Moose and Elk!

I always think I'm going to have time on my hands after Christmas because Christmas takes a lot of time to prepare for. I'm not sure how I did it before or why the time does not seem to be waiting for me to use it after, but here I am trying to catch up. Here's a little of what we've been up to lately coupled with too many pictures but I like being able to have a space to enjoy recent pictures. We spent the week the kids went back to school showing the house--no joke--six or seven times. It was one of the worst weeks ever! Of course, absolutely nothing came from all of those showings so we are fast approaching the time where we give up the dream, *sigh*.
As disappointing as that is, we are still trying to enjoy some winter fun. We caught up with the Mariner's Caravan. Jared and his friends, Brian and Logan had a chance to get their picture taken with Eric O'Flaherty and Mark Lowe, two of the pitchers. Bradley wasn't sure about the moose but tolerated him better than he did Santa. We also had to head back up to Yakima for another basketball tournament but this time the elk were much closer to the feeding area so we were able to take some close-up pictures. Below are kids from the three coaches' families. We have fun going to games together and watching the boys play.

Amanda and Nate started their season yesterday with a victory over Desert Hills--Mine and Nate's old school! I don't think I've been back since my sister went there and it was so fun to walk around and be in the gym! I don't think Nate envisioned himself coaching there one day. I know, we live where we grew up so this is kind of pathetic but I really treasure that kind of thing. My old teacher and softball coach, Mr. Jones, is now the principal and believe it or not some of the SAME teachers are still there! We had fun chatting with Mr. Jones (he remembers everyone).

Speaking of playing, here are the current schedules for everyone's activities:

Amanda and Nate: http://www.rsd.edu/schools/carmichael/pdf/winterIIsportscarmichael2008.pdf (7B white)

Jared and Nate:

http://ieaau.org/yakimaleague/2008/winter/4boys.pdf

Megan and Nate:

Saturday morning soccer games at Westgate 9:10 a.m. starting the second week in February (dates to be confirmed later this week).

Bradley and Mara: On the sidelines!

Cougars and Birthdays

For Christmas, Jared received four tickets to a WSU basketball game (the Cougars are currently ranked no. 4 in the nation). He was sooo excited and took his dad, his friend Logan and Logan's dad, Cary to Pullman for the game. They had a great time and got to see lots of snow!

Of course, that was definitely a highlight for him this break but more importantly we rang in the New Year with friends and then celebrated Bradley's first birthday!!! We had a family party as well as a family friend party and below are some of my favorite pictures:

He's not shy at all, loves sweets and loves his grandpas so he put on a good show for us!

Here are some favorite things that we enjoy about Bradley (that also make us laugh):

1. He has no desire to walk.

2. He blows kisses, waves and says 'bye-bye', says "mmmmm!" when he likes his food and can say 'more' in sign language (so smart!)

3. He cuddles when he wakes up.

4. He will go to anyone--especially men (the cashier at Target, guy at the bank, etc.)

5. He loves to yell downstairs to the kids like he sees mom and dad do.

6. Everything is a phone.

7. He's everyone's little buddy and we're so glad he's in our family!

Snapshots of Christmas

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We're cherishing the last few days of Christmas Vacation! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I'll post more (including our birthday boy) soon! In the meantime, enjoy this little snapshot of our Christmas!

Go Storm!

We got a chance to get away last weekend . . . even if it was just an hour or so away. Jared and Nate had a tournament so we went up with our friends and assistant coach, the Burrups, and stayed in a hotel, went swimming and cheered on the team! Between games we went to see the elk at the game reserve (which was really neat but all the pictures turned out blurry) and, of course, ate at Miner's.

Amanda stayed home with grandma and grandpa due to an obligation to her social life (two parties to attend) and I left Bradley for the first time overnight! He did great with grandma and grandpa and didn't seem to miss us at all! It was nice--I may have to do it again some time.

Way to go guys! They took 3rd in the tournament and it is so fun to watch them play!

Winter is Whizzing By!

