December 2012 update

Another year has come and nearly gone and it's amazing to me how I feel like we just had Christmas! When I was a kid it seemed like Christmas took FOREVER to come and now it just sneaks right up on us. We love this time of year and have had a lot of fun making gingerbread houses, watching Christmas movies for family movie night, driving around to look at Christmas lights and making sad attempts at singing Christmas songs. I swear I know the songs when they are on the radio but when we go to sing them without the radio it's so hard to remember the words.

I am slowly but surely getting finished up with Christmas shopping and trying to make sure all the things from the letter's to Santa have been covered. Tomorrow is the kids last day of school for two weeks. Isaac is excited, Audrey is sad. I'm a little of both. I hate getting up at 6:45 every morning to get them up but am a little anxious for the boredom which always leads to fighting.

Cassidy is officially in the toddler bed as of a month ago. Not such a fun transition though. She wakes up a few times a night and wants out. We've had to childproof the inside doorknob of her room and let her scream it out. It's like having a newborn all over again. She'll be 2 years old on the 30th so I know it's a little early for a toddler bed but she is my only child to figure out how to climb, jump and fall time after time from her crib. Stubborn little thing!

Back on the blog scene

Well, after a year or two I've decided to update the family blog. I know, I need to be better. Quick update from our end. We still live in St. Helens. Dan is managing commerical construction projects in the Portland area and staying very busy. Katie is super busy with 4 crazy kids 8 years and under and working 16 hours or so a week at an Assisted Living facility near her home. Isaac is 8 and going into 2nd grade. He was baptized in February....great time for our family. We're so proud of him. He will start soccer this year! Audrey is 6 and going into 1st grade and smart as a whip. She loves to read and spell. Adriana is 3, almost 4 and so cute. She melts our hearts with her big blue eyes and cute little sayings. Cassidy is almost 20 months and the devil. Yep, the devil. But we love our little devil. She is tough and is constatnly wrestling with the others, espeicially Isaac. She loves to hit the others with hard objects like t.v. remotes, and she loves to snuggle with mommy.....for 2 seconds, then she's off and running again. We still have our dog Daisy. She is now 4 years old and still a good dog. She's getting fat because Cassidy likes to share all her food with her. We are heading to the Boise area soon for a little reunion with both sides of our families then we'll get back home just in time for school to start. Yay! I love school! We are all doing well and feel very blessed to have all we have. I'm hopefully adding some fairly recent pictures.

September 2010

Well fall is quickly approaching and summer just flew right on past. It's been a busy but fun few months for us. We did take a trip to Idaho for a couple weeks in August to visit family there. Dan's youngest brother left for a mission to Lansing, Michigan so it was a great opportunity to get all of Dan's family members together. It's very rare...in fact, nobody even remembers the last time it happened....maybe when all 10 kids were still living at home. Who knows. It was great and fun to see all the siblings together. We had good visits with both sides of our families and the kids were a little sad to have to leave all their fun cousins and come home. We did get a family picture while we were there but it was early Sunday morning and all our kids were grumpy (as you'll see) and determined to not smile. My nose is all swollen because my allergies were horrendous the whole time we were in Idaho. I forgot how bad my allergies get there.


Isaac and Dan have done a lot of fishing this summer, they've searched high and low for good spots. They haven't been super successful but did manage to catch a couple fish. We did find one place that is kind of far away with a lot of fish and went with Dan's friend from work and his family. We caught a few fish, nothing super impressive but it was fun. Dan is going to start salmon fishing with a guy from work who claims to know all the good spots on the rivers. We might need to invest in a freezer for the garage for all the big salmon he thinks he's going to be catching. Dan loves to fish and after working 60 plus hours a week, it's a good hobby to help him relax a little on the weekends.









