Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I Got Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Gina and thought I can do this....I hope (remember anyways!)

20 Years ago.....(1988)

20 years ago I was 11 and going into the 6th grade at Sunrise Elementary. I lived in the same house my Parents live in now. My younger sisters were 8 and 6 and my older sister was 13. Looking back at these ages now as a Mom.....WOW! How did my mom do it? I played the trumpet in the band at school, loved going to Sunday School, played on a soccer team, spent every holiday with my family, cousins, Aunt and Nannie and Poppie, and loved hanging out with my friends in my neighborhood. My sisters and I had love/hate relationships at this age and I loved to wear Naomi's clothes to school. (Cool, older sister). I had shoulder length permed hair with bangs (Cute!)

10 Years ago.....(1998)

10 years ago I was 21 going into my 4th year at Central Washington University. I guess you could say my senior year, but it took me a couple extra quarters to graduate. I was working on finishing my elementary and health education degrees. I lived with my friend Dena in an apartment, upstairs from Shannon, across from 18th Street Deli (for my fellow bloggers that know Ellensburg). Yes....Shawn and I were dating (I think) - we had a few break-ups!

What else can I say?...I was finally 21! I had some good times with some really good friends!

5 Years ago....(2003) Oh how the years start to run together!

5 years ago I was 26 and Shawn and I were actually celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary! (August 4th). Shawn and I had been living in our first home in Puyallup for a year. We spent alot of our time with eachothers families and going on many family vacations! I was just starting my Masters Program. I was teaching 5th Grade at Brookdale Elementary in the Franklin Pierce School District.

3 Years ago....(2005)

3 years ago I was 28 and gave birth to my first born, Jackson! I was soooo happy to be a "Mommy!" He was such an easy baby, I loved every minute of everyday....I still do:) I was very blessed to be able to stay at home and teach part-time. That year I job shared 1st grade at Collins Elementary in the Franklin Pierce School District with my dear friend Heidi! These past 3 years have probably been the fastest so far. I guess your kids growing up will do that to you!

This past year.....(2008)

This past year has been busy! Shawn and the kids and I moved. Our baby girl, Ellee, turned 1. Jackson turned 3. I still teach 1st grade part time at Collins, Shawn got a new job at Hilti at the same time of our move-CRAZY! He had a 3 week job-training in December in Tulsa Oklahoma-again CRAZY! We also began attending Calvary Community Church in Sumner on a regular basis.

On a sad note....Shawn's Mom has been battling breast cancer this year. She has 3 more rounds of Chemo sessions-Then we're going to PARTY with her!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was Monday, July 28th .........(Thomas McGowan's 2nd Birthday)

Yesterday the kids and I were in Olympia at my Aunt Lois's house with my sisters, cousins and their kids. We spent the entire day at the beach with everyone, the weather was really warm. We went on a walk, looked for shells, stepped on squirty clams (that's what the kids call them-I think they may be called razor clams?)and also looked for crabs and agates (a type of rock). My sister Heidi took Jackson Kayaking. The kids played in the water and dug in the sand while my sisters, cousins and Aunt and I soaked up the great weather and eachother! What a great day, but boy were we tired-The adults of course:)

Tomorrow....

Tomorrow I will be going back to Olympia to hang out with my family and make dinner for everyone. Tomorrow morning though I will be watching my sisters kids, Sophia and Parker for awhile. I hope to get all of my errands done as well. (That usually doesn't happen)

Next year...

Next year I will continue to teach 1st grade part time and be with my 2 beautiful children! I will be entering into the world of Preschool....actually Jackson will:) I will be going to Palm Desert with some great girlfriends! (Can't wait) I hope to help Shawn finish some indoor projects we have put off this summer as well! This next year I really just hope to enjoy my wonderful family and friends!

I tag....Lindsey, Rebecca, Shannon and Rachel!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

14 months

Ellee took 8 steps today!!!!!
We'll keep you posted....

Boating

We went boating with our friends Jack, Shannon and Brad.

Jack and Jackson had so much fun!





Jackson attempted to drive the boat.



We even managed to catch a crab! The boys thought it was funny to touch it.

We told them the crab was going to sleep and come home with us. Jackson wanted to bring him home and eat him. He loves to eat crab!


Shannon & Jack


Shawn & Jackson


Great views of Mt. Rainier in the Port of Tacoma





Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Cousins

This was Ellee's first time in the bounce house at my Aunt Lois' house in Olympia. She loved it and was very proud of herself!

Parker Diseth (21 months)

My Cousins and their families are here to visit for summer vacation. We have so much fun with all of them. There are 8 little ones ranging from 14 months to 4 years old. This was one of our days together. The kids had so much fun on the slip and slide, the bounce house and even roasting marshmallows. We will be seeing more of them at the end of July. We can't wait!

WOW.....What Fun!!!!

The campfire

Caleb Brown (4 years old)

Yum....smores!

My Aunt Lois & Breyden Felber (23 months)

My cousin Aimee Brown & Jackson
roasting marshmallows


Cade Felber (4 years old)

Sophia Diseth (4 years old)

Jeremy Brown with his kiddos. They live in Hawaii.




Ella Brown (19 months) & Ellee (14 months)

More to come for sure......

Posted by Picasa

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Lake Chelan




The kids and I took off for a few days with our good friends Rebecca, Jacob and Ava to Lake Chelan to visit our good friends Leah, Tate and Crue. We all had a blast! Everyone had so much fun playing in the water and with eachother.


Jacob and Tate are 5. Jackson is 3. Crue and Ava are 2 and Ellee is 1.

This was Ellee's first time in a pool and she absolutely loved it. It was also her first time playing in the sand. (She was too young last summer when we went to Michigan (Lake Superior). She pretty much enjoyed eating the sand and putting other odd things in her mouth. Jackson enjoyed going on the paddle boat with Tate and Jacob as the captains.

Rebecca, Leah and I even managed to visit and actually finish some conversations! (Maybe 2). It was great to see Leah, since we don't get to see her very often. Get ready for us again Leah-it was fun!
Thanks Girls!

Monday, July 07, 2008

It's Mine


Ellee finally has a baby cradle. It was mine when I was younger.
She has been starting to play with her cabbage patch babies-feeding and kissing them. So I figured she was ready for the cradle. She apparently thought it was for her to climb in with her babies.

What a good Mommy!
Posted by Picasa

My Boys

Could you sleep like this?
I came home to this the other night...Jackson said he was scared of the fireworks. (This was July 5th.) He was not scared on the 4th ~ He absolutely loved the fireworks!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!

My Sister-In-Law, Katie is getting married August 9, so of course we had to have a Bachelorette Party....In VEGAS!!!!
We had a blast!
(from left to right: Shawn and Katie's cousin Jami from Minnesota, the Bride, Katie, me and Tina our Sister-In-Law)

We did too much to share everything and it was a Bachelorette Party -so not all should be shared!
We enjoyed time in the sun with the entire group. There were 10 of us girls. We also did alot of exploring, gambling, eating, dancing etc. etc.
Tina and I also went and saw the musical "Mama Mia" It was awesome-you gotta love ABBA!

I truly saw alot in Vegas!
Posted by Picasa