kaydensgracedesigns

8th Grade Phot Shoot Take 1...

2012-01-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

The girls wanted to take "Senior" 8th Grade Pics and have several location ideas! We had a blast with this 1stround! They are a hot mess these 3! They insisted on bringing skirts, tank tops, and dresses even though it is FREEEZZING they decided I was right after a few shots! :)

Hunter/Grimmett Christmas 2011

2012-01-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

*Ok so I had to change the music in honor of Miss. Ellie Girl for this post. Everytime I hear this song I hear her singing in my head... "Boo boo boo boo bee bahh boo" I love the words she makes up for the lyrics and how she dances..precious! She loves this song!!

Christmas with the Grimmetts was super fun & low key this year. The little girls were a total blast! They were so into it this year! Originally I suggested we do it at The Grimmett's house so she wouldn't have to load up all the kids in car seats, etc. But NO, The Grimmett girls FREAKED OUT! "No, we have to have it at Lou House Pabba...We have to have our "Frosty Wrapping Paper Presents" and our Stocking, and everything at LOUUUU HOUUSEEEE!" Ok, so we can do it at my house, it's ok, lol!We opted for Pizza easy peasy! I always wrap little presents and stick them in their stocking for my house and they love looking in there in the days leading up to Christmas and playing with their baby presents, but...right before they came over Hal freaked out asking me if I had filled their stocking with candy. Um...NO! So he grabs a Costco bag of candy I have for my bow prizes and fills the dang thing to the brim with candy then tops it off with 4 $1 bills hanging out. Goofy guy! When they arrived the girls went through the roof with excitement for all their candy and money they could see hanging out of the stocking! SOPHIE was on cloud nine!Good Job Halarini Claus!

Nerd!

Mr. Hally Claus

Baby Brodie Man

Present Time

The kids were really precious this year. They waited for each other to open presents and were so excited for each other...eagerly awaiting both their own turns as well as being so excited for the person opening!

"Oh Yeah"

But....My Uncle Hal said I could!!!

Everyone had a blast! The little girls played with their prizes for hours on the coffee table and Drew, Hal, & Mikey fought over the baseball skeeball game Drew got from Mikey & Erin. Fun times, great memories! I LOVE YOU Grimmetts!

Boise Penitentiary & McCall HotSprings!

2012-01-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we made a little trip down to Boise to see Grandma & Grandpa! :) We had tons of fun, ate like pigs, and relaxed in the warm hot spring water! There is never enough time on family visits, but we made the most of it for sure!

The Old Boise State Penitentiary was pretty cool. We opted for the night tour as we thought it would be spookier! Poor Grandpa is working about 2 hours from home right now, worked all day while we played at the hot spring and then drove straight home so he could hop in the car and go to the prison tour with us. Poor Grandpa we love you! I had a blast freaking Haliee out (and some innocent young adult ladies who happened to be also touring too) Not sure they appreciated it so much, but I had fun! :) It was a neat tour.

The courtyard where almost all of the executions happened had crazy ~~orbs~~ or dust particles in the air for skeptics like me! It did look kinda creepy when you reviewed the pics! It was in almost all of the outside pics especially near the rose garden.

Solitary Anyone???

Hal and his gang signs...

They had the cells decorated exactly how you would've found them back then.

Notice the "Idaho Pot" Nice...

The guard tower. Along the edge of the wall which was so much taller than it looks in pics there was a trench, hard to see as it was pitch black all we had were flashlights and the camera flash. Anyway, there were signs everywhere telling you if you were to go near the trench you would be shot...CRAZY!

Here is the "hang room". I believe only 1 execution actually happened here .It was crazy, see the door in the bottom of the floor, you could then go downstairs to the "drop room" where they would drive the van in to pick you up after the fact.

The Women's Ward

It is hard to see in the dark, but this is from the prison grounds and the cross is actually from a church way up on a hill, hopefully it inspired some to change their lives for the better. You could also see the capital building from inside the grounds...oh the irony!

Now onto something a little more relaxing. If you have never been to the McCall Hot Springs, I highly recommend it. It was relaxing and super cute. They had hot pools, mild pools, sandy bottom pools, etc. Not a huge place, but quaint and relaxing! Definitely not too many pics, sorry I was enjoying myself!

I don't know how everyone is sitting in this one, it was HOT!

Ahhhhh....I wish I was here right now!

Chopped: Home Edition

2012-01-11T09:52:00.000-08:00

Hal came up with a super fun idea to put me to the test in our own little version of the TV Show Chopped. {Me} being the super competitive person I am jumped at the chance. The rules were slightly different as I was virtually competing against myself. I am such a nerd because I took it completely seriously. I was a total blast! SO FUN!!!

In our version of Chopped the rules were as follows: I will create 3 dishes. Appetiser, Main Dish, Dessert. I will receive 30 minutes for appetiser, 45 for main dish, 30 for dessert. I will be judged on creativity, taste, & presentation as well as unique use of mystery ingredients. Hal, Haliee, & Andrew would judge although Erin came over for Main Dish & Dessert rounds because she had to see me sweat lol! At the end of all 3 rounds they collaborate and give me a letter grade finally chopping their least favorite dish at the end of the competition.

So Hal & the kids ran to the store, their crazy list in hand and purchased all the mystery ingredients. They had them all ready to go in the "mystery basket" and a timer all set up. They were so cute speaking as if we were really on the show calling me chef and announcing the ingredients as well as talking amongst themselves as to what I was doing and what they imagined I was making along the way, calling out my time which had lapsed, etc. Ok did I mention how much fun this was!?!?!!! My only regret was not snapping pics along the way. I was so nervous about the time, but I did fine... dessert was the hardest on time!

{Appetiser Round}

Secret Basket ingredients were:

Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate
Mushrooms
Thai Noodles
String Cheese

I made:

Sweet and Spicy Ginger Orange Noodles with Bacon, Sauteed Onions, Mushrooms, & Garlic, and Mozzarella Bites Garnished with Cilantro and Sesame Seeds.

The verdict:

Andrew gave me an B+. Haliee gave me an A-. Hal gave me a B+. Overall they loved the dish, Andrew thought the sweetness and strength of the sauce overpowered the dish a bit, Haliee loved it all except the mushrooms, and Hal thought there weren't enough mushrooms on his plate since it was one of the mystery basket ingredients. Although Haliee had several on hers and gladly gave them to him.

{Main Dish Round}

Secret Basket ingredients were:

Shrimp
Asparagus
Prosciutto
Maraschino Cherries

I made:

Lemon Pepper Encrusted Shrimp on a Wilted Spinach Salad with a Balsamic Maraschino Cherry and Water Chestnut Vinaigrette Dressing, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, and Garlic Bread. Garnished with Chives and Almonds.

The verdict:

Andrew gave me an A-. Haliee gave be a B+. Hal gave me a B+. Erin gave me a B+. Overall again, they all loved it. They said it was very creative, and super yummy. Andrew had no complaints and loved the presentation. Haliee thought the wilted salad was a little weird. Hal and Erin thought the Lemon Encrustment on the Shrimp Overpowered the Dish a bit. Hal thought I used a little too much Prosciutto leaving the asparagus a touch salty in the center.

{Dessert Round}

Secret Basket Ingredients Were:

Bananas
Bisquick
Heath Bar Bits
Whole Coconut

I made:

Heath Bit Shortbread in a Banana Coconut Maple Caramel Sauce Topped with an Almond Whipped Glaze. Garnished with Heath Bits, Powdered Sugar, and Cinnamon Chips Slivers.

The verdict:

Andrew gave me an A+. Haliee gave me a B-. Hal gave me an A-. Erin gave me an A-. They said this was their favorite dish yet (Except Haliee). Andrew loved everything about it. Haliee didn't care for the bananas. Hal thought the coconut flavor wasn't pronounced enough. Erin agreed with Hal ~~after licking her plate~~ saying the texture was there but not enough of the coconut flavor.

In the end, they decided to chop:

The Appetiser

They loved them all and would absolutely eat them again but thought the strong sauce and not enough of the mushroom was reason enough to chop this dish. Haliee disagreed but was outvoted, as this was her favorite dish of the 3. They all said I did a great job and they thought I was super creative! YAY ME!

My 2 cents worth: That was a blast, fun, hilarious that I was so stressed to compete against myself for my family {OCD Weirdo}. I was trying to be creative while still making something my family would like. Being timed was so crazy. The whole coconut stressed me out, I couldn't get it open. The bisquick (nasty) and maraschino cherries were definitely out of my comfort zone I hate processed food. In the end they played it a touch safe with ingredients as they knew they had to eat them lol, but did a great job of mixing them up to present a challenge. I can't wait to do it again! Thanks Hal for the fun idea!

Oh and the best part was Haliee bought me flowers along with the ingredients at the store and gave them to me when they chopped my dish, so sweet!

Merry Christmas! Love: The Hunter's

2011-12-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

**Ok after a week of trying, I am conceding to the fact this isn't going to work as a video upload....AAAHHH FRUSTRATING! I am assuming the video is too large even zipped, so I will have to just provide the link. Merry Christmas Everyone, I can't tell you how much fun we had making this! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time! :) Make sure you click on the link, it is so worth watching!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/Pn8otLUY0SXWhkM6

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we sure did! 2011 was a great year, filled with crazy, busy, chaos, great memories, lots of love, many laughs, exciting vacations, and fun 1sts! I can't believe how quickly it flew by and I am so excited for 2012...and all my unrealistic OCD resolutions :) Hal and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary and wow how time flies when you are being spoiled! :) I forget I am old and my kids are half grown until I see a picture of us!

Hal survived another year of Retail which is no small feat let me tell ya! He continues to be an amazing husband and father and works tirelessly to provide for us in every way. He had some fun times along the way, and never missed a moment to play a prank if the opportunity presented itself to him! He has dusted off the passion box for collecting baseball cards and has really enjoyed growing his collection with his best bud Drew!

Tab survived another year of taxiing teenagers, juggling practices, and stayed ornery and sassy! I am still making bows, working at the County part time, and being OCD where ever and when ever possible! I am keeping up with the "Butterton's" title with my baking, and being crafty whenever I find a spare moment (ok not too often). I am really enjoying these crazy girls and their teenage antics and loving every minute of the baseball grind! Being a Wife and a Mommy truly fulfills all my dreams...I wouldn't change a thing!

Haliee turned the big 13 this year! WOW! Incredible how time flies! Of course it was quite the production, would you expect anything less of me? She attended her 2nd real concert of her life screeching and drooling over her ridiculous crush Mr. Cody Robert Simpson of whom she has betrothed herself too {along with about 3 million other girls}, maintained her honor roll status with excellent grades, found her passion for Volleyball now supersedes Softball and is looking to join a travel team, and certainly made her entrance into this world as a teenager! Sassy like her Momma, Grounded and Levelheaded like her Daddy, she is a hot mess this girl! Loud Music, TOO much junk food, and friends 24/7...makeovers, and dance parties are the norm around here full time! Don't leave your plate of food unattended, these girls will eat it! They are savages!!!! She is growing way too quickly but is such a wonderful young lady! Such a joy mixed with a little payback when she whines "Daddeeee" to get her way!

Andrew is in 5th Grade this year, he rules the School and definitely has swagger! He took eat.sleep.baseball. to a new level this year. Between Little League, Norsemen Travel Team, and making All-Stars, we literally lived at the fields 6 - 7 days a week April - July, when he decided to join a fall ball team, ya know, cuz he can! It was a great way to wind down the year and super low key! His passion for Baseball is definitely over the top, and we are loving watching him grow and excel! I am so proud of the little guy he is becoming, he is obsessed with baseball no doubt, but still maintains straight A's, is a great friend, super sweet and mostly patient with the Grimmett Girls and could not be closer to his sister if he tried. He has adopted Heather as his sis as well and they too are pretty close! My little bobble head boy no more...he grew 3 sizes this year and is quite the man child! Weighing in over a 100 lbs. and wearing a size 8 man's shoe, he is getting so big! It is precious and priceless to watch the bond between Drew and Daddy, an added gift for me!

