Seattle-Chelan Vacation.

Chelan Washington July 3rd-11th
Redmond Washington July 11th-13th.

We always enjoy going back to Seattle. After living there for 8.5 years we have alot of fond memories and great friends and family we miss dearly.  We had such a great time at the lake and always wish for more time to get to see everyone.  Here are a few highlights of our trip.

There is no better place to watch the fireworks then on the boat. It's so magical!!!

We got to meet Marks girlfriend Sarah.  Gavin adored her she was super cute with him.

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We can't go to Seattle without stopping at the Lego store.

Smores with the worlds biggest marsh mellows. Best messy smores EVER!!!

Skiing into the sunset.  Doesn't get any better then that.

Gavin LOVES being on the boat.

The boys swam all day long!!!

Got room for one more? We always had a full boat that's for sure.

Best snow cones EVER!!

Even Trevor thinks so :)..

All the older kids enjoying their treat.

Pizza at the park always a family favorite.

The boys spent Hr's and Hr's digging them a hot tub.

Celebrating all the June and July b-days!!!

Ryan discovered the little charcoal grill. He became a BBQing fool. But we were all so glad it was so good.!!!

Loving my buddy on the boat

Brother time!!!

Gavin sampling Josh's Maui waui ice cream to see if he wants that kind too.

I love the peaceful beauty of this lake.

Took the younger two tubing.  Almost killed myself.

Josh gave this trip a thumbs up.

Uncle Fernando came to my rescue and took Gavin tubing.  Thanks again Fernando.

Got to see Grandpa's new business venture.  Garage plus. I  Don't think he'll ever fully retire :)..

Had the BEST dinner ever at aunt Keri's.  The boys loved playing together.  It was so loud with all those boys.

A great place to keep everyone PUT!!

Grandma took the boys to this trampoline place to get all their wiggles out!! They had a BLAST.

I thought this was a great place to catch up on my smut.  The only time I read these magazines and I found this for free on the plane.  Only EVERYONE made fun of me.  But it's OK I still enjoyed it.

Say What?  Love when Trevor makes a double chin.

Gotta have Gelato!!  Only the best in the world is in Seattle

It even makes Ryan happy.

Trevor's highlight of the trip.  Well except for Playing with his cousins.  He LOVED driving the boat and sea doo's.   Couldn't get the kid off of them.

Ryan and I got to Celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary at Ryan's all time favorite restaurant.  We also got to go out with our great friends and Cousins Brett and Jami.  It was so good to see them I miss them like Crazy!!

Grandma and Grandpa remodeled the Big house.  It turned out amazing!!

Nutella fruit dip

Someday I'll get around to making a recipe blog. I LOVE trying new recipes and got some pretty amazing ones in the mix :). But I keep getting asked for this fruit dip so I thought I would post it. It's so good. I love it with bananas seeing how banana nutella crepes are my all time favorite. But strawberries, pineapple and even blueberries came in a very close 2nd. The boys love it on apples and oranges and I think I could even get them to eat kiwi with this stuff. Pretty amazing.



Nutella Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
Adapted from In Mama’s Kitchen
Makes approx. 1/2 cup

Ingredients
3 tablespoons Nutella
3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk

Method
Thoroughly mix Nutella, cream cheese and salt until no streaks of cream cheese remain. Mixture may be a little grainy-looking. Slowly add milk a bit at a time and stir until milk is thoroughly mixed in. You should end up with a nice smooth, creamy dip for your fruit. Store in refrigerator. To soften up the dip after removing from the refrigerator, just stick it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds.

Fathers day.

Ok I totally blew fathers day this year. Usually I make Ryan breakfast in bed after letting him sleep in cook one of his favorite dinners, and try to spoil him all day.
This year we were both on a diet so the eating thing SUCKED and I was so exhausted after Trevors party and Joshua's party I was the one that took the nap.
I'm so glad he was understanding and spent the time playing with his boys. After all it is celebrating being a dad and what a better way to celebrate then to be with your kids :).. I love this man so much and so do the boys. We couldn't of asked for a better Husband and Dad.

