Brown or Tan

We are painting our home soon but we are having a hard time deciding which paint color to choose. We would love your opinion. Let us know which color you like the best. Here they are.

Aqua Fest

Aqua Fest is the annual Lake Stevens carnival type celebration! We have gone every year that we've lived here, but this time we got to be part of the action. Claire's preschool got to be in the parade, so we all walked with Claire in the Parade last Friday! The theme this year was a fiesta, so all of the kids got to dress in Mexican attire. The girls wore cute dresses and the boys wore vests. Everyone had maracas to shake and candy to throw out. It was a lot of fun. Claire was so happy to see her preschool friends and teachers again. After the parade they got a Popsicle and a coupon to ride one of the rides! We ate dinner in the park and then watched a comedy juggling show right there in the park too. Shawn and I thought the show was really funny, but the kids kept asking if we could leave. They really wanted to go and ride the rides. Eventually we made it to the rides and decided to go on a nice peaceful Ferris Wheel ride - those are peaceful right???? No, they are not peaceful if you go on them with 4 kids. Shawn and I offered to take my friend Jessica's kids (Vivi's mom). Shawn sat by Calvin, and I sat by Claire and Vivi with Will on my lap. Even before we took off Will started crying and screaming. And then as we started to go around Calvin freaked out and started hyperventilating saying he was going to die and fall into the water. Shawn tried desperately to get him to calm down while I calmed Will down. Calvin calmed down tiny bit, but kept threatening to throw up. This threat didn't go over well with the girls and they started screaming too. Luckily there was no throw up, and we were so glad to get off the ride. I'm surprised I grabbed any pictures. Needless to say that was the only ride for the night. And we are planning on going to Disneyland in a couple of months too. Besides the Ferris wheel, we had tons of fun and stayed at aqua fest until way past every ones bedtime. Here are some pictures.

Claire's preschool in the parade!

Claire and Vivi walking in the parade!

Claire shaking her maraca! Fiesta!!!!

Claire, Vivi, Nika, and Calvin in the parade!

Vivi and Claire hugging of course. When they are together it is like no one else is around.

The infamous Ferris Wheel!

Watching the juggling show. I thought it was quite entertaining, but Will didn't seem to think so.

Claire and Vivi watching the juggling show!

View from the Ferris wheel!

Ferris wheel at night!

Kites, Picnics, and More- oh my

I am really impressed with Lake Stevens! We've had a surprisingly fun week. I say surprisingly because most of the things we did I didn't plan, they just sort of happened. Lake Stevens has some great activities, and story time at the library is one of them. So on Monday morning we went to story time. I love story time by itself, but at this particular one they had "extras" at the end. The library gave each child a ticket and had a drawing for prizes. I was amazed that everyone got a prize! Will won a $5 gift certificate to the Lake Stevens Book Store, and Claire won a Happy Meal from McDonald's! After the drawing they gave away butterfly kites to all of the kids and cookies! We left the library with so much stuff and a day full of activity. First, we decided to try out the kites. Behind the library there is a great field leading down to the lake, so we put the kites together and tried so hard to get the kites to fly. There wasn't too much wind, so the kites didn't go too high, but he kids had fun running around trying to get the kites in the air and then eating the cookies after.



After kite flying the kids were so excited about their prizes that we had to use them that day, so next we went to the Lake Stevens Book Store! I had never been there before, and was pleasantly surprised! For anyone in Lake Stevens you should check it out. On your child's first time there they get to choose a free book, and nothing is more than $5! It is a used bookstore and selection is limited, but it is a quaint little place. Of course I love bookstores especially ones with old books, so this appealed to me! Claire and Will loved picking out books. Claire chose a T-Rex book and a horse puzzle, and Will chose a Blue's Clue's book and a Tug boat book! I also found a couple of books for me and all of this came to the grand total of $1 with the free book thing and the $5 gift certificate! After this we went to McDonald's and got lunch! It was a great day!
Tuesday we went to a Teddy Bear Picnic put on by the Family Center in Lake Stevens! Claire and Will brought their favorite stuffed dogs. It was so much fun! They read stories, made cat puppets out of paper bags, and they served us a light lunch of PB&J sandwiches, bananas, cheese, lemonade, and teddy grahams! The kids loved bringing their stuffed animals to a picnic. By the way I'm surprised Claire didn't bring a stuffed horse or unicorn, but lately she is totally attached to a stuffed dog she got from Grandma Houston for her birthday.
Thursday for playgroup we went to the children's museum. The kids loved the museum! here are some pictures!

