Snow Day(s)

It's so incredibly weird to have had so much snow here in Seattle! We've been hit with three storms in two weeks. Yuck. The first storm is fun. After that, I just want it to go away. And it's strange to feel that way because I adore snow in Utah and I missed the snow when I first moved to Seattle. I remember my first Christmas in Oregon I thought rain on Christmas day was the most depressing thing. This year I'm actually thrilled to have rain in Oregon instead of snow!

The difference is that in Seattle, the snow brings everything to a halt. There are no snowplows or de-icing machines to take care of the roads, and then there are hills galore all over the city that make getting around town downright dangerous. The buses can't run so my husband can't get to work and schools all close down too. Joseph didn't get to go to school all last week for his Christmas parties and if it wasn't vacation, he probably wouldn't be going this week either. Church was even cancelled yesterday. It's very fun to be snowed in for the first day or two. Then it's just completely obnoxious. Especially since I had some Christmas errands that needed taking care of that just couldn't get done. This was why I didn't go out in it. It's not my video, but it's from Seattle last week.

So this is what we DID do:

Made a snowman.
Joseph and I made cookies.
Darren shoveled our driveway with a shovel for an hour because we lack an actual snow shovel. That's my man!
Unfortunately, Justin didn't like the white stuff at all. He hated getting all bundled up, and then when he touched it, he was upset that it was cold and wet.
Enjoyed our tree and listened to Christmas music.
So what am I complaining about?! It was a fun day to have Darren working from home, and spending quality time with my very cute boys. That's what Christmas is about, not getting my errands run!

An Oregon Thanksgiving and my adorable preschooler

Thanksgiving was wonderfully relaxing and filled with family and good food in Oregon. The bummer thing for the boys was that there weren't any kids at Thanksgiving for them to play with! So I'm afraid Joseph thought the day was a little boring because all the adults wanted to do was eat, watch football and play grown-up games. He kept asking me to play with him. But the weather was beautiful while we were there and we did a little shopping, saw a movie, fed the ducks and walked to the park. Here are some of the pics:
Dessert time! You should hear Justin say pumpkin pie. He loves it like his mommy!Cute girls! Leann, Carol and KristyFun at Alton Baker park

Now I must gush about Joseph's Preschool Christmas Program! It was the cutest thing I've seen as a parent thus far. I was amazed at how well my shy little Joseph did singing his little heart out and saying his line with his partner. They sang Christmas songs with cute little actions, and in between the songs, they came up to the microphone in twos and said their memorized verse from Luke 2. Here's Joseph saying his "memory verse" for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, the baby screaming in the background just so happens to be Justin. I guess he wanted to be on the video too.

A few of the things I am thankful for...

Thanks for taking these beautiful pictures, Dad!

I had quite a weekend!

First this:And then this:So I went to the new movie theater at our mall on Saturday afternoon to see Twilight with about 10 girls from my ward. It was awesome. Then we went to the new food court to eat. We had all just gotten our food and sat down to gush about the movie when we heard a loud bang. Then came another loud bang and I looked over in the direction of the sound across the room to see a wave of people running toward me screaming! It was like I was in a movie and it was freaky. It registered sometime in this split second as someone yelled "gun!" that we needed to react. We all hit the deck and huddled under the table, putting chairs around us. I had never been to this new part of the mall and I realized I didn't even really know where an exit was. Lots of the people around us went out onto a balcony by us, but I felt safer where I was. I did not want to move. We were only under the table about a minute when the panic diffused and people started getting up, looking around, locating loved ones, etc. There wasn't any more commotion but nobody knew what was going on. Before we could decide what to do, a security guard came around asking everyone to evacuate. So everyone calmly filed down the escalator and out the door. Then, because we were parked on the top floor of the new parking structure, we sat in a line of cars waiting to get out for 2 1/2 hours. When we finally started moving, it took 1/2 hour to actually get out of the parking lot. Here's the news story if you're interested. The shooting was gang related; one kid was injured the other died, and the gunman got away! The news reports now say that they're closing in on the suspect. Anyway, it was scary stuff. We just kept thinking about how worse it could've been. We could've been separated from each other, we could've sat closer to the incident, we could've had our kids with us! Thank goodness we were all alright.

But after all that drama, I have to say that I loved Twilight! I think for the most part, the casting was great and it just made me fall in love with the book all over again after hating Breaking Dawn. Bella was a klutz and not too pretty, Edward was gorgeous and charming and James was sooo creepy! It helped that I read the book over a year ago because the stuff they had to leave out didn't bother me. It was that cheesy high school love that is so dramatic and awkward. I loved it and I thought they did a great job capturing the book. So there's my review.

Fun in Utah!