I am so excited for 2012, the only real important resolution not to be broken for me is to soak it all in. I will be taking Haliee to High School and Drewy to Middle School...and I can't figure out where they hid my babies...Bittersweet for sure, I will do my best to slow down and just live every moment to the fullest.

Black Friday!

2011-12-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

This year Kohl's opened at Midnight as I am sure most of you know. Great for crazy shoppers, not so great for associates and their families! We had to modify our Thanksgiving holiday so Hal could at least attempt a nap before going to work at 10 pm to ready the store for chaos! I had been planning these cookies for several days working on them in my so not spare time and when he was at work or sleeping. I wanted to surprise him with these on black friday. It was my 1st attempt at royal icing and I learned alot. They were super fun to create and I am not happy with their final look but I will accept them as my 1st attempt at perfection. Everyone has been bugging me to see them so here they are! They made Hal smile so I achieved my goal even if I was unable to make them "perfect" as I had hoped!

A bet is a bet...

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Of course this baseball loving family was glued to the TV for the World Series. That goes without saying...well Haliee is a bit burnt out, but...the rest of us are now so sad it is over. What would make it more complete without a friendly little wager? Up until now Drew had pretty much agreed with his Dad on everything. He liked the teams Hal liked, had most of the same opinions in general. But, part of growing up is forming your own opinions, having your own interests, developing your own personality. All of these things good right, we all strive to raise self-confident, driven, world changing adults...EXCEPT HAL, LOLOL! He is having a hard time with his son rooting for his own team! Obviously the poor Mariner's are not one of this years contenders. We had not wanted Texas to win as they are in our division hence being one of our rivals. But, As the end drew nearer, the Hunter Men were divided. Drew's best friend's family are Cardinal Fans, his Dad coming from St. Louis area, so Drew chose St. Louis. Hal chose Texas and was not impressed with his son's choice to vote differently. :) So...a bet ensued.

The stakes:

The Loser was to purchase for the winner: A pack of Baseball Cards, and the winner was able to spray the loser with sparkling cider!

This was mostly fun...they only were crabby a few dozen times! :) They were hilariously running their trash talk and I was unbiased although, I was really hoping Drew would win so I could see Hal be sprayed with cider!

The Verdict:

You can guess how impressed Daddy was with this outcome! I made him wait until the next morning so I could record it in the daylight, so he came up to our room dinging a fork on the bottle letting Hal know it was time to face his inevitable fate! He tried to manipulate Drew into welching on the bet telling him he would never spray Drew with cider, ha! YEAH RIGHT! Go Drewy! This was so hilarious! Be sure to pause the music & enjoy, as you can tell I thoroughly did!!!

Finally, some random pictures found on my camera of my favorite girl :) LOVE HER!

Hal's Special Dinner for Us

2011-11-02T08:01:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I was in Kohl's Hal asked if we had plans Sunday Evening & when I answered No told me he needed like $40 by Friday for dinner plans on Sunday. So I agreed and asked him what we were doing. He said "it's a surprise". Now, being the Snobby Tabby I am thinking what could we all possibly do for dinner for a family of 4 for this price. I was assuming some kind of spaghetti fundraiser or something. So I am giving him all kinds of crap about it, and he is not even budging. It is a surprise, you will like it, he says...I am skeptical. A few minutes later this young kid who works for him walks up *whom I had never met, and didn't know who I was*BONUS* and asks Hal, "Hey, did you ever buy any MRE's and try them with your family?" HA! I turned to Hal who looked like he had seen a ghost and said, "THIS IS MY DINNER OUT??" It was hilarious! Trying to pull one over on Tabby...HA.Ha.Ha.HA! The kid apologized to Hal who will likely never let him live it down and I quickly thanked him & shook his hand for letting the cat out of the bag! :) HE HE HE! (I actually really like surprises since I am such a control freak, but...this was funny)

So for the next few days, I roused Hal and picked at him about this special Sunday Evening Feast! Ever since he went on that Military Day he has been telling me he was going to buy some for us to try. He said they were actually quite good and a fun experience.

On the menu:

Beef Ravioli
Chicken with Feta
BBQ Pork Ribs
Chili Macaroni
Chicken and Rice

We decided to have a smorgasbord so we could all try everything. I cannot believe how much food they give you. I mean along with your main course: cookies, crackers, trail mix, candy, peanut butter, jelly, bread (which I seriously would buy in the store on purpose it was so good), jerky, coffee, gatorade, kool-aid, cider, mocha, even tiny little tabasco bottles, salt, pepper. You name it, it is in these puppies! They are like 3,000 calories each to sustain our troops in combat. Sometimes this is the only meal they receive during war times. The creepiest part is their daily toilet paper rations and the glycerin gum as I am told the meals can constipate if eaten several days in a row. Yet another reason to thank our troops people!

They were so fun to prepare. They come with this little self heating unit you add like a few tablespoons of water to activate and boy it gets boiling hot almost instantly. You place the main dish in it and in about 10 minutes, dinner is served. They have little bags to mix your drinks in, Hal cheated and grabbed glasses and water bottles. Okay, I was so not even looking forward to eating these. I am NOT a processed food kinda gal. I hate pretty much anything canned or processed, it is terrible for you, it tastes about the same, need I say more? YUCK! Anyway, they were about what you expected. The macaroni and raviolis were like chefboyrdeeish not too bad. The rib was like a mcrib seriously, pretty much just like it. The chicken and rice was like a progresso soup. The chicken and feta which Hal got for me was actually pretty good. It was by far my favorite. It was a chunk of chicken breast which was similar to canned chicken so flaky and as fresh as can be expected. The feta was in a tomato watery base and Hal and the kids couldn't handle it lol! Hal couldn't even look at it as imagine a chunk of chicken breast in a watery feta chunked tomatoish broth. Not too visually appealing. It reeked of Feta, which I enjoyed but I stood alone on that one. Drew and Heather atleast tried it (good job guys!) Haliee and Hal, wouldn't even try. WUSSES!

The verdict: It was better than I expected. Still highly processed and not remotely gourmet. But, in a disaster or in a position of need, these things would be awesome and quite good if fresh was not an option.

The experience: PRICELESS! This was the very most fun I have ever had at dinner. We laughed til we cried, we had SO.MUCH.FUN! Thank you honey, sorry I doubted you! I LOVE YOU for caring about our troops and broadening our horizons! Thanks for making memories for our family! :)

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

This year for Halloween Haliee & Heather decided to make their costumes and be matchy match Cody Simpson loving glow in the dark fairies! They made their own tutus, wands, headpieces, and tees! They have a little more respect for the time I put into making tutus now! About 1/3 of the way into it they were begging me to finish them! :) It all turned out super cute!

I caved and let Heather sleep over Halloween Eve. Here they are sporting their awesome tee's and eating their special Halloween Morning pancakes & Orange Julius :) After 3 takes, their is a cute pic without one of them being a stinker! Love these little hot messes!

Halloween Treats for my favorites :)

A bittersweet morning for my last Elementary School Parade. :( *SNIFF*

Couldn't forget my Zoe-Bug Zebra!

Isn't his friend John's Zoot Suit CUTE! LOVE the Mobster idea!

Haliee decided to go with Heather's family trick or treating this year as we were going out to Hal's Bosses house. I agreed so long as I got some good pictures of them. Here is what Haliee provided me....GRRR....she swears there are more coming from Heather's Momma!

And my crazy creative son...Can you guess what he is this year??? After much deliberation and internet surfing for ideas. Here is what he decided on (those are little sponges, hard to tell in the pictures). He didn't want a traditional costume this year. He is so funny & witty! I LOVE him!

Meet Mr. "Self-Absorbed"!!!!!!!!

Hilarious!

Letters...

2011-10-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Now that school has been back in session 6+ weeks, don't you think it's the perfect time to blog about the last week of school from last year!?! I'm movin' on up...

The last week of School Haliee and Drew both came home with these awesome notes from everyone on their classrooms. Each kid who could choose to remain anonymous had written to them about what that particular person thought of them. The only rules they were given was it had to be a nice comment, & it could not just be one word like "hi" something like that. Some teachers did this the previous year and I LOVE how it has blossomed to more classes and schools. What a great way to end the year. I also love every kiddo gets to feel special with kind words written to them.

I had tears in my eyes reading all the wonderful words written to my kids. I mean I know they are pretty great, in fact, I think they are seriously PERFECT! However, to read words written from peers their own age, it made me so proud. I expected them to have several generic "you are cool" or "you are fun" you know, not personal...but no, they were all super descriptive and just plain sweet. I saved these for the ever growing boxes in my garage of keepsakes from their childhood but I wanted to post a few here as well. Way to go teachers for this idea! I am so glad my kiddos are sharing their love and friendship with the world.

Here are a few of my favorites written to Haliee:

Dear Haliee,

You are a cute, beautiful, funny human being. I am proud to be your friend especially for so many years. I love your personality. Your hair is beautiful. You are so smart. Don't ever lower your standards, you are a born leader.

To Haliee Hunter:

You are always smiling, responsible, and independent. You are strong in character, outgoing, and compassionate and caring to others.

Haliee,

You are always fun when I am around. You are really pretty and I look up to you. I hope to always be your friend.

Haliee H.:

You are amazing Haliee. You are one of a kind and have a great personality. You are hilarious, nice, and outgoing. You're always smiling, always positive, and friendly.

To: Haliee

You are really smart and creative. You're witty, outgoing, and a great friend to everyone.

To: Haliee

You are nice, comfortable, and a true leader.

To: Haliee

You are intelligent, responsible, confident, one of a kind, hilarious, and honest.

To Haliee,

You're nice, funny, fun to be with, hard working, easy going, always positive, and gorgeous.

Your always smiling, funny, nice, plus a good dresser. Your also a good friend and you make me laugh whenever I am around you.

Ok, I'll stop now, but it is hard to choose there are 20 more just like these!!!

Here are some of Drew's. It was neat to read the differences between 4th and 7th grade and between boys and girls. You can totally tell the gender of the authors!

Andrew,

You are one of the nicest boys I've met. You are the most loyal friend.

Drew,

You are one of the best players in baseball history. Thank you for being one of the best people on the world.

Andrew,

You are an awesome mathematician. You are awesome + a super funny friend.

Drew,

You are a super great guy, you have done alot for me. I hope I get in your class next year.

Andrew,

You are super good at football. You are an awesome athlete.

Drew,

You are smart and one heck of a pitcher. Good luck and I hope you succeed in life.

Andrew,

You are a nice student to me. Have a great summer. You are a penguin expert.

Andrew, Thank you for everything this year. I hope all your wishes come true. You are cool and a good football player. You rock at playing football.

I am so proud to be these kiddos Momma!

Drew's Birthday Weekend Part 2:

2011-10-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Great Wolf Lodge!

This year for Drew's Birthday, he opted not to have a friends party and come to Wolf Lodge as a family after the traditional Mariner's weekend! This place looked super fun for kiddos and it exceeded their expectations! :) When we drove up we couldn't believe how huge it was. Once inside, it was all the grander. They really thought of everything, so user friendly! You can have your credit/debit card linked to your bracelet for the water park which also acts as your room key so you don't have to worry about cash or debit while in the water park. It was so nice to be able to go from water park to restaurant to arcade and back to the room without carrying any $ or room keys, etc. around.

