Children's Museum in Tri-Cities

A couple weeks ago my mom, me, and the kids went to the Tri-cities for a couple days. She's a Speech Pathologist and she was attending a two-day seminar on Autism at the convention center there, so she asked if we wanted to come and hang out. I said sure! Besides the fact that Jayden decided to randomly have the sleeping pattern of a newborn in the hotel room and none of us got any sleep, we had a great time together. We were actually there on my birthday. (Aug. 6) I took the kids to the children's museum in Pasco one of the days. They loved it.

Joanna's favorite spot to play was this Caboose Diner. I bet she played in it for 45 minutes! She'd go around to all the kids sitting at the tables and pretend to take their food orders. Then she'd bring them something to eat and bus their tables afterward.



Joanna and Jayden sitting at a table in the Caboose Diner.

Princess Joanna

Jayden staying warm by the fire in the Castle play area.

Oh man, I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of Jaclyn that day! I guess she was dodging the camera.

My Crazy Baby

Jayden's first birthday is 11 days away, and, as we all know, that first year in particular seems to fly by way too fast. He has the spunkiest personality, that Jayden. He is always making me laugh with his antics and all his zany faces.

Here's just a peek at the crazy things he likes to do in my kitchen. He is like a human tornado in that room. His daily rounds include knocking over the garbage, opening the utensil drawer and the dish rag drawer and throwing the contents of each onto the floor, getting into the lazy susan and pulling out all my canned food, and then climbing into an open dishwasher.

Hey, it's all in a day's work.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

Eating grass in the yard.

Utah Vacation: July 8-11

Wed., July 8: The morning after Lagoon, the girls and I took our shaggy-haired heads to my all-time favorite hair stylist, Vicki Sprinkle. I stumbled upon her salon one of the last times I visited Utah. Her home-based salon is called "Sprinkle of Style". Pretty clever, eh?

It's just too bad she lives in Tooele, UTAH, not in Ellensburg, WASHINGTON. So now, whenever I know that we're going to be in Utah, I hold off on getting our hair cut so we can go see Vicki!

Joanna enjoyed having her hair cut and styled.

Here's Joanna looking all dainty and girly after her haircut.
This was taken in Vicki's back yard.

Jaclyn has always hated having her hair styled. Or brushed. Or touched, for that matter.

So I knew that taking her in for her first haircut at a salon was going to bring out her inner beast. (Remember that Jaclyn's alter ego is a screaming banshee?) She had a hard time at Vicki's .......until......Vicki's love bug came out to play. Another testament to how awesome Vicki is, she knew exactly how to handle my banshee. Err, I mean, my Jaclyn. ;-)

Here is Jaclyn with her love bug. Vicki gently told Jaclyn that she had to stop crying because the love bug was going to sleep. "Shhhh, you'll wake your love bug." Jaclyn immediately quieted down! It worked!! Then, the cutest thing. Jaclyn cradled the love bug and whispered to it, "It's okay, little bug, it's okay." Then she gave it kisses. ((melt my heart)) She really is the sweetest, most caring little girl. Just very very spirited. We decided to cut a good 6 inches off Jaclyn's hair and give her a bob. Doesn't it look cute on her?

Later that evening, g-ma and g-pa Ramsey stayed with the kids while Megan, Jesse, Josh and I stole away to go see a Drum and Bugle Corps competition at Weber stadium in Ogden. I used to march with the Troopers from '98-'00. I played trumpet, or soprano, as it's called in drum corps. Josh, Megan and Jesse had never been to a show before so I was thrilled to introduce them to the activity. And they loved every minute of it. Seriously, if you ever get a chance to attend a drum and bugle corps performance, GO. They're like marching field bands on steroids. And energy drinks. It's insane.

The Troopers performed along with nine other corps to make for one outstanding show!! The evening was awesome. Troopers had not been doing too well in years past, but this year they are back with a vengeance. Their show was SO good. It even made Megan and I tear up. If you are curious to know more about drum corps, go here. If you are curious to read more about Troopers' comeback story, go here.

