happy anniversary to us!! -- part 1

happy anniversary to us!! -- part 2

happy one year anniversary to us!!!!!

a year ago today we boarded a plane in kansas, leaving everything we had ever known - the comforts of home- and landing in a place of unknown---the wonderful pacific northwest! a year ago today, we were excited to say the least, but i would be lying if i said we weren't scared out of our minds! shawn was starting a job he was completely unsure of - he was leaving the comforts of being a sheetmetal mechanic, something he was completely confident in and by the way, the best at! - to start something he knew nothing about! (of course, i knew he would be great at this too!!;) me, i had just left my job of 10 years - i was ready to leave but my biggest question, was i ready to be at home full time? i had never pictured myself as the stay-at-home soccer mom, but look at me now! i could never dream of a better job! gabe had just finished his kindergarten year and was in his first month as a first grader - he had a ton of friends, doing wonderfully in school, and had just started on a new soccer team -and now he would have to leave all of that behind to a frest start! and grady, well as long as there was food and toys, he was along for the adventure! needless to say, 3 of the 4 of us had a lot of uncertainty ahead of us! looking back a year later, i say with full confidence---we made the right decision! it hasn't been a year of smooth sailing, but it has definitely been a growing experience! one of the hardest parts of leaving was being away from all of our family, missing holidays and birthdays, but on that same note, the four of us have had the time to grow as our own family. we hate the idea of not being an hour from all of our family, but i would never give up this time i've had learning more about the 3 most important men in my life! this year has flown....we have had the opportunity to see and do so many awesome things - we love this touristy lifestyle, but all good things must come to an end - this can't and won't last forever! so when the time comes, rest assured we'll be ready to come home, but until then.....let the adventure continue!!! watch out year number 2...here we come!

our youngest soccer star!

grady had soccer practice again this afternoon! they also had pictures, and i think that was more work than the actual practice! just imagine 9 three year olds...all with their own ideas---well, we ended up with only 7 kids in the team picture, the other 2 just weren't in the mood! we only had about 25 minutes of practice tonight...pictures ran over into our practice time (wonder why?!). they practiced dribbling and shooting and ran around chasing their coach! all in all it was a very productive practice!!! grady also had a little insight for the coach i will share....we all need a good laugh! the coach asked, "who remembers how to dribble?" and grady piped up with "basketball?" gotta love him!!!!

kidfest '08

kidfest 2008!

saturday was a very busy day!!! after soccer, we changed clothes, grabbed lunch, and headed to church to set up for kidfest! shawn and i were in charge of the bike parade!!! fortunately our job was at the end of the festival, so we got to enjoy some of the activities with the kids! the whole idea of the kidfest was to get the surrounding community - people who do not attend silver creek- to come see what we are all about! one reason we love our church is that they are so focused on bringing kids to know and love jesus, so, many of our activities are based on kids!!! our kids had a great time! there were 2 huge inflatables - one slide and one obstacle course - a fishing pond, a dunk tank, face painting, balloon animals, and snacky foods all for free! at the end, came the grand finale---the bike parade. unfortunately, some people didn't understand you were supposed to bring your own bikes....so not only did we have to get all the kids in one spot--not running each other over, but we also had to keep people from accidentally "stealing" other people's bikes! we had all the bikes parked in the sanctuary before the parade, and i guess because everything else had been free, some thought they could come pick out a bike to ride in the parade!!! that was sort of interesting, but the kids had great time showing off their riding skills and even winning some prizes!! we had a great day, and i even saw a couple of new faces in church this morning!! i guess we can call this activity "mission successful"!

fireballs vs. the irish!

saturday morning we headed to another exciting soccer game!! currently we are spending 4 of 7 days doing some sort of soccer activity--so safe to say we are getting very educated in the area of soccer! gabe again played goalie, only letting one elusive ball get past him!! the team played pretty well, but playing in the rain must have been the secret last week!!! this week we had abundant sunshine, which was making our team squint---our team must like the clouds!!! unfortunately the irish pulled out the win--5-3! we'll have to pray for clouds and rain for next week!!! ugh!!

a day above the clouds!!

above the clouds!!

on friday we were lucky to have shawn and gabe both off, so we decided to venture over to the olympic penisula! we started off the day with a ferry ride from edmonds to kingston. once we were off the ferry it should have only been about an hour and 15 minutes to the olympic national park, but as many of you know we can rarely stay on route! so we ventured to the little bay village of dungeness, washington! it was just a little 25 minute jaunt off hwy. 101 through the quaint little town of sequim. as the name may elude to there is a lot of opportunity in dungeness to partake in some dungeness crab! after cruising around seeing what there was to see...mainly just a lot of water-we decided our tummies were hungry, so we headed to a restaurant off the beaten path---3 crabs! it was a dandy little find right on the bay---and we had the best lunch! i had a fresh crab burger and shawn had a salad with 2 layers of crab hidden within! grady of course had the fish and chips (he always has this--no matter where we are!) and gabe had the chicken!! with our bellies full, we decided to get back on track and head to our original destination!! on the drive up to the mountains, we were feeling a little disheartened---it was very cloudy, so we were prepared to see nothing but clouds when we got to our hiking spot! strange thing happened though, we actually drove above the cloud line! (actual word?-is now!) above the clouds was the most amazing view---snow capped mountains and tons of wildlife! we decided to hike at hurricane ridge/hill. this was supposed to be an easy hike for kids to the top of a "hill" with a great view! okay so off we go! the hike started out super-kid friendly, but the further from the army we ventured, the steeper the "hill" got! i don't know about you, but anytime i climb 1000 ft. in elevation in a mile--i may tend to call that something other than a "hill"! but all whining aside, we hiked all the way to the top and of course it was worth it! once at the top, we had an energizing little snack of raisins and water and of course picture time! after we were feeling rejuvenated we decided we should start the 1.6 miles back down!!! going down is always such a pleasure!! we even skipped a little on the way down...no doubt suffering from a lack of oxygen to the brain while at the top!! ha! after arriving back at the armada, we decided we should head back home...and maybe stop off for some dinner! we found another neat little find for dinner! it was an old fashioned diner on highway 101 -- complete with malts and sundaes! score! shawn and i totally broke from our diets and had the best, greasiest burgers and onion rings you could ask for!!! yum-o!! the boys had waffles and oreo malts - now that's what i call a well-balanced meal! with our tummies full once again we headed towards home!!! i want to end the post by sharing what gabe said about our day.... as we were climbing back down the "hill" enjoying the amazing view--talking of how lucky we are to be spending this time together he said, "you know, this is going to be a day we never forget!" i second that gabe!

new and improved!!

well, as you have already noticed, i am doing some housecleaning on the ol' blog. please bear with me...i am definitely not an expert, but figuring things out as i go! i have figured out how to get a bigger slideshow and in the next couple of days or weeks (you should see our calendar!) i will be taking all of the side bar pictures (pics on the right side) off and hopefully onto a couple of separate slideshows...only with a few of my favs from the last 11 months...holy smokes has it been that long?! please keep checking back, we'll keep the ever interesting posts, awesome pics, and groovy tunes coming!!!! that is if i don't mess things up too bad!!! ha!