Trip to Washington

Our road trip was suppose to start early Saturday morning, but Mother Nature had different plans. Storms were moving quickly into Wyoming Friday morning and we new if we didn't get out the door and head north the North Dakota, we weren't going to make it. So we quickly headed out the door. I am not going to lie, from Omaha, Nebraska to Clarkston, Washington was a really long drive. There isn't a way to sugar coat it, but the kids a great job with such a long drive, especially Matt who at 9 months won the prize of best traveler. We ended up taking 2 1/2 days driving to Washington.

Every moment of everyday seemed to be filled with plans of fishing, adventure, and family time while we were there. Activities included but not limited to: golfing, fishing, feeding ducks, dying Easter Eggs, boat ride, Easter Egg Hunt, riding horses, visiting Grandma Porter at school, riding scooters, visiting our friends the Krohn's, flying kites, watching movies, going to see Indian paintings, and playing the Wii. I am sure I left things out but it was such a wonderful time.

Riding Horses

Easter Egg Hunt

Flying Kites

Dying Easter Eggs

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Indian Paintings

Boat Ride and Fishing

Drive to Washington - Pit Stop, one of many

Grandma Porter Comes to Visit

Grandma Porter came to visit and drove with us back to Washington, what a brave woman!!!

On the Move

Yesterday Matt and I were downstairs on the ground level, where he can't crawl to any stairs and accidentally fall down them. So I went out to the garage to get something, and came into a major surprise. I was only in the garage for a moment and he was way on the other side of the room. When I came in I was shocked I couldn't see him in the room. I heard a little squeal behind me and there he was climbing UP the stairs. I now realize that I need to worry about my baby not only accidentally falling down the stairs, but also climbing up them as well.

Yes that is my 8 1/2 month old climbing the stairs by himself.

If you are reading this and saying, gee it's time for her to put up the gate, you are probably right, except that we have never owned one. I do I agree though, it is either time to get a gate or teach him to crawl backwards down the stairs as well.

Visit with Patty, Joshua, & Jaeden

Bradley, Jaeden, William, Joshua, & Kyle

Smile :)

Kyle, Jaeden, Joshua, & Bradley petting an alligator

William petting an alligator

William riding the Gorilla

Patty and her two sons, Joshua and Jaeden, stopped and visited with us as they made their way to Colorado. We went to the zoo and park while our house was showed 3 times on Saturday. Thanks for understanding Patty. The boys had a fun time running around and looking at all of the animals. We had so much fun seeing them and can't wait to do it again sometime soon.

Popsicles

A couple of weeks ago we had some kids with the stomach flu, so Grandma Fredericks graciously went to the grocery store and bought us a few necessary items to get us through the stomach flu, including a big bag of Popsicles. That night we put William to bed and thought he was down for the night. Later on Joe and I went to bed. Matt had woken up so I was feeding him downstairs when Joe was greeted by a sad little boy in our room. William had come in all wet. Joe changed him and put him back in bed. I put Matt back in bed and William came out. He was saying wet, wet. I went to his bed and felt his bed was all wet. I turned on the hall light and the realisation hit; William had gone to the freezer and gotten the entire bag of popsicles and took them to bed with him. He had fallen asleep with them and they had melted all over the place. They luckily had melted all over his sheets and not onto the floor. I scooped up the sheets and through them in the garbage, they were a lost cause of yellow, blue, green, red, and purple goo all over the sheets. I put new sheets on the bed and he went back to bed. The next morning I was getting him dressed and his entire right side looked like it was bruised from all the dye. I thought, "Oh I better not take you out in public today!" He soaked in the tub for a long time that day and the "bruise" washed away.

Matthew Starting to Crawl

This is what Matthew has been doing all week and he gets faster each day.

The Circus

The four boys with their wigs and noses

The Silly Clowns

William the Clown

Matthew the Clown

The Sac Credit Union gave out clown wigs, clown noses and $3 off coupons for the Circus, so we took advantage of it and went to the Circus last night. William sat on the edge of his seat most of the time with his wig on enjoying the show while Bradley and Kyle were laughing a lot. All four boys had a great time watching the magic show, the clowns, the Elephants (Williams favorite), the guy shot of a canon (Bradley & Kyle's favorite), the trapeze, and best of all Cotton Candy.

Matthew

Matthew Smiling at Janette

Matthew Smiling for the camera

4th picture Tag

So I have gotten tagged a few times to do this so here you go. You are suppose to get the fourth picture in the fourth folder where you hold your pictures on your computer. So here is the picture. It is of my brother Bill and Sister in law Lisa and their three cute boys, Sammy, Michael, and Ben on the day that Ben was blessed.

So I am actually going to tag people. Let see. . . Diana McInelly, Brittney Lund, Patty Hansen, and Malia Reeves.

Congratulations to our MBA Graduate

Joe has worked really hard and graduated with his MBA in Finance this month. He started taking one class at a time, and 4 years later he is done. I am so proud of him, and how hard he worked. It was hard with kids, and each time we had another, it got that much harder. Joe wasn't really interested in walking in graduation, but after a very small discussion he agreed that it was important for the the boys to see him walk and celebrate his graduation. We hope that our boys will have an appreciation for education and the importance it is for them to get as much education as they can. Joe is really looking forward to not having homework, (classes don't officially end for another 2 weeks) but has already talked about getting his CFA, a Series 7 License, who knows what else. For now we agree, a short break would be good. I am so proud of how hard Joe works, and his insight to getting a higher education so that I can be where we think I should be, at home with our kids. Way to go Joe!

Here are a few pictures from graduation.

Matt wearing Joe's Hat.
Dad showing off his degree

Kyle taking pictures during the graduation. I wish I could have seen all the pictures he was taking and how things looked from his point of view, but when I check his camera they were all deleted. He would take a picture and say, "That was really a good one!" or "Wow great shot!" After the ceremony we caught him taking random pictures of people who were poised for other cameras.

If you listen you can hear them says Joe's name!

Tim Hula Hooping

Tim showing off his Hula Hooping skills on the Wii Fit

Tim & Kyle showing off Tim's High Score

Tim might hula hoop funny, but he was having the last laugh since he holds the high score record. He had no idea I was filming him, so listen carefully at the end of the video clip.

Smell No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

click on picture to view bruises and cuts

Bradley, Kyle and William last week either bruised and/or cut their faces. Only Matthew survived the week without any facial injuries. No Pat we did not beat our boys. Bradley went decided to go sledding on the remaining snow that we had next to the driveway. When he went down the hill and onto the driveway, which did not have any snow, his face met the pavement hence the nice road burn on the nose. Kyle being Kyle fell down the stairs. William was playing in his room and bonked his chin on something giving him a nice bruise, which was done over a week ago.