Alan & Debbie

People person or not ?

2011-07-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I was really tired one morning so I decided to take a little nap while Weston was taking his morning nap. Needless to say Michael did not like this idea! He played for a little while, but eventually decided that it was more fun playing with someone else. So since he couldn't play with someone he was going to sleep with someone instead. When I woke up on the couch this is what I found next to me.

Second chapter of Michael's Birthday

2011-07-07T15:38:00.001-07:00

So another family in our ward has a boy who is only a couple days younger than Michael. Rashell asked me if we wanted to do a combined Birthday party for them with their friends. So Michael got really spoiled this year and had two parties. For Family Home Evening we were going to make a pinata for his party. We started to but I kind of took over because it was becoming a pretty bad mess fast. So to make F.H.E. still fun Alan blew up some balloons with the kids and let them play with them. Way to save the Day Dad!

Michael doing pretty good blowing up balloons for a little guy.

Weston out doing his brother!

Just kidding!

The "Monster" pinata! It took five days to complete this baby. So we had the party in our back yard. All the kids went swimming, then we broke the pinata, had cupcakes and then opened up presents.

Water balloons to play with in the pool of course (who would of thought?)

Weston enjoying the sunshine

Pinata time!

So I think I didn't need to put so many layers of paper on the pinata. Lets just say all the kids got plenty of turns trying to brake it.

"Monster" cupcakes

Michael made out like a bandit! I couldn't believe all the nice gifts that he got.

This is the other Birthday Boy (Benjamin)

Between Alan's Birthday, Michael's Birthday, Father's Day and Michael's Party all within a week it was pretty crazy around here. Now that it has been several weeks I think we need another party!

Michael's Birthday

2011-07-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

Michael turned 3 years old June 18th. We invited the Webb's (our friends from our old ward) to come over to our house for a Barbecue/Birthday Party for Michael. It was a lot of fun. The kids swam in the pool while we finished preparing the food. Then after dinner we had cake and ice cream and then opened up presents. I decided to try to make something fun for Michael's cake. It was supposed to be a magnifying glass looking at red ants. I think it turned out pretty good.

Michael was glowing by the end of the night! I just love to see my children so happy.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-07-07T12:27:00.001-07:00

For Memorial Day Weekend all of Alan's brothers and his parents came out to our place. It was alot of fun to have everyone here. I think Michael had a lot of fun too. He was having so... much fun that he didn't want to stop playing to go to the bathroom. That is right folks, I had poo and pee coming out of my ears! Luckily after everyone left he decided that he was potty trained again. Ya for that!!!!

Alan bought a swimming pool at a yard sale for $20 earlier this summer. It has been so much fun for us! He decided to buy a bunch of 10 cent gold fish to put in the pool for the weekend. What a cheap source of entertainment. It was and still is a hit!

The water was pretty cold that day but it didn't stop our boys from enjoying themselves. =)

We had a barbecue dinner down by the Columbia River Saturday night. We played in the river, fed birds, threw around the frisbee, road bikes, played on the equipment and ate our selves silly. It can't get much better than that.

Michael feeding the seagulls.

The older men feeding the seagulls. As you can tell by their faces, you never can get to old for bird feeding!

Monday morning we went to Palouse Falls. It took a little under 1 1/2 hours to drive there. We hiked as far down as we could with little children. Afterwards we ate our picnic lunch. It was a good thing we decided to go in the morning because as we were leaving the line of cars to come in were crazy (probably because it was a holiday).

Vlad, John & Tiff

Michael was so entertained with this little puddle of water. Between the puddle and rocks he was in heaven.
Vladimir had too much fun scaring his Mother and everyone else. I don't know how many times he got uncomfortably close to the edge looking down at the waterfall. (In this picture the water fall was directly below him).

Alaska trip

2011-07-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well this summer has been going by QUICK! I figured I should probably start posting things or else it will be impossible to catch up. Back in the middle of May we flew up to Alaska to see my family and to attend my younger brother Michael's High School Graduation. It was so good to see my family! Time is kind of a funny thing. I hadn't seen my family for a couple of years but of course I continued to have love for them. When I actually saw them and spent time with them my bond with them and my love for them grew. I did not realize that I was slowly growing distant from them as the time increased between visits even though I kept in touch with them over the phone. My family is amazing and I just can't help but smile and laugh when I think of them. What neat people! All of the pictures below were taken in Alaska.

Our little family

Brandon and Amy's family

I just love all of the mountains that are in Alaska. You see them any direction you look.

This is Laurie's husky. It is still a pup believe it or not. It was afraid to walk over the bridge so Alan had to carry it over mud and all.

Michael and Laurie still had to work some while we were there but they slipped away from work whenever they could to come play with us. Here we are hiking on their lunch break.

Michael's with his new love! Michael burst into tears when he saw our house on the ride home from the airport. He thought we were going back to Laurie's house and was devastated! All Michael wanted the whole time we were in Alaska was Laurie. Hopefully time will heal his wound! =)

Brett and Laurie let us take their four wheeler for a spin.

This view is from Laurie's front yard.

The whole family went out to eat right before Mike's Graduation.

Cute little Luke (my youngest brother) is sitting right next to my Mom in this picture.

I love this picture of my Dad with Michael. Michael hasn't stopped talking about Grandpa West ever since we got back. His most favorite thing to do is to try to make scary monster faces like Grandpa does. It is quite funny! I will have to try to get a picture of it sometime.

