2 posts today, due to difficulties.

Here we are again... you'll have to read the next post to see why I'm having difficulties, but this is my second and last post for the night.   I must figure something else out.  If any of you have ideas, I'm open to suggestions.

My beautiful mom and brother.  He actually grabbed onto her when he was falling and made her fall in right before this picture.  The water is glacier fed- the Nisqually river- and was literally freezing.  This is the river that my aunts yard goes right up to.  It is beautiful.

Reid

Kenadi and Reid.  One day they swam in this water when it was 62 outside.  I couldn't believe them.  I guess I did stuff like that when I was a kid too.  Crazy.

Emma always finding someone's shoes to wear.  This is my mom's barn boot.  It was funny to see her trying to walk in it because it came up to her hips.

Yes, I'm still posting Washington pictures. I will move on eventually.

I have been so frustrated lately by this new photo uploader.  I am working from a mac, so I don't know if that's the issue, but when I upload a photo, it turns it sideways even if I have rotated it to be right side up initially.  So, tonight I tried to upload through picasa, but it will only let me do 4 photos to one post!  So, here you go.  I might do this in multiple posts, or I might give up.

We spent the last leg of our trip at my parents house in western Washington.  The girls had lots of fun with all of their aunts and uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa.

We went swimming, even though this water was waaaaay to cold.  I couldn't handle it very well.  

Kenadi and Uncle Reid.  This year they got along pretty good.  I think they understood each other better.  Last year I think it was a battle of the youngest verses the oldest.  (Reid being the youngest sibling of mine, and Kenadi being the oldest sibling)

My beautiful sister Jenna. 

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!