On a plane!

On the farm!


In the mountain slopes!



In Water! Will's favorite!

Playing with trains!

Claire and Will in front of a Stegasaurus Dino! Claire's favorite!

Digging for bones!

Takin' a ride! All done in one day!

Baseball and Birthday!

Shawn's name up in lights at Safeco Field!
We had a great weekend. It was Shawn's birthday weekend, and in his words it was "the best weekend in the world". It's always nice to see Shawn really really happy, so I was happy that we had the "best weekend in the world"! Shawn had Friday off, so we dropped the kids off at the Aley's home (some friends of ours) and went out wave running. I don't have any pictures of that, because it was way to crazy to take pictures. What I mean is that Shawn went crazy on the wave runner. We were going so fast and taking on huge waves that made us jump way out of the water. It was so much fun, but not a picture taking time. The camera would've been at the bottom of the lake. We stayed out on the lake for about two hours then got lunch and went and picked up the kids. It was such a fun day, and one of the best things was that Will did a super job at our friends home! I always worry about leaving him because he really is a homebody, but he didn't cry and apparently had fun with all of the girls. The Aley's have 3 girls plus Claire, so Will was surrounded by girls. I was so glad that Will behaved himself!!!
Saturday afternoon we went to Safeco Field to see the Mariners play baseball! It was so much fun! The kids loved it, and we loved it. We stayed for the whole game. Unfortunately the M's lost, but it was still fun! I had purchased a birthday package for Shawn, and they put his name up in lights on the big scoreboard wishing him a happy 33rd birthday! Here are some pictures of the baseball game!



Eating the million dollar hot dogs they sell at Safeco Field (really, they cost soooo much money)!

Claire loves taking pictures lately, so this is her perspective of us at the game!

Shawn with Claire and Will at the Left Field entrance after the game!

It was "turn back the clock day" at the Mariners game. They turned back the clock to the 1980's. They had a contest to see which fan came dressed as the best 1980's person, and the Mariners donned their old 1980's uniforms. This turn back the clock day was great for Shawn. Anyone that knows Shawn knows that he is partially suck in the 80's, at least when it comes to music choices! They played all the 80's greatest at the game and Shawn was in heaven! I couldn't have planned it better.

Happy 33rd Shawn!

Shawn turned 33 on July 15th! We took him to dinner at Red Robin, and I made him an Indiana Jones ice cream cake! For presents, he got the Indiana Jones Lego WII game, a Star Wars pop-up book, some gift certificates, a BYU hat, shirt and shorts, a Mariners t-shirt, and baseball tickets to see the Mariners play this Saturday! We are also going out on a date this Friday for a couple of hours for Shawn's B-day. Shawn gets this Friday off and he wanted to go out, so I got a babysitter and we are going to go ride the wave runner together! Here are some pictures of Shawn's actual b-day. I'll post some more pictures after the baseball game Saturday! Happy Birthday Shawn!!!

4th of July

We were in Utah for the 4th of July, and had a lot of fun! We went to my parents Ward, 4th of July, Breakfast. This was the ward I grew up in, so it was fun to go back and see people I knew. We stayed for the parade that was after the breakfast. Claire loved the parade. I didn't realize until then that we don't go to many parades, so the kids didn't know what to expect. This parade was pretty good mostly because everyone was throwing candy out. Claire was hesitant to go in the street to get the candy at first (we taught her well) but she caught on quickly and had quite a stash by the time it was over. Later we met Shawn's family for a BBQ at Jim and Jamie's home (Shawn's brother's home). We had great food and the kids had fun playing with all of Gavin's toys and having a squirt gun fight! After the BBQ we went to the West Jordan Rodeo right down the street from Jim and Jamie!

Happy 4th of July! At the Breakfast!

Lilly and Claire on the 4th of July. I forgot to mention that we brought Lilly with us to Utah. I was worried at first, but it was great to have her there. She did a great job traveling with us and meeting our families.




Will at his cousin Gavin's home riding one of his cool toys!

