September celebrations

I recall a day when I was about 16, I made a comment to my mom, "Mom, between holidays and birthdays, our family has something fun to celebrate in every single month of the year except for September. September is such a boring month."

Fast forward
about 8 years
to 2003......

Josh and I got engaged in August of that year, had an insanely/stupidly short engagement of 6 weeks, and got married on September 12th.

....and then I remembered my comment to my mom about nothing cool ever happening in September. And I thought to myself, hey! Now there's something to celebrate every month of the year!! Little did I know that our September nuptials were only the beginning of September celebrations for our family.

Fast forward 2 more years....Joanna was born on 9.10.05.

......then 3 years later, Jayden joined the fam on 9.1.08.

And in a matter of 5 years, our little family now has three good reasons to celebrate in the month of September. And eat tons of cake. ;-)

Jayden's 2nd birthday

Funny story about this dinosaur cake. My parents were in town for a couple days in-between the two birthdays, so we celebrated with them the last night they were in town. (which meant that we had even more birthday cake that week!!)

When it was time for Jayden and Joanna to blow out the candles, we told Joanna to make a wish. I wasn't sure if she'd know what that meant, but apparently she did because she proceeded to close her eyes, and whisper in a nearly inaudible voice, "I wish for twinkle toes shoes!!"

Josh and I chuckled to ourselves because she'd been asking for these shoes all summer long.

Twinkle toe shoes

Looks like her rich fairy godmother granted her wish this year. She was SO thrilled so I guess it was worth the steep price tag. (have you price checked Sketchers twinkle toes lately?! Talk about highway robbery. At least I had a coupon.) :-D

And for those of us who grew up in the 80's and remember the hideous fashions like those of Punky Brewster, you'll look at Twinkle toe shoes and want to barf all over them. At least they're on her feet; not mine. ;-)

Joanna's 5th birthday

It's Potty Training Time Again

It seems like forever since I've had to think about the whole business of potty training. Life sure gets a little easier when two of your three kids can do their business without interfering with all of my busy-ness all day.
Lately Jayden has started to tell us when he needs a diaper change. He'll find me and say, "Mommy, I kinky." Oh really, son? (he means stinky!)

One day I came into the bathroom and found Jayden chillin' on his new potty chair with some light reading material. He'd taken his diaper off himself and grabbed the most suitable book on the subject at hand, and proceeded to do his business!!!

a little taste of summer

Let's see how vague I can be on the details. We did lots of fun stuff. This, that, and the other thing. We've sure had a fantastic summer doing everything we've done! ;-P



The most exciting part of our family's summer has been my nephew's baptism. Isaiah turned eight years old in June, and in order to get as much family at his baptism, it was held over the 4th of July weekend. That's my bro-in-law, Jesse, a.k.a. Bishop Carlson.

Isaiah on his baptism day.
This little guy was born while I was on my mission and now he's baptized?! Did I blink?

C.L.A.S.S.I.C. picture of my husband. 'nuf said.
(cousins Isaiah and Josiah reading a book on the couch, Joanna sucking her thumb, Jayden on the floor looking at a book about Cars. <----c.l.a.s.s.i.c. Jayden shot, too, I might add. He loves anything CARS!)

While Josh and the kids went to Isaiah's baptism in western WA, I went on a week-long road trip with my kid bro, Derek, back to our mother land. The place where we grew up. North Dakota. Or if you're from ND, it's pronounced, Norda Kota. Ya, sure, you betcha. ;-)

Derek was a headin' back for his 10 yr. class reunion, and I had made plans months in advance to visit a bunch of my old friends from childhood/young adulthood. In Dickinson, the real homecoming weekend is always 4th of July weekend. That's when all the class reunions are held, and TONS of people return to see old friends. The place was hoppin'!! There it's called "Roughrider Weekend" to commemorate Teddy Roosevelt and the Roughriders.
But anyway.....

I dropped the kids off at my mom's on July 2nd, and then Derek and I began our long haul across WA, ID, and the ridiculously wide state of MT. Derek and I had so much fun traveling together!

The house above is my childhood home in Dickinson, ND. My fam lived in the same town in the same house for 15 years. In my opinion the people living there now have let the yard go to crap. It used to look tons better when we lived there. My mom always had lush, colorful flower beds and no ugly, unkept bushes below the deck.

Derek and I drove there. 15 hours. Long, yes. But I gotta say, it didn't feel nearly as long as that same drive felt 3 years ago when Josh and I did it with two kids.

Derek kept the car that whole weekend to get himself around to all of his reunion events. I think I got the sweeter deal, though, because this bright orange truck was MY ride for the weekend!! My friend, Michele, bought this beauty for her 16 year old brother and she let me drive it around while I was in town!! What do you think?? It suits me a lot better than a minivan, eh?

(don't ask me what its make and model are because I'm a dumb woman like that. I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. I can tell you it was orange and that it had 4 wheels!)

This is LowLow. And rightfully named, I might add. Just to give you some perspective, Michele is 5'2". Notice how much taller she is than the truck??
The washed out pic doesn't do this truck justice. It's paint detail is actually BRIGHT, shimmery orange. In the sunlight, Lowlow glistens like Edward in the meadow. hahahahaha

Michele, Lylie, me, Nichole

*I just realized that these pics are completely out of order. But you know what? I don't care!!*

Sooooo, we kicked off the summer with an awesome trip to a water park with Joanna's preschool class. If you haven't been to Surf n Slide in Moses Lake yet, you gotta gettcher tails there today! It's perfect for the little ankle biters. Tons of kiddie slides, fountains, pools, and playground toys.
The day was gorgeous. We couldn't have ordered a more beautifuler day. ;-)

As a family, we have consumed an exorbitant amount of Popsicles this summer. Mostly because it's summer! And it's hot! But for whatever reason I've been craving them like a madwoman. And, well, since I do the grocery shopping, guess what momma comes home with every week.

Now to bid you adieu, here's some sassy, colorful tongues sticking out at you.

Kiddy Carnival

Back in June we took the kiddos to a Saturday morning kiddy carnival. They saw all kinds of baby farm animals--baby goats, pigs, bunnies, etc. Petting was allowed...as long as you kept it G-rated. hahahahahaha

They also got to ride ponies which, of course, my little horse fanatic LOVED and couldn't get enough of. Joanna would have ridden that pony all day if we'd let her.

Jaclyn adored this little puppy.

you can tell where Jayden gets his good looks from.

They also had a carriage ride for us to ride. Joanna took this pic.

Ladies, hide your husbands!!!