STAFFORD

Our Sweet Baby Halle Jane

2010-09-30T22:03:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of our new addition. I'm sorry it always takes me awhile to get them up. Halle Jane joined our family on August 21st 7:25 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long. The nurses delivered Halle. I didn't give the doctor enough time to get there. We showed up at 6:50 and Halle came 35 minutes later. It was a perfect delivery. We were a bit surprised by her size she was almost a pound and a half bigger then Taiya and Brynne. Halle is such a sweet little baby. I could hold her all day. She's also a good sleeper so I'm getting decent sleep too.

My favorite part was when the girls came to the hospital to meet Halle. I could hear them in the hall jumping up and down clapping their hands yelling "I'm so excited" Their eyes and smiles were so big. They brought presents, custom wrapped by Taiya, that they wanted to give Halle. They even sang her a few songs. It was so much better then Christmas morning.

Halle looks a lot like Brynne's baby pictures.

Am I a mean mom? I totally love this picture. She was a little ticked about her first bathtime.

I LOVE this little girl. We have nicknamed her Halle Huckleberry.

All the GIRLS.

Summer Fun!!!

2010-08-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

I decided I better do a post of the last couple months. Baby #3 is coming in 2 1/2 weeks and once she comes I'm afraid I may never get my blog updated. Life is a little busy. Sorry for the constantly late pictures.

Bedtime stories with Papa.

I made these John Deere jammies for the girls for Christmas. I love that they actually wear them together. Kids are so much fun. Taiya is my gymnast. She's been doing these headstands everywhere. The problem is, she has no fear. She tried to do a headstand on our very top step. Nearly gave me a heart attack.

Brynne has had a bit of a rough summer. Beginning of June she nearly took the end of her pinky off in the toychest. After a late night ER visit, and an appointment to the hand specialist, they scheduled her for surgery. They put 10 stiches in to reconstruct the end of her pinky. I don't know who was more traumatized Brynne or me. It's sooooo sad to see your baby get hurt. Thankfully Brynne's pinky seems to be healing well. It has been a bit of an emotional summer for her.

Aaron's new truck. He seems to wear them out every 3 years. He traded his Chevy for a Ford. And he is obviously enjoying his new ride.

In June we were visiting my mom for Zack's wedding. Along with the food shopping, we showed the girls the beautiful Falls in Idaho Falls.

Brynne at Bear Lake, she had a great time. Her bandage didn't seem to hold her back from sand castles and fun.

Taiya entertained herself with snorkeling, swimming, jet skiing, and of course sandcastles.

We set up a large slip and slide in the backyard. Due to my growing belly, I couldn't really show the girls how it's done. After a lot of explaining Taiya actually figured out how to run and slide.

Brynne liked to dance and drink the water.

Just another dirtpile in the backyard. The girls and papa made it to the top of the mountain.

I love this picture!!!!

We finally made it over the mountains for our first camping trip this summer. We played in the river after a hot morning of dirtbike riding. Brynne set her chair right in the middle of the river .

The river had the perfect spot for a little river rafting. It was only eight inches deep but had just enough current to send Taiya down the river to Papa who was waiting to stop her before the real rapids started. I love that HAPPY FACE!!!!

A Little Bit of Everything

2010-04-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

The last month was filled with many random things. So I have lots of pictures to share. This is our new sweet puppy Hazel. Taiya's new best friend. She's already grown a ton since this picture. Too bad they grow so fast. Somehow I got convinced we needed another dog, but Hazel is such a good pup already, it's really been fun. So I now take care of 2 dogs, 10 fish, 2 frogs, 1 snail, 1 husband, 2 girls and 1 more girl on the way. Due August 25th.
Taiya turned 5 on March 23rd I can hardly believe my baby is 5. Although, Taiya has always been mature for her age. We held a birthday party for her at a super fun jumpy house. All the kiddos from preschool and church came to play.

These kabobs worked out perfectly. The kids didn't have to stop and have a sit down meal, they could take one of these on the run. We also had meat and cheese kabobs too. Taiya and Brynne had fun making these.

