Wes, Beth and Oli too

8 months!!

2012-01-18T18:24:00.001-08:00

He finally got his first tooth last week! He isn't crawling yet, but he scoots backwards pretty well, he loves all different kinds of food and most of all he LOVES to squeal at the top of his lungs!! Wes sometime wears earplugs because it's ear piercing!!

Brainwashing

2011-12-23T23:26:00.001-08:00

Does he have teeth?

2011-12-08T19:24:00.001-08:00

Nope...

The best christmas present ever...

2011-12-08T16:41:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to me!!

2011-12-06T20:55:00.001-08:00

Here is the awesome birthday blocks my sister Emy made for me for Christmas! They are so cute!! I had a great day today just hung out at home with Oliver then Wes and I were going to go to dinner, so I thought, but instead he had a bunch of our friends at Christie and Ryan's for a party!! (I was under the impression that Christie was going to watch oli while we were at dinner). So that was a wonderful surprise! Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes!! And especially my sweet huby for the party!!

2011-11-28T21:57:00.001-08:00

Oliver loves his doggy!! Don't worry I sanitized his toy after this!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T07:58:00.001-08:00

Waiting for 2 hours and 45 minutes to cross the pass!

Oliver and Sydney (3 months old)

All the grandkids from oldest to youngest

Amelia was fearless with the animals at Lattins farms

I love the Holidays!!! I love the food, the music and most of all I LOVE getting together with the WHOLE family!!! All my siblings and families went to my parents house for Thanksgiving and it was such a blast!! My grandparents and aunt London came too!! We stayed up late, ate tons of great food, went black Friday shopping, had our sibling gift exchange and our anual Yankee Swap! Wes even got to go fishing twice and caught a bunch of fish!! All the older cousins loved playing with and holding Oliver. My parents house was filled to the brim, and life was pretty crazy there! This is the last Holiday we will all be together for 2 years, because Carson will leave on his mission this summer. Other than the fact it took Wes and I 10 hours to get to Olympia (it should have been 6 hours) Thanksgiving was perfect!!! I love spending time with my family more than anything in the world!!

6 month stats

2011-11-21T15:09:00.001-08:00

Weight 21 lbs 9 oz - 96th percentile
Height 29.5 inches - 100th percentile
Head 17.25 inches - 51st percentile

So I have to look into my car seat because I'm pretty sure the height limit is 30 inches!

6 Months

2011-11-19T11:13:00.001-08:00

Oliver was six months old yesterday so I decided I better get some pictures!!

2011-11-16T16:11:00.001-08:00

This is from a couple weeks ago, it's Oliver's second time rolling over... I wasn't fast enough to catch the first time on my phone. (You may want to turn the volume down because I got kind of excited obviously)

Power tools

2011-11-10T22:06:00.001-08:00

This is Wes's idea of using power tools! That's fishing line and a reel if you can't tell :)

Crafting

2011-11-07T19:05:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple crafting projects I've been doing lately. Oliver throws up ALL the time so I made some burp clothes for him with some assistance from mom. And I made a couple blankets. I really should have spent more time sewing with her growing up than on the soccer field. Soccer really isn't doing much for me now considering I haven't played in over a year!!
I also did some glass etching, pie in a jar and a wet bag, with a few of my friends from work.

Halloween

2011-11-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Halloween. I bought the costume at Other Mothers, a second hand store, thinking it was a pumpkin, but Wes said it was a carrot. So he was one or the other and Wes and I "dressed up" as farmers. Obviously we put on jeans and a plaid shirt and called ourselves farmers! Oh and Oliver rolled over on Tuesday November 1st just from back to front, he wont do it the other way yet. I've fed him squash twice, but so far he's not a big fan he just spits it out, so we will keep trying!

Rice Cereal

2011-10-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Oliver "eating" rice cereal. Today after probably 5 days of offering it to him he actually ate a very small bowl of it. I'm not sure if he's just trying to figure out how to ear or if he doesn't like rice cereal. We are going to try some squash this week.

Here's my chunky little man!! I think he would suck on his toes if his belly wasn't in the way!! Oliver almost 5 1/2 months now!! He laughs all the time and is such a happy baby! He can't roll over yet, he's getting awefully close though! We are working on it, but he's got a lot to roll over. He loves to gurgle and squeel. Oliver is our greatest blessing and we don't know how we ever lived without him!!

5 months

2011-10-18T18:55:00.001-07:00

Oliver is 5 months old today I can't believe it!! I have some videos of him I just have to figure out how to post them!

Stats at 4 months

2011-09-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Oliver's 4 month stats...
18 lbs 7.5 oz
27.5 inches long
Both of which are above the 95th percentile!! Dr Kincaid gave me a high five when he found out it was still all breast milk!! He said we could start solids whenever we want, so we'll see when we decide to do that!!

Oliver at 4 months

2011-09-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

Oliver is 4 months old now, as you can see Wes is starting the brainwashing early! We bought this carrier and the first thing Wes did was see if he could cast while he was wearing it! Thought we would get a few pictures before church, the green outfit is compliments of Linda! Oliver will be going on his first plane ride next week...we will see how that goes!!

Wes is so proud that Oliver is holding the rod all by himself!!

We tried to comb his hair down right after his bath, but it didn't stay that way for long!

more pictures

2011-09-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

No wonder he blows out of diapers!!

Tired boy! Right before bedtime

Oliver and Duncan

Duncan was born 3 weeks after Oliver. I think Oli weighs like 5 pounds more than him!! His mom Christie and I have been walking/jogging together a couple times a week, which is really good because it motivates both us to get out and exercise and of course great company!!

Three and a half months old!!

2011-09-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

I had to get a profile shot to show his hair that is growing straight up!!

From the front...its so fine and light, when its wet it looks like he has way more hair!

I learned how to crochet at work the other night. I made one with some cheaper yarn, then went to Hobby Lobby on Monday and bought some cute yarn and made the hat Oliver is wearing. Its just me second beanie, but I think I should have used a smaller needle to it would be a little warmer for the winter. I'm pretty excited about it though, because I LOVE babies in hats or headbands!!

My first fish

2011-08-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

Wes and I's first date without Oliver was going out on the boat at banks to fish, while Oli stayed back with Grandma. We were only gone for about 2 hours, but I don't think Wes has ever loved me more than when I caught this small mouth bass (except MAYBE when I gave birth to Oli!) So I DO NOT like to touch fish, they freak me out, this was the second attempt to hold the fish up for a picture. The first time I may have dropped the fish screaming, leaving Wes to catch the flopping fish in the boat!! Wes caught five or six fish most bigger than mine, but needless to say Wes was very proud of me and we had a great time fishing together for our first date!

Oliver's Blessing

2011-08-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today Wes gave Oliver his name and a blessing at church. My parents, Carson and Jena drove over for the occasion. My mom made Oliver this little (well not that little) white romper to wear for the blessing. Wes gave a beautiful blessing in front of the entire congregation! Jena took all these pictures when we got home.

I love his lips!!!

