A Fun Day

We made our second pilgrimage to Capitol State Forest yesterday and really enjoyed it. This time, since the weather has been warm, we found the river and set up a picnic lunch on the rocky bank. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. Ryan was a really good sport about taking them in the water and keeping them entertained so I could have a break. The water was COLD! Everyone still enjoyed it though.

Kim perched on a rock waiting for her chance to catch a minnow.


Glade got pretty good at walking across the rocks. He sure is growing up.


Ryan (always the adventurous one) found a big fallen tree to climb up. Too bad it was so hot it gave his wrist a blister.


The highlight of the day was when Dad tried his hand at catching minnows and discovered a salamander right under his nose. It didn't really try to get away and the kids both got really excited about it. We held him for a few minutes and let him crawl on pants and hands and then put him back in his home.

Soaking in the Rays

It has actually been pretty warm and sunny around here the last week or so (nothing to you Arizonans though). It actually got into the upper 80s on Friday. I have used my Sun Oven more than ever before. I made 6 loaves of bread in it (2 at a time) on Friday, and cooked dinner in it on Thursday, including the rice. So that has been kinda fun. We don't have air conditioning, so I hate to heat the house up too much by using the oven.

By the way, I have had a couple of questions about it, so here's the low-down. My parents bought a sun oven for each of their kids for Christmas. It hasn't been quite as good for here, because of so many clouds, but anywhere in the Southwest seems like it would be wonderful. I haven't used it a TON yet though.

With the Sun Oven you have to plan ahead. It has an adjustable height with a tray inside that swings keep whatever you're cooking flat. You put it out facing the sun and at the right height for about 20-30 minutes to preheat. The warmer days work the best up here. Then you put whatever you're cooking inside. The door latches closed and cooking begins. My experience has been that it takes longer for things to cook, but it is kind of fun to be doing it all with the sun's energy. Just go out every 30-60 minutes to adjust the height and direction of the Sun Oven to keep it facing the sun. The best times to cook are about 11:00-4:00 or so. It is sometimes hard to get it up into the higher temperatures, which is why it takes longer to cook things. This past week I have gotten it up to 350* though, and it held on 325* for a few hours on the hottest days. Not quite as warm as I would bake in a normal oven, but good enough to do the job.

Overall, it's been kind of a fun experiment. I would like to cook in it more. The coming week is supposed to bring clouds, although we'll have to see how much since it is still supposed to be in the 80s.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a really great weekend. Ryan had Friday and Monday off, so it was great to have him around more, well, sorta. He spent Friday getting ready to climb Mt. St. Helen's and left about 3:00 to get there. He camped with a group and hiked up on Saturday. You can read about his experiences here and here. He was the first one to the top for the whole day and seemed to have a good time. I would like to go there sometime before we move also. We'll have to see if that actually happens or not. Looks like a neat place.

Since he went up and down so fast, he got home pretty early on Saturday, so that was nice. We had a normal Sunday with church and family time.

Monday was Memorial Day and we decided to go on-post to the service to celebrate it.

We attended the ceremony at the cemetery. It was a nice program, not too long, just about right for two children to sit through. I really enjoyed it. They had an Army band and a tomb of the unknown solder. I never really knew before that the flag flied at half-mast until noon on Memorial Day and then gets raised to the top. The 21-gun salute really added also. The guns were pretty close by and so they were pretty loud. Our kids did pretty well though. Some others were crying. Kim just covered her ears and Glade didn't start whimpering until about the 18th shot or so. After I gave him a hug, he was all right. Very impressive.

Ryan and Glade in the peaceful cemetery.



Flags were on every grave.


The soldiers that shot off the guns. You can see the guns in the background.


Kim being her patriotic self.



We decided to stop by Burger King for lunch and then go to the lake on post. Too bad we didn't plan enough ahead. Kimberly didn't have her swimsuit, but managed to get wet and have fun anyway. Where was Glade during this time? Fast asleep in his carseat, which Dad kindly carried to the beach.



When we got home, we decided to try to make dinner in the sun oven, but it turned out to be too late in the afternoon, so we will have to finish the ribs up today. I have done a few things in there and it really works. Once when I made bread I baked 2 loaves in the sun oven and 3 in the regular oven and couldn't really tell the difference. I also baked brownies in there once. I will keep experimenting, when I have time. Washington's admittedly not the best place for this appliance because of all the clouds and rain.

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. We spent Friday night camping. You can read about it on Ryan's blog.

It was a really fun trip. My family took me out for dinner in Cle Elum on the way home. We stopped at the same restaurant when we were moving out here. The food was as good as we remembered.

