GOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL

Good morning beautiful, how was your night, mine was wonderful with you by my side. Well, those of you who have not heard that famous song, it's a good one, but my night was just not quite as good. Does anyone else have these problems? yes, this is MY bed. It started with Presley at about four-ish, then by five we had three girls in, and by six Conner joined us And of course no one ever went back to sleep, how much fun would that have been? loads, i know. So, it was Saturday and the kiddos wanted something special for breakfast, and they wanted to make it. One of our fun things to eat on a Saturday is egg-in-toast. Simply stated, you butter both sides of the bread, cut a hole in the middle with a cup, and crack the egg in the middle. Sound gross? It's so good. You let it cook till brown on underside, then flip, carefully. All done, egg and toast all in one. less mess, and kids get a kick out of cutting holes in the bread.

After breakfast, it had snowed and the kids were soooo excited to go play in it. there wasn't much, but they had fun. Taylor was a little skeptical at first, but Conner showed her the ropes.

Snow angels, a classic. Kids, snow, hot chocolate, all so much fun. Hopefully we get more snow, so we can build snowmen. they tried, but it was a very little snowman.

Angels they all are. whether it's four, five or six in the morning.

DRINKIN AND DRIVIN

We have this car. All the kids love it. Thrift shop find, finally, best buy ever. It has endured many drives, and lately it's been presley's passion. The blue car resides outside, but we were having a problem with it's location. Every time I would go outside to the car, presley would kick and squirm, and yes, cry to get down. She wanted to ride in HER car. Then the same thing would happen when I arrived home and entered the house. I am on the go A LOT so, this was becoming annoying, and frustrating for poor presley. So, i broke down, hosed off the car, and hauled it into the house. Presley loved it, i am clearly her best friend lately, and she spends most of her play time in this car. The other kids try to play in it, but she is very territorial with her blue car. When i give her snacks, she eats them in the car. When i give her a drink, she carts it to the car, and so on.

It has been a great help to me as well, cause when I have some thing to do, I just get the car and she's set. I find myself getting more things done lately, weird. I have been reluctant to announce the great news we have had at our house. I know what yall are thinking, and NO I am NOT pregnant. Presley is walking, yeah!!! Life is so much more grand, except for when we are at walmart and she wants to walk. traffic jams with a slow walker. She is really good at it too, very steady, quite fast, and thinks she's cool. When I congratulated her on her new milestone this is the expression I recieved.

Priceless.

Our little presley is so proud of herself, and we are too. we were worried there for a minute. almost 18 months old, but she pulled through, at ther own pace.

Rascal flatts, one of my favorite songs, My wish. " My wish for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to. your dreams stay big, your worries stay small, You never need to carry more than you can hold. And while you're out there getting where you're getting to, I hope you know that somebody loves you."

Wherever she goes in her little blue car, and beyond i hope she always knows we love her.

HOW THIRSTY ARE WE?

So, as many of you know I had a little escapade last Sunday and got to take a nice little ride in the ambulance, with a good looking paramedic I might add, You never know who reads your blog anymore, so hopefully his wife doesn't read mine! Anyway, if you don't know about it, don't ask, and if you do, don't tell, and if you watched, I am truly sorry for having to expose you all, i know it was painful to watch, but just think it was much more embarrassing for me than for you! Anyway, with blood sugar out of whack, blood pressure out of whack and dehydration fixed, i feel almost brand new. not really, but better. So the blood sugar and pressure were easily fixed with medication, but as i came to find out in my stay at the lovely ER, there is no medicine, other than iv's to fix dehydration, which brings me to the meaning of my post. How thirsty are we? I mean, really I just don't like to drink water. I only like it when I'm sweating after workout, or if I vacuum the whole house and I'm wearing a sweatshirt doing it. I'm just not a big water drinker, in fact if i drink more than sips, it make me gag, weird huh? Well, anyway, after my little escapade on Sunday, i vowdged to take this problem under control, which in lighter terms means, I have to drink more water. I thought I was drinking enough, i usually drink 32 oz. or more a day, but clearly that is not enough. So the last few days I've been drinking ONLY water. No milk, no pop, no juice, just water. It's been gross, and hard. I filled up a 2 liter pitcher and decided to see how much I could possibly drink in a day. I am on the go a lot, a lot, so i have been filling up a water bottle out of my pitcher to get an accurate take as to how much I consume. The first day I didn't do so well. I felt like I drank a ton! But looking at the picture, ah, not so much.

