GO BYU

I know the game was well . . . a while a go . . . and . . . .we lost. But every year we have a little rivalry with our next door neighbors who just happened to graduate from the University of Utah. (What are the odds of that when you live in Seattle?) So this is what I did this year, with Josh as my accomplice.

Don't worry it's just blue duct tape.

We were hoping they wouldn't notice the car, but it they did.

Josh had so much fun. They did retaliate, and since they won, we deserved it, and for some reason we always leave right after we "decorate" their house. So when we were done we headed to the river to go fishing as a family and when we got pack our lawn had been forked with red forks and balloons, and our door was covered with red paper. Sorry, no picture.

Are they really ready for the long haul?

I took the boys for a bike ride a couple of weeks ago . . . . I'm not sure they're ready for the long haul. However, it did mean that they weren't fighting with each other!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken while we were in Denver over the summer, and I just got the CD about a week ago. These pictures are too cute to keep to myself.

Luke above, Zach below

Oregon Coast . . . again

The Oregon Coast is a gorgeous place, and it worked out this summer to go back to the same beach house we stayed at last year, so we jumped at the opportunity. Here are a few pics, and I mean a few, for some reason we didn't take very many. This is just about all of them!

The Best Day Ever

I know my mom would love it if we would leave Seattle and move to Denver, but . . . . I LOVE SEATTLE! Saturday was the most perfect day ever. Better than any birthday, Christmas, or vacation.

In the morning I ran a 10K with one of my very best friends. It was her first 10K and she turned in an AWESOME time. I was really proud of her. I love running with friends.


Following the race, I hit a few garage sales, and then made my way down to the Puyallup River. Where after only 45 min. I had three of the most beautiful fish. Enough to share and spare, so we shared, and two families had an awesome dinner.

As if it could get any better, it did. Ruston got tickets to the Seahawks game, suite level! Wahoo! Bring on the babysitter, bring on the game.

I slept well that night.

A Birthday Bash

What would be the best way to describe Luke and Zach . . . a two headed monster. Or at least that's what we came up with, so for their birthday cake, I made a two headed monster. It wasn't anything I had seen before, so I went online and goggled images of two headed monsters and then came up with this.

Brooke and Josh helped decorate, and viola, we had two, two headed monsters; we only ate the chocolate one.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Pack, the boys are sporting some pretty awesome eye wear.

Shifting gears, Mother's Day is a tricky one for me. It's hard to decide if I want a nice dinner, or something that Ruston and the kids can make. This year I opted for a a nice dinner, and therefore I made it. It was yummy, stuffed pork chops. However, I didn't prep like I should have Saturday and therefore I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen. Yuk. Not the way I wanted to spend a mother's day, or a Sunday. So next year I have officially decided I don't want nice, I want anything that I didn't have to make myself! However, on a brighter note, for mother's day I got new to me furniture (a matching armoire, bookcase and coffee table)!

I finally have furniture in my family room and I don't feel like a college student. I have a real room, I've finally grown up. What's even better, we sold our old "entertainment center" if you can even call it that, for $20. We got it for free 10 years ago, so in the end we made money on it, does that make it an investment? Interesting thought, and I am glad it is gone!

Is Anything Better Than Dove Dark?

Wanna know what's better than dove dark? (I'm really not sure if there is anything better than dove dark), but all joking aside, this is WAY better than dove dark. Any guesses? . . . .


I figured mom would know. I am a firm believer that moms know everything. Okay, here's a hint for the rest of you.

Do you see it?

Can you guess it this time?

I'M NO LONGER BUYING DIAPERS!!! Wow, can you believe that. Zach's got this whole potty thing down, and has been going strong for about 8 weeks now, and Luke took the leap three weeks ago and hasn't looked back. It's blissful, and makes me feel rich. I now have an extra almost $60 a month to blow on something I actually want (however, it is sadly already earmarked . . . college and missions, that's not going to be cheap).

Romance aside, what this really means is that my day is exciting, stressful, and full of pee on the floor instead of a diaper or the toilet; but we're getting there!

Here are the real facts.
Zach goes by himself without even telling me he's gone most of time. However, he gives me one big clue, when he's done he doesn't know how to get his underwear back on, so he runs around naked. I note the change, go check the bathroom to make sure he made it all in the toilet, grab his underwear, help him put it back on and then we do the potty dance! Zach has maybe one accident every other day.
Luke. Luke is still a beginner. He usually has an accident everyday, and still hasn't gotten the whole pooping thing totally figured out, but he's close. He goes occasionally without being prompted, but if I want to play it safe I tell him to go. however, at nights he's doing great and is dry almost half the time. Ya Luke!

Clam digging and therefore . . . Easter at the Beach

One thing that most people don't realize about Seattle is that it is not on the coast. While we are very close to salt water, it's Puget Sound. So if you want to go to the beach, the real beach, with real sand, the closest one is two and a half hours away.