Here is my Mom with Weston. Doesn't Weston look like he is enjoying every minute of it.

Laurie and Brett (I promise he isn't as mean as he looks)

Kennedy (Amy's girl)

Allie (Katie's daughter)

Katie and Payton

(Momma's boy) Congrats Mike! We are so proud of you.

Ready For Take Off!

2011-05-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow this will be us! We are flying to Alaska to see my family. I am really excited about this trip because everyone is going to be there including my sister Amy and her family from Texas. It has been almost four years since we have been able to all get together. What a neat blessing this is. I just hope that my little Weston is feeling better by then.

Michael's many FACES

2011-05-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Michael's latest thing is to pull faces. Sometimes I will catch him looking at himself in the bathroom mirror practicing his "different" faces. Most are cute and funny but he has this one that has a little too much attitude. I wonder what he is going to be like in his teenage years? Hopefully his strong will will be used for good rather than bad.

One face that I will always like =)

Michael's two most favorite things

2011-05-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

1) His foam letters that that only cost me $1 at Walmart last year.

2) His brother which is always his back up when he gets bored.

The Boys (of course!)

2011-03-14T15:39:00.001-07:00

For two months solid after Christmas this is what I would find almost any hour of the day. Michael had so much fun acting out the nativity scene that he felt that he should dress like that every day(oh and of course his brother needed to participate as well.)

Now the latest thing is the so called "tent" game. It consists of throwing blankets on top of Weston and watching him try to get out. We just love that game! Weston is a pretty good sport for the first couple of minutes but then he gets frustrated as well. Hopefully sooner rather than later we will find another fun game.

This little guy is becoming a lot of fun! He is starting to really get into his toys and move around a lot more, has discovered his toes, makes quite a variety of noises, and has the best laugh ever! How can you turn down a face like this?

Finally!

2011-02-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know that I am bad at posting often, but I have a good excuse this time. =) I haven't been able to log into my account for the last two months because of cookies and java script problems on our computer. I have tried and tried to fix the problems (which I still haven't figured out yet). My brilliant sister suggested to me Saturday on the phone to try a different internet browser and it worked! Thankyou Amy!

Lots has happened since two months ago but I don't want to overwhelm you all and I don't have the time to post all of it right now so I just thought I would post some of our Christmas pictures. We went to Alan's parent's home in Ashton Idaho for Christmas. It was a lot of fun. I just love seeing all of the family! We were able to snow shoe, ride snow machines, go to the Rexburg Temple, play racquetball ball and of coarse visit and play with family. We can't wait until we get to see them all again.

Michael with a lot of his cousins watching a movie (hence why no one would look at me).

The kids and some of the adults acting out the story of Jesus' birth.

Michael was a sheep and loved every minute of it!

Weston's first Christmas!

Michael opening up his race car set that Rob & Heather gave him.

Two of my guys just enjoying the Christmas break.

The Boys

2010-12-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Well as most of you know Weston is here with us and is healthy as can be. He was born on September 30th and weighed 7lbs 4 oz at the time. I have been meaning to post for quite some time now but between two kids and the holidays free time has been kind of limited. I am not even going to mention the projects that were "supposed" to be done by Christmas this year that are going to have to be for either Birthdays of next Christmas. =)

The first month and a half after having Weston was pretty hard for Michael. I think he has always liked Weston, but he didn't like the change that took place with it. The thing that triggered it all was me going to the hospital and not being home for a day and a half. Once I came home he was always worried that I was going to leave him again. After he realized I wasn't going anywhere then he started having a hard time sharing Mom's time with his brother. I think he was mad at me more than anyone else. Now Michael does really good. He loves Weston to pieces. The kisses and hugs never stop. Just yesterday I caught Michael showing Weston his foam letters and telling him what each letter was. It was really cute. In the morning he will always go up to Weston and say "Good morning Weston. Did you sleep good?" and then kiss his hands.

I am so happy to have Weston as part of our family. I would have to honestly say that it would feel really weird and incomplete without him now. Now if I can only get him to sleep completely through the night!

Michael's most favorite thing is to have me sing songs to both him and Weston in his bed. His face just lights up when Weston is able to join us.

Michael's B-Day

2010-07-03T15:34:00.001-07:00

Well that is right, our little man is two years old now! Boy do we love him. Seriously this little guy is a bubble of joy. It is hard to not be happy and laughing around him. I really wonder what our next little guy will be like. He probably won't be like Michael but I can't imagine him not being happy with Michael around.

For Michael's Birthday we were going to go to a water park in Moses Lake which is like a hour and a half away from us. That morning it was raining and wasn't supposed to stop until around two that afternoon so we decided to go to the other side of the Columbia River that afternoon where there is a little sand bank that Michael could play in. When we got there there was no sand bank in sight! The water level was so high that it was completely covered. So we went with plan C. We jumped into a canal that runs through some orchards around here. I didn't get very far into it because the water was too swift and deep. Since I am in such... good shape right now and carry a nice rock in my stomach I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get out of it. Alan took Michael for a little bit in it, but mostly just Alan played in it. It wasn't the best place for little kids but at least we got to get into some water.

Later that night we had a family friend (Rox) come over. We had cake and icecream and opened up presents. Rox made the cake. It was a monkey face (very cute). Between the cake and the candles Michael was fascinated! Over all I think Michael had a fun day.