I just keep telling myself it's half, but still, i need to do better. I just feel so full when i drink that much. Maybe that's why they tell you to drink more water and it'll improve your health as well as your weight eh? I do hear often that we often mistake our bodies hunger cues. often we are actually thirsty, not hungry. So they say when you feel hungry, drink first, wait twenty minutes, and if you're still hungry then eat. Wow, if I'm really hungry twenty minutes is a long time! But i am going to try to do better. So day two, I did much better.
I know this one is hard to see, but the water line is just under the handle, yeah for me! I have noticed though that I have to pee a lot during the night, which is cramping up my sleep time, so I figure I need to get it all in by about seven. That's a lot of water to get in by seven, at least for me. I am sorry I do not have a picture of an empty pitcher yet. I have been working on it for a few days, and almost had it last night, but felt like vomiting, I know TMI. I guess I need to get my body use to drinking all this clear, healthy, good for you substance we call water. So, i know there are you die hards out there who probably drink two pitchers a day!, but my challenge to myself as to anyone else who does not want to be exposed to people they have to see every Sunday, or to people who just plain out want to make a healthy change in life; my challenge to all of us is to drink! More water of course, cheers!

FOREVER CRAFT

So, last year, or the year before that, yes I think it was two years ago, at a super saturday they made these personalized clocks. My mother-in-law made some for her girls, and i wanted one. i have been researching these since then, yes two years. they use to get the clock part from walmart, they were tables and you just didn't use the legs, but of course walmart no longer carried them. I looked all over for these, could find no where. i also tried to find the fancy hands, but the distributor would not let out her secret, she sold these clocks and did not want me stealing business, understandable. I have been recently distraught because all of my friends have these, so whenever I visit, i have to covet, which we are not suppose to do right? anyway, i was killing time one afternoon and wandered into the senior center, i know, gotta love the senior center. well, after following a lady around the store for 25 minutes hoping she would ditch the shelving she had in her cart, she finally checked out, giving me no hope for getting it. So, I wandered around the back and in the back corner of the senior center was my beauty, my waiting for, my covet. I quickly looked around as if someone would if they were stealing something and then ran for it, i had this sick sense in my gut that there were all these other people running for it too, even though I was the only person in the room. I snatched the table, paid seven bucks for it, praised the senior center for their wide variety of items, and checked out. I actually tried to get them to discount it if i took the legs off, i told them i only needed the top, but the lady just looked at me weird and said " um, no." oh well, i still bought it. I quickly went to work on this two year long craft. I could not have done it without my friends though. thanks to bethany, who lent her clock to me for getting an idea for the hands, thanks to korbi, for her cricket cutter for my letters, and thanks to my hubby for his graphing skills, which got it all layed out! yeah. I of course picked out the paint, and crackled it, which was a first for me. After two long years, my clock is done, and is hanging on my wall, for the rest of time. I love my friends, my hubby, my eye for good buys, and my ability to be determined to do something, no matter how long it takes. Now all we have to do is get our own house so we can paint the walls! And good thing is, I no longer have to covet, yeah for me.

