Hunting Potholes State Park

Since this was a male bonding trip I have very few details about what actually happened (except that everyone had a lot of fun), so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Where's Waldo...I mean, where's Darin?

Salish Lodge Get-away

Darren and I enjoyed a night away from the boys at Salish Lodge.

A huge thanks to Grandpa Hales and Cheri for taking the boys, and to our friends Clint and Kacey for the sneaky shenanigans after dinner.

BEWET Banquet at Tillicum Village

Today was the end of the year BEWET banquet.  They have been trying to be more family-friendly and so this year we took an Argosy boat over to Blake Island to visit Tillicum Village.  It's a native american experience based on the early Indian settlers of Seattle.

The boat ride over was fascinating.  Austin clonked out right away and so I got to just sit and listen to the historian talk, while Darren ran Trevor around the boat looking at everything.

Once on Blake Island, we had some hot steamer clams and went inside to our seats for dinner and a performance.  Trevor loved watching how they cooked the salmon over open fires inside the longhouse. Austin woke up right before dinner started, which was perfect timing.  Dinner was amazing!  The performance was good too, but I didn't get to see much of it because it was too loud and scary for Austin so we spent most of our time walking in the hall.

Following all the festivities and a brief BEWET meeting it was dark and time to head back home.  We stopped on shore to light a lantern in honor of Natalie, one of the guides who passed away suddenly this year.  All in all, it was a wonderful experience and something we'd like to do again if out-of-town guests come to visit.

First Day of Preschool, 2012

Monday was Trevor's first day of Preschool and looking at this picture reminds me of how far he has come in the last year.  At his first day of preschool last year he refused to smile for the camera and instead glared at me and grunted.  Today he was all smiles and ready to go.

In fact, he couldn't wait to go and took off running to his classroom.  Each day the teacher's tell me how helpful he his.  There is nothing better in the world than hearing that you are raising a good kid.

Peanut Butter Disaster

I should have listened to the little voice in my head that said, "mixing peanut butter in the jar with a hand mixer is a bad idea."

I also probably should not have yelled, "Really Heavenly Father?!?!?!?" after it happened.

On the bright side...A once "too full to mix jar" is now a 2/3 full jar that is much easier to mix and my next load of laundry will come out of the dryer smelling like peanut brittle!

Count your blessings, right?

Cutest Potato Farmers Ever!

The boys loved harvesting potatoes from our garden today and I love the excitement my kids feel when they work along side me in the garden.

It always amazes me how surprised they are that they can eat the things that we grow.  So tonight to celebrate our harvest, we had hash browns and eggs for dinner.

And then we gave Austin a much needed bath...

DIY Reading Tent

Today I was in a funk, so instead of doing what I should have been doing (you know, cleaning the house, working on my Sunday School lesson, etc.) I took the day off and did something that I wanted to do instead.

I rearranged Trevor's room and make this super awesome reading tent.  Because I got the hula hoop from a friend and I had the fabric from some old sheets that were just sitting in the closet, this project cost me zero dollars and 2 hours.

The boys LOVE it and I gained back some "umph" to face tomorrow.  Mission accomplished.