Dan, Becky and Natalie

PUMPKIN PATCH and Others!

2009-10-17T15:18:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything on here. I don't know if anyone even looks at it anymore......if you do, leave a comment to let me know. Anyone out there? Buler? ;)

We went to Remlinger Farm this year to pick pumpkins. It was a lot of fun and turned out to be a beautiful day! Expensive though, geesh! We got 3 good sized pumpkins. Nothing too big, not too small (actually, you can see the three we got in the picture with Dan and Natalie behind the wheel barrow) and it totaled $30! I would have thought that a u-pick patch would have been less because they don't have to cut, clean and wax them like stores do. But regardless....it was worth it! Lots of fun! Natalie was obsessed with the green pumpkins so we let her get one. Grandma and her friend joined us too! I wanted (and found) a tall skinny pumpkin too because we got a Seasame Street pumpkin carving kit and I figured a tall skinny pumpkin would be perfect for Burt (right? Burt is the tall skinny one and Ernie is the regular one?). After that we went and had lunch and ice cream in their restaurant. I must say though, the main reason, OK, well.......the ONLY reason I picked Remlinger Farm is to get their Bubble Gum ice cream. I am not a huge Bubble Gum ice cream fan. i like it, but their are many other flavors I like more. Plus, when I was little, I liked the kind with the gum chunks in it (thinking back....yuck! I would pick out all the gum chunks and put them on a napkin while continuing to eat the ice cream. Once the ice cream was gone and I had a pile of bubble gum chunks, frozen bubble gum chunks, with the color bleeding all over the place because they are wet from the ice cream, and then put all of those in my mouth and make this giant gum wad. Yuck!) but now that I am an old lady, I don't like that kind because they freeze and are hard to chew. But my FAVORITE Bubble Gum ice cream is the blue bubble gum ice cream with no bubble gum chunks. YUMMM! The "Sugar and Spice" candy store in Long Beach, WA used to sell that kind of Bubble Gum ice cream too and I couldn't get enough. Oh man, I am craving it all over again just thinking about it. Anyway....every time I have gone to Remlinger's they have sold that Bubble Gum ice cream. Of course, wouldn't you know it, they don't have that flavor anymore. I could have and still could cry. I need to find me some of that ice cream. If I have anyone that actually looks at this blog who knows where I can find that smooth blue bubble gum ice cream....please please PLEASE fill me in on where it's at!

So....great day! Lots of fun! And great pictures! (I am including a few other pics too, from different days, so make sure to go to the end) :) I LOVE fall and can't wait for Christmas season!! We will probably be in our new house by Christmas and yes....I have already been figuring out where the tree will be going. Exciting times for the Gallegos'!

Haha....yeah right. There was no way she could pick that one up, but she sure gave it all might!

Can you find Natalie?

Dan, Natalie and Grandma in the pumpkin patch.

Family picture in the patch. The sun was in Natalie's eyes and she needed someone/something to block it. The picture turned out great though!

Natalie loved the green pumpkins and we let her get one. This is the green one she picked out and got and she insisted on helping Daddy carry it to the wheel barrow.

Awww......my two greatest loves! Isn't that a great picture? I already ordered an 8x10 of it today. Too great not to blow up and display!

On our way home and on a complete sugar high after a long fun day at the pumpkin patch!

Every morning when N wakes up, she curls up in her chair with a milk cup, blanket and lamby and watches a "Novie". She looks so old to me in this picture. Isn't she beautiful???

Natalie's best buddy Jayda got a pink caddy power wheel and she took Natalie for a ride. Bram even rigged it so it goes a lot faster! Jayda was so nice to even let Natalie drive it too. Scared me though because she is not too good (lack of experience) at steering. She definetly didn't get to drive on the fast seeting that Bram made. She did OK though. She did come an inch away from hitting Bram's truck. Luckily my body blocked it. Oops. Other than that, she did pretty good, but I preferred it when Jayda drove because she has more experience....and if she hits Bram's truck, it wasn't my kid that did it! ;)

Aren't they so cute together? And they get along soooo well. I have yet to have ever broken up an argument with them, so far. I have never even heard them argue. They just play play play. And they both LOVE babies too.

4th of July Fun!

2009-07-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

What a fun 4th we had! First we went to the Carnation parade. We met up with Dan's Mom, Dan's Aunts, Uncle, 3 of his cousins and a 2nd cousin. Natalie had so much fun for the kiddie parade. They throw candy at all the kids and she caught on real fast that if you wave, they'll throw candy right at you. At first she was just trying to eat it but I had to show her to put it down so she can get more and then eat it at the end. So she'd wave, they'd throw candy, she'd run all over picking it all up (sometimes I had to help because both hands were so full....they were not stingy), put it in her wagon and then wave to the next group. It was cute. Then we met up with Dan's family for the rest of the parade. After that, we went home to put her down for a nap and then off to Barb and Jay's we went. hey had about 60 people there! Natalie was a doll and had so much fun riding the cars in the driveway, riding the powerwheel for the first time (she had no concept of steering), playing on the swingset out back and watching the fireworks. She held a sparkler too and after the initial fear of it...she ended up loving them and I think did 5. We got home at 10 and she was out...but still woke up at 7 the next morning. Such a morning person. Oh well, at least she wakes up happy.

I love these pictures. He loves that little girl so much.

Natalie was SOOO excited for the parade. She doesn't know what a parade is, all she knew was Daddy promised her a balloon. Of course they didn't have the cheap regular balloons that she would have been happy as a clam with. We had to get the $8 plastic kind. Out of allll the choices they had, she wanted Spongebob. The exact same one she got last year, but he broke. She has slept with him every night so far, so I guess it was a good choice.

Dan made a cushioned back for the wagon. Spoiled girl!

My sister Beth and her hubby Wes at Barb and Jay's

Boys and their toys. Here's everyone playing with Dan's potato gun. It was a big hit.

Here is Natalie on the Power Wheel. So much fun. Like I said though, no concept of steering. At one point, she was going straight for the hedge and I was yelling at her "Turn! Turn!" and she turned (while driving) to look at me and say "What?" right as she ran into the hedge.

Jena loaded up the kids and took them on a quick tractor ride

I can't believe how old my baby neice is....

The big toy that kept the kids busy for hours

Firework time! They were shooting roman candles at the fence.

Natalie set her baby in the chair and then sat in the one next to it and was "hanging out"

Natalie taking her cousin Shayna for a ride.

Yummy hamburgers!

This little boy jumped in the car and she handed him her baby and said "here, you can hold her!"

How cute is that hair?!

A baby is always with her

Shayna riding the car

Shayna and Abby riding in the car

Natalie holding a sparkler

Shayna's turn!

Fun at the Beach!

2009-07-03T14:52:00.001-07:00

Today we went to Newcastle Beach! What a great beach! Shaya and the kids came shortly after we got there. Natalie, my little fearless child, would walk to the water edge to get some water, which is fine...but I blink and she's walking out to the rope. No fear. Once Shaya got there she got to use the doughnut and she loves that thing. She kicks around all over the place. We had a great time but she was tired. She could barely stay awake to eat and didn't even want to watch the rest of her show. After she was done eating I asked her if she wanted to watch the rest of Einsteins or go to sleep. "Go to sleep" as she's walking to her room was her answer, to which I replied "You are SO your father's child". Dan is napping right now too at this moment. Those Gallegos' sure love to sleep. ;) I can't pick out my favorites. I love them all, so....there's lots of pics.