Drew was so so so excited! When we arrived at the room he had a surprise banner awaiting him on the door! He felt super special :)

Once inside, he opened the info. for the rest of his extra birthday surprise package!! An ice cream from the candy shop, a magi quest birthday package, and more...

We splurged for the cave room inside a room suite and he was so super excited! Haliee was a trooper oohhhing and awwweeeing up her digs for his sake :)

The room was super cute although you don't spend any time there :)

Inside the lobby everything is interactive. They have a story time by the fire which reminds me of the splash mountain ride through the brier patch at Disneyland. All of the animations come to life and the kids loved it (even my kids to pretended to be uninterested and too old through dinner and finally gave up the act to run over and see what it was all about)!

The fireplace was HUGE like 3 levels high, I tried to snap better pictures of it unoccupied several times, but someone was always there.

The water park was actually quite fun! I thought I brought my camera along once to snap pics, but apparently not, I was having too much fun playing with my family. Here is the only pic I have looking from inside the lobby into the water park :( SAD! They have 4 slides and 2 family rides which were pretty fun. It wasn't crowded at all and we were able to re-ride as quickly as we could climb back up the stairs. Our kids were on the older end of the activities but we all still had a blast. Everything is a competition for our family so we had a basketball (pig) competition as well as a leap frog competition. They have this little jungle gym activity of 6 or 7 lily pads with a rope across the top so you are able to stabilize yourself and hop across them. We competed on several levels as to who could cross without falling {fastest, standing no rope, lying on your tummy, no hands} you name it, we competed. SUPER FUN! I was the best....according to Drew he was...nevetheless we were quite entertaining for onlookers lol!

They had this little teen club complete with a cover charge area called "GR8 Space". It was totally cute for teens only with wii's, a dance floor with black lights and disco balls, couches, lounges...Haliee thought she was "too cool" for it, although I am sure she would've loved it with a friend. We kept teasing her to try & see if she would go in.

The arcade was pretty standard and of course a hit (although Drew barely went in as he was all counsumed with MagiQuest I'll explain below) It was all too convenient to slide your wristband & receive $5 worth of tokens...DANGER! Haliee beat me at Skee-ball (BRAT!) This is my favorite and I usually dominate! It was also full of blacklights and they had tons of fun.

Ok now on to MagiQuest....which is a post in itself...GEEZO!

Ok...so...Drew found this on the website when we booked our reservations. It looks like an interactive game where you do through a room with a tour guide of sorts finding clues, etc. They had a birthday package where you could play, choose a wand, etc. so we surprised Drew with it thinking he would go though this hour room and have a great time. Now, there are several of these places around the US this one just happening to be inside the hotel.

Drew was elated to say the least. We took his voucher into the Storefront and it was good for 1 round of the game which actually is good for 3 days at this location, a wand of your choice, and a wand topper of your choice. They had outfits (thankfully Drew was too old to want one), a variety of trinkets, wands, toppers, belts, etc. He could choose from any topper and any wand (there were more than a dozen toppers to choose from) except these 2 specific ones which were about $15 additional....wanna guess which ones he liked the best...YEP! Along with this $15 felt belt to hold your wand and we were ready to play! :) Now the game itself was quite elaborate. You could choose to be as involved as you would like. When they sign up and choose a name and their booty though, they are given a brief guide and told if they complete all 12 missions they can return for 3 additional special missions and upon completion of those can receive a special award certificate and button. Which was all Drew needed to hear...Well this entire hotel is 1 huge game. It is not a room like others...So through the hotel you go, there are 5 floors and after about a zillion trips up and down the stairs and elevators, we were not so impressed with the Magi...LOL! Drew was insistant upon completing his "Mission" So we played day and night in between eating, water park, arcade, candy shoppe visits, we were on the Mission of the stinking Magi! We played as a family and took turns putting up with Drew's relentless conquest...The clues were vague at best and it was way too involved not to have adult assistance. Alas, we completed his mission staying hours after checkout and breaking it up with some waterpark action!

All in all this place was a blast, they make it so user friendly and it was fun for the whole family. Our kids keep asking to go back even though I think it would be ideal for ages 6 - 9. The restaurants were super yummy and quite reasonable which was a pleasant surprise for Mommy & Daddy! :) Happy Birthday Drewy! I can't believe you are already 10, I hope we made all your little 10 year old birthday dreams come true my little prince!

Drew's Birthday Weekend Part 1:

2011-09-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

To say my son is obsessed with Baseball would be a complete understatement! He eats. sleeps.breathes. it! We are such a baseball family, but he takes it to the next level (ok 10 levels)! He is either playing it, watching it, reading about it, or dreaming about it. Of course all of these include him talking about it every moment of his little monkey day! We LOVE going to the ballpark as a family & plan on visiting as many ballparks as we can! It's top on our family bucket

list! I wish we lived just a little closer to Seattle so we could go watch the Mariners more often, but at least it is completely doable in a weekend~! Drew's birthday falling on Memorial Day weekend is a plus for traveling! Going to see the Mariner's is always his birthday desire! This year he opted not to have a friends party this year & go somewhere else after the Mariner's Games, which was totally fine by us! Post coming soon about this magical place!

This trip to see the Mariner's play was just as fun as the last; When you have fresh squeezed Lemonades, Blazin' Bagels Snickerdoodle Bagels and Pastrami Jalapeno Bagel Sandwiches, the beautifully manicured SafeCo ballfields, and some awesome talent...all topped off by being able to enjoy it as a family you love more than the air you breathe~ What's not to love!?! You are always hoping the M's can pull off a win at least once while you are there as an added bonus...

We went to 2 games this trip...Day 1 Was M's v.s. Yankees! Super quick game and we sat in The Hit it Here Cafe. NOT my favorite location. We won't be doing that again, it was really hard to see and I'm a brat...I want GREAT seats lol! Hal did order the kiddos this massive platter size slice of $20 chocolate cake with yummy raspberries! They thoroughly enjoyed that giant slice of greatness! Thanks DADDY! It was really cool to see the Yankee's Play! Drew spent most of his birthday $ on some cool M's stuff including a new "Smoak" Jersey which of course had to be specially made for the birthday boy...cuz he is mine! :) We topped off the evening with some Krispy Kreme ya know since Mom allows us to break all the healthy eating rules on vacation...had to take full advantage! Their Krispy Kreme is HUGE! They have all kinds of different stuff including mini pies and several varieties of doughnuts we certainly don't have here!

We are pretty sure there were some members of Michael Saunders family sitting in front of us. The gentleman looked alot like him and they had Canadian accents! ;)

Must show some LOVE to our Root Sports peeps who allow us to watch every M's game in HD!

The next morning we were up and ready to rock for a little bp before the game. Game 2 was M's v.s. Orioles. Drew was lucky enough to have Chone Figgins {pronounced Sean but we affectionately refer to him as "Chonie Figgy"} sign his mitt! The players were close enough to touch all afternoon, so super fun! We had AWESOME seats right on the 1st base line! Both games

went really fast this time, too fast. :( I might also add the outfielder for the Orioles Mr. Pie{pronounced pee-A} has a bad attitude and is lacking integrity. I was not impressed with his unsportsmanlike conduct and just wanted the throw him under the bus as being a JERK! Okay, I feel a little better! I hope we are able to get seats here or along the 3rd base line front row everytime it was so cool! Drew was in a birthday boy fog with a permasmile so I guess mission accomplished for our baby boy! After the game and a few dozen Blazin' Bagels to go...we jumped on the freeway on route to our 2nd destination which was equally fun and awesome!! Here are some pics from our super fun family weekend obsession! Happy Birthday DREWY!

Getting a siggy from Figgy!

SO FUN to be this close to King Felix warming up!!

Drew's Happy 10th Birthday May 31, 2011

2011-09-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hey, I am just under the 4 months behind mark...be amazed! :) Here we go...trying to catch up!

Happy Happy 10th Birthday Drewy!

I can't believe my baby boy is 10. These years have flown by and have been so much more amazing then I could have ever imagined. Drew, is such a fun little man in the making, here are 10 things I LOVE about my boy:

He is a great student, such a smart little guy
He is so close with his sister it is scary
He LOVE sports especially Baseball & is very athletic
He is the best{and worst *ha*!} mix of both Hal and I
He is OBSESSED with Baseball
He LOVES the Seattle Mariners
He is very caring and compassionate (he will be good husband & daddy someday)
He will argue until YOU concede. He does know best after all, just ask him! ;) (I guess I don't love this but it is a valid comment for this post)
He enjoys the finer things in life, would choose steak and lobster or sushi & veggies over fast food any day and has for years.
He is an optimist and will find the bright side to pump up anyone who is down.

I just love this little guy to bits! I am so lucky to be his Momma! :)

Here are Drew's Birthday Questionnaire answers for the 1.0. Double Digit Birthday!

Favorite Color: Blue

Favorite Food: Lobster

Favorite Song or Band: Bon Jovi

Favorite Sports Team: Seattle Mariners

Favorite TV Show or Movie: Survivor Man/Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief

Favorite Hobby: Playing Baseball

BFF: Thomas Kladar

Who do you want to Marry?: Not Sure (according to Haliee: JoAnna Donofino)

What is your biggest accomplishment this year?: Pitching & Catching every game & hopefully making all-stars

Who do you most admire or look up to?: My Parents

What do you want to be when you grow up?: A Professional Baseball Player

Cody Simpson Concert 2011 "Waiting 4 U Tour"

2011-09-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

The evening before the concert!!! Making some awesome glow in the dark paint tee's! :)

The most handsome tallboy chauffeur on the planet! ;)

SOOOOOO BEYOND EXCITED!

Party Bus turned sleep shack about 30 min. into the drive!

Such a pretty drive!

So luckily, Hal decided we should check into the hotel prior to getting in line, just so we wouldn't be doing it late that night. We left really early that morning, the girls wanted to be 1st in line for the concert as it was general admission! So, I had booked reservations at the Travelodge near the University. It had decent ratings, we needed a pretty big place as there were 5 kids + Hal and I and I didn't want to spend Millions since we were literally just sleeping there. So we pull up, it looks ok, not terrible. I go check in and she tells me the suites are actually in a different building behind and there is no parking lot. Ummm...ok...great, so we all trek suitcases, etc. across the street, up a flight of stairs and it is like an old apartment building with a sign slapped on the side, umm...great...So we open the door and a member of housekeeping is flushing the toilet, "breathe in" "don't be a snob"...ok, so he awkwardly leaves, it is like a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen/living room/dining room. An olive green fridge, a mustard yellow stove, a coffee table which looks to have been set on fire or something. CAN YOU SAY FRAT PARTY GONE BAD! Hal and I look at each other..."NO THANK YOU" So we roll everything back across the street and Tabby goes in to politely as she can muster to check back out! YIKES! Thank goodness for technology as I would be spending the next hour on my phone searching the web for suites large enough to accommodate our crew. So not in my always plan everything comfort zone!!

WOOHOO! We made it to the venue! We have some super excited shrieking girlies! After $40 for parking...We were like 3rd in line. I was trying not to freak and find a hotel room asap. I finally did and it was quite nice! :) *sigh*

"Waiting for U" Cody!! :) They were so excited! It was right across from Pike Street Market and Starbucks, they were seriously beyond excited & Rockin' those awesome shirts! I wasn't impressed standing outside a smoke shop in line for 5+ hours, but making memories for these babies right!?!

