new school year!

First day of school
Kas is in 6th grade...which means our last year at the grade school! I really can't believe it! It is amazing how our lives change and revolve...and I know, it's the old cliche....but so quickly!

Kaleb is in 10th grade and Elijah is in 8th...so I have a kid in each school! Amazing!

I should have a photo of Jeremy slaving away. He has constantly had a book with him the last few months. About the same time the kids started school, he started his online classes for his school in January. He was always studying and taking tests online. It has been a great blessing for him and we are very proud....because as most of you know...Jeremy and books haven't really gotten along very well in the past! :)

And, we should have a photo of me...at about 6:30 am heading out with the boys, in a dress...to teach Seminary! I am loving it, spending alot of time studying...The Doctrine and Covenants this year...and going to bed early.

In fact, Jeremy and I have basically switched rolls...now, I go to bed early and he is the one up late on the computer! Pretty funny.

It has been a great school year so far.

Kas has received 2 student of the month nominations this year. She finished out her soccer season, really enjoying it. She opted to not do volleyball this year, since it ran at the same time.

A few weeks ago, Elijah came home with three awards: Principal's Honor Roll...with a gpa for this semester of 3.49 to 3.99!!! I think it helps that most of his good friends are also very smart. :)

He also received the 'Outstanding Effort in Physical Fitness' award, which is no surprise...he usually excells on those days were they count how many of each....And, he was also nominated for the SEAHAWK of the quarter! Way to go Elijah! Doing well in sports and academics! He had a great year in Football this fall...their team only lost to one school. He was one of the team Captains, and really played great this year. Now he is onto wrestling...and having a great season so far!

Kaleb decided after a few teachers encouragement, to go out for football this year. This is his first year, so he didn't get much playing time....but we expect to see great things from him in the future. He realized he likes it pretty well, so I think after all was said and done was grateful for the encouragement. He just had his first Wrestling meet last saturday and wrestled very well. He is wrestling at 152 this year, up from 140 and 145 from last year. We will see where he stays. We have encouraged him not to drop weight much....so we will see.

Oh, and Kaleb also completed his drivers training this fall. He has been a busy kid! Seminary at 6:30, school, football, drivers ed (three nights a week) and not home until after 8 pm!!! and then all over again the next day!!! But, he's handling it well!

We are very proud of all of our kids. They are all talented, determined, amazing people. It is fun watching them grow and develop...and I know these next few years are going to be amazing.... driving, graduating, girl/boyfriends!!!! missions!!!! it's just crazy to think about! BUT, we love it!!!

a jam making fireman!

While I was in Bellingham picking up Kas over the summer, Jeremy saved a few flats of strawberries from the dump. They were leftover from a ff breakfast. He wanted Strawberry Jam... I was impressed by his quick thinking.
I wasn't going to be home in time, so I told him to freeze the berries...which he did.
But, when I got back and mentioned I was going to make the jam, he said he wanted to do it. (thanks to Lacy for mentioning that a jam making fireman would be hot!!!)
Kas and I brought the stuff down to the station, and then we taught Jeremy how to make Jam. Fortunately, he had no calls while they were working. :)

Another answered prayer!

As most of you know...we moved into a new house in Sept. I haven't been able to get it nice enough to take photos...to share, but here are a few from before we moved in.

I have to tell you a little about the amazingness of this whole thing.....

We have been looking for a place to move for quite awhile. The house we were in was so run down, and falling apart...and the landlord wasn't helpful on getting stuff taken care of. We lived on some beautiful land, which is what drew us there to begin with ..... but it just has not been working for awhile....but,

It is hard to find rentals in Ocean Shores that are big enough, nice enough, at a good rate. I don't want a large house, but wanted sufficient for our family. Our last place was 3000 sq ft...so we were used to a bit of space. I really couldn't even imagine living in the average size home for here...around 1500 or so. We also have alot of stuff: tools, forms, vehicles, trailers, outdoor gear...so, that requires space, plenty of parking, and decent garage...shop....etc. Needless to say, our house hunting had not gone well.

Then, one day I was highlighting a friends hair, and she mentioned that the house across the street from them had been vacant for a long time...New house...For Sale.... I thought, yeah, there are a lot of those around here...but most people don't want to rent them out. Her husband, who just walked in, mentioned the builders name...who was someone we did work for! So, I immediately started scheming...Maybe.... but I had to do a drive by first, to make sure the house was big enough for our family. At the time we were seriously thinking of moving into a tiny house....another new one, owned by a friend...but I just knew that was going to be too hard... Anyways, the house was definitely big enough...and nice enough.