I taught her how to fill the bucket with wet sand to make a castle so if you notice at her feet...she did that all by herself!

Here's my fearless wonder going out there by herself

Shivering and freezing but having the time of her life!

Kiki and Sydney making castles too!

She had to come show me she got splashed

Little Miss Sydney

I love those buns!

Look at all those toys! Natalie and Noah having fun in the sand.

She loves this doughnut! She can kick around forever!

Fun with my Baby!

2009-06-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

There is a new Little Einstein on "On Demand" today. This is my daughter completely enthralled with the new, never seen before, episode. She didn't even know I took a picture. She normally never gets like this when watching TV (or she would rarely get to). She usually plays and looks up every once in a while....unless it's a new episode. Too cute.

So, I was making dinner tonight and Natalie wanted to help (they're out of order, she helped me cook first and then moved on to this) and after that, she wanted to give her baby a bath. 1 hour later, my kitchen was SOAKED but she had so much fun and it kept her entertained the whole time. She has one squeeky clean baby too!

She made sure to scrub every nook and cranny!

This is when she was helping me cook. I made (the MOST awesome, I must add) Chicken Noodle soup from scratch for dinner. YUMMMM!!!!! (let me know if you want the recipe) I taught her how to peel carrots and she did a really good job!

Then she started playing with the water....

This is her new apron. How cute is that?! Remlinger Farm in Carnation has tons of these aprons and they're so cute! They have adult sized too and I wanted one, since I don't have an apron, but they were like $30 for adults and I decided to pass on that one.

I love this picture.....

One of her favorite toys. Her Sponge Bob guitar. She plays with it constantly and will tell us what song to sing and she plays the guitar along as we sing the song she tells us to.

We love going for walks after dinner. Tonight she fell down twice. Poor baby. I am sure it is because of the boots she wanted to wear. The first time she bit it hard on her face and cut her upper gums and then next time she bit it on the curb and cut her knee, but other than that, we still had a good time.

Marching along.....

My 2 favorite people. Isn't that a sweet picture?!

Awwww.....makes my heart melt, every time!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this family shot! I wish Dan was "smiling with teeth" like I always beg him to and wish Natalie didn't have blood on her lip. Oh well, still an adorable of my wonderful family!!

Deep thought.

My baby and me!

I don't know how this one got out of order. Natalie's favorite thing to do on our walks, is to yell "I'm gonna pinch your buns!!!" and then runs after you trying to pinch your tush. That's what she's doing to Dan here. I sure do love my family!!

Ilalia!

2009-06-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

Ilalia is in town and we got to meet up! I am so excited I got to see her and meet the new little man in her life, Tyson! The last time I saw her was at her wedding about 4 years ago. I had such a great time catching up with her and meeting Tyson. Bless her heart, she even let Natalie hold Tyson too (and of course, right now her thing is to either make her lion face or refuse to look at the camera when you take a picture, butthead). I don't know what first time mom would volunteer to let a 3 year old hold her 2 months old baby. Thank you Il! That made Natalie's day. She was talking about baby Tyson all the way home. We just left about 1 hour ago, if that, and I already have the pics uploaded, posted on Facebook and posted on the blog, but I figured out if I do it right away, I actually get posts done instead of going months with nothing so maybe that will be my trick! Anyway, enjoy the pics of this sweet little guy! I just realized I didn't get one picture of Ilalia, but she'll be back in July so I will get more then. I also went to kiss Natalie the other night when I went to bed and found her asleep with her baby in the baby carseat. Too cute not to take a picture of. It is probably sleeping picture #502. ;)

I got him to smile...lots! He's just learning to smile and I love that I got him to do it!

I LOVE this picture.....just wish she was smiling normally and not doing the dang lion face, but one day when she grows up, I'm sure I'm going to miss the lion face...

I love this little chubby bub!

Natalie got jealous and crawled on my lap....Tyson didn't want to share.

Mommy's Makeup

2009-06-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

What little girl doesn't get into her mom's makeup at least once? I went to check on Natalie, thinking she was in her room and she wasn't there. Uh oh.....god only knows what she is doing upstairs. I went upstairs and found her in my bathroom, putting on my lipstick. I tried to scold her for going upstairs by herself, which she knows is not allowed, but I couldn't keep a straight face. It was too cute! Typical little girl! Whenever she is in the room when I am putting on makeup, she wants some too, every step of the way. She did a good job too, I must add. She did get the lipstick all over her face, around her lips, but she didn't get lipstick anywhere else, closed the lid (she didn't twist it back down first and that could have been a disaster with my favorite, discontinued color, lipstick that I savor every last bit of it because once it's gone, it's gone forever, but because there is only a little left, it didn't smoosh it in the cap) and put it back in my makeup box. Luckily I got some pictures. Hopefully, with not getting in much trouble, taking pictures and me not keeping a straight face, won't make her think that it's fun and will try that again by herself. Might have to start using the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs again. She is such a girly girl now. She loves jewelry, makeup and dresses (she wants to wear dresses all the time. She is wearing a dress today (hairs not done yet) if you can't tell from the pictures). It starts so young. She is also fasinated with babies right now....big time! Yesterday she waddled, literally waddled, up to Shaya, holding her back, sticking out her belly and talking like she was exhausted and out of breath and told Shaya "Baby sister is coming soon!" (and no, I'm not pregnant). She is so cute and soooo much fun! I love this kid more than words could describe!

Painting Fun!

2009-04-26T12:57:00.001-07:00

Natalie and I were bored yesterday so we went for a walk to my favorite store....TARGET! We had fun looking around and when we went to the art section I told N should could pick something out. She picked out a horse ("My Little Pony" as she referred to it) piggie bank that is white ceramic and paints to paint it. This morning, after our doughnut slurge, Dan and Natalie sat at the table and painted her horse. Dan supervised, while I took pictures, but Dan didn't do anything, she pianted this horse all by herself. My biased opinion....she did dang good!

See what I mean (I mentioned in an earlier post...she is just like my mom. The minute you go to take a picture, she looks somewhere else...GRR!) about looking at the camera. She doesn't do it!

2009-04-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

I love this family shot!

This would have been such a cute picture, if I had noticed it was on zoom and zoomed it out. Oh well. It's still cute.

Making coffee in the mixer with Daddy

Then they made chocolate mik for Natalie

My buddy!

Easter Egg Dying

2009-04-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

Dan wen to a bachelor party tonight so it was just Natalie and I. My cousin Amanda and niece Makaela came over to die Easter eggs with us! My mom even stopped by too for a little while. We had a blast and made some really cool looking eggs! I haven't died eggs in forever. I forgot how fun it was and turns out Natalie is quite the little artist. Most kids with paint just a smiddgen and get bored and stop or want another egg but she spent a long time on one egg and all different colors. She did great. Actually one of her eggs that she did 100% on her own is my favorite.

Such a happy little girl. Mak was tickling her toes

Like the forced smile?

So intent

They were so nice to help Natalie out

My 2 favorite DORKS!

I just noticed Natalie is picking her nose. Add her to the dork list too!

Mom stopped by to say hi

Natalie wanted to go for a walk so we walked mom home. Natalie put her coat on inside out, sandals on, on the wrong feet and 2 sized too big with socks and her nightgown on.

Natalie loves this kid SOOOO much!

Isn't this a cute picture?! You can see the pure look of joy in Natalie's smile. She had such a fun night!

Cooking with Mom

2009-04-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

Natalie loves cooking with Mom. Here are some cute picture of her when she helped me make chocolate chip cookies and she got to lick the beaters. Fun times!