Isaac started Kindergarten again this year...he didn't finish last year with all the moving around but he sure has a great teacher and is really loving it this year. He also is riding the bus which he LOVES! The other day he missed the bus because my doctor appointment ran late so I had to take him straight to school...boy was he mad at me. He is learning a lot and it's been fun to hear about his little experiences. He's such a social bug and makes friends so easily. I hope Audrey will be ok when she starts school next year. She is so shy that I do worry about her friend making skills. She is going to speech therapy once a week now and also rides the bus to that. She is brave, I think seeing Isaac ride the bus motivated her to do it too. She looks forward to her class but from what her teacher says, she doesn't really talk with the other kids so much...especially the boys. She just really shy but she does work really hard and do everything the teacher asks so that is good. She is learning how to write her name and we're working on her letters. She loves to color and still loves any and everything purple and tinkerbell.





Adriana is hitting the terrible two's a little early. She'll be two next month but definitely beginning to get more stubborn and throw little tantrums. We do have to watch her because if she gets mad at Isaac or Audrey, she'll charge them with her mouth open and try to bite them. It's not too often but we try to nip it in the bud when it happens. She is a lot of fun and keeps us all laughing. The other night, Isaac and Audrey were already in bed when she came up the stairs for bed. She shares a room with Audrey. She ran up the stairs way a head of me calling out Isaac and Audrey's name the whole time, then ran in, climbed up on Audrey's toddler bed and gave sleeping Audrey a big kiss on the lips. Audrey just rolled over and I tried to hurry and grab her off before she woke her up. She's quite the affectionate little thing. She is very clinggy to me though and I have a feeling she will have a hard time adjusting to her new baby sister in a couple months. She definitely doesn't like to share me.





As for me, we are starting to get ready for baby number 4 and girl number 3. We still don't have a name picked out but hopefully one will just come to us some day. I'm still feeling pretty good as long as I don't overdo it. My c-section is scheduled for the 30th of December at 7:30 a.m. My doctor is great, he's a stake president in Beaverton actually and a really nice guy. This will be our final child as my scar has been pretty thin with the last two. I will be on semi bed rest the last month (basically no lifting, bending or carrying heavy things...like my 2 year old). My sister Anne is coming out for a week the beginning of December with her two little girls to help out, then mom and dad will drive out about the middle of December and plan to stay as long as they need to, probably through the first week of January. Mom is coming in a couple weeks for 5 days to visit because she had a voucher she needed to use by November. It will be fun to have visitors. Maybe it will motivate us to finish these last few little projects. Ha! I'm going to try to be better at posting as I want to sort of us it like a journal since I'm so bad a keeping a journal. Dan is doing well but working like a dog. His project has been quite stressful the last couple weeks and he's had to put in a lot of hours at work and then work from home too. Last night he didn't get home until 10:00 and he had gotten up for work at 4 a.m.! Yuck! That is life in the industry sometimes. I know he's really impressed his boss here and those he works with as he is such a hard, dedicated worker. Hopefully things will slow down a bit for him in the next couple weeks. He does plan to take some vacation days here and there over the next couple months as he has a few stored up for this year. I know I'll need him in December some between when my family comes to visit. Anyways, I'm off to get on with my day. I'll try to be better at updating this.

May 2010

Well, it's been so long since our last post. Life have been insane and crazy this year but hopefully it will begin to settle down. We are finally feeling for the most part, "moved in". We moved into our new home in in St. Helens in March but with all the big projects we've been doing, it's been hard to get settled. We love our home though and we're in a great neighborhood. There are 3 boys that are right around Isaac's age in our neighborhood so he is just in heaven. He's never had so much fun! Dan is doing great in his new job (new as in he started in this branch last October). They love him here and he's really impressing everyone with his crazy hard work ethics. He is managing his first project and doing really well with it. His boss wants him to manage a 2nd project in a couple months so things might get crazy then but his boss sure has a lot of confidence in Dan. He is learning how to juggle all the responsibilities of work, family and his new calling as the Young Men's President in our ward here. The kids and I are anxiously awaiting summer. All the rain and cold is getting annoying. We just want to get outside! Since my last blog update all 3 kids have had birthdays so Isaac is now 6, Adriana is 18 months and Audrey is 4.