Family Reunion

2011-08-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

Last week Oliver and I took a road trip with Emy, TJ, Russell, and Amelia up to Cardston for a family reunion. We broke up the trip with a stop at Sullivan Lake to see the Russell family at the "non reunion" that almost everyone went to. It was so fun to introduce Oliver to my family there and in Cardston to my mom's side of the family. Obviously everyone was surprised at how big he is for only being 3 months!! This picture was taken in the Levitt cemetery where my Grandpa Cahoon and Aunt Colleen are buried, we went and sang at both grave sites. The scenery is Cardston and Levitt is amazing, there are mountains, wheat fields and rolling hills.

A visit from Pops and Emily!

2011-08-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Fred (Pops) and Emily came to meet Oliver. We all had fun enjoying Oli and tons of delicious food. I'm so glad they were able to come for a visit!

Just Pictures

2011-07-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

Back to work...

2011-07-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well Friday was my first day back to work since Oliver was born. It was fun to see my friends at work, but it was really hard to be away from Oliver! It was Wes's first night with him all alone, so I called very frequently and told Wes to call me every time he was up with Oliver! Oliver was a little fussier than usual, because he had been given some vaccines at the doctors that afternoon. Wes said he was hard to put to bed, and didn't go to bed for the night until 12:30am, but then I didn't get a call from Wes until 5:00am so Wes at least got 4 hours of sleep. I only slept a few hours yesterday and then had lots of stuff to do, so by the end of the day I was pretty exhausted!! So I went to bed at around 11:30pm and Oliver slept until 6am!!! I got 6 hours of sleep it was amazing! So he stayed up until 7, then went back to sleep until 10am! That was the best sleep I've had in almost 2 and a half months!!
Oliver's stats from the doctors office at 9 weeks:
Weight- 15 lbs 1 oz (over the 95th percentile)
Height- 25 inches (over the 95th percentile)
I knew I had a big boy, but I didn't know he was that BIG!!!

9 Weeks

2011-07-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

This outfit is from Wes's Aunt Kathy and we love it!! Thanks Kathy!!

When Wes got home from work and Oliver saw him, Oliver immediately started smiling!

This is a knucklehead onesie thats 3-6 months, its the first time he's worn it and if it shrinks in the wash it will be the last!! It's so cute, so I hope it doesn't shrink much!!

Oliver and Grandma Linda!

I had to get a shot of those rolls!!!

Sorry if you are sick of seeing pictures of Oliver!! He's so cute and a couple weeks ago I realized I wasn't taking enough pictures, because he changes SO fast!! Anyway he's 9 weeks old now and he smiles so much!! When I go into his room to get him up from sleeping, he always smiles at me and kicks his feet, I love it!!

Eight and a half weeks!

2011-07-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Look at those thighs!!

He hardly fits the changing station in the pack n play anymore!!!

Here are a few more pics of Oliver, he's growing so fast its hard to keep up!

Our growing boy!!!

2011-07-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Tummy Time

The froggy hat Jamie Bowers gave Oliver!!

Our littel chunk!!

Tasteful nudes...

Just more pictures of our little Oliver! He is now seven and a half weeks, I can't believe how big he is getting. He's starting to coo and smile at Wes and I and we love it!!

3-5 weeks

2011-06-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Bath time at Grandma Kaths

Wes's first time feeding Oliver a bottle

Our chubby boy at 5 weeks!

Well at our 1 month appointment Oliver weighed 11 lbs 11 oz and was 23 inches long!! He gained 4 lbs in 4 weeks and 3 inches! He was in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. I can't believe how big he is already!! I'm realizing we really need to take more pictures, he changes everyday!!

First 2 weeks

2011-06-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

He always sleeps with his hands up like this if we don't bundle him up, we just think its really cute!!!

Here are just a few pictures of Oliver from the first 2-3 weeks of at home. At our first appointment Oliver and already surpassed his birth weight weighing in at 7-13. Most of the time newborns are still trying to regain their birth weight at 5 days of age! Then at our 2 week appointment Oliver weighed 9-11 and was 22 inches long!! We couldn't believe that he put on 2 lbs in 2 weeks!! He's obviously a good eater!! So far he has been a pretty chill baby just cries when he's hungry and when he's tired. We are so excited to be parents and are really enjoying Oliver!!

The beach house

2011-06-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Wes with Russell and TJ

Chelsea and Benson

My parents built a house in a little beach community called Seabrook out on the coast. Here are a few pictures at the beach as well as some from Olympia.

Trip to Olympia

2011-06-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Carson and his girlfriend Addie

Linda threw a baby shower for me at the Olive Garden! This is Emy Kerri and I

Chelsea, my mom and I at the graduation

Congrats Carson!!

The family that was able to attend Carson's graduation

Carson, my youngest brother, graduated from Capital high School yesterday!! He's headed to BYU next year. It also happened to be prom weekend and his birthday, so he's had a busy week!! Wes, Oli, and went to Olympia for all the festivities and to give most of the family a chance to meet Oliver who is now over a month old!!

Family pictures

2011-05-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Jena drove all the way up from Provo this weekend to meet Oliver and took some family pictures at Manito park. It was so fun to have her up visiting and it was so sweet of her to drive all the way here to meet her new nephew!! She also scored big at Nordstrom Rack!

More Pictures...

2011-05-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Wes took some pictures of Oliver with the quilt my mom made for him.

I love when he stretches like this!! He's so cute!!

The Nursery

2011-05-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the nursery. My mom made all the curtains and bedding while she was here after Oliver was born! I don't know how she does it, she is amazing. We also have a white glider chair that is currently in our bedroom that my mom is going to recover with black and white strips hopefully. I have to give Wes the credit for the decor... the wall color was his idea and he also came up with the idea to do black and white everything else!! He and my mom picked out the fabric, I knew they would do a great job! I love how it turned out, we have quite decorated the walls yet, but one step at a time!

Oliver Wesley Perez

2011-05-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Right after delivery, he's a little pale still

Proud daddy

(thats my arm btw)

I went to the hospital on 5/17/11 for a "low dose pitocin" induction. I wasn't thrilled about being induced with my first baby, because I know inductions can lead to a slightly higher c-section rate. But my doctor was on call 5/18 all day and night and was going out of town on Friday for his son's soccer tournament, so I went for it. I had a "favorable cervix" and I figured as long as my water doesn't brake just because they give me medication to start labor doesn't mean I have to continue it if my cervix doesn't change.

It was really weird for me to be a patient in the hospital partly because I've never been a patient before and partly because I'm used to being the one taking care of patients!! So I was surprisingly nervous on our way to the hospital. I just couldn't believe that we were going in to actually have a baby after waiting for so long!! Wes and I spent the day cleaning the house and garage and of course we went to Costco for some last minute stuff. We were a little late getting to the hospital, but one of my best friends Ashley was my nurse for the night and she even decorated my room for me! People thought it was a little weird for me to deliver at the same hospital and even floor I work on, but it was the best thing ever!! We have such an amazing unit I couldn't ask for better more qualified people to take care of me!!