MY FETISH

O.k everyone has some kind of fetish in life, some kind of thing that is just their thing, it's just what they do. Some people love crafts, dining out, flowers etc.... Well, my love in life is shoes, yep shoes. love em' So ever since we moved into this rental, we have a small closet, and besides the fact that I moved my "summer" shoes into a tub in storage, the closet just still can't hold all my shoes. I have been threatening Brandon that i was gonna go buy a shelf to at least fit half of them, i was just so tired of all the shoes all over the closet floor, and it made it soooo difficult to find the mate to the shoe you wanted, our prime reason for being late to church! Being the handy man Brandon is, he just doesn't buy whatever he can build himself, and he gets a kick, as well as an ego boost when he does build it.So, Because it was a holiday yesterday Brandon didn't have school, and he was so nice to opt out of working and spend the day with us. it was very nice and much needed. Well, after a trip to Lowe's he was off to the saw and the measuring. He let me peek a few times and it was looking pretty darn good. i was assured this would work out. after Brandon informed me there were over 73 pairs of shoes, not including my tub in the basement, i knew i had to take charge here and part with some of my collection. I mean honestly, who wears 75 pairs of shoes, well i do, just not on a regular basis. So, after a lot of thought and consideration, i picked out my favorite pairs and put the rest in a sack for goodwill. the sack is actually still sitting just outside by bedroom door, just in case i change my mind on any! I will be strong. well, after Brandon got done, this is what our fabulous shoe shelf looked like. Sorry, you can't get the full affect. the closet is quite long, the doors just aren't wide, dang it. Well, i was impressed, but Brandon insisted we return to Lowe's he needed another shelf and a few more things, so we headed out. after he locked himself in our room for a bit longer, he once again let me in for the finished project. Now, when i first saw the shelves, they were just like this, but when i went in again, the doors were shut, funny i thought, but oh well. so he stood back and said go ahead, pull them open and take a look. well, i opened that closet door and WHAM! I stepped into wonderland!
Yes, all you shoe lovers out there, this is a LIGHTED shoe shelf! Brandon ran lights under the shelves so every time i open the closet, my shoes light up, for a quick find of course! This picture was taken with the lights off, but it is still awesome with the lights on, and the best part, it's a motion sensor, so every time i open the doors, Bing! lights on! ready to choose. Isn't my husband awesome? This is soo cool for someone who loves shoes! Today I sat in front of the doors and kept opening and closing them, just to watch the lights, so cool! I love my hubby, and his ability to build fantastic stuff, saves us money, and brings out creativity, love it! love it! love it! These pictures hardly give it justice too, so my closet is open to whoever wants to indulge their fetish of shoes as well!

LIFE

Sometimes, o.k. well, all the time i find how I'm feeling through music. some call it musically inclined, others fell like lyrics are just lyrics, it's what sells the song, but i have always been able to express myself through music. I have been thinking a lot lately, about a lot of things. life, trials, why's, when's, how's, can's, cant's. a lot. i heard this song a while ago, and it has really stuck with me. it's a great inspiration to me and the path of life I'm on right now. Sometimes we are given lemons, sometimes we make great lemonade, sometimes we can't remember how to make lemonade, and frankly sometimes we make crappy lemonade. But I truly believe that trials make us stronger, I am a witness to this, and I truly believe that Faith makes us stronger. without faith, we have nothing. so, this is my song for now, and maybe it will be someone else's song out there too.

Hurry up and wait
So close, but so far away
Everything that you've always dreamed of
Close enough for you to taste But you just can't touch
You wanna show the world but no one knows your name yet,
Your wonderin' when and where and how you're gonna make it
You know you can if you get the chance
In your face theres a door keeps slamming
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting
We live and we learn to take
[ Chorus ]
One step at a time There's no need to rush
It's like learning to fly Or falling in love
It's gonna happen when it's Supposed to happen
that we Find the reasons why
One step at a time

You believe and you doubt
You're confused, you got it all figured out
Everything that you always wished for
Could be, should be, would be yours If they only knew
You wanna show the world but no one knows your name yet,
Your wonderin' when and where and how you're gonna make it
You know you can if you get the chance
In your face theres a door keeps slamming
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting
We live and we learn to take
[ Chorus ]
One step at a time
There's no need to rush
It's like learning to fly Or falling in love
It's gonna happen when it's Supposed to happen
that we Find the reasons why
One step at a time

When you can't wait any longer
But there's no end in sight
It's your faith that makes you stronger
The only way you get there Is one step at a time
[ Chorus ]
Take one step at a time
There's no need to rush
It's like learning to fly Or falling in love
It's gonna happen when it's Supposed to happen
that we Find the reasons why
One step at a time
[ Chorus ]
One step at a time
There's no need to rush
It's like learning to fly Or falling in love
It's gonna happen when it's Supposed to happen
that we Find the reasons why
One step at a time