1st opener was Shane Harper who frankly seemed so old for this venue but the kids knew him from Disney Channel. He sang fine and I am surprised anyone had a voice left to cheer for Greyson & Cody with all that screaming in line and even when the DJ was warming up "IYIYIYI" lol!
There was a little girl as a 2nd act opener, I can't remember her name but she was like 11 or 12 and good grief she was mousey. He had really grimey older men as her band too...not my favorite, I chose not to take pix.

Next up, Greyson Chance! He played the piano quite well and the girls went nutso!

Finally, their favorite little Aussie! Good grief, these girls can SCREAM! They were so over the moon excited! These 2 boys were so cute & weren't trying to act grown up.
Seriously, after it was over everyone sounded like they had been sucking helium. Haliee was convinced they had been pumping it into the room, but it was our ears being damaged from the shrilling girls & I guess the loud music too. It was crazy! After the concert, it was pretty late and everyone was exhausted so we decided to just go to the hotel and order pizza! We checked in and I phoned Dominoes...they would not deliver after dark to any hotels as someone was robbed a few years ago. REALLY??? A Dominoes who doesn't deliver...ok...so I phone Pizza Hut...same answer. Really people, we are not in the hood... I even offered to meet them out in the parking lot...NOPE! So I finally find some less known "Pizza Shoppe" who will deliver, by this time is is almost 11pm. These poor kiddos are so tired. They are literally falling asleep. Ummm...heck no, I just spent almost $80 on pizza (no 5.5.5. deal here lol), they better stay up and eat it! :) I was literally jumping on their beds and shaking them awake until it arrived lol!!

The next morning we were up early, hurried through breakfast, and hit the road. Heather & Drew both had to pitch that evening so we had to get a fairly early start. We made it about 20 miles out of Seattle and poor Zoe started getting sick. She threw up about every 20 minutes all the way home. Poor baby. There was tons of road construction so we were either stuck at a standstill or unable to exit for what seemed like an eternity. After 30 pit stops and a few detours, we made it home with about 20 minutes until both game times...Making Memories is all I can say!

The girls said it was the best thing that has ever happened to them! :) Man, am I TOO OLD FOR SCREAMING GIRLS, STANDING ROOM ONLY, 5 HOUR LINES, AND LOUD MUSIC! But...it was all worth it to make them happy! It is hard to believe my kiddos are old enough already to go to concerts! What happened to Disney on Ice? Life is flying by...

Hal's day in the Army Reserves 2011

2011-08-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Hal was asked if he would be interested in being an "Army Reservist" for a day. The army was collaborating with local businesses to offer knowledge/training/a brief overview into the lives of our servicemen in hopes to better transition their homecomings. He jumped at the opportunity, taking along one of the guys who worked for him, and LOVED every minute of the experience (well except the few seconds they decided to fly at ZERO G's and see if they could make someone puke!). Haliee had a game that day & they actually flew over us as they were playing, it was fun to tell the kids, "Look Daddy is in one of those helicopters!" He was able to yell "Get to the Chopper" Arnie Style, take part in an actual (fully automatic paint ball style) war, have a MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) Lunch which he claims was actually quite good, fly in the chopper, amongst other things. He had it all spelled out for us in a slide show presentation, I am sure I am not even coming close to explaining it correctly, but I wanted to document it here so we would have the forever memory. *Selfishly glad he is over 35 and not eligible to become a reservist! And again, so thankful for the men and women who risk their lives for us every.single.day.

TOO BIG!

2011-08-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

This baby girl

Which happens to now look like this

Flew all by herself on Monday morning to Boise to hang at Grandma & Grandpas. I was super nervous even telling the boarding counter to make sure some creeper didn't sit next to my baby! YEP, I am all kinds of psycho when it comes to these babies of mine! {Judge away, I am cool with it, HA!} :) She is having the best time so far and let me tell ya this is where cell phones come in handy. We are able to text non-stop and that makes the distance seem a little less. I am so glad she is able to go and make memories she will have forever but why is she this big already? Drew has had the hardest time with it. He knew he couldn't make it 10 whole days without his Momma so he opted to try next year. What he didn't realize was how hard it would be to see his sister off. They are so twin like close it's crazy. You wouldn't think when they were arguing about silly things like who got out the milk and left it on the counter, they would be weeping and holding each other in the airport as if she were leaving the country or leaving for College. He told me he feels like a part of him is missing. SO PRECIOUS! I am so very thankful they are so close. We miss ya Haliee Girl but are so glad you are having fun! <3 143

Kids Helping Kids Fix Broken Hearts!

2011-08-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

One of Drew's Best Buds and his awesome sisters need your vote! They created a charity a few years ago & have been selling dishtowels which they designed and promote to help kids in need of heart surgery. You can read their complete bio on their website HERE. They were nominated by Sacred Heart Children's Hospital Spokane, WA for the 2011 National Small Charity of the Year Award. Of the 2,000 nominations, they have made it to the top 25. They need our votes to stay in the top 10 in order to win $15,000 for their charity which could help 10 families with children needing heart surgery! To vote go HERE click on vote, then small charity of the year, then kids helping kids fix broken hearts. Make sure you choose the kids helping kids fix broken hearts as there are a few similar named charities! Thanks for your help, these kiddos are amazing! :)

Haliee's Birthday Weekend of Pampering

2011-08-01T09:39:00.001-07:00

The Friday after Haliee's Birthday I picked the girls up from School, ran through Sonic for some Slushies & Snacks and we were off to Spokane for some girl time! The girls were over the moon excited to stay at the Davenport!

1st stop...Nordstrom's for makeovers!!!

The ladies were all so awesome & accommodating. They LOVED the girls, doted on them, loaded them up with samples, and fun memories!

Next we checked in and the girls were so beyond excited about the room! Ola bought them a special little box of Truffles which was waiting in the room with a sweet little note! Thanks Ola!

After investigating every inch of the room, it was present time!

Then they changed for Dinner. Even primping in the elevator on the way down.

After dinner we took a tour! The girls had a blast dancing in all the ballrooms!

They were so mature all night. Perfect little ladies until...the pool was just too enticing & they were not quite ready to give up bring kids! YAY!!! Off to change into our suits we went! They played games & even made Ben Franklin Hairdos! :)

After their swim, they decided they were starved...so we ordered some fries. They thought room service was AWESOME! Nothing like french fries in a windowsill ;) They were so cute in their robes!

The next morning we got up, the girls had cute little pink donuts and got ready to get pedi's. After the girls ate & were ready, they asked if they could go look around while I got ready. I agreed as long as they promised to act appropriately. They came back a few minutes later with these...they had gone down to the flower shop inside the hotel to buy me a flower as a thank you gift for bringing them. When they got there it wasn't open yet but the staff were so proud of the girls for the thought, they opened early for them. It was all I could do not to cry my eyes out. I <3 these girls! :) We made a little pit stop to the candy shop to get Hal & Drew a little prize! {They make the best caramel here, it's Hal's fav. They also sell these little decorated gumball animals Drew loves.} After a sugar high, we were off to the salon.

The girls were exhausted can't you see their sleepy little eyes! {So was I! Very different than the relaxing weekend I spent with my husband at the Davenport!} They shopped a little and tried on formals at Macy's then we went to Taco Bell on the way back home. What a fun little weekend of awesome memories! Happy Birthday Haliee Girl. I hope all your 13 year old dreams came true.

Haliee Girl is officially a TEENAGER!

2011-07-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so on all my updating I am just going to leave it as is, instead of backdating to show myself I am a loser and am blogging about my daughter turning 13...3 1/2 months late! LOSER!

Happy 13th Birthday Haliee Breanne Hunter

My baby girl turned the big 1-3 April 20. *SNIFF* She is a mess this girl! Silly, Ornery, Loud Music, Dancing, Makeovers, 13 Wardrobe Changes a day, Starbucks & Jamba Juice, Junk Food Junkie, a little Sassy...but also Super Sweet, Mature beyond her years, babysitting queen, super responsible, great in school, a leader and great friend to all.

Haliee we are so very proud of you. You are growing into such an amazing young lady and are so much more perfect than even I could have imagined. These years have flown by and are certainly bittersweet. I miss my sweet little 3 year old with perfect curly locks who plays princess characters for hours but love every minute of this silly teenager you have become. From goofy dances, to power points to bribe me into midweek sleepovers, I wouldn't trade a minute. Thanks for being such a perfect little girl! I LOVE YOU BOBO REILLY! I am so very thankful to be your Momma!

Birthdays are a big deal around here. We spoil these babies probably more than we should but guess what...I only have a limited time to do this before they are making their own way in life, so too bad! :) I also always believed I'd be a Mommy to 4 and since that didn't work out, these guys will just get double the snuggles! This year was extra special as she became a teenager!

She started off with 13 gifts!! We ended up doing this the night before as Hal had to open & he wouldn't get to see her open them all. {Would you believe she was ok with it!?!}

The next morning she was all dolled up in her birthday best, ready to paint the school red! :) She received 13 pink roses at School from her Daddy & she was elated! She had a Softball Game that evening so of course Momma had to whip up something special for the team! She played against Heather & Kayla came to cheer her on! {I wonder how many more of these times I have left? HUGE *sniff*}

After the game, Ola, Papa Ken, Jeni, The Grimmetts, & Kayla came over for a quick little party. We had Pizza and Haliee's "Main Man" Cody Simpson Cake {Actually 2 cakes (shhh I know it's excessive) because Drew insisted on giving her her very own Cody Simpson Cake}. He also got her roses, he was so sweet wanting to make her feel extra special on her birthday! He couldn't have Daddy 1up him! I hope they stay this close forever!!! He kept begging me to get her more! Her main present from us was a trip for her & 3 besties to have a girls weekend of pampering! A night at the Davenport and Makeovers/Pedis! She was a little excited! Remember Drew got her tickets to Cody Simpson as his gift! :) What a lucky little girl! Erin got her tons of makeup and nail goodies as well as a giftcard (spoiled) and the Cogswells got her a few little trinkets and some cashola for our trip to Seattle for the concert! Kayla stayed up all night making her this HUGE Card. It is so neat with little memories of fun moments, goofy sayings, etc. These girls are so fun with their HUGE card obsession! It's hanging on her wall!

Here are 13 things I LOVE about my sweet princess!

She has incredible Integrity

She is always smiling

She is so close with her brother

She is beautiful inside and out

She drives me crazy changing stations and plugging in her ipod in the car

If she is sassy within a few minutes that little 3 year old baby girl comes back to apologise to me for having attitude

She loves to dance and act silly

She loves babies

She will help anyone in need and is nice to everyone

She is always grateful

She is so very smart, responsible, & wise beyond her years

She loves to work the scoreboard & snack shack at her Brothers Games

She loves fashion but is always appropriate

Here is the annual birthday questionnaire! The questions are always the same, but it is so fun to see how different the answers are from year to year in their own words! Haliee wanted to be a tree when she grew up at 2! :) LOVE IT!

What is your favorite color?: PINK

What is your favorite food?: KETCHUP

What is your favorite song?: IYYIYI by Cody Simpson

What is your favorite band or singer?: Cody Simpson

What is your favorite TV Show or Movie?: The Ellen Degeneres Show

What is your favorite Hobby?: Playing Softball

Who is your BFF?: Kayla, Heather, & Ally

Who do you want to marry?: Cody Simpson

What is your biggest accomplishment this year?: Making Honor Roll again

Who do you most admire or look up to?: My Parents

What do you want to be when you grow up?: A Culinary Artist

Our 15 Year Anniversary~San Juan Islands January 2011

2011-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

So I am finally blogging about our 15 year Anniversary trip. Ridiculous! But at least I will have it journaled & can laugh at myself once these kids are grown and I have all the time in the world!
Hal and I stayed 8 days and it was amazing and weird at the same time. We do everything as a family and have never left our kiddos for more than a weekend. I guess it's the 1st step in keeping me sane when they leave for College!

