Friday Was Friend Day

The boys and I packed up with Tallie and her boys to go visit the Schows and meet the newest baby friend, Savannah.
Here are the boys and Venna all comfy cozy.

From July 2011

Sweet baby Savannah

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Jennica and Landon

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Darling friends to be, Savannah and Venna

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Too cute

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Lots of buddy time

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And later that day....

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Oh my goodness, I love Harry Potter and the ending was so good!!! It is kind of sad that I can't look forward to more books and movies but I plan on getting a nice set of the hardcover books someday and re-reading them over and over!

Happy Bastille Day!

I haven't always been good at remembering to celebrate Bastille Day the 10 and a half years (gulp) that I've been home from my mission, but I always try to remember. Today, we sang along to our French kids music CD and colored the French flag and the Eiffel Tower. I did not explain the gory history, we just talked about the fun stuff, much like I did on the 4th of July.
Here are my cute boys with their pictures. Instead of cheese, they shouted, "Bonjour"

From July 2011

My boys tried Brie on pieces of a baguette. Ryan was not a fan. Max thought it was butter at first because it was so soft. He liked it okay as long as it was just a little cheese on the bread. They had no problem with the cookies "biscuits" of course. They were yummy!

From July 2011

The best part of Bastille Day was learning that there is going to be a temple built in Paris!

From July 2011

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.leparisien.fr/yvelines-78/un-temple-mormon-a-la-place-d-edf-12-07-2011-1529224.php

Rock Climbers

My kids love playdates and new parks. Max was fearless. It's too bad I never got a picture of him as King of the Mountain.
Max is on the left with his bicycle helmet still on.

From July 2011

Even the little ones were really brave!

From July 2011

Lots of Little Things

The last couple of days has been filled with working out and playing with friends. I tried a new cardio kick-boxing class which is a great workout. Today I did strength training and then pilates. My body says thank you but it is sore. The boys have played with friends. Today, I watched my friends little ones. Our kids are the same ages so it's really fun. I also organized a bunch of closets. It truly is s simple pleasure to me to be organized. My linen closet was not so pretty and then I down sized and rearranged and brought the kids' games over to this closet to make more room in the guest room. Here's what it looks like now:

From July 2011

I love it. The boys and I played, did the Highlights magazine together and wrestled (or fiercely cuddled). Lots of giggles, lots of stuff accomplished, lots of exercise. It was a great day.

Slip 'n' Slide Saturday--How we Conquered the Dirty Dash

If you like to run in races, this is a fun one to do--the Dirty Dash--
It's fun to go to the website and just read the info on it. Our friend Tallie rallied a few of us together to do the race. Lots of people dressed in costumes. The kids got to do "the Piglet Plunge" and go through the mud too. Our race was supposed to be a 10K but we don't think it was actually that far. There were tons of obstacles to crawl over or slide down. Definitely a fun (and tiring) race.
Tony and Mark (Tony's first race post plane crash and he did awesome). Thanks Tal for watching our boys.

From July 2011

Heather, me and our cheerleaders, Tallie and Venna (I was sad to not get a pic with Kara--I'll have to wait for Tal's pics)

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The boys playing during some down time.

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Relaxing our dirty selves

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A pic of the giant slip 'n' slide from the distance

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The muddy pond we trudged through

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Heather's girls posing before the race

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Max in some mud

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and a video. Max didn't want to go in the mud at first but afterwards he ran back to go back in.


And then tonight we had a very impromptu get together and Max got to ride the go-cart

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The boys enjoyed some yummy dessert

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And no pics, but I got to hold sweet baby Venna. I was in absolute heaven.

Party Rock is in the House Tonight!

As my sweet boys listen to primary songs to fall asleep, I'll show that we were having another dance party here tonight. Thanks to Tony, this song is always stuck in our heads, so we decided to start shufflin...

My boys haven't seen the whole video, but here it is:

Something Out of the Ordinary for Sure

Today we had a visit from the Renton Fire Department. They had some questions about our community and so I was able to give them the information they needed. They then offered to give Max a tour of their fire truck parked outside. He was chatting away with the fire fighters, looking into the infrared camera, seeing where all the hoses are kept, etc. He got some stickers that looked like badges for he and Ryan. He couldn't wait to call daddy and tell him all about it.

From July 2011

The boys then go to play with friends while I did one of my volunteer visits. They had a great time.