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This year we had a monster, a witch, and a flower. Funny cause Conner has worn this costume for four years! when i pulled it out of the box, he said "mom i wanna be sully again" ( sully from monsters inc.) I said " oh honey, i doubt this costume will fit you this year, it was almost too small last year. While I was retrieving Presley the flower costume, Conner came running back into the room, fully clothed as Sully and proclaimed that the costume in deed still fit, and he was going to wear it. So to say the least, each year I take a Halloween photo and each year everyone is something new, and then there's sully. we have definitely received our money from the purchase of this costume!
We went to the stake carnival, i took chili, but was 12 minutes late and was told they had just finished the judging for the chili cook-off. what ever happened to Mormon standard time? I was sad, but by the end of the night all my chili was gone, so that's what mattered. The kids had fun running around at the carnival, we won three raffle prizes, Conner won the costume contest for the 5-8 year olds, there was like 50 kids!, and Brandon won the fast pitch baseball game, 72mph, wow. The evening was great. The kids went out again the next night, but only for about an hour. we imposed on the Aho neighborhood for our trick or treating. there were a lot of kids and we got to catch up with some friends we have not chatted with in a long time. Taylor insisted I be a witch with her. She was suppose to wear the hat with the hair, but after wearing it to school, she said it itched her head and she wanted to switch me hats.
Funny thing was, i wore it to the stake carnival, and no one recognized me. hopefully i have long silky, shiny, grey hair when i get old, fabulous. Brandon did not want to dress up, but he did pose for a Halloween photo.
Scary, huh? Halloween is always fun, especially for the kids. pumpkins, corn stalks, candy, costumes, what more could kids have fun with. I was so disappointed when i went into walmart BEFORE Halloween and all the Halloween decor was shoved into one isle, and all the CHRISTMAS stuff has taken over! Isn't there another holiday in between, an important one? Oh yeah, THANKSGIVING! We will be celebrating thanksgiving, before we think about Christmas, apparently we'll just have to do it fast. Happy Halloween!

HAIR TO SPARE

As most of you know, Presley has hair, lots of it. She was born with thick black of night hair, and over her last 16 months it has lightened dramatically and grown, and then grown again. Most of the time her curls are fabulous, the kind most of us covet. straight want curly, curly want straight, but to say the least the girls got great hair. It's also great for me because I have to only wet it and it's done. No blow dryer, no iron, no gel, no braids, no brushing. which leads me to my next photo, brushing. When i get Presley out of the tub, i put some conditioner in her hair to remove the tangles then i simply comb through it and leave it. Well, the other night Brandon and I wanted to see what it would look like if we combed it when it was dry. Well, the photo explains it all. And she still had curl, it would have been even bigger, but it bounces back pretty quick. We love our little Presley, and we love her big hair.
I also wanted to take a photo of all the kids together, which I have attempted many times, but have failed. three kids all photo ready anytime, on the count of cheese, nope just not happening. I took this photo, best one in a long time, only took me half hour to get it, but it's done, and now I can scratch walmart photo studio off my list, yeah for me.
Yeah, I'm not all into the matching outfits and the special photo day, i like them simple, real, and in ordinary settings. and to me, that's priceless.

SUPER SATURDAY

So, super Saturday was last Saturday, and I decided to go. i didn't plan on going, but I packed up the kids, made sack lunches and headed out. I decided the night before to make truffles, Oreo truffles. I had these once before, and they were divine. I stayed up till midnight trying to get the white chocolate to drizzle over the tops, but it just wouldn't. i was ready to toss them, all 75 of them in the trash, but Brandon decided after all that work we should just put dots on the top with a spoon. So, after several hours of chocolate melting, rolling, and dipping we got it done.

i know they aren't really pretty, but no one complained cause all 75 were gone! I only got one! These are pretty easy to make, except for my handicap with the white chocolate, and they are even better to eat. cream cheese, Oreo's, and chocolate, that's it.

Also, while I was there i got to squeeze in to do a fall flower arrangement, thanks to Janelle. I have never really made an arrangement this big, so it took me a while, but it was fun, and I think it looks o.k.