Baby Announcement

2010-05-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Friday I went to the doctors to find out what I will be having. It looks like I am really going to be out numbered in this family! That is right, I am having another boy. I have to admit that both Alan and I wanted a little girl this time but we are really excited for this boy to enter our little family. Hopefully the boys will grow up to be great buds.
That same day I packed away all of the baby girl clothes that I had been buying at garage sales. I won't be using those for quite some time, but hey at least I got them all for REALLY CHEAP! I am also glad that I had only made one girl baby blanket. As for names we have NO idea as to what we are going to name this child. We had agreed upon a girl name but hadn't even talked about boy names. Boy names are a lot harder for us to see eye to eye on. With our son Michael I finally just gave in at the last moment because this baby needed to have a name. Don't get me wrong, I love the name Michael. It is just weird and kind of hard to have both my son and my brother have the same name. Life does go on though! =)
Anyways the doctor said that things are looking great. He also said to me, " I am not sure how big of a family you want but you are a great prospect to have a large family. Your babies are really cute (I have to agree with him there), they are healthy, and you are at the prime age to be having babies." Thanks doc! Maybe I need to stop paying him so much.

Still here and kicking!

2010-05-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you who do not know yet I am pregnant! We are very excited about it, but for me the excitement went out the door when the nausea hit. I am 19 weeks along now (almost the half way mark!) and due October 6th. I get to find out what we are having this weekend so I guess I will have to make sure to write again soon. I haven't been able to get on the computer for the last several months because of how sick it would make me. It still makes me sick but not as bad so I thought I would try to update everything.

I love this picture! His smile makes me think of a little beaver. What a cute!

The beginning of February Me and Michael went out to Portland to help my sister-in-law/ good friend with her new baby. Eli and Michael really enjoyed each other's company for the first couple of days! After that they were both pretty done with being nice to each other.

Jessie and their new baby Alex. He was a BIG baby! I can't remember the exact weight but I believe he was 9 pounds and something ounces. Way to go Jess!

Michael woke up from his nap one day and insisted on wearing his hat and flip flops. His sandals were hurting his toes so bad but he would cry when I would try to take them off.

Okay so I kind of jumped the gun and made a baby girl blanket. I figure if it isn't a girl it's alright because we have a lot of baby boy blankets. Better be safe than sorry.... right?

Easter morning. This picture makes me laugh because Michael looks so innocent and cute in this picture and Alan looks like some scary guy that you wouldn't want to mess with. I promise he really is a nice guy.... most of the time! =)

Erik and Jessie came down here for Easter and General Conference. It was a lot of fun to have the company. We watched a lot of General conference, which was really good, and we had a little Easter Egg hunt in our front yard that had splotches of grass at the time. The grass still needs some help but it is looking a lot better now.

The next week Alan's parents stopped by our house for a couple of days. We went to one of the parks out next to the Colombia River and ate lunch, played croquet, and rode bikes. It was a lot of fun. We sure do love having family and friends come visit us. Hint, hint everyone! =)

Alan trying to climb one of the big trees at the park. Alan's Mom tried after him! We love you Annette! For those of you who do not know my mother-in-law she has the energy of ten oxen and could probably out do me any day.

So I have been going to a lot of yard sales lately. I find it really fun to find stuff you need or want for a cheap price. I get that part of me from my Mom. Love you Mom! Anyways these couches were one of our finds. They look pretty gross all dirty but look at the cushion that I have washed. I will have to show you a picture when I get it all cleaned. I am about half way done and have put a lot of hours into it. If anyone knows any tricks on how to clean upholstery I am all ears.

This is the shower in our master bathroom. It had a lot of mold issues so we tore all of the tile, Sheetrock and some of the lumber out. Alan has laid the new tile already and will be grouting it this weekend. I can't wait to show you a picture of the final results. He did an awesome job!

Christmas Festivities

2010-01-28T19:18:00.001-08:00

Sorry that some of these pictures are kind of old. I have started a bad habit of downloading pictures off my camera only once a month. So this year for Christmas we decided to do our own family traditions before we left for Idaho to go to Alan's folk's place. It was really fun for us! I made this HUGE dinner for the three of us. Afterwards we told Michael the story of Christ's birth, sang Christmas songs and then opened up most of our presents to each other. I really didn't want to haul all of the presents to Idaho so Alan and I opened up all of our gifts and saved half of Michael's gifts to take with us. I think we are going to do that from now on.

This year I decided to make bookmarks for all of Alan's family that was going to be at his parents house (Sorry Annie and Sharen's families). I also made some for his siblings that are out on their missions right now. I made a total of 11 bookmarks. It took me all year to do them, but they were a lot of fun to do.

Grandpa Mattson and Michael enjoying Michael's new book from Aunt Heather.

Michael just loved being around all of his cousins. I was afraid he might have a hard time since he did during Thanksgiving, but this time he did great!

Alan's parents have a bird that Alan just loves. He showed it to Michael and Michael feel in love too. In this first picture he is trying to kiss the bird!

Since we have been back from Christmas the weather here has been pretty nice. It has been raining quite a bit but the temperature hasn't been very cold. Once we all got over our colds we were out side immediately. Michael was so happy to be able to play outside again!

