Redwood Forest/ Oregon Coast/ Seattle

 

From April 11th to April 19th

we were able to take an amazing family vacation. 

 I am very grateful for the memories we made. 

 

 Here are some pictures in no particular order....

 

Top of the Seattle Space Needle. 
It was very cold, wet and rainy

 

 

Family photo at Chandelier Drive-Thru tree.

Near sunset at Harris State Beach. 
Just a short little walk from our campsite.
 Breathtaking

 

The kids in front of one of the huge fallen tree trunks. 
 Near the Chandelier Drive-Thru



One of my new favorite pictures.
Redwood Forest

I love hanging out at the beach.
  I also love watching my kids explore and play at the beach.
  They loved every minute of it.

This was one of the campsites we got to stay at. 
 It was so green and lush and gorgeous.
Prairie Creek Campground

 

A little blurry but a curious girl like Afton
was in heaven at the Seattle Aquarium.



Cute Afton.
Harris State Beach

This was one of our first mornings. 
Afton and Lilly heading out to see what awaits them for the day.
 I like it because it reminds me of all the different adventures we had each day.
Winnemucca, NV

 

Banana slugs
Prairie Creek Campground



Lizzie posing to show the enormous tree.
Redwood Forest



Family photo with  Chuckles the clown. 
Prairie Creek Campground

Jim and Alisha......  Ah, how sweet!
Trees of Mystery

Jim's cool picture he took at the Seattle Aquarium.

Ethan had a camera and took many photos also.
Trees of Mystery

Had to take a few selfies :)
Redwood Forest

Doing what kids do best.  Throwing rocks into any body of water.
This is a lake we found in the Redwood Forest.

Writing names in the sand. 
 I got a picture of each kid with their name. 
Hopefully I will get around to printing them out and hanging them up in their room.

It was funny because there were 4 of us with cameras
. LOTS of pictures were taken between all of us.
  Here is me taking a picture of the other three taking a picture of some white deer. 
Yes, WHITE!

A dose of 6 year old cuteness!
Prairie Creek Campground

Jim demonstrating Confusion Hill. 
 Somewhere you just have to go to believe.



Afton and I on the gondola ride that takes you
 UP and OVER some of the Redwood Trees.
Trees of Mystery



See what I mean?
 I just love beach pictures!
 

Our final picture before we left for home.

 We are dirty and probably smell a little but we survived
 and had a wonderful week together.
 

 

 

12

Ethan had a birthday! 

 

 Ethan is now 12 years old.  How is that possible? 

 

We were able to celebrate his birthday while on our vacation.  He woke up in Seattle for his Birthday.  I told him it will be a birthday he will probably always remember.   On his birthday we went to the Seattle aquarium, Pike Place market and started driving home.  We will have a party  tonight with family and a friend party hopefully this weekend.

 

12 facts about Ethan:

• On April 20th, 2014 he was ordained a Deacon and entered the world of Young Men's.  Here come plenty of  camp outs, service opportunities and lots of new experiences  He is taller than every single deacon by almost a head and  is already taller than most of the Teachers.
• Currently is 5'6".  Yes the same height as his mom.  It is hard to explain how weird it is to talk eye level with my child knowing very soon I will be looking up to him.
• We now have to go into adult size for clothes.
• Still loves onions and Tic Tacs.....?
•  In his spare time you can catch Ethan either building a Lego creation or reading a book.  I wouldn't be surprised if he has tried to do both at the same time :)
• Still is nice enough to let his sisters sleep in his room on non-school nights.  They think it is the best thing.  Ethan on the other hand has a lot of patience and tolerance.
• Is extremely knowledgeable in the gospel.  You can ask him a question about a scripture we just read, he sits silently for a minute and then pours out some remarkable answer. 
• Is doing very well in all of his classes in school  despite the messy organization he has in his backpack.
• Currently is eating me out of house and home.  He eats six tacos in a meal, 4 bowls of cereal for breakfast, a whole brick of graham crackers for an after school snack and basically anything he can get his hands on.  He always likes ANY meal I cook. He will make a very good missionary and husband later on.
• Has only 6 more years before he goes on a mission!!! How in the heck can that be!!!  I suddenly feel like I am on a time crunch to teach him so many things.
• Every night still tracks Jim and I down to give us a hug goodnight.  Sometimes he even comes back for second goodnights and second hugs :)  He is the only one of our children that hug us goodnight.
• Wears a size 10 1/2 shoe!

  

 

 

Bonding

Last Saturday I was able to have some good bonding time with Lizzie.  My friend had two extra tickets to the General Women's Meeting downtown.  I was very excited to go not only with Lizzie but with a good friend and her daughter.   First we went out to lunch at Johnny Rockets in City Creek.  It was awesome to see so many mothers with their daughters walking around downtown.

 

Lizzie hates her picture being taken and will make
 a total weird face whenever I pull my camera out :)
None the less, here are Lizzie and Savannah at Johnny Rockets. 
 Don't they look like they could be sisters?

Although blurry I love this picture. 
The girls were giggling so hard it was so cute!

 

Posing on a bridge at City Creek. 
 Once again my daughter shows her great photo taking skills.

Looking cute in front of the fountains!

 

My friend Stacey and I trying to take a picture of the two of us.

