The Jensen/Hempel reunion, etc.

The main reason we went to Washington at the time we did was so we could attend the Jensen/Hempel reunion.  My (this is Randy talking) mom and step-dad have done this every year for about 3 years and this is the first time we have attended.  Needless to say we had a lot of fun and it was so great to get to spend so much time with family we rarely see together.

Kenadi being a little performer

Kenadi and Emma play so well together, usually.  It also helps when they are in a new place with new things to explore.

These next few pictures were taken at a park that I had never heard of called Summer Falls.  It is close to Grand Coulee Dam and the waterfall you see is irrigation water that is running from the dam towards the farm lands of Moses Lake and the Royal Slope.

It was such a beautiful afternoon.  

We were even able to sneak in a couple family pictures.  I don't think we had any where Kenadi was not doing something silly.

My mother and I

Here we are at the reunion.  It was a fun-filled day of swimming, jet skis, and tubing (and eating of course).  It had been a long time since I had been on a jet ski I almost forgot how much fun they were.  

Kenadi and Emma loved playing in the sand.  The water was perfect, so the girls had no problem getting in and playing.

Here's Tara and Kenadi getting ready to go tubing!

Emma loved Aunt Kendal.

Kenadi had so much fun playing with her cousins she never gets to see.  Here she is swimming with Payton and Chloe.  It alway amazes me though that they always remember each even though they've only spent a matter of hours together their entire lives.

Emma never wants to be confined to a small space.  She has to be constantly busy.

Emma has a shoe fetish.  Lucky for her, there were plenty of new shoes to try on at each house we stayed.

We also took a day trip through the Potholes wildlife refuge.  I haven't been through there since I was in high school.  We used to come out here often to go cliff jumping into Goose Lake.  

This area is so beautiful, in it's own way.  It is full of wildlife and cliffs are made up of basalt columns.  We got to see a Sandhill Crane catch a fish while we were stopped looking at it.

We love Washington.  There is so much variety and beautiful scenery.  But most of all, it is where all of our family live.  We love and miss all of you.

Happy Birthday Emmy! (and a side note about Zombie's)

Our little Emmy is 2.  Today (10-10-2010 -too bad she's not 10) she turned 2.  I love this little spunky thing!  She makes me laugh so much.  We are so thankful for you Emma! 

 I do love how messy you can get.  I love how you don't care until you see it on you, and then it has to be wiped off immediately.

I love how imaginative you can be, and I love watching you play.

It always makes me laugh when you come out wearing someone else's shoes.  They are usually mine, and of course way too big.  You are quite a pro in them!

I love all of the faces you make.  I love it when you say, "Mom!" and grab my hand to show me something you've done or found.

I love how you walk like you own the place.  How you think you are such a big girl and want to keep up with Kenadi.

I love how excited you get, and how all of your thoughts and feelings show on your face.

You have the most kissable cheeks.

You are growing too fast!

You were the sweetest, easiest baby.  Until you started teething.  =)

You have us wrapped around your fingers!  Happy Birthday!

On a side note:  Did you know that there is a "zombie revolution" going around?  I've never heard of such a thing, but this is what Randy tells me.  I just thought I'd see if you all have heard of it.  He tells me to ask any teen, and they'd say the same thing.  I think this is HILARIOUS.  Either A) Randy's gone crazy, B) He's right (please don't make me admit that), or C) He's trying to pull my leg.  What do you think?

Finishing-finally!

Remember that post I did a while ago about making goals and finishing projects in a timely manner?  Well, it was something like that.  Since then I have set out and made goals, and I've been finishing projects that have been on my mind forever, or that I actually started and hadn't finished in forever.  So, here are a few things that I'm so happy to have finished.

 This is a turkey place mat that I took the idea from a Pottery Barn Kids magazine 2 years ago.  A group of ladies and I wanted to make them in a couple of weeks so I got to make the pattern and figure it out.  I think they turned out soooo adorable.

Finally I made pillowcases for the couch pillows. These were super easy to make, I don't know why I didn't do it earlier.

These curtains have been sitting around half-made for at least 6 months, but I've had the material for almost 3 years.  It matches the kitchen chairs that I re-upholstered.  Anyways, I hated walking into the kitchen after dark.  I felt like I was in a fish bowl.  These took me a while because I originally cut the fabric shorter than I wanted, so I had to make pleats to add to the bottom.

 These pleats are what took me so long.  The bummer thing is that you can't really see them unless you look close.  And they are so cute!  Too bad.

Our yearly cheese-cloth ghosts.  The girls and I made them this week.  They are not on the list of projects that I needed to finish, it's just something we did.  

This American Flag fence.  I cut it, put it all together, and painted it, now Randy's job is to hang it.

