Fun with the Molloys

Sarah (Richie's oldest sister) and her five kids: Naomi 9, Grahm 8, Noah 4, Lincoln 2, and Georgia 10mos, came out to visit us for a week in Oregon and they stayed at our house. It was a full house, but so much fun. MaKenna and Ella just loved having them here. I needed to take vacation time at work or I was going to loose it so I took the whole week off and we filled it with lots of fun activities!

Ella holding Georgia

Saturday: We drove up to the Portland Temple to go through the temple with Marissa, who is a childhood friend of the Trussell family's. The temple grounds are so beautiful this time of year with the tulips and it was a very spiritual experience. I also was reflecting on how it has been four years since we first went through the temple and what a blessing it has been in our lives.

Sunday: Church, which was fun in Primary with my niece and nephews there.

Monday: We took the kids to the Kroc Center, which is an amazing recreation center that is new in Salem. We had not been there yet and we were totally missing out. I'm sure we will be going back there a lot. Mostly we swam in the play pool and it was nice because it was so shallow I could leave the girls and not have to hold them the whole time! MaKenna loved the slide and went down it over and over again!










Tuesday: We went to the movies and saw How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. It was a lot of fun. I love the new 3D technology! MaKenna and the bigger kids liked the movie, but it was the first time that I have taken Ella to the movies and I think she is still a bit young. She did not want to sit the whole time. Thankfully we were the ONLY ones in the theatre so it was fine to let her run around a little! The only bad thing was how expensive the movies are they were $11 each even for the kids in the middle of the day. And they need to make some smaller 3D glasses for the young ones, Ella couldn't even keep the glasses on because they kept falling off. In the evening Richie and I went to our first Parenting with Love and Logic class. We are enrolled in a 6 week class every Tuesday. Hopefully we will gain some good new techniques to help with discipline as the kiddos get older and too smart for our tricks :)

Wednesday: We went to the Gilbert House Children's Museum. Another one of Salem's attractions that I had not taken my kids to. MaKenna and Ella loved it there and they didn't want to leave. Then that evening we celebrated Mother's Day with Richie's mom Kathy since Sarah was in town. She requested shrimp so we made shrimp kabobs (spelling?). They were so delicious! She is an amazing mother who was a strong woman raising 7 kids. I certainly have learned a lot from her and am blessed to have her as my mother-in-law!

Thursday: We took the folks from Utah to the ocean, since they rarely get to see it! It was a beautiful day in Pacific City, OR! We climbed the big sand hill and got a workout doing so. Kenna climbed it twice all by herself, I was so impressed. She was attached to her big cousin Naomi the whole time. Ella also made it to the top twice with a little help. We also got to climb on the rocks at the tide was out and we saw some starfish on the rocks. I have never seen starfish like that out in the wild, it was pretty neat! Everyone was worn out and passed out on the way home! Then the Molloys had to head back to Utah and we were sad to say good bye. Hopefully we will see them again soon.

Dad tuckered from carrying Ella on the shoulders up the hill and MaKenna crawling to the top while Naomi pushes herself as well.












Family Photo opp at the top (windy, but beautiful)
















Friday: I went back to work just for a bit and then my work had a staff yoga class! I have found a new love in yoga this past year as I was introduced to it by my good friend and co-worker Margot, who is a yoga instructor. I have found it to be very good for my flexibility, balance, and overall energy flow!

Saturday: I ran in a race. It is called the Hippie Chick run. It is an all women's run at Champoeg State Park. It was a beautiful day for a race! I originally signed up for a half marathon, but I had to reduce it to a quarter marathon because I have been struggling with an IT band issue. So I was kind of bummed to not be able to do another half marathon, but I ended up running most of the way (only stopping once to strech the IT band) and I finished 30th out of 206 with the time of 1hour and 2mins. Not too bad for not being able to train my best. It was fun because my mom, Richie, the girls, and Charlene (my grandpa Augie's girlfriend) all came up to meet me at the finish line! Then they had a pancake feed and live music! After that we went to one of my favorite places, Bauman's Farms. We got plants to plant in our vegetable garden! And the girls love it there because they can pet the animals. They have a goat who just had triplets, so we got to see the baby goats and they were so cute. The girls got to feed another goat with a bottle, they loved it! The we went home and I worked in our yard at home. I've got our beds all cleaned out and we planted bell peppers, jalapenos, and lettuce in one of our raised beds! Busy day I was exhausted.

Our Veggie raised bed!