The kids are excited for Halloween, and I'm sure we'll be making our traditional Halloween sugar cookies. No wonder October through January we pack on the pounds, every thing's about eating! Oh well, we'll just make another ridiculous new year's resolution to not do it again. Cheers.

BLESSINGS

Friday I received some phenomenal news from Conner's cardiologist ( heart specialist ). For those of you who have forgotten, or simply did not know, Conner has had a VSD( Ventricular Septal Defect), aka "hole" in his heart. We have been watching this for seven and a half years, to see if it would stabilize and close on it's own, or grow and get bigger requiring heart surgery to repair it. I received a phone call from Conner's cardiologist and their team and they said they reviewed Conner's last echo cardiogram ( basically an ultrasound on your heart ) and the VSD has closed substantially. the hole is too small to repair now and will most likely close all the way on it's own. we have reduced his visits now and will just go routinely once a year to have it checked, which is so good for us because we see seven other specialists bi monthly. This has been very exciting, and humbling news for us, and we feel so blessed. I have been stressed about the steps backward we have taken with his growth lately and this has been a major step forward. few steps forward, few steps back. We are happy and healthy and ready for whatever may come our way. We have learned sooo many things from our angel and we are grateful for everyday he gets to spend with us. We are grateful for technology, for without it, he would not be here. We are grateful for all the medical professionals who give of their time and talents to improve the quality of ones life. And we are grateful for all those who have come into our lives and helped us along our way.

Bless all of you and your families that you might experience some of the joy we have been able to experience in our lives. we love you.

"DO NOT GO WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD,

GO INSTEAD WHERE THERE IS NO PATH AND

LEAVE A TRAIL."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

QUILT

So, I checked this quilt out, and it's awesome! I know the chances of me winning it are slim, very very slim, I've never been the lucky winner, but what the heck, we'll see. It was very cute and I have been sulking lately about not having a home made quilt. No one in my family quilts, and the ones I've seen and offered to buy, no one will sell them; people make them for family members, not outsiders. So I'll hope I win, but lucky be the person that does, and then I'll go on another quilt hunt. I should probably just learn myself and solve the problem, but who has the time or patience to teach me? probably no one. cheers to the contest!

KIDS

So I have learned a lot from my dear, sweet children, sometimes more than I want to know, sometimes things I should know, And sometimes things i never thought I wanted to know. i have been super busy lately, and have not had a lot of free time to blog, but today I had a highlight from conner and thought i'd better share so we can look back on this conversation later in life and laugh. So, we are driving home from school and the kids are in the back, that's so nice cause then I can vaugly hear the quarreling. Anyway, Conner says " Mom, when am I gonna get my fur" i laughed and said " Honey, people don't have fur, animals have fur, people have hair" He then said " Well, when am I gonna get my fur?" I stated again" Honey, we don't have fur, we have hair, and your's is on your head" Conner then says " Well, how come daddy has fur?" I was scared to answer that, afraid of what he was getting at, but I laughed and said" Conner, Daddy doesn't have fur." More irritated that I was arguing with him and he was determined to prove his point, he said" U huh, I've seen it, he has it on his toes." I busted a gut all the way home and then some and couldn't wait to ask Brandon if he was aware he was growing fur on his toes. I would have posted a pic, but thought i'd spare yall that one, you can thank me latter. It's so funny to me what kids come up with, granted there is hair on most men's toes, but that a child would look at it like fur is so funny to me. Thank gosh it was on his toes, right?

FALL

Well, we officially had the first day of fall, and then of course it heated up like crazy! The kids always get so excited when the Halloween stuff comes out. costumes, cookies, candy, spooky stuff, the whole bit. Taylor is my little cook so she immediately wanted to make cookies with the Halloween sprinkles she spotted at walmart.

Of course the most coveted part of the whole cookie process is the sprinkles, and boy do my kids know how to sprinkle, this is Taylor's best.

Yum! Conner doesn't get too into the eating part, but he likes to make em.And of course, Presley, our little crack up had us all entertained through the whole event. First she just poked at it.

