Blog Ketchup #5 - Morrill-Style Camping!

I took a break in catching up the blog, and forgot to get back to it. That happens a lot to housework around here, too.

So last month when we were at my parents' house the boys & I went "camping." We slept in sleeping bags in a tent, so it counts. True, we didn't leave civilization (or my parents' yard...), but this is as much as I'm willing to do at this point. The kids are just too dumb right now to take somewhere where there are so many ways to get seriously hurt or lost.

David & Ryan started out VERY EXCITED! I, not so much, but an amazing mother such as I has to make sacrifices sometimes!

Here's Ryan, smiling nicely...

Here's David...um...what's wrong with him? Apparently we need to work on our "smile for a picture" skills...

See, I was there too! I realized there hasn't been a picture of me in like 12 posts. That's what happens when you're always the one holding the camera. The only pictures of you include your arms stretched out in the corners.

Here is how far we went on our camping trip. I must say, camping is much less miserable with a kitchen and a bathroom so close!


Anyhow, I tucked the boys in, then went inside to hang out until my bedtime. I imagined them being too excited to sleep and was just going to let them enjoy the experience.

Then David came in crying. They were out there thinking of all the bad things that could happen to them. They were, in particular, worried about an earthquake opening the ground under them. No why would they worry about that?

When we were setting up the tent they were talking about how a tornado could come and blow it away. I told them we don't have tornadoes here, we have earthquakes. Good going, mommy!

So I ended up reading between them until my bedtime.

And we all woke up with the sun.

Hopefully that got it out of their systems and we won't have to do that for a long time!

a break in the catch up, and a glimse into my crazy brain...

David just helped Katy wash her hands. What did that make him?

A sister assister!

Okay, so apparently assister isn't a word. Assist, assisted, assistance, but not assister. I still think it's funny!

Blog Ketchup #4 - A Trip to the Beach!

A friend from our ward here in Vancouver has been organizing a walking group every Monday this summer. But it's not just a boring walk-around-the-neighborhood walking group, we've checked out several fun trails! And this one was especially fun because it ended with a trip to the beach! Who knew there was such a great beach only 15 minutes from our apartment?

Well, the walking part came first. We just walked for a ways, then turned around to go back (the parking is right by the beach). We waited too long before turning around, and the kids were getting tired and hot and cranky (me too, but we'll blame them). So they started demanding turns in the stroller. Katy was happy to walk for a little while, but her little legs tired quickly. Ryan wasn't ready to walk again, so we piled her on top!
This picture cracks me up! Ryan frequently does the open-mouth-instead-of-smiling face, but this is the first time I've seen Katy do it. It's great that I caught them making the same face at the same time!

All crankiness was quickly forgotten once we got to the beach! These are three happy kiddos!

Ryan, whom we sometimes affectionately call The Gross, enjoyed playing with the sand. Ew.

Some other kids had worked hard at digging a pool close to the water, and it looked so nasty. So of course we wanted to play in it a lot. Then we built things out of sand - there's an octopus right behind Ryan, then a starfish and fishy next to him. And there's Katy, being quite immodest in the back.

Katy Mermaid! She actually thought this was really cool, despite the grimace on her face!


So, we're really happy to have discovered the beach! I saw several people there with off leash dogs (despite the signs saying not to), so we went back a few days later with Molly. She LOVED it! We brought the ball launcher and had her play fetch in the water. What a way to wear out a pup! I didn't take any pictures that day, though. I figured I had enough to worry about.

Blog Ketchup #3 - Ryan's New Trick!

We discovered this summer that Ryan has the ability to roll his tummy! He keeps trying to teach me, but I think it must be one of those things like wiggling your ears that only some people can do. I make him show me all the time, it always cracks me up! This isn't even all that great an example of him doing it, he seems kind of distracted for some reason...

Blog Ketchup #2 - Water Fun!

We've done some really fun water things this summer! In addition to swimming in the apartment pool, we've visited the beach (which will be a separate post later!) and 2 fountains.

This first one was down in Sherwood (I think...it's been over a month, and my memory is starting to fail in my old age...). We had a fun get-together with my grandparents and some extended family. The fountain was super cool! Half was just water, half had sand AND water! I don't know why I didn't get more pictures, but at least I got one with all three kids. They sure loved playing there!




A few days later we went with some friends to a fountain in downtown Portland (I just almost said Salt Lake! I wonder when I'll get used to being here...). I tried to get a pic of the three kids playing, and here it is (with Reece thrown in for a bit of color!)! They're all moving in different directions!
It was a super fun fountain to play at, especially since I didn't think too hard about the potential for injury. Lots of little stairs with water running down them could cause a big owie. Looking at these pictures makes me wonder why I wasn't more nervous! Here I caught David climbing up them, with Ryan already at the top. Ily is standing right there, hopefully she'd have at least nipped dangerous behavior in the bud...

Katy was far less brave, which was just fine with me! She enjoyed just walking around and kneeling down in the shallow water.

