Baptism & Blessing Day

Corey is 8 years old now and he is the oldest grandchild. So the very first to be baptized. Also his new baby sister was blessed on the same night. I'm so glad I got to be there with my family to share in this occasion. It was really neat for Dalan because it was the first baptism that he had ever seen. He asked all kinds of questions and was so excited for corey! He got down right in front of the font to watch the occasion, I was afraid he would fall in he looked so close. I forgot to tell Dalan that he needed to be quiet and he was so excited I thought he would start jumping up and down and clapping after corey went under the water, but thankfully he didn't. He did keep asking when it was going to be his turn and if mommy could dress in white with him. I enjoyed explaining everything to him and the next day when he saw aron he told him all about it and how when he turned 8 his dad was going to baptize him.

After the baptism my new little niece Cyauna was blessed, it was quite a night!

Sister Alex, myself and Cyauna


They are both so pretty dressed in white.

My brother Chris and his son Corey

Pirate Party

My girlfriends little boy Aiden had his 3rd birthday and she decided to do a pirate theme. Dalan was so excited because that's what he wants to be for Halloween is a pirate. They had tons of fun playing at the park, eating food & cake, swinging at the pinata, and going on a treasure hunt to find all kinds of goodies. It was fun to be around some of my friends and their families again!

Aiden the Birthday Boy taking a swing!

Dalan was the oldest one there and thought he was tough stuff swinging away at that pirate!

Abby needed a little help from her dad.

The cutest pirates I've ever seen!

Squirrel Anyone?

Aron's stepmother is Vietnamese. I guess in Vietnam squirrels are a delicacy. So lately Aron's dad has been outside shooting the squirrels for his wife. She cleans them up and eats them!! Says there isn't a lot of meat but that it's real tasty. She was kind enough to offer us some, BUT we PASSED! Dalan thought it was real funny and kept asking her to see it again, so she would pull it out of the fridge and show him the squirrel. She is actually a really good cook, but some things I just don't care for!

FuN aT GrAndPa'S hOUse - Pedicures & Manicures

Aron's stepmother works at a nail shop and is very good at it! This weekend I really wanted to take Abby to the shop and have her get her first pedicure and manicure but Grandma was to busy. So she decided to do it at home. Not the same, but was still fun. Abigail really enjoyed it and Grandma said she couldn't believe how well she sat there for it. Although she didn't do so well after, grandma had to redo a couple of nails and toes twice because abby wouldn't sit still long enough for them to dry.

It was fun though and in the end Abby and I got the same color and design painted on our toes and nails!

FuN aT GrAndPa'S hOUse - TrAiNs & sWiNgS

We spent the weekend at grandpa howells house. Up in his barn he has this huge train set. It's kind of old and everytime we come to visit Dalan always wants to play with it, but he hasn't had it running in years. After he heard we were moving back he spent a whole afternoon in the barn climbing around this table of his cleaning all of his tracks just for Dalan. As you can imagine Dalan was thrilled! We had to go back up to the barn a couple of times during the visit so we could watch the trains go round and round. It was a pretty warm day and the top floor of the barn was very hot and stifling, I didn't last long there with the trains! But it was exciting to see the kids all excited about hooking up trains and watching them disappear into tunnels and then come out the other end.

This tire swing is Abigail's absolutely favorite spot at grandpa's house. The swing was made for Aron when he was I think about 4 years old and is still holding up. Both Dalan & Abby used to fight over who would swing on it, so grandpa made a second one. They both have flown out of it because they weren't holding on, but it's still Abby's favorite spot!

Moving on Up!

Here is a picture of our new place. It is wonderful!! It's a 3bed, 3 bath townhouse/duplex. We have a little front yard with a couple of trees, and a huge fenced in backyard. The only downside is that we are in a neighborhood with some noisy people. Someday we will live out in the country were it is peaceful and the neighbors are few and far between. Other than that we really do love it here!

Right away Abby asked her daddy if she could help him. I thought Aron would tell her no and to get lost but he was so sweet and kind to her setting aside all the small stuff for her to carry. And she never quit or got tired.

After seeing his sister helping Dalan decided to join in.

We had a really long hard stressful weekend and to top it off we ended up breaking a huge tree limb off from our front yard tree. The moving truck was snagged on it and that tree branch was holding the whole moving truck back. The tires just kept spinning and spinning as Aron tried to break loose and then finally there was a huge crack sound and the tree limb came down. We were really worried about telling the landlord that we already ruined something, but she was really sweet about it. And then we did damage the top of the moving truck a little bit, but they didn't seem to care.

Dalan and Abby testing out their new driveway with their bikes!

Saying Goodbye!

Our last night in New Mexico we went over to the Johnstons house to say goodbye. It wasn't as hard saying goodbye the second time as it was the first. We stayed for about an hour and while the adults were talking I caught the kids trying to play duck, duck, goose. Or as Camron would say goose, goose, duck.

It was sad leaving again, but as I said before we are really excited to get back up to washington and start something new. We will definitely be back to visit to see family and friends again.