Sunday morning Ryan and Kimberly got up and made breakfast in bed for me. Biscuits and Gravy, my favorite! Thanks, honey. When we got to church I was surprised to discover that the Primary was singing in Sacrament Meeting. The bishopbric forgot to ask us to do it. I'm glad I was just the pianist and not the music leader! It went fine, though.

In the evening we talked to my mom and mother-in-law to round out the day.

It was a great weekend.

Seattle Temple

The temple in our area is a little far away (about 1 1/2 hours), so we hadn't taken the kids to see it even though we like to. We are glad it is so close, since after we move the drive will be about 6 hours, but we just don't get up that way very often unless we are specifically going to the temple. We decided to take a little detour on our way home from the tulip festival and walk around the grounds with them. Ryan and I went last weekend and the grounds were beautiful.


They have some replicas of the statues from the Women's Garden in Nauvoo, which the kids LOVED. They also had beautiful flowers and even a nice little garden area with paths winding through it.





It was a nice visit and I think the kids really enjoyed it to. Good way to round out the day!

Tulips Everywhere!

There is a place in Washington called the Skagit Valley that is a little bit special. We drove through it when we went to buy our Jeep in Anacortes. This is the area that grows the most tulips in the world next to Holland. They have a tulip festival every April and after checking and waiting, they finally were blooming this last week, so we decided to go. There are a couple of different places you can go and they have fields of tulips all over the valley. We didn't drive around and see the scattered fields, we just went to one of the companies called Tulip Town and saw their display garden. It was rows and rows of different kinds of tulips. There were a LOT of different kinds and colors and the sure were pretty! It would be hard for me to pick a favorite. Kim, of course, liked the pink ones the best, and the purple ones after that. Glade, unfortunately, wasn't feeling great and had kind of a nasty cough, but still enjoyed it. Enjoy the selection of pictures. We took a lot more, but couldn't possibly put all of them up.

The entrance. Notice the kites in the air. More to come on that later.


Dad and Glade in front of some cheerful yellow tulips.


Mom and the kids in the middle of a bunch of pink ones.


They were flying these HUGE kites when we got there. The wind eventually died and the had to bring them down, but these two got tangled up and they came down. Kim went over to investigate. You can see how huge they really were. The picture only shows one of the big kites.


Mom and one of the few good pictures of Glade.


I love this one of Kim. I think I might try to crop and frame it for her pictures for the year. I like the way she matches the tulips.


Kim REALLY wanted to ride the "trolley" which was a big wagon towed behind a tractor. She and I did it while Glade and Dad took naps in the car.


The trolley did give great views of the rainbow field of tulips.


I really like this one of Kim too. She really liked all of the flowers.


Dad and the kids. Kim kind of blends in on this one.


It was kind of a long drive, but I thought it was worth it! The flowers were impressive and worth the trip and the sun came out in the afternoon, so that was nice too.

The Big 5

I can't believe my little girl is 5! Kimberly had a good birthday (I think). We did a little party with some friends last weekend and then celebrated again on her real birthday. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

The Birthday Girl



Everything flowers, even the cake!


Flowers from Dad and pretty new dress from Grammy and Grandad.


New Umbrella from Grandpa and Grandma, can't wait for the rain!

Eggsetera

We dyed eggs the night before we left for AZ. Even Glade got into it this year. I'm still not brave enough to let him do the dye, but he enjoyed the crayons. It is hard to teach a 2-year old to be soft when coloring eggs. :)




Here's a video Ryan took of Kimberly hunting for dyed eggs that the Easter Bunny hid on Saturday. I think it is kind of fun because you can start to see her reasoning skills develop.

Down by the River

Ryan scouted out a place that we have enjoyed going a few times. He even took the kids there once and let me have a break. He likes it because it is off-road and he gets to drive the Jeep down to it. We all enjoy it, though. It is a nice, quiet little area. Last week we went down and had a little fire, roasted hot dogs, and just enjoyed the area and each other.


See what a pretty place it is?


Our Trusty Fire Builder


Turns out Glade and roasted marshmallows don't mix. No more for him! What a sticky mess!


Kim walking between two puddles


Throwing rocks in the river.

While I was Gone. . .

I'm not sure what all they did, but Kim and Ryan did quite a it while Glade and I were gone. Here are a few pictures I liked.


Okay, so this one is from after I got back. It's Glade with his new Easter sunglasses. He REALLY likes them.


I have no idea where they were, but it looks like fun.


Northwest Trek


Easter Morning (actually Saturday)


I missed them, but looks like they had fun.