Guess What it Is!

Anyone who has ever spent time around my kids has probably played this game. It started out with Max who would hold something behind his back and ask you to guess what it was. I could make him laugh by guessing dinosaur and things like that. Now Ryan does the same thing only he doesn't have anything in his hands. He just randomly comes up to you and asks you to guess what it is. It usually ends up being the 3rd thing you guess no matter what it is (for example: cherry pie or knobby knees). He is so silly.

Hello Hormones!

*Sob* *Sob* I'm watching Sound of Music *Sob* *Sob* Easily one of the best movies EVER! *Sob* *Sob*

My Little Reader

Max has been "reading" for awhile, words, sounds, etc. He's always sounding things out and saying what letter a word starts with. Now he has read a whole book. And the book of the hour is:

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I just love that he loves to learn. And Ryan likes to get in the game too. He tells us a word and what it starts with. Only, somehow, everything usually starts with H. :)

A Quote About Testimony

There is a quote I heard yesterday in church that really resonated in me about the importance of a testimony of the gospel and what a testimony is.

Elder Richard G. Scott has explained “a testimony is not emotion. It is the very essence of character woven from threads born of countless correct decisions. These choices are made with trusting faith in things that are believed and, at least initially, are not seen. A strong testimony gives peace, comfort, and assurance. It generates the conviction that as the teachings of the Savior are consistently obeyed, life will be beautiful, the future will be secure, and there will be capacity to overcome the challenges that cross our path. A testimony grows from understanding truth distilled from prayer and the pondering of scriptural doctrine. It is nurtured by living those truths with faith anchored in the secure confidence that the promised results will be obtained” (“The Transforming Power of Faith and Character,” Ensign, Nov. 2010, 45–46).

Some More Family Fun!

Tony ping ponged his way in a ping pong tournament at the church on Saturday. We went to cheer him on.
I think he's the best ping pong-er ever.

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I even got to play him and so did the Max. This was after it was over.

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We (the boys and I because Tony worked) went to a game night at the church. Ryan is wearing his new sweatshirt that he got. He loves frogs.

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And here he is sporting it at a bouncy place we went to tonight.

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There's Max coming down the slide.

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And going up another slide.

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Ryan kept going in and out of this bouncy house. He is my cautious one.

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Jumping with friends.

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Good Mom vs. Bad Mom

All moms go through times where they feel like good moms or bad moms. It's either the day or the time of day or whatever. I've been so exhausted lately from this pregnancy. Yesterday was really bad because I had this killer headache all afternoon/evening that made me feel really miserable and I fell asleep on the couch as Max watched shows and Ryan climbed on me. So that was bad mom day.

Today was much better. We had a play group at the church, went to Petsmart to look at the animals and to Target to get a bit of shopping done. Then we went for an adventure walk this afternoon (I was assessing the felled trees in our community to show the tree guy who will be coming out). Tonight Max worked on a new lego set and Ryan and I did puppets and strung wooden beads. It's nice to have good days like this because I' sooo glad to be feeling better and it helps ease the guilty feelings that were creeping in from yesterday.
Arent' they cute?

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Oh, and Max is REALLY good with legos. He just follows the instructions and puts them together all by himself. I'm having a hard time not going out and buying him more lego sets just to help him with this talent. He loves legos so much.

Snowmegeddon--Washington Style Part 2

So at first the snow was fun. Tony was disappointed when the big dump didn't come like it said it was going to...yet. Well, it started snowing early, early Wednesday morning and didn't stop for hours and hours (I can't remember). We were snowed in but did get to sled with friends which was fun. Then it snowed and we got so much ice. The snow and ice weighed down the power lines and broke so many trees. Many people were without power. In fact people from church were making lots of phone calls, kind of a calling tree to see who was without power and what was needed. We offered our guest room to some friends who were without power on Thursday night. They came over, had dinner, the kids played, we put them to bed and then we played games. Well at about 10 that night our power was out too. We played some more games by lantern light and then went to bed. The next morning Tony bought a propane space heater but we didn't want to spend another night in the cold so we went to Stacey's house. Some people got their power back that day, but we were still out. When we got back on Saturday morning, we had power, a car full of Costco groceries and Tony got busy helping some people saw up some felled trees. It was kind of crazy there for a day, burying our perishable food in the snow, heating water to wash dishes on the stove (thank goodness for a gas stove). It was like we were camping in our own home. So even though there were major setbacks and destruction because of our snow/ice, etc., I thought this picture was a fun, tongue-in-cheek way to laugh about it.
Two Feet of Snow in Seattle

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Snowmageddon--Washington Style!

We had snow on Sunday night and then again last night.
Here is the fun the boys had in the snow on Monday.

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GI Joe snowman.

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Today Max and Tony went sledding with friends while Ryan played a little bit in the snow but stayed warm with mom and friends. It was fun to have a snow day with friends. I'm also so grateful for our 4-runner. It is a great car to have in the snow.

Another Epic Battle!

We brought out the nerf guns again and this time Grandma was involved in the battle.

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Ryan would throw these monkey bombs.

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And Captain America used his shield to protect him.

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So much fun and it lasted a loong time!

Anniversary Time!

We really enjoyed spending time together. It is amazing what all you can see and do when you don't have to worry about naps. ; ) We love our boys to pieces but we also haven't had a whole lot of alone time so it was so nice. We didn't go far because we just had one night but we still had fun memories. We went to a few places in Seattle that we'd never been.
Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. Awesome!

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This is the first totem pole being carved in Seattle in 78 (I think that's right) years.

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At the Seattle Aqariium:
A big octopus

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I love little sea horses.

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This was part of the salmon ladder. These salmon were in part of a tank above our heads. We loved that some were all lined up.

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The underwater dome.

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Sea otters.

