MaKenna Turns 4!!!

I can't believe it is possible.  Time just keeps going by so fast.  MaKenna turned 4 on June 4th.  We had  a Princess and the Frog themed Bayou Birthday Boogie!!  We had a pizza party on her birthday, Friday night after work.  I attempted to make frog cake balls.  They turned out okay, but it took me awhile to get the hang of the dipping technique.  We played pin the kiss on the frog, but it wasn't a big hit (maybe they are still too young for this game).  MaKenna wanted to just peak so she could get the lips right on the frog's mouth :)  We also did some dancing to The Princess and the Frog soundtrack!  I am just loving her at this age.  She is becoming so independent, and she is learning to make choices for herself.  So far so good.  Let's just hope she continues to make good choices throughout her life!  After her party we shifted gears to pack for camping for the weekend.  I know... sometimes I wonder why we do it to ourselves, but it is all worth it.

She got a Princess fishing pole!

Don't laugh at those frog cake balls.  I tried.

Saturday morning Richie and my dad took off around 5 am to head to Diamond Lake with our 5th-wheel RV in tow.  They were meeting up with my dad's cousin Clark for some trout fishing on the lake.  My mom, Mary, Ayla, the girls, and I took off around 10:30 to head over there and meet them.  We had a great time camping.  It wasn't very warm though and rained a little.  We've had a very slow start to the summer season around here.  In fact there were still patches of snow up where we were camping.  On Sunday we took the girls out on the boat and it was fun because we had bought MaKenna a fishing pole for her birthday so she got to fish with it.  We were hoping to catch a fish with her pole, but it didn't happen.  We did however catch a lot of fish and we cooked up some fresh trout for dinner one night!  And I happened to catch the biggest one, 21 inches!!! (no bragging here) :)  So MaKenna had a fun birthday weekend camping!

                                                                         YUM! Breakfast in the camper!

MaKenna playing Lasso Golf...so fun!

Mary, Ayla & Kenna on the boat!

My friend gave Kenna a camping hand-me-down shirt and it is so cool because it even glows in the dark!  She loved it :)




                                              



MaKenna using her new fishing pole!



Then my sister's birthday follows MaKenna's.  Mary's birthday is June 9th.  It was a big one for her because it was her 30th!!! I couldn't let her get away without celebrating 30 years, so last night (Friday) we went to Portland and celebrated the decade of her birth the 1980s!  We dressed up in 80s attire and ate at a restaurant called Oba! then headed over the Crystal Ballroom for the 80s dance video attack that they do on Friday nights!  So much fun to be silly once in a while and just have fun!

Today the sun finally decided to come to Salem!!! This is the latest date to reach 80 degrees in the recorded history.  But we finally did it and I'm so happy to see the sun.  We went to a couple garage sales this morning (love, love, love garage sales)!  Then came home and did yard work.  I got the pool out for the girls and they had a ton of fun in the pool.  I got a little sun burn, not bad, but I wanted to get some color, so it will be okay.  Now I am relaxing and blogging. 

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 was crazy busy, but so much fun!!!

Started out with a Birthday Party for a friend of the girls' at the NW Kids Club indoor park on Friday evening! We are so sad that the Kids Club will be closing at the end of the month.  We hope they find a new location to continue their business.  MaKenna and Ella had a blast and the goal was to get them tired because we left directly after the party to head up to Washington to stay with my aunt Gloria and her husband Pete for the weekend.  We drove up with my parents in their Suburban.  I love Suburbans! So great to fit everyone in one car!  We arrived in Everett, WA about 11:45pm.  We were tired.  My aunt and uncle let us sleep on their boat and that was a lot of fun!

Saturday we ate breakfast at Gloria and Pete's house.  They made an awesome French Toast dish, then Gloria took us to the YMCA so the girls could go for a swim.  It was a lot of fun.  Thank goodness for indoor swimming pools that are heated!  The weather outside was very drizzly.  We had BBQ ribs that Pete grilled up on his Traeger.  Another delicious meal!  Saturday night was the main purpose of our trip.  For Christmas my sister had gotten me tickets to Carrie Underwood!  The event center was within walking distance of my aunt's house, but since it was raining she dropped us off.  The girls stayed with them, while Mary, Jason, Richie and I got to go to the concert!  It was an amazing concert.  Carrie did a great job putting on a show.  At one point she sang a song while swinging on a swing.  Later she was in a truck that raised up into the air and went out over the audience.  She also had a dress that lit up!  So very awesome stuff and the setting in itself was very entertaining.  I loved it!  After the show we walked home and then went back down on the boat to sleep.

Sunday morning, Mary and Jason had to come back to Salem for a wedding, but we stayed up in Everett and Gloria and Pete took us out on their boat!  It was a nice cruise around the island and we got to see the Lady Washington in action.  The Lady Washington was one of the ships used in the Pirates of the Caribbean film.  They were giving tours of the ship and private trips on it for Memorial Day!  We cruised right up close to it to see it in action!  It was pretty cool and I got some good pictures of it!  The girls took a good nap on the boat too.  Nothing like sleeping to a motor sound and a rocking boat!  After the cruise we went to a local farmers market and bought some asparagus for dinner.  That night we had a fresh salmon dinner from a fish that my mom caught on the Clackamas River.  It was delicious.  We also went in the hot tub that evening and just relaxed around the house.

Monday morning we got up and went out to breakfast and headed home.  It was a great time in WA.

I also had Tuesday off from work, so we got to meet up with some friends form CA who were in town.  A Willamette Alum who played basketball at WU when my sister and I were "ball girls".  Lori and her daughter Maija came down and we went down to Willamette to get some WU Gear and look at some changes to the campus.  Then we had Pizza Hut at our house before Richie and I had to head to our Parenting class.  Richie then went from the class to a hockey game in Portland (he had a very long day). He is playing in a long stick league and I hope to make it to some of his games that are a bit earlier and hopefully I can post some pictures.  He is trying to get in some sort of shape before he goes to hardball nationals in WA in July.

Well that was a catch up... Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day and thank you to all of those who serve for our country.

E

Parenting With Love & Logic

So as I mentioned in the last post... Richie and I are taking a Love & Logic parenting class.  I am really liking the class so far, but have a long way to go before perfection.  I have certainly learned that I am the "helicopter" parent, which in some situations is necessary, but in the long run the helicopter parent doesn't allow the children to learn for themselves through experiences.  It sends them the message that they can't do anything without you there helping them or saving them from failure.  The idea of Love and Logic is to have your kids learn through natural consequences for their actions.  Consequences are not punishment given by you, but rather a consequence for their choice.  You use empathy to show them you feel bad for them and sad that they made that choice, but the consequence would be a natural one.  The only time you intervene as a "drill sergeant" is if the consequence would hurt them or someone else.

So the other day I put to test the love and logic model... This was my experience

MaKenna was refusing to wear socks with her shoes, so I decided to give her the choice (since not wearing socks would not kill her).  So she went without socks and like the Love & Logic classes say, I was hoping it would go awful for her so that she could learn a lesson about why she should wear socks.  It was a success!!! She got a blister!  Mean I know.  I was actually excited that she got a blister, but the idea is that she is learning to make good choices young before the consequences are too serious.  The price to pay for learning young is small and that is the whole idea behind it.  So wish us luck in our journey of parenting with love & logic.  I'll continue to post more love & logic stories.  I may even start a Love & Logic blog or FB page separate since I know a lot of my friends are also love & logic fans and maybe we can share ideas, concepts, and stories.

Let me know if you are interested in such a thing.

E

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!