Our New Addition

This story starts with the unfortunate passing of my first dog Barkley. We had to put him down in February due to congestive heart failure. Putting him down was much harder than I thought it would be and I think the kids took the news better than I did. Over the next few months our other Chihuahua Sadie became more and more lonely and we knew it was time to get another puppy (it was never a question of if we would get another one, but when....at least for me).

So this particular day starts with me looking online at puppies over breakfast (I had been looking for a few weeks), and finding an adorable female listed in Tacoma. Wade agreed to go with me to "look" at her...although he knows me well enough to know we would most likely be coming home with her. So she ended up fitting our criteria (friendly, dark haired, female and small) and we came home with her that afternoon.

There is only one twist to this agreement Wade and I have...I can have always have dogs if he can name them. So, her name is Bangor...don't ask me, you will have to ask Wade. Besides the name, she is pretty darn cute!

She is the perfect playmate for Sadie and all she wants to do is cuddle and sleep.

Catching Up With Friends

My old college roommate Katy lives in Portland and unfortunately we don't see each other as often as we would like. I was so happy when Alliya and I were able to make it down there for her son Brayden's 2nd birthday party. It was so nice to catch up and let the kids play together. I love the fact that even if we don't see each other for a period of time, when we finally do get together it feels like no time has passed.

The bouncy house was a big hit!

Such a cutie!

Katy, Brayden and Alliya

Happy Mothers Day!

I love how Wade takes Alliya shopping for Mothers Day. The last two years, the two of them go to the store and pick out a gift together. Last year she knew she specifically wanted "pink sparkly flip flops" and this year I think she had a little more help from Wade.

They picked out awesome measuring cups and spoons for the kitchen (my old ones were very sad and bent very easily).

I also got a new bag!

Happy Mothers Day!

Bronson's Golf Lessons

I got Bronson a set of golf clubs and we put him in lessons.


He did a good job and after a few days could hit the ball pretty good.

He is not going to be the next Tiger... but he had a good time.

Happy Birthday Emory!

We celebrated Emory's birthday with Grandma Gayla and Don. Gayla made an awesome Cinco De Mayo dinner and Emory requested that I make a lemon cake. We took that over and celebrated Shayla's birthday as well. Emory got a plasma car and some barbies for her birthday. We can't believe she is old enough to start kindergarden next year! Happy Birthday!

Grandma Gayla and Bronson playing star wars on the wii

Alliya's Birthday Celebration

Happy 4th birthday Alliya!

This year we had a low-key birthday party. We invited our close friends and had a nice BBQ...and the weather even cooperated and we didn't get rained on. Alliya wanted pink cupcakes for her birthday this year, so we had a very nontraditional birthday "cake" but the kids all loved it.

Since her birthday was so close to Easter we had another Easter Egg hunt for the kids at the party. The eggs were filled with candy, small toys and money. This one lasted a bit longer and the kids were so cute running around the house trying to find their "treasures".

The Easter Celebrations

We celebrated Easter over a couple of different days with the kids this year.

It started first with the Snoqualmie Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday before. It is always entertaining to see the frenzy of all of the kids running to get the eggs. It lasts all of 30 seconds and is then over...but is so much fun.

Alliya was able to get 10 eggs...Wade helped with the strategy and told her to run to the middle to get the eggs. When it started she ran and just kept running but was able to get 10 eggs which is an accomplishment with all of the kids running around.

Easter morning we had an Easter basket and Aunt Susan gave her a special Easter present.

Her new favorite stuffed animal from Aunt Susan for Easter, she sleeps with it every night.

We finished the Easter festivities by dyeing Easter Eggs with the kids. This is always fun, but can get very messy. To our surprise all of the kids did a great job keeping the dye on the eggs and not on themselves, the furniture or the floor.

Thank You Grandma Gayla!

Alliya loves her new birthday barbie and loves changing their clothes so all of the barbies have a chance to wear the birthday gown. Thanks again!

I Love My Daddy!

Such a cute picture of Wade and Brennyn at one of the trips to the zoo, I had to post it.

The Kids Bounce

We took the kids to the kids bounce to burn off some extra energy on a rainy day. What a great thing to have, especially this extremely wet and cold spring.

The obstacle course and big slide are a favorite of Bronson, Emory and Brennyn. They convinced Alliya to come with them and they all headed up the big slide at the end....

Here is what it is supposed to look like before they come down the slide...all smiles and happy to be playing.

Here is what Alliya experienced...the realization that she really didn't want to go down the big slide, but since she didn't know how to climb back down I had to go in after her. Lesson learned, I think we will be avoiding big slides in the near future.

Dinner with Friends

We had our friends over for a BBQ when the kids were in Washington. All in all we had 9 kiddos running around the house.

Becky made the night by bringing cupcakes with candy and frosting to decorate.

Great Wolf Lodge 2011

Since the kids enjoyed it so much last year, we took them to Great Wolf Lodge again this year.

The girls also celebrated an early birthday with one of their favorites...barbies. They play with the barbie houses they got for Christmas and have such a great time pretending. It is so cute to watch them and see what types of stories they come up with.

Bronson and Emory were much braver this year and went on everything that their height would allow them to go on. Bronson wasn't limited much and loved the water slides this year. Brennyn even went on a couple water slides. Alliya is a little more tentative and hopefully after some swimming lessons she will be on the water slides with them next year.

We also spent a lot of time in the wave pool. They loved trying to jump over the waves or kick them as they came in. As they get a little bigger I am sure body surfing will be next.

Thanks to Grandma Lorna for helping out for the weekend and being an extra set of eyes for the four kids in the water.