I talked to J, he called the builder/owner who said they had just decided to put it available for rent! The timing was perfect. They were willing to negotiate the rent to fit into our budget....and we started moving!

I love our new place. It is on the bay...and I have a beautiful view. 4 bedrooms--so the kids each have their own room. Close to the church, schools, stores, etc...so we can ride our bikes much more. It is just perfect for what we need right now. As you can see from the above photo...there isn't alot of parking. and we have actually turned the front lawn into parking. so, even though...it keeps the redneck in us, we have plenty of parking now. We are renting with the option to buy in a year, if we want..where Jeremy already has ideas on how he can throw a shop on our lot. we will see. But, we are feeling very blessed. Maybe I will have more photos posted soon.

I like the lighting......

Big, beautiful kitchen. love it!

It is common here to have the main living areas on the second floor....for the view I imagine, which is something I really like...second floor living. It makes our house very bright, and full of light.

My soaker tub!!! bonus!!!

Master Bath...I wouldn't have picked this style, but I love it....

Family/tv/game room downstairs. Kindof small, but definitely workable.

I am sorry my posts are soo long! I try to make them shorter!!!

Anniversary Ride July 2010

You know...I thought I already blogged our anniversary ride, but I guess I just fb'ed it. We waited until July to go...when we had a bit more time, and while the kids were away. We had 3 days...so decided to do the Olympic Penninsula loop. I have lived here forever, and had still not seen the upper part of the Olympic Penninsula..so this was a perfect opportunity! We went to Sol Duc Hot Springs last year, and decided that would definitely be a stop this year. Except we were going to camp this year. We stopped at our usual favorite spots on the way...Kalaloch, Forks, etc... But also tried to make decent time.

We made it to camp at Sol Duc. We got the bike unloaded, the tent set up and then took a nap! Yea, we're getting old! ;)

It was soo nice to get the boots off! I loved this shot of our different boot sizes!

This is out of sequence, but lunch at Kalaloch.

We had a fire. I brought s'more stuff.

Chacos.

There's a trail that leads to a waterfall.


It was beautiful!

I love the Pacific Northwest rain forest!

Drive by of Cresent Lake, which is between Sol Duc and Port Angeles.

Cresent Lake....gorgeous! First time for me!

Port Angeles

Port Townsend ...as you can see we scored with the weather. It was gorgeous!

Our destination! The Inn at Port Ludlow! I'm in love!!!

Really liked the room! And I definitely used that tub! after 2 days of riding!

We traded the champagne in for truffles. yumm

There were soo many cute touches in the Inn. I would have posted more...but this is already very long....so I didn't.

Yummy breakfast.. The eggs looked like sour cream dollops.

the view from our room. sorry about the screen....

the back of the Inn.

Loved it! We will definitely be back!












So, we thought we would be adventurous for our ride home. Instead of taking the highway, we decided to go over the mountain....

Our nice wide road narrowed!

Oops... road block! We thought we could get around those trees....and move a little stuff...and keep going....

Until we saw where the road had caved in! No getting around that! Dang...

All we could do was turn around and hope to find another route!

We worried about that we would hit another block and have a long ways to backtrack...especially after we started climbing!


and reached this spot!

Umm...we were up there a ways!

My hunny on the bike with all the gear.

This is the road I didn't want to take back down! scary!!!

The road got pretty small! with tall grass in the center in some spots! I started to wonder what we would do if we had a break down! We had the gps...that worked up there...but I had no idea how far we were from civilization! It was a little freaky...but soo exciting as well!

the view was InCrEdIbLE!!!!!

See the road we took! Crazy!!

The road is getting bigger....a good sign! :)

We were very happy to find this road! back into civilization!

We made it to Wynoochee Lake! wew!!!

Enjoyed our lunch there. Wynoochee Lake is only about an hour from our house.

And then I found that my transplanted Hydrengeas had bloomed while we were gone. Sweet surprise!

It was such a great trip!

Jeremy and I were married 16 years ago in May. It has been quite a ride...but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am very blessed to have J as my eternal companion!