I just found out that President Monson is going to be the concluding speaker at Women's Conference this year. I was pretty excited about that. Last time I went Brother Ucthdorf was the concluding speaker, and he did a great job. Anyways I thought that was pretty exciting.

Well Ashlynn's 7th birthday is coming up here in a little over a month. And the other night as we were cleaning up from dinner she said "Mom can I make a birthday wish list?" So I asked her what kind of things she would want to write on her wish list and she mentioned one toy that she wanted and then she said and "I want a love note from you and Daddy" I asked her what kind of a love note? She explained she just wanted me to write her a little note telling her "how much I love her and what I love". I then asked her if there was anything else on her wish list and then of course she added "you could give me a little treat (candy bar I assume) with my love note". What a sweet little girl. Of all the things in the world a seven year old could and would want.... She asked for a "love note from us". I love my kids! They always surprise me!

Traditions???

Do you and your family have any traditions that are somewhat different or special?

Years ago while we were living in Northern Idaho, I was able to attend a organizational class that went on for about 8-12 weeks I cant remember how long... But it gave alot of good ideas on ways to be (basically a better wife and mother). One of the ideas she did with her family was if I remember right once a week or something like that... they would have a "special dinner" where the family would eat by candlelight, and they would use the best dishes (china). And she said that you would be amazed at the difference. So we have been doing this now for around a year or so. And we do our "special dinner" on Sunday's. The girls are always excited to set the table and help with dinner preparations, and light the candles. I have found it is a great way to start off the work/school week.

So now I would love to hear about a tradition that you do?

Getting some practice....

Well this last week we were so excited to have Niohleen come by and visit us with her new baby Cabriel. He is so adorable, I cant wait to have our own little baby in our house! The girls held him the entire time... I didn't even get a turn (unless you count when I was switch him from Ashlynn's lap to Bella's lap and vice versa) I can tell already that they are going to be great helpers when their baby sister is born.

The weather has been so beautiful the last few days here in Portland. The last 2 days it was in the 80's. I love it! I am looking forward to warmer weather. Today we went to "pirate park" and had a picnic after we got home from church. I could get used to this weather. But from what I hear we have rain coming tomorrow and for a few more days after that.

Back to work...

Well I made it through the first week back at work. To think I only have another 2 months until I am going to go on my maternity leave.... Yeah!
I am sitting here listening to General Conference with my girls ( Rick is at work) We just sustained our new prophet Thomas S Monson. It was a neat experience.
Well my friend Mandi called me yesterday and asked me if I was going to go to Women's Conference at BYU... I have been thinking about it now for a few weeks. I feel pretty nervous about flying (I haven't flown anywhere in like 6 years, since Josh came home from his mission) and I will be really pregnant by then. But I went ahead and registered for the conference. We are going to stay in housing. Last time when we went together we stayed at her friends house. We talked about how it would be fun to stay in the campus housing. You know get the whole student experience.... I didn't really think that I would be getting the whole student experience when I was over 7 months pregnant. But hey there is a first time for everything.
I went to women's conference with Mandi @ 4 years ago or so. It was a very uplifting experience. I loved it!!! I met so many people from different places. And I came home to my family feeling like I would be a better wife and Mom. I am looking forward to those same feelings again.
Well I have a doctor appointment on Monday, I am having my glucose test. Blahhhh! They are also going to check my Iron again. I pre-registered at the hospital and I did a virtual tour of the birthing center. I showed the girls what the room is going to look like and everything. The next three months are going to go so slow!!!
I watched the movie Dan in real life last night. It had a good ending. I cried and cried the last 20 minutes of it. And the entire movie I felt bad for the poor guy.

CDA

We just got back this afternoon from Coeur D' Alene. We went to visit our friends. We had so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures. On the first night we went to Shane and Cheryl and met Mandi and Justin there and played a game called Quelf. We had a good time. Friday morning we (mostly Rick) took the kids to "Raptor Reef" to go swimming. Those are the pictures above. The last picture of the group of them standing together, if you look behind them you will see a big red thing. They call that the toilet (not for the reason that you might be thinking though) They call it the toilet because I guess you go around and around and around until you finally drop out the bottom. We are so glad that Brooklyne was able to go with us too!

Then Friday night I went to dinner with 4 of the ladies from my old work (that I miss so much) Mandi, Kristine, Suzette and Becky. We went to Outback steakhouse. Yummy! Then after that Rick and I ran out to the Greg and Rebecca's because they had invited Bella and Ashlynn to sleep over.

Sat morning we went and picked up the girls from the Morrills and they had made really yummy pancakes for us for breakfast. Then Sat Rick and the girls went to watch Brooklyne do a presentation for her 4-H and then we went to WAl-MART. We have only been to Walmart like 2-3 times since we moved here because we don't have a walmart within approx. 30 min of our house.... So we decided for old time sake we would go to Walmart It wasnt that exciting though. After walmart we went to the Morrills and then we went to dinner at Toro Viejo with them (also yummy) after dinner we decided to go check out the new Cabella's store that just opened up there. It was pretty cool. Alot of animals to look at. After Cabella's we went to the Morrills and had ice cream.

Sunday we went to church and saw a bunch of our old friends from our ward. We sure do miss that ward. Then we said our goodbyes to Mandi and Justin and Greg and Rebecca.... And hit the road. But not for too long we ended up staying in Kennewick last night. And then we got home this afternoon around 1:30. So that was our weekend... We had a great time. When we were driving and before we got to CDA we were talking about how it felt like we were coming home. I think CDA will always be "home" to us. It still feels like home and always will. Sorry, I didn't mean to do a play by play of our weekend but it just kinda ended up that way.

Day 5: Coming to an End :(

Today we did kind of a special day for Sarah's Birthday. After lunch we went to a place called Safari Sam's (they have Oregon's largest jungle gym) and we also played some mini golf. The kids had fun there too of course. And then we came home and ate Hawaiian stack-ups (Sarah's favorite meal) and watched her open her presents and ate yummy lemon Birthday cake afterwards. Tomorrow Tracy and the kids are heading back to Boise, and Rick and I and our girls are heading for a little mini vacation to Northern Idaho to visit all our old friends. We reserved a Hotel there for three nights. It will be alot of fun to see them. It has been so much fun having my sister here and my nieces and nephew. It is always great to get to spend time together. We will be counting down the days until we come to Southern Idaho in July and see them again. Well I will take some pics of our trip and put them on here when we get back.

Day 4

Day 4 we went to the OMSI (Oregon museum of Science and Industry). We had alot of fun while we were there. Aaron loved playing in the sandbox in the scince playground.

Day 3: Part 2

This picture below is one I took right before we left to go to the coast. Ashlynn decided she would help Aaron do his hair.


So there is a story behind these pictures.... In the other pictures there is 2 pictures of all the kids with their back towards the cameras, heading towards the ocean.... Well then a wave snuck up on us, and they (and by that I mean we) all ran backwards to get away from it. Well poor Aaron fell down in the water and got soaked!!! He got so so so wet!!! To make matters worse at that point we had walked down the coast so we were no where near our cars. So we ended up stripping him down and then putting Ricks sweatshirt on him. When we took off his little rain boots water just poured out of them.... When I got home I put the pictures on the computer and couldn't help but realize the look on his face... TRAUMATIZED!

Day 3: Part one

Today we went to Cannon Beach. The kids had so much fun running on the beach! They were wanting so badly to get wet. It was a beautiful day!