Camping Weekend

We spent the last few days at Lake Easton State Park near Snoqualmie Pass camping. We went with our good friends the Jorgenson's and their two kids. We had a lot of fun and were glad that despite Aaden having a nearly 102 degree fever for a day and a half things weren't too bad. We headed out Friday and cam back Sunday. Saturday we spent the day at Lake Easton absorbing the last few days of summer. The kids didn't do too bad either, the first night was a little rough but by Saturday night everyone was pretty worn out and slept pretty well. And surprisingly they all napped quite well too. Overall a pretty good success! Here are a few photos from the weekend!

The kiddos playing in the tent, Lacey kept trying to sit in Aaden's lap. :-)

Mom's cooking breakfast!

We borrowed Grandma Renee's big car, Aaden wanted to test drive it!

Enjoying the lake sunshine.

Kids down by the water

Babes loves the sunshine! And we loved that his fever finally broke!

All suited up.

Mom and Dad even got to enjoy some rays!

Sneaky boy is getting pretty good at almost standing up!

Home: all cleaned up and everything is put away. Even got the Sequoia in the garage, no small feat!

Project Weekend

This weekend we took advantage of the dry weather and stained our deck. Kristofer did most of the work as Aaden and I were under the weather. The finished product is awesome, just sad that the nice weather will soon be ending and we won't be able to enjoy the deck much longer.

Also, Aaden is making major steps towards walking. He's pulling himself up to standing on the fridge, climbing the first flight of stairs and even walked from his play table to a stool a foot or so away. This was all this morning, so I'm thinking this afternoon's nap should be good!

Before and after...pretty good eh!?

Before on his knees...

After, standing up!

Oh, and I couldn't resist, both my kids begging for my yogurt.

9 month stats - almost 10 months!

Aaden had his 9 month well baby visit today, a bit late. He's still doing really well and the pediatrician was very please to see all of his progress developmentally. He mentioned that Aaden has already met and exceeded the milestones for a 12 month old. We were pleased. He's nearly 30 inches and weighs just shy of 24lbs. Our big boy is hovering around 85 percentile on the growth chart. As always we are extremely thankful for his continued health and growth. His fourth tooth has finally cut through and we are all surprised about how big the top two teeth are! He's spending a lot more time standing and climbing. We are looking forward to what the 10th month holds and can hardly believe we are nearing a year!

He likes to sit on the stairs like Mama!

Our curious electrical engineer!

I Heart Flowers

It isn't very often a girl gets 4 bouquets of flowers in one week! My brother and his girlfriend brought me a stunning arrangement for my birthday party, My husband brought home a beautiful bouquet of Lilly's for my birthday, the next day my coworkers gave me gorgeous arrangement and on our anniversary Kristofer gave me a dozen red roses. I snapped a few photos...well because I LOVE flowers!

A peak at my birthday Lilly's, and my handsome boys!

From my coworkers

Anniversary roses

The Celebration Week

I had a wonderful birthday celebration complete with a pedicure, shopping, lovely breakfast, lunch, dinner and yummy cake. Thanks to my wonderful parents, loving husband and son for making my day so special!

By Friday, Kristofer and I were able to really celebrate our 5th anniversary. Kristofer took a 1/2 day off and we headed downtown on our first date since Aaden was born. My parents were gracious enough to watch the boy and put him to bed. We first went and saw a movie (wow, first time in a couple of years), Julie & Julia. We both loved it and want to see it again soon. Then out to dinner at Wild Ginger, an old favorite. It was such a relaxing, leisurely afternoon and evening. But as any new parents would, we missed our boy and headed home early.

A few photos of the week:

Aaden can pull himself up to standing now and can climb up three stairs!

Yummy spice cake!!

Anniversary gifts, I made a photo book for Kristofer of this last year. He got me a beautiful purse!

My parents got us an original photograph of Yosemite Falls, where we went on our honeymoon

Pretty good after 5 years!?

Sunday we headed over to the town of Snohomish for some lunch and stroll through the antique shops.

Aaden discovering dogs come in all different sizes and can do silly things! The dog was equally as interested in Aaden.

Happy 5th Anniversary!!

