San Francisco getaway

Spencer and I enjoyed an overnight trip to San Francisco while Beth watched our kids. It was lovely. My favorite part was walking all over Golden Gate park, and I forgot to take any pictures. We also saw the tiled steps, got tea and pastries in Chinatown, tasted some yummy food, and enjoyed sleeping in.

Belt test, Butterfly parade and October fun

Audrey earned her orange belt. We are so proud!!

The kids walked in the Butterfly parade, welcoming the monarchs to our town. Audrey was a patriot, Ian a beach goer, and Declan a crab. 

 October is always fun. We watched General Conference, decorated sugar cookies, completed an awesome puzzle, got a fun package from grandma, and decorated the house for our Halloween party. We love Octoberween!

Seattle trip

In September, we headed back to WA for a weekend trip, mainly to do another Tough Mudder with my siblings. We made some great memories.

This guy was so excited to go on an airplane!

We had a great day at the Puyallup fair with the kids.

Tough Mudder was TOUGH. I was sick too, but we had so much fun together: Laura, Kelley, Paul, Ben, Spencer and me.

Spencer's first year and he did amazing!

Happy to be done!

I love my siblings!

Spencer and I got a fun date to Seattle, to do a food tour of Pike's Place. The kids hung out with Aunt Amanda and baby Thomas, who she babysits every Monday.

Amanda, Spencer and Carly, siblings reunited.

Before we dropped the kids off with their aunt, we had to visit the Fremont troll, which we'd missed on our summer visit.

Vacations are exhausting! We were very happy to fly home after an extremely full five days, with me sick and the five of us cramped at a crappy hotel (my parents had just moved and had no place for us this trip). Whew!

Family life

 Back to normal family life!

Declan's favorite food at present, and how we got him to sit still for a family night lesson.

Our favorite store had some fun deals and face painting for their 50th anniversary.

I love that this kind of set up still happens with my girl.

Lego and brother time.

So proud that Ian earned his gold belt at karate!

First day of school

First day of 5th, 3rd, and 1st grades!

Last few days of WA trip

The first week of August were our last few days in WA, and we played hard. We went to the fish hatchery, splash pad and Puyallup farmer's market with my mom, NW trek with Aunt Kelley (who made our trip so much fun!!), Seattle with Kelley (see what I mean?) for Il Corvo pasta, Pioneer square, and Ride the Ducks, which Carly and Thomas met up with us. It was a jam-packed trip, which ended with a final night in Longview where Mr. B joined us and I went to his 20 year HS reunion with him (while the generous Aunt Amanda babysat). Then we had a much quicker drive home just in time for the school year to begin.

July fun in WA

We had such a full, fun trip. I got to eat blueberries with my Grandma Gayle, visit with my Uncle Ken, have dinner with friends from high school, go on a ropes course/zip line adventure with my siblings (see pictures), hang out at my mom's even though my parents were in the middle of moving across the street, eat the most delicious sushi with Patrick, and celebrate McKenna's birthday. My kids were in heaven with their cousins and family, and got to spend a day at Point Defiance Zoo with the amazing and generous Aunt Amanda while I went to visit my friend Mark in Seattle.

Lake trips with Laura's new boat

Super fun Aunt Laura took us out to American Lake on her new boat twice while we visited. One day was gorgeous, but the second day was smoky from wildfires. Both were a lot of fun!