Random Pics

2009-04-08T22:23:00.001-07:00

I still have older pics I need to post, but until then...here are a few recent pics.

I just took this picture. She doesn't wake up if I scoop her out of bed to cuddle with her. I love that about her! I have always scooped her up when she's sleeping to hold her. Ever since she was born. I snuck downstairs while Dan's sleeping to watch Idol and grabbed her on my way to cuddle while I watched it. The camera was right by me and I just had to take a picture of my sleeping beauty.

Just for giggles I twisted her hair up and she lit up. She was excited to have her hair twisted up like Shaya's. She looks so old to me in this picture!

She climbed into her play food basket and was hanging out watching a movie. Out of all of her toys, her favorites, besides babies of course, are boxes or baskets. She LOVES them. She hides under them, sits in them, etc. She can entertain herself for hours with a box or basket.

She was cooking with Mom. She LOVES cooking with Mom in the kitchen. I didn't realize there was a smudge on the lense. Oh well.

HAHA! This picture kills me every time! She looks CRAZY! Like a hyped up Albert Einstein!

She loves to dress herself now. Luckily...so far...we haven't had any battles with what to wear yet. So far it's all for fun but she still let's me pick out her clothes. Thank god too, because I would never let her leave the house like this! She picked this out and dresses herself 100% by herself. I thought she was playing in her room, and well, I guess you could say she was playing in her room...playing dress up! Notice the ninja toes? (socks with flip flops)

For Marie....:)

2009-03-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Marie has commented a few times on my lack of new posts. I have soooo many pictures I need to post and will be the first to admit, I have been slacking. I will get working on sorting and uploading all of my pictures (when I upload pics, I upload them to the computer, upload and sort to snapfish, organize them in folders on the computer, upload some to Facebook and then update and post blogs....so it is a big process and time consuming but I NEED to do it before it gets way too overwhelming). So, in the meantime....here is a post for Marie. I got these earings yesterday and my little girly girl, who has to pick out and wear mom's perfume everyday and loves moms lotion and makeup, wanted to wear them. She just so happens to have her ears pierced, so she could try them on. Too cute huh?

She is becoming like my mom. The most unphotogenic person ever. My mom will look you in the eyes and smile all day every day but the second a camera is held up to her, her eyes are looking at the ceiling, the floor, lala land, who knows (I will have to find a picture of her to upload to show you what I am talking about). We always yell, "mom, look right here" and that is her que to let those puppies wander. I don't get it. It is rare to ever get a picture of mom looking at the camera and smiling. She is always making goofy faces (not intentionally) and looking somewhere not even close to the camera. Her and her siblings got professional pics done and there was only one picture of my mom that looked good (the photographer was getting annoyed too) and they ended up having to photoshop her head off that picture onto the one they liked with everyone else. She doesn't do it on purpse and it only happens when there is a camera nearby. Anyway, Natalie was doing the same thing. The minute I held the camera up, she would start looking somewhere else or making such a cheesy squinty face, that you coulnd't even see her eyes. I hope she doesn't have my mom's unphotogenic-ness (if that's even a word).

My gosh....now that I am really looking at all my pics....there are soooo many good ones and good events that I am mad at myself that I haven't uploaded yet. Stay tuned...now I'm on a mission.

My Babies....

2008-12-29T21:04:00.003-08:00

Dan and Natalie were cuddling on the couch the other day and I happened to snap it on my camera. I generally don't have my camera by me or can't get it in time. I just love these pictures of my babies.....

Story Time

2008-12-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

How sweet is this? Every night we read a book before bed. Dan took a picture of us reading the other night and I love these pictures. My sweet baby....

Ornament Exchange

2008-12-29T20:48:00.000-08:00

Every year from when I was a baby on, we went to Lake Wanicut in Orville, WA. Over the years, we met a group of people and decided years ago to get together during the winter too so we weren't just seeing each other only once a year. We started having an ornament exchange party at Pam's house. The whole group consists of probably 20+ people with about 5 different families and these are all people we met at Wanicut. We have done this every year for as long as I can remember and I have a lot of ornaments on my tree from the party over the years. Sadly, we skipped it last year as one of the group members, Pat, died of cancer. We definetly missed him this year, that's for sure. We always have such a great time. Dan didn't go. He didn't feel well but Natalie, my mom and I all went together. Natalie was a great little girl, even though it was past her bedtime.

Natalie and her cousin Shayna playing with the doll house set

My mom, sister Beth and brother in law Wes

My dad and his girlfriend

Who could it be??

It's Natalie!

Sisters.....minus one

2008-12-29T20:47:00.003-08:00

Here is a cute sisters shot that I stole from my sister's facebook page. This was taken in Leavenworth. It would be perfect if Lynne was in it too, then it would be a complete sister shot.

Christmas Day

2008-12-29T17:23:00.000-08:00

What a fun Christmas! I was sick too and not feeling hot at all, but I still had the best day with my family. We woke up Christmas morning, at 6, thanks to Natalie. I went in her room while Dan went in the family room to turn on the lights. All of a sudden we hear Dan go "Oh my gosh! Ah! Looks like Santa came!" You should have seen Natalie's face light up. I thought she was going to pee her pants. She went racing out to see. She was so excited about what Santa brought her (a new Disney Princess travel cot, because she has TOTALLY outgrown her porta crib, an infant carseat and new baby) that is was hard to get her to open presents. After each present she opened, she wanted to take it to the toy room (that's what she calls her bedroom) to play with it. After we forced the poor child to open all her presents ;) she took her toys into her room and we put on her new Curious George movie. Dan and I got to open all of our presents and when I went to peek on her I found her sitting on her bed, with good ol stinky duck in her mouth, watching her movie, with all of her new toys just sitting on the floor. After that we went to my moms to exchange presents and then we "tried" to go to Dan's mom's house. She lives in Gold Bar. It was snowing at our house in Bellevue, but not much at all and was way too wet to stick.....well the further we drove the worse the snow got. By Kirkland we saw snow plows, by Woodinville the 6 lane highway was down to 1 lane each way because it was so covered in snow and by Monroe, well, it was bad. We stopped at a gas station to take Natalie to the bathroom and made the decision to go home since it was only going to keep getting worse. After Natalie took her nap, off to my sister's we went for a big family Christmas. We had a big dinner, then had all of the kids open their gift exchange presents and then had our annual White Elephant gift exchange. We have so much fun with the white elephant and find some of the funniest gifts. My mom got a red and orange stained glass rooster lamp. Can you imagine the commetns Dan was making?! "Gail, what a nice cock you have!" "Gail has a multicolored cock!" "Should I steal your mom's cock?" It was hilarious! I got 4 boxes of spice cake mix, which happens to be my favorite cupcakes....SCORE! and Dan got....a white elephant. No really, a white elephant. My brother in law got the elephant in a white elephant gift exchange the night before and painted it white and regifted it. We didn't get home until 9:30 and Natalie crashed before we even left my sister's driveway. But what a great day filled with traditions, joy, love and family. I was just talking to my sister today about how fortunate we are that our family lives so close together. We really are the luckiest people.

I accidentally deleted this one from below and don't know how to put it back in the right place, that is why it is out of order. Here is a picture of everyone busting a gut at my mom's cock.

Isn't that cot cool? It hasa built in sleeping bag

Her new Polly Pockets

Carrying around her new baby and Captain Feathersword from the Wiggles

Her new Sponge Bob guitar

These bring back memories. I used to play with my "heel highs" as I used to call them, all the time

Can you guess who got her her very first fishing pole? Her Daddy!