Ayla feeding the goats at Bauman's


Sunday: MOTHER'S DAY!!! Got to sleep in a bit, but woke up with a bit of a sore throat. Not surprising considering how busy I've been this past week. I guess it is just catching up with me :( Then we had a Mother's Day Brunch with my side of the family at our house. It was wonderful food! Then we went to church and MaKenna sang a mother's day song with all the primary kids. It was her first time singing in front of the whole church and she did AWESOME! I was so proud of her, she didn't know every word, but she sang the ones she knew and wasn't shy. We only stayed for the sacrament meeting because I was loosing my voice and so we came home and I planted some flowers that richie got me! We have impatients in the shade out front and petunias and marigolds in the sunny spots in the back! I'm so excited our yard is looking good so far this year! Next we need bark to make it look all nice and clean! I have to reflect on Mother's Day 2010 about the amazing and miraculous job of being a mother. It is the most rewarding thing in my life. Although very hard sometimes, it is a challenge that is rewarding beyond no other. So that brings us to blogging on Sunday night. We got a new computer and it is a MAC laptop, so hopefully I'll be a better blogger now that I can do it in the living room!

Thanks for following our family activities

E

2010 is Here!

Well I feel like I should try and do a better job posting in 2010... But we will see how that goes. It is already the end of February so I'm already behind a bit.

The new year has been great so far. I did make some resolutions, but I'm afraid to share them in case I let them fall by the wayside, which usually happens. But you all won't hold me to them right? So the main goal for this year is to cut our debt way down. We want to get those credit cards paid off. Lets hope we can do that this year or at least get really close!
We are also going to make an extra house payment and pay extra on cars and student loans. So there won't be any grand vacations this year, but thats okay we will still have fun and feel good about getting out of debt :) Then we can really have fun right? This year it will be the simple things that count! Other than that I am going to run another half marathon in May, and try to eat better (which means I should probably cook more too huh?) We just saw Food Inc.(the documentary, if you haven't seen it check it out) and I know we are for sure doing our garden again this year and I'm going to try to buy local more often as well. Those are the top three among other personal goals, but I think they are doable!

On Jan 30th, my baby turned 2! Ella wanted a Dora the Explorer Birhtday Party so we invited friends and family over to my sister's new home and had a great time. We did a cake walk game, and a pull ribbon Dora pinata! Ella just amazes me as she grows. She is doing everything so much faster than MaKenna did because she is trying to keep up with her older sister and her cousin. She is pretty much full potty trained (only wearing pull-ups while sleeping), and her language abilities are very advanced. She has been talking in full scentences for a few months now. It is quite fun to watch her. She is my handful though, she is the bully in the family for sure. MaKenna was so sweet and shy, but Ella is strong and fiesty. She was biting for awhile, but I think that is pretty much over now (thank goodness). Every day after I would pick her up from the daycare I would ask, "Did you have a good day?" and her answer would be, "I didn't bite Gwen (her friend) today". Pretty sad when she knows she has to tell me when she didn't bite someone. Like I said she is the hand full. One morning I came out of the shower and hear MaKenna yelling "mom, get in here" then Ella came running into the bathroom with the toliet bowl cleaner in her hand and a look on her face telling me she was up to no good. My first thought was "Ella you didn't put that in your mouth did you?", "No" , Then I walk out into the living room and she had made a beautiful art design all over the hardwood floor with the toilet bowl cleaner. Thank goodness I got it wiped up right away and it didn't hurt the floor at all, but I really have to watch that girl. She is fun though and has such a personality. Love her so much!

Feb brought Valentines day and that was fun. Richie took the girls up to the mountain to go sledding in the snow and they had fun doing that. I had to work so I missed it, but they took video for me to watch! But then at the end of the month the girls got very sick. They got fevers and the pediatritions book says not to take them in unless the fever is over 105 (which seems so high to me)or if it lasts for 3 days. So on the fourth day of fever for Ella I called and got them in because they were miserable and they were starting to cough a lot too. When I took them in MaKenna's temp was 103 and Ella's was 104. The Doc said that they had a virus, but it settled in their lungs and she could hear that Ella definately had pnemonia and it sounded like Kenna also had some cracking in her lungs. So they were perscribed anti-biotics (thank goodness). Sometimes I feel bad because when I take them in, I'm secretly hoping they have an infection so that they will prescribe meds and I won't just hear "its a virus nothing we can do." But I have never seen them this sick and they were not themselves. Ella was constantly falling asleep and very fussy, I couldn't stand to see them suffer. But they have been on meds now for 3 days and are getting back to their playful selves :) So we are hoping for a speedy recovery!

