A Nice Week!

This week has been nice. I really feel like I am starting to get in my groove. I feel we have been sent here for some important lessons I need to learn. I am learning the importance of my little family. I am learning to rely on my wonderful hubby. I am also learning that I can ask other's for help and they are willing. I am also learning to keep a pretty clean house. Maybe this seems odd but I have always been "too busy" to care too much. I kept it O.K.ish but had so many other things going I didn't have any kind of a schedule. Here I have been able to slow down and keep my house clean, the beds made, and the toilets scrubbed. It is nice to know that anyone can drop by (not that they do) at any time and the house looks nice. It also makes me much happier.

As for events we had a pretty slow week. My health has not been great this week so I have had to take it a little slow. Here are some fun pictures of what the kids are up to though!

I don't really worry about my kids eating. I know most Mom's make their kids clear their plates, etc. but I don't. My kids are not picky eaters so I am pretty blessed. Savannah though defiantly has "eating days" and "not eating days". I try not to worry when the whole day she will only eat a couple pieces of lettuce, an orange section, and a slice of apple. TODAY was her "eating day". I guess I didn't put enough peas on her plate because when I went back to clear the table she had pulled the pea dish over and was shoveling it in with the serving spoon as fast as she could. I guess she liked them :)
Savannah has also decided she likes to use the computer....ugh. We tried turning off the monitor....she figured it out. We tried locking it....she can unlock it. No idea what we are going to do about this one.

One more Annie picture. I thought as her hair got longer it would straighten out a little. If anything the little curls are getting tighter and tighter. She is getting quite the head of hair!

Like I said I am really trying to keep the house clean. This week I mopped the kitchen floor on my hands and knees (the ONLY time I was grateful for a tiny kitchen). Keaton thought that was pretty cool and BEGGED me to let him do the bathrooms. Who am I not to give my child ALL of his hearts desires? :) After a quick lesson I turned him loose. I came back to check on him 5 minutes later. He had put on his swim suit and instead of squeezing it out in the bucket he decided it was better to squeeze it out on the floor. There was quite the flood. He cleaned it up and still wanted to do my bathroom (he promised he NOW knew how). I go and check on him there and he has ditched the sponge and was mopping my bathroom with his bare feet. "It works much better this way Mom" was his response. Whatever....cheap fun I guess!

Keaton also told me today he was skipping church. "What does that mean?" I asked. "You know...like rocks skip on water". Needless to say he went to church :)

Livin' for the Weekend!

We are really into playing with Daddy on the weekend. There are so many places to explore and Lee doesn't want to miss out (and he makes a GREAT driver). The kids and I got out and about during the week again. People say there is nothing to do here in Yakima but I am surprised with how much there is to do and it is all FREEEE...(my favorite word). We have been to a lot of great places that didn't cost a dime. It seems in SLC everything has a price these days.
I think the coolest thing we did during the week (sorry no pics of this) is we headed over to the Arboretum. It is a 40 acre botanical garden. You guessed right...it is FREE! It has lovely trees and ponds (I am sure in the spring it will be spectacular). It also hooks up to a very lovely stretch of the Yakima River trail. When we went a bit on the trail we came to a large group of trees that had FIVE Bald Eagles. You don't see that everyday! Keaton would also like to say it had lots of small ponds that he could, "crack the ice" on. That is his favorite activity these days.
On Saturday we headed over to the Outlet Stores between here and Seatle. I got all of Keatons back to school shopping done and lots of great deals on "cute" stuff for the girl. This first picture is of a rest stop near Selah, WA (just barely outside of Yakima). It is pretty cool because from this bench you can see Mt. Adams and Mt. Ranier. I think what you will REALLY appreciate is that I didn't get EITHER mountain in this picture. I am just cool like that....sigh.

Right by the outlet stores is a "walking" train museum. You guessed it...FREE. It is spread out over about a mile. There are tons of old trains and info boards on them. It is on a nice walking path and except for the time when Keaton was OFF the path and slipped in a patch of mud it was pretty cool. We will defiantly need to head back though when we have more time. It was getting dark before we saw it all.

Lee and Savannah on a train platform.

We also went back to Snoqualmie Falls. They are really lovely falls but the thing I like most is that they are using nature to power their city. In the picture below you can see the break towards the top of the falls. They have wheels inserted in there to generate power. They say they generate enough power to take care of the area. I love clean renewable power like this.

Here is a sample of one of the wheels. Keaton thought it was cool to climb through. Savannah thought it was cool to not look at the camera...argh.

My little family. I can't believe they are ALL looking. I think I am usually just not patient enough.

These were taken when we came up looking for a house. They were taken when Savannah was actually dressed well (just to prove I SOMETIMES try).

1/2 asleep I guess.

Annie and her Daddy. She really does usually prefer him :)

Finding our groove!

