Our Fun Getaway! (Long post)

Music in May Honor Band! Rob & I realized that we have been to 8 of these concerts with 3 of our children. Not all have been turned into vacations either. But this time we did! And it was exactly what we needed!


Our early morning start but with great smiles and ready to go on vacation!

This is Sock Monkey going on his first trip with Amber to an honor band.
After we dropped Amber off here

we started on our way to Cannon Beach for the night.
What a view on the way to the beach


The view from our hotel room



Sad that a dead sea lion washed up on the shore. It took the proper authorities until morning to come and take care of him. The majority of people were very respectful and stayed a good distance from him. But of course, there were one or two rude people. The authorities started doing an autopsy ON the beach. Yes, we left for breakfast so we didn't have to see it.



After walking along the beach and downtown we finally decided to eat at this cute little place ~ The Sweet Basil.




Then back to our hotel to be silly and watch a beautiful sunset





Breakfast at the BEST place in Cannon Beach ~

Yes! That is FRESH SQUEEZED orange juice!



And this fun place ~ Bruce's Candy Shop. They make homemade taffy that is just amazing! Especially when it's warm.



We then headed off to Portland to enjoy this:


and ended the weekend with Amber's wonderful concert.

Amber auditioned and was chosen as 1st chair in the Bassoon section


Amber with her director and composer Mark Camphouse

Bad Mom Award!

Or can I blame it on David?

This boy is growing way too fast. But it wasn't until I picked up his shoes the other night that I noticed he had a hole in the side. The boy NEVER complained about it at all. So while we were in Bellingham we stopped at Costco to pick up a new pair.

Well, here's where the bad Mom Award comes in. His current shoe is a 10.5. Guess what shoe size I had to buy him? A size 12!!! Sheesh! I can't imagine having my foot shoved in a shoe 1.5 sizes too small. Youch!!!! Next time David ~ TELL ME!!!

The Church Prom

Last night was the "church prom". It's offered to the youth, ages 16 - 18. This year no dates were required. It seems that in the past, if it's limited for "dates only" attendance is small. Last night? There were 130 young people.

Here are just a few pictures of our beautiful Amber!!




Amber and her friend, Kimmi

There is a fun story about Amber's dress. She received this dress FREE! Yes, you read that right, FREE!! How did she do that, you ask? Well Amber saw that TwirlProm.com posted this contest:
"We will be giving away another FREE prom dress this Friday, May 7, 2010 2010 to one of you who shares an experience when you best exemplified modesty....You have to write something below to win...the winner will be randomly picked and announced on Friday! Good luck!"

Here is Amber's winning experience:
"The time I best stood up for modesty was when.........I was in my psychology class the other week. We were studying personality and the teacher had 'STRONGLY DISAGREE' typed on paper on one side of the room and 'STRONGLY AGREE' on the other. She did all sorts of questions from political, to gardening, to music...and then she asked: 'Girls who show ... See More cleavage are hotter, sexier, and more beautiful because they are comfortable with themselves.' So...naturally I went to the 'STRONGLY DISAGREE' and the whole entire class was on the opposite side of the room. (can we say awkward!!!) My teacher would have kept going and not say anything but someone on the other side tried making fun of me, my religion, and we just kept going back and forth just about everything until finally he couldn't find anything to try to fight with - touche!"

We are SO proud of Amber!! In SO many areas, but especially for standing up for modesty in what could be considered a difficult situation.

Band Trip 2010

Sounds exciting doesn't it?!?! This is our "off Disneyland" year. And Amber's last band trip. The trips are semi-local and a lot smaller. This year was a new adventure for the band. They did a joint trip with the choir and they all trekked down to the State capitol in Olympia.

There was a nice little caravan heading down there.

There was NO WAY I was going to ride a bus!

They performed in the rotunda while tours were taking place.

WOW! This place is amazing! We've never been there so this was a new experience. The acoustics were outstanding!



After the performance the rest of the band students headed on over to Great Wolf Lodge. But due to no "guest's of the band discounts" we didn't go with them. We went back to take a tour of the Capitol building to check off a requirement for David's merit badge. It was a very interesting tour.

The door

These are Ginormus! Those gold pillars are 10' tall.

The Governor's Hall. Many speeches and entertaining of dignitaries happen here.

The House of Representatives voting board. We learned that the House votes electronically. While here

in the Senate they still vote by verbal "roll call".

The Governor's Office


David and Amber rubbing George Washington's nose for good luck.

It was a fun trip!

My Mom Would Be SO Proud!!!

While growing up, my Mom was SO into gardening. Me? Not so much. Yes, I liked the fresh carrots, lettuce, corn and such. But she also would plant nasty stuff like radishes :P But look at us now:



We're on FIRE!!!! And we've been staggering our planting in hopes that it will carry us all the way through the beginning of fall. We have one more round of these to plant tomorrow. Up, ran out of our "secret soil" mixture. (Not really a secret but just an inside joke).


So far we have LOTS of lettuce planted, different variety of carrots, snow peas, and green beans. No corn for us this year, or pumpkins. We are even thinking of getting a couple of these babies. Of course, for a cheaper price then that.

We'll keep you posted on these city folk playing in the dirt!

Sorry!!

Apparently my last video (I also posted it on Facebook) created a small stir. Someone didn't like it! They thought it was not representing what parents should do/be/represent. If you are one that felt that way, so sorry. I think it's funny!

Anyway, here's another video that I don't think you'll be offend by at all.


It's Tabitha playing a duet with John Zientek at his recent guitar recital. We've been hearing this song for the past 2 months!!! So happy they finally got to perform it.

Almost makes you want to get a minivan

Wait! I HAVE a minivan! Ha! Ha! But I'm done driving it. It's usage is now with the kids driving it. But this just cracked me up. Lookin' cool in da van!

Pictures for a Mom to Cherish

While Robert & Lizzie were here a few weeks ago, my sweet friend, Jennifer Card, of Blue Sapphire Photography came and shot some pictures for us. My main goal was to capture Robert (in his uniform) and Lizzie together. But Jenn also captured some others that just tug at this Mom's heart. I can never thank you enough Jennifer!!!

I will cherish these pictures FOREVER!!!

(My personal favorite!)