It's over!

After two and a half grueling days of testing, the BAR is over!! Garrett is home safe and we are thrilled that he is done. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, we have felt so loved and supported during this time. Garrett feels like it went well and he felt several times the power of all your prayers, so thank you again! Now we just have to wait until the end of October to find out if he passed!

Dah Dah dah Dum!

The day of the Bar has officially arrived. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Just want to wish Daddy good luck. We are thinking about you and praying for you and we know you will do great!

Ward Campout

Feeling that the kids needed a break from the daily grind (e.g. lounging, having meals prepared for them, reading books, watching shows, coloring, etc.) I took them to the ward campout at Camp Peine in Idaho.

Mommy wasn't quite up for the trip so she stocked up on food for us and sent us on our way. The drive took about an hour so the kids read books, we talked about animals, and I quietly listened to the Mariners game. This was the first time I have had to endure the "are we there yet?" phenomenon. For the last 20 minutes of the drive the kids asked me if we were there yet every 4 seconds. Determined to outlast them (and determined to be more like Caillou's Mom) I answered with a calm "no" every time. They thought it was hilarious at first - they alternated asking me - but they soon discovered that they could not break me. As Rachel has discovered in our 7 years of marriage, I never tire of trying to out-annoy someone, which will probably be good for my career. We arrived just in time for dinner, but Rylynn and Carter were more interested in eating candy and running around like lunatics.

Rylynn found some of her friends from Primary - Jayden & Julianna - so she was hanging out with them and having a blast.

Carter helped me set up the tent. A proud and touching moment for me, because I remember doing this with my dad. In fact, camping with my own kids was a very bizarre experience. I remember "helping" with the tent and everything, but I always knew that Dad really had everything under control. Now I was the one who was supposed to have everything under control. No one was going to make sure the stakes were in the ground, no one was going to cook the food, and no one was going to spend 45 minutes trying to squeeze the sleeping bags and tent into nylon bags that are way too small for them. I nailed it!

We had s'mores, played football and ultimate frisbee, gathered sticks, climbed on a big rock, looked for bears and played in the tent. I should clarify something about the "s'mores"; collectively the kids had s'mores, meaning that by the end of the night they both had chocolate, marshmallow and graham crackers in the their stomachs. It was by no means proportionate and it was not part of a comprehensive s'more plan. I think the ratio was: chocolate bars = 6/marshmallows = 10/graham crackers = 1/2.

Maybe that's why they didn't go to sleep until around 11:00. However, Mommy wasn't around to keep us in line so we had to go for it. Mommy was there in spirit, though, because (being totally exhausted) I tried to convince Rylynn she could go to sleep without brushing her teeth - a horrible idea since they ate tons of sugar. She refused and demanded her tooth brush and flosser. I saw her mother's determination in her eyes so I let her brush her teeth. I thought we were finally ready for bed, but Carter demanded that we read scriptures. I wanted to say "Why do you two have to be so obedient?!?" I didn't bring the kid scriptures so I told them a story about Nephi. Maybe I didn't nail that part of the trip. However, after many battles, stories, songs and threats they finally crashed.

The next day was all about swimming in the lake. The lake was beautiful and clear, but it was a bit cold too. I went swimming too even though I am a wimp when it comes to cold water. I have to share a funny story about Carterman. I was standing on the dock making sure Carter didn't jump off when one of the Deacons walked by and pushed me into the water. It was a fair push and I left myself vulnerable to it, but Carter was wroth. He was so angry about the boy who pushed Daddy in the water that he kept his eye on him the rest of the time. Every couple of minutes he would say (in his grumpy voice) "that boy pushed Daddy in the water. He's a mean boy." So, the next day was Sunday and that very Deacon was passing the sacrament. As soon as Carter saw him he pointed at him and angrily shouted - during the silence of the Sacrament - "That mean boy pushed Daddy in the Water!" It was great. That boy better watch out, cause Carter doesn't take kindly to punks who push his Daddy in the water.