I first gave her a beater with frosting so she would know what was coming, she's really funny about trying something new, especially when i keep saying " go on, taste it" she poked for a few minutes and thenyup, dove right in. don't know why she wouldn't pick it up, didn't want to get her hands dirty I guess. After she got a real taste of what I was pushing her to eat, she was quite surprised than I would give her such a delicatessen, and quite proud of her self too.Priceless.

And well, for my addition to the evening, I made dinner. and cleaned up the mess, and bathed the girl with all the frosting on her face. I was trying to think of something fallish to make, so I made haystacks, they are yummy!

And yes, I ate that whole thing. Thanks to aunt Mary I now have my first set of semi-china, so I won't have to sport my plastics as much. Well, i think I am about all falled out, and we still have the rest of the month and the next. Hopefully it cools down some so it really feels like fall, otherwise I think the pool needs to re-open.

My little food critique

So, since Presley is STILL not walking she has to find something else to do with all that free time, and this is her latest. She absolutely loves to sit in the dishwasher. But it's funny cause she only sits in it when the dishes are DIRTY. Yes, I know this is gross, but she really can't help herself. If the dishes are clean, she simple walks away, but if the dishes are dirty, she climbs up on top, takes a seat, and starts taste testing. Yes, I am aware that this is disgusting, but she's so funny, if she gets something she doesn't like, she tosses it over the side to the floor and digs for a new one. luckily i run my dishwasher at least twice a day, so most of the stuff she tastes is from dinner. I constantly tell her no, take her off and try to distract her with a toy in the other room, but just like my sneaky marshmallow runaway, by the time I get to the table for dishes and back, she's already on top tasting. i have seriously made an extra attempt to really rinse everything off before it goes in, so time consuming, I think it just gives her more time to sit and taste.

I have also made an extra effort to help her learn how to walk hoping that new found ability will give her more places to roam, but it has been a no go, she's very defiant. i have never let my dogs lick the stuff in the dishwasher, natural thing for dogs to do, She even gets mad at the dog if he trys to join her, Territorial I guess.funny girl; but is my little girl any different? i guess I'll have to learn how to load super fast, or just leave the dishes all over the table and kitchen, that would work. oh the joy of being a child.

FINALLY

So, the long wait is finally over, yeah for me. I have FINALLY found a mascara that I love. I posted a clip for this a while back asking for input, and i recieved some good tips, but unfortunatly no one won my contest. I found this mascara a few weeks ago and I'm hooked! The first couple of times I used it I wasn't so sure, but after a few times, It worked wonders! Yes wonders! The key is slow long strokes. Rimmel makes it,it's Glam'eyes, and I get Midnight black. I also love some of their eye shadow, but have not been able to get anymore, mostly due to walmarts stocking habits, or lack of stocking the same item habit. I love this new find of mine and until they create something even more spectacular, I'll be purchasing this in bulk, also due to walmarts not stocking the same item habit. Try it and love it. Because I love it, love it, love it.

WHAT IS THIS?!!

So, I got up this morning and glided right into the usual routine, kids breakfast, school, gym, nap for baby and shower. I was skippping right through the whole get ready process and then as I proceeded to straighten my hair, something caught my eye.

Yes ladies, the scene you are seeing right now is true, I have grey hair! I know this picture is horrible, thanks to my bathroom lights, but none the less they are there, and I can see them! I frantically pulled up my hair on the other side, and to my astonishment there were more, lots of them! So, i said to myself " I can handle this" I mean for crying out loud I 'm a hair stylist, but despite the fact that I can easily fix this problem, I thought more to myself, how did this become a problem? I mean, I know i'm close to thirty, but is that really when it happens thirty? How young! But then I thought to myself, do I WANT to fix this problem, is it really a problem? I always see those older ladies with pure grey hair, and it looks so pritty to me so natural, but I definatly think it would look more unnatural on me. And then I think, can I possibly be in the hair industry grey? And how fast does this advance? Maybe I just have stress spots, that would be nice, except for the fact that those spots probably just doubled when I noticed them. So really, I love hair no matter what color it is. And I think the face is what makes hair beautiful. everyone is so unique, and whether it's black, brown, blonde, red or yes even grey, I think we are beautiful. So for now, my grey hair is still there, for how long, I don't know.