We had the best time. It was so quiet, slow paced, and beautiful, just what we were hoping for. No agenda, no rush, so different from our everyday madness which we would never trade but wow how awesome to just relax. In some ways it is hard to believe it has been 15 years in others, I can't really remember much of my life without him by my side. I am so thankful for this Man, words can't describe how much I love him and how much more I love him than the day we married although I never thought that possible. Thanks Halarini for being my best friend and love of my life. I can't wait to blog about our 50th and beyond!

The 1st night we drove to Anacortes where you catch the ferry for the islands. {We may have made a little pit stop in Snoqualamie at the casino} but...very late into the night we made it! We had a little tiny room right on the water! Super cute & within a stone's throw of the ferry landing.

The next morning we got up and we were so nervous we would mess the whole ferry thing up, we arrived early enough to catch the ferry before us by accident! :) I was freaking out we were on the way to the wrong island{after the Tacoma mishap one can never be too sure}, but we were fine! These things are huge & I mean HUGE! It was really cool, totally affordable, and very easy to use! The picture I took of the inside was not even a 3rd of the length, but it was really hard to capture.

It was about an hour ride which really went fast. It was so neat, the water was like a lake and we had fun dreaming of retiring in some of the quaint and not so quaint residences along the water! There were fishermen setting crab pots, and some birds, etc. It was only January so no luck on much wildlife, but still quite beautiful!

We arrived super early as we caught the ferry almost 2 hours before we were planning, so we decided just to go check out of hotel anyway and try to check in before we went to lunch. Our 1st night we stayed at The Rosario. http://www.rosarioresort.com/

One of the coolest things about these islands was all the history. It was completely unexpected and such an awesome place to learn about.

The Rosario was a compound of sorts for one of Seattle's Richest Entrepreneurs of his time Robert Moran. He was a Navy Ship Manufacturer and retired on Orca's Island. The place was just awesome. The main house had it's original copper roof left to patina in the sea air, original wiring on the exterior lighting (which I am so amazed works frankly) with very little change. The home was so modern for it's time and it's fun to learn how they lived back then. The ornate architecture and woodwork is so incredible. The 1913 pipe organ {which still operates daily} and 1900 Steinway Grand Piano were crazy beautiful, I can't imagine coming there and being able to hear afterwards!

We stayed our 1st night in the Rosario Round House. Mr. Moran originally built this house {which is made solely out of concrete} as a getaway of sorts to teach his children basic life skills. He wanted his children to know how to cook, clean, and make pottery as they had help to do all of the basic daily chores. Once a month they would spend a week in the round house and the children would live as regular children. The inside has obviously been renovated to a single suite, the kiln is no longer inside, and it is now SO AMAZING!!! Here is the pathway leading up to the round house from the main grounds.

It was right on the water, very secluded and just gorgeous inside and out. The bathroom had heated floors and a huge dual shower! The living room was so cozy, it was awesome to sit by the fireplace and stare out at the incredible scenery.

Mr. Moran donated 5,252 acres of land near his home to the State of Washington and is now known as Moran State Park.

It is hard to tell in this picture but the road from the Rosario to Moran State Park is seriously completely level with this body of water.

There are no large predators on the island, they were hunted to extinction for their fur in the 1800's. As a result there are small deer everywhere!

In the middle of this park stands Mt. Constitution at 2409 ft. I had no idea there would be a mountain on these islands! It was FREEEEZZZING up there but you could see Seattle, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, the Cascade Mountain Range as well as the Olympic Mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula. It was so breathtaking. This lookout was so neat but we hurried through it and just shot a few quick pics on top as I swear the windchill was cold enough to make you faint.

It was much less cold off the summit. Still brisk, but hikeable! The lakes were frozen and the natural springs not flowing, there were neat little frozen fibrous looking water crystals coming out of the earth everywhere. There were tons of places to camp. Neat little day camp covered picnic areas.

The rest of the time we stayed at The Outlook Inn. It was perfect and right in town. A jet tub, fireplace, towel warmer, heated floors, and incredible view!

We hiked down to the water on a cute little trail. The only complaint I have about this place is I believe they must have made the trail markers in the 1800's. Their distance measurements were a little off. If is said a 1/4 mile. I think they should've placced a 1 in front! Everything was alot further away than expected! The water is so crystal clear and calm on the sound. It does not even seem like the ocean. Hal kept trying to get me to go on an adventure with him around this rock that was totally in the water. He finally went alone telling me he was going to find a treasure I wasn't. I laughed telling him that treasure was going to be in the water...no thanks! Not swimming weather! Here he is posing after slipping a few times on the rocks, but he made it there and back without falling in just to prove me wrong! ;)

Next up...A lighthouse and lime kiln. This is where you can see a ton of Whales April - Sept. We weren't lucky enough to see any it was still too cold. We did however see some huge cargo ships oohhh aaahhhh.

The next day we decided to ferry over to the main island of San Juan via Friday Harbor. This is a much more populated island with tons of restaurants and shopping, a hopsital, etc. Still so very quaint and locally owned...I could SO live here!!! We ate at an amazing little waterfront restaurant...the food was so yummy! There were super cute little shops we meandered through & even found a super cute candy shop with all kinds of fun & unique stuff. We got some prizes for the kids...even some baseball cards to feed my husbands obsession :)

Hal heard from a friend about the American and English Camps that were still standing and available to tour. Apparently in the 1850's The U.S. and Britan were able to resolve a peaceful agreement on the this land however, that almost ended in war when an American shot and killed a British pig grazing on his farmland. Who knew?
Here is the tour of the 2 camps. 1st up...The American Camp. Definitely the lesser of the 2. Not so cute... :) Grassy farmland...a little inland, not too exciting, and pretty ugly really lol.

Next, the English Camp, just beautiful, right on the water. Here is an old cemetary again a little 1/4 mile (actually more like 3/4 mile uphill) hike away from their camp. The only 5 soldiers who lost their lives during this time actually drowned.

The English Officers built this garden for their wives to make them feel more at home. What awesome husbands! It was so beautiful I bet even more so when it was spring and everything in the centers was in full bloom. They resided up on the hill overlooking this amazing garden and water~

Next we went to Roche Harbor. It was a cute little town with tons of history as well. Super cute & an ecclectic mix of old and new. They had some awesome achitecture, more lime kilns, and some cute little cottages you could rent right on the water with a public pool, tennis courts, volleyball, etc. We are going to bring the kids back with us sometime. It would be a fun little place to camp (well cottage camp!) ;)

We saw signs for this Mausoleum & decided to take one more of those "Short hikes" before we caught the ferry home to see it. There were random little picket fence enclosed graves all over on the way. It was kind of weird, several were Chinese, I can't remember who they were...

We finally made it to the mausoleum and it was incredible. It is amazing how intovative their design was for this period. So neat! Again a ton of history. Because it took much longer to hike here than we expected, we ended up running all the way back as it was a 45 min drive back to the ferry & we were scared we'd miss it and be stuck on the island for the night. :)

On our way back to Anacortes we decided just to sit in the car on the ferry and all of a sudden we heard this super loud helicopter which was flying right next to us. It was crazy close, we could see the men inside perfectly. It was a routine coast guard check of the ferry and they hovered there forever...well until I got the camera out & ready...Hal just was able to grab a few shots as they flew off. We had the best time, we ended our trip at the Seattle Outlet Mall and Hal spoiled both Haliee and I with a Coach bag...darn! I LOVE this cute tall guy!

Idaho Capital Building

2011-07-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

On our way to and from Cali. {you know back in October...of last year, yep folks, I am right on top of things} we went a little out of our way and went through Boise so we could see Grandma & Grandpa. We barely got to spend any amount of time there but at least we saw them for a little {tiny} bit. The morning we were coming home we decided to tour the Capital Building before we left. We had been talking about it for years every time we were in Boise, so we finally made the time to go. It was incredible, just beautiful. The marble was breathtaking. It was so open & inviting, they have a rule where basically if the door is unlocked, you are welcome to go inside. We happened to go right after elections (since we had been in Cali we totally forgot) but, when we arrived they were actually swearing in the new officials, the news was there and it was crazy. We slipped in a back door and went through the place backwards.

The Courthouse is located right next door and was also beautiful from the outside, we never went in but I loved the fallen solider memorial!

I can't tell you how beautiful this place is!!

In order to expand without changing the original building, they built office space underground, this is all you see from ground level.

The House & Senate

In the gift shop they had some cool wooden trinkets made from trees they had to take out during the remodel. The trees were planted by some of out 1st presidents, I can't remember them all but Thomas Jefferson was one of them! It was really neat. Hal got a wooden key. We also got a copy of the Declaration of Independence & The Constitution. Hal has a thing for coins, so we also got one of those from the treasury office. All proceeds going to the Veteran's. :) I am sounding totally NERDY right now, but oh well, this place was so awesome!

I can't remember what this statue represents but when the kids asked what it was Hal told them it was of a woman who talked back to her husband too often! BRAT!

When we got to the Governor's office I was telling Hal how I'd heard he was a very down to earth guy and his wife was actually my little brother's school teacher yadda...yadda...when he whispers umm...I'm pretty sure that's her in front of us talking. LOL, yep...she told us to feel free to go on in and check everything out! They even had story books and pencils for the kids.

One of the coolest places was the Treasurers Office. They invited us in & it was so neat! The original vault was amazing so cool. It is kind of hard to read in the pic but they used to post the State debt. Also the original treasury book, that was awesome!

Heavy Hearts

2011-07-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

My happy catch up posts will be delayed a little further. Kayla the silly blond girl in so many of my blog posts one of our "adopted" girls around here and Haliee's bestie lost her brother almost 2 weeks ago. They were finally able to bring their son home yesterday and we will lay him to rest Monday morning. We are all trying to get Kayla and her family through this hard time. Words cannot describe the pain to listen to, thank, embrace this Mommy and Daddy who have to bury their baby. Please pray for strength and guidance through this hard time. Hug you babies a little tighter, don't sweat the small stuff, and PLEASE shake the hand of every.single.serviceman young and old, listed and veteran. As a society we take for granted all these great soldiers who risk and give their lives for us. Breaks my heart. Anyway, I will be back in a few days with a happier post. I am off to watch my baby play some All-Star baseball so thankful I get this chance, every moment I am going to soak up. Here is a little about Tyler.

Tyler Patton, 20
Airman First Class Tyler Joseph Patton, 20, of Coeur d'Alene, passed away June 27, 2011, while stationed at RAF Lakenheath AFB, UK. Tyler was born in Riverside, Calif., Oct. 28, 1990, to T.J. Patton and Sherri (Laake) Patton. The family moved to Coeur d'Alene shortly after Tyler's first birthday.
Tyler grew up in Coeur d'Alene and went to Borah Elementary, Lakes and Woodland Middle School, Lake City High School and graduated Kootenai Bridge Academy in 2009. Shortly after graduation Tyler enlisted in the Air Force and was in Security Forces based in Suffolk, England. He was deployed to Afghanistan in September 2010 and served there close to seven months. He has made many friends during his military service who have become a large family. So many of Tyler's friends, old and new, would have gladly laid their life down for him and he also had no problem doing the same. Tyler loved music and was an accomplished guitar player. He dabbled at the piano and was a violinist (and a vegetarian) for a day. He loved the outdoors and was always planning the next adventure. He loved to travel and see the world. Most of all he loved his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is in his mansion now.
Tyler is survived by his parents, TJ and Sherri Patton; brother Randy and sister Kayla, all of Coeur d'Alene; grandmother Toni Laake of Riverside; grandfather Gilbert Laake of Bellevue, Ky.; uncle Bryant Laake of Riverside; aunt Jayme Laake of Riverside; nephews (technically cousins) Dakota Laake and Jayden Laake of Riverside; great-grandma Madeline Laake of Bellevue; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins in the Southern California area and the Northern Kentucky region.
Tyler had a great hunger and thirst to study God's word especially over the past year. He shared his faith and truly wanted everyone to have the same joy in salvation that he had. His desire was to go to Bible college after the Air Force. He would be very pleased if we could start a scholarship in his memory. In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to this fund at any US Bank branch "Tyler Patton- Bible College Scholarship Fund."
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, July 11, 2011, at Yates Funeral Home, Hayden Chapel, in Hayden followed by a procession to Coeur d'Alene Memorial Gardens Cemetery for graveside services followed by a reception at Yates Gathering Center on Hayden Avenue.
Please visit www.yatesfuneralhomes.com to leave some thoughts or stories about how you knew Tyler.