So for Alan's church calling he needed me to make him a batch of home made root beer. I have never made it before and there are definitely things I will have to change to the recipe for next time, but it was a lot of fun for Me and Michael to try!

As you all know we have been working on our house a lot! We decided to get Michael a tool set for Christmas so that he can have his own tools to help with. =) (Alan also loves this gift!)

Cute but not innocent

2009-12-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

I know that I have claimed to be working on the house for the last several months, but here is proof why it is taking so long. Normally I work on the house while Michael is taking a nap, but sometimes I try to finish what I am working on after Michael wakes up. This is the end result. Oh plus all the drywall mud spread throughout the house where little fingers has touched.

Isn't this such a cute picture of Michael. Watch out for that smile! That smile says I think I am doing something notty, having a lot of fun doing it and getting away with it. Most of the time it is something that he should not be doing. We still love him though. How can you not love that face!

Michael just loves our Christmas tree! The first day wasn't a lot of fun while he was trying to figure out his boundaries but since then it has been really nice to have some festive Christmas decorations up. I just love Christmas time!

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree that we cut down. There is nothing like the smell of a fresh pine tree sitting in your living room. I know the decorations aren't much, but it's ten times better this year than last years decorations.

This year I decided to try to make homemade cards for family and friends. I also made chocolate, mint chocolate, and white chocolate coated pretzels for friends and neighbors. I have to admit I started getting grouchy by last night because of the stress overload, but as soon as we started delivering the plates my mood changed instantly. Service is such an amazing thing. It helps you forget yourself and think of others a little bit more. I feel that our family is so blessed. We are surrounded by great people, have family and friends and have the Savior in our lives. What more could you ask for.

Halloween

2009-11-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween we went to the Ward carnival. They had lots of fun booths to go to. Our favorite was the one where we got to pound the deacon's heads with a foam mallet every time their head popped up out of their hole. Michael was laughing pretty good. He thought it was a lot of fun to bonk their heads. Afterwards we went home so that we could pass out candy to the trick or treaters. It was a lot of fun to us because we aren't use to getting trick or treaters living in apartments. Michael would run to the door every time someone knocked, but then would cry when they would leave and he couldn't follow. Next year we will take him for his first time. I think he will really enjoy it when he gets to go himself.

I'm back!

2009-10-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

So this picture was taken like two months ago but since I haven't down loaded my pictures off my camera for quite some time I am a little behind on past events that have happened. We are playing on the little sand bar next to the Columbia river. Michael is off to the right and on the left is our dear Alan buried in the sand. I thought my art work was pretty good but Alan for some reason didn't appreciate it. Needless to say he had drowned by the time we left.

This picture was taken right before we moved. Michael just loves helping me in the kitchen when I am making dinner. This day he really wanted to have a apron on so that he could be just like me. Oh we just love that little guy!

A week after we moved in to our new house I got a call from my older sister Amy saying that she was about to have her baby. Michael and I were able to go down to Provo Utah to help her out for a week. It was sure fun to see them and their new baby girl Kennedy (I think that is how you spell it).

Michael absolutely loved the new baby! Whenever she was awake he would make sure that he was in the same room and of course try to touch her. He was constantly saying "baby" and pointing to her. In this picture he is "softly" stroking her face. He was pretty good about being soft with the baby.

Here is a picture of My Sister, Me and The Kids. Brandon (Amy's husband) was nice enough to take it for us. It was so neat to see them and I hope that I get to see them again soon.

Now the fun is over and it's back to work. Alan and I have decided to re due the wall texture throughout the whole house, of course paint it and put trim on as well. Besides all of that we want to put tile in the front entrance and kitchen, fix the deck outside, refinish the fire place, and have tons of yard work and wood to be cut for the winter. All I have to say is that there is no room to complain of boredom now! No, we really love our new house and feel so blessed to have been able to get into a home. The space is just wonderful and the house has a really good feeling to it. I just love it here! There will probably always be some kind of project going on for awhile, but you are all welcome here anytime. We would sure love to see you. Oh, and for those of you who do not know we still live in Richland Washington. We just moved five minutes away from our old apartment.

Moving!

2009-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to update everyone on our house. We finally signed the papers last night. That means that we should be able to move in by this weekend! Ya!!! We are so.... excited! There is still a lot of little things that I need to do around here before moving day so I better cut this short. Everyone of course is welcome to come and visit us. We just love company! There is a lot of projects that need to be done to the house but when we are finished it is going to look awesome! The funny thing is that Alan and I are so excited to get started on fixing it up. I can't tell you the number of nights I haven't been able to fall asleep for a while because I couldn't get my brain to stop thinking about what and how I am going to fix things up! I just love projects!

Our First House!

2009-08-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the house that we are in the process of buying right now. We are so.... excited to be moving into our own home but are also really sad to be leaving our ward. We will still be in the same stake but it is not the same.

This picture I got off the MLS listing. Everything looks the same except the grass. It is now a dried yellow lawn because of lack of water. As of right now I have no idea when we are moving in. In our contract it says that we are supposed to close by Sept 4th (less than a week away!) but I will be really surprised if we are able to close by then. The bank/owner has to have someone go in and hang a piece of sheet rock on one wall because of an exposed wire on the wall. We aren't aloud to do it ourselves and our lender can't finalize the loan until that is done because of it being a "hazard".

I have been packing up a little each day for the last week, but I have a lot still to do and cleaning on top of that. I plan on trying to be ready by next weekend just in case. Wish me luck!