Here is what I was talking about.....all her new toys just sitting on the floor and she is on her bed chewing on her duck

On our way to Grandma's. See the red and green ribbon I put in her hair?

Dan wrapped her like a burrito in Dan's new blanket

My mom was pushing Natalie around in my Grandpa's walker

One of my best buddies.

Riding the horsey

The cousins...well a fraction of them. Me, Amanda, Brice and Mak

My mom and Natalie playing

I love this guy so much

Aidan wanted to give Natalie a ride on his bike. Isn't that cute?

Isn't that a handsome guy?! I can't believe that's my little nephew Brice! He was pushing Natalie around in the walker.

Natalie with her cousins Jena, Mak and Amanda

Here's another one that I can't believe how big she is! My neice Jena. So beautiful!

Mak (my baby girl) playing with Natalie. Mak loves that little girl so much and Natalie idolizes Mak!

Jena, Aidan, Cam and Brice in the war zone.

Mak helping Natalie open presents. Natalie didn't want to sit with me.

Wearing Aidan's camo hat.

Brian got this Manure Movers t shirt in the white elephant exchange

Mak and I tickle tortured Brice

Since we had a white Christmas, Barb suggested the kids sled down their hill. Natalie didn't go because we didn't bring snow clothes. Here are the kids playing outside. Abby, Brice, Jena, Mak, Amanda, and Aidan

I LOVE this picture! It's my baby and my Grandma Violet "Vi"

Christmas Eve

2008-12-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

Dan and I both had to work on Christmas Eve. Fun huh?....NOT. It has always been a very slow, unnessasary work day but this year, because of the rate drop, it was pretty busy! After the work day we went to Dan's Dad's house. We had a good time. Made a roast and opened presents. Dan's Dad made Natalie a rocking horse. It is the COOLEST thing. He made it all 100% by hand. It is very tall too which is nice so she won't outgrow it anytime soon. Her foot don't even touch the ground when she is on it. He spent 40 hours making it and we had him write his name and date on it. It is so awesome because it is handmade and it will last forever. She can pass it down to her kids, her kids' kids, etc....I forgot to bring my camera there and we left it there because we didn't want to put it in the bed of the truck when it was raining so when we get it I will post pics.

On our way home that night Dan told Natalie since she was such a good girl, she could open 2 presents. I never opened presents on Christmas Eve, we always opened them all on Christmas day. When Dan and I first got together he would give me my presents early and then I would have to give him his early because he needed something to open and then by the time Christmas came, we had nothing left to open. He said he always got to open his presents on Christmas Eve. I thought he was just saying that so he could open his presents but I asked his mom if that was true, thinking of course Ha, gotcha, and she said yup, it's true. Oops. So, it is an adjustment to him to not open any early. I guess I can live if everyone gets a few presents early, right? Well, we each opened 2 presents on Christmas Eve.

The pics are out of order. This one and the one below it should be at the bottom. Oh well. Her is Natalie playing with the coffee maker she got.

Dan makes coffee every morning and always talks about "Daddy's coffee" she even know where the coffee is at the grocery store. We thought it would be perfect to get a little coffee maker. She loves it. It makes a sound like coffee brewing and has the pot with the lid that opens and even the back compartment for the water. She likes to make us coffee.

Opening presents. She figured out how to do that really well!

Here is the new vest I got. I LOVE it!

I don't know why I am making that face, but isn't that a cute vest?!

Dan's new blanket which I hog. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO soft and big.

And last but not least.....here is Natalie when she opened her coffee maker.

More Snow Pictures....

2008-12-21T15:44:00.001-08:00

We went for a walk again in the snow. This is probably our 100th walk this past week. We are having so much fun with this snow!! When we walked to the top of the street we decided to make a snowman. We named him Scotty. Turned out pretty cute, wouldn't you say? Then at the last minute, Dan added ears and he became a snow bear. He actually looked like a teddy bear once the ears were added. I hope some punk kids don't walk by and kick him down since he was built on a busy street (Newport Way). After that I showed Natalie how to make a snow angel. She wasn't a huge fac because it was snowing at the time and snow was falling in her face, but it came out pretty cute. And of course....I had to add a sleeping picture. Those are always my favorite pics. So peaceful.

Saying "Cheese!"

Dan, Scotty and Natalie

This is Natalie's Angel

Can you believe this?!

2008-12-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Dan's mom lives in Gold Bar (outside of Monroe). Since she spent the night at our house last night, Dan took her home this morning. For one, we know it was windy there since there is no snow on the trees or roofs, but check out how much snow they have! It is crazy!

Reindeer Cookies

2008-12-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

I found this idea in one of my magazines. How cute are they? And very easy to make! Dan's mom spent the night because she lives alone in Gold Bar and with the storm coming, she didn't want to get stuck there, so she got to join in on the fun too! All you need is nutter butters, red hots, chocolate chips, pretzels and white frosting. That's it. Natalie had fun eating the chocolate chips! She ate so many that she is saying her tummy hurts now. Will she learn her lesson? Nah.....She ate a red hot too and thought she liked it, until the heat kicked in. Here are pictures from our cookie making fun! Plus a cute picture of Natalie hugging Sharon's dog Bucks. Merry Christmas everyone!!

We got allllmost done. She put the eyes on, then the nose and I gave her the pretzel for the ears and......she ate him!

Isn't that the coolest frosting?! In a spray can with 4 different tips. Love it!

She decided to wear a dress today.

So precise

She did that all by herself. We just put the frosting on and she placed everything.

All finished....so cute!

Check it Out....

2008-12-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

OK, last post for the night......(catching up)......when I was hanging ornaments on the tree, I found the 2 ornaments I have that I made in kindergarten. I was 3 and 4 in these pics. Everyone always says Natalie is a carbon of me, but I just don't see it. Every once in a while I will see a little in the nose, definetly the chin and maybe the eyes, but not as much as everyone says....until I saw these pics. I totally see it now! What do you think? (click on the picture and it should open it big)

My "Baby"

2008-12-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Lately, Natalie likes anything baby. Shaya watches a little baby now named Taylor. She always talks about Taylor and she has always loved babies, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Maybe not. Who knows. Natalie will come up to us with her toy bottle and a blanket and ask us to "rock Natalie". She wants us to rock her wrapped in a blanket and "feed her" the toy bottle. She also thinks binkies are all of a sudden pretty cool, when she was never a binkie baby. She will lay on the floor and roll around crying like a baby and I have been collecting baby stuff for Shyrah for her new baby and I have all of Natalie's bottles in a bag. Of course she found the bag and her eyes lit up. She wanted me to fill up the bottle with juice and feed it to her. So today, Natalie came in my office and found her box of baby toys and her old Johnny Jumper was in there. She wanted to play with it, so to keep her busy while I was working, I hung it up and put her in it. Boy did she love that! She bounced and played for about 30 minutes upstairs, then I hung it in her room and she sat in it for another 30 minutes. She can't see her TV from the door in her room or play with anything and Dan kept asking if she wanted to get out because surely she was bored, but she didn't want to. Check out my "baby".....

Fun in the Snow!

2008-12-18T20:29:00.000-08:00

We went outside today 4 times to play in our snow! How much fun! And Dan went to Big 5 and got Natalie a blowup snowmobile to pull her around in and sled down hills. I am addicted to going out and playing. After dinner I looked at Dan and said "skip bath and go outside?" Of course he said sure. Here are pics from our fun times in the snow today....