With so much to do before Christmas, I love when we have a snow day to slow things down a little bit! Although our "snow delay" was last week, it was so fun to have a slower paced morning and be back at school by afternoon. The kids are a constant reminder to me to enjoy more of what is going on around and not be so task oriented at this time of year. Speaking of task oriented, I made 26+ of the graham-cracker houses pictured above for Megan's Jan Brett winter party. As I was mentally beating myself up for being so insane and agreeing to do this, I thought of all the things that I take upon myself at Christmas just because I think I have to and/or because I did it for the older kids . . .

For example, Nate and I thought letting the kids pick out an ornament for the tree each year was a wonderful tradition to start. Now times that by four and trying to get to the mall (on a school night)frazzled and $50 later, we were questioning that idea. Once we were home, the kids were showered and were so happy to put their special ornament on the tree which they proudly display when people come over, I realized that is why we do it. Today, when I attended Megan's party and watched the kids have so much fun decorating houses, big frosting-and-candy smiles on their faces and getting their picture taken with their works of art, I remembered why I lost a few hours of sleep to get the party ready. I think of all the silly things I try to do to make more work for myself at Christmastime and I am reminded that our love grows for those whom we serve. I love you, family! Thanks for letting me serve you!

Holiday Highlights

Here are some highlight pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a nice, relaxing holiday. I still love that I don't have to host or cook much (this year I only did a pie and a green bean casserole). I have to take advantage of that while I can, which makes me very thankful for my mom and mother-in-law who do go through a lot of work to have a nice family dinner. This year, my mom, sister, niece, Ashley, and Amanda all started Thanksgiving morning running the Turkey Trot (a 5k run along the Columbia River). My mom and Ashley walked, Mindy got sick partway through (still finished and did great) and I capitalized on everyone's weakness and did well--three minutes faster than the last race (this is not hard to do when you run as slow as I do). Amanda also did awesome! She ran the whole time and was such a trooper--it was very cold! Nate and Jared went to play some football with a bunch of families and then we headed over to Papa and Nannee's for dinner. Megan and her cousin, Jordan, are pictured doing a "Thanksgiving play" which was a short narrative about the first Thanksgiving, I think. They looked very cute! Amanda and Kayleigh and Nannee are in the next picture. We also spent an arduous two hours getting family pictures taken. At this point, I'm grateful they are done, we survived and we were all in the same place at the same time so just keep that in mind when you see your Christmas cards this year. We rewarded the kids by going to the Bee Movie and then spent some time getting some Christmas shopping started. Above is one Santa picture and all the kids are pictured with him near the heading of the blog--kind of unplanned, as we were there to see the Festival of Trees but I love the classic "baby traumatized by Santa picture." We kind of predicted Bradley would be my one kid who didn't care and would like Santa--he's not shy and will go to ANYBODY. I guess we're 4 for 4--all of my kids thought Santa was scary initially. Well, we're forging onto Christmas and it feels like it's coming too quickly. I hope to be able to step back and enjoy a little this year--I was too pregnant last year to enjoy much!

Thanks and Stuff

Every once in a while, we actually get a productive Family Home Evening lesson in on Family Night. We've done a few variations of a "being thankful" lesson over the years such as paper chains, lists and leaves on trees. As I looked over the feathers, I realized we all feel thankful for many of the same basic things (which is a good thing). Since then, I have thought of a few more that wouldn't quite fit on a feather in one or two words:

1. The 24-hour flu bug only lasts 24 hours or less.

2. No one wanted to show our house during the flu outbreak.

3. Carpet cleaning products that work pretty well.

4. Football playoffs ended before the cold weather began.

5. The policeman who this week let Nate know his tabs expired on his truck--last June! (I'm not really thankful for the $216 ticket, however).

6. Elementary school conferences where kids are home and want to play.

7. Everyone who cares about our lives and reads our blog! = )

8. By popular demand (i.e., inquiring grandparents) here are the latest schedule's:

1. Nate's 7th grade boys' basketball (B white)http://www.rsd.edu/schools/carmichael/pdf/winterIsportscarmichael2007.pdf

2. Nate and Jared Richland Storm AAU basketball http://http//www.ieaau.org/yakimaleague/2007/fall/4boys.pdf

Thanks for being so supportive and coming to our activities--we love it and all of you!