HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED - SEPTEMBER 29

We celebrated Jared's birthday on Sunday with a fantastic rib dinner with my parents at our house. Hard to believe another year has past. We celebrated with cake and games with the kids, Jorji being in charge of activities, of course. So after a lively game of charades with the kids, poor Jared suffered a beating in rook by the women. It was unfortunate, but it's pretty hard to let someone win in rook;)

On Monday, we took the kids to Eastside Marios for another birthday dinner (we like to drag birthdays out around here:). After the usual deliberation, Jared and I finally decided on what we were going to order. We both went out on a limb and ordered something we wouldn't normally. After a short wait, our waiter brought us our food and we began to eat. We both LOVED our meals and couldn't stop talking about them.....then about halfway through, I looked at Jared's meal and realized that Jared was actually eating my pasta and I was eating his! It was so wierd. They were completely different, I don't know if it was because we were distracted by the kids or it was simply fate. Adventures of eating out with three kids, you never know what's going to happen.

WHY I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY BOY........

1. He can make anyone laugh. Anyone who knows Jared, knows that he is hilarious and so much fun. I often hear from people who witness Jared MC an event or participate in some sort of social event "Wow, your house must be so fun!" and I always respond "Yes, it is." Nobody can make me or the kids laugh harder than him.

2. He is smart. Two degrees and three kids, now that takes brains. He can also multitask. Good job holding Lucy, babe, and posing for grad pics!

3. He is sooooooooooooooo handy to have around. In the past month alone, he has installed hardwood floors on the mainfloor, changed our brakes on our van and painted the entrance way. Oh yeah, and he's hardworking. The list can go on and on about projects he's tackled to make our lives better and easier.

4. He treats me like a queen. He is so kind and is a peacmaker in our home. This is supposed to be a picture of just Jared and I, but apparently we don't take any of those anymore!

5. He doesn't mind being spit up on. This was taken during Lucy's projectile spit up stage. Lovely. But seriously, he is so hands on with the kids, it's so nice to know that we will be equally blamed for our children's shortcomings:)

6. The boy can dance! This is a picture of Jared doing a dancing game with the guests at Jorji's birthday party. Jared is so fun to have at parties and dances because he just goes for it! You know that saying "Dance like no one is watching" well, that's jared. Just watch out for his flailing arms;)

7. He loves the outdoors and is incredibly athletic. What's your plan for this year babe, another marathon? Whether it's playing in a v-ball league, running, or snowboarding, the boy can do it all, and look sexy doing it.

8. Let's face it, the boy can cook! I don't have any pictures of Jared cooking but this one has him and our BBQ, one of his favourite activities. Anyone who has ever tasted his masterpieces knows he's a stud in the kitchen (and the deck!).

The list could go on and on, the guy is an all around stud and I am so happy that I made the decision to marry him almost ten years ago. I love you so much babe, happy birthday!

Crawla in Da' House!

Lucy, barely six months in this picture has started to crawl! I don't know whether to celebrate or cry. We're at a stage now where I'll leave her for a few minutes and come back to find her behind the couch with some strange item in her mouth. It's fantastic. She doesn't crawl on her hands and knees yet, it's more like a military crawl, nonetheless, she is mobile! Yikes!

Hug Point - The Oregon Coast - July 2008

One of the highlights of our summer this year was visiting Jess, Matt and co. in Vancouver, Washington, which is about 15 km outside of Portland, Oregon. Jess and Matt relocated to Washington in January of this year and we are so happy that they are so much closer to us now, only a days drive away! We went for a full week and had a fantastic visit. While we were there we made a trip down to the coast, which is about 2 hours away from their house. It was well worth the little trip because the coast was quite spectacular. This was Jordan, Nathan and Lucy's first trip to the ocean...well that's not true, Jordan went to Galveston, Texas when she was about a month old:) The beach we went to was full of little alcoves and caves and huge rocks that formed little islands. It was a misty day, just how you imagine the oregon coast, ahh, it was such a fantastic day. We were so busy while we were in Vancouver visiting the children's museam, walking up to waterfalls, swimming in lakes, watching movies, playing guitar hero, shopping and playing. I have lots of pictures of some of our other outings but they are still to come. In the meantime enjoy a sampling of the million pics taken at the ocean!