Squirt gun fight between Will and Gavin. Will had never played with a squirt gun before, but loved it so much we ended up buying some when we got home. He thinks it is so much fun to squirt someone. Every time we go outside now I end up getting wet from from one little boy.

The West Jordan Rodeo.

Summer Trip to Utah!

We went to Utah for Claire's birthday at the end of June, and stayed through the 4th of July! We had so much fun and did so many things I'm having a hard time trying to decide which picutes not to put in the blog. We went to quite a few parks, a waterslide, Hoogle Zoo, This Is The Place Pioneer Park, Temple Square, The Planetarium, a hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon, a tour of the Sweet's Candy shop, we rode on trax, went and saw the movies WALLE, and Get Smart, ate out at some great restraunts, went shoping, and of course spent tonz of time just hanging out with family. Here are some of the pictures I narrowed it down to.

We went on a hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon at the Brighton ski resort with my family. It was a really easy hike with a boardwalk almost the entire way around the lake. It was perfect for little kids, and it was so beautiful! I love the Utah mountains! I miss them. Here is Claire, Will and Shawn starting out the hike.

Grandpa Smith (my dad) and Will hiking together!

Slip and Sliding at Grandma Houston's home. Shawn's mom bought a Slip and Slide for the kids to play on, and they loved it! This is Cassie sliding, and Will and David excited to be splashed!

Thanks to Trisha, the girls were able to have a sleepover with matching pj's! Trisha made these cute night gowns for Liddy, Cassie, and Claire. Claire was so excited to sleep over at her cousins home! I think she would've stayed at their home for a few days without missing us. Thank you Trish for letting Claire stay over even in the midst of selling your home! I think this was one of Claire's highlights!

Will's highlight was anything to do with water. We went to Liberty Park with Shawn's family one afternoon, and they had a spray park there that Will LOVED, if you can't tell by the pictures! He was soaked the minute we got there.


Claire, Will and Shawn at Hogle Zoo!

Shawn, Will, Uncle Eric (my brother) and Claire on a hike!
We went on a Trax ride (mass transit in Utah) with my family to downtown Salt Lake. Claire and Will loved it! They were so excited to be riding a train! What a great way to get around too! It was so fast. I haden't ridden on it for a few years, but I was impressed again. I wish they would get something like it here in Washington. Maybe one day years in the future.
While we were downtown we stopped at the Planetarium and the kids got to pretend they were on the moon and mars. I love the planetarium because everything is free unless you see a movie, but they have so much to do there you don't even need to see an IMAX movie, although I'm sure they are good too.

We went on a Sweets Candy tour with Shawn's mom. It was so much fun even though we had to wear those funny hair nets. It was really interesting to see how the candy is made. Shawn kept having these really difficult engineer questions for our poor tour guide. It was a really cool tour, and it was completely free. We got samples along the way and a bag of taffy at the end. The kids even loved it (who wouldn't with candy being passed out). After the tour we of course raided thier gift shop and bought way too much candy!

Our trip to downtown Salt Lake. Claire loved seeing the Temple were mommy and daddy were married.

I was surprised that we could walk on the stairs of the temple. The last time I walked on the temple stairs was the day Shawn and I got married. It was fun to walk down them again 8 years later with two kids!

The boys! Will, Gavin, David at West Jordan Park.
Will going down a slide at Classic Waterpark!

Cousins at Classic Waterpark! Will loved the kiddie slides and pool even with the silly tube they made him wear, and Claire surprised us and loved the big fast slides! I think it helped to have Cassie and Liddy there. She went down with me a few times and Shawn a few times and Cassie a few times and then she tried to go down by herself once, but lost her mat on the way down and ended up coming down backwards. She said she wasn't scared, but didn't want to try it by herself anymore, so she went with us the rest of the time, but she was so brave and had so much fun going down the slides. She didn't want to stop.

This is a picture of the kids at Pioneer Park pretending to be pioneers. We went here with my family, and it was so much fun with so much to do. We could've spent an entire day here. They have a whole village set up with different crafts, and activities. In this picture the kids got to pretend to do laundry the way the pioneers did. They are ironing, and it looks like they are doing a good job! Maybe I'll put them to work at home! Other things we did at Pioneer park: horse rides (Claire loved of course - Will wasn't sure about his horse), we made arrowhead necklaces, saw Brigham Youngs home, went on a train ride, and went on a wagon ride!