As usual, we had a blast in Utah! We did so much fun stuff during our week there. We went for a business recruiting event, but spent a whole week hanging out. It was a much needed break from work and life after Darren finished his oh so "busy season." Check out these pics from the trip:
Isn't my new niece adorable? Her name is Elle and we got to attend her blessing while we were there! Thanks for waiting for us, Michelle and Jon.Joseph played played played with Elle's big sister AlexisWe visited the fire station where a friend of my sister's gave us the best tour ever! Joseph was in heaven! They used the hoseRode in the fire truckAnd tried on the real firefighter equipment!We also got to drive down to Southern Utah for the day to visit Darren's Grandma Williams. She'll be 91 this month and she's still sharp as a tack. She tells such fun stories. We had a great visit.We went to an awesome bouncy house place
And went to an adorable pumpkin patch farm with a mini corn mazeA petting zoo where Joseph fed the ponyAnd Justin loved the goats!It's been such an incredible blessing to go back to Utah so often for our little business trips. Thanks so much Mom, Dad, Jordan, Michelle, Jon and girls for showing us such a good time. We love you so much and we'll be missing you until our next trip out!

Happy Halloween!

Here's my little firefighter and police officer. I knew Justin wouldn't put up with a hat, so I guess he turned out looking a little more like a detective. You have to look closely for his handcuffs on his beltloop, but they're my favorite part.
We were lucky enough to celebrate Halloween in both Utah and Washington. Here's Joseph with his Grandparents and cousins, Alexis (Cinderella) and Elle (pig). My next post will be all about our good visit to Utah. We were there all last week and flew home on Halloween afternoon.

Joseph loved trick or treating this year! We went to some houses in our neighborhood and he just held out his bucket and said "Trick or Treat!" really loud everytime! It was adorable. Justin enjoyed it too. Our friend, Sierra the pirate, and her Dad joined us too.
Then we went to the bookstore where my friend Athina works to visit her, and then we were off to our ward's trunk or treat party. Justin was very scared of all the big kids with scary masks. Joseph didn't mind them and he loved giving out the candy as much as getting it. He loved giving candy from our trunk and also at our house when we got home. We had a blast.

Yum Yum

I swear I've never seen our apple tree in the backyard produce red apples before! When I realized they were good, I just hated seeing them go to waste. So look what I did yesterday! I was very proud of my domestically challenged self.
I took these apples from this tree and I made this! And it was actually really good! I couldn't believe I had actually succeeded on my first try. (I've really never made a pie before.) My hubbie was pretty impressed too. The two of us devored half of it last night. Now I'm onto apple crisp and applesauce since I'm on a roll...

While I make dinner...

...look what my kids are doing. Unless there's something on TV, they pretty much insist on being in the same room as me. Which is why there's usually something on the TV while I make dinner. But last night it was off, and I thought they came up with some pretty interesting things to do in the kitchen.

Joseph is transporting condiments from the fridge to the cupboard with "the jaws of life" (salad tongs).Justin is moving spaghetti noodles one by one from the package into my pasta container.

Soccer Games!

Here's my little soccer star. I've taken forever to post because I kind of failed the first time around. Apparently for the first game, I missed the memo about the field being changed and Joseph missed the entire first half. Then I didn't take a lot of pictures because it was pouring rain. But Joseph didn't seem to mind the rain. When the game was over, he told me he wanted to play more. The second game went much more smoothly. We got the right park and the weather was gorgeous! Joseph is usually pretty content to run behind the pack, but he did get a few good chances at the ball. I did get a video of one of his drives with the ball and one of the coaches walked right through it really slowly. Too bad. So I'll wait to post a video that's worth your while. Here's the cute pics:
Joseph got to throw the ball in.Chanting from the sidelines: "Go green sharks! Go green sharks!" Other rough housing going on from the sidelines. (Joseph's the one getting the nougie.)

Just call me Soccer Mom

I am loving this new stage of parenthood! With Joseph's new activities and Justin getting bigger and more independent, I'm getting to do all of these fun things for the first time. Like order from a school book order, bring snacks for halftime of the soccer game, and go to Parent Night at the Preschool. On Joseph's first day of school, I had to wake him up and I said, "Wake up, it's time to get ready for school." And I thought, how fun to say that for the first time! I wonder how many more times in my life I'll be saying that (or yelling it). It makes me imagine myself in the future juggling a lot more than one kid's activities, cheering them on in their sports, going on fieldtrips and videotaping their concerts and school programs. I just can't wait. I'm excited to be moving on from that "young motherhood" with all preschoolers at home, even though, I know I probably have many more years with preschoolers ahead of me. I've had a taste of what is to come, and I love it. This is my new favorite picture of the boys. I haven't gotten one of them both smiling in a long time.