I stuck the kids on the side of the stairs (Ryan's the only one in much water) to try and get a cute group shot. Well, they tried...
and the harder they tried, the more incredibly awkward it got....

Hmm, guess it's time to give up. Oh well!

It was a really fun day. We're lucky to have the Murdocks as friends, it seems like Ily is always coming up with fun things to do! Yesterday we had a playdate at their house, and the kids all had a really good time! Then we tried to make them clean up, and all 8 of us got pretty cranky. But we won't focus on the negative...

Blog Ketchup #1 - Ryan's birthday!

I've been pretty sporadic with my blogging lately, and I'm feeling the need to go back and fill in some gaps. There were several days I took lots of pictures with the intent to blog, then...well...life happened. So since this is the closest thing to a journal I have, I'm going back to fill in what I missed in July & August!

First up, Rynan's birthday. I actually did blog on his birthday (7/16) about getting the free slurpees on 7/11, but not about his birthday! What a rude mommy!

Here's the happy birthday boy at his birthday party! I haven't done a great job lately of planning parties. I've swung quite a ways from the first few years of way overdone parties! For Ryan's birthday this year we had 3 friends (and their siblings & moms) come swimming with us! I was a little nervous about Heritage Green kicking us out or something because we're only supposed to have 2 guests. But one family also lives in the complex, so we really only had 6 extra people between the two families.

From left to right as best as possible with a group shot - Nicole & Peter, Ryan & David, Spencer, Rebecca, & Benson, Micah, and Rebecca (Nicole & Peter's mom). Reece, Ily, and Katy must've been in the little pool at the time. Ryan had so much fun! He really felt like it was his special day, even without a huge production!

Later that night doing presents with the family. Look how excited Katy is! This is the first birthday we've had since she had hers a month & a half earlier. So she knows how exciting all these presents are!

Woo-hoo! Some Bakugan things!

Katy found out that birthdays aren't quite so exciting when they aren't yours. That was a rough concept to learn!

A week later Ryan got his present from Grandma & Grandpa Morrill. I told them he wanted some small Bakugan. Well, they didn't get him any! Instead, they took the concept and got him so really awesome Bakugan things - most exciting to him is this blankey. To understand how much he likes it, you first have to know that he has a Nemo blankey (just a yard of Nemo fleece) that he's had since the summer he turned 1 and is quite bonded to. He likes to have it directly on him, under his bedding. Well, the first night with the Bakugan blankey he changed the order - it now goes Bakugan blankey, Nemo blankey, THEN comforter (I don't usually use top sheets on their beds, they seem more hassle than they're worth when they frequently end up shoved down at the bottom of the bed). I thought maybe it was a novelty thing and he'd soon revert to Nemo. Well, it's been over a month now, and Bakugan still wins out! He sure loves it!

8 years of marriage!

Dan & I had our 8 year anniversary on Tuesday. In typical Rachel fashion I didn't look into getting a babysitter until that day, only to find out that this ward has mutual on Tuesdays so nobody was available. So I decided to make the most of the situation, and go out twice - once with the family, once on our own!

Tuesday Dan came home from work with these beautiful roses! Once again, please excuse my terrible camera phone. I was even going to use the real camera to take the picture, but couldn't find it. Anyhow, I think Dan has brought me flowers like 6 or 7 times in the entire time I've known him, so this was a very happy surprise! And I didn't even need to suggest it like I usually do!

After I oohed and ahhed over my flowers, we hopped in the car and went to Boppin' Bo's Malt Shop & Grill. It's owned by some members of our ward, so I thought it would be nice to support them. The burgers and fries were pretty tasty, my blackberry shake was delicious, but the best thing of all was...(drum roll please)...they had FRY SAUCE!!! Of all the things about Utah that I miss, I think the only thing I miss more than fry sauce is my best friend Gayelinn. Seriously.

When I called on Tuesday and found out it was mutual, I got someone for Thursday instead. It was only the 2nd time we've been out without kids since moving here in March, and the first time we hired someone from the ward (the other time was a work party and one of Dan's coworkers' sisters watched the kids). I don't know what I was so nervous about, because it went great! Katy has said "Randa (her name is Miranda but Katy can't quite say it) so nice." about 5 different times this morning. She keeps telling me about the things she did, like "Randa change my diaper. Randa so nice." And - get this - she emptied the dishwasher and loaded it again! I don't even do that all that often! We will definitely be using her again!

So Dan & I had been thinking we would go out for a nice dinner, but decided on finally seeing Harry Potter instead. Dan had gone down to Eugene for the day and expected to be home early. He got stuck in some nasty traffic, though, so we ended up really pressed for time. So we got Jack in the Box and hid it in my purse to eat during the movie! It was fun!

So all in all we had a really nice anniversary celebration (spread out over a couple days!)! It wasn't the romantic dinner that I originally thought we'd have, but it was more fun anyways. I sure love you, my Danny Love!