Other updates

So, the day that Darrin left for fishing, I set in motion a few goals to accomplish before his return. The list includes the following...

- Convince Josh to stop sucking his thumb. I started putting a sock over his hand when I put him to bed. The first night was rough. He cried for a really long time. But ever since then he has fallen asleep without trouble. He manages to get the sock off every once in a while but I hadn't caught him sucking his thumb again until today. We were out running errands during nap time and he stayed awake with his thumb in his mouth the whole time.

- Potty train Jordan. I cannot believe how well this is going. I have started and quit this process several times up to this point. But I went all out starting last Monday. I simply took away the diapers and put her in underwear. The first day was a soggy one but I started rinsing her rear with cold water every time she had an accident. The next day she was flawless EXCEPT for the time she decided to follow Jake while HE went potty. He told her to sit down on her potty and she did. She actually peed on her potty but she still had her pants up! Today during our morning of errands I actually took her out in public for two hours without a diaper. We had zero accidents! It's all very exciting.

- Start Jake on his "Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book. We just finished day 5 and he absolutely loves it! Every day while Josh and Jordan are napping we have our "learning" time. Not only is he learning the reading part but he is writing as well. He is so eager and excited. I hope he always feels that way about learning.

- 5k. I have started myself on a 5k running program. I haven't done much physical activity since quit dancing while I was pregnant with Jake over four years ago. I've decided it's time to get things back in order. I've been running every other day and doing pilates in between. I'm incredibly sore but I'm already noticing a lot of results (like not almost blacking out during a jog). I hope to run a 5k race next summer.

So that's what has been going on while Darrin is out fishing. Hopefully things will continue to progress as well has they have been this past week.

The DECK!

I'm FINALLY getting around to showing you the pictures of our final deck product. Darrin managed to get it finished (with the help of a couple VERY helpful friends) before they all left for commercial fishing for a month. Isn't it pretty? I don't even care that the stair railing isn't up yet I just love the rest of it!

Breakfast

Breafast time. Joshy loves him some Cheerios.

Summer!

The kids and I soaked up some rays at the pool today!

Bye Bye Daddy!

Today Darrin left for commercial fishing. This is how we feel about that...

The Celebration Continues!

We extended our anniversary hooplah a few more days by taking Darrin's sister and her husband out 4wheeling in the mud. We camped overnight and the kids were real troopers. Not a lot of stories, just some fun pictures.


This was on our first ride. Darrin told me to ride around this mud hole because he had just gotten his machine stuck in it. Well, I went up on the bank and rolled down into the mud hole. Darrin actually caught me and then set me in the mud and caught the machine before it rolled on top of me. Good times.

This was the end of day one. We rode to the top of a mountain. It was an amazing view.

This was the second day. We chose the worst route to our destination. It was mud and swamp the whole way. This is just one of the many times we had to dig out our buried machines. This happened to be my favorite ride of the day. I love the mud!

This was after the last ride. We ended at a gas station/diner. We changed our clothes before we ate though.



Honey, I think you have a little something on your face...

Our EIGHT year anniversary!

Whew! We fixed our deck problem. Nothing a few rented post jacks and cutting new posts can't cure! We've spent the past couple of days fixing that so actual progress on the deck hasn't been happening. Plus, yesterday was our 8 YEAR ANNIVERSARY - YAY!!! So we went hiking for the day and had wonderful fun. See the pictures below...

Tomorrow we are going camping and 4wheeling. We should have some fun pictures of that soon.



This is Darrin's sister, Raychel and her husband, Rusty.


This is us using a hand tram to cross above a river. We met up with an older couple there who weren't going to cross it because they didn't think they could pull themselves. So Darrin and Rusty pulled them across and I took pictures of them with their camera. They thanked us for the time of their lives!


Darrin decided to get up close and personal with this waterfall while I hyperventilated nearby.



Happy anniversary to us!!! Aren't we cute?

Bummer

Okay, so the deck is starting to be a problem. We are noticing a distinct slope from one side to the other. It seems our main cross beam is no longer level. Is it possible that the concrete settled after it set? Well, whatever the cause, it looks like we are going to have to jack up one corner and shim it somehow.

On a lighter note, here is a cute picture of little Joshy. He appears to be busting quite a sag.

Deck building is consuming my life.

Here are a couple of pictures of our new deck project.


This is midway through our demolition...


This is midway through our rebuilding!


I'm so excited for my new big deck!

Thump

Well, it runs in the family I guess. Yesterday Joshy fell down the stairs. I was standing at the bottom landing talking to the cable guy and I heard a thump and turned around just in time to see Josh bump off the middle step and land in a heap in Darrin's school bag. He cried of course but thankfully the book bag was bookless and made for a soft(ish) landing. He's perfectly fine but I might be scarred for life.