Josh, me, Megan, Jesse
(a.k.a. Bishop Carlson!!! He just got called to be Bishop last weekend!! He's only 32. And their youngest is three. They're amazing people so I know they'll rock the calling.)

Here's my Troopers. They're in their signature Sunburst formation.

We all agreed that the Santa Clara Vanguard (above) had the 2nd best show. Right after the Troopers, of course. ;-)

Thurs., July 9: Okay, so remember that earlier in the week we tried taking family pictures but the photographer didn't show? Luckily we were able to reschedule that same week. Here are some of my favorites.

Back row left to right: Me, Megan, Josh's grandma and pa Patsy and Chuck, Josh's mom Karen, Nate's girlfriend Cory
Front row left to right: Josh holding Jaclyn, Jesse holding Josiah with Benjamin in front and Isaiah behind him, Josh's dad Kevin holding Jayden, and Josh's brother Nate holding Joanna.

I love this picture. It's of Josh's parents with all their grandchildren.

Fri., July 10: Our last full day in Utah, we pretty much laid low. Relaxed. Did laundry. Watched movies. That evening we went swimming.

Joanna had way too much fun shooting us with her water gun!

Sat., July 11: Drove home. We stopped for the night in Boise since it was Tawni's (Josh's cousin) birthday. They had a huge party for her and they were nice enough to let us stay with them amid all the chaos. And I'm quite sure my crew contributed our fair share to that. ;-) We also got to visit with Aaron and Melissa (Josh's aunt and uncle) the next day before driving the rest of the way home. I'm happy to report that our resurrected van got us safely home. Phew!

Utah Vacation: July 1-7

Clear back in July we went to Utah to visit Josh's family. Our week-long vacation was jam packed with lots of fun stuff. Stuff like going to Lagoon, taking family pictures...twice (we'll get to that in a minute), watching a Drum and Bugle Corps show, lighting off fireworks, and swimming in the pool. And what's a memorable family vacation without a smidgen of car trouble and a dash of family drama?! Our trip had it all. The good and the....not so good.

Here's the play by play.

Wed., July 1: Megan and Jesse (sis and bro in law) and their 3 boys drove over to Ellensburg from their place near Olympia and crashed here so we could leave in the wee hours the next morning.

Thurs., July 2: Around the wee hour of 12 noon we were ready to leave. (our fault, not Megan & Jesse's for the record!) Driving in a caravan, we easily made it to Boise by dinner time. We stayed the night at Oxford Inn. They are nice! It's right across from the Boise Temple, too, so, as you can imagine, the view from our room was spectacular. We all went swimming. The kids had a blast and a half.

Fri., July 3: I throw the jet packs on the mini van and fffflllllyyyy down the interstate. Ain't nothin' gonna slow me down. Got the peddle to the metal. We are making great time until....Jaclyn gets car sick all over the place. We stop near Farmington to clean her and the car up. Josh and I squabble because he insists that it was my crazy driving that caused our daughter to get motion sick and lose her lunch. Grrr. Family drama #1.

Sat., July 4: Played outside, enjoyed the beautiful summer weather. Made homemade burgers and potato salad. BBQed. Lit fireworks after dark. Engorged ourselves on s'mores. And more s'mores. And s'more s'mores. I wish I took pictures of the kids' faces. The combo of the fun fireworks and the sticky s'mores made for some adorable little faces that night!

Sun., July 5: Went to church. Fast and testimony Sunday. Oops. Is it the first Sunday of the month again? That little fact escaped my memory until sacrament mtg. So, as penance, I guess, I decide to get up in front of a bunch of strangers and bear my testimony. 'Cause it should be easier in front of people you'll probably never see again, right?! ha. Then later that day we were all sitting around and a couple of us sparked up a conversation about the family pictures we were all taking the next morning. (For the record, we'd been planning the pictures for at least a month.) During said conversation, my father in law realizes what we are talking about and announces that he hasn't taken work off for the pictures. My mother in law had reminded him to take work off about a dozen times. Time for family drama #2.

Mon., July 6: Family pictures. 10 a.m. At Liberty Park in SLC. A 45 min. drive.