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At the gift shop.

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A cool show they do where the scuba diver can talk to the audience and teach us as well.

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We had so much fun together; parking adventures, lunch on the water front, a nice hotel, lots of walking and hand holding. Happy Anniversary!

Christmas Post Script

I didn't ever take a picture of this window during the Christmas season so before I scraped them off...

Max and I followed the tradition of Grandma Kate who used to paint on the front window. Our efforts were simpler in nature, but we had fun...

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Here's a close up of Max's elves that he drew and painted free hand.

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Let's Hear it for Our Boy!

Okay, I have some other pictures that need to be posted, but this is the one I'm MOST excited about! Meet Baby Boy Epperson #3! Tony and I seem to be very good at making cute little boys! :)

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Tony, Max, Ryan, Grandma Kate and I went to the OB office today. I was hoping that the ultrasound technician didn't live on the top of some steep hill so that they wouldn't come in today because of the snow. So even though the OB office opened late, they opened and the ultrasound tech was there! Everything looks great for our baby boy! We got to see a healthy heartbeat and lots of wiggling around!

Happy Unbirthday to Max!

Max has a summer birthday. Parents got to sign up to celebrate their kid's summer birthday sometime during the school year. We celebrated Max's on Monday. I tried to get all Martha-y (haha) but my attempts are always far from Martha. Oh well. It was fun anyways. Here are Max's airplane cupcakes. They're flying through the cloudy sky.

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Getting sung to.

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Blowing out the candles.

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Yum Yum

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Happy 7th Anniversary to us!

Tony was supposed to have worked the weekend of our anniversary but it turned out that he didn't have to. However, we had already made plans to celebrate the next weekend so we went to a birthday party and on a family treasure hunt. Then on Sunday, our actual anniversary, we went to church and relaxed. We got some alone time in there too, but really it was just a fun, family weekend. I get to count my blessings everyday that I have such a wonderful husband. I wouldn't trade him for anything. Just check out how he spent the evening of our anniversary.

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What a wonderful man!

Ephiphany!

In France, they celebrate Epiphany or the day the 3 kings (Magi) came to visit the baby Jesus. They have a Gateau des Rois (King cake). It usually has a little truc (bean or a little toy) baked in. Whoever gets the piece of cake and finds the little toy gets to be king for the day. I just made a simple breakfast cake. I'm sure some year I'll get fancier and use a french recipe but the breakfast cake was good. Ryan found the truc (piece of foil) and...we got to talk with Max several times that day about how it's okay for others to win.

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My trusty sidekicks...or am I the Sidekick? :)

This is what happens when I ask my boys to show me their muscles.

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I love that Max is in his too big pants.
And here is Max as Captain America.

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I'd trust this guy to defend me any day. Maybe he can beat away these pregnancy hormones that make me want to cry for no reason sometimes. Take that! And that!

Reflections as the New Year Begins

Here are my musings but the 6 posts after are me playing catch up on the last couple of weeks. I got a little sick at the beginning of the New Year and I've just been cleaning up from Christmas and getting back into the routine of things but I've been thinking lately about finding joy in life. There is this talk that I love and it talks about finding joy now. I feel like I'm so lucky to have friends who see the positive things in life; they are kind, supportive, helpful and giving. I've been able to see people who are not so supportive and positive. In fact, they seem entitled for whatever reason and I've just been perplexed. I realized that it doesn't matter how anyone else is or acts, what's important is my reaction. So even if someone else can't see the positive and be happy about what is, I can. I don't need to react to anyone's negativity or become upset by it, so I won't. People have real trials and I don't see the need to be unhappy over little things. There is another talk by Elder Uchtdorf called "Forget Me Not". There is a part that I love where he says, 'The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy.". So, I choose to be happy and see the beauty of everyday. There is so much I have to be thankful for.

Birch Bay Part 2

We explored the historic Fairhaven district of Bellingham.

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When I got the times wrong on the opening of the museum after we had just paid for parking, we knew we'd need something to tie the boys over before the museum. We saw this cool place across the way called Rocket Donuts.

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It had fun decor and Tony and Doug split a Monster Donut.

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Then we visited Mindport which is a museum which allows exploration and creativity. The exhibits are handmade and very cool. Ryan spent a lot of time sending balls through different tubes, lol. Water play was also a favorite.

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Here are some other highlights.

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Tony used to eat at Coconut Kenny's when he worked for Horizon and worked at the Bellingham airport so he wanted to take us there. I just snapped a few pics of my silly boys.

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Then Grandma Kate and I took Ryan home for a little siesta while Tony, Doug and Max wen to the Heritage Flight Museum. I won't post EVERY pic :)

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A beautiful sunset across the street from our hotel.

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Exploring Semiahmoo Bay, just a small jaunt north from Birch Bay.

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We walked along this spit of land and loved having water on both sides. I saw a Blue Heron. We were teaching the kids about tides. This is at high tide.

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Lots of fun exploring and jumping.

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The boys found this driftwood sticking up and of course it became an airplane yoke.

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My favorite memory of the morning. I took this pic of Max and then he excitedly came running up to me a bit later and said, "Mom, the ocean was nice to me. I threw this wood in and it washed it and brought it back to me." :)

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We came to the same spot at low tide so the boys could see the difference. First we admired Mt. Baker.

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Then we explored.

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We saw our first live sand dollar!

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Someone had made this awesome driftwood fort which we had to explore.

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And then we saw floating lanterns which people were sending off. It was so cool.

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It inspired us to have yummy New Year's Eve dinner,

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and then watch Tangled! Then we tucked the boys into bed, ate yummy food, played cards, watched TV, watched a homemade fireworks show outside that we thought might take out our hotel building and called out and cheered off the balcony at midnight. It was a fun and relaxing New Year's Eve celebration!