Sledding down the hill by herself. Can you see that huge smile?!

Santa Pics

2008-12-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

So, as I mentioned below, Natalie is not a Santa fan this year. I figured it wouldn't happen and was so bummed out at the thought of missing one year because I want to have a Santa picture for every year of my children's lives. We were at the Factoria mall one day with no intention of getting a Santa pic. I didn't even know they had a Santa. Well, we walked by and there was no line so I figured, what the hey. I will see what happens. We walked to the side of the display to see Santa and talk to him. He was great. He was waving and talking and pointing things out. She wasn't having it. She was giving me the death grip and was crying. I would tell her to say hi, or wave and she wouldn't do it. She just cried. We then walked up to him and he tried to give her a high 5 and she wouldn't do it. So....we left. After we went to Target, we walked by him again and thought, maybe she will warm up to him now. Nope. She started crying when she say him, so we went home. The next day we swung by the mall again, and walked by Santa. He saw her and waved, remembering who she was and to my surprise she waved and said "hi Santa!" so I stopped and talked to him and she talked back.....score! She even gave him a high 5. I told her she would get candy if she sat on his lap. As if I was asking too much she said "NO!" so I asked her to stand by him and set her down and she clung to my shoulders. So the smart lady who worked there grabbed a bench and put it in between us and told Natalie to sit down and mommy would be right behind her and then the lady mouthed to me to hide. So I did. I asked her when I could pick up the picture and she said it was printing right then. The picture turned out great! She smiled big and everything. I wished she was dressed up for the Santa picture, but hey, I will take this! If you look close you can see my shoulder and knee behind the bench. I am including her 2 other Santa photos. Can you believe how much they grow in a year!? Last years' was my favorite. Sadly enough. Why is it the poor pathetic screaming kid Santa pics are the best? My poor baby was screaming, crying and trying to reach out for her mommy to protect her from this big scary man in red and I am standing there going "smile hunny!". Child abuse....but, mission accomplished! I got the picture! ;)

SNOW!!!!!!

2008-12-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE snow days!!! I am like a little kid again when it snows. And today, wow.....look how much snow we have....in BELLEVUE!! I love it! It is that white, powdery, fluffy, AWESOME snow! Not that icy, dirty, gross snow. I haven't seen this much snow here since we got a foot in 89. I love this. We aren't supposed to get above freezing for a week so this should last a long time and it's supposed to snow Mon-Wed, but you know how those reports change. They predicted this HUGE snow storm yesterday and all the school districts cancelled school, for nothing in Seattle, Kirkland and Bellevue. It missed us, but this today was not predicted. It's still snowing. It started at 5am and it is 4pm now and still going. I hope we have a white Christmas. How cool would that be? I don't think we have ever had a white Christmas since I have been born, and if so, I don't remember it.

Leavenworth!

2008-12-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

We got back on Monday from our annual Leavenworth trip. We got to stay in the same two cabins we stayed in last year. We were bummed because up until a day before we got there, there was no snow yet in the mountains. None, zip, zilch. And the day we went there, it started dumping. We had about a foot there. I couldn't image going to the mountains, in the winter, with no snow. We had such a great time and Natalie was a doll. We got to go into town to shop twice. Natalie talked to Santa too! She is scared to death of him. She wouldn't sit on his lap for a picture this year. We ended up getting a picture but...well, I will save that for another post, with the picture. Anyway, there was a santa walking around in Leavenworth. We went to talk and she wasn't having it. She saw he was handing out candy canes, but since she wouldn't talk to him and just cried, she didn't get a candy cane. After we left him she asked for a candy cane and said "Look, Natalie's not crying" so we went back to him and it probably was hard as heck for her, but she talked to him and shook his hand and got her candy cane, which she ate all of in seconds. It was cold as snot there too!! In the teens. We we surprised to come home to the same temperature AND as we left we turned off the heat because you don't leave the heat on when you're gone, right? WRONG! We came home to a STONE cold house. It took literally a good 24 hours just to get to 64 degrees. We were miserable! Not fun! We went for a walk every day we were there with everyone. The cabins are on River Road which is across the street from the Wenatchee River. It was a neat walk down the road watching the river and seeing all the cabins. I love cabins. They are so charming and just have such a cozy feel. Anyway...here are pics from our trip.

Here is one of the cabins. This is not the one we stayed in. I took a picture of the one we stayed in but it didn't turn out and I meant to take another one, but forgot.

Here is Natalie playing outside with her cousin Mak

Dan was playing outside with Natalie and Aidan. We scared the crap out of Aidan. Didn't mean to scare him that bad. When I cam eout and was walking down the street, Dan said "who's that?" and I growled and Dan, just joking started running and Aidan started screaming. Poor guy.

Deer in the headlights....having too much fun!

Natalie and I playing in the snow

All bundled and ready to go outside

Natalie and Mak going to town

Natalie and Mak about to sled down the hill. This was moments after I fell like a dork right on my arse.

Of course that girl walks right in front of my camera.....

Mak, Jena pulling Natalie and Dan in town

She loved being pulled in the sled

This is on one of our walks down the road

Looks like she's going real fast....

She took her gloves off and got them wet so she wore Dan's. It looks funny to see her wearing those big gloves

Here is Abby in the sled on our walk

Here's the group, minus me because I am taking the picture. Beth, Barb, Abby, Aidan, Dan, Natalie, Jay, Shayna, Wes and Barak

One happy family. Notice Dan is flipping off the camera. Little turd....

I love this picture. So cute! Dan, Natalie and Shayna

Jay, Barb, Aidan and Abby

Beth, Wes, Shayna and Barak

Another one of us.

Look closely.....she is sticking out her tongue trying to catch snowflakes...

She loved to lay in the sled

Wes, Shayna and Barak

Khiara and Andy's th Birthday Party!

2008-12-07T19:13:00.001-08:00

Today Natalie and I went to Khiara and Andy's 5th Birthday party. Khiara and Andy are Natalie's buddies. Khiara is Shaya's, Natalie's nanny, daughter and Andy is Shaya's nephew who Shaya watches during the week too. We had a lot of fun! They played games and ate cupcakes. Some of the cupcakes had red frosting on them and the kids who had those looked like clowns because they got red all over their face. Everytime Natalie took a bite, she would wipe her mouth with her hand, but it was just smearing it all over her face. Too funny. They had lots of fun and ran around and wore themselves out. I am sitting in the bathroom right now as I type this, watching Natalie taking a bath and she is already telling me she is ready to go to bed. Happy birthday Khiara and Andy! Thank you for the fun party!!

Isn't she cute? This is Natalie's other buddy. Shaya's other daughter Sydney.

Having too much fun with the balloons

Learning how to play the game

Playing the game with her team. The "red" team....

Singing Happy Birthday to Kiki and Andy

Khiara's red frosting face

See....she looks like a clown!

Yummy!

Alli's red frosting face...

Running around playing

Playing with Sydney

Christmas Cookies and other pictures...

2008-12-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

I found these great cookies at Safeway the other day. They are pre-frosted cookies with a design on it. And then they give you 9 different color food coloring pens to color the pictures. It was lots of fun!

She wanted to eat it so bad, but I made her pose for a picture with them first.

Here's the finished product.

Her mouth got stained green from the cookies

I was decorating the house yesterday and Natalie was playing in her room. I almost died laughing when she came out to show me what she had done. She put Mr. Potato head's glasses and hat on and even put his ear in her ear. Such a goofball! I love this kid!