The spring has come early here and we are already seeing blossoms in the trees and I just love it. We are getting ready to think about our garden this year and I'm ready for the warmer weather. My tulips are comming up too! Spring also means The Yard Guys get busy, but Richie is so blessed that his company has not really been affected by the bad economy. Well looking forward to keeping you all up to date better this year...we'll see ;)

HOLIDAYS 2009

Since I have been way to busy to post... I decided I would at least post some pics from the Holidays.

During the Holidays we did many fun activities (I just love all the HOliday festivities!). Included in those were seeing Santa at the Carousel, baking goodies, going to see the wonderful Christmas Lights at the Shore Acres state park near North Bend, OR (you can check out the park at www.shoreacres.net and be sure to look at the Holiday Lights Pics), we also drove around our town looking at lights, saw Santa at our chruch Holiday party, and of course I love decorating the house and listening to Holiday music etc. So much fun!

We did have a wonderful Christmas at our house with family! Christmas morning is always my favorite with the girls it is so fun! Then I took MaKenna out during Ellas nap to her first movie at the theater! We saw Princess and the Frog with her friend Cora and her mom Kate, and Ayla and auntie Mary! She loved it! It was a fun mommy daughter date time :) Then we had Christmas dinner at our house. My Mother made the best prime rib. It was a wonderful end to a great Christmas season where we are so blessed and greatful to celebrate the Saviors birth!

Enjoy the Holiday slide show!

Catching up

June 4th was MaKenna's 3rd Birthday. I can't believe that she is three. We had a princess tea party. All her guests dressed up in their princess dresses! And Preston was the only boy in his prince outfit... so cute! It was a ton of fun! It was a crazy day though because we had a horrible thunder storm come in that afternoon before her party and we were even in a TORNADO warning. It was flash flooding. I was worried we would have to cancle, but thankfully it passed in time for the party. My friend Jamie came over and did MaKenna's hair in an "up do" for the party. She looked like she was turning 16 and heading to the prom! MaKenna requested cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles ;) Love that! Her daddy spoiled her with a new bike! So much fun.

The next weekend, I had to work, but Richie took the girls camping with Mary and Jason for the weekend. They went over towards Bend to the Prinville Reservoir. We bought a fifth wheel RV so we are enjoying being able to do some more camping this year! Richie was brave taking the girls. It was so weird being home all by myself. That has not happened at all in three years. Usually if I am not with the girls I am not at home and I am at least still with Richie. But I didn't know what to do with my freedom. I would wake up and just have to worry about getting myself ready, not everyone else....imagine that. I was very clear with Richie about one thing. I was not going to spend my alone time cleaning. I decided to scrapbook all weekend and catch up on some projects I've been working on!

Other things to catch up on...
I have taken up running in my spare time... and I just ran in the Eugene Half Marathon. I was very impressed with myself and I hope to build up to a marathon next summer to at least be able to say I did it! I did very well finishing in 2 hours and 10 mins (about 10 min miles)!

MaKenna also ran in her first race at the Awesome 3000 event in Bush Park. Her age group ran around 3/4 of the track. I ran with her, but she did great. She ran the whole way. She got to run with her cousin Ayla and her friend Cora. They got medals and books at the finish line. So proud of her!

Ella is talking so much lately and she is such a daddy's girl. I have never seen a child so attached to their dad. I'm thankful though because MaKenna is going through a stage where she wants mommy to do everything. I have to buckle her into her carseat. I have to wash her in the bathtub. So its nice that Ella is very willing to go to Richie! I'm so blessed with a husband who is such a good dad. He really does just as much for the girls as I do.

I started working 4/10s now so I have Thrusdays off and I'm loving it! It is so nice to have an extra day to work on projects around the house of do fun things with the girls. We got to go to the zoo this week! We also opened up a daycare on site at my work, so the girls are always right there while I'm working and I get to go see them on breaks and at lunch. I couldn't ask for a better working environment! Counting my blessings again!

Zoo Trip Pictures...

I've also found time this year to really get into gardening again. I made it a point to get some flowers in the backyard and try to make the yard look better this year. It's embarassing that we own a landscaping bussiness, but our yard looked aweful last year. I guess that's what happens when Richie works on other peoples' yards all week, he doesn't want to work on our on the weekend. But I love gardening and now that Ella is older, it is easier for me to get out there with the girls and actually get something done. We also are doing a vegetable garden at my parents. We really like to make homemade salsa so we planted all the things we need for that plus some corn and bell peppers. I'm excited to see how it all turns out! My thumb is turning greener this year!

My next project is to paint the upstairs hallway and our bedroom... so we'll see how that turns out. I also really want to get a new fence in our back yard. All three sides of our yard have different styles of fencing and they are all crapy. So we are saving up for a nice one.