OH MY HECK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

I knew I was seriously behind in blogging, but APRIL 18???????????? REALLY!!!!!!!!?????????!!!!!!!!!!! I have so much to say but every moment I think I have is gobbled up almost instantly. I promise to be back soon...getting my groove back next week...that's my goal :)

Really??

2011-04-18T20:35:00.001-07:00

UGH! I love snow but mid-April?

Can you guess why I'm MIA....

2011-04-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yep, this is why...well 1/2 the reason. Haliee had her 1st game Wednesday as well against Heather, SUPER FUN!! (Haliee hit off her too yay!), I'll have to shoot pics at the next one as Drew has practice at the same time as her game tonight...despite it still being FREEEZZING...I am so excited to be sitting out there watching all these babes again! Matter of fact yesterday Haliee's practice was cancelled so it was our 1 free day this weeek, and what do we do??? We all load up and go watch Kayla's 1st game, lol! {Great pitchin' Kayla my love <3 }

And...hmmm...more mystery pics...ever wonder what your kids are doing when you are out??

MORE...Spring Break FUN

2011-04-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

We laid low this spring break Drew was less than impressed we weren't going to Grandma & Grandpa's {I quickly reminded him it was NOT my practice we were sitting at 6 days a week!} :)

Anyway 1 morning the kids wanted to make taffy...so...I looked around my house...this is what I saw...and...I said...

YES of course! Cleaning can always wait right?

So Kayla cracked me up...She was so excited.

She said, "Like real taffy"

Me: yes

Kayla: Like pull it and all that stuff.

Me: Yes

Kayla: "Are you serious? This is AWESOME. I have always wanted to do that. I can take it off my bucket list."

I was laughing so hard, I had no idea 13 year olds already had bucket lists.

We had tons of fun! Afterwards, I told them all I was getting in the shower and when I came back down this level of the house better ting ok?

Well...TING it did, lol! I LOVE these kids! :) They are so creative.Almost clean...

An awesome backpack treasure

2011-03-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out Drew's backpack Wednesday to see what exciting news I was supposed to know about or report that was due that day or you know any other little prize awaiting me...1/2 a lunch...the list goes on. But this particular morning...a REAL treasure awaited. I found this sweet paper Drew wrote about Hal. I am so glad I cleaned out his backpack & didn't ask him to do it! It is precious! :)He is my hero too, but...shhh...I wouldn't want him to get a big head :)

YAY Drewy!!!

2011-03-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

I had my parent teacher conference Wednesday afternoon & Drew received amazing marks once again! He is such a great kid. Well mannered, a helpful classmate, respectful, and STRAIGHT A'S once again! YAY! We are so very proud of him!! :)

He was also selected to represent his School in the State of Idaho special testing. I am unsure of all the details but we received a letter requesting he represent the 4th grade for Skyway in this special testing for The State of Idaho. This is in addition to their standard test. :)

I Sure LOVE this little dude & all his hard work!

A lil' Morning Pit anyone?

2011-03-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

The Schools up here block their end of semester report cards/parent teacher conferences right before spring break so the kids get a few extra days off. They started spring break Thursday so of course we had to kick it off with a sleepover...not that these 2 aren't here everyday anyway lol! Friday morning I made donuts to the sound of screaming 11111..2222..33333 and bells dinging! LOVE ME SOME MORNING PIT! Ahhhh...sorry folks this is why I drink coffee :) I LOVE the joy in their faces! It makes me so happy to see their sweet faces just being kids!

Ok, seriously....Formal Living or Dorm Room...

2011-03-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

YOU DECIDE!

The other morning I walked downstairs to find piles of Drew everywhere! I know we are busy and running in all different directions this time of year, but this is a little ridiculous! I guess I better be the last one upstairs at night so I can bust these slobs!!

**UPDATE - So this morning Hal almost fell to his death from a grocery sack full of Haliee's crap she left on the stairs last night. Apparently it is too much effort to grab it on your way up. Time for Hunter bootcamp, my cleaning blinds & baseboards while my children leave piles of lovelies is no bueno!! :/

So this is where your orders are supposed to go...

2011-03-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

It has recently turned into a teenager graffiti wall! Their favorite thing to do is write things about one another if they are not here that day so they check it when they come over to see what has been written lol! The other day I grabbed my paper I have been writing orders on & shook my head at myself...they are taking over...and multiplying...like Gremlins! {I do LOVE the little love notes to me though! Zoe Bug leaves me one everytime she is over :)}

It's almost...Spring! YAY!

2011-03-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

I hope the snow stays away until October...fingers crossed!

Poor Drewy is a tall boy...but still needing some hops to dominate the other tall boy! It's a little unfair dontcha think!?

Because we think she is so super swell &

2011-03-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

because she is almost the BIG 1-3...

The Hunter Family Frosty Friday Bus is turning into a super fan bus headed for Seattle...

Have any of you ever heard of the newest pop teen sensation?? He is a bit of a kiwi although relocated to LA to hit pay dirt & follow his dream...

Meet Cody Simpson, the new & improved {according to my daughter} Aussie JB. She has been following him google eyed and mastering all his u tube dance moves, downloading all his songs via i-tunes for a few months now.

So lemme back up a bit to last weekend...Heather & Haliee were in the kitchen blasting the ipod with some Cody Simpson tunes (Of course my favorite thing to listen to while making lunch) when Haliee happened upon tour dates on Cody's Fan Blog. So she decides to look at where he is touring, she suddenly squeals he...is...coming...to...Seattle...MOMMY!!! I doubtingly question when...she even higher pitched squeals MAY...I again even more doubtingly ask what year...to which both girls shrill...2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So they are screaming jumping up & down, begging, pleading, planning how he'll jump off stage & propose to them both right on the spot. CAN WE GO PLEASEEEE PLEASEEE PLEASEE...

I blow them off with a "possibly" *wink* They ran off freaking out and planning the next months of their life when Drew comes up & says, "Mom can I please get Haliee tickets from me for her birthday. Please" I phone all the besties parents & make sure they are in..And...the rest is history...we are Seattle bound in May & Haliee was bawling hysterically when Drew told her! {D.D.D.Drama Beats}A quick mid week trip to a standing room only venue with screaming girls...who propose we get there 6 hours early to stand in line & get front row...YOU ALL KNOW YOU ARE JEALOUS! Hal will be chauffeuring us all over but he opted out of accompanying us, he will hang in the quiet hotel room instead (WUSS). He did however propose to the girls we get there a day early & camp out so when Cody arrives in his tour bus he will see they truly are his #1 fans...I will beat this man...

(PS- Not sure if I posted about "Frosty Friday" yet...so for those of you in the dark. My kids decided to invent a little Friday afterschool tradition. Every Friday I pick them up and go get them frosty's ok, that's fine :) So now...it has turned into a middle school carpool line brawl for whoever fits in the Hunter bus for Frosty Friday...well and of course Drew & usually Zoe too) SPOILED...yes, but hopefully when they are grown and sitting at family dinner these will be the memories they carry with them forever...A small price to pay in my opinion.)

Definitely my Favorite Girl...

2011-03-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Haliee received Student of the Month for the 7th Grade for the 2nd month in a row. They have never chosen the same child for 2 consecutive months before & to top it off, she was nominated by the same teacher both times. I LOVE this girl. She makes me so proud.

Here she is trying to pretend she doesn't love the camera in her face...she's going to be 13 next month, ya right...she loves it & we all know it Bobo :)

Happy Happy Birthday Grandma!!

2011-03-10T09:12:00.000-08:00

We LOVE you & miss YOU so much!!!!!

See what I mean about regressing...

2011-03-05T21:23:00.001-08:00

The girls decided to have a war with Drew and came downstairs looking like this! :) LOVE these goofballs! I am so glad Hal grabbed the camera!

Or how about this picture Haliee made...

Hi Grandpa!!!

2011-03-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

Last night my Dad was bustin' my chops for my lack of blogging! :) So I thought I would write a little note to him in the interim :) I LOVE YOU DADDY!!!

Here is a video of Drew when he was 3 to make you smile until I get my next posts up! Love this little man. Why is he growing so fast ??? :(

Cali October 2010

2011-02-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

In October we made a spur of the moment road trip {ummm...21 hour road trip} down to Cali. My Grandma & Hal's Aunt are both in very poor health & Hal had already taken some time off for my surgery which ended up being cancelled. So he decided we better make a trip. After much paper bag breathing I agreed. I am NOT a spur of the moment anything. I have lists for lists, so I was freaking out. We had a great time, seeing lots of friends and family we hadn't in years. The kids were awesome. There were countless hours spent just talking and spending quality time with "OLD People" so I am sure it was beyond boring during those times, but they were so good.
Drew had no memory of Bakersfield at all. It was hilarious, we had just started the descend into the central valley on I-5 when Drew asked, "Ummm, Do they water here?" LOL, he had never seen such desolate land. He later added, "I'm so glad we live in Coeur d' Alene, it's like dead and kinda ghetto here." Yep son, we know. :)

I was so glad to see one of my long lost besties from high school & beyond and her 2 babies which were 8 mos. and not even a thought yet when we moved. I am so sad we took no pics :( We were so caught up in catching up, we forgot. :( And one of my bestest cousins Jill and her family. We do have a pic of us all when we were leaving, but...she still hasn't sent it to me...UH HMMM...JILL...???

We spent quite a bit of time with my Grandma & Hal's Aunt whom I seriously didn't want to stick a camera in either of their sweet sick faces. Hal's Aunt & Uncle live on I think like 15 or 20 acres, I can't remember and have a ton of animals. Right away Drew was over the moon & was dying to ride a horse. Uncle Don took him out and taught him all about being a "Real" Cowboy. It was hilarious some of the conversations between the 2. Every once in awhile Don would look over at me, like are you kidding me...don't you teach this boy anything important. LOL. I grew up very near Don & had horses as a kid. I am pretty much a city girl now, I mean, I could easily meet in the middle say maybe a horse with a heated coach saddle??? LOL, but my kids haven't been around anything livestock related besides the fair in years...so ya, they aren't really educated in bein' cowboys. I kept waiting for him to tell me to go to timeout for not teaching my kids about cowboys, lol. Haliee was completely freaked out. She was so apprehensive about riding a horse. He kept saying, now when I put you up here, you cannot scream...ok Haliee. I'm serious... I was cracking up. Look at her facial expressions in these pics, priceless...

Ok Mom, I know you said it was safe...but...

Are you sure??? Like SURE sure?

Ok, you're right, it's FUN!