Everything!

2009-08-29T11:29:00.001-07:00

Well it has been awhile so I thought I better post "some" stuff that has happened in the last couple of months! =) This first picture is a picture taken on my Birthday. Alan surprised me with a Dairy Queen Ice cream Cake. You can't go wrong with ICE CREAM! It was really good but I think the next time we want ice cream cake I am going to try to make it. Dairy Queen cakes are expensive. They are good but not great, especially for the money that you pay. How hard can it be right!

I promised some people that I would post some pictures of the baby quilt that I made for my sister Amy. This is her first baby so I wanted to do something special for her. It was the very first quilt that I have ever made. It was a lot more work then I figured it would be but I really enjoyed making it. Now I want to try to make some quilts for our beds at home. Oh boy what have I started! (The coloring in these pictures aren't the best, sorry.)

Alan's BABY sister Heather got married in Idaho the end of July. I am so.... mad at my self because I didn't take ANY pictures the whole day! As soon as we would get to the next destination I would realize that I forgot my camera. (Maybe some people will be nice enough to e-mail me some pictures... hint, hint)

While we were there I also got to see some of my relatives that live in Idaho and my sister Amy. My cousin Sharla was kind enough to let me use her house to throw Amy a shower. I as afraid that I do not have any pictures of that either. I did take some pictures but it was on my sister's camera.

Here are some pictures taken at Egene Lakes. All of the kids really enjoyed it especially Michael. He just loves it when he can play in the dirt/mud and go anywhere he wants to. I think he is going to be really independent like his father.

Grandpa Mattson giving all of the kids a ride on his tractor.

The other day I decided that I was going to try to take a nice picture of him for the wall. As you can tell that idea didn't go so well.

Boulder Cave

2009-07-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to go to Boulder Cave. It's about two hours away from us up in the mountains. It ended up being so much fun! It was a beautiful drive there. When you get there you have to hike on a little dirt trail for probably not even a mile to the cave and right next to it was a nice waterfall. We took flash lights with us so that we could explore the cave and played at the waterfall for the afternoon.

In this picture Alan finally got the courage to emerge completely in the water. Normally you would think no big deal, but the water was really cold! Oh he just makes me laugh sometimes.

Afterwards we decided to hike up the trail a little further. Up ahead we found another little waterfall. A family there were using it as a water slide. We thought it was such a great idea that we both took a turn going down it as well. We both only went once since the water was so cold, but it was a lot of fun. We definitely will have to go back there again sometime.

The Fourth of July

2009-07-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

So for this Fourth of July we decided to go to Portland to visit Jessie, Erik, and of course Eli! We decided to drive there a more scenic way. From the road you could see Mount Rainier really well. It took a couple of hours longer to get there, but it was fun to see new things.

We met Jessie and Erik in the mountains close to this random lake. The water was surprisingly warm. We also tried to go on a short hike but they didn't really have any trails around the area we were at. Maybe we will have to go for a better hike next time.

When we got back the boys were filthy! They really enjoyed taking a bath together. It is always more fun when there is someone else to play with.

The next day they took us to this really cool swimming place. It is specially made for children but it has enough stuff that adults can still have a good time as well. Michael didn't really like it at first but after a while he started to really enjoy himself.

Alan forced Michael to go down this water slid with him quite a few times. At first he would cry at the end, but eventually he warmed up to it. It was a lot of fun to be able to spend some time together as a family and with Jessie and Erik. Now it is their turn to come see us! =)

Alaska Trip!

2009-07-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last month we had the opportunity to go visit my family in Alaska. It was so fun to spend some time up there with my family. I just love being around them. It is too bad that we live so far away from them. One of the first things we did while we were there was drive to Anchorage so that we could have a picnic lunch and take a walk along the ocean. It was really pretty and fun. Next to the trail they have a park so we let the boys play there for a little while before we had lunch. My camera ran out of batteries after the first picture I took so I didn't get any pictures of anyone else. My Mom and Sisters will have to send me some (hint, hint!). =)

Early Monday morning Alan and I went fishing with some guys from my parents ward. They have a fishing boat so they drove us a ways on the Deshka (?) river and knew exactly were to stop. They set us up right over a fishing hole and we were able to catch this 20 lb King Salmon. It was a small fish for Kings but I didn't care. I was just so excited to catch something! Alan also got a fish on his line but it got off his line after a couple of minutes of pulling it in. Next time I want to fish silvers because they come in in bigger groups and you are aloud to catch more then one.

This picture is taken in Denali National Park. The trails in the park were kind of boring so we decided to play along the river for a little while before our white water rafting trip started. Here Alan and Brett were trying to throw in a big rock. Brett almost feel in! I love it! Boys just make me laugh!

Here's Alan in his stud dry suit! You wear your clothes on underneath them and they are supposed to keep your cloths dry. Everyone was wet free except for me at the end. Mine had two leaks in it, one in each leg!

Continue of Alaska Trip

2009-07-08T10:09:00.001-07:00

We wanted to go on a hike that Michael could go on with us. My sister Laurie suggested this one called Lazy Mountain. By the name of it I thought it sounded PERFECT! Ha, I guess you can't judge a mountain by it's name! It was 2 1/2 miles up with an elevation increase of 3,000 ft. Lets just say that it was like being on a stair stepper for 2 and a half hours straight and then you still have to go down the mountain. It was a lot of fun but also a HUGE eye opener of how out of shape I really am! Of course Laurie was skipping and singing the whole way up.