Wow, they are growing up fast! The kids and I just had a fun trip to Klamath Falls, Oregon where we stayed at a nice resort with my parents. Dan had to work, it was a very crucial week for his project but we'll get away some this summer. My parents, the kids and I went to Crater Lake one day...it was gorgeous! Dan and I saw it almost 8 years ago on our honeymoon but this time it was a lot different because there was snow all around it. It was really breathtaking. The kids had fun swimming at the resort, they had an indoor kids pool that they heated to 90 degrees...it was awesome! We are looking forward to our first summer in our new home. We're just an hour from several beaches so we'll be going there a lot. Dan just planted a huge garden so we're excited for that as well. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

Adriana's Birthday

Well, last Friday was our baby's 1st Birthday. She had lots of fun making a total mess of herself and her chocolate cake. She ate an entire piece (a big piece too). We can't believe she's one! We were glad we got to celebrate her birthday in an actual house and not a hotel room. We lived in a hotel for 3 weeks while we waited to close on a home that ended up falling through. We were so disappointed but in hindsight feel it may have all been for the best and the Lord was just watching out for us. We are are in Beaverton now and enjoying life here. Dan's new position is going well and he's feeling more and more comfortable each day. Isaac is back in Kindergarten and today was the first day he didn't cry when I dropped him off. I'm so proud of him! We just wanted to update some pictures of Adriana. We took the kids to a pumpkin farm last weekend and they had a lot of fun.

September, 2009

Well, we are half way through September and life is about to get crazy! Today is Dan's last day of work in Seattle...a little bittersweet. He is actually really sick today with a horrible head cold but he didn't feel like he could call in his last day. He and the guys from work are going to Chinatown for lunch today (yes, Seattle has a Chinatown). Dan's taking a few days off to help us pack up so I don't have to do much next week when he's already off to Portland. Last week the head honchos of Charter took Dan and the other two guys he was on the last project with and their wives to a really fancy dinner at this super nice place in Seattle called Canlis. It was a $3,000 dinner for 12 people (they drank a lot of wine, which I'm sure really killed the bill but still). It was really good food, a 4 hour dinner! We had a lot of fun and it was a really nice gesture on Charter's part. They talked about what an amazing job Dan and his team did on this last project and how excited they are for Dan to go to Portland and all the exciting things there. I felt very proud of my husband, he's such a hard worker and always earns the highest praises from his employers.



We don't know exactly when we'll be closing on our home, sometime before October 18th, that's all we know. We will be staying as a family in an Extended Stay Hotel just outside Portland for up to 3 weeks....yes, I may just go CRAZY but we didn't want to pay rent here and pay for a hotel for Dan in Portland. We might as well at least be together. The kids are excited, they think hotels are fun. It does have a full kitchen in it so we'll be able to eat in most nights. We just hope we can close sooner rather than later because each day will just drag on I'm sure. It will all be worth it in the end because our new home is going to be so nice.




Isaac started school almost 2 weeks ago. I thought he would love it but he actually hates it. It's a struggle to get him to go each day and the last few days his teacher has to peel him off me because he's crying and freaking out so much. I've talked to his teacher several times and he does fine in class and gets along good with the other kids, he just doesn't like it. He says "all we do is learn and it's boring". It's always a pain dropping him off but he's happy and fine when I pick him up. I've talked to a few other mom's of kids in his class and they said their kids are going through the same things. His teacher is older and I think she's a little on the strict side. Maybe his next teacher in Battle Ground will be more fun and he'll enjoy school a little more. I've attached some pictures of his first day of school and some pictures of he and Audrey being Transformers.



Adriana is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on everything. She has 6 teeth now (4 on top, 2 on bottom). She loves to eat any and everything. We just got her some baby pictures and they turned out so cute. We'll send copies out with our Christmas cards this year. (Stamps are expensive).