To add another fun fact, this one in reference to me, is that I love seafood, and I love to go and get it myself (shocker, I know).
Last fact, in the state of Washington you can go clam digging year round, but if you want razor clams (the best!), there are only certain days out of the year that they let you dig for them. One such day was last Saturday, the day before Easter.

Now a normal family at this point is planning their big Easter Egg Hunt with either the neighborhood, family or friends; but I was planning a trip to the beach.

So here we are, at the beach and Brooke is holding our very first razor clam!, and Luke in the background ready to go for the next.
Sadly, digging in the ocean and camera's don't really mix, so this is the only picture we have of our clams, and sadly we only ever caught nine of them.
Although this picture doesn't show it, there were hundreds of people on the beach that day, all digging to get clams; and I'm an amateur. Some people out there really know what they're doing and they're walking around with a ton. Someday.

Building the bonfire post clam digging to cook hot dogs on.

Although we were at the beach, stocking hats and coats were nice, if not necessary.

Zach, me and Luke flying our kite. I even let the boys hold the string for a while . . . until of course they let it go and I had to run madly down the beach chasing it.

And then the Easter Egg hunt. We did plan one, but certainly not traditional.

Cosette and Adalyn Williams, Brooke, Josh and Zach, all ready to go.

Not the greatest shot, but the circles on the beach are our eggs. The kids had a blast! Luke and Zach in typical toddler fashion, picked up one egg, ate it, and then picked up another. Brooke and Josh tried to show them the ropes, telling them that it was better to pick up as many as you could, but they would not be swayed. It was really a great day at the beach, and as you can tell from the pics, a for real cloudless day.

Final Pics from 2010

On Christmas day we went crabbing with the bishop. It was a ton of fun and the kids still go "crabbing" whenever they can find a bucket and a rope around the house.

19 crabs in total . . . ymmmmmm.

Luke would have been in the picture above, but he was in the picture below instead.

Luke getting loose with grandma, and undoubtedly my most favorite picture from the holidays.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

A little late, but I just forgot to ever post this. . . oh well.

Although we somehow scathed through the holiday without a single picture on the actual day, the whole week was one for which I am thankful. It started with a light snow Sunday morning that stuck to trees and grass, but left the roads clear. Monday morning it was a little tricky for Ruston to get into work, but he made only slightly late. In the afternoon, he played it safe and took the early train and was home by 4, while the roads were still clear and dry. We have several good friends who tried to make it home to Bonney Lake an hour later and either 1) never made it, 2) were stuck on a bus for 8 hours, without being allowed to leave (even to go to the bathroom, so they did it on the bus behind coats, or 3) walked for two hours up the hill. Tuesday was a snow day, no had to go anywhere, or for that matter could go anywhere. So we stayed home and spent the day playing in the snow and sledding. Although Wednesday wasn't a designated snow day, it was for us. Our fabulous little two-wheel drive truck was going anywhere, so yet again we played in the snow and drank large quantities of hot chocolate. By Thursday afternoon the roads were just a little wet, and the drive up to Bellevue for our turkey feast was clear and free. Friday I did make an early morning run to Target, and later we went to the mall.

In a nutshell, I got my husband home for the whole week, played in the snow with my kids, and in the end still got to go shopping. What a great week!

Super Heros

Apparentlty super man is now a gender neutral super hero. . .

cape and all!

Our Happy Halloween

My spooky cupcakes. I wish I could say I thought of it all by myself, but anyone who knows me knows I am way to type a to have even an ounce of creativity in me. I copied them from a magazine!

Ruston is holding Zach, he was Robin; Josh is the green dragon that has his backside to the camera. Sadly, we aren't the best picture takers and this is the only picture we have of Zach or Josh in their costumes. Luke and Zach were even Batman and Robin and they looked so cute together, but do you think we got a shot of them together . . .NO! Maybe I'll put their costumes bak on just for a picture!

Luke, after about the tenth car, he finally figured out what the deal was and then he was off!

Brooke and Kendall at trunk or treat

Josh thought these tractor bikes were so cool. He spent a lot of time driving his around.

Zach and his tractor out for a spin.

Luke did a great job driving the tractor.

Zach found a pumpkin just his size. Sadly, if your at the pumpkin patch on a field trip, that's the only size pumpkin they give you with your entrance fee. However, last years was only about half that size, if you can have a pumpkin be half that size and still be called a pumpkin.

Brooke and Zach are riding in Bossy, and just a coule of seconds after this picture was taken a tractor started pulling them along in a huge cow train.

Josh and Luke riding in Babe

These were just some fun pj's I found, but they glow in the dark and I think they're every bit as cool as their "real" costumes!