Alan and I had to turn around to go down the mountain about 100 yards before we reached the top of the mountain because of Little Michael. It was getting way too cold for him and he wasn't doing to good. Needless to say he caught a cold because of the trip. Eventually Michael feel asleep as we were coming down the mountain which helped a lot.

I had to include this picture because Michael's hair just looks so funny. With the way the light is hitting his hair it looks like he has a mo hawk!

This is a picture of everyone who went on the hike. The far left is Laurie and her husband Brett, Katie's husband Troy is in the middle and our little family is on the far right.

Alan also got the chance to go golfing late one night and use my Dad's chain saw to cut down a bunch of trees in my parent's yard (his idea). We played lots of games and just enjoyed everyone's company. I am so glad that we were able to go visit my family this summer. I wish I would of taken more pictures of everyone else but at least I have the fun memories! I sure love my family and I can't wait until we get to see them again. Thanks you guys for putting up with us. We sure did enjoy seeing all of you!

The Birthday Boys!

2009-07-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

We have a lot of Birthdays in the month of June for our little family. Alan's was the 16th and Michael's was two days later. Since we were flying out to Alaska on Michael's Birthday we decided to celebrate it a day early. With everyone being sick and the big trip coming up we didn't get to do too much for their Birthdays but it was still fun.

Alan requested the usual (strawberry rhubarb pie). I couldn't find rhubarb in the stores anywhere so I ended up having to buy one. It was really.... good, especially since I didn't have to make it! =)

I actually let Michael make a huge mess with his cup cake and he loved it. I think most of it ended up on the counter or the floor instead of his mouth but it wasn't too bad to clean up.

We bought Michael a hiking back pack, a quiet book and some clothes for his Birthday. He kind of got spoiled but most of the gifts were for us so what can I say. We can now take Michael on hikes with us which is a lot of fun! The quiet book was a purchase in hopes to help keep little ones quiet and still during church. We tried it for the first time last Sunday. It worked for a while but I guess I can't expect too much. Church is a long time for little guys. Michael really is a pretty good boy and we sure do love him!

What was I thinking!

2009-06-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

So I decided to go crazy and cut my hair. I have had my hair the same way for so long that I was getting really sick and tired of it. To some this hair cut might not be too extreme, but to me it is! I really don't mind the length of it now, but the layers didn't quite turn out like I was hoping. You can't see the shortest layers in this picture but take my word on it that they don't look good. Lets just say that I won't be wearing my hair completely down for a while.

(I used the timer on my camera to take this picture. You just can't beat the run and strike a pose real fast experiences. Not to bad for the first try hu!)

Camping Trip

2009-06-06T10:39:00.001-07:00

Alan's brother's and their families came here for Memorial Day weekend. It is always so much fun to have family around! Friday night we went camping around Walla Walla. Here are some pictures of Michael in and around the tent. We took him camping several times last year so I thought it would be no big deal this time. Ha, can I just say that the crawling/learning how to walk stage is really hard out in the woods! The spot that we found had lots of thorn plants all over. Michael couldn't crawl around freely like he wanted to and he was putting everything in his mouth. One night was plenty for the two of us.

As you can see in the background we still have little old "Mighty Max"! I am sure that we will have to buy another vehicle in the near future, but while he is still running we will continue to run him. It is a good thing we have a truck because I don't think all of our camping gear would of fit in our car.

Here is Michael and Eli helping pick up our camp site. They are such great little helpers!

House Hunting Again!

2009-05-16T10:22:00.001-07:00

For those of you who did not know, we put an offer on a house about two weeks ago. They accepted our offer and we were all set on buying it, that is until we had the inspection done on it. We knew that it had "problems" but not as bad of problems as it does. Lets just say the house had foundation issues, roofing issues, and a lot of mold! The inspection was well worth the $300 that it cost. I am just so..... glad that we were able to get out of the deal. Phew!

So now it's time to pick up our scattered dreams and start searching again. I am sure that one of these days we will find something that is perfect for us. Until then we will continue saving, searching, and swimming in the apartment complexes swimming pool for free. Yes!

That had to hurt!

2009-05-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

As you can see Michael has a black eye. Last night he feel down hitting his face on my elbow. Ouch! There was an instant bruise off to the right of his eye. Michael takes after me and bruises quiet easy. We wondered if he would get a black eye from it. Sure enough, this morning it was there! He is such a good sport though. He hasn't complained about it one bit. As you can see in the pictures he is still happy and up to the usual mischief. Hopefully it doesn't hurt as bad as it looks. Now if only I could learn to not complain so much!

Play time!

2009-05-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Michael loves having friends over to play. This is one of our next door neighbor's kids. I was baby sitting her so that her parents could go on a date that night.

All they did the whole night was eat toys and then eye each other's toys for the next round of eating.

Sharing is a hard concept to grasp right now, but Michael would rather share his toys any day then have to play by himself. You just got to love him!

Easter

2009-04-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

This Easter we ran out of time on Sunday to look for our Easter baskets so we ended up doing it for Family Home Evening the next day. Michael didn't quite understand what he was supposed to be doing, but with a little bit of help he figured it out. They ran out of plastic eggs at the store so I bought these plastic jelly beans instead. Boy did Alan make fun of me! He kept calling them jelly slugs. Anyways we hid several of those for Michael to find that had fish crackers and baby puffs in them. He also got this cute green hippo. I probably like it more then Michael does but that is okay!