Next stop, Uncle Sids...Now Sid is a kid who will never grow up. He was having straw wars, putting salt in peoples drinks, amongst other things in the restaurant during dinner. Haliee said, "This is the most fun I have ever had in a restaurant in my life." He got tickled and asked her why. To which she replied, "Ummm...We are NOT allowed to act like this in a restaurant." {NOPE}

He has all kinds of toys for his grand kids and my kids were so excited to ride dirt bikes and quads and go carts. Now again, I grew up here so I got my 1st 3-wheeler for my 3rd birthday. I have grown up like this and it is not at all new to me. Well, ummm...it is very different being a Mommy. I like to had not just 1 but about 30 panic attacks. Hal just fired everything up and away we went. I was freaking out, ummm...we need to teach them. He said, I taught them how to give it gas, brake, and to steer. They have to do it to learn. UGH. So Drew takes off in the go-cart 1st...the only way he knows how...FULL THROTTLE. So I am screaming at Hal while riding this little 50 motorcycle (looking like dumb & dumber) trying to catch up and make my son STOP. So we stop, I yell at him to slow down or we are finished, Hal is dying laughing at me, and what does Drew do, he agrees...and floors it. OMGOSH! I was so freaked out. He is literally driving down this dirt road bouncing left to right off the tumbleweeds on both sides, full stinking throttle. *SIGH* So now I am getting ticked. He comes around the corner & there is this HUGE I MEAN HUGE mud puddle covering the entire road, lol, so Drew goes barreling into it full throttle. Now, I am a few seconds behind Drew & Hal because Haliee & I am not driving wide open, so when I see Hal stopped, my heart sinks, I just knew Drew had wrecked :( So I come around the corner & LOL...hilarious, Drew gets out & Hal is standing next to him he gives it some gas to try and get it out of the puddle & it flings muddy water all over him. LOL, it was awesome! So again, I lecture the this is your last chance to slow your butt down or we are finished, I am griping at Hal too, so Drew gets in, agrees, and floors it...UHHH HHHOOOEEE HHHOOOEEE HHOOOOEEEE, I am ticked. So we get to this area we called "The Playground" growing up. It is a huge hole with all kinds of different trails, and jumps. I tell Hal, you are nuts, NO. I am serious, NO. I am going to throw up at this point. I am praying for God to protect my babies, and freaking out. I say at the very least Drew and Haliee need to switch as the quad went much slower than the go cart. So Drew gets on the quad and immediately barrels off the side of the hill crashing into a tumbleweed because the steering is quite different. I hear him as I race over telling himself, "Drew, slow down, just slow down." I help him get situated, he goes down the hill & can't get back up, I ride it back up for him. Then he wants to try the motorcycle. OH GEEZ, I am ready to beat my husband. He tries it, lays it over, and I finally flex my Mommy muscle enough to go home. I am so not even cool with my kids on motorcycles. What happened to me, I am an old Momma. PHEW, we were back unscathed. Thank GOODNESS!

We slept at Auntie Casie's the whole time & unfortunately didn't get to spend as much time with them as we wanted. But we had a great time nevertheless. The boys and girls had grown up so much :( We spent Halloween with Mark & the boys as it was his Halloween. It was nice to see him too. Broke my heart we had to do it separately.

A last minute thrown together Halloween this year.

Casie would beat me if she saw these pics, we were lounging all day with no showers. :) Notice her new found obsession with Angry Birds thanks to Hal!

My girls all grown up~

These Girls...

2011-02-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

A few minutes ago I uploaded some bow pics to list them & several mystery pics popped up to be downloaded as well...GOOFY KIDS!

Drewy the sportaholic!

2011-02-19T16:58:00.001-08:00

It's Saturday's which means Basketball games for a few more weeks. But...this morning Drewy had a Baseball Camp before his basketball game. It was pretty cute put on by the High School Baseball team & coaches. When we got there we learned Haliee's teacher last year & who she currently TA's for {Mr. Drake} is coaching JV this year so he was there. Haliee was excited & took his pic :) Drew says he is so going to CDA High if Mr. Drake is still coaching there! There were a ton more t-ball age kids there than I expected but they broke them up for the majority of time & they all had fun. Drew was in heaven playing with all those older boys! He is so ready for Baseball season.

The girls who insisted on coming with me, found ways to occupy their time...I swear they are regressing!

Brodie's Shower...FINALLY!

2011-02-19T08:03:00.000-08:00

Whooo is a psycho party girl??? Tabby! Tabby! Tabby!

This was the most fun, exhausting shower I have ever thrown. I had about 5 things I ran out of time to do...but only I noticed. I love how it turned out. I could have never pulled it off without Haliee my trusted sidekick who took every single one of these pics for her Momma, my sweet husband who put up with my "ridic" OCD and helped me anyway even after I kept making him re-do things because they weren't "perfect", & my sweet friend Karlene who spent countless hours scrap booking and showed up a few hours early & rescued a psycho Tabby trying to make everything "Perfect". I wanted to have everything together & pics all taken before anyone arrived, have had time to finish everything I planned, have been a little more put together myself, but guess what...I'm not perfect. WAH...it is hard to say out loud...good thing HE and life are teaching me to deal with the truth!

I kept the entire theme a secret from Erin {which was so hard let me tell ya}. I told her to come 30 minutes early with the girls in white shirts & black leggings. She was freaking out because I just kept telling her how excited I was but I wouldn't let her know the details!

When they drove up, this is what they saw...

Now this sign was so AWESOME! Hal & I spent wayyyy to much time in a power struggle on the way it should look. He wanted to whitewash the boards, I wanted them old & natural. I told him there were no white washed boards in the forest, he pointed out there were no perfectly painted & glittery ones either. He went out in the forest & found a broken sapling for the post, fashioned the boards, distressed the edges, saved the rusty nails to renail the finished boards to the post (cuz I love him & he's ocd like me) and seriously down to the bitter end we debated the painting, lol. I finally said, "Hal, this is my shower." He was quick to point out it was "HIS" sign, he made it. ROF! Notice, I WON! {Just sayin...}

I loved how this sign turned out! If you notice the owls on the left, there is 1 owl for each member of their family!! :)

I made the girls all tutus, fairy wings, sweet fairy headbands, & light up magic fairy wands because every big sister deserves a special present & because they matched my theme & looked adorable! They were all so super excited (well my Zoe was feeling a little babyish, & wasn't real impressed with matching her baby sisters, but she wore it for her Pabba). The babies were in heaven. Erin was crying lol! Sorry for the million pics, but look at these girls..aren't they precious, I couldn't narrow it down. I loved their expressions & just their plain ole' cuteness!

I so so loved how this sign turned out...it is hanging in his room now!

These were the game prizes & the thank you gifts.

The flowers were a gift from Erin to me & thank goodness because I bought fresh flowers but ran out of time to make the arrangements I wanted. She was freaking out they didn't match. They were beautiful & perfect!

The "Family Tree" Hence the photo shoot I did before the shower...remember the pics...way back when??

I decoupaged Erin her own glass~

The clothes pins for the "Don't say baby" game

Playin' games~

We played the clothes pin game, celebrity baby name match, Whoo knows Erin best, the left & right story game. I wrote a story for this about Erin & seriously had to keep myself from crying when I read it. What a NERD! I can't remember that special place I put the copy, so I'll scan it in when I find it. We played 1 more game too, but I forget...LOSER!

The food...I am all about food! I love love love how the little markers and straws turned out. I am telling you I could have never pulled this off without Karlene! And...believe it or not, I don't have pics of all of them or all the different food. :( You have to notice the sweet little acorn cookie/candies Haliee made all by herself. SO Stinkin' Cute.

The present table. I didn't get the best pic of the inside but it looked super cute. the ball was moss covered and have some sweet crepe paper roses on it.

Brodie James Grimmett!

2011-02-19T07:51:00.001-08:00

He is the sweetest little Brodie Man you'll ever meet! He is in for a world of craziness with 3 big sissies! He will be loved and taunted his entire precious little life! I am so glad he is here. Isn't he a precious little dude? He gave his Momma a run for her Momma coming into the world over 9 lbs. :) Here are the kids super excited to meet baby Brodie Man! Don't mind their attire, it was right after school for them so we detoxed them with germ-x & Daddies clean undershirts. Haliee was already trying ot talk us into letting her babysit. She has a bunch since these pics were taken! She is a rockstar with all 4 of them!

Baby Ellie adjusting to the new baby! She needed us to let her know she was still super cute! Love this little pistol! A few days after this I ran over for some reason and when I walked in Erin had dosed off on the couch nursing and Ellie was in the swing, a few days alter I did the same & it ws Sophie! These Grimmett girls are a mess!

Pabba take a picture of me & my baby. See us, see my baby... :)

I can't believe this was in OCTOBER! I am a LOSER Blogger!

Happy 15 Years to me!

2011-02-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

Today Hal & I celebrate 15 years of marriage. WOW! I am OLD! Time really has flown by. I am so glad I made the decision to marry this man. I am so thankful for him and our family/life we have created. Here are 15 things I LOVE about Halarini...

He puts up with me HA! {The easiest task!}

He is a great Daddy.

He is fun & so witty, well ORNERY!

He is such a dedicated boss/employee. He treats everyone with integrity regardless of their role.

He is A.D.D.I.C.T.E.D. to baseball cards...

He still bumps a stereo like a kid (nerd)

He HATES it when the kids beat him at anything :0)

He HATES it even more that I am the IPOD Scrabble champ!

He has the funniest facial expressions when he is texting.

He does a weird lip thing when he is lying & I can bust him every time!!

He can fix almost anything

Family time is the most important thing to him.

He is OCD like me

He almost always give me my way {Selfish? I reciprocate, so it's fair} :)

He makes me smile, I can't imagine my life without him. He really is my soul mate.

I am working my way through our anniversary trip novel. I can't wait to share it. We had so much FUN! I love my sweet husband!

Haliee made this my screen saver. Isn't she cute!

The "Right Stuff"

2011-02-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

So Haliee saw The Justin Bieber Movie in 3-D today & came home so excited to tell me all about it. Kids these days...don't they know rockin' music?? There is nothin' like N.K.O.T.B.!!! I had to set her straight rofl! I AM OLD!

My Girl!

2011-02-11T09:51:00.001-08:00

She did it again! We are so proud of her. She has some tough classes.

Kids Say...

2011-02-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

So Drew is seriously the funniest wittiest kid I have ever met. Yes, I am partial, but really...he is a mess! This morning he comes to me & says, "Mom, so when we are all playing football at recess we don't really use our real names. Me: Uh, Ok. Drew:We all refer to each other as "Dudes". So, is "Dude" a pro noun? It needs to be a pronoun because we are using it as someones name. Me: Uh, I guess so. Lol, I love him!

We're Back...

2011-02-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

We had the best time! Despite missing our kiddos terribly, it was perfect! It will take me a day to upload the pics so I'll be back with those later~!

We came home to these babies in our yard. It was a fundraiser for a church mission trip. Erin so generously paid it forward to us bird sitting for 24 hours! Isn't that hilarious! I wish there had been snow on the ground.

We brought back tons of stuff for the kiddos but here are a few gag gift prizes... When we pulled up the front door was open & we could see in to a huge banner & steamers everywhere welcoming us home. I can't believe I didn't take pics but it was chaos with flamingos arriving, kids crying, and trying to hide their real gifts until everything calmed down. They also decorated our room with glow lights everywhere, on the ceiling fan, candelabras, bed, lights, you name it, the bed was covered with love notes even some from Haliee's friends. I could kick myself now for not remembering a pick. It was so stinkin' cute. I LOVE these babies.