We had a great time and we got to know some of our ward members better. However, I don't know if they will recognize us at church without dried chocolate and marshmallow all over our faces and clothes. I had been extremely busy studying for the Bar the previous weeks so it was a great chance to get away, spend some time with my issue (legal term for children) and forget about negotiable instruments and Indian sovereignty for a time. I only thought about the Bar roughly 200 times.:) It would have been less frequent if I wasn't mentally keeping track of the number of torts Carter committed (assault, battery, false imprisonment, negligence, trespass to land, trespass to chattels, conversion, intentional and/or negligent infliction of mental duress, defamation of a Deacon, etc.). Good times!

We missed Mommy a lot. She stayed home with a couple of chick flicks and got some well-deserved rest. We don't have any pictures to document her activities but I imagine it looked something like this:

Hooray for Playland!

Can I just say that whoever invented the play land child care place at grocery stores is a complete genius! I wasn't sure I was going to find another grocery store that had this since we moved from OH and had the Eagle's Nest, but last time I was walking out of Fred Meyer from a very long shopping trip I noticed they had one! So today we went shopping and both kids got to play while I shopped. They let kids 2 and up go in which is awesome because Eagle's Nest only let 3 and up and they had to be potty trained. I love it because my kids are so much happier and they have so much fun and I get to actually enjoy grocery shopping. Thank you genius person who invented grocery store play lands!!

Rylynn's first talk

In primary on Sunday Rylynn got to give her first talk! She has been wanting to give a talk ever since she got into primary so she was very excited. Her topic was I can strengthen my family. She colored two pictures for her visual aids, one was a picture of her helping her brother clean his room and the other was a picture of her helping her mama clean the house.

She was a little shy and nervous during the first part which is really uncharacteristic of Rylynn, but then she got brave and finished the talk really well.

She said she could strengthen her family by helping her family, then she showed her two pictures and explained them.

"I can also strengthen my family by making good choices and following the family rules and the commandments. I can set a good example for my little brother by not hitting and by being reverent during church and Family home evening. When I am kind to my family we can have the spirit in our home and that strengthens our family too. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

We were so proud of her! I can't believe that she and Carter are both going to be in primary in January. Rylynn has loved primary from day one so we will see how it goes with Carter. I am a little more worried about his transition since he will have turned 3 the day before the deadline! Also, I don't know how much he will like it when he realizes there are no balls, no cars, and no snacks in primary!

Portland Trip

The day after the 4th, the kids and I packed up the car and headed to Portland for a visit with my sister Marianne and her kids Nathan and Aria. I was very nervous about the drive since I am hugely preggo and I didn't have Garrett along to do the driving. The kids were great though and the drive really wasn't bad. The kids were so excited to see their cousins and we had a great visit!

On Monday, we took the kids blueberry picking at a you-pick farm. Garrett LOVES blueberries and you can't beat Oregon Blueberries so we picked a bunch to bring home to daddy.

Carter started out with his own bucket, but he never seemed to fill it up because he kept eating them all as he picked. So here he is trying to mooch off of Marianne's bucket!


Rylynn and Aria had a great time picking together. Rylynn was actually very good at picking and not just eating them all.

Marianne and her kids Nathan and Aria.

Surprise, surprise, Carter is eating the blueberries.

Check out where his hand is! He takes after his Daddy, this boy loves blueberries.


On Wednesday, we celebrated Aria's 6th birthday which was the reason for our visit. She had a party at the Build-a-Bear store in the mall.


Rylynn had so much fun building her little bear. She named her snuggly and then later the name changed to Lemonade for some reason.
Carter made a little doggie that he loves! He has to "nuggle" his puppy every night.

