Vancouver BC

Updates on Clifton -
He loves to draw.  His favorite thing to draw these days are angry bird and our family.  I love the family pictures he draws, they are so cute.  He is usually holding Stanley in every picture too.

Updates on McKay -
She is struggling with going to classes.  She is old enough to go to the classes at the Y but cries and whines and they end up bringing her back to me.  I hope that if I continue to take her and they continue to work with her we will eventually get there.

Updates on Stanley -
He got a cold this week but with his inhalers and nebulizer we were able to keep him breathing well.  Thank heavens for medicine.  He has still been super wheezy with the medicine but at least its helping.  We have another appointment next week and we will see what to do from here.

He likes to grab the bowl and shove it in his mouth instead of use a spoon :)  I guess I am not fast enough.

Stanley's best friend is by far Clifton.  Clifton can get him to smile and giggle like no one else.  It is so insanely cute.  And I feel like I captured their love for each other so well in this picture.  Love these two boys so much.

Monday we had our friends come over for FHE.  They had just got back from a long work trip and we are so happy they are back.

Bouche time!

Tuesday I had planned a day full of errands.  Nothing fun but one employee made Clifton and McKay's day.  While getting my oil changed the employee asked my kids if they wanted to go in the "pit" below the cars to see how they do it.

They had to wear helmets and googles.  It was so cute and so very nice of him to take five minutes to do that with my kids.  It really made their day.  What a sweet sweet person.

Wednesday was a nice day so we got out and ventured around McCormick Woods trails with my friend Sara and then decided to hit the driving range.

Clifton was so into it and wanted to hit it far, but struggled with using a big golf club.  Maybe I need to get a small set for him.  He did beg to go again.

Thursday we got together with friends and played at the PO bay park.

 McKay struggled at first with not wanting to play with friends, but eventually decided it was more fun to play with them then alone.  Thank goodness, I was so happy to finally see her play with them.

A fun afternoon and a beautiful day!

Friday we traveled up to Canada with our friends, the Gunyan's.  They were so nice to me and let us stop at Golden Corral along the way.

I was so happy to eat all of their yummy rolls!

The next day we woke up early and did a session together in the Vancouver BC temple.

Randi's parents came up to Canada as well and were willing to watch all 7 kiddos.  What saints!  It was so nice to go, it had been too long and to be able to go with friends was a real treat.  The temple is so tiny, probably the tiniest I have ever seen but still very beautiful.

After the temple we got to meet up with another friend of ours, Millie, and play.  She showed us around the town she grew up.

 We played at a park

 They had an old trolley train that the kids could explore and play on.

 We walked the fish market on the docks.  Which was a cool experience.  I have never seen one before.  There were sea lions swimming next to the docks waiting for someone to drop a fish or two.  I wanted to feed them but the sign said "no feeding sea lions" (darn it).  They had some crazy fish and sea animals to buy and eat.  Like sea urchins... I had no idea people ate those.  You crack it open like a coconut and eat the snot like stuff out.  GROSS!  Very fun to walk around.

 Waiting to eat some fish and chips.  The kids decided while they waited they should eat some salt and pepper.  Silly kids!

 Next some yummy ice cream.

"Will you stop taking pictures and let me eat my ice cream!" - Clifton

Sunday we went to the local ward and then went to walk around the temple with the kids.

I love to see the temple!

One of the best things about the trip was just being able to play together.  The kids enjoyed each others company and the adults got to talk and play games as well.  So much fun travel with friends and our families spending time together.  I cannot thank Randi enough for this fun trip and hosting us.  I seriously had a blast!

That night we headed home and traffic was pretty good for us.  A very fun week indeed.

Updates on Clifton -
Has been working so hard to memorize all 13 Articles of Faith.  He passed 8 off on Sunday.  Just 5 more to go :)  He sure is determined and I hope he can do it.  I know he will try his hardest.  In his soccer class he was asking one of the teachers if she knew the Articles of Faith and she said no, but the other teacher is LDS and said I do!  Clifton got bright eyed and asked if she even knew the 13th one.  She did.  He was in awe!  It was so cute.

Updates on McKay -
She is one tough cookie for me to figure out.  She is so dang cute and loving but so whinny and screaming all the time.  I am trying so hard to get her to interact better with other kids but it usually ends in full on melt downs.  I guess all I can do is keep trying.

Updates on Stanley -
He is such a cutie!  I LOVE LOVE this stage.  He is one happy baby, smiling, laughing, trying to talk, and blowing bubbles.  He started rice cereal and seems to be enjoying that.  It hasn't helped much with sleeping longer.

All though they can be so dang hard sometimes man they are my all.

I love them very very much!

That morning after our classes at the Y we meet up with Kathryn and her kiddos.  They were swimming so McKay and Clifton joined in.  It was so nice of Kathryn to be willing to take them with her.  I am not quite ready to take Stanley into the swimming pool, but my kids have been begging to go swimming.  I got to watch them play from the side.

A fun morning!

For FHE the kids asked if they could teach the lesson.  A couple lessons have been about monsters - the Lying Monster and the I Want Monster.  So they got paper out and drew monsters.  We then thought of bad monsters that come out every now and then at our house.  We named the Monsters.  Then they had to think of ways to make the Monsters go away.  Then when it was lesson time they each took turns showing their monster and telling us what he does and how we can get rid of him.  They came up with Hitting Monster, Yelling Monster, Mean Monster, Not Sharing Monster, and Whining Monster.  They helped think of each one and how to get rid of them.  It turned out to be a super good lesson :)

Then we made cookies for our friends.