We are planning a trip out East this summer in September for a wedding and we are looking forward to visiting with family while we are out there as well.

Here are some more pics of our Spring Fun!

Well how's that for an update. I will try to do better at posting!

Emily's Birthday Weekend!

For my 27th Birthday Richie went all out... He wouldn't tell me anything about the plan. All I knew was that his mom was comming over on Sat. to babysit the girls. But right when we were about to leave his mom goes, "so what time will you be home tomorrow?". Richie gave her the biggest look of "you did not just say that" it was funny and she felt really bad. So I go, "I take it you packed a bag for me right?". And he did! The whole time I thought that we would be doing something in Portland, but we started out driving toward the coast, so I knew it was either the Casino or the Beach. When we got to the Spirit Mtn Casino, he turned off the road and I have to admit I was a little disapointed, but tricky, tricky, he just kept driving to the gas station and filled us up. Then on the way to the coast he was like "is there another casino over here?" (playing dumb, although we had never been there before). When we got to the coast he pulled over at the Chinook Winds Casino and went in to ask for a room, but they were all full. So we found one near by with a beautiful view and a fireplace, very romantic :) So we relaxed for a little bit and then took a walk on the beach. So I finally asked him, "did we come here for the weekend to go to the Casino?" (again I have to admit I wasn't that excited about losing money). So then he told me no that we had somewhere to be at 8pm, so we got ready and he supprised me with Kellie Pickler tickets, she was singing at the Casino. I was shocked because for one, Richie hates concerts and especially country music. But it was a lot of fun (kind of cheesy I know). But it was very relaxing and nice to have a break from the girls and just enjoy each other. Then on Sunday we did a little bit of shopping at the outlets before we came home to our beautiful girls! What a fantastic Birthday Gift!

Winter Fun!

Fall Hike

Richie and I were able to slip away the Saturday after Thanksgiving and leave the girls with my mom for a while so we could get out and explore. We went up the North Fork and did a hike that was one of the more difficult hikes I've done. It was very verticle. We got to a few points where we were like, where is this leading us, but Richie was determined to go forward and reach the very top. He told me, "if we stop now we won't be able to tell people we made it to the top and what it was like up there, plus if we get to the top we can have our Mountain Dews!" It was a lot of fun and a great butt and leg workout. It was a beautiful fall day as well. We worked up a sweat climbing up and it took us two hours to get to the top, but then it was cold at the top and only took us about 45 mins to get down. It was very enjoyable for Richie and I to spend some time together! Enjoy our pictures...

Weekend at Thetford

We just got home from an amazing weekend at the beautiful Thetford Lodge. We got to stay there three nights and just relax and let the girls have fun. We went with my parents, my sister and her daughter Ayla. And my aunt Diane and her husband Scott came up on Saturday to visit. MaKenna and Ayla especially had a blast together! The whole cabin environment was so much fun. The girls would run to the heat registers and let their hair blow up and just giggle. They really enjoyed going on our little hikes down to the water so they could throw rocks in the river. They especially loved Auntie Dianes cupcakes! It was a great get away and just a great reminder of how beautiful nature is and how blessed we are here in the Northwest. Richie and I got to go on a run and enjoy the scenery, while the girls were napping. Tray even was in heaven out there. He is such a good dog, we don't even have to take a leash, he stays right with us. Ella was a handful around the cabin because she is so mobile now and she gets around fast. She has built up some bravery as well. At the cabin she started pulling herself up on the coffee table and walking along it. I can really see how she is always trying to keep up with the older girls now. I've posted some pictures below to help give you all a scence of how special the trip was. It was an amazing begining to a week full of THANKSGIVING! I hope I was able to capture some of the special moments so that I can share them with you all. It is so much fun just to observe these girls and watch them grow. We have to cherrish these times, as they grow so fast. We are blessed! We wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

Pictures from our weekend at Thetford

Fall 2008 Pictures!

Fall is in the air!

Even though we are still getting some summer weather temperatures, I can definitely feel that FALL is in the air! I always seem to love it this time of year when I feel like getting all cozy. I bought a big box of hot chocolate at the store so we will have some for those cold mornings! We have already turned on our heat a few mornings when the house felt a bit chilly. We will soon be using our wood stove more and more and what else makes it feel like FALL almost more than anything is FOOTBALL season! We've been to the Oregon Ducks football games and are hoping to go to a Beaver game this year as well. We really like both teams, so when they play each other and we have to choose, we usually cheer for the underdog. Basketball season is right around the corner as well and most people who know us, know that Richie and I both love basketball and we are huge BLAZER fans! We are soooo excited for the team this year, that we might give up our DISH network so that we can have comcast to watch more of the games. Silly, I know. But anyway I love this time of year. It is the beginning to a season of giving thanks and of appreciating the simple things in life. I love the fall weather and on our tree lined street, you can not miss the changes that fall brings to the nature around us. Our leaves are already changing colors and are beginning to fall. We will be picking up leaves for a few months! I also love the Holidays that are coming up. Halloween is one that I just love and MaKenna is old enough this year to really enjoy it for the first time. She already has her costume (a monkey) and is so excited because we are going to have a little Halloween party at our house with some of her friends! I am currently looking for good Halloween party ideas and so if any of you have any suggestions feel free to let me know about your creative ideas! Ella is going to be a lady bug and she is gonna be so cute.