My sitting room.

This is for you Mom. I finally finished the sitting room. I think it's now my favorite room in the house it's so relaxing and peaceful. Can't wait until I get the real pictures up then it will be complete but what I have will do for now.

Josh is SEVEN.

This is only one section of 3 sections of the water park.





Gavin just wanted to go on the water slides and not wait for pictures.

Two days after Josh turned 4 we moved to Texas. I can't believe 3 years have gone by so fast. Josh is still the sweet loving fun going child. But every now and then he can be such a stinker. He likes to tell Fish tales and they are usually whoppers. He is such a funny kid and has some of the best 1 liners of anyone I've ever met. Kids love love love to be around Josh because he always makes everyone feel so welcome. He's such a delight and I'm so happy he's mine.
Since his b-day this year fell on fathers day we celebrated his b-day on Saturday. This year we wanted to do a family party and Josh has been dieing to go to Schlitterbahn so we decided now was the perfect time. We had such a GREAT time. Unfortunately we only took one picture as we were getting ready to go on the rides and forgot to check out the pictures they take of you as you explore the park so I don't have very many pictures to document our trip but everyone left exhausted with a perma grim and haven't stopped talking about it ever since. So I think it was a smashing success.
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THEY BUILD THE ONE 10 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE!!! We will bet getting season passes for sure :).



We let him open presents before we left knowing he was getting a DSI and it's a hr. drive there. So it was nice to let him play and we didn't have to hear "are we there yet 700 times." Unfortunately on the way home we got the boys ice cream and Josh was so tired he was dosing off playing and eating ice cream and didn't notice his ice cream melting all over his DSI. Yup it broke it. That was one expensive hr. He was so upset so hopefully we can get it fixed. It was only played once and he has been waiting a very long time for that. Poor little guy. He also got the WII nerf gun and game that's keeping him occupied.

Scout Camp 3rd year.

Trevor's having a great time at scout camp. the 1st day wasn't the best but he's liking it better now. His favorites were the solar ovens they made and cooked smores in. And he loves the archery and shooting. (hum wonder where he got that from?). Ryan was so kind to go with him this year even during his year end he found the time. Thanks Ry. Trevor was so happy you could be there for him. And it was alot easier they trying to juggle around the two younger two.





This picture makes me laugh so hard. I have no clue who the kid is that digging for gold. But I love Micah's face watching him do it. All I can say is I'm glad it's not Trevor.

I had to throw this picture in here. Trevor's new DSI takes pictures and this is what he created. We laughed so hard. He would make a great sumo wrestler don't you think?

I hate WATER!!!

Today one of my worst fears came true. I'm super paranoid around water. I've had a cousin that drown, it rocked my family pretty hard. We had a sweet little girl in our ward drown, and my mom's best friends grandson drown. All extremely lasting effects on my fear of water and kids. I've had Gavin in swim lessons for two months and I always put the older boys in for two weeks. With it being hot here in Texas the only relief you can get is to go to the pool. I'm like a hawk and stay right next to Gavin but I turn my back for two seconds and there he goes. Sinks to where I had to jump in and save him. I don't even know how long he was under but he was gasping for air and crying super hard after I pulled him out. I've been shaking ever since. A couple of years ago I had to save Josh in the lake when he had his life jacket on he wouldn't let go of a rock he wanted and it was keeping him under. I kept the rock and I'll never forget that moment. I'm sure glad they are both OK. But that's two times to many. It makes me even more worried about the water.
Gavin's been hanging on to me all day saying. "you saved me." I'm sure glad it turned out the way it did. I love these little guys more then I can ever express. My heart is full of gratitude I get to be a Mom to some pretty amazing kids. I hope I can always keep them safe.