About 25 minutes into the drive, our van starts making some scary scary noises. Hmm. About 35 minutes into the drive, the van begins to scream at us, "if you don't put me out of my misery now, I will do you the favor and kill myself." About 4 blocks from the park, the now knocking, shimmying, burning smelling van takes its dying breath. I can hear it muttering a death bed repentance, asking forgiveness for always being a crappy, unreliable van with horrible air conditioning. Literally right as we are pulling into the parking lot to the park, our van gives up the ghost. The engine does not even turn over. Oh well that's just great. But at least we're on time for pictures, right? Cue family drama #3.

So we decide to deal with the van after pictures. 10:00 rolls around...10:15....then 10:30....still no photographer. Ok. What else could go wrong? Kids are getting antsy. So are the grownups. After finally getting a hold of the photographer and finding out that it was an honest scheduling mistake, we reschedule for Thursday and decide to take some of our own pics. And the kids played to their heart's content on all the playground sets there. Liberty Park is such an awesome place! So, so beautiful. (I'll post pics later.)

Okay, now it's time to leave. Time to confront our suicidal van. Grumble. Lucky for us, Jesse is an awesome mechanic and was able to correctly diagnose the problem. Josh's dad drove back to get his truck to tow our dead to an auto shop in Tooele. ((Three days and $1,200 later, we get our resurrected van back. I wanted to junk it and buy something new, but I was overruled.)) Meanwhile, Megan and I transfer our car seats into their SUV and we take all 6 kids home for lunch and naps.

Tues., July 7: LAGOON!!!!!!! We met a sweet old granny in the parking lot who sold us 6 discounted tickets (was she supposed to do that?!). With our big group, that meant that we only had to buy 3 at full price. Sweeeeet. What a fun day!!! We took the kids (minus the really little ones, so Benjamin, Jaclyn, and Jayden stayed behind with grandma) in the a.m. and they rode every ride they possibly could. Joanna was somewhat nervous at first to get on the rides, but once she realized that they were safe, there was no stoppin' her! She had a ball.

Aunt Lauren (Josh's sister) with Josiah and Joanna

Josiah on the boat ride

Lexi Gill and Joanna taking a joy ride

Joanna riding The Jumping Dragon with Lauren. Joanna loved this one! She insisted on riding it twice.

Joanna (can't really see her) and Lauren, Josh and Josiah waving

A silly Joanna riding the carousel

Lexi and Joanna

Josiah, Megan, Joanna, Lauren

Around 4:30 that afternoon grandma came to pick up the kids so that the "big kids" could stay for the rest of the day and ride the big, scary rides.

Now for a little background on yours truly. I DO NOT like scary rides. Never have. I don't like roller coasters, period. Not even the "kiddy" kind. And I especially don't like the idea of knowingly stepping into a cart that will whip my body (and brain?) around in space going like 70 mph. Oh yeah, and being 5-7 stories up in the air at the same time. I want to wet my pants just thinking about it. I'll admit it, I'm a wimp and I'm proud of it.

This is a very, very bad thing when you are the only one is a group of 8 people that is deathly afraid of roller coasters. The peer pressure was on like donkey kong. For the first couple rides they were content having me be the moral support, sitting on a bench holding all the wallets and cell phones. But then....they turned on me!!!! Even my own husband. My protector. They basically stripped me of all my God-given agency and made me go on this hellish looking torture device: See below.

The line to ride the Colossus was a mile long. And you can bet your bottom that I was psyching myself out the entire time. Then before I knew it, it was our turn. We boarded the roller coaster. And, of course, my loving husband insisted on getting in near the front. I hesitantly pulled the safety harness down to my lap. Then I triple-checked it to make sure it was locked. ((Holy cow guys. As I'm typing this, I am getting butterflies in my stomach. No joke!!!)) And then the darn thing started to move.

If you've been on this ride before, you know that it ever so slowly inches you up and up a few stories before you suddenly catapult into two back to back loop de loops. Good times. As we were creeping upwards, I kept saying over and over again to Josh, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you....." To which he lovingly (with a twist of sarcasm) replied, "I love you!"