I always knew Natalie was going to be a fort kid. You know...kids who always make forts out of any place they can find? I used to do that all the time when I was little. Natalie always flips boxes over and hid under them and she has this shoe shelf in her room and she can contort her way into the shelf and has us put a blanket over it. Well, today, she discovered under the table is a pretty cool place to hang out. She convinced Dan to go under there with her too. Here is a picture of them hanging out.

A Few More Halloween Costume Pics...

2008-11-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Halloween!!

2008-11-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally got some Halloween pics to post....thanks to Shaya! I realized my camera was dead as we were walking out the door to go trick or treating at Shaya's house and luckily Shaya took pictures, but her computer is broken so it took her a long time to get them uploaded. Anywho...they're here! We had a lot of fun. Natalie's favorite animal right now is a Kangaroo. She hops around everywhere saying "I'm a Kangaroo! Boinga! Boinga!" so, waiting til the last minute, of course, I found a Kangaroo costume on Ebay and bought it. I worried I would get it in time, and didn't have a back up, but I got it 2 days before Halloween and it fit perfect. It cracked me up because the tail stuck straight out and when she bounced...it bounced. She went trick or treating at Shaya's with her buddies, Khiara, Sydney, Tyler, Andy and Ali. She had a lot of fun. This was the first year she got it and it was a blast. We can't wait for Christmas. She will "get it" for the most part this year. How fun.

Cookie/Candy Turkeys

2008-10-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

So, I found these turkeys to make and decided to make our own. We made them last night. I got regular sized Reese's, and didn't realize I needed the small ones, but they still looked OK with the big Reese's. I thought I had lots of candy corn, but only had enough for 3, once I get more candy corn, we will make some more. Natalie had fun eating the candy and sticking her finger in the frosting. We had fun!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of us making pumpkins. Natalie had fun just hitting everything with the wooden mallet. We had lots of fun and the pumpkins turned out great! (And yes, I know my dinning room is a mess. I just dragged out a ton of boxes of clothes from storage to re-organize and put more clothes away)

Random Pictures

2008-10-21T06:55:00.001-07:00

Here is Natalie helping me put up Halloween decorations.
Last weekend, Dan was sitting at the table on the computer and Natalie kept saying "Dad, what are you doing?" He kept saying "I am on the computer", but she just kept asking him what he was doing, so he knew something was up and got up to see what she was doing and this is what he found in the hall. She even took it in her room and I went in there to put clothes away and she was sitting in there with her lamb and juice.
Eating lunch in the car. This is her "cheese" face.

What Kid Doesn't Like Oreos??

2008-10-21T06:49:00.001-07:00

Last night, after dinner, I gave Natalie an oreo cookie for eating so good. She pushed it to the middle of the table and said "No thanks". Surely she can't be Dan's kid! Here is the lonely cookie, still sitting in the middle of our table.

Family Night!

2008-10-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Last night we all got together for my niece Makaela's 12th bday. I can't believe she's 12. Since the other 4 teenagers' in our family have their birthday's during the summer, we celebrated their birthday yesterday too. We are always a big crowd but always have a great time. I am so blessed to have such a big, wonderful, close family! I have 3 sisters, 3 brother in laws, 8 neices and nephews, my parents, Grandma and Grandpa and my aunt, uncle and cousin all close by. Anyway....we had a fun night and Natalie had a ton of fun playing with their box of cool toys and her cousins.

My niece Abby. She will be 2 in Jan and is the same size as Natalie and 2 shoe sizes bigger than Natalie! She got her Daddy's height
Here's Abby's Daddy, Jay, my brother in law and Natalie
Dan and the Birthday Girl! My niece Makaela aka "My Baby Girl!"

Here is my Dad and his girlfriend Linda. Aren't they cute together? So happy for him.
Here is my Mom helping my Grandma sign the birthday cards...and my Uncle Jeff.
Singing Happy Birthday and when it came time to blow the candles.......
Brice said "OK, on 3. 1....2..." and he blew them out! I LOVE this picture! I caught it and the right time. It was right after Brice blew them out and he was going "YES!" and Jena and Mak were hitting him.
Just a little frosting on the cheek....

And a little more.....
Yeah, Lynne had to take the cake away. See the frosting on Amanda's ear? That was done by me :) I had to get in on the action too. I felt bad though because it went in her ear and she was trying like heck to get it out. I didn't mean to do that. Somehow....Jena managed to get away unscathed with no frosting and yet, I think she got the most on everyone! Now thats skills!
Here is...my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Peggy on his lap. My sister Barb, My Grandma Vi, nephew Aidan and Niece Shayna
And here is....Dan in the corner, My sister Lynne closest to Dan, Nieces Mak and Jena, Lynne's sister in law Michelle in blue on the couch (Shoot, Kendall, I meant to get a picture of Michelle boys'. They were there and they are HUGE! Alex is almost 17 and Colton is 18 and going to pre med at UW!) and then my cousin Amanda on the ottoman.
Awww......My nephew Brice and Natalie. I looked over and saw him throwing her in the air and playing with her and had to take a pic. Brice is so so good with kids.

A Day at the Park

2008-10-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Kelsey Creek park for their October Fest thingy. It was fun! They had a ton of fun things for the kids to do! There were hayrides, little trackers the kids could ride, a pumpkim patch where kids can pick a pumpkin and then decorate it, and many other things to do. Dan, Natalie and I went with Bram, Ericka and Jayda and Ericka's Grandma too. It started at 11, which is when we went and that is naptime for the girls so we couldn't stay long because they started melting down....fast. We had a good time though!

Looking at the "lambies"!
Ericka's Grandma, Ericka and Jayda, Bram, Dan and Natalie
Aren't they cute?! Natalie was so excited to see her buddy Jayda
They loved this pump.

Sharing a tractor. They couldn't reach the pedals and Jayda would only go backwards, with her feet.
Finally each got one but neither could reach the pedals
Picking out a pumpkin with Daddy

Everyone we showed her she didn't like because it was "too heavy". Even the littlest one was "too heavy".

Finally found one.
Decorating her pumpkin.
She did it all, except I wrote her name and glittered it.

Fun Summer Beach Pics

2008-10-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

Oh how I miss the summer......even though we had, what? 10 hot days. Don't get me wrong, I love the winter. More than summer. Well, I love snow, I should say. So I love winter because of the thrill and hope of snow. I think it comes from back in the school days where they would predict snow that night and the next morning waking up really early to run to the window and look outside to see if it snowed and then listen to the news to see if school was out or have my mom wake me up to tell me no school and then go to Ben Rush (school of all places, when school is out) to sled on the hill on the soccer field. Silly, I know, but I think that is why I LOVE snow days and winter! Anyway.......off track, I know.......I found some pictures that I took this summer, back in July. I took Natalie to the beach one nice day to swim and play and we had a blast. We went to Idlewood on Lake Sammamish. If you haven't been there, you have to go. Anyway, I suprisingly remembered my camera, but didn't realize my memory card wasn't in it, so it was saving the pics to my camera and only allowed me to save like 10 or 15 and the sun was blaring so much that I couldn't really see the pics I was deleting from the beach to make room for more and hope I didn't delete any awesome pics. Well, Dan showed me how to upload the pics from the camera, not the card the other day so I thought I would share. The end of this day was a rough day. My friend's husband died this day and it was a pretty rough, tramatic, scary, etc etc night for me, so at least I have a great memory from the beginning of the day. We went swimming too, but obviously couldn't take pictures of that because I wasn't about to take the carmera in the water. It is soooo my luck for it to get dropped, splashed, ruined..etc....me and electronics....well, you read the post below about the laptop, right?

