Personal Hygiene

Jonah doesn’t know that he is little and don’t even TRY to tell him. He just KNOWS he can do anything the big kids are doing. One of his favorite things to do is wash his hands. This is an activity that is full of squeaks and squawks because he can’t turn on the water, or pump the soap, or dry his hands, or climb down by himself. But he insists on doing it, repeatedly. He needs to lather up and rinse off at least 6 times. It’s a little OCD, I’ll admit, but he has such a grin on his face the whole time that I crack up.

Owen's Birthday Thank you Cards

This is my favorite way of doing kid thank you cards. I just love to see how he draws things. :)

Washington Park, Anacortes

Our last full day in Washington Nate and I took the kids to Sakuma Brothers for some delicious shakes and to Anacortes to play at Washington Park and watch the ferry boats come and go. It was so beautiful. It’s a rocky beach with driftwood to climb and play on. After wearing the kids (and ourselves) out, we headed back to my mom’s house where everyone came over for a Salmon BBQ. That is my favorite meal. It’s delicious and nostalgic.

Grandma & Grandpa Johannesen

We had a great time staying and playing at Grandma and Grandpa Johannesen’s house. My dad let us “help” him in the garden. We spent one morning picking and cutting up green beans. My kids followed him all around the yard eating berries and chatting to him while he worked. My dad built a cute playhouse in the back yard and my mom made blankets, pillows and curtains to go inside. We went to visit them at work one day at the Bishop’s storehouse. My parents were so generous and great and we all had a great time! We were so spoiled on our trip. :)

Fishing on the Skagit River

After heading back to Mount Vernon from Jamie’s we headed out for an evening of fishing on the Skagit River. My dad’s friend has a piece of property out on the river and Owen was dying to have “fishing lessons” as he called them. It was a really nice night and my mom packed us a picnic dinner. Karen and her kids and Heather, Skyler and Tyler came and joined us. We didn’t catch anything, except a log that looked like a fish. And Olivia caught a cold. :)

Slesk Orchard and Gardens

One must always visit Slesk Orchard and Gardens when in Washington. My sister Jamie and her husband Billy are amazing and we love to visit their home. They have an enormous yard with a beautiful garden. We loved walking through the garden picking and eating along the way. They have apples, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, corn, squash, pumpkins, dill, sunflowers, carrots, asian pears, and more. My kids loved the berries. I loved the apples. Nate and Billy set a new record for Aerobie “volleys”...it’s 45 in case you were wondering. Jamie made us a new cookie, which was delicious (see recipe below). We played on the play set and sat and talked on the wooden swing. Billy took the kids around the yard in the wagon on a hunt for fall leaves. We went to Hovander Park. Hung out with Paul, Katie, Avery and Jack. Nate relished a long, flat run (no flat surfaces in Atlanta...). It was great. Jamie gave us (me) chocolates, raspberry jam, dried plums, dried asian pears to take home with us (me). :) We had a great time!

Grandpa Johannesen's Workshop

My dad is always creating something, whether it be a painting (see paintings on the wall), his garden, a play house or a playground for the grandkids, a whittled bird (see shelf behind him), inventing a mobile square foot gardening system, or a model airplane. I saw him in his new workshop off the garage (which he built himself...this was actually my room when I came home from my mission) and had to snap a picture of him. Cute dad. :)

Seattle Temple

Day 1: We flew out EARLY in the morning and took a non-stop flight from ATL to SEA. Jonah was less than thrilled, but the kids did awesome! It’s tough to sit still for that long. My mom and dad picked us up at the airport and took us to lunch. Then we headed straight to the Seattle Temple. My mom is an amazing genealogist and had several family names for us to do. They were special names and when I heard that she wanted to do family names I asked if she’d wait for us to come to Seattle so we could be there for it. My dad did all of the sealings. It was a really, really wonderful experience. I don’t get to go to the temple with my parents or my sisters and their husbands very often, so it was really fun to be together there. My mom was sealed to her parents. My brother in law was sealed to his parents. My nana was sealed to her parents, as were my grandmother’s sisters to their parents. There were several names I didn’t know, but it was fun to have mom tell us where they all fit together on our family tree. One of the sealings we did was for the King and Queen of Ireland. It was a great experience. A fantastic way to start out a family vacation. :)

Happy Birthday Owen

We have a 6 year old in the house! I can hardly believe how quickly the last year has gone, but Owen is now our smart, energetic, happy, ever-climbing, knock-knock joking 6 year old BOY! He had it all worked out in his head how he wanted to spend his big day: Breakfast cake in the morning. I brought donuts to school to celebrate after lunch. We partied at Chuck E. Cheese with a few of his friends. And then invited our neighbors to join us for ice cream cake after dinner. It was a full day! :) We love our Owen.

11 Year Anniversary

That’s right.  11. We celebrated by having dinner at a “restaurant” at our house, called Fun Food (named by Owen). I borrowed this idea from my friend, Robyn. The kids brought us the menu and then our food and even refreshed our drinks a few times. They were very cute and excited about it. Olivia somehow came up with the term “giver-giver” as her word for waiter. When we corrected her, she changed it to “waiter-waiter” a few times, but ultimately settled back on “giver-giver” as her title of choice. I have no idea.

We had a great meal and topped it off with this little “wedding cake” the kids and I made together. Owen wrote out the menu, and chose the marker based on the color of the food (except for cake which was white, so we had to improvise). White board courtesy of Home Depot build-it workshop last Saturday.

Earlier in the day we showed our kids a scrapbook I made of our first year (from meeting to marrying) and before bed we showed them our wedding album. They enjoyed it more than I thought. THEY even commented on how young we looked in our wedding pictures...stinkers.  It really was fun taking a little walk down memory lane. I am sure glad I married this guy and that we’ve created this little family. I love you Nate!

1st Day of Kindergarten

Me: Hey buddy, how was your first day of kindergarten?
Owen: It was AWESOME!!!
:)

Back to School Family Night

This morning for breakfast we had a little pep rally. We talked about school and what things we need to do each morning before we head out the door. We made sure Owen has his bag ready for tomorrow’s 1st day of Kindergarten! We also tried to get Olivia excited about preschool, which she and I will be doing together at home. Here’s to a fun year!