The Hottest Week

Things have been getting pretty hot up here in WA. This last week we broke the record, Seattle at 103 degrees and Auburn was at 104 or 105. Now that's not newsbreaking unless no one has an air conditioner. And unfortunately, that is the case here! The house probably heated up into the 90's in the afternoon, so it really was too hot to do anything. The kids and I survived the first couple of days by doing our traditional otter pops and letting the kids run in the sprinklers,

at least we kept our planters nice and wet!

But by Wednesday when we had the record breaker we just couldn't take it anymore. We went to go see "Up" in the theater. We don't usually see movies in the theater, much less pay full price, but the kids and I were desperate. We got popcorn and even got a DQ ice cream cone to share in the mall afterwards. One of the hardest parts was getting the kids to go to sleep at night when they were sweating in their beds. Not too fun! But that is over now and it has cooled back into the 80's, thank goodness. If we have another summer like this next year, I'll be feeling pretty motivated to spend the money to get an A/C unit installed!

Despite the heat, we did get a few things accomplished. We had the Crockett family over for lunch since they were in town for a family reunion. We haven't seen them since our days in Kansas and their kids are getting so big.

I also managed to work on my painting project in the mornings before it got too hot in the house. This frame started out a very brassy gold color. I wish I would have taken a "before" picture of it. But this is it after a couple coats of brown.....

And here it is all finished with some black and a gold rub in the middle. 100 times better, or at least, much more to my liking!

I loved this gold rub - so fun and easy to use! Much better. Now it has a touch of gold, not a ton of it.

We decided on pillows for the couch. These are great because they bring in the brown and red from "George."

(And can I just say that it is so funny to me when I see the kids do this. We finally have a nice big couch, a love seat, a big chair and ottoman, and they all like to sit in the chair together. Go figure!)

Then to top the week off, we went to see the Blue Angel air show in Seattle on Friday. It was very fun and very loud!

So I am happy to report that we survived and now we are trying to get our schedule back on track this week. We're definitely enjoying the 80's!

Smoothie Mayhem

This summer we've had some nice hot days (meaning close to 90 degrees). Now, for all you desert folk, I know that's not terribly hot. But when you don't have an air conditioner, that's pretty HOT! So the kids and I have been trying to keep cool in the afternoons. We have a little pool out back and a sprinkler and we've been making lots of smoothies. They're sure yummy and cool you right off. This particular day I made a concoction with berries, so it was a beautiful red color. Good thing Katelyn was in her swimsuit already. She made a mess!

Almost looks like she got into my lipstick

Little Lindsey didn't try to do this on purpose (the first time)....

but once Brandon noticed the common trend around the table he had to join in.

I thought my kids were clowns, and now my suspicions have been confirmed!

The 2nd Annual BYU MBA Social

Last summer we put together a social for BYU MBA people in the Seattle area. It was great! This year we did it again, but expanded it quite a bit. We had a great turnout. Some of the alumni that were able to make it dated back to 2007. The setting was perfect, the food was great and a good time was had by all.

What a great network to have!

Next year we will do it again, but we'll probably call it the LDS MBA Social, because that's really what we're after.

Mission accomplished!

As a side note, we held our get together at Newcastle Beach Park and it was beautiful! There was a sandy beach right next to our picnic area. We kept the kids out of the water for a long time, but eventually they found their way into the water a little at a time. Before we knew it, Brandon and Lindsey were soaked! Should have brought some towels.....

Oh well. They sure had fun!

A few more pictures of progress

Just to document some recent developments.....

We got a great chair/ottoman to match our couches for the family room. As you can see in the pics I'm now experimenting with pillows.

Justin put in our garden box, and it fits just perfectly!

We should have the other one in later this week.

We've got tomatoes,

green peppers,

sugar snap peas,

onions,

squash, cucumber, zuchinni

and watermelon.

Finally, I got around to making curtains for our windows by the front door. They still let in lots of light but give us a bit more privacy.

That's all for now!

Trip to Oregon

We are so glad that we were able to go to Oregon over the weekend for nephew Jaydan's baptism. It was neat for the kids to watch him get baptized and then we got to talk with them about it. We enjoyed spending some time with Justin's family.

The kids with cousin Jackson - a little blurry, but too cute to pass up

Brandon and Jaydan

The whole clan

Katelyn with Abigail and Kylan

Thanks for a great weekend family! The only downside was that our 4 1/2 hour trip home turned into over 7 hours because of the rain, accidents and traffic. But we finally made it!

Congratulations Jaydan!

Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th of July was really fun. Justin's parents and sister Luann came up to visit us on their way to Oregon for a baptism this next week. We loved having them here and showing them our new house! It was so nice to have room for them to stay comfortably and spread out a little bit. It was hot when they arrived, so we had to go out and get a couple more fans to help circulate the air around the house. You don't need air conditioning much, but when it's hot you really wish you had it.

On the 4th of July, we enjoyed a ward pancake breakfast with the fire department making an appearance. The kids enjoyed learning about the fire truck.

We also had fun at an Auburn 4th of July festival. The kids rode ponies, a little train, did bouncy toys and face painting while others in our party enjoyed the nice big shade trees.

We had a BBQ for dinner, watched "The Great Race" which is a classic! And then we drove off to the casino when it was dark to watch some of the fireworks. It was pretty crazy and quite a spectacle.

On Sunday Justin was put in as the ward mission leader, so that will keep him on his toes. We enjoyed a big dinner with our company, as well as Justin's cousins in the area.

On Monday we played up in Seattle doing Pike's Place Market and the Ballard Locks at the ship canal.

On Tuesday we went up to eat in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. I was pleasantly surprised! Expensive, but a very unique experience and fabulous food.

The kids rode a carosel and played at the International Fountain. Lindsey unintentionally got soaked!

And in between we relaxed, played games and ate lots of good home cookin'.

Thanks for visiting us family! We loved seeing you!