How cute is this bathing suit!? It is my favorite! I hope it fits her next year. It is hard to see in this pic and the others, but you'll get the idea. It is a 2 piece and the top has a duck head, the bottoms have a duck body with feet and the top and bottom is connected with a duck neck. It even has a duck butt with a ruffle. SOOOOO cute! Gotta love Ebay!

Wasn't too sure of the sand at first, as always, but then she gets right into it and she loves to bury my foot.
Getting water from the lake

Is that not the CUTEST swimsuit?! Check the ruffle butt! The model is pretty damn cute too, if you ask me.
Isn't she beautiful?
See my foot?
This is the face she makes when she says "Cheese!"

And this is her fake, mom told me to smile, face. :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE These moments......

2008-10-11T20:07:00.001-07:00

Old McDonald Had a Farm....E-I E-I O

2008-10-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday My sister Beth, Neice Shayna, Nephew Barak, Natalie and I got to go on a field trip to a farm in Enumclaw. It was a lot of fun! We got to take a tour of the farm, then go to see and pet a donkey and horse. There were two goats that ran around with us and a dog named Shotgun. The goats were the same size as the dog (a lab) and acted just like the dog. It was pretty cute! Then we got to go in the chicken coop and caught chickens. We didn't catch any, even though the kids tried like hell. Some other kids did catch some and let the kids pet them. We went inside the barn where they had big boards with pictures on it and a hole where the face is (you know what I am talking about)....So the kids, Beth and I all took a stab at it. After that, the kids played in the hay maze and then we got to go on a hayride! What a fun day! We all had a blast!

Like 2 seconds after this pic was taken the horse either nudged or licked Natalie's back and she squeeled and gave the biggest belly laugh straight from the gut. The look on her face was priceless. Everyone was laughing. I wish the pic was taken a few seconds later to catch that. oh well.
That's the donkey Jasmine Here one of the two goats getting into a box of peas

Trying to catch a chicken
And Barak too
And Shayna too!
Finally getting to pet one
3 Little Indians

Check out the rack on Beth!

I love Barak's face in this one. He was trying to play out the character and I think nailed it!

Here is everyone on the hayride. I stayed off for a sec to take a pic and then jumped on and sat right next to Beth holding Natalie and Natalie never saw me get on so when the ride left she started waving going "Bye mommy!" hee hee, she was suprised to see me right there next to her

I'm Baaaaack....!

2008-09-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

So, wondering where I have been? Well, here's a little story to answer that........About 2 weeks ago, I picked up Natalie from Shaya's and got home. I had a few more calls to make before the work day was up so I put Natalie in her room, put on The Wiggles, gave her some crackers and juice. She always hangs out in her room and watches her movies and plays with her toys. Well, at one point she yelled upstairs that she wanted some milk. I told her in a minute and she was quite after that...silly me, I assumed she went back in her room to wait for me. Well, I came downstairs after being up there about 10 minutes. She was standing in her doorway eating a strawberry, but suprisingly there was not a drip on her or on the floor and the strawberry was almost gone. Instantly I knew....she got in the fridge. The half gallon of milk, and Dan's coffee creamer when on the floor by her. There was a teeny tiny bit of creamer on the wall, but ther than that....nothing open, nothing spilled (even though I am sure she tried like hell to get that milk open as that was the reason she got into the fridge to begin with). I went and looked around in her room and found one of her yogurt with every little bite scraped out of it. She got a toy spoon from her sink set and ate every bit...but not a drip on her or on the floor. I went to the fridge completely dreading what I would find and was suprised tosee that the strawberry box was shut (which means she opened it to get the strawberry out and then shut the box) and for some reason took an egg out of the carton and set it on the top shelf, but it wasn't broke. So, of course she got in trouble from getting into the fridge but all in all, I will pleasently suprised to see how neat and tidy she was about it. About 45 minutes later I started boiling water for dinner and while I waited I was going to sit down on the laptop to check on a few things. I opened up our 3 month old $1000 laptop and that's when I found it........she set an egg on the keyboard AND SHUT THE LAPTOP!!! A whole egg had been sitting in there smashed for 45 mins!! I sat there stairing at the computer for about 20 seconds in shock. At the time, it was still working so I tried like hell to clean it off. I wiped it all down but there was still egg oozing between the buttons when you press on them so I got Natalie's baby buger sucker out and was trying to suck it out. Finally I figured out how to pop the keys out and wipe it all down. After that....it was dead. It came on, loaded all the applications, but none of the keys worked and when you click on any of the applications to open them, it would just open the properties and not the program (even though my bro-on-law later told me where is a control setting for that and when I was wiping it down I probably did that) and egg wascoming out the bottom of the computer. Thank GOD we got the warranty!! We weren't going to because it was a lot to spend, but they talked us into it. I didn't have to pay a dime but we were computer less for 2 weeks. I have my company laptop and we can pull up Ebay, celebritybabyblog.com (my favorite site) minus the pictures, and people.com but no hotmail, no blogspot, no myspace, etc because I work for a bank and most of those site are secured. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of it. How perfect of a baby book picture would that be?! But the last thing from my mind when I found that was...Oooooh, I HAVE to take a picture of that!

Anyway...not much is new with us. Dan got a job working with his friend Bram. He is a laborer at an excavation company. I feel bad because he works outside now...in the cold and rain. He's such a great guy. Natalie is sick right now. I finally took her to the doctor today only because it's been a week of coughing and it hasn't gotten any better plus she always gets ear infections when she's sick, but ears are great, chest sounds great...it's just a cold. Yeah! She needs to stop waking up at 5am every morning though! I hope to god this is not a long term thing again. I might snap and kill someone! When we moved here she started waking up at 5am and did that for about 2 months. Now she is doing it again. It has been a week so far and today....I have the shortest fuse! Anyway...that's about it!

The Evergreen State Fair!

2008-08-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the Monroe fair today! Dan, Natalie and I went with Dan's mom, Sharon and my sister Lynne and niece Makaela. The fair opened at 9am and that is when we went and it was ideal! there was no crowd. We went until 2:30....the furthest we have stretched Natalie without a nap and she was a doll! She loved every second of it and crashed the second we got home. in fact she is still out, that is how I am able to get this done. :) We saw some of the animals first and then at 10 the petting area opened. Then we ate some....went on rides.....ate some more....went on more rides....you get the point! :) Natalie was not scared of a thing. I felt bad because most of the rides she couldn't go on, not even with an adult, but on the rides she could, I was worried she might get scared but she giggled the whole time. She went on the roller coaster, slide, fun house and even did a pony ride. Her first time on a horse....her aunt Stef would be proud. A clown even came and talked to her and she was not spooked at all. A great time had by all! Oh and the best part....when we were waiting in the parking lot for my sister, a woman came up to us and gave us a pass for all 5 of us to get in free! Sorry for so many pics, but they were all so cute, I couldn't only pick a few.

This little guy was so cute....he was standing on his mom to eat the hay
Look how big this rabbit is! That is Dan's hand to show how big he is
Natalie loves pushing her stroller around. If you look close, you can see her baby in it. The little mommy loves to feed her babies, push them in the stroller and rock them. :)
Petting the horse in the petting zoo
And the goats

Her and mak petting the goats
And the chickens
Feeding the goat
Going through the mirror maze in the fun house
Her and Mak in the fun house

She loves slides
With Grandma on the Merry go Round

Riding the horse and petting him too!

