Does this kid love school or what?

Tonight in Caleb's prayer he said:

"Please bless me to be a good boy in school. Bless me to have fun at school. I'm thankful I can go to school."

The other day when I picked him up from school he said, "I hope I never grow out of first grade because it is SO FUN!!!"

Taking after his mom I guess...

Sweet (and sassy) kid sayings

Can you guess who gave the sassy remarks? Yes, it was Brynley.

Tonight we had this conversation:

Me: "Ok, you guys, in five minutes we need to get ready for bed."
Brynley: "Can we have seven minutes?!"
Me: "Perhaps..."
Brynley (a bit louder): "CAN WE?!"
Me (seeing that she was getting a little mad): "Perhaps..."
Brynley (screaming her head off): "I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! JUST SAY YES!"

Normally, that tone would get her in trouble but I had to run in the other room because I was laughing so hard!

The sweet remarks came from our sweet boy, Caleb. When he was filling out a getting to know you paper for school he said the following answers. We didn't really write some of these but I thought they were too cute.

1. What do you want to be when you grow up? He asked what some ideas where and we told him some typical occupations. Then he said, quietly and hesitantly, "Can I be a missionary?"

2. If you could have one wish what would it be? "To be a family forever."

Oh. my. gosh. Is he not the sweetest boy ever?!?!

Happy 6th Birthday Caleb!!!

I can't believe my little boy is 6 years old! He is getting so old and big. I can barely pick him up anymore! Caleb is such a nice boy. He absolutely adores his baby sister and is so sweet and helpful with her. Here are a few fun facts about my big 6 year old:

• Caleb sleeps in a queen bed downstairs in one of our unfinished rooms. Hey, it was his idea!
• Caleb's best friend is Jackson and they would play together from sun up to sun down if Saundra and I would let them.
• He is a very good reader and is starting to read chapter books.
• He loves math and he says that is his favorite thing to learn in school.
• He learned the first 10 Articles of Faith before he turned 6.
• He got a new bike this summer and thinks it is really cool because it has pegs in the back.
• He loves Spongebob and Scooby Doo.
• He likes to workout with Brandon and I downstairs in our home "gym" and he and I went running together quite a few times this summer.
• He is a very good swimmer.
• He loves to "play light sabers" with his dad.

Caleb, I can't believe how fast you are growing up. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were decked out in luau gear and my cousin Scott's wedding reception waiting for the contractions to get close enough to head to the hospital to have you! We are so proud of the good boy you are growing up to be and we love you so much!

Washington Trip: The Seattle Portion

On Saturday night, after the reunion, we drove about three hours to Brandon's parent's house in Seattle. We stayed there with Jordan (one night) and Jeremy and Angie and their four kids. It was a crazy, full house and it was so much fun! The kids loved playing hide and seek and running around with their cousins. It reminded me of when I used to go to my Grandma and Grandpa's in Reno and play outside with cousins. I'm glad my kids will have those same memories. After church on Sunday we went to the Sound and and let the kids play on the beach for a while.

Best Cousin Friends (these two are only 6 weeks apart in age):



Swamp monsters!




After the beach we went back to Mom and Dad's and had dinner and relaxed.

Monday we went to Snoqualmie Falls. We have been there a few times but this time we did a fun little hike down to the bottom of the falls and got to see the view from there as opposed to just the top. The hike was short and a little bit steep. It was a good challenging level for the kids. Ok, maybe the adults too. :-)

Monday was Caleb's birthday so he got to open some presents. After dinner we went to Chuck E Cheese's to play some games. Then we came home and had cake and ice cream. He kept saying over and over, "I'm not having a good birthday. I'm having a FANTASTIC birthday!!!" Cute kid. He was so happy to spend his birthday with family and doing so many fun things!

We all packed up and drove the 13 hour drive home on Tuesday. The kids were really good in the car and the time went by pretty fast.

We loved going to Seattle, as we always do! It was especially fun this time, though, because we got to be there with Jeremy and Angie! Thanks mom and dad for having us and showing us such a great time! We can't wait to come back!

The Most Amazing Family Reunion Evah!

Let me tell you about Brandon's AMAZING family. Brandon's dad has 11 siblings. All of them have quite a few kids each and many of the kids have quite a few kids each. This makes for a huge family and an insane family reunion. There were 185 people at this reunion. Out of that 185, 95 were adults made up of Brandon's Aunts and Uncles, cousins and their spouses. (If you do the math, that is one heck of a lot of children...) Before this reunion I had only met, in person, about 10 of these family members. Through Shade and blogs I have connected with a few more. I had heard about many more of them. Nonetheless, there were many strangers at this reunion. I had heard a lot about the great parties they throw, so I was really excited for it even though I didn't know anyone.