So low dose pitocin was started at about 8:00pm and its a really slow process, they started the pit at 1 mu and only increase it by 1 mu every hour. I started contracting about every 2-3 mins right away, but they weren't hurting or anything, so I took an ambien around 10 and went to sleep for a few hours. I woke up about 3am with some discomfort, but still not bad, then I got up to go to the bathroom at 4am and my water broke! That's when I started really hurting!! I cant believe how much of a difference that made!! So I ended up getting an epidural around 6:30am I was only dilated to 1.5 cms!! So I felt like a huge wimp, but then around 7:15 Dr Milligan put in an intrauterine pressure catheter which measures exactly how strong the contractions are and mine were going up to 80-90 MMHG, (which are really strong) so that made me feel a little better! The epidural was amazing!! I wasn't feeling anything, so I slept on and off until I was ready to deliver pretty much!! My nurse checked me at 9:30 and I was 2.5-3cm, so I was thinking it was going to be an all day process. My mom arrived at 11:45am and I was checked again at 12pm and I was 10cm (complete) and ready to start pushing!!

So the nurses and techs set up my room for delivery and I started pushing around 12:30pm. My grandparents who are from southern Alberta happened to be driving through Spokane and decided to stop by! We heard a knock at door and we were all confused at who it could possibley be, so I covered up and in walks my grandparents!! They said hi and then said they would come back in a couple hours. So we got back down to business. I asked for a mirror so I could see my progress. After pushing with 100's of patients it was my turn to be the one in the bed pushing and it was really hard!! Not to mention I had a cold and in between each push I was blowing my nose, which was really annoying!! I can't believe people have to push for 3 hours!! I pushed for a little over an hour and I was exhausted!!

Wes gloved up and delivered Oliver which was really awesome!! I really wasn't sure how Wes was going to do with all the "stuff" you see during a delivery, but he did really good. We talked about him delivering, but I wasn't sure if he would actually wanted to. He did an awesome job with zero weirdness and didn't even make any jokes, I was really impressed! It was the most amazing thing in the world when they put Oliver on my tummy right when he came out!! I just couldn't believe he was mine!! He was so tiny and adorable!! Before I delivered I wasn't sure how my own experience would be because I see it all the time, but it was so much better than I could have imagined!!! Its amazing how much you can love someone instantly! I just look at him and want to cry because I'm so thankful that he's here and part of my family!!

Lots of Pictures!!

2011-04-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is the tie Wes wore when we got married

Just to clarify Mitzy is not actually allowed in our room or our bed this was an exception

Wes had to get some fishing stuff in the pictures!!

Here are some of the pictures from the maternity photo shoot Ashley got for me! Janna (the photographer) worked like crazy and finished them in a week so they would be ready for my work baby shower yesterday! She did such a good job, Wes and I are really happy with the way they turned out! There are some bare belly shots, but I didn't want to post them on the blog, I'm a little embarrassed to show my big pregnant belly to the world, but there are some really cute ones! Anyway I know that was a lot of pictures, and there are tons more, I couldn't decide which pictures to put up!!

Photo shoot...

2011-04-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

For my baby shower gift one of my best friends Ashley, paid for a maternity photo session with her friend, Janna. Obviously I don't have any pictures because we just took them today, but it seems like we are going to have some great pictures, I can't wait to see how they turn out!! Janna did our other friend Misty's wedding and did a fabulous job! So I'm very excited about it.
Everyone has been asking us about names and we still aren't sure, we decided we want to see him first, but here are a few of the options...

Um isn't one of the options, but we needed a 2 letter word for the top of the pyramid! I bought these blocks for the "photo shoot" today.

Shower

2011-04-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

This is Jen, Steph, me and Kim at the baby shower they threw for me this last weekend. It was pretty low key just a few of my closest friends that I've known since college. I had a great time and appreciate the wonderful friends I have!! I should have taken more pictures, but I always forget to take pictures!!

35 weeks!!

2011-04-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

35 weeks is huge benchmark for any pregnant woman!!! I'm excited because that means I can deliver at Holy Family where I work, where I know everyone and my Doctor works. Next if I was to go into labor it wouldn't be stopped, because usually babies do pretty well at 35 weeks. Not that I'm even close to going into labor since my cervix was closed and high yesterday at my doctor's appointment! Which is good because if I was dilated a lot my doctor probably would have wanted me to stop working and be on partial bed rest which would have sucked!! I want to start taking time off from work after I have a baby at home to spend the time with! I start having doctor's appointments every week from here on out. I'm still feeling pretty good. I've felt some braxton hicks contractions, but nothing that is evey painful. I was sick for about 2 weeks and feeling pretty miserable but now am feeling way better since that's gone! I can definitely tell baby is sitting right on my bladder because I'm constantly in need for a bathroom!! I have a little bit of swelling in my ankles, but it's not too bad yet. I noticed a few more stretch marks (boo), but oh well I guess that's the price we pay for a baby. I took a week or so off from the gym in hopes it would help my cold go away, but I started back and am still doing fine with walking and the elliptical. I do have to wear Wes's shirts there now, because all mine show my stomach now! Now that it's April I can say I'm due next month!! That is so crazy to Wes and I! Next month our lives are going to change forever!!

Our New Kitchen

2011-03-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

When we moved into the house all of our appliances were the cream color and there wasn't an over the range microwave, so those things have been slowly updated. We decided since we were going to put in granite counter tops we might as well get a new stove now since we were dealing with back splashes and we didn't want to mess the granite up afterward. So here is a few before pictures...

A few torn up picutres...

The back splash before was laminate (I think), and wasn't put up very well, so Wes didn't want to put the granite up with that stuff there, so he tore all that off. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about it! So here is the new granite, sink and faucet...

We were thinking about doing a tile backsplash, but decided the 6 inch granite looked really good, so we just had to come up with a color to paint it. Wes picked the color I have to give him the credit, he's better at this stuff than I am!! Wes also had to do some texture on the back wall to cover up the glue marks from the old stuff. He did a great job!!

This is the mostly finished product! We got new hardware too, but the hinges didn't quite work with our cupboards so we are still needing to figure out what to do with those. We love our new kitchen!! We have to give a huge THANK YOU to Fred, he gave us some money and told us we had to do something fun with it. So here's what we did with some of it (it's going to help with the baby room too)!! Thanks Pops we love you!!!

32 weeks!!!

2011-03-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

That's right I'm 32 weeks today!!! That means only 8 more weeks to go...well probably 9 lets be honest its my first baby (if I was really lucky it would be 7 more weeks!) Anyway still feeling pretty good although I'm finding I have a lot less sympathy for people that come in to the hospital with normal aches and pains of pregnancy that aren't even as far along as I am! My friends at work would definitely attest to the fact that I get grumpy a LOT more often than I used to! I am starting to understand why people work themselves up about every little thing thinking there might be something wrong. This morning I wasn't feeling him move and got totally freaked out, so I went to the store to buy juice and did a kick count and obviously he kicked like 15 times in 20 minutes and it was nothing! Anyway I really am feeling big and awkward, rolling over in bed, tying my shoes, you know the normal stuff! He really likes to dig his foot or something into my ribs, so that's not very comfortable!! But we are getting more and more excited, but I keep thinking about how much I need to do before he gets here, so I'm getting a little stressed!!

