My New Hobby

So this is my new hobby. Just by chance I went to an hour long class on balloon twisting, and viola.....

five million balloons! 

I have to admit that my skills are pretty beginner, but it's amazing what a beginner can do!  I can make a helicopter, bunny, fish on a fishing pole, monkey in a tree, teddy bear, three different swords, flowers, and an astronaut that will hopefully evolve to more of a superman/batman.  The kids love it!

Christmas.... a couple months late

You know how they say you can still send out Christmas cards in January.... did it. How abot Christmas pictures is March? Is is too late?


Never.

We had a fabulous Christmas this year. We were able to spend a week before Christmas in Salt Lake and then drove to Denver on Christmas Eve and spent the following week with my mom and dad, David and Andrew. The highlights were by far the fact that Ruston was there the whole time as well as my dad. Everything else was icing on the cake.

And for anyone who knows my dad, you'll know that he's up to his old fork trick. It was a hit with the grand kids. They LOVED IT!

Seattle Ice Storm

Back in January we were able to experience our first ice storm. It all started with a lovely snow, but it's Seattle and by the next day, it was no longer cold enough to snow. So it rained . . . on top of the snow, making an ice storm. We lost power on a Wednesday and got it back late Friday night. So this is what you do when you have no power.

Read next to the window

Camp out by the fire.

And knock ice off your tree before the ice breaks all the limbs or worse, pulls it out of the ground. Every tree in the area lost something, and several were completely uprooted.

In the end we were able to save this tree, but we had to pull it back into place with our truck and then tie it to a couple of poles until the roots grow back.

For the most part the kids had a blast, but there were definitely times when we were all driving each other crazy! It's a good thing our fireplace wasn't electric or we would have been REALLY cold. As it was, in the living room it only got down to 59, thanks to hanging some quilts up in doorways to block in the heat.

I've never seen a sideways snowman. He was upright until the rain made him sag, and then the ice kept him that way. It took almost a week for him to melt because he became almost solid ice.

Heaven

We all have our own image of what heaven will look like.....

this is mine.

Special thanks to an AWESOME friend who showed me how to do it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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!