Five years ago today, Kristofer and I were married. It has been an amazing 5 years, can hardly believe how time has flown. We are so blessed!

Birthday BBQ

Sunday, my loving husband threw me a little birthday party complete with cake and decorations! We had family and friends over for most of the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and good to see everyone.

I of course was too busy talking to everyone to take any pictures but my father-in-law was gracious enough to share a few of his with me.

I haven't seen you in a long time Grandma and Auntie!!

My brother, his girlfriend Megan and I

Checking out our garden!

Uncle Kelley and Aunt Lacey lovin' on Aaden!

Aaden Adventures

Yesterday was just one of those days, Aaden was bound and determined to get into everything! I was just not fast enough and did not have enough tricks up my sleeves to keep him occupied. I was ever so thankful to have Dad come home and entertain the sweet boy even if it was for just a short time before bed.

Today I was determined to get out of the house. We headed to coffee with my friend Michelle from college early in the morning. It was great to see her and while we skipped our (long) morning nap, Aaden did really well finally drifting off for a 15 minute cat nap while we chatted. It was nice to catch up with an old friend and gave mom more energy to come home and tackle cleaning the house! Now the boy is down for a good long afternoon nap.

Like I said, into everything! He gets in here and gets stuck. Like a fort I guess?

Daddy baby time...ahh!


Happy to sit and be with Daddy!

Oh and watch the kids run by outside.

Our cat napping boy! Last time she saw him he was only 2 weeks old, big change!

Money Saver

My husband came home with an early birthday present for me awhile back and I have to say, I love it! A Starbucks iced travel cup with straw. I don't drink coffee, but do love my iced, soy chai latte and that is at least $4.50 for a grande. I found a great chai mix at Trader Joes for $2 and my soy milk from TJ's is around $3. So for the price of one drink from Starbucks I can now get 10+ drinks! I'm so happy!

The finished product - doesn't look too shabby, tastes great too!


Oh, and Aaden loves sitting on the stair and pushing up to standing while playing with his music table!

Black Butte 2009

We had a blast this past week enjoying some summer fun at Black Butte Ranch in Central Oregon with the Bartsch family. We figured out that this was about our 15th annual trip, and Kristofer's 7th trip! Can't believe it has been that many years of relaxation, rest and rejuvenation in the beautiful high desert of Oregon! We had a wonderful time introducing Aaden to this wonderful place. Highlights included first swimming pool adventure (turned into an almost daily adventure), walks in the stroller to view the spectacular meadow complete with views of the Three Sisters, Black Butte, Mt. Washington and Three Fingered Jack. Visits with Cousin Deborah at her pool, learning to kick, kick, kick with her, MAJOR teething that landed him in Urgent Care in Bend with a 102.5 temperature (complete with extremely swollen gums, a huge soar on his tongue and less then 4 hours of sleep in a 48 hour period). Needless to say we were SO thankful to have family around to help us in those sleepless and painful times. When the Dr. said he was sorry it happened on vacation we just looked at each other and said 'we're not'! Nothing like Grandma and Grandpa taking a turn to snuggle the babe at 4am and helping with a bath at 4:30am to get the fever down. By the end of the week we were basically back on schedule, eating solid foods again and enjoying the pool time, and playing inside/outside. Aaden was even so good as to allow the girls to get a little shopping in and go out to dinner.

A few development updates: third tooth came in with a storm, tried a milkshake through a straw and loved it, waves regularly bye and hi, says "hi dada", sat up on his own, army crawls a lot, no fear of the water at the pool (swim lessons to come), opens and closes all sorts of drawers and is a great trooper for 8 hour car rides!

PS - Mom and Dad got some relaxing activities in too (bike riding, fly fishing (Kristofer caught 4 fish!!), tennis and swimming of course).

Enjoy some photos from our great family vacation!

Corn muffin "yes please"!

Playing under the table is fun Mom!

Great Grandad Howard even played with me!

Waving at the pool, first time swimming!

I loved my ladybug floater!

Wearing Dada's shirt to warm up after a swim!

Grandpa's hat is cool too!

The whole gang at dinner on the deck


Our beautiful sunset on the last night complete with double rainbow, lightening and sun over Black Butte!



8 hour car rides require some entertainment on Mom's part, he did great though!