Today we were able to go get portraits done of the girls at JC Penny's. We got pictures of MaKenna, Ella and their cousin Ayla! They turned out pretty cute and I can't wait to get the prints, so we can hang them up in our home. I feel really bad because these are the first portraits of Ella that we've gotten and we got Kenna's first ones done when she was 3 months old. Ella is almost 8 months. I can't believe I have slacked on that. I know how it feels to be the second child and not have any pictures of just you by yourself. All of my baby pics have my sister in them too. So I made sure that I got some individuals of both our girls. But I really need to do some catch up work on Ella's scrapbook and baby book so that she doesn't feel less important. I totally journaled through all of my pregnancy with Kenna, but not with Ella. It is so much harder to find the time when you have another child to watch after and then at the end of the day when you put them to bed you are so tired, you just want to crash as well. But anyway I will see if I can figure out how to post some of the picture on our blog as soon as I get them.

I hope you all are enjoying the change in nature as much as I am. Although I have to admit by the time February gets here, I'm ready for the sun again. Maybe I can talk Richie into a family vacation somewhere warm and sunny about that time of year!

Family Update

I haven't been the best at keeping our blog updated, so I just added a bunch of new pics and I wanted to let you all know what we are up to.

Time is flying by as usual. Ella is already 4 1/2 months old and MaKenna just turned 2. I can't believe that we have a two year old. Wow. But we are sure enjoying her. Yes she has her terribly two moments, but it really is a fun stage as she is albe to communicate with us more and she is learning and exceling at an amazing rate. It seems like every day I see her do something or say something new. She is doing pretty well at using the potty chair her "poo pot" (except when she needs to go number 2). She can sing the whole alphabet by herself and can count to ten in English and Spanish. I am amazed.

Ella is rolling over both ways from front to back and back to front on both sides! And her two bottom teeth just broke through. My girls are early teethers. She is cathcing on to eating rice cereal, getting better at swallowing and now watches us as we eat! She is a very happy baby and I am blessed she gets to go to work with me every day!

We just got back from a trip to Utah. We went out there for Richie's sister Sandy's high school graduation. We had a good time and especially MaKenna with all of her cousins. We had a fun time for MaKenna's 2nd birthday. She got a party at grandma and grandpa Hildebrandt's. It was like a field day. We set up fun activities for the kids to do out in the field. MaKenna got a bounce house so the kids had a lot of fun jumping. We also are finishing up remodeling our kitchen. It has been quite a project. We tore everything out down to the studs and rebuilt it, with Richie doing most of the work. We will post before and after pictures soon. It is the first of many projects to update our cute house! So this is how our busy lives have been. I will try better to keep updating more often.

MaKenna's 2nd Birthday

Utah Trip June 2008

Welcome Ella!!!

Good Bye 2007

Well 2007 zoomed by. It is so wierd how time seems to go faster the older you get. As most of you know by now, we are expecting our second baby in February (the 4th) and we are so excited. This time we found out the gender and we are expecting another baby GIRL, who we will name Ella Rose, after Richie's grandmas. It has been fun because Richie's sister, Kriste, who is living with us, is also expecting and we have the exact same due date. She is expecting a boy. This pregnancy has gone by much faster probally because I'm not so focused on everything since I have MaKenna to chase after. She is getting so big and is not a Baby anymore, she is really miss independent and she is getting quite the vocabulary. But she is so much fun. This Christmas season has been fun since she can really enjoy it more than last year. She loves SANTA (except the alive ones), and recognizes SNOW (even though we have none in Salem). We are currently attending swimming lessons again and this time MaKenna's cousin Ayla is in our class along with her good friend Cora! So it has been fun and she is getting over being so scared. It just takes her a while to get used to things, but now she throws a fit if I won't put her swimsuit on. We are very excited to see how she will adapt and accept the new baby. As we go into the new year, we wish all of you the best and hope that we will be able to see you soon!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas 2007

FALL 2007

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Summer Fun