We left for Boise on Wednesday afternoon. We had an uneventful 5 hour drive to Idaho and then stayed the night there. The next morning we drove the remaining 5 hours to the Tri-Cities in Eastern Washington. We got to our hotel and found out they had upgraded us to a Suite! Pretty sweet! (Oh, I am so lame.) Our hotel was really nice! It was located right on a harbor on the Columbia River. The atmosphere and the views were amazing. I loved it! That afternoon the reunion started with a Temple session but we weren't there in time. That evening there was an adult dinner at one of the Aunt's homes. (All of these people have gorgeous back yards and the ALL have pools. Seriously. Every single one of them did. I'm so jealous.) When I got there people I didn't even know where hugging me, saying "hello" and calling me by name. I instantly felt so welcome. I do not have enough wonderful things to say about Brandon's family. Anyway, at the dinner the food was outstanding and the conversation was so hilarious you could have made a movie out of it. And it was really nice to eat without having to serve up a plate for the kiddos first!

The next morning started out with their traditional 5k fun run. It was really laid back and fun. There were awards for many different categories, running, biking, stroller pushing, etc. I came out of nowhere and surprised myself with a 26 minute 5k!!! I guess that's what running at 350 ft instead of 4500 ft will do to ya!

Friday was filled with the husbands going golfing, lots of swimming, kids crafts (the girls made flowers for their hair and the boys made rockets and shot them up into the air using this cool ... thing. Not really sure what it was but it shot those rockets high!), a roll making class and kayaking on the Columbia River!

Here's Caleb with his rocket:

They were the first ones in the pool!
Kayaking on the River




Father in law, Stan, Brother in law, Jordan, Brother in law, Jeremy and nephew Collin

That night we went to another one of Brandon's cousin's houses for a pizza and root beef float dinner. It was fun to continue visiting with everyone. Caleb liked riding the zip line after he finally got up the courage to try it.

Did I mention that Aubrey was SO incredibly good during the whole trip. She went straight to Grandma even though she has major stranger anxiety and she hasn't seen Grandma since she was a newborn. THAT was a miracle! She loved her Grandma! She napped when and where we wanted her to and was happy when she was awake. Every day she was napping at a different house and she was completely fine with it. We love her so much!!!
After dinner that night we went ice blocking on this huge hill. Caleb loved it! He didn't even complain once about hiking up the huge hill between runs!


The next morning started out with a 20 mile bike ride that Brandon went on at 6am. At 7am I did a boot camp class. Check out the location. That is the Columbia River behind us. Talk about gorgeous.

Check out this back yard. This is one of Brandon's Aunt's homes. This yard (and house for that matter) is amazing. I don't think I would ever do anything besides sit on this deck if this was my house.

A better picture of where we had boot camp in Aunt Phyllis' back yard.

After the exercise was the traditional "Brother's Breakfast". This is where my father in law and his brothers cook a big bacon, egg, pancake and sausage breakfast for everyone. Once again the food was outstanding! (Have a mentioned that everything at this reunion started on time? Talk about amazing planning in order to have everything begin in a timely manner with close to 200 people involved.)

After breakfast we went to check out from the hotel and then came back for the Amazing Race. One of Brandon's cousins planned an "Amazing Race" (like the tv show) around the Tri-Cities. This is a picture to TRY to show how many people where here, but this is only a SMALL fraction of everyone.

Someone had to jump to the bottom of the pool and Brandon was nominated. He didn't have a bathing suit so he went in in his clothes!

A few pictures of the race.



After the Amazing Race, we had a big barbecue and the traditional auction. Every reunion they do a huge auction where people donate items to be auctioned off in a silent and live auction. The proceeds go towards paying for the next reunion. I think it is a brilliant idea!

These four had such a good time together! Caleb, cousin Abby, Brynley, Cousin James.

Here's another shot to give you an idea of the amount of people. There were more people here than show up to many ward activities!!!

I almost cried as we were leaving because I didn't want to leave! The weekend went way to fast and I didn't get to talk to people near as much as I wanted to! I can't wait until 2011 when we get to do it again!

(Stay tuned for another blog post that will document the Seattle portion of out Washington trip)

Who doesn't love a girl in a hat?!