(That bag of candy is not Michael's. I don't want you to think that I give my little guy candy at 10 months old!)

My old roommate and friend NaeDene came to visit us for a week. It was a lot of fun to have another girl around! She was such a good sport about finding her Easter basket. I knew that Alan wouldn't be too thrilled if I made his too hard to find so I decided to make NaeDene's the hardest. I ended up having to tell her where I hid it. There are a lot of great places to hide things in our piano. =) This year Al hid my basket pretty good as well. I had to unscrew the panel on the wall that holds the air filter to our apartment. It was behind the air filter sitting there between the framed walls. Next year I might not be able to find mine!

NaeDene took this picture for us. We have VERY FEW pictures of all of us together! This one isn't that great but at least it has everyone. I love Holidays! Thanks to everyone who went along with my idea's of family traditions! It really means a lot to me.

Anniversary

2009-03-24T14:12:00.001-07:00

It was our Anniversary a little over a week ago. We have been married for two years now! Boy does time fly by fast. It landed on a Monday this year so we decided to celebrate it the weekend before. We actually got a babysitter for Michael and went to the temple and then out to dinner. It was a really nice night but I have to admit that I missed having Michael around. How can you not love that kid! On our actual Anniversary date Alan brought me home these beautiful flowers! I always tease Alan about not being romantic so after I got these I told him that maybe there is hope for him. He wished that he hadn't gotten me the flowers after all. j/k

The True Michael Is Coming Out!

2009-03-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Michael loves to pose for pictures! Just kidding it actually took a lot on my part to even get him to look at me. He was really into checking out the tree.

He really is a HAPPY kid! All he needs is a little attention from you and your his new best friend.

Michael loves rocks just as much as his father if not MORE! He likes to look at them and feel their different textures, but most of all he loves to EAT them. Hey if you can't beat them join them! j/k

I have to laugh at this picture because this is a normal for Michael. That face he is pulling is his attack face. I shot it right before he started charging at me!

This last picture is of Michael showing you that he is fearless of heights (or oblivious)! He will go right over the edge of anything if you let him. Oh boy!

New Infatuation!

2009-03-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jessie and Erik's family came to visit us. We all loved having them here, but I think Michael enjoyed it the most! He is absolutely is in LOVE with Eli! Anywhere or anything Eli was doing Michael wanted to be there and participating in! I thought it was pretty cute and Eli was a pretty good sport about it. I am afraid that I didn't take any pictures of them but I did find these pictures from Christmas break. Even back then Michael liked Eli. Now it is just more fun because he can stand up (leaning against something) and follow him around (crawl/army scoot). When I looked at these pictures I had to laugh. Look at the size difference. There is a year between them but in these pictures Michael looks just as heavy and round as Eli if not more! I do believe that Michael has lost some weight since these pictures were taken but his cheeks are still just as big. Got to love them!

Update

2009-01-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we had someone hit us in the Baskin Robins parking lot. Their hitch hit our back bumper and put a nice hole right through it. They don't make bumpers like they use to! Anyways, she was really nice about the whole thing. She came into the store to find out who she hit instead of hitting us and running. So right now we are trying to get estimates and get the whole insurance thing figured out. Lots of fun! I will be very happy when it is all taken care of. At least we are still able to drive the car around.

At the moment we are trying to find either a house or some property to buy. It's a lot of fun to go house shopping. Some days it gets a little frustrating because you have to look at a lot of dumps before you find something decent. What we are finding a lot of are modular homes on really nice pieces of property. All of the houses are on these little lots. At least time is on our side. We are in no huge hurry so we will just keep on looking until we find that good deal. It will be really nice when we get into our own place. Our apartment is pretty nice and is just fine for our little family, but we would really like to be putting our money into something rather than keep giving it away in rent. I also can't wait for the day that I have a washer and dryer in my own house! Five loads of laundry and a 20 pound baby isn't the easiest thing to haul around the apartment complex and down a steep flight of stairs to the laundry facility. I use to say that cleaning showers was my "least" favorite thing to do on my cleaning list. Now I would have to say that laundry tops it! Hey look at the bright side, I always get my arm work out in on those days!

Funny things!

2009-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been around Michael knows that he LOVES his pacifier! The funny thing is that he not only likes to suck it but he loves to treat it as a chewing toy. I don't have the heart to take it away from him. I figure that there is no way that he will be able to swallow it so why not! (It is really funny when he has it shoved into his mouth and then gives you that big famous "Michael smile"!)

A girl in our ward gave this warm little outfit to us for Michael. Doesn't it make you want to just squeeze him! As nice as this is it is impossible to buckle him into his car seat with this on, not to mention that he HATES it, so we only put it on when we are going to be outside for a while.

Grandpa's Funeral

2009-01-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago my Grandpa West passed away at age 82. We will all miss him dearly. Towards the end there he had a very poor quality of life so I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we are glad that he is no longer in pain and is able to get around again. I know that he is now in a beautiful place surrounded by many loved ones!

It has been I think around eight years since all of my Dad's siblings have ALL been together at one time. The back row are the six brothers and the front row are my Dad's seven sisters. I don't know how my Grandma was able to have 13 kids. She is definitely a very strong giving lady! I sure look up to her.