29 weeks and 4 days

2011-03-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Here's another pregnancy photo update. I'm in my third trimester now and am still feeling pretty good! Working three 12 hour night shift in a row is getting a little more difficult...lets just say I'm a little grumpy by my last shift! I'm still able to work out most days a week which is good. I feel pretty huge already and some daily tasks are getting a little difficult, like putting on my socks and bending down to tie my shoes! I can only imagine how I'm going to feel when I'm 40 weeks!! I can't believe I'm due in less than 11 weeks! It seems crazy!! Our baby is moving all over the place, except when other people try to feel him move!! I swear he'll be doing flips, then the second someone puts their hand on my belly he stops!! We finally bought a dark cherry wood crib for the nursery, but we still have a long way to go before it's ready.

For those of you anxiously waiting for pictures of our new granite countertops, kitchen sink and faucet... Wes won't let me blog photos until the backsplash is finished, so just stay tuned!!

Almost 27 weeks

2011-02-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Today I'm a day under 27 weeks pregnant! Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for church putting on my heals I noticed that my ankles weren't looking quite like they used to and the heals felt a little tight...yep thats right bilateral pitting edema!!! Its not actually that bad, but may ankles/calves are really the only part of my body that I actually like!! So its actually sad to see that part of me changing!! Still thrilled to be pregnant though!
I spent this weekend in Olympia because Carson had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor yesterday, so for Valentines Day I spent half the day in the car. When I arrived home Wes had almost completely finished cleaning out the room that is going to be the nursery in 13 weeks. Which was all I wanted for Valentines Day!! Then Wes and I decided to go to Costco for dinner...it would have been the cheapest Valentines Day ever expect that we ended up stopping at lowes and buying a new range! There was a super nice range there that had been significantly marked down, so it was a deal we couldn't pass up. Since we are putting in granite counter tops (another steal of a deal) we figured we'd better get the nice stove in. So in a few weeks when everything is installed I'll post some before and after pictures!

Chelsea's request...

2011-01-30T20:48:00.000-08:00

Okay I'm sure most of you know already but Chelsea wanted to see my progress...I'm 24 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I know a lot of people go by months, but as a maternity nurse I'm counting the weeks and days...I know each of them count!! Also I don't think months are very accurate because technically you are pregnant for 40 weeks (that's 10 months...not nine!!) My due date is May 17th and we've been told its a boy!! I swore I was going to take pictures every week and all that jazz, but then when you are pregnant and feeling really unattractive its not that fun to show off how big your belly is getting!! I'm feeling great now, but from about week 5 to week 14 I felt terrible!! I only threw up once, but I was constantly nauseated and didn't feel like eating anything! Which as most of you know is far from my normal eating habits!! Its the first time in my life I haven't craved chocolate/sweets all the time!! The only craving I've really had is raspberries in the first trimester, but that's about it. After the 14th week my eating habits are totally back to normal always wanting to eat junk food, but it's nice to feel normal again. Well normal for a little while, now I'm starting to feel BIG and a little uncomfortable, which I know I'm just over half way and I'm going to get way bigger!! Anyway I know that's a lot of random info that you probably weren't that interested in, but its more for me to at least have it written down somewhere, since I'm horrible keeping a journal.

Seabrook

2011-01-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

My parents are builing a house out by on the coast and we went to see the progress and visit the little developement. We took some pictures on the beach but it is Western Washington, so of course it was raining!

Christian and Savanah

Jena and I

Chelsea, Carson, Jena, me and Christian

More Family pictures!

2010-12-31T22:04:00.000-08:00

Its a little difficult to get 7 kids ages 5 and under to all look at the camera and smile for a family picture!!

We did our best!!

Family Pictures

2010-12-31T21:58:00.000-08:00

Wes and I on the deck at my parents house. This was one of the only times it was clear enough to see Mt Rainier, so we had to take advantage!

A picture of all the girls in the Russell Family

We had to get one with Mitzy in there!!

We left Wes home alone with all the kids one night after they all went to bed...Benson woke up! We came home to Wes and Benson watching Toy Story 2!!

Christmas

2010-12-26T20:17:00.000-08:00

Santa comes to visit the house on Christmas Eve and gives us all a little gift so here's Wes sitting on Santa's knee!!

Wes and I were worried about how Mitzy would do just roaming free at my parents house because they don't have a fence or anything, but she did great!! My parents used to have a dog and she would always lay right here in the garage so Mitzy just filled her spot over the holidays!!

Benson giving Savanah kisses in their matching Christmas PJ's!!

The little outfits we got for Baby Perez.

We've missed Emy and Trevor's family so far, but they are coming the 29th, I can't wait. We had a great Christmas morning, it's nice to have kids young enough that they don't wake up and want to open presents at 4am!! We opened presents around 8am and then had a wonderful breakfast. Then had a relaxing day and ate the Salmon Wes caught for dinner that night, blackened Salmon Caesar salad, it was outstanding!!

Wes's best Christmas present ever!!

2010-12-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

Wes caught his first Salmon on Christmas Eve!! Last night he organized a trip with Carson and a family friend, and was so excited about it he couldn't sleep!! They woke up at 4:30 am and got home around 3:30pm!! He had quite a day but he was literally like a kid on Christmas morning!! He also got to open one of his Christmas presents early, my parents got him a sweet Cutco fillet knife that he got to use after catching his Salmon!!!

Cafe Rio

2010-12-17T17:56:00.000-08:00

Wes and I love this Mexican Restaurant in Utah called Cafe Rio where they have this awesome sweet pork salad. So yesterday I found a copycat recipe for the salad on a blog and made it myself. I used a dressing recipe that I already had, but I used the beans, rice and pulled pork recipes. Everything turned out awesome, surely the best meal I've ever made!!! I was really proud of myself because usually Wes makes the great meals in our house!! The link to the website I used is the Favorite Family Recipes just type in Cafe Rio in the search bar and you'll find it!

Will it Blend?

2010-11-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

Type "will it blend" in to youtube and you'll get all kinds of videos about this sweet new blender Wes and I bought! We were at Costco this last weekend and the Blendtec rep was there showing off their blender. Wes was sold after they made a delicious soup with just tomatoes, celery, onion, avacado and a few spices! After we brought the blander home, all Wes wanted to do was blend stuff!! It makes awesome smoothies, ice creams, and soup! And there are tons more recipes we can't wait to try!! Merry Christmas to us early!!

Wes's Birthday

2010-10-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

Since Wes turned 30 this year I had to do something special for him...so I booked a suite at the Hotel Lusso. Our 3 year anniversary was on the 5th so I thought it would be fun to stay at the same place we stay the night we got married. I set up a scavenger hunt for Wes at our house that led him to the hotel, which he seemed to like. So that night we went to dinner then had his favorite...All American Chocolate Cake with ice cream. The next morning we got breakfast and went to visit his mom at work. We had a great time and the Hotel Lusso is always wonderful place to stay!!

Green Bluff

2010-09-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Green Bluff with some friends and picked some fresh apples. Honey Crisps right from the tree were so delicious!! We spent the day with Ben, Kim and Jen, Joel and Ava. We had a beautiful day I think it got up to the 80's we were sweating just walking around! We had a great time with friends and ate some great food!

Carson's triathlon

2010-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Carson coming out of the water after swimming 0.9 miles in 28 minutes!!


Wes and I in CDA in August for my little brother's triathlon

CDA to Sandpoint

2010-08-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is Steph and I on our second leg that was all hills! We were
smiling but working so hard!!

When we reached Silverwood we got to ride the rollercoaster in the middle of the night! It was really scary in the dark!!