Joseph has his first soccer game tomorrow and it's going to be so much fun to watch. At practice yesterday, it was so great to watch the coaches teach these 4 and 5 year olds how to play the game. Then they scrimmaged and really caught on! Joseph was so proud that he played goalie for awhile and blocked 2 goals.Check out the beautiful view of the city from the soccer field. I'll post some pictures of tomorrow's game soon.

Joseph's First Day of School

Isn't he handsome? My little pre-schooler off to school for the first time ever. Joseph's my shy, sensitive momma's boy and I prepared myself for the worst on that first morning. Darren dropped him off with me and I was worried Joseph would insist on one of us staying the whole time and clinging to my leg, or maybe tears would fall and I would have to take him home to avoid disruption of the entire class. But instead, it couldn't have gone better. He hid his face when his teacher first spoke to him, and then after he found a toy he liked, he just snapped out of it. He started chatting up a storm with her and talking to his friend, George who is also in his class. When I picked him up, he talked my ear off the whole way home about what they did and how much he loved it. His words: "Mommy, I love love love school! You need to take me back on Friday, okay?" He did burst into tears the second day when I picked him up: "I don't want to go home yet!" This is going to be a very good thing.

7 years of wedded bliss with 2 cute boys to show for it

This week was our 7th wedding anniversary and we usually don't get to celebrate it very well since it falls during Darren's busy season at work. But it just so happened this year that his firm's Mariners tickets came up for grabs on our anniversary and we got to go to the game. It's so much fun to watch from the 18th row! So our anniversary turned out very nice!
I am so in love with my husband. I am so happy every morning to wake up and know I chose him and even better, to know that he chose me!
But enough of that mushy stuff. On to the bragging about the kids! Here's a quick update:
Joseph is obsessed with firefighters and police officers lately. It's very cute. I'm thinking that's what Joseph and Justin will be for Halloween. Joseph fights fires and arrests bad guys all day long. I can't believe that he's starting preschool next week. It's three mornings a week and I'm kinda freaking out about losing my baby. It's pathetic, I know. He's also starting a soccer team with his buddies pictured below. He's very excited about that. So I'm anxious about our new changes. Not until we're empty nesters will we now not have kids in school with activities and schedules and obligations. I know it's just preschool, but we're definitely entering a new parenting era!Justin is just learning so much and into full toddlerhood. He's learning new words: ball, hi, bye, yummy, yucky, hot, and I can see his little brain processing the things I'm saying now. He'll bring me his shoes when I ask him, he'll show you his belly button when you ask him, and he can't hold still after I say the words "ice cream." He is also in love with cars and trucks. He drives them around the house all day. It's such a fun age, and yet, I've begun the nursery countdown because he pretty much makes church impossible. Just 3 1/2 months left!
I'm a happy girl to have these three cute boys in my life!

My weekend away in beautiful British Columbia

I found out that I love Canada when I met these beautiful girls from Vancouver! Carrie and Elyse were my roommates at Ricks College 8 years ago and they are so much fun. I wish I had a scanner so I could show you a picture of all of us back in the day. Anyway, when I got Elyse's wedding invitation in the mail, I had to go! Darren was going to come with me (we were dating when I lived with these girls, so he knows and loves them too), but he had to stay for work. So instead I made it a weekend away for myself and had a blast catching up with Carrie. She let me tag along with her and stay overnight at her house. Silly me, I thought I would be able to talk to Elyse more, but not on her wedding day! Isn't she a beautiful bride? We had a good old time on the dance floor together at her reception, though. This was also my first trip to Canada, even though I only live 2 hours from the border. I actually didn't even see Vancouver (the girls live outside the city), but it was much like Seattle in climate and greenery. That's why all the small differences threw me. Like this speed limit sign that I saw right as I crossed the border. Then I heard someone talking about how it was 30 degrees yesterday. They kept reminding me where I was. So funny. But it was such a fun weekend away and a great little blast from the past!

Joseph's First Sleepover

Joseph had his cousin, Kellen, over for a sleepover last weekend. How cute are they? Kellen lives in Portland, but was in town for his aunt's wedding. He and Joseph were so excited to see each other again so soon! They got right to work playing and chasing each other. They looked for "creatures" in the backyard with flashlights and then Darren put up our little tent in Joseph's room and they had a blast pretending they were camping again. The next day before the wedding, we went to Qwest field and watched the Seahawks scrimmage game. Very fun! And then there were tears shed when it was time for the cousins to part ways. We love you, Kellen! And here's the next generation of cousin buddies: Justin and Caleb. They were too cute to leave out.