Lucy thoroughly enjoyed her day at the ocean.

A favourite activity, being chased by the tide!

Nathan loved the muscles on the rocks

Climbing in one of the caves

This was a neat spot to watch the waves crash against the rocks

So nice to have such quality time with the kids

Playing on a beach near Vancouver, WA. This was a great day, we met up with three of my cousins, their kids, and my Aunt and Uncle and had a picnic at the lake. The kids had a great time playing with all their cousins and building in the sand.

Haha, that was hilarious Jess!

First Day of School!

Today was Jordan's first day of school! Kindergarten has gradual entry, so she only went for one hour this afternoon, but I guess it still constitutes as her first day of school. Because she is in the afternoon class, jared was able to come home at lunch and give her (and me) a kiss before she was off.
Unlike her mom, Jordan handled it like a pro and was a cool cucumber when it came down to going into her class by herself. She was a bit nervous on the drive over so we did a little chant "I can do it" starting off really quietly and gradually getting louder until we are screaming as loud as we can "I CAN DO IT!" It seems to take the ease off any situation. And then of course before leaving the van we all yelled our family motto which the kids love "So let's DO THIS THING!" So she was prepared, confident and wearing her new shoes as she walked through the door. Nathan, Lucy and I played at the park while Jordan was in school and I met some of the other mothers. I'm excited to start networking and meeting more people in Salmon Arm. Jordan was really happy when she came out. When asked what she did she mentioned a story about a racoon not wanting to go to school and that was about it. Later tonight, after a birthday party (yes, she had an exciting day!) she called her grandmas about her day and that was where we got the real scoop. i had to follow her around the house to listen as she told her grandmas about her day at school. It seems to have consisted of reading a story about a racoon who was scared to go to school but before he went to school, his mother had kissed the inside of his hand so he could take it with him. That way when he got scared he could take out the kiss or something like that. Suddenly I'm horrified. There was a sign on the door of her class that asked us parents to kiss our kids on the inside of the hand and send them into the classroom, I of course, disregarded the directions thinking nothing of it, gave her a kiss on the cheek and wished her well! Now I realise that there was a reason she wanted us to kiss the inside of their hand for the purpose of the story! My first responsibity as a parent of a student and I failed. They say teachers are the worse for following directions. Jordan didn't mention it when she came out, she probably didn't want to make me feel bad. According to her conversation with mom she also traced her hands, looked at the aquarium and drew some pictures. Sounds like a blast! She is in french immersion, but her teacher will be speaking english for the first week while they are establishing rules and routines. Smart lady. We are so proud of our little girl and can't believe this day has come! I can't wait to see what the school year brings! Bring it on!

The King is Alive and living in Castlegar!!!
Mid-July, we packed the van (yeah, I know I'm reeeaaaalllllyyyy behind in blogging) and headed to the lovely town of Castlegar to help celebrate Doug and Bernice King's 40th wedding anniversary. I know what you are thinking, man they are old! But oh, you couldn't be more wrong. To celebrate their anniversary they wanted to have a party, so they invited their friends and family from near and far to a dinner and dance in their honour. The highlight of the night (besides the food:) was Doug dressing up like Elvis and surprising his lovely bride of 40 years (and all of their guests) by serenading her with "I can't help Falling in Love." It was amazing! We had no idea he could sing so well, some people even thought he was lip sincing! It was so fun to see him perform. I always thought that Jared got his entertaining gene from his mother but now I know the truth! The night was packed with great tributes by jared and Rob, great food by Karla and great music by Jessie. The best part of the week was simply having all of jared's sibblings and parents and together and seeing other family and friends.

Our beautiful Lucy. These were taken mid- July when she was 4 months old. What a girl!

After Sacrament meeting, everyone headed back to the kings for lunch to say goodbye to all of the visitors. Everyone except us. Nathan insisted that he stay for nursery and Jordan for primary. So who are we to drag our kids away from church? Jared and I took advantage of the opportunity to have some quality time with Lucy goosy. Man, having one kid would be a piece of cake! If only we knew then what we knew now.