The morning we left was Drew's 1st game. Isn't he getting so big. *sniff* He wanted to play locally this season as Upwards is in Spokane & all his friends play here. Very different but he's having a blast!

Spirit Day!

2011-01-27T21:08:00.001-08:00

Today was spirit day at the middle school. So last night I get a text from both Haliee & Heather separately during youth group (supposedly after the lesson). They were concocting a sleepover plan. Ummm...on a school night? You girls know the rules, I know but Mommy {Tabby} we want to make spirit shirts for school tomorrow, we promise to go right to bed after we finish...PPPLLLLEEEAASSSEEEE....sigh...I caved. SO...they painted up a storm and did go right to bed, and there was nothing pertinent going on today as they finished all their finals yesterday. They were up at the crack of dawn gettin' their Orange on. On spirit day the 6th graders are red, 7th orange, and 8th purple. They were glowing and had crazy glitter on their eyes you can't see. What goofy girls! :)

I Heart Nerdy Execs!

2011-01-24T18:27:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago Hal and the other execs had a walk from a big-wig (I can't remember who, the VP I think *bad wife*) anyway & they got an idea of taking funny outtakes to hang around the office & build moral, etc. They were hilarious, I wish I would've been there to witness the shoot.

DORKS!

Not sure what look they were going for here...looks more like a frat party gone bad...

Seattle trip September 2010

2011-01-20T10:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I said September...cuz despite my best efforts, that's how we roll around here!! Ola, Papa Ken & Jeni went over with us this time. It was fun but they are no where near the addicts we are, so they thought we were nuts! We went to 2 games, a night game the 1st day and and afternoon game the following day. Ola & P.K. declined the 2nd day invite to go hang @ The Farmers Market, etc. (LOSERS) Don't they know the Mariners ROCK? (Ok, maybe rock is a stretch, but we love them anyway) The 1st night was a Mariners fleece blanket giveaway night. The kids were beyond excited. While we were waiting to get in Daddy took them to the Mariner's Store & they came back sporting these Jerseys! They were totally stoked!

OMG...we have been waiting in this line like forever...Technology is bittersweet...

Waiting for the game to start Batting Practice

You can take photos of yourselves and text them to hopefully make it on the screen. They did & were freaking out!

I-CHI-RO I-CHI-RO I-CHI-RO

Needin our rally caps...

It's even fun when we are losing!

The next day we sat in the cheap seats in the sun for the afternoon game. It was still super fun except it was hard to see the batting and read the balls.

The view is so different from up here. It was fun to be closer to the outfielders and be so close to the bull pen though! I'm still spoiled to right behind home plate.

Haliee showing off her new bracelet & wearing her new snow hat in the boiling heat, lol.

Cotton Candy still ROCKS in the cheap seats!

The Manager getting ejected after arguing a call. {I would never do that what is this guys problem? COUGH!} It actually was like a 20 minute process and quite funny. They kept playing hilarious songs and noises appropriate to the circumstance.

Do you think they still say "good game" to each other at this level?

The promo this day was kids run the bases, so after the game they roped off all the way from the filed up to the top of the stadium & the line was clear to the very top. It took like 2 hours to get down but Drew LOVED every minute of the run.

They received a pin & certificate.

Happenings...

2011-01-20T10:07:00.001-08:00

Life is so crazy...Basketball starts today to add to my chaos the good news about sports is I get to sit in 1 place for at least an hour and a half! YEAH! :) I wouldn't trade it for the world, I will be so bored when these babes grow up!

Thank goodness for friends who teach me their trades so I can be cheap and do it myself! Isn't she cute!

Even with crazy mornings I try and make special surprises for my sweet baby boy! He was super excited for his shadow box turtle breakfast!

Last weekend my parents invited us out to bowling & mongolian bbq. The kids had a blast {bowling is LAME and not even my favorite place to be in my opinion, but we had fun!} Afterwards we went to the HuHot, the kids Love it here as they have the cook stove right in the middle of the restaurant so you create your own combo & take it to them to cook in front of you. They make tiny little portions so they can go back 50 times. It is all you can eat. They ordered smores for dessert & they brought them a create your own kit compete with a little bunson burner to cook over. It was super cute. The pics were on my cell phone which has no flash so I lightened them so you could see.

A few weeks ago Hal & I snuck away for a little movie date. In the lobby there was a huge display for JB's upcoming movie so Hal thought he could trick Haliee into thinking JB was stopped here on his way to Seattle for a performance. LOL, I sent this from my cell but she was like Dad I could totally tell he was a cutout. BTW, I would kill you both if you met JB without me! :)

***Only 9 more sleeps til' my Anniversary trip! I'm so excited!!!

Happy Monday!

2011-01-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Never a dull moment around here! :0) We all had lots of fun! These girls are so goofy! All they do is take pics of themselves!!

My Christmas Spoiledness!!

2010-12-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a special post for my spoiledness this year. I know that sounds kinda self centered but you will see why it is so special...

I received so many awesome things this year...

Mom & Dad Cogswell got us a traeger smoker and lots of little things coffee & chocolate among them for me, candy & itunes for Hal.

Mom & Dad Cook got our family front row tickets to the Mariners & a giftcard to spend on concessions/merchandise. WOOHOO! We are all stoked & already planning our trip. We are all so addicted to going to Seattle now. It is really funny we are Mariner's Fans. I guess we are more Pacific Northwesterners than Californians now!!

With my 15 year anniversary in Feb. I asked Hal not to spend much $, I wanted to save for the anny. I really wanted some more tart pans, so that's what I asked the kids for. I got 2 tart pans both individually wrapped, (YAY) and when I opened the 1st box all these $1 bills came flowing out, I was like what?? It was so funny, they were everywhere. So I open the 2nd box, and...it happens again. OMGOSH, it was 200 $1 bills! Hal said I never spend $ on myself so he wanted me to go shopping for whatever I want and if I spend 1 penny on anyone else, he'll be mad. That stinker! I told him great, when I go shopping they're going to think I'm a stripper or something lolol! I love my creative husband!

Drew made us this ornament in class. It is so appropriate as penguins are his favorite animal. I love it so much & it is extra special this year as next year will be the last year I have kids in elementary school to make me crafty presents in class **SNIFF** Isn't it precious...

And last but certainly not least my Haliee girl. For Christmas this year she made us a scrapbook. It is the best scrapbook ever made complete with a poem she wrote herself. Between the surprise $1's and this book, I was bawling my guts out Christmas morning. Look at it, isn't it awesome...

The cover picture was from our honeymoon, lol, we were such babes!

I really love my family so much. I hope they know a fraction of just how much they truly mean to me. Happy New Year Everyone.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

What a great Christmas it was this year. I am so thankful for my husband, my children, my family, for the birth of Jesus, my friends, for all my many blessings!! I really am so very grateful.

Christmas Eve the kiddos opened their new jammies as well as 1 gift of their choice. Haliee was just a little excited about her triple barrel curling iron, and Drew well, you guessed it, he got baseball cards! The newest {actually revisited} Hunter Men obsession...

Christmas morning I was awakened by the sound of Haliee's alarm on her ipod at.... 5 A.M. grrrr...it's 1 thing for pure adrenalin to wake you, but an alarm...seriously...so we all went down and opened gifts, then we looked at each other and all decided to go back to bed, lol. One of the perks of your kids getting older!

Hunter/Grimmett Family Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T16:35:00.000-08:00

The kids were so much fun this year! They are all into their own things, going their own ways...Too much fun!! Poor Mike requested smoking a tri-tip for dinner and then got stuck at work for 2 extra hours, but it all worked out in the end...I sure love these Grimmetts!

Ellie fell asleep in the 1/2 mile drive to our house {See another non-perk from them moving away} so she needed some snuggles from her Haliee to take her crabbies away! Sophie was super excited she got to drink sparkling cider out of real champagne flutes like the big kids. Ellie loved playing with baby Jesus and all his "friends".

Little Momma Haliee got tons of makeup, sparkles and bling galore, candy, and a super cute makeup bag. She loved it all of course!

Drew got baseball cards {can you say addicted}, candy, and a fun "Where's Santa" Book. He & Hal were looking up the cards in the beckett for hours.

Zoe asked for Justin Bieber shirts, so of course she got them :0)

Sophie switches daily from girl to tomboy, so we got her a lil' of both a princess for the bath and buzz lightyear bean bag toss. She kept asking me where the pillows (beanbags) were.

Ellie is into being a pill, being 2, being cute...ok, being a pill! She got a princess for the bath too as well as a Bullseye galloping flashlight.

Baby Brodie Man is into being handsome and nursing every 15 minutes, oh and colic too, that's one of his faves...by request he got diapers and A&D! I can't believe I have no pics of him except with Haliee opening her gifts...poor baby Brodie Man!

Hmmmm....and well we were only supposed to get stuff for all the kids but of course Erin broke the rules and got Hal & I a gift card to Red Lobster...what a stink!

Winter Break Fun!

2010-12-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

These kiddos are having so much fun! Hanging out, playing games, sleepovers, just dance 2...

Last night I made them Cups out of Soda Cans {My Uncle made these for us when we were little}. I don't normally buy soda for my kids but when I saw this Tab Cola and even had coupons for it; how could I resist the best named soda on the planet??

Drew wishing Football sounded more fun than Just Dance 2...

We Love Grandma!

2010-12-30T09:25:00.001-08:00

Does Loving your Grandma & wishing she lived closer get any cuter than this??? I don't think so :) Love these babies! The kids made Grandma a calender for work for part of her Christmas present this year & this was one of the pics!

Silly...

2010-12-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

I went couponing last night & came home to this {And a messy house, but that's another topic right!}...aren't they sweet! I grabbed my camera, took the pics, unloaded the groceries, went upstairs and changed into my comfies, then after returning to put everything away I realized...Haliee was sleeping opposite Zoe behind her. LOL, had she been there the whole time?? I zoomed in on the pic and sure enough, she was in the picture too {See her pink sweatshirt top left corner}. I never even noticed her! Love these babies! :0)

So totally cute!

2010-12-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

Drew brought home a gift from a friend a week or so ago & everyday she has been hounding him to open it. He kept telling her he was saving it for Christmas, but then she insisted he open it now so he could enjoy it before Christmas. This morning, he opened it....

It was a penguin snow globe ornament! He was so excited & thankful as he collects penguins. He hung it on the tree & couldn't wait to get to School & thank her.

My favorite part was a little note taped to the present that read:

To: Andrew

From: Find out inside

Dear Drew,

Thanks for being the best friend ever! Since you have been my friend since kindergarten, I got you a gift. And I don't like, like you so, your welcome.

From: Shelby

Isn't that the funniest, sweetest thing! I love all her punctuation. It is definitely going in the memory box forever! So sweet!

Hello...Anybody there????

2010-12-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is ridiculous! It has been forever since I posted last :( SAD SAD SAD! I haven't even had many opportunities to look anyone elses blogs in what seems like an eternity. :( I am almost caught up with my Christmas orders & can finish up my own Christmas shopping/baking, etc. We have been having tons of fun amidst the chaos & I promise to update lots of happenings very soon! Until then I leave you with some Winter Goofiness! It has been snowing like crazy record breaking in November & Bone Chilling Cold in the negatives a few weeks ago as well. Here are the kids having some snowball wars...

Hal thought it would be fun to have a friendly family competition as to who could stay outside the longest in shorts, a tee shirt, and slippers in below 0 windchill. Ya sounds not so awesome to me {The smart one}, so I opted out....Drew won, Hal only made it about 45 seconds (wuss), Haliee about a minute and a half after him, and Drew, well, he could've stayed out forever but we made him come in after about 4 min. Goofy Son of mine!