Oh, one other thing we've finished lately is a frame we made to put around our bathroom mirror.  It was just a plain piece of mirror hanging there, and now it looks tons better.  Maybe I'll post a picture sometime.  Actually, Randy did most of the work on that one.  

I'm at the point in my pregnancy where I have tons of energy and feel great.  I love this time and everything I'm accomplishing!

Royal #2

I don't know what's gotten into me.  I sure have been taking a while to blog lately.  I've been busy for sure, but I'm always busy, so that's not an excuse.  I have a goal to blog about this WHOLE trip before I have the baby.  =)  

This is the second post about our visit with Randy's dad and his step-mom Anna.  They were so nice and got a boat so that we could all go tubing around the lake that is below their house.  If you look in the picture below you can see their house up on the top of the cliff.  

 Randy's sister Sara took her turn on the water before me, I think.  I was worried that the water would be freezing since I'm used to Oklahoma water.  As soon as I got in it felt great!  What a wimp I'm turning out to be!  You can see Randy and the girls with Anna and Payton on shore watching us.

 Kenadi is a water baby and loved to be on the boat or swimming the whole time.

 Here's a good action shot I got of Anna crashing.  Randy was driving and pretty determined to get her off.  She surprised me by staying on as long as she did.  She did good!

Next Anna took revenge on Randy, and lets just say that she got it.  

Randy's dad drove Jolene and Sara and I around for a while.  He was easy on me.  I was grateful for.  Normally I would want to go all out, but since I'm pregnant I was so nervous for anything to go wrong.  So, I made them go pretty slow.

I just thought I'd add some more of the view that Randy grew up with.  I do love this area and it's beauty.  It is different from the west of Washington and Oregon for sure.  It is actually a desert, but since it's been irrigated for farming it is nice and green.  You can see how it looks when it's not watered though, sage brush and dry dusty land.  Snakes and everything.  I love looking at the farmer's fields.

 These mountains Randy grew up riding his dirt bike on.  

 Oh, and orchards galore.  I was in fruit heaven.  This is an apple orchard.  I just wish I lived by a few here!

Royal #1

The next leg of our trip was Randy's Dad's house, which was broken up a bit, this is part of what we did with Dad and Anna, Randy's step-mom.  

Randy's siblings, kids, their kids, and the sister in-law's.

From Left to right; Emma, Randy, Me, Jolene (sister), Payton (Sara's son), Sara (sister), Gia (Sara's daughter), Kenadi, Kendal (sister in-law), Mark (brother)

Anna had a side-walk chalk party complete with bubbles for the grandkids.  They had tons of fun.

Sara, Payton, and Kenadi- Sara was teaching the kids how to do cartwheels after she beat Anna and I to a couple of cartwheel races.  She was fast!  I was impressed.

Emma thinking she could mow the lawn.  She did this for a while-complete with the mowing noises.  

Me and Emma on the slide.  I was having major problems with uploading pictures for some reason.  Most of them wouldn't load, so I had Randy do it.  I don't know why a few are sideways, but I'm not trying to fix them.  So just turn your head. 

One of our favorites, the waterslide.  This was me and Anna, and I think I bailed out soon after the picture was taken.  We love the slide.  Emma wanted to go down a bunch, and did.  Kenadi didn't want to go down at all, but after a forced trial run, she decided that she liked it.

Kenadi and "Papa".  The girls were so happy to see Nana and Papa and their horses.  They wanted to go out every day and pet them and sit on them.

Emma was a bit timid at first.  She only liked horses from a magazine.  She warmed up.

The view from where Randy grew up.  This lake and cliff is just in front of the house.  A funny story is that Randy's car in high school rolled off of these cliffs when he forgot to put the emergency brake on before seminary one morning.  It was no good after that.

The house that Randy's dad and step-mom live in.  Randy says that he helped his dad build some of it.  I guess that is why he knows so much.

Randy and I took the Harley out for a spin.  

Kenadi and her cousin, Payton.  He is 5, and they had a blast together.

Randy and his siblings, Jolene, Sara, and Mark.  We were lucky spend more time with them this trip.  They all came over for the weekend, and we had so much fun!  

It's A...

I went to the ultrasound appointment last week on Tuesday and have been wondering if I want to tell you what we're having or not.  I have decided that it might be fun to post what the baby is when it arrives.  SO, WE know what we're having, and it's a healthy normal looking baby according to the ultrasound, but we will let you wonder until it's here!  Ok, unless you don't care about being surprised, then you can email me and I'll let you know.  =)  One more thing.  My due date has changed again, and it is now January 28th, so expect to hear about our new baby sometime in February.  That's just how it goes.