More deck building

Okay, the second footing has been poured, the lumber has been delivered and "most" of the hardware and supplies have been purchased. I say most because there is always something forgotten.

Our goal is to finish this deck before Darrin leaves for commercial fishing for a month! Otherwise I will have to finish it myself and that won't be pretty.

Hammock!

Would you believe that our current living situation contains the very perfect makings for a day in a hammock? When we moved out of our old house, with the two perfect trees, we resigned ourselves to the fact that our beloved hammock would never again swing gaily in the wind. But here is proof that there is more than one residence in Alaska with two trees in the yard.

A special shout out to Tommy for the best birthday present ever.

More Home Improvement

Yesterday was exhausting. We took three truck loads of rotten lumber to the dump. And believe it or not, there is more! We staked out the holes for our footings and got everything squared up. We did this AFTER we dug the holes, which you aren't supposed to do, but fortunately for us, we are awesome and our holes were perfectly placed.

We ordered all our lumber through a contractor friend of ours and it's being delivered on Thursday. He saved us a ton of money!

AND...I am getting high speed internet tomorrow! Whoopee!

Jakey in a hole

Today was another busy day in the yard. We dug our second footing for the new deck. It needed to be about Jakey high.

When it rains, it floods.

Today was an exciting day. We did some demolition on our back deck in preparation for it's expansion. We now have an even bigger pile of junk behind our carport than we did when we moved in. Kinda wish I still had a truck to I could take it all to the dump. We dug ourselves a little test hole in the ground to see how difficult it would be to pour the new footings for the new part of the deck. It wasn't difficult at all and Darrin went ahead and dug the entire whole in about 20 minutes. It is three feet deep. So now we have a three foot toddler death trap in our back yard. I opted to protect my children by putting a rotten piece of plywood over it. Good job me.

Later in the evening we decided to wash our cars. The spigot on the front of our house doesn't have a handle for some reason. So Darrin got out his trusty tools and managed to turn it on. We had a sprayer attached to the end of the hose and we couldn't figure out why we could hear the the sound of water running at the spigot when the sprayer was turned off. So, sprayer off, water running. Water running where? Oh, into our downstairs. That's great. BIG HUGE FLOOD! I tripped and fell up the stairs trying to get back outside to tell Darrin to SHUT OFF THE FAUCET!!!! Lots of scurrying and scrambling but we got the water turned off. Too bad it was running for a good five minutes or so before the big revelation. So THAT'S why the faucet didn't have a handle...

So now we have extremely soggy carpet and some bad attitudes. At least we are getting a nice big deck.

Uh Oh!

I walked into Joshy's room to pick him up after his nap. This is what I found.

HE'S STANDING UP!

Joshy is getting so big!

Lots going on with little Josh in the past couple days. He got two new teeth (now a total of three) one more on the bottom and this afternoon I found one poking through on the top! Also, he has started pulling up on things. So far he's pulled up to his knees on the coffee table, fireplace and his crib. He pulled up to standing on one of his toys but he was kind of hunched over to keep his hands on it. Here he is peeking over the coffee table.

More birthdays for Jordan

Today we had our little family birthday party for Jordan. Grandma Diana got her an ice cream cake with her picture on it! She got some fun presents including her very first bible, a Veggie Tales video, some blocks and a tricycle!


All my babies LOVE blocks!

Back home

Well we made it home safely. Our flight was fine and our kids were good. Today we started trying to get back into our usual routine. I managed to go to the bank, the grocery store AND mow the front lawn today. I'm feeling quite productive. Well, actually right now I feel exhausted as it's almost midnight. But the sun is still shining brightly and I'm finding it difficult to call it a day.

I should have more pictures to post tomorrow because we are finally getting around to celebrating Jordan's birthday!

Look who's TWO!

Today little Jordan turns TWO YEARS OLD! Such a big girl.

Duvall Days

Am I getting good at this updating thing or what? Today the family headed out to my old hometown for annual Duvall Days parade and associated goings-on. We found a parking spot very quickly, found a friend shortly after that, wandered down to Main Street and settled in for a good show. Jaycob just loved the parade. Every time a car came through he would squeal with delight. He has decided that ambulances are no longer called fireplaces, they are called firelances. Jordan boogied down to the school bands a few times and Joshy mostly ate dirt. My best friend Kelly shared the day with us and she was awed by our baby wrangling skills.

Snoqualmie Falls

Today Darrin arrived in town at about 2am. He slept in a bit this morning and then we took the family to Snoqualmie Falls. Jake loved it, Jordan hated it because of the cold and the mist, and Joshy didn't really care because he was too busy with his bottle. A nice man took our family picture but like I said, Josh was busy with his bottle. So I took a picture with him a little later.