A WHOPPER!

Pucca went to GI town earlier this summer and spent a week with her grandparents (John's parents). Gpa took her fishing and she's been 'hooked' ever since. She talks non-stop about going back to gma and gpa Kelly's and going fishing. And how we should call gma and gpa Kelly and make sure they know that we are coming fishing. And how we should get out the calendar so we can mark which day we're going back to GI town to go fishing....you get the picture!

Well, this weekend we made a 'grandma run'. (A visit to GI town where we visit all 5 gmas- a whirlwind adventure!)

Friday evening, we spent the night with John's parents (the fishing grandparents)...can you guess what the girls and I did while the guys were grilling!? I'll give you a clue...it starts with an F and ends in -ishing! :)

I'm a competitive soul and as soon as Pucca got the slightest nibble- I had my pole in the water, ready to catch my own great white! IT. WAS. ON

After casting and reeling and casting and reeling, for what felt like an eternity...I finally got a bite! "FISH ON" I yell (its what the master fishers say when they've caught something- I learned that off of MonsterFish on the Discovery Channel)

Anway- I'm struggling to reel in the massive gilled monster- so much so that I yell for Kynna to anchor me down and hold the back of my shirt so I won't get dragged into the lake. But Kynna doesn't have enough strength- the water-breathing beast is too much for us. Kynna wraps her arms around my waist and then Kwynnie grabs her by the waist...we can't let this devil fish win!

Finally, I get it close enough to shore - and we see that its 'this big'...you can't see but I'm indicating with my hands that its HUGE! So huge in fact, the fish is pulling the line back out of my reel, my pole begins to bend almost to the point of snapping...I'm trying with all my might to just. hold. on. I yell for Kwynnie to get John!

All of sudden my pole snaps back, Kynna and I go flying- the fishy little beast got away. Just then John comes out asking what all the commotion was about. We all start talking at once, our personal accounts racing out a hundred miles per hour. John catches enough of the story to know there was something...and it got away.

Just then the monster fish rises from the depths of Gma and Gpa's sandpit and crashes into a sailboat...It was crazy!

What!? Don't believe me! Lucky for you I took a pic!

And that's my fish story! (now about 99 % of this story is true...I'll let you decide which part is a minor exaggeration of the truth!)

Sumer pix 2010

The girls and I went to Sunken Gardens this morning to take our annual summer pix. We usually take them in GI town...but its been a pretty crazy busy summer- and can you believe its almost time for school to start! WHAT!?

I can't quite comprehend that John and I are going to be the parents of two 7th graders and a 2nd grader...its nuts I tell ya- NUTS!

So for the sake of my EMS (emotional mommy syndrome)- here are some pix of my babies!

Why do they have to grow up so quickly!? I don't remember growing up that fast...

Master bedroom redo

This is what our master bedroom looked like before. I've wanted to replace the ugly 'circus tent' curtains since we moved in...but hadn't found the perfect replacement. So naturally we had red as an accent color.

The quilted bed spread- I LOVE...and bought it as part of my future vision of what the room would look like.

After searching blog land far and wide and tweaking my ideas to fit with a budget and the fact I'm not allowed to paint...this is what I came up with.

I like the idea of painted mirrors and frames that has been circulating the blogosphere- but altered it a bit to fit what I could find. I stopped by Hobby Lobby and picked up some super cheap fabric (for my curtains) and HAD to stop by their clearance aisle. 90% off...are you kidding me! There was gravitational forces drawing me in!

There I found a bunch of scroll-y gold decorative pieces. I didn't care about the color because I knew I was going to end up painting them anyway. All of them were less than $2 a piece! SCORE!

The story with the curtain fabric - is that I found this beautiful perfectly perfect fabric in the clearance area...but there wasn't enough for my large windows. It just so happened that right next to this perfectly perfect fabric was a coordinate! I love robin's egg blue and have been wanting to use that color in a room - the fabric was perfect! Things were falling into place!

So I used the coordinating fabric on the top section of the curtain and then my ideal fabric is on the bottom. I used a piece of ribbon to cover the transition.

I also painted the seat of desk chair the same color as my wall arrangement. It needed a little color.

In the end I was able to incorporate robin's egg blue into the room WITH OUT painting the walls- John should approve!

I LOVE IT!

Softball 2010

I just wanted to put it out there on the WORLD WIDE WEB- that my kids are awesome! The twins' softball team ended the season as the champions of their age group. They were undefeated...winning most games by 5 or more runs...the team was full of talented girls! The twins completed another double play in one of their last games. Kwynn's response to all the praise- "It's a twin thing!"

Congratulations, girls! We are very proud of you!

Vacation Slideshow...finally

Our family has over 1000 photos and videos from our AMAZING trip...here's a VERY VERY VERY small sample!

Trip (part one)

A quick run down:

Spent a week in Park City (the 4th of July)- It was fun and relaxing just hanging out with girls. We spent some time with my brother and his family...which was awesome for the cousins- they love spending time together. Went shopping with my sister in law and got pedicures while Jared and John watched the children...FUN FUN!

Spent a few days in Seattle before we left on the cruise - toured Pike's Place Market and went to the aquarium (the girls were able to pet and handle sea cucumbers, anemones and star fish- HOW COOL IS THAT!?) We visited a local dive, a greasy spoon called The Hurricane, a bar turned diner from the 20s. We had milk shakes and fries for dinner. (That only flies on vacation!)

We then went on an Alaskan Cruise featuring a day spent in Glacier Bay National Park...so beautiful! Yes- its the same cruise John and I took for our anniversary a few years ago, but the whole we were there we kept saying how much the kids would enjoy this and how we HAVE to bring them here...so we did!

Funny story:

When you go on a cruise - signing in is like getting a hotel room times 100. Crazy registration process...the lines, the people, the chaos! This time around John and I booked a penthouse for the family and it came with some super great perks! One of which was VIP registration. As soon as we showed the lady our boarding documents...she led us passed all the craziness through all the people to a lovely little room with a desk, comfy chairs, cookies and drinks. Very 'VIP' and classy. She seated us in these plush leather chairs and encouraged us to help ourselves to the cookies...do you think we really needed to be encouraged!?

Anyway, as we were sitting there- the girls were full of wonder, excitement and just plain anxious. They didn't really know what to expect...so everyone was quietly waiting. Just then the theme song to Titanic (My Heart Will Go On) came on over the muzak system. I couldn't believe it...I looked at the girls and could see on their faces they instantly knew what song it was. I burst out laughing...almost to the point of snorting! I think John was rather embarrassed...BUT COME ON!

One of the cruise agents quickly came over and asked if I was ok...besides almost passing out from the lack of oxygen making it my brain because I was laughing so hard. She didn't look like the type to find the humor...so I hushed up. But it was funny. I continued to giggle through the whole song.

We're BACK!

We made it home yesterday! IT was such a fun trip...so many photos and so many stories!

I promise to work on a little slide show tonight. I think between the girls and I, we took over 1500 photos during the three week trip...CRAZY!

It was so much fun...but so good to be home!

lots of fun so far!

We've watched a parade, had snow cones at the 2002 Olympic Park, rocked climbed, watched spectacular fireworks, took a scenic chair lift ride up the mountain, hiked up to an abandoned mining facility and spent hours at the pool. Fun Fun!