This was right before the final leg, Steph and I were all finished and happy we weren't walking anymore!!

This was after the 1st leg, it was the wildest wig competition (that's the green thing in my hand) and also 90 degrees outside so we were dying!!

This is the team after taking 1st place!

This is Ashely and I (Ashely made the tie die shirt by the way which turned out awesome)

Here's all of us at the beginning of the race smiling and not really knowing what we were in for!

These are my girlfriends from work Ashley and Misty, we all started working L&D around the same time.

Steph and I enjoying a couple PB&J's and water after our first leg!

A couple weekends ago I did the CDA to Sandpoint walk relay. There were 12 people in my group and we walked in pairs, 3 legs that added up to about 15 miles. The relay started at 2:00pm on Friday and we finished around 10:30am Saturday. It was way more hard core than I thought it was going to be. I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but running is way different than speed walking! Running would have been a relief!! Steph and I started the relay off in CDA with a 6.6 mile walk where we averaged 12.5 minute miles!! We were pretty exhausted but had a few hours to rest up before our next walk of 4.8 miles of straight hills! We then walked our final leg of 3.7 miles at about 3am which was pretty creepy because we were in the middle of nowhere walking on dirt roads with head lamps!! Overall we had a pretty awesome time and we beat the second place team by 27 minutes and had the fastest walking time the relay has ever had!!

Semi-pro...

2010-08-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

This summer I played for the Black Widows soccer team in Spokane. They are in the WSPL, which is a national league for semi-professional soccer, we played some teams from Cali and a team from Portland. I think our team ended up being 3rd place in our division, which isn't too bad for the first year of the franchise. Overall I had a good experience, but....I felt SO OLD!!! I was playing with all these girls that are all still in college and just between seasons, doing their summer training! Needless to say I just felt really old and slow compared to them!! I even had to drive one of the rental cars when we made the trip to Sacramento, because I was one of 2 people that were over the age of 25! It was really fun to play soccer competitively again, I've really missed good outdoor soccer! It would have been awesome to have been able to have a team like this back in my prime when I was in college! This is a picture of Drake (Christian and Heather's son) with me in Sacramento, when they came to watch me play, he's so dang cute!!

Family Reunion

2010-08-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

I spent the last week at Ashley Lake Montana for a family reunion for the Russell family. Here's Chelsea and I with her newest addition Nash and Emy's little girl Amelia. We spent our time sitting by the lake, playing with the kids and visiting with family! I feel so blessed to be a part of my family and love each of them so much!

Here's Jena and Carson doing the "Bum Bum" dance for the family talent show, which was pretty hilarious!!

New York Pictures!

2010-07-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Finally here are some pictures from NYC!!!

I haven't changed much...

2010-06-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

I've always had a sweet tooth and I've always been able to fall asleep anywhere!!

NYC (no pics)

2010-05-03T02:04:00.000-07:00

I know you are probably all expecting pictures...but I don't have any yet! Jena brought her camera and she took all the pictures! Highlights of NYC (not necessarily in any order)...

*Wicked!!! It was amazing I loved every second of it!
*The Lion King- the costumes are unbelievable!
*The LDS church down town Manhattan- Amazing how much noise there is in the city, and how quiet and peaceful the church was!
*China Town- So many handbags, clutches, and sunglasses, so little time!!
*H&M- My new favorite retail store! They had the cutest clothes and great prices!
*Parson's costume design- We saw the making of (and some finished products) of Broadway costumes!
*The FOOD! There were just so many choices, I wish I could have tried everything! We had some outstanding desserts such as Chocolate Mouse Cheesecake and a warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream being two of my favorites!
*The empire state building on a clear night
*Our cruise to the Statue of Liberty
*Hanging out with mom and Jena and being goofy!

The travel sucked!! I was delayed by 3 hours on my way to Salt Lake. Then we were delayed 4.5 hours at the Newark airport which I would have to say was the lamest airport I've ever been to!! That delay caused me to miss my connection to Spokane so I got home Friday afternoon instead of Thursday night! It was all worth it though!! Thanks mom for inviting me!!

Another fishing post...

2010-04-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

So Wes had a great weekend, he went fishing ALL day Friday....and when I say all day I mean he was on the water by 6:30am and he didn't get home until 12:00am! He and Ben caught 1 fish each on Friday, but Wes caught the biggest bass of his life! Needless to say he was ecstatic! Then I was busy all day Saturday so he and Ben went for about 4 hours that afternoon, and Wes caught 4 bass!! He was like a kid on Christmas, I've never seen him so excited!!

While I was waiting for Wes to come home from fishing I took Mitzy for a walk to the park and even had her off lead for a while! All the kids at the park wanted to use the chuck it and throw the ball for her and she was really good for them!! She didn't jump up on anyone she came when she was called and those kids really wore her out!! I was so proud of my little girl!!

A real airdale cut...

2010-04-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Mitzy got her first real airdale haircut today, she looks so much older without her puppy coat! Her hair is way shorter now, so she wont get so hot outside! We had to get her looking nice because Jena is coming to town tonight!! I'm so excited to hang out with her! She'll be here for less than 24 hours but we'll get to hang out next week in NYC!!!

Fishing

2010-04-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

Wes would fish everyday of his life is he had time and I allowed it! Here is Wes, Ben and Dave with their catches in early March. Wes caught the biggest and smallest fish this trip!!

Wes and his baby...

2010-04-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

You know how they say dogs and their owners start to look a like? I think they could both use a grooming!!

I know the picture is a little blurry, but I had to post it anyway because is was so cute!

Wes's pride and joy...

2010-03-01T15:23:00.001-08:00

While I was at home with my family in Olympia, Wes got some of his guy friends together and went on an overnight fishing trip! Here's our boat that Fred, Wes's step dad, gave to him, and there's Mitzy in the back. Overall he said it was a fun trip and the boat ran really well so needless to say he's getting pretty pumped about summer!

2010-03-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

My sister Emy does what's called "Love Month" every February for her huby Trevor. So everyday in February she does something for Trevor to show she loves him. I know, what a great wife, eh!! She emailed her family and friends a bunch of ideas to do for thier spouses. I didn't get around to doing something everyday for Wes, it's quite a challenge while working full time 12 hour shifts, some days we don't even see each other! Anyway one day I did make him a heart shaped oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Which I thought was really cute and even more delicious than my normal cookies (which I don't mean to brag but are amazing cookies!!) He thought it was cool and I think I maybe ate more of it than he did, but it's the thought that counts!!

Just for Benson...

2010-02-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Chelsea said Benson couldn't get enough of the last video of Mitzy I put online so here's another one for him to enjoy!

Updates

2010-02-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

While I was in Utah Wes bought and installed a new dishwasher, which matches the over the range microwave that he installed about a month ago. Its so nice to have a dishwasher that works well! We know that our stove looks kind of dumb, but we'll replace that and make it match when that breaks!

Wes also decided to take it upon himself to decorate our living room! He went out and bought the lamps and vases and it really looks great. He's way better at that kind of stuff than I am. He also replaced the battery in my car and got it running again. I don't know...maybe I should go out of town more often!

