Whistler, Canada

Last week we had the opportunity to stay at a friend's condo in Whistler. We had never been there before, so we thought it would be fun. We invited friends from our ward, Emily and Brandon Dorman and their kiddies, to come with us. The condo we stayed in is the one on the left. It was beautiful!

 We had a movie night and let the kids watch Jungle Book. Rule was, you have to stay on the couch or you go to bed. Did they stay on? Of course not. Did they get sent to bed? of course not. Please don't take parenting lessons from me.

 Jackson and Sam - they stayed on the couch

 Brandon and Emily and little Max! Thanks for coming you guys!

 These are the Whistler ski runs. Awesome huh? Even though ski season opened while we were there, we

didn't go. I hope to go back someday though and ski down those! 

 Thanks to Emily for taking these pictures of Jonathan and me!

 Jonathan was taking pictures of inside the condo the morning we left, and this is my "oh ya, I'm in jammies" pose.

 The kids watching cartoons while we cleaned up. Those chips kept them happy for quite a while.

 Here are the boys getting ready to go play in the snow. Dawson ended up not really liking it too much, so he didn't spent a lot of time outside.

 Our view from the condo

 Dean throwing a snowball at mommy

 More snowballs being thrown at mommy

 Jonathan found a sled in the condo and took the boys on a little ride. Then we found that we could walk down a little path that put us right under the ski lifts of the closed runs. Jonathan took the boys sledding down it a few times.

 Dawson and Jackson

 I think Sam had the most fun sledding, especially since he and Brandon saw a bear! Luckily the bear didn't see them and walked away.

This is just to prove that I was outside for a few minutes.

The funnest part of the trip was the swimming pool. The kids loved it! There was even a big bin of toys by the pool that kids could take in the water and play with. We went twice and it was definitely the best part of the week.

Brandon, Max, Jonathan, Dawson



Circus, here I come!

Last month I received the coolest birthday gift from my parents. They bought my sister Monique and me a trapeze lesson. At first I thought "where in the world do people do that?" I mean, besides the circus. Well, a few retired circus folk opened Emerald City Trapeze Arts in Seattle, where you can take trapeze and silks lessons. It was an amazing, scary, fun experience, and I hope to go back for my next lesson soon!

Climbing up the ladder to the platform was one of the scariest things I've ever done. Good thing we were harnessed in. This man helping me used to be in Cirque du Soleil, very cool!

Monique and I had to have some "ground training" about how to jump off the platform and swing on the trapeze.  

Here are some videos that my dad and my sister Shelby took while Monique and I were flying. This first one is my last practice swing before the catch, and it shows how nervous I was to climb up the ladder.



This is one of Monique's practice swings

After you do a few practice swings, if the teachers think you've done well enough, you can try a knee hang to a catch. This was by far the best part of the lesson. I could have done these all day long!

Preschool!

Finally finally, we got Dean into preschool. He gets to attend a small preschool (12 students) at the elementary school. They even send a school bus to pick him up! He's been pretty excited ever since he saw his Spiderman backpack. I had him ready about 20 minutes early so this is him watching tv.

 First ever "first day of school" picture. I'm so proud! Except that he wouldn't let me do his hair, so he had bed head. That's Dean for ya!

 Of course little brother wants in on the action

As soon as I told Dean the bus was at our house he picked up his bag, ran outside, and ran right up the stairs onto the bus. He didn't even say goodbye! I'm so glad I spent all night before and that morning sick to my stomach that he wouldn't want to get on.

 I'm just so impressed by this bus system. The drivers are so nice and they even brought a car seat for him. He told me that on the way home he sat in the "other straps" which I'm guessing mean not the car seat.

 The best (or saddest) part of this whole process: watching Dawson's reaction. He was upset that Dean had left his orange sippy so he brought it outside to give it to Dean, but then started crying when Dean got on the bus. It was kind of sad until he realized he could sit and watch cartoons without being beat up on by his big brother, then he was pretty happy.



Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet!

We had a great Halloween this year, as I hope you all did. Last week my sisters and I went to an arboretum in Tacoma that was decorated for Halloween. The kids really liked all the decorations, and my mom took a bunch of pictures. If you can't guess, Dawson is a kangaroo and Dean is Buzz Lightyear.

 To Infinity and Beyond!

 My little cutie-patootie

 Dean was too scared to stand next to the skull because the eyes lit up and I think it made a spooky noise (can't really remember, I mean for heaven sakes it was 5 whole days ago!)

 The 4 WILD 4-year-olds. Dean, Roman, Evy, Britton

 The whole crew: Britton, Lincoln, Sydney, Dawson, Duke, Roman, Dean, Mya, Evy.

 There was the most perfect little hill covered in leaves that the kids loved running up and down.

 Now for the exciting part, Ward Halloween Party! I thought I had my whole costume planned out weeks in advance, then when I finally put it on a few days before I hated it, so I decided to take the easy route and go

punk/gothic. I ratted my hair up into a mohawk and sprayed it black. It was fun! Jonathan went as DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba. Pretty much the greatest costume ever, and he had his very own boombox, courtesy of me. If there is anyone out there that doesn't know who DJ Lance is, you have to look him up.

 My mohawk

 While the kids were hanging with the friends, one of them noticed a sticker stuck to the gym floor. So all the them layed down to look at it. It was so cute! Clockwise from Dawson the Kangaroo: Jackson the Dragon, Luke as Buzz, Dean as Buzz and Sam as a Knight. We love these guys!



Birthday, Pumpkins, and more Pumpkins

Well, Monique and I are finally old! Just kidding, we turned 28 last week. We had a great time with our family and friends playing games and partying.

 Neil, I post this picture just for you, with all my love.

 So, my parents gave us the coolest present ever; a 2-hour trapeze lesson in Seattle! Yes, you read correctly. Trapeze lessons! We're are so stoked about this, hence the looks on our faces.

 Monique and I made our party-goers play "minute to win it." It was awesome. My sisters Brittany and Shelby played Junk in the Trunk, and had to shake pink pong balls out of these kleenex boxes. Brittany shook just a wee bit better and won.

 Neil and Brian had to keep balloons in the air only using one hand.

 April rocked it at unwinding crete paper rolls!

 Jonathan and I had a show-down picking up paper bags with our teeth. I am very sad and embarassed to say that I lost. The first step to recovery is to admit it, right?

 happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us...

 This week my sister Shelby and her husband are in Washington D.C. for a wedding. We were lucky enough to watch their kiddies for a couple days so we made things fun and carved pumpkins. Dawson and Britton got to color on theirs with markers while Jonathan helped Mya and Sydney carve. Dean lost his pumpkin privilege while being naughty in WinCo, but he came out and watched us while in complete denial that he didn't have a pumpkin. He is still convinced that my pumpkin is his.

 Dawson had fun walking around and coloring on everyone else's pumpkins.

 Britton

 Uncle Jonathan helping the girls

 Finished products! Mine is the fire pumpking in front. Ya, I know you're all impressed by my mad carving skills.

 Today we took the kids to a fun pumpkin patch in Orting with my sister Brittany. They had a few animals, a small corn maze and some toys for the kids to play on. It was perfect for the kids.

 These baby sheep were born today! They were so cute trotting around, still trying to learn how to walk.

 This was kind of a funky little display, but the kids liked it. I love how Dawson is sticking his tongue out.

 Dawson loved being up on the tractor. We had to literally pull his fingers off the steering wheel.

 Dean was a little afraid how big the tractor was so he wouldn't get on it at first.

 Dawson with his little cousin Duke, well little in age but they're pretty much the same size (Dawson is 11 months older!)

 Dean finally got up on the tractor, and loved it!