This picture cracks me up because we were trying to take a group picture of the whole party and Carter decided to squish in the back by all the tall kids instead of standing up front with all the shortys. He is totally in denial that he is little. Unfortunately, my camera battery died right after this picture so I didn't get any of the birthday girl at her party. Oh well, we had such a great visit with cousins. It is so nice to be able to just hop in the car and drive when we want to see family instead of fly for 5 hours on an airplane!

Happy 4th of July!

I know this is way late in coming and I have been the worst blogger lately. I just have no energy at night these days and my giant tummy gets in the way of typing so sorry about the binge blogging. I go for weeks without doing it and then I have to play catch up and do like 5 posts.

For the fourth this year we decided to stay close to home since I left on the 5th with the kids to drive to Portland, so we went back to Liberty Lake for a bbq and swimming. I was majorly craving hamburgers and we don't have a grill but luckily they have bbq's at the lake.

The kids played around on the playground while we got the bbq ready and then we feasted on hamburgers, hot dogs, spinach salad, watermelon, corn on the cob, and root beer. It was really yummy, but it didn't take long for the kids to start begging to go swimming.

It was a really hot day so the water felt great!

Carter and Rylynn are both great in the water, but Carter was getting a little overconfident for my comfort. What a shock that kid has been fearless since birth!

After swimming they found a great sand/mud pit right next to the water to play in.

They totally mooched all the sand toys from other kids, but there were so many people there that no one seemed to mind.

Garrett is great about being the designated swimming parent these days. I did not feel the desire to invest in a maternity swimsuit so I just wade in the water. Thanks honey!

After playing at the Lake for a few hours, we headed home and got cleaned up for the fireworks. We got to drive to the top of the hill above Garrett's cousin's house to watch the fireworks. It was an awesome view looking over the lake where they shoot them from a boat.

We got there a little early to make sure we got a great place so Rylynn stayed busy picking wild flowers for me.

This picture cracks me up! Yes it looks like my 2 year old is flipping me off but actually he is pumping his fist in the air yelling BOOM! He did this every time a firework would go off. He was so excited about the "Booms".

Both of the kids loved the fireworks this year.

After a while Carter got tired and said, "I'm tired of booms, I want to go night night". So Garrett wrapped him up in the blankey for the last few fireworks before we headed home.

Daddy's new wheels!

This is the new family toy. Well actually it is on loan from Garrett's wonderful cousin. When we first moved here we were having quite the time trying to balance our one car between Garrett going to the library to study all day and me running errands and toting around the kids. It was just not working and Garrett was getting worried about the time that it took to get everything coordinated because it was taking away from his study time. So he called his cousin who lives a couple minutes away from us to ask if she had a bike he could borrow for a couple weeks to ride to the library. She instead offered us this awesome scooter to use while he is studying for the Bar! The kids of course were ecstatic when they saw "the Green Motacycle"!

Every evening when he comes home from studying the kids beg to take a ride around our parking lot. Carter never gets enough of it. Thanks cousin Stacey, you're a life saver!

Isn't it Ironic?

I think it is a cruel trick of nature that the last couple weeks that I am able to sleep before I have a newborn waking up all night, I can't sleep for more than 2 hours straight anyway! I am officially uncomfortable and ready for this baby to come out. Last night I got up three times to pee, not to mention I got up once with each of my kids, and then when I was sleeping, I was either too uncomfortable or hot to actually sleep. This baby is having lots of fun kicking me in the ribs all night and rolling all around the second I get into bed. Maybe it is actually nature's way of getting me prepared to have no sleep, but I would prefer to have my last few weeks without a newborn to involve some wonderful much-needed rest! Oh well. The other ironic thing I have been thinking about is that I have been so worried for months that this baby is going to come early because if he does, Garrett may be in Seattle taking the Bar. However, now that I am so done with being pregnant all I ever do now is say how much I want this baby to come early! This of course stresses Garrett out to no end, but at this point I kind of think having him not be there wouldn't be so bad as long as I can get this baby out of me. So those are my ramblings for the day. Is it just me or is pregnancy number three just longer and harder?