 Had to pose with Grandpa in front of the Blue Angels

 We also found my Grandma a boyfriend!

 Growing up, to distinguish which grandparents we were talking about, we called her "little Grandma." I guess I never realized how "little" she actually was. She is 4' 9"-legally a midget, but doesn't claim that status. Tripp started calling her mini Grandma. I guess that works too.

My hoodlums

 Did you know that I have two sets of twins? They just happen to be 4 years apart.

 And yes, Baine was crying the whole 30 seconds that I was trying to take a picture. Still haven't mastered the art of taking decent pictures of this crew together.

Winner is...

Frankinweenie!

Thank you to everyone who voted!

Need your votes again :)

We had another pumpkin carving contest at the apartments. Sadly I had no child entries this year. Please vote for your favorite by Thursday, October 30th. The winner receives a $100 rent credit

#1 Frank

 #2 Seahawks

 #3 Headless Horseman

 #4 Beetlejuice

 #5 Frankinweenie

#6 Boo

You can leave a comment on my blog or email me with your votes. Thank you for your help!

Summer Happenings

I find that with 4 small crazy boys, it's hard to find time to do the things that I want to do...like blog. So here are some of the things we have done this summer:

My cousin Camdon went on a mission to Chicago. We were able to attend his farewell. I love this picture of boys because we have a returned missionary, current missionary, and all my future missionaries ;) We just started writing Cam each week, and it is so fun to see how much he has grown spiritually. He is an amazing missionary with a strong testimony.

 While we were in Idaho for the farewell we stayed with my grandparents. Here is Grandpa John and the boys. Hope they didn't mind the extra noise we brought to their home ;)

 It was really hot this summer. So we had a water party with Alyssa in our redneck swimming pools. The kids loved it, so I guess it was a hit.

 We also worked on growing grass instead of weeds in our backyard. It's still a work in progress. We have quite a few bare spots.

 Randy turned 32! We spent the day with family and Willy took us out to Old Country Buffet and then we played a new Redneck Life game for 3 hours.

 We blessed this little bundle of joy. The blessing circle was full of giggles because Randy almost dropped this little guy. Thank heavens cousin Jordan caught him. 

 The day we blessed Baine, we also celebrated Deko's birthday. Our house was full of family and was about 90 degrees inside, but I loved it. It was so fun to have them all over at our house.

 We went to Ocean Shores for the day.

 It was actually a nice break from the intense heat we had been experiencing.

 We went to a wedding reception at a castle! This is the Thornewood Castle in Lakewood. It was huge and beautiful. This is a view of the castle from the secret garden.

 The happy couple. Jordan's family is in our ward. We found out that Stephen King had made some changes to the castle when he filmed some movies there. We also learned that Randy's brother, Brian was in a movie that was filmed there called "Rose Red"

 Just a random pic of all my boys. So hard to take a pic of them. How do you take pics of your children together? Did you notice Baine's face is blurred? 

 We went to Titon's pirate birthday party. Here is Raidon walking the plank:

 After the birthday party we took Titon and Diesol home with us and they crashed on the way there.

 Tripp started first grade. He also started riding the bus this year, which is new to us. Only missed the bus once so far...

 And Deko started preschool at a gymnastics center. His face tells it all. He still cries every time I drop him off. Hopefully he will get used to it soon.

Phew... hopefully I am all caught up now. It's been a fun summer, I'm sad to see it go but am excited for the fall and all the fun holidays coming up.