Back to School

With the excitement of going back to school and having yet another one of my children entering school this year I knew it was a cause for celebration. I saw these cool cupcakes in the Family Fun magazine and thought it would be a great first after school snack. Need I even say that it was a big hit! We were happy that we were able to share them with our friends at the park.


PETER entered KINDERGARTEN this year. He started out in Ms. Ashton's morning class but has now moved to Ms. Sabado's afternoon class (long story). Peter is our happy child and I knew I would have no problems sending him off to school. He didn't even look back to see if I was there his very first day. If you were to ask Peter what his favorite thing was about school so far it would be riding the bus home. The first day he got off the bus Emma just ran and hugged him. Do you think she missed him?? It was really quite sweet. We all missed that smiley boy!





ANDREW started SECOND grade this year and joined Ms. Hebert's class. He tells me that he thinks she is the coolest teacher ever. I am so happy that he is happy and that he is staying out of trouble so far. Andrew is our very smart but highly distracted child. Ms. Hebert seems to be a good match for our energetic Andrew.

The first day just wouldn't have been complete without good friends to share in the joys of a great day. This is Andrew and his best friend Noah enjoying their yummy cupcakes!

Saltar's Point

A couple of days before school started we headed over to Saltar's Point which is a quiet little rocky beach on the Puget Sound. We brought everyone's boots and had a blast throwing rocks in the water, climbing on the old logs, jumping off big rocks, and eating lollipops. I have to admit that I secretly wanted to get these fabulous pictures of the kids, however, we got there after the sun was already out and it was extremely windy. I got a few candids and just focused on having fun. By the end of our time there the boys pants were half wet from standing in the water and jumping over the little waves that came in. I didn't have my camera because I was just enjoying watching how happy they truly were to be outside. We really live in such a great place!

August Adventures

Our month of August was filled with swimming lessons, soccer camp, and playing near the sound before the school year begun. The boys both took swimming lessons at Lakes High School and we were so glad that it was indoors because there were many days of light sprinkling and overcast, cool mornings. They had such a good experience and were both swimming on their own and jumping off the diving board by the end of the summer.

A n d r e w - finally mastered his fear of the water!



P e t e r - realized that he could swim 10 feet and is quite the little fish.

During our last session of swimming lessons the boys were involved in their yearly British Soccer Camp held at our Elementary School. Thank goodness it was close to home. They both learned some good skills and had a blast. Since Peter is still five he was put in the smaller soccer group with the four and five year olds. They don't break into teams and play real games but work on ball skills and such. After one of his hour and a half sessions his coach noticed that he was waiting with me as we were watching Andrew play. He asked Peter if he wanted to play with one of the younger teams. Pete felt so special and loved all the attention he recieved from a couple of the coaches. They were so nice to explain rules of the game that he had not understood yet. They gave him high fives and really spent some time helping him learn and have fun. We will definitely be doing this camp again next year. The British guys are really good with the kids!

10 Fabulous Years

How is it possible that 10 years has already passed? I have such fond memories of our wedding day and how great it was to have so many of our family members in the temple with us. One of the fondest moments happened right before we got married. I had just put on my wedding dress and was waiting in the lobby outside of the dressing rooms for Mike. I saw him come towards me and I think at that moment we both felt something eternal--that we were meant to be together forever. When you are newly married it is hard to imagine that you could be more in love than you are during those first moments and years of marriage. I can honestly say that with each passing year I grow more in love with Mike. Every year for us just gets better and better. I can't imagine my life without him. He has always loved me for who I am but has always challenged me to become the person my Heavenly Father wants me to become. This is one of the things I love most about Mike. He has helped me to branch out of my comfort zone to become someone that can shine even when life seems dark. He has the best sense of humor and can turn any bad situation into a good one. Thank you Mike for 10 great years of marriage! You are my whole world--I will always love you!

Victoria . Day 1

After our camping adventure we headed over to Victoria, BC by ferry from Port Angeles. The kids always enjoy riding the ferry and love to stand outside no matter how cold it may be. We left really early in the morning and so the ride over to Victoria was a little chilly. Mike took the boys out for a couple of minutes and then they would come back in to warm up. I was content to sit with the girls and stay warm. When we arrived in Victoria we were all a bit hungry and so we decided to park our cars and find a nice little deli for lunch. We parked in the Empress Hotel parking garage. I have to recommend doing this because it was relatively inexpensive and really convienient to everything downtown. We walked along and found a really good deli called Sam's Deli. The sandwiches were not cheap but they were really good.



After lunch we headed over to the beautiful Parliament Building. The kids enjoyed playing near the fountain last time we were there. This time we decided to go and see what the inside of the building looked like. Here are some pictures of the inside.


the assembly hall



the architecture

I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful archways and the stained glass windows. The kids were only interested for a short time so we decided to head across the street to the Royal British History Museum. We went and saw the Dinosaur IMAX and then took a look at the rest of the museum. We were just there a year ago and they had this cool Titanic Exhibit. This year they had something else that we weren't interested in seeing. However, the other permanent exhibits are so much fun and we could literally spend a couple of hours there. After we finished with the museum we headed over to our hotel which was only a couple of miles outside of the downtown area.





We stayed at a really quaint place called the English Inn and Resort. I felt like I was at a minature Butchart Gardens. The Inn was a little older with some modest updates. There were gardens and flowers everywhere. We stayed in the Royal Prince Albert's suite. It was on the top floor just up an old staircase off of the second floor. The kids just thought that was the coolest thing to be staying up there. It almost felt like we were on a hidden floor. For dinner that night we ate at the restaurant off of the main foyer. It was a fancy restaurant and not really a place to take kids...but we did anyway. It was interesting to try and get our already tired children to use their good manners. We were a little frustrated trying to entertain our children and thought we might go crazy until our food finally came. It was FABULOUS. Mike and I both ate duck with some sort of fancy cheese crepe things and carmelized onions in the shape of flowers. It really was out of this world. That pretty much made up for all the stress with the kids. We all slept well and woke up the next morning to a great continental breakfast and a walk around the gardens.


A sitting area right outside the inn with some beautiful flowers and some old fashioned outside fire places.


Red Chrysanthemum--one of my new favorite flowers.


Blue Hydrangeas--another favorite


What a ham!


Mike under a really cool archway. Mike loves stone archways!


Grandpa Al and Grandma Lorene

Victoria . Day 2

After a super relaxing morning we headed over to Butchart Gardens for some more flower viewing. Butchart Gardens can be summed up in one word--WOW!! This place makes me want to have my own flower garden.


The boys plus Abby


Abby and Mike


Our day just wouldn't be complete without ice-cream cones


Purple Impatiens

A pink Crocosmia with an excited bumblebee

A beautiful Redwood

Another Redwood

The Japanese Gardens -our boys favorite spot

After walking around the gardens for the better part of the afternoon we headed back over to downtown Victoria to catch our ferry. We parked our car in the ferry line and walked along the waterfront one more time before we had to be back to our car for Customs.

Our ferry ride home was significantly warmer than the ride to Victoria. The weather couldn't have been better while we were in Victoria. On the ferry the boys and Mike had so much fun running around the ferry while taking video of the different parts of the ferry. The kids liked looking down in the water and it didn't take long for the boys to start spitting in the water...boys will be boys I guess!