Audrey is enjoying having Isaac gone a couple hours a day. She loves to play with the toys he doesn't let her play with when he's home. She is starting to play with Adriana more, which Adriana loves.

Once we close, I'll send a group e-mail with our new address to everyone. Until then, my cell phone will still be the same and I believe we'll be able to set up our computer in our hotel room so I won't be completely shut out from the world. Here's some pictures for your enjoyment. One note on the bath one....the bubbles were perfectly covering all the needed areas so we won't be able to embarrass Isaac and Audrey too bad in 10 years.

Our Crazy Lives - August , 2009

Well, we have had a roller coaster of a few months here. This summer has literally flown by. Isaac will start school next week, although I know he will be brave and excited for his first day of Kindergarten, I'm already stocking up on kleenex's. It's scary sending my little boy out to the evil world! He can't wait! He is such a funny guy and I'm sure he'll have the best time every.


Audrey is 3 1/2 and so into princesses and "tinkibell" as she calls her. She loves being a big sister to Adriana and "tries" to share, I know it's hard for her but she really does want to be nice...it's just so hard when Adriana grabs the one thing she wants to play with. Ha! Once we get moved in a few weeks here (more on that in a minute), we will begin Speech Therapy. Our pediatrician really feels she needs it, so do we. We're telling her she'll get to go to a special school just like Isaac but it will just be a few days a week. She is excited for it and we hope it helps. She is still young enough that we hope she doesn't realize how hard it's been for us to understand and that by the time she starts school, everyone will understand her fine. Kids can be so harsh. Dan still remembers studdering when he was really little and how people would stare at him and say things. To this day he is still self concious about speaking even though he totally speaks fine. Anyways, Audrey is very sweet and happy for the most part.

Adriana is a crazy baby! She is so much fun, we just love her to death. She really cracks us up with her little faces and growling. Yes, I said growling. Her new nickname is "little bear" because she growls at everyone. I took her to get some baby pictures yesterday and the only way the photographer could get her to smile big was to growl at her, then Adriana would growl back and laugh. She is just starting to crawl (we have late bloomers) and she now has 3 teeth which she loves to show off (see picture). She's 10 months now and getting so big! Time sure goes by fast. She loves to stand up and is almost always standing in her crib now and chucking stuff out.

Dan and I just celebrated our 7 year anniversary. My parents were here when we celebrated it and they were celebrating their 38th anniversary so we got a sitter one night and went to dinner at a really nice restaurant on the waterfront in Tacoma. It was a lot of fun. Most of you all know by now that Dan is transferring to the Portland branch of Charter Construction. He will be doing insurance work there and will help them as they begin to form a commercial division. He is excited and anxious to get down there and start. He will start work on the 21st of September....less than a month from now. We think we've found a home to buy in Battle Ground, WA (what a cool sounding name, right?) It's about 20 miles from his work and his commute should be less than a half hour (so great!). We're driving to see the home this weekend, our Realator is positive that it's the perfect home for us. It sits on 1/4 of an acre and has a huge fenced back yard and front yard. We hope it all works out! We'll keep you updated and take some pictures this weekend. Our Realator has sent some pictures, it's in the process of getting new carpet, new paint and new linolium and new appliances. It was a foreclosure and some investors bought it as it just needs some cosmetic work done otherwise it's in great shape. So, we'll get a brand new home basically. We will see how it goes this weekend but it sounds perfect for us. That's been our lives lately. If we buy this home, our Realtor said we can do a "good faith move-in" while we're waiting to close on it and we can move in as soon as the rennovations are complete in 2 to 3 weeks. That would be perfect so we can all move together and Dan won't have to stay in a hotel in Portland and work while we're here waiting to close. We hope you enjoy the pictures. I just realized I had people post comments on our last blog. Like I said, I'm still figuring this out. We hope everyone is doing well.