Sister's Weekend

2010-01-17T11:59:00.000-08:00

Spending the weekend with Chelsea and Jena in Utah. We've been shopping, we saw Blind Side, eating at delicious restaurants and pampering ourselves a bit! We've had a blast, I love spending time with my sisters! We really missed mom, Emy and Heather though!!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

Emily and Jacob (Wes's sister and brother in law)

Emily and Leychee Boy

Wes and Mitzy, she really didn't like these antlers, but they were so cute we had to get a picture or two!

Tired Linda on Christmas morning after a late night!

Emily and Jacob came up from California to spend Christmas with us this year and we had an excellent time! Everyone stayed up at our house from Christmas Eve until the 28th. We played some Beatles rockband, ate some amazing food and spent quality time together by the fire! We kept the house nice and warm so Emily and Jacob wouldn't freeze up here in the Northwest! Em and Jacob gave us Wii for Christmas!! We were a little shocked and really didn't expect such an awesome gift, we only gave them a new Wii game with an extra controller! I know how lame of us!! I had to work Christmas Eve but I got home at around 8:00 and made some German Pancakes for everyone before opening presents. I was lucky enough to get to stay home on call for Christmas night instead of having to work, so I got extra time with the family! Overall we had an awesome Christmas and really enjoyed having the whole family together at our home!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2009-12-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

Wes and I got our Christmas tree early Saturday morning while we were Christmas shopping. Last year I went to all the craft stores the day after Christmas and got super cheap ornaments, ribons, stockings, and a Christmas tree skirt, so I was really excited to decorate! The was the first year I've actually decorated a tree of my own. Last year we didn't have any ornaments so we just put some lights and candy canes on our tree (it looked pretty ghetto!) This year I'm very pleased with the finished product, so I made Wes take pictures with me after church in our Sunday clothes! Of course we had to get one with Mitzy in there, and in order to get her to sit still we bribed her with food, so she isn't really trying to bite Wes's hand, she really wants the food he's holding!
Jen made these "believe" blocks and I scored them in a white elephant gift exchage, they are so cute!
We don't have a star or angel to put on top, so we had to settle for a bow.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love Thanksgiving, not because of the food well I like the food too, but because I get to spend so much time with my whole family!! It was so great to be home with everyone, I just love my family so much here are some pictures from last week.

We have an annual "Yankee Swap" with the whole family. This year Trevor brought this creepy half body and one arm pillow thing!! That was by far the funniest gift!!

When we were younger my dad used to turn on "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" and we would all dance to it, so we turned it on for the grandkids! We were all dancing and the kids were so funny! It was pretty cheesey but so much fun!

Benson and I dancing

Dad even decided to play a couple slow songs

Sunday morning before church Christian gave Drake his baby blessing. After that we put the camera on the mantel and set the timer so we could get the entire family in one shot!

All the grandkids in their matching PJs from GrandmaAmelia and Drake, the newest additions

Amelia and I. That was after we gave, well I gave her, a bath. The family said that I just man handled Amelia because I'm so used to handling newborns! Really I'm just not as nervous about handling them as people who don't handle them every night for a living!

Amelia and the cute headband Chelsea got her.

Everyone but Jena around the table for Thanksgiving dinner.

Wes and I on the deck. I have the best family in the world!!

A Watch Dog?

2009-12-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Well I'm not sure Mitz will be that great of a watch dog. She's really funny, she'll bark at stuff and has a pretty menacing bark but then when it comes toward her...she runs away!! This bottle even seems to freak her out!!

Turkey Tops

2009-11-15T00:21:00.001-08:00

These are some of the awesome girls I work with! One night I found these adorable turkey scrub tops online for pretty cheep, so a bunch of us decided to buy them. Then Jen, our extremely organized charge nurse (see "this is my munchkin land" blog and you'll see what I mean by organized) called each of us and told us to wear our turkey tops, obviously we had to get pictures!!

From the left me, Jennilee, Trinity, Steffany, Jen, Ashley and Dr Fine (and yes that's his real name, not a nick name we gave him!)
Kelly our surgical tech has to wear the hospital scrubs so we forced her to wear the turkey hat for a picture. Dr Fine wanted to wear the hat for the picture, he even wore it into one of the deliveries!! Have I mentioned before that I love my job?!

6 Months Old

2009-11-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

Well since we haven't had kids yet my blog entries are about our dog! She is six months old now and we have her in an obedience class. She's doing pretty well so far. This was her first experience with snow. She couldn't really fully enjoy it do to the fact that she got fixed 2 days before. All she wanted to do was run around and eat snow, but we had to prevent that because she wasn't supposed get her incision wet or be too active. But she was really cute!!

Here's a shot of her incision. We felt so bad for her when she came out of the vet's office, she could hardly stand up straight because of the anesthesia! She doing much better now though.

Getting ready for Winter

2009-10-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

Wes spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning cutting wood in preparation for the long cold winter, what a man!

The Portland Marathon

2009-10-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Wes and I ran our first Marathon in Portland on October 4th. It was a great 1st time marathon to run there were aide stations every couple miles and there was so much support from spectators! I was really nervous for it because I only made it up to 16 miles in my training and I was supposed to get up to 20 miles. It went pretty well though, I was able to jog all 26.2 miles, I knew if I started to walk I wouldn't be able to start running again! My time was 4 hrs and 13 minutes, which was better than I thought I would do. I was pretty sore for the next couple days, but I think I would do it again. I think the training sucked more than the actual marathon! If there is a next time I really need a training partner!

Both these pictures were taken in the middle of mile 25 we were pretty excited to be done!!

My New Nephew!

2009-09-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

I think he looks a lot like Savanah when she was a baby!

Drake Christian Russell was born Sept 15th, 2009 at 11:44, he weighed 7 lbs 4 oz. Unfortunately Christian was in Chicago and couldn't get back until this morning, so he didn't get to the delivery. My mom, Emy and Heather's friend Jen were there to support her! Both Heather and Drake are doing great!

My job

2009-09-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened I got a regular shift on the maternity floor!! I'm going to have 30 hours a week scheduled all the time now, and I'll get health benefits, sick time payed vacation and all the wonderful things that come with an actual position instead of being supplemental. I just wanted to mention how much I love my job. I love helping deliver babies!! Some nights when I have patients that I really bond with it doesn't even feel like work!! Over the last month I've actually delivered 3 babies before the doctor even got to the room! The patient tells me they are having some pressure and I go to check them and the baby is crowning!! A few nights ago my patient couldn't feel anything at all, she was complete, but didn't feel where to push so we turned off the epidural to let it wear off. I kept checking under the sheet to make sure the baby wasn't crowning! Sure enough my patient still couldn't feel pressure, but I looked under the sheet and... there was the baby's head! The doctor made it for after the head was out, but he just let me finish delivering the baby anyway. Really I think I have the best job in the world!!

A High Mountain Lake

2009-09-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

Wes finally had 2 days off in a row so he wanted to make the most of it. We went to a high mountain lake near Kellog Idaho and camped for a night. Wes was in Heaven! He caught a rainbow trout on his second cast!! He was so excited, he got another really small one, but after that he just got bites. In the middle of the night we heard a moose wondering around our camp and in the water next to us. I was really freaked out, so Mitsy and I got in the car. We figured out that Mitsy isn't going to be the best watch dog, because she didn't make a peep!! The next day we saw the moose pretty close up, and again I was looking at it from the car, but Wes was out getting pictures of it!

