Locomotion

With the nicer weather showing up, more and more we are using every opportunity to get outside and enjoy it.

Seth has recently mastered the "peddle" and loves to whip around the circle in Grandma and Grandpa's driveway.

We introduced Ellie to one of Seth's scoot-around toys with a push handle and she can't get enough. Won't be long until she is up and running (or at least walking).

Sometimes it can turn into a real traffic-jam!

Rush Hour

Fanning the Flames

O.K., that is a dorky title, but its what came to mind so there it is.

Just before we got back to Washington from our little jaunt around the country last December, they enjoyed a couple of weeks in the deep freeze with the temp. down in the single digits (don't laugh too hard there in North Dakota- for Washington that is a deep freeze!)

During that time Mom and Dad's house was between renters and although Janice thought to run some heaters and leave the water at a trickle, we still ended up with a few frozen plumbing problems. The biggest issue turned out to be a cracked propane hot water heater. Its been running at a constant drip into the dirt basement ever since.

Well today was the day that Joel tackled the project!

We did some research on line and ask around and decided to go with a tankless hot water heater this time. So out with the old...

... and in with the new!

While Joel busy with his project, Seth had a little fun of his own. He and the neighbor (Mikey) wanted to roast some hot dogs. This was Seth's first time running a hot dog stick mostly on his own

and it looks like he did pretty good...

... until you see the other side (yuck!)

Dinner is served!

Happy First Year Ellie!

A year ago today, our sweet, spicy redheaded Ellie joined our eternal family.

What a joy it has been to watch her grow...

and grow...

and grow,

and develop into quite a little character.

She is just a hop, skip and a jump from stepping from the world of a baby

into our little toddler.

And boy did she enjoy her first birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Love your family,

Dad, Mom, Andrew, Sheridan, and Seth

Special Delivery

Joel received a package the other day with some diving fins he had ordered and was excited to open. The kids thought the fins were o.k., but the box was a true prize! Seth managed to get the packing tape off and proceeded to adorn both himself and Ellie with it.

They both paraded around pretty pleased with themselves...

until, that is, the time came for Mom to help rip it off!

Our ward put together an 'Emergency Preparedness' activity this last Saturday called "The Morning After". The idea being to help get everyone aware and prepared for things they might need to know and do after a big disaster hits our area.

I was ask to teach a class on 'Heirloom Gardening', or planting seeds and growing produce that you can collect seeds from to plant again the next year. (Something not nearly as easy and straight forward as it sounds and I thought it was!)

This is something that I knew nothing about, so I spent many hours looking stuff up and figuring it out. This book "Seed to Seed" was a great resource and I would highly recommend it to anyone who would like to harvest their own seeds.

As part of my class they ask me to have a plant start, to hand out to help people get started. They told me I could order starts and just turn in my receipts to the ward, but that seemed like a waste of money. I bought some heirloom sugar pumpkin seeds and containers and dirt and hoped I could get something to grow before my class.

Seth got in and got his hands dirty and helped me get all the dirt in the pots and even helped put the seeds in.

And Seth and I are glad to report that our efforts were a success! (and the class went well too)

I don't know that I will become the green thumb in the family, but it was fun to see something grow of our own efforts.

Aprils Activities: Eggs, Bananas & B.C.

Easter

Easter was a little busy with General Conference and all, so Sheridan and I took Seth and Ellie out the Saturday before for a little Easter Fun.

It was a beautiful, bright sunny day and Seth was ready to go!

Ellie on the other hand was keeping a low profile.

Last year when we went to a community egg hunt, we were walking from the truck to the field about 50 yards away when the horn sounded to start the hunt. By the time we arrived at the field there wasn't one egg left in sight. A dad felt sorry for us and made his kid put 2 eggs back on the ground so Seth could pick them up and put them in his basket. He was young and didn't know any difference, but this year we didn't take any chances. We found a hunt that only let a few children through at a time and would "re-plant" the field between each group.

Meet Seth- the Mighty Hunter!

Babies, Beds & Bananas

The time had finally come for all of us to make bed updates around here.

Ellie had outgrown her 'Moses Basket' on top of my nightstand, so she moved into the closet.

That booted Seth out, so he moved to the floor between the bed and the closet and at the same time upgraded to his cool new sleeping bag instead of just blankets.

Joel and I didn't change sleeping locations (ours is the only bedroom in the place), but our mattress, which we fell in love with when we bought the trailer 2 1/2 years ago, was starting to not treat us so well. With Joel's chronic back problems and fibromyalgia we needed something better. I had been looking into memory foam mattresses for a couple of months when I came across a Costco coupon for a $100 off one they carry. We decided to go for it.

We didn't make it to the store until around 7pm, so I suggested to Joel on the way home that we should just take the box inside for the night and then when we get up in the morning open it up and lay it out to give it time to "un-compact" all day long before we had to sleep on it. My wonderful honey had a better idea- open it just as soon as we get home (in his defense, he claims that the box wouldn't fit through the door so it had to be opened), lay it out on our existing mattress and then if it wasn't fully 'fluffed' by bedtime we would just sleep on top of both.

We stayed up until almost 2am but that mattress was still just about as far from ready as it could be. As we climbed into bed we had to find a semi-comfortable position on what looked and felt like a big banana. Not only were we sleeping on a lumpy mess, we were sleeping about 4 feet off the ground thanks to the doubled up mattresses.

Sorry to say we didn't get any pictures, but we slept with those doubled up mattresses for over a week before we got our old one out of here. We are really enjoying our new bed.

Our sleeping arrangements truly give meaning to the idea of 'family unity'!

The Vancouver B.C. Temple

As a ward activity a group of us from the Arlington 2nd Ward caravanned up to the open house for the new Temple just outside of Vancouver. It is one of the smaller temples, but still good sized with 2 stories. As temples always are, it was beautiful inside and out with a dogwood theme throughout.

Seth was so excited to be able to go in.

He even wore his 'Moroni' tie in honor of the occasion.

Ellie even put on her fancy duds.

After we left the temple we headed over to Stanley Park right in the middle of Vancouver. It's a beautiful, not so little park full of trees, trails, and a water front views.

Ellie wasn't so enthused

But Seth had a great time!

A fun day for all

Well..., maybe fun wasn't had by 'ALL'

Joel went and enjoyed a little dental surgery down at the VA the other day.

They did a bone graft in preparation for a tooth implant they are going to do in about a year.

We had to leave the house at 5:30am and didn't get home until about 4:30pm.

It was a long day, but I think it was a little harder on Joel than it was on me :)

In the meantime, Seth (and later Ellie) got to go and play at Uncle Dode's and Aunt Stephanie's and have a great time playing with cousins and taking the Jeep for a spin.

After watching Seth at the wheel, I thought Ellie was staying remarkably calm.

The next day, in honor of their dad:

Andrew (almost 19)

Sheridan (17)

Seth (2 1/2)

and Ellie (10 months)

all sported some fashionable mustaches and/or a unibrow,

just as a way to say "we love you!"

Joel appreciated the gesture and found humor in their choices-

but smiles where a little beyond him that weekend!

Poor Baby!

IN OTHER NEWS:

Ellie has recently discovered food

AND BOY DOES SHE LIKE IT!!!