Can you believe we fit all this in, in one summer??

Well let's jump right in shall we, I just got kicked off the bed for "clickity clicking away" on this keyboard when Justin was trying to go to sleep haha.

Summer was typical and special all at once. We ran ragged like always but got to have some amazing adventures. My brother Tom just moved to the Tri-cities this summer him and his family have lived across the country (literally, like Arkansas, then North Carolina) for the last 8 years or so. They bought a house and then had a party so we could see it and them... We all camped in their back yard and bedrooms and basically is was the best time ever. We ate all day, went to the FREEZING cold river, sat in the sun, stayed up late and got to know each other again. When I say "we" I mean all of us. almost all 9 sibblings, spouses, mom and dad, cousins, and a long time girl friend and boy friend. There were cars and people everywhere...I was in heaven.

My dearest darling friend Kristen Haws (college roommate) and her family made their way our direction from Idaho Falls area this summer. Sarah Bowles and I went over there 2 years ago so it was really fun to have them for a few days. We went to the Crab Pot and ate ourselves into a shell fish stupor. Walked the Seattle waterfront, goofed off and made our cheeks hurt from laughing. We kayaked on the puget sound by my parents house, had a picnic at the beach, swam, hit golf balls into the water then went and fished them out again... so pretty much the best weekend ever!! Can't wait to do that again.

We made a trip to idaho to visit Justin's family I got a new wedding ring since my original one got ran over. (short story) I played volleyball with some women from my church this summer. When I play I take off my rings and put them on my watch, close the latch and hook the whole ensemble to my key Caribeaner (sp) and put it somewhere safe. Well after volleyball picked it up and went to the car. I got in, started it and began to back out when I got "dinged" at. The back hatch wasn't closed, I got out to close it and the watch (which was in my lap) fell out onto the ground. I didn't notice until I was 25 minutes into my drive home and then I thought if had just fallen off my lap between the seats. So I get home and do a brief look (late, kids to put to bed, company over) didn't find it. For some reason though I wasn't real stressed I just had a feeling it would turn up between my car and the church... SOOOooo 5 days later I finally drive all the way back to the stake center (a church) and there it is, STILL sitting in the parking lot attached to my watch. RUN OVER, but all intact. So when we went to Idaho Justin bought me a "happy birthday" replacement. He also bought me new wheels and tires for my car. It needed tires but the wheels were a surprise. He got a crazy good deal on them so I can't complain. Plus they look pretty gangster on my ride. haha (I've been told this more than once, pretty much those exact words.)

I flew to LA this spring for my Yoli business, it was a blast, first time really in California. I had a unique experience I'm sure. I spent most of my time with the leaders of Yoli, one of which is Korean. He's full korean but born in Hawaii so he's a hawaiian korean... We ate hawaiian chicken from his restaurant which is his full time thing. AMAZING food. Then I had some authentic Korean BBQ, again amazing. The culture the company, the food- all a really good time. I flew down with 2 of the leaders from Seattle and met other Seattle leaders there. It was a great event over 100 people... Made great friends and hilarious memories, Yoli has a great culture.

I just got back from Utah. Sarah and I flew to Park City for Yoli's leadership convention. Pretty much a huge Seattle, LA, Facebook reunion. I got to meet LOTS of my friends from facebook that I've built relationships with over the last 2 years. Again with the late nights, good food, and great friends to laugh with. Oh yeah there was some learning and stuff too. haha I had my first taxi ride, got to see Yoli headquarters, meet the behind the scenes staff and hang out with a customer service rep named Tracy (who I talk to all the time at customer service actually) turns out he's hilarious!! We did a company wide bowling extavaganze and I ended up winnig a bowling pin with all the founders signatures on it for having the "most spunk" and the real surprise?? I got 100$ in my yoli account for tools, products, swag or whatever... cool right? plus the whole trip to utah and la are total business write offs on my taxes which I need to help lower my taxable income all to get a much larger tax return... I swear this keeps getting more fun by the minute!!

ohhh then school begins and I send my baby boy to kindergarten, even though I know I want him to repeat it next year. He's a very young 5 year old, but frankly both of us needed him to start school. He is actually doing really good. His behavior is what I was most concerned about and he is a rock star. Keeps his "star" nearly everyday. out of the whole school year he's lost his star 3-4 times. I'm good with that. He comes home happy and energetic and is retaining most of what he's learning. His grades show how young he is but I'm happy with his attitude and progress. He still pushes my buttons better than both the girls. He's the cutest little guy you ever saw though, especially in his church clothes. If you weren't sick of reading I'd tell you about our primary program this last sunday. He was hilarious. remind me for another time.

Jacey is smart as a whip. she's a 1st grader this year and can read like a 3rd or 4th grader. I'm constantly in awe of how well she puts words in context and the crazy words she says without much effort. She still love growling at everyone, chasing boys, and is in love with a boy named Gilbert. He is her best friend I see love notes all over the house about him. (keeping an eye on that one for sure) She has a laugh like sunshine and is the most helpful girl I know. I got blessed to have her first. plus she is as pretty as ever.

Taylor and I have been palling around together since both kids are in school all day. She is really good at making a trail throughout the house with all her toys but ya know what a lot of days I don't even care cause she is so happily entertaining herself. She's got the best hair I've ever seen on a toddler. She's funny and bossy and a little subborn. Mostly she's really nice and love to change her clothes and wears dresses whenever possible... She and Jacey are opposites when it comes to fashion. I can't make Jacey take off her sweats and carhartt t-shirts and Taylor is wearing tutus in winter.

Justin works and is working out again. He lost 10 pounds in 7 days on Yoli's better body system without working out. Now he is maintaining that while building muscle, I'm happy he's who he is. I don't know how he does it. The first weeks results were without working out, now he wakes up at 3 am to work out in the morning before work then works out again after work... He won't do this forever, he's just got a few more days left on his "transformation" so he wants to really kick start his effort and start seeing more results quickly. I can already see a big difference. He's wearing some clothes I haven't seen him wear in a while... But I didn't realize it was due to his weight.. Interesting. He's constantly pulling up his drawers now. haha.. He's still cute as ever and works hard around here. I don't know anyone else like him. He's flying to Idaho Friday for his little sister's baptism which is pretty exciting. Neither of us saw this coming in a hundred years...

So that is the story of us this summer. Of course there's more but you get the idea. Throw a couple of little colds in there, a scraped up knee here and there, some birthdays, BBQs, family dinners at the parents house, new carpet due to flooding... and you got the rest of it.

In May Taylor left the water on in their little bathroom then we left for a day of errands at costco and it overpowered the overflow drain which resulted in flooding the house. So we ended up with a small insurance claim (sizable enough to make the claim) and a new project.
We tore out the old pad and carpet, moved furniture, removed old staples, bought new pad,carpet, new ducting under the house and most likely a new floor in the bathroom in the future. Justin came home first from golfing. He came down the hall to change and stepped into a shloshhh shlooooshhh...siiigghhh...

OOHHH I almost forgot. We totally landscaped the back yard, that was a project with lots of good pictures. lets see if I can find some.








DRUUMMMM ROOOLLLLL PPPLLLEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! TADA!!!Sorry it's been all darn summer. But we're still here and doing great!! Thanks for hanging in there.