Seattle with Sadeth's Family

Our friends, Sadeth and David, were coming in from an Alaskan cruise to the Port of Seattle on Saturday, so we took a trip up north to see them off the ship and visit the city a bit before they flew home to California. We had a great time hanging out downtown!
Their son, Matthew, is already 14 years old (I've known him for 5 years already!). Jared enjoyed being with him, because, after all, this was the boy who gave Jared a box full of Bakugan toys last Christmas at their family party. Jared remembered him well because that was such a cool present. Matthew would also show Jared cool Wii games when I'd go over to visit teach, and Jared remembers that, too. The boys banded together to secure a trip to an ice cream store at Pike Place Market. They definitely won that request. Jared loves strawberry ice cream and was thrilled to get a waffle cone with it. Ah, the little pleasures of life.
We should have brought our cellos! It was PACKED. A beautiful, hot, sunny day in Seattle on Memorial Day weekend? Oh yeah. The people were definitely out.
A happy dance at the market next to the totem poles.
We also drove out to Snoqualmie Falls, which brought back many memories of the ski school bus (which always smelled of diesel, graham crackers and oranges) and family outings. It was almost tragic that the beautiful rustic road out to the lodge and falls was being built up with California-style tract homes and strip malls. Not quite what you'd expect to see out there. But the rest of the drive was gorgeous!
A few family photos at the Seattle Temple...(really located in Bellevue, but I digress...)
And a photo in the little grove of trees on the temple grounds. We couldn't catch Jared long enough to be in this photograph. And even Laura doesn't seem too thrilled about being stuck on my lap for a picture. Sigh.
The rest of our time was driving and enjoying. Next time we'll stop and visit some old friends from Washington. I think that was the only part that was missing on this trip.

Our Old House

Memorial Day Weekend: we went on a family road trip up to Seattle and visited our old house! It looked beautiful and the foliage was amazing, even though it blocked our view of the back of the house. It was a walk down memory lane for sure! The yard is still amazing, the cul-de-sac is something to be envied by those with young children (Jared was very impressed that it was a double cul-de-sac!), and the house itself looked beautiful with its brick-and-tulip front face. Loved seeing it!
Look how big that little tree on the left has grown in the past 17 years!
Jared chasing the Canadian Geese at Lake Sammamish, where our family used to go to swim and water ski when we were kids. We ate a picnic breakfast there on Saturday morning. Beautiful!
Backyard fun back at our house. Laura LOVES this little cozy coupe car. Jared LOVES swinging in the hammock Tom puts up on sunny days. We're thinking with some chickens, a few blueberry bushes, and a trampoline, our backyard will be pretty fun for the kids!

Dallin's 2nd birthday photos

We're a bit behind in our photo downloading, but we couldn't let these cute photos pass us by! Here are some shots we took at the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) where the Pearsons and Prices met up for Dallin's 2nd birthday in April.

There is a great Ancient Egypt display there. Here are the three kids on a camel in the "desert".
Playing in the water works section.
Lindsay (baby was 17 weeks here), birthday boy Dallin and Emily!

Baby Elise

Is getting old! Between misplacing camera, forgetting where the cord is, and not wanting to stop looking at her long enough to get the camera out, pictures of her babyhood are few and far between. So here's some catch up:

This was taken shortly after Christmas. Elise is on the right, the other nakey baby is her cousin Brett who is about a month older.

Elise is about the happiest baby you'll ever know. She smiles just seeing one of us walk in the room. Although her cheeks are getting heavy and if she's tired she's a little slower to smile for strangers.

Dad's princesses all in pink PJs.

The girls like to hold her, although it's more like propping the baby against her sisters. They really aren't that much bigger than she is.

Can you see about 5 dimples on her chin(s)? Her whole face scrunches up when she smiles. And those CHEEKS! (I wasn't sure if you noticed those)

She can lift herself up on her arms and she now rolls around (from front to back, not the other way yet) and can scootch in circles. No crawling yet, but that's ok by me.

Aaaaaaannnnd here are the rolls. I love having a chubby baby. She has really fattened up since we were at home over Christmas. This is the face she gives when we are out and about: No smiling, just matter of fact, and taking in everything.

We are smitten

Thiel Family Photos

Well the Magnolia tree in the backyard blossomed, so recruiting the help of one of Nathan's coworkers and in between rain showers we got a few family pictures. (And yes we did slap a bow on the baby's head so you can tell she's a girl.)

The "silly" one is Claire's favorite. She let me know that she doesn't like any of the others, so we had to include it.

The girls (well actually Claire initially and Daryn copies everything) ask to climb the tree and I thought we could recreate an old photo of me in the lemon tree. So cute... except Claire wasn't a happy camper once in the tree. I could show you the several pictures of her clutching the tree and asking to come down all with a worried look on her face but we finally coaxed a smile out of her - and got her down right afterward. Daryn also got a turn, of course. We think they're pretty cute.