Yum!

Wednesday we got to go play with our friends at their new house and lovely 5 acres of land.

It was so nice to get together!

Thursday I got to go to Kathryn's RS activity.  She was teaching photography.  I have such a talented friend and learned so much.  Maybe I can capture even better pictures now.

While Kathryn was setting up I got to play with Miss Madi!  She is such a silly girl.

Friday morning Clifton had a orientation at his school.  We got to go walk around the kindergarten classrooms and meet the teachers.

He was attached to my hip.  I sure hope he can get past the shy scared phase fast or else school might be difficult.  This week we also found out that they will not offer half day Kindergarten any more so he will have to do full day.  I have mixed feelings but guess that's what we are going to do.  I am sure it will be fine.

Friday Alex and I went on our first date since Stanley.  I got two babysitters, one for Stanley and one for McKay and Clifton.  It made me feel ok with leaving him if I had one just for him.

We went and played Foot Golf.  It was one thing we had planned for our anniversary date.  So we were happy to finally give it a try.  And it was a ton of fun.  Harder than it looks.

Saturday Alex, our friend Jim, and his son helped us take down a swing set that our friend Makayla was giving away.  And then set it up again at our house.

 Happy day for us!

Even Stanley was excited to have it.  Thank you Makayla for handing it our way and for Jim and Dallin for spending the morning helping us.

The weather is getting nicer and nicer these days and so we are starting a Sunday tradition for the summer of nice evening walks together as a family.

Yes he drooled all over Alex's head and attempted to eat his hair.

I love the sunshine and how much better life is when it is shining.

Cute pictures of Stanley from this week...

Can't get enough of this boy!

Mother's Day 2015

Updates on Clifton -
Every day Clifton gets phone time, where he plays kids games on a phone for a set amount of time.  This week I caught him doing selfies for his phone time.  And I think I captured the best picture ever.

Makes me laugh every time I see it.

On Friday he uses his phone time while I play soccer with friends.  And this is what happens :)  How silly is he!

Updates on McKay -
She plays so well by herself.  She loves playing with her stuffed animals.  She loves hiding them and then making me find them :)

And setting dinner up for them.  She is cute!

Update on Stanley -
He had his four month check up.

Just chillin' waiting for the doctors.  He is my little man.  He is in the 1st percentile for height, weight, and head circumference.  We are thinking it is due to being in the hospital twice and he will catch back up.  The doctor said he was still wheezing and working to breathe more than normal.  But his oxygen count was good.  So she feels that there is something more than bronchiolitis.
He had a visit with the pulmonologist and he agrees with the doctor.  He is doing well but feels that asthma might be the issue.  They do not diagnose asthma until kids are there but they are going to put him on an inhaler once a day for the next month and see if that helps.  He also put him on another inhaler/nebulizer to help get all of the mucus he still has hanging around.

He is such a good boy and even though he hates it he will still smile through it :)
So far the inhaler seems to be helping his wheezing.  We go back in a month to see what the pulmonologist says.  We also set up an appointment with the ENT to have his nose checked to make sure there is nothing with that causing his breathing issues when he gets sick.

He is our tongue boy, just like Clifton was, always sticking it out.

He will stick his tongue out if you do it.  Oh how we love this guy.

He also started laughing.  And thats pretty much what we do all day... get him to laugh.

Love his giggles!
Oh and he also found his toes!

More things to munch on!

Monday we got to meet up with Alex's old mission friend and our friends from college.
We took the ferry over to Seattle and meet them at a restaurant.

 A beautiful day!

Riding the ferry and sticking his tongue out.

 Seriously they are so cute!

 It's always fun to walk in Seattle.

We had a blast!  It was like years hadn't passed since we had seen them last.  We loved seeing them and catching up.  What a great family they are.  We sure love the Huntsman's.

Friday we got together with friends and had a potluck dinner at Manchester Beach.  It was a beautiful day and so so so much fun to get together with our friends.  

The kids played so well together and we enjoyed chatting away while they played.  Seriously a wonderful evening and something we will have to do more often.

Saturday was our stake day of service.  This time it was at a local school weeding and rebarking.

Lots of hard work and the school looked great afterwards.  We all had fun working with friends.

That night we went to our friend Elizabeth's birthday party at Play Kitsap and bounced the night away.

We love our friends.

Sunday was Mother's Day!  Church was wonderful and full of love for all the women/mothers.  It was a wonderful day.  After church we went to Grandma Peterson's house to celebrate Mother's Day with her.  

She is a wonderful lady, we love and appreciate her very much.  I also thought a lot about my mom that day too.  I love her and cannot thank her enough for being a great mom.

Motherhood is a calling.  It is not a hobby.  It is not something to do if you can squeeze in the time.  It is what God gave you time for.  I love being a mom, it has its hard times but it also has its amazing times.  No matter what, it is 100% worth it and I would not choose anything else.  I love my children and feel very blessed to have this time with them.

McKay made me day even better by this sweet spur of the moment song she sang for me.

She sure can be a handful but these sweet moments make up for it!