Wes in his element

This is how much Wes loves our little Mitsy!!

A proud fisherman!
For the most part I was taking the pictures so thats why they are all of Wes!

Schweitzer Mountain

2009-09-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Last week Wes and I went to Schweitzer Mountain with Jen and Joel. We had a lot of fun enjoying the beautiful outdoors and spending time with good friends. Here are a few pictures of the trip.

More news...

2009-08-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Well Wes's Jeep has been in the shop for on and off for the last 4 weeks and nobody could figure out what the problem was. So for the last couple weeks we've been looking for a good deal on a subaru. This morning Wes found a sweet deal in Elk Wa which is about an hour away. So we went and took a look at it and found it was an even better deal than we thought. It has leather heated seats, power everything, tires that only have about 5,000 miles on them and is in great condition. We couldn't pass up the deal so we bought the car! Then this afternoon we got a phone call and found out the jeep was only going to cost $250 to fix! Wes is still thrilled about the purchase, I on the other hand am feeling a little buyers remorse, but it will be nice in the winter to have 2 four wheel drives cars. Anyway so it's been a really big week for Wes and I!

(Sorry the pictures are little blurry)

A New Addition...

2009-08-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not pregnant. Wes has been talking about getting a dog forever and I've been postponing it for as long as I could... but I finally gave in. We found a four month old Airedale for sale and decided to bite the bullet. I told Wes this was his Birthday and Anniversary present since they are both coming up at the beginning of October. She's really adorable, but I'm still unsure about the being a dog owner! When thinking of names Wes came up with Mitts because her paws are so big, but to make it more girly we decided on Mitsy.

Asleep in the kitchen

Her first bath

Look at those paws! She kind of looks like an old man with a beard!

Cute picture

2009-08-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

This is just a cute picture that Jena took last time we were all in Olympia, isn't he the cutest?!

Pictures at Banks Lake

2009-08-20T22:30:00.001-07:00

All the girls

Benson, Chelsea and I

Everybody crammed onto the boat

Catching up

2009-08-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Over the last month and a half since I last posted here's what I've been up to...

-Working a lot!! Apparently 9 months ago people were busy...

-Played in a soccer tournament in Kimberly Canada. We made it to the championship game and ended up losing to a team from Spokane!! So yes we drove all the way up to Canada to play against girls we play against at the indoor center!! It was so fun to play outdoor soccer again, but 5 games in 2 days... let's just say I had difficulty walking or doing much of anything for about a week!!

-My great grandma passed away and I attended her funeral up in Cardston Alberta. We will miss her greatly, but know she's happy where she is now with family she's been missing for a long time. It was also wonderful to spend a few days with family.

-Went to Banks Lake with almost the entire Dean and Kathy Russell clan. Even Wes got came over on his day off. Unfortunately Spencer wasn't so lucky, we missed him, but are happy Chelsea and Benson were able to join us! Since I forget to bring my camera anywhere I don't have any pictures to put on my blog, but Chelsea has put some pictures up on her blog if you are dying to see what we were up to!!

-Went to Canada a third time within a month for my Mom's family reunion. Before this summer it had been years since I'd been up to visit Cardston, it's such a great little town and it always brings back fond childhood memories. Christian came up with us and on his first day of golf he got a hole in one, so he was thrilled that he made the long drive to Canada.

Now I'm back home and have worked one day and this weekend I'll be heading up to Canada for the 4th time this summer for my cousins wedding!! So there has been a ton of driving, but all the trips were really enjoyable and I'm always so grateful to be able to spend quality time with my family. Sorry there are no pictures like I said I'm not great at remembering my camera!!!

The Trek

2009-06-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

This week I was blessed with the opportunity to go on the "pioneer trek" with the kids from church. I part of the medical personnel to help keep the kids safe in this endeavor. For those of you who aren't familiar with what this is, its a 3 day trip where the kids (14-18 year old) are broken down into families and do what those who came west did before there were trains, plains and automobiles! So they cooked thier food in dutch ovens over coals and pulled a hand cart 18-20 miles in the 3 days. The adults stood back and watched the kids work out their own issues and struggles. It was really a great experience. The very best part of the trip was the "woman's pull." At one point when the pioneers were heading west the US military asked the men to put together an army to help the country defend the southern states so the women were on their own for a while on the journey. For this all the guys and the male leaders were taken up to a hill and talked to about how important it is for them to provide, preside and protect their families . It was basically a talk about stepping up to the plate and being a man! Meanwhile the women were left to pull heavy carts up one of the steepest areas on the trek. There were only 4-5 of us per cart (each family usually had 8-9 people pulling and pushing). I was able to help with this part and it was so wonderful to watch these strong young women work together to get these carts up the huge hill, where the young men were watching and unable to assist. As we turned the corner on one the hardest spots the guys all got up and started cheering us on. It was just such a wonderful experience, it brought me to tears!! Its hard to portray the feelings I had with words, it truly was one of the best experiences of my life and I can only hope the kids all felt that same spirit I know that I felt as we worked and struggled together!

While the Wife's away...

2009-05-25T00:10:00.000-07:00

This is what Wes was up to while I was in Olympia watching my nephews!

Not really he only had one day off and this is how he spent it! He and Curtis have a lot of fun when they go riding!

River City Soccer Club

2009-05-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

This is the U-14 girls soccer team that I've been coaching for the last 9 months. We had tons of fun and everyone improved so much throughout the year! One of the mom's decided it would be fun to have a little photo shoot, so she took a bunch of pictures of the girls and a few team photos.

Visit to Olympia

2009-05-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

TJ at the Zoo

Needless to say Savanah loved the merry-go -round!! She was squeeling with delight and couldn't ride it enough times!

This is what Russell does every time he is put in his crib to go to bed. Even when he sleeps in his car seat he puts his hands behind is head like this!!

I went to Olympia last weekend to help my mom watch Russell and TJ while Emy and Trevor were in Hawaii. Christian and Dad were in Bend Oregon golfing, so Savanah and Heather joined us as well. Mom and I took the kids to the Zoo on a Friday and Heather and I took them to a place in Olypmia where they got to feed pigs, goats, chickens and all sorts of farm animals. They had a blast and it was so fun to see how excited they got about everything. They made quite the spectical when it was time to leave and all 3 of them threw a fit. Heather was carrying Savanah and I was carrying Russell and both of us had one of TJ's hands dragging the crying kids to the van! Overall it was a great trip, but those kids wake up way too early for me!!

Alumni Game

2009-05-02T02:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the annual Eastern Alumni Game. It was really fun to see every one and play a "real" game of soccer. It makes me miss playing, but also reminds me of what good shape I used to be in and what poor shape I am in now!! Anyway here's a picture of the crew that showed up to play!!

New Grill

2009-04-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

So before 2 days ago Wes, the master griller, used a little camp grill for all of the magnificent food he prepared on the BBQ. We decided with the new house and awesome yard we have we needed a real grill for summer BBQs. We had a decent tax return this year so we purchased a new grill. Here are a few pictures of Wes and Ben putting it together in our living room (by the way they took all these pictures on their own I wasn't even home!)