Things are going much better here in the Pacific Northwest! I am finding things to do to get out of the house and we even had a family from our ward over for dinner tonight! We are still exploring all the cool things there are to do around here. Yesterday we went to the Columbia River. It is a little over an hour away. Lee can't wait to go Steelehead fishing there! We went for a nice walk on the trail. It was over 50 degrees but raining like crazy. We didn't last too long.
This is a hollowed out tree along the river. Keaton and Annie needed to check it out (see how wet Keatons jacket is?)!
Lee contemplating all the time he is going to spend fishing this summer :)

This is a fun little duck pond on the Columbia river.

We also went to the museums story time. It is a free thing sponsored by the Catholic Church. They give the kids a free book, a snack, read them a couple books (in English and in Spanish), let them do a craft, and then they can play in the Children's part of the museum for free (granted it is no Discovery Gateway but my kids had a lot of fun). We went with my cousin Matt's sister-in-law and her kids. The kids had a great time.

Savannah has decided that she will only drink out of a bottle since we moved here. She really has no shame about it. This is my project in the next couple weeks...re-break her of the bottle. The REAL funny thing about this picture is Keaton. He is on this kick this week to become his Dad. He decided he needs to wear his church belt everyday like Dad (although Keatons pants are not really going anywhere), and he decided when he comes home he needs to put on shorts....:"Dad and I are warm-blooded Mom. We wear shorts at home". Each day he tries to do something a little bit more like Lee. I guess he is not too bad of a role model for my little guy :)

I think the thing that has helped me the most this last week or so is our walks. Keaton and I have been walking on the Yakima river almost everyday (one day it got up to 65!). Keaton rides his bike and I push Annie in the stroller. It is just about right pace wise (especially since he has to stop and check a lot of things out). It is a well maintained path with lots to see. We LOVE it! Doesn't it look like something out of a picture?

There are 3 parks along the path. This is an all wood one I find particularly cool (although I did NOT find the pit toilets particularly cool).

This day when we went the ice was starting to break up. Keaton and I were fascinated by the ice floes. Some were as big as our mini-van!

I thought it was pretty neat to see a bald eagle checking us out. When he took off in flight I nearly cried (to be honest that is not that big of a surprise....I used to always go to the bird show at Seaworld and ball my eyes out....birds in flight get me).

We also checked out the DairyGold Cheese plant tour. I am only including this to tell you it was the lamest thing we have ever gone to. IF you find yourself in our neck of the woods please don't waste your time. Clearly the chocolate ice cream was the best part if you ask my kids.

Keaton also had a Primary buddy over this week. We are finding our groove and making this a home. I am glad I am getting over the first couple month blues!

Christmas!

Not sure why I started with this picture. Sure shows a need for future braces :) This shows Keaton's complete happiness with Christmas (not sure how much longer I will be able to afford his wish list). He got this Scooby Doo Wii game. He was so excited (and has now almost beat it). We had Christmas weekend with Lee's parents. It was nice. Lee's Mom is so over the top in spoiling us (well really the kids :), you can't help but have a nice time.

This pretty much shows Savannah's thoughts on Christmas. She was pretty bored. It took hours to get her to even care to open her presents. Here she is in the tent Lee's Mom gave her (really cool fold up easy, put up easy job). I think this was by far her favorite gift (although she did push around the baby and stroller Santa gave her for hours).

Vernal had a bit of snow. Keaton was thrilled by this mountain of snow. It took some real negotiating to get him down.

When he got down he died (he is into this lately....a little weird).

This is Savannah with Lee's oldest niece (Katie is in college at Utah State). We are so lucky to have great examples for our kids to look up to!

Like I said there was lots of snow in Vernal. Lee and Keaton were more then happy to help Grandpa use the tractor to clear snow off the root cellar. Savannah and her cousin Jackson were really into watching!

I hope my family is not too offended I don't have as many pictures of our time there (I know my sister Deja takes much better shots and I kept waiting for her to post them...sigh). Here is Savannah with my elegant Mom. My kids LOVE all their Grandparents. The separation didn't hurt their relationships (thank heaven).

We stayed with my Uncle Drew and Aunt Maryann (ALL of my 5 brother and sisters were in town so my Mom's was kinda full). Drew and Maryann are like a second set of parents to me. It was nice accommodations :) My cousin Travis and his wife rent their basement. They have kids the same age as ours so Savannah was able to get her hair done :) (sorry Jess this picture Cambrie looks drunk and the other one Vanna did...it's my blog so this won :).

We had 3 girls born in our family within a couple months. Here are the 3. It sure makes it fun for Savannah!

Keaton went sledding a couple times with his boy cousins and Dad. He LOVED it....to say the least :)

On our way back we wanted to see the falls in Twin Falls. They are really quite lovely. Keaton was not terribly into stopping. I am glad we did though. So pretty!

This is a bonus movie of Savannah. Lee's Mom said she was dancing to the alphabet toy. She of course wouldn't dance for the camera but she was pretty cute!