That weekend was the first time My Dad was able to meet my son Michael. It was also the first time my sister Laurie (who also lives in Alaska) got to meet Michael. That was the high light of the whole trip for me. I sure love my family!

This is a picture taken of some of my first cousins. It was towards the end of the lunch-in so there are a number of them that were there that are missing from this picture. My sister Laurie is two people to the left of me trying to get Michael to stop crying (he had his feel of pictures taking!) and my oldest sister Amy is the third girl from my right. My Mom, my sister Katie, and my brothers Mike and Luke couldn't be there. I sure did miss them but was so.... glad to see the rest of my family even if it was for a funeral.

Michael's New Favorite Things!

2008-12-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

I have to apologize for all of the pictures but I am kind of camera happy these days. Every new little thing that Michael does I think is so ... cute that I HAVE to take a picture of it. His new latest things are to play with his feet and to eat plastic. I just can't help but love this little boy!

I thought Michael looked so cute in his little overalls that I took a picture of him. He has been growing out of things so quickly these days that if I don't take advantage of the moment he doesn't fit into it by the next time I remember that I wanted to take a picture.

Look at how happy he is!!! All you have to do is look at him and he will smile. He definitely loves people.

A Day at the Park

2008-12-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we went down to the park as a family to play around a little bit. The weather has been so nice lately that we wanted to take advantage of it before it gets really cold. I am afraid to say that we still have not seen snow yet! We are going to Ashton Idaho for Christmas so at least we have a better chance of having a white Christmas.

Vlad's off

2008-11-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Ashton Idaho to spend a little more time with Vlad (Al's brother) before he left for his mission. While we were there Alan bought a chain saw and convinced everyone to go cut some lumber for his parents wood burning stove. Alan loved every minute of it!

Michael slept in a suitcase until my sister-in-law brought her other pack and play up there with her. Thanks Tiff!

Well the trip was a lot of fun but really quick. It was hard with Michael. He has slept through the night ever since he was 2 months old. When we got there he woke up between 2 to 5 times a night! Ucky! I think the long drive, the time change, and sleeping in a unfamiliar place with Me and Al in the same room could of had a lot to do with it. Now that we are home he has been waking up once during the night. He will cry for a couple of minutes and then fall right back to sleep. All I can say is weird!

Halloween Party

2008-11-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago I threw a Halloween Dinner/Party. It was a lot of work but it turned out really good. We had some gross looking food, games and a ghost story! Everyone had a great time. Here are just a couple pictures of the food we ate.

Here were our two waitresses for the evening, Iona Ax & Mira Mains.

I've been tagged!

2008-10-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I was supposed to post the picture from my sixth folder, sixth picture. This so happened to be the picture that it landed on. Last summer we went camping near the snake river for Al's Birthday. One of my friends from work let me barrow her raft so that we could go down the snake the next day. We broke two paddles in the process! Oh the memories!

Idaho Trip

2008-09-23T22:55:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago Me and Alan went to Idaho to visit family and such. While we were there Katie had her baby boy, Payton. He is such a cute little guy! This was a new experience for me to see one of my "own" sisters having a child. I definitely had a love for that baby the moment I laid eyes on him. Katie will make such a good Mom! I am glad that I got to see her and Troy one last time before they moved up to Alaska. I am going to really miss them.

While we were there lots of events took place. We had Rachael's farewell and Michael's baby blessing the day after we arrived. Alan's sister Rachael left for her mission and we got to take her to the MTC that Wednesday. While in Provo I got to see Amy and Brandon for a couple of hours and we got to see Alan's Grandma. The next morning Katie had her baby. The whole trip was a blast! It was so great to see everyone exspecially the ones who traveled a distance to be there. Hopefully the next time we go we will get to see the people that we missed.

Michael got enough attention to last him a life time! His cousins found a new favorite doll to play with. I thought it was pretty cute, and he didn't mind for the most part.

Michael is getting so big!

2008-08-28T13:52:00.001-07:00

About a month ago I had to put his baby support for his car seat away. He has goten too long for it.

A lady from our ward gave us this chair for Michael. I love it because it is impossible for him to tip over! He can sit on the counter to watch me make dinner and I don't have to worry that he is going to fall off. He just loves it!

This is the jumper that I bought for him from a baby thrift store. He is a little too small for it right now, but he loves it when I pull his legs to help him go up and down. He is such a wiggly worm that I think he will really get a kick out of it once his feet can touch the ground.

Michael just loves Alan's book shelf. You can put him in front of it and he will be entertained for hours just looking at all the different colored books. Hopefully some day he will like to read the books! =)

Father Like Son

2008-08-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

Things that Alan and Michael have in common:

1- Al and Michael both tend to make horrible faces when they get cranky.

2- They like to sleep with their mouths open.

3- Before getting up five minutes of stretching must take place.

4- All it takes is one look and you can't say no.

5- They both are really good at making you laugh.

6- And they love to spend time with each other.

THE BIG DAY!

2008-08-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

On June 18th we had our first addition to our family. Little Michael has been a complete joy to have in our home. He is so cute and sweet. We just love him to pieces!

Alan couldn't stop smiling at the hospital! What a cute Dad.

I had to include this picture because I thought it was kind of funny. See, they are cute even when they cry.