We plunged towards the loop de loops and that was terrifying. I screamed at the top of my lungs. (Meanwhile, there were kids less than half my age on the ride, thoroughly enjoying themselves, no doubt.) But then a most unexpected thing happened. We soared through the loop de loops and on through the rest of the ride, and when it came to a stop, I realized that I actually enjoyed the ride!! Shocking, I know.

So then I thought, well, if I enjoyed the Colossus, maybe I'd also like "The Wicked". Everybody had been coaxing me to go on that one all night as well.

So stupid me decides, "you only live once, so why not." (all the while thinking, "you only die once, too.")

The Wicked is pictured below. Notice the ninety degrees up and ninety degrees down part of the ride?!?! Who comes up with this stuff?? Once again, we magically get seated right at the very front of the ride. My friends and family are just laughing at me by this point. Then the ride starts, and I scream bloody murder the entire duration of the ride. This made them laugh at me even harder! That ride was wicked, that's all I have to say. But I'd honestly go on it again.

Getting off that ride and knowing that I finally broke down the wall that held me back was empowering. Kinda like natural childbirth in a way. I was so scared to give it a try but once the ride was over I felt so proud of myself for conquering my fear.

The most wicked part of The Wicked was the fact that my cell phone fell out of my pocket during the ride!!! Lagoon workers found it the next day---all six pieces of it. ;-)

And because of my incessant screaming that night, I lost my voice the next day. I was so hoarse that I was unable to holler and cheer at the Drum Corps show the next night.

We also went on some fun, less heart-pounding rides that evening. We went on "the white roller coaster", as all the yokel locals say, and Rattlesnake Rapids, among many others. Rattlesnake Rapids was my favorite because it was a hot summer night and getting soaked to the bone with cold water felt so refreshing!!

Dachshunds On Parade

This past Saturday proved to be a busier one than originally anticipated! When my alarm clock (a.k.a. Jayden) went off at 5:45 a.m. the only plans we had for the day were: 1) go downtown at 11 a.m. for the Dachshunds on Parade event, and 2) have John and Chantalle & fam over for dinner at 6 p.m. Okay, pretty easy breezy day.

Then around 10 a.m. I get a call from one of my all-time bestest friends on the entire planet. Kristi Waite!!! The most spirited, adventurous, admirable girl you'll ever meet. (That's her with Joanna in the picture above.) She and a coworker were on their way from Seattle to Coeur d'Alene to watch an Ironman race, so she wanted to swing by and say hi. Which, of course, I didn't mind. I would drop what I was doing at 3 a.m. to see Kristi!

Around 11 a.m. my mother in law called to say that her, Josh's uncle Steve, and Josh's cousin Caleb, were coming through town later that afternoon on their way to Yelm and wanted to stop by. Sure!! The more the merrier. It was great to spend time with them, even if they were only able to stay a few short hours. Sorry, no pics from their visit. We were too busy chatting and preparing/eating yummy turkey & bacon wraps to think about picture-taking!

Kristi met up with us at Ellensburg's annual Dachshunds on Parade. It is quite the spectacle. Imagine hundreds of "wiener dogs" paraded around the historic downtown streets of small town America. Some doggies donned the latest doggie fashions while others were forced to wear the most humiliating costumes ever inflicted on an animal. ;-)

Whatever the case, Dachshund enthusiasts bring their dogs from all across the Pacific Northwest to compete in the dog races, the talent competition, the costume contest, and the parade.

Here's Joanna petting an unsuspecting Dachshund wearing Hawaiian garb. There were actually two other dogs with this one, each wearing a different colored lei.

See what I mean by humiliating costumes?! Ha. But at least they were adorable. And you have to admit, wiener dogs dressed up like hot dogs is pretty clever.

This handy pooch can lick himself and fix your leaky faucet all at the same time!

A wiener dog race judge. His job is taken very seriously. No, seriously.

The kids had a great time seeing all the dogs. Now you see, this is one reason why I love Ellensburg so much. Where else can you see hundreds of wiener dogs brought together by their fanatical, and of course, doting and well-intentioned owners, to see them paraded down the street in the most creative of costumes? Talk about quality free entertainment.