A wasted free day

2009-04-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

I've started this healthy daily living challenge with my family, here are the criteria:

Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night
No sweets
Eat 5 friuts/veggies daily
No unhealthy food choices (ie fries , chips, etc.)
No carbonated beverages
2 servings of whole grain/nuts/legumes
Drink 6 6-8 oz glasses of water
Exercise for at least 30 mins
One on One family time
No eating after 8:00pm (this was changed for me to 3 hour before bed because of my crazy work schedule)

For each of these rules you follow you get one point for a total of 10 points a day. You get 3 free point per week and 1 free day for the whole month of the challenge. I was really looking forward to my free day, I was going to enjoy anything and everything that I was denying myself and I was going to save it for later on in the challenge. But I had to use it Tuesday instead! most are aware of the crazy hours that I work...well last night I got called in at 1:00am and I worked until 12:30 pm, then I had to work again that evening/night at 8:00. I was called at 7:15 so first of all I didn't get enough sleep, second there was no way I would be able to work out and third I didn't have enough time to pack a food for the whole day (5 fruits and veggies and 2 servings of grain) in my lunch for work, and Wes and I didn't even see eachother until the following morning! I did get to enjoy some candy, but I didn't get anything deep fried and delicious. Needless to say I'm a little bummed that my free day just conisted of me being really tired and working all night, instead of basking in my unhealthy ways!!

Silver Mountain Fun...

2009-03-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend we decided to go to Silver Mountain with some friends (Jen, Joel, Ben and Kim) and have some fun at their indoor water park. We figured we could stay there for a night and play at the park for 2 days.

All the videos of me just show me falling and I'm in a swimming suite it just really isn't pretty so I'm not that excited to put them online for all to see, but Wes looks pretty good. This surfing was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. We all had pretty sore necks after all the falling. We had a great time and the funniest part was watching everyone fall.

Tag you're it!!

2009-03-05T01:22:00.000-08:00

Tia tagged me so here's my answers, just some info about me I know you are all dying to know!!

8 favorite TV shows
Survivor
The Office
American Idol
Criminal Minds
The Mentalist
Friends
Seinfeld
Everybody Loves Raymond

8 things I did yesterday
Read
Worked out
Cleaned
Watched Friends
Went to Costco
Took a nap (I was hoping to get called into work but didn't!)
Had dinner with Kim and Ben
Hung out with Wes

8 things I'm looking forward to
Warmer weather
Heather and Christian's new baby
The next time I get to see my whole family (I'm not really sure when that will be...)
Pay Day
BBQs in the back yard this summer
Soccer game next week
Going to Silver Mountain Resort this weekend
Having a baby (we aren't pregnant or anything, but I'm just excited for that stage of our lives!)

8 favorite restaurants
Kalico Kitchen
Rock City Grill
Wesley's BBQ
Costco (really you can't beat dinner for two for under 4 bucks!!)
Bennaditos Pizza
Azteca
Tomatoe Street
Outback Steak House

8 things on my wish list
An benefitted position on L&D (preferably part time, but I'll take whatever I can get right now!)
A better economy
Fat free Nutella
For my whole family to live closer!
An organized house (and be able to keep it that way!)
To be as good a cook as my mom
To be really good at budgeting (like Heather)
To have more patience

8 people I tag
Jen A
Jen M
Chelsea
Kim
Bev
Esther
Niffer
Sarah

Proud Parents

2009-03-02T03:17:00.000-08:00

Wes and I are proud to announce our digitally created babies! I think they are pretty cute... the bottom one looks Asain instead of Mexican though! According to http://www.vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/ this is what our kids are going to look like. I saw this on Tia's blog and thought it was really funny and played around with it a little bit, they created about 4 or 5 different babies with the same pictures so it was kind of fun, I only put the cutest creations on the blog to show off though! So for all those of you trying to decide who to marry you could play around with this and decide who you would make the cuttest babies with!!

A quick overview

2009-02-24T02:33:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas here's whats been going on with us. Frazer and Amy came down to Spokane on their way to AZ so they spent the weekends before and after their trip with us. Wes and Frazer went shooting one day while Amy and I shopped till we dropped. Amy is usually pretty excited to shop when she comes down because her selection is pretty limited up in Cranbrook. I think the boys and girls separate time was much enjoyed by both parties. Its always fun to have company, and so far they are the only overnight guests we've had in our new house.

Frazer helped Wes install the awesome new wood stove that Wes bought off Criag's list for a third of the retail price. The stove is much more efficient than our old one, so our house has been nice and toasty and we haven't been using as much wood. And if that isn't enough reason to buy the new stove it also has a glass front that provides a nice romantic atmosphere to our living room. It makes our front room look so much better a little more modern than our old stove. (I'm pretty sure it was the original from when the house was built!)

The next change in our home is that we painted the kitchen, a light greenish-blue color. It looks really good with the white trim, but our ceiling is still that ugly yellow color that everying used to be, so after we paint the ceiling it will look better. Once everything is all cleaned up and looking nice, I'll post some pictures of the newly colored kitchen and stove. Our house is really coming along, Wes has been putting in a lot of hard work making things look nice and he's doing a really good job!

Over Valentines day weekend Wes went up to Canada to go winter camping with Frazer and one of his friends...I know, sounds bad, but I was all for it because I had to take call all weekend. I thought he was going to be gone through Sunday, but he came home exhausted Saturday night around 8:00, so that was a nice surprise. We had dinner then I asked if he wanted to watch a movie, but then we both fell asleep at about 9:30, so as you can tell we had a very exciting night!

We don't really have anything exciting going on right now, we just work a lot, trying not to eat as much and work out a little more, you know the regular new years type of stuff!! I'll post some pictures when I'm more organized.

Christmas pictures

2009-01-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a few Christmas pictures as promised...Savvy, Russell, TJ and Benson in their matching pj's in front of the Christmas tree, aren't they adorable!!! Savvy wasn't realy into getting her picture taken, she wanted to get up and run around.

Spencer and Wes playing doubles "water pong" the object of the game is to try to get the ping pong ball into the cup.

Opening presents on Christmas morning.

Santa came to visit us on Christmas Eve this year!

2009-01-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

Wes and I forgot our camera when we went to Olympia over Christmas break, so we are waiting for my sister Jena to send us a cd with all the pictures that she took over the break. So for now just an update on what we did over the holidays. My whole family was able to get together for Christmas!! We haven't all been together at one time since my wedding I think. And there's been a new addition sicne then. Chelsea's little boy, well not so much little as young, Benson, who is adorable. Wes and I were a little worried we wouldn't be able to make it over the pass to get to Olympia, but thanks to Fred and Coral we have a four wheel drive jeep that had no problems. We were able to spend 9 days there which was so fun and relaxing!! Christmas was wonderful, Wes bought me all 10 seasons of Friends, which I really wanted. He got an electric razor which he really needed!! We had our fiirst anual "Water Pong" tournament, which got pretty competitive, Jena and Christian went undefeated throughout the Tournament and beat Wes and I in the finals 3 games to 0!! I think we all knew they would take it when their names were drawn together. Anyway we had a wonderful time at home over the holidays! I'm so thankful for my family, and love them more than anythink in the world!! I'll post some pictures if I get them, or my siblings might have some on thier blogs!