On the flying car ride with Mak
Posing with Auntie Lynne's sunglasses on
Aren't they cute?!
She LOVED the roller coaster. You can't really see her, but she is next to Mak
They wouldn't let her sit on anyone's lap, so I was nervous she might be scared, but she laughed the whole way down!

Hee hee.......and this is her zonked out after a busy day at the fair.

Racing!!!

2008-08-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

So Dan and I got invited to ride in race cars with professional race car drivers through marlboro. Yes, we smoke (we are quitting though) but sometimes it pays off to be a Marlboro customer. We had a blast!! The first course was a 2 1/2 mile course with all kinds of turns. Big 90 degree turns, small turns, etc etc. We went about 140 MPH and got to go around the course twice. Then we went to the next course which was like a big 4 leaf clover and we rode in Mustangs and were drifting. I thought this one would scare the crap out of me because I hate it when my husband thinks he is a race car driver and goes around corners too fast and spins the wheels. HATE IT. He always teases me too because my feet and hands instantly go up, but it was actually really fun! We went around that course 3 times. I had a female driver and I said "What a cool job" and she goes "Hey, it's not my car!" :) Then looked at me and said "Ready to have some fun?" and then blasted the radio with some Korn. After all of that we got to sit down and have dinner, a very good dinner. I shouldn't have eaten though because the naseau from the drifting kicked in after that and the whole ride home I was trying to keep it down. It went away though. What a great day! When they come back we are definetly going again! They give you all kinds of giveaways too and they took our picture and by the time we went to eat they had 2 copies developed and framed for us. Everyone was so nice.

Dan by the Mustang
And me by the Mustang
The Indy car...
This thing was hard to get out of....
On our way to RACE!

This is the car we rode in. There were several.

I love this picture of us. Aww....
Ready to go...
Here is the drifting course. See the chunks of rubber everywhere? From tires!

Hee hee
Dan taking off
There he goes!
Me getting out after I was done.
Our little boog wanted to dress up like a racer. Isn't she cute?

Some New Pictures...

2008-08-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pics that I uploaded. We went to Wild Waves a couple weeks ago with Shaya (Natalie's babysitter) and her husband Lawerence and girls Khiara and Sydney. We had such a good time! Then my mom got Natalie a kitchen set. She has been playing with it everyday since she got it! And then this morning Dan made pancakes and Natalie helped him cook. She loves loves loves helping us cook. Maybe soon she can cook for us! :)

She crashed before we even made it to Wild Waves!
This is the face she makes every time we take a picture. This is her saying "Cheese!"
Here is Natalie and her buddy Khiara

Natalie and her "other mom" Shaya and best buds Sydney and Khiara

She climbed in her basket and was pretending to sleep

Helping Daddy cook...

Back to Back Vacations

2008-08-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

We just got from two back to back vacations. First we went to Lake Wanicut in Orville WA for a few days. We stayed in a cabin at Sun Cove Resort and had a blast. The biggest hit of the trip was all of the turtles we caught. Just with a net over the dock. We ended up getting a total of 11 turtles and 4 of them were babies. 3 days after we got back from Wanicut, we were off to Michigan for a family reunion for my Dad's side of the family. We had a blast! We went to the Lake one day, Lake MI, and it was breathtakingly beautiful! I have been to the Bahamas before and I can seriously compare it to there. In MI!! No joke. The lake is HUGE and you can't see across it, there was a tide and waves, big ocean waves, so you felt like you were at the ocean. It sure puts our beaches to shame. No icky water, no seaweed and stuff growing off the bottom, crystal blue water with white sandy beaches. The water was pretty warm too. What a blast. The reunion was great! I got to see most everyone when I was in MI a year ago on business so it was great to see everyone again, but Dan and Natalie got to meet everyone for the first time. We took a red eye to get there because my sister convinced me that if you do that, you don't lose a day from the time change. Not really thinking it through, I booked it. Well once I thought about it....we had a midnight flight, an hour and a half layover in Chicago, a 2 hour drive to where we were staying and a 3 hour time difference. Yikes. I was very nervous about that, but Natalie was a trooper. I let her stay awake until we were up in the air which she thought flying up in the sky was just the coolest and then told her to go to sleep and she was out. The flight to MI from Chicago ended up only being a 25 minute flight (why bother huh?). I was thinking an hour and a half since that's what the itinerary said if you were comparing take off time to landing time, but I forgot there was a 1 hour time difference in there. Natalie also slept the whole 2 hour car ride to Thompsonville....Dan did too. I WISH I took a picture of at one point when I looked in the backseat behind me to see Dan asleep on Natalie's carseat and their heads were angled the exact same way, they both had the same hand pressed up on their chin. It was too precious, but the camera was in the trunk. :(

Here is the whole crew! I am in the back row second from the right, Dan is 2 to the left of me with the sunglasses on and I think that is Natalie in the front row next to the little girl (Olivia) with the green pants.

Jena on a dirtbike. Scary! She did really good though!
My Baby....
Natalie and her cousin Shayna
Dan is outlining my brother in law Brian. See the love handle Dan made him and the HUGE nose? Too funny
Natalie wanted to be outlined too, but I couldn't do it. She's too ticklish and wouldn't stop wiggling and laughing when I was trying to outline her armpit and sides.

Here is the beach I was talking about. Natalie wasn't so sure of the sand at first because she hates getting dirty, but soon had a blast and loved burying my foot.
Jena and Mak swimming in the lake
This is the hayride my aunt co-ordinated for the reunion. It was fun. The lady took everyone around for miles for about an hour. Saw lots of deer and the haunted house. Believe it or not, I, yes I, big old chicken Becky, went in the haunted house. Not the barn though. No way! There was something growling and hissing in there. My cousin eventually went in there (with a gun) and it was 2 turkey vultures.
Here is the core of the reunion. My Dad on the left, his sister Jean, Brother Roger and sister Linda. There were about 50-60 people there.
Here is Jena and Beth jumping off the raft at lake wanicut.

Here is the rattle snake we saw! We didn't realize what it was until we drove past it, so we backed up. I have been going to Lake Wanicut all my life and have never seen one (heard them, but never saw them). I give Dan and Jena props for getting out of the car to look.
This was sooo cool. There is a ghost town in Molson WA (pop. 35!) from the gold rush days. Once it was over everyone just left. There is a lot to look at, 3 houses, a bank, tons of farming equipment, etc. This is an old oven.
Here is jena and Natalie at the ghost town and Dan in the background. If you are ever up in the Okanogan area you should check it out.
Here is my honey fishing. The fishing sucked this year. I guess they had snow until June....in Eastern WA! So the lake temp is really cold and the trout are deep down. All we caught were teeny trout they just put in the lake to stock it for next year.
Here is Natalie and I goofing around in the pool.

Isn't he cute!? This is one of the baby turtles we caught. We caught an even smaller one. The littlest one was only about an inch long. I wanted to take him home.
Natalie and I walking around the grounds.
Natalie loved the turtles. She had no problem holding them. Here is here holding the pot with 3 baby turtles. Oh, and you are probably wondering what the red stuff is on them. The girls named the turtles and wrote their names on their shell with neon orange nailpolish. A few people were telling us they would see the "branded" turtles swimming around in the lake.

I DID IT!

2008-08-22T18:28:00.001-07:00

Holy moly, I have a blog! I am excited! Ever since Kendall created her blog, I have been looking at hers and tons of other friends through hers!