Group shot and an actual normal Lizzie smile.
- Alisha, Lizzie (10), Savannah (8) and Stacey

So lucky to call her my daughter (craziness and all)!!

It was an absolutely amazing meeting. 
I am very grateful to be a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Turning 6 x 2

Happy 6th Birthday Afton and Lilly!

 

Here is a little spotlight on Afton and Lilly:

Lilly-

- She is still our evil genius (and I mean that in the best way possible).  A couple weeks ago we had parent teacher conference.  We found out Lilly is currently reading at a 2nd grade level!!!! I knew she was an amazing reader for a Kindergartner but didn't realize it was that high.  She is also on 2nd grade vocabulary words.  Her teacher has decided to have her be pulled out of her class once a day for a little while to go be with a reading aide to try to keep her challenged in her reading and vocabulary level. Just the other day we were getting ready to do homework and I told her to grab her backpack.  Her response "Yes, I love homework!!"  :)

-Lilly is still wearing dresses or skirts!  Since December 1st, 2012 she has worn a dress or a skirt basically every day.  There have been probably about 4 days when some weird alignment in the universe made her feel to wear pants but otherwise ALL DRESSES OR SKIRTS!!!!

- She already picks out outfits for certain occasions. If she is excited for some activity in the week she will plan what dress to wear as soon as she knows the special occasion :)

- Is still stubborn like crazy! Part of this has to do with her liking order, things done a certain way and routine.  If something goes out of the way Lilly thinks it should be then there is trouble.  She likes to sit in the same section at church, wants to know the order of what we are doing in a particular day, does not like to skip around on her homework (you go in order mom), puts her clothes on in a certain order, has to brush teeth before doing hair, has to sit behind the passenger seat and no where else in the car and the list goes on and on.    For being the littlest and youngest in the family she really is the most vocal and probably in her mind thinks she is the boss of our family :)


Afton-

-Seriously has a huge heart. She is always very concerned about others.  The other Sunday I was sitting with the kids in church listening to one of the speakers.  The speaker was talking about some struggles she had had lately.  Afton leaned over and whispered to me "Mom, today night (her way of saying tonight) can we take her some cookies." My heart melted.  So of course that night we made some cookies and delivered them to our neighbor.

-Is very sensitive when it comes to TV shows.  If something is suspenseful or if someone is in danger she gets very emotional and at times has almost started crying or leaves the room.  This even happens with really calm shows like Arthur (the cartoon),  or any other kid show is on.  Don't even talk about the elimination round on The Voice :)  She feels so bad for the ones that have to go home and can't continue on in the competition.

-Still loves to cuddle.  She is always coming up and giving hugs or asking if she can "cuddle".  In the morning she will come over to my side of the bed and ask to cuddle for a few minutes.  It is the cutest thing.

- Is an absolutely amazing graceful dancer.  I love watching her dance because even at 5 years old she is so graceful and it is beautiful.  Right now she is not liking going to her dance class though and is very nervous to dance on a stage in a month or so for their recital.

Happy Birthday beautiful girls! 

 I cannot believe you are already 6!!!!

 

 

Pancakes and Pajamas

This year for Afton and Lilly's friend party they wanted to do the same party they did last year....

Pancakes and Pajamas. 

 So here we go again with a few new details.



The invite

Lilly posing with some balloons we got at Harmons

I just thought this one was cute!

Table all set and ready for guests

 

Cutest 5 and 6 year old girls in their pajamas
(Lilly, Hailey, Lillia, Katelynn, Reagan, Afton, Indy, Willow, Brooke, Laeklynn)

First up: a game of freeze tag

After working up an appetite we got some pancakes going. 
 Jim was the pancake cooker

To finish up the night we put the very popular Frozen movie in the DVD player.
  It was very cute listening to all the girls sing along with the songs.

 

Party Favors for the guests to take home. 
 Many thanks to Target for cheap bowls and Amazon for cheap books.

 

 

 

I had the girls write their names on the little
 thank you note and put it in each book.

It was a cute, loud and crazy two hours. 
Until next year........

Following Directions

 

A couple weeks ago our kids had Parent Teacher Conference. 

 In Lizzie's class they were supposed to write a letter

 to their parents to be read at parent teacher conference. 

 This is Lizzie's version :) 

I couldn't help but laugh.

 

 

Ironically,  Lizzie's teacher absolutely loves her

 and says she is such a smart and well behaved kid to have in class. 

Zoo Day

Last Friday the kids did not have school. The weather was fairly decent so we decided to head up to the zoo.  Jim happened to have a break for a couple hours during the day so he met us up there.  It was a great day.  No crowds, good weather,  active animals

 and just a fun day hanging out together as a family.

 

The group minus the one taking the picture :) 
 Don't mind Afton. 
 She said she was so hungry
 that she couldn't stop eating for the picture :)

Lilly Bill

Lizzie had ran on ahead to the elephants (with my permission).
When me and the two other girls caught up to her,
 I found her just sitting by herself watching the elephants.
  I thought it was really cute and took a picture.

3 cute elephants.

The boys

My three little chickies in their nest.

Selfies and proof I (Alisha) was there. 

Next time we go Ethan will most likely be taller than an adult gorilla.