SEATTLE

So, we took a weekend trip to seattle to check out some famulous sites. We decided to kick of our trip with a stop at Snoqualmie Falls ( who knows if i spelled that right) The falls were just beautiful. Conner is actually the one who convinced us to hike down to the bottom, whew! what a hike, carrying a baby! should have had a pack or something.The kids wanted to break the rules like so many other people were doing and climb the fence to go right down next to the water, but i figured "if" there happened to be a sudden change in the water rising, like stated on the warning posters everywhere not to climb the fence, we would be in trouble trying to get three small kids back over the fence, so i know, i know, had to hold back the wild side of me and stay put.I asked brandon if he would take a picture of me posing like ariel, on the little mermaid, ya know on the big rock? But he refused, so instead I snatched photos of the kids, neither of them wanted to play ariel though, sorry.i love the outdoors, so green, mostly clean, and smells fresh, especially by the water.oh gotta love it when kids smile for the camera, someone's always gotta be a goof. So we were all pritty tired from our hike down, we only got about an eighth of the way back up the hill and no one could make it! So, being the responsible parents we try to be, we left the kids at the bottom with grandma and mary, and brandon and I hiked the way up. Oh how I was wishing I would have opted for the irresponsibility and sat at the bottom with everyone else! It was a big, long hike back up. people were looking at me funny cause I was sweating sooo bad. I'm sure they experienced the same moisture when they hiked back up too. decieving little sign, all it stated was steep incline! guess we weren't thinking of the way back, oh well, rest assured we made it and fetched our family from the bottom. we made it to seattle that night and visited with family the rest of the evening.

Saturday was the perfect day in Seattle! we couldn't have picked a better day, it didn't even rain!!!!

We started off at fabulous pikes market, I just love walking around stuff like this, so entertaining, I'm a people watcher. Caught this pic of Conner smelling the flowers for sale, so sweet. I wish I could have bought some they were just beautiful!We rode the water taxi over to weast seattle and back, just like a ferry ride only, smaller boat, cheaper price, and shorter line, yeah for the bargain shopper! We walked all over, gosh I wonder how many calories I burned!Conner and Taylor goofing off for their picture with grandma, typical.Don't ask me why we didn't atleast turn presley around, poor thing stuck in a stroller, in my defense, she was carried more than she rode! After walking till we couldn't we stopped to eat at a fabulous resteraunt on the pier. Several people recommended it so we decided to endulge.

After the kids saw all the crabs inside in the display, they were begging for crab, so we got the famous crab pot, and yes they bring it in a pot and then dump it in the middle of your table!i ate a shrimp cocktail, yum and then i picked through the pot with the rest of them, exception to the boys, they ate burgers.taylor actually really liked the crab, I thought she was brave.i think maybe she liked wearing the big bib more, but atleast she ate right?Conner was so funny, he made me take a picture of this shrimps eyes before he hit it with the mallot. Funnier was that grandma didn't know they were eyes till after she ate and conner pointed it out on this last one, funny.

Well, after we were stuffed we cruised around some more and then rode the train to the space needle. We were going to ride up, but the tickets were 18 a person, and the line wound aroud for hours, so we just looked in the shops and enjoyed the weather. we did try to get a picture though, and i had to post it cause we were trying sooo hard to capture this and conner just had to pick his nose!

And poor taylor was just tired of pictures all together. Well the train broke down so we had to catch a city bus back to pikes market, conner thought the bus was the best of all, funny, who enjoys riding a stinky, packed city bus, evidently conner. After our 38 dollar parking garage bill, we decided to to call it a day, it was fun. Sunday it rained ALL day, we went to the locks and let the kids look at the boats, that was interesting, fun. then we cruised around looking at beautiful houses and such.
This was conner's favorite boat, it was a big one.The kids played in the water, and the rain. all in all it was a great trip and i'm glad we went. geeze, this post is longer than the last one, that's what happens when ya slack on posting!