I made an oversized cupcake for Taiya's birthday. She thought that was pretty cool. We had lots of family over for cake and ice cream. Grandma and Grandpa Stafford got her the new dress and headband she's wearing. It only took seconds for her to change into it. She truly looked like a princess on her birthday.
March is the month of birthdays. On March 31st we celebrated Aaron's birthday. He's 31 this year. We went to his favorite place in Seattle to get Brazilian food at the Inpanema Grill. I didn't have my camera so sorry - no pics.
This picture sums Brynne up. She is such a PRINCESS who loves the dirt. She'll only wear dresses and always wants her hair long "like a princess" she says. Anyways, I love that she'll throw on her rubber boots and play in one of the many dirt piles we have around here.
Here's our current sandbox. Brynne played on this hill for hours. The sandbox equipment is Aaron's from his sandbox days. Aaron still plays with equipment just on a much larger scale.
The girls love riding in the trailer while Aaron mows the lawn. This trailer has come in super handy. He put our extra snowmobile seat in the back so they can sit down. They'll cruise like this for hours. Aaron has to make frequent stops though, so he can let Taiya out to catch all the frogs hoppin around. Can I just say that I love living out in the country. I'm not sure we would fit in anywhere else.
The girls are emptying their candy from their eggs. They got way too much. I think we'll be eating Easter candy on 4th of July.
Every General Conference I pull out my bow making stuff and make bows for a couple of days. Good thing I'm having another girl, because I have way too many bows.
This river is about 2 miles from our property. Aaron and the girls love to take the dogs for a swim here. Notice she actually has pants on. Under her dress of course. It's such a fight to get her in pants I guess we actually won this day.

My little family freezing at the river.
We had a fun FHE we snowmobilied to a cabin at Govenment Meadows. Everyone had a great time. The girls were begging to do it again. Aaron and Brynne riding.
Taiya and I on the ride up.
My G-ma turned 90 this year, so all of the extended family got together in Sun City, AZ to celebrate. We arrived on April 9th and returned on the 11th. It was a quick weekend trip. We left the girls with Aaron's parents. Thanks Don and Sue.
Can I just say I have the coolest G-ma ever. I want to be just like her. She has so much energy and enthusiasum for life. She is a very talented, classy lady. It was a treat to visit. Too bad it was only for a short weekend.

Aaron and I took G-ma's peddle boat for a ride on the lake. (No worries Kyra the swans didn't attack us.) Just soaking in the sunshine.

This was at the yummy lunch celebration. We are sitting with Rachel and her new husband Warren. Taiya saw this picture of Aaron and said, "wow papa you look handsome." I'd have to agree. He cleans up well.
Saturday night we took the girls to the Spring fair in Puyallup. It had been raining all day but thankfully held off for a few rides.

The girls can't get enough of the rollercoasters. They even put their hands in the air and squeal. It shouldn't surprise me that they aren't scared, I guess they've been on dirtbikes and quads since they were babies. One cool thing about being a parent, I never knew it would be more fun to watch my girls go on rides then to go myself.

Holy cow! Where has the time gone?

2010-02-20T23:02:00.000-08:00

So life has been a little crazy. Sorry for slacking so bad on my blog. I think I am finally catching up. I just sorted my last 3 months of pictures. I have a lot of random ones to share. Here they are:

This picture was just taken on Thursday. What a beautiful day!!! The girls & I have been hanging out for the last 5 days. Aaron is in Canada with some buddies snowmobiling. It sounds like they're getting the same blue clear skies there too. I'm so glad the weather has been good for them. Especially since they drove so far for some great snowmobiling. The girls are constantly asking when Aaron's coming back. We've been holding up well, but are very ready for Papa to come home.
We decided to send Aaron off with his favorite- Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here are my helpers.

Taiya is impressively good in the kitchen. She loves to serve snacks, hot chocolate, oatmeal, cereal, salads etc. She's such a mother hen.

Brynne has been especially happy lately. Thankfully that means I've been doing well with her diet. In November we found out she is allergic to Wheat and Dairy. It's taken me a long while to get this picky eater up and running with a Wheat/Dairy free diet. It is so worth the trouble. When she's eating right, she is the happiest kid around. She's had a tummy ache her whole life and I think it's finally getting better. Yea!

Aaron bought the girls nurf guns for Christmas. So for family night we had a war. Actually it was more like everyone shot mom.

Taiya definitely knows how to use this thing.

Brynne helping my with the frosting for our Valentine cookies.

So for those of you who saw my blog at halloween, there was a picture of Taiya in her ladybug costume I made for her. And I was feeling bad for myself because I made the same costume for Brynne and she wouldn't even try it on. Well, now 3 1/2 months later, she finally decided it was cool to be a ladybug. She's in a much more playful mood lately. Thankfully.

This is the Christmas parade in December. A little late I know, but I loved these pics. and wanted to share.

Enumclaw has the best parades. They're the perfect size. The girls really had a great time.

Brynne obviously had too much fun. It wore her right out.

Disney On Ice

2009-11-28T20:44:00.001-08:00

I had been waiting anxiously for the last 2 months to take the girls to Disney on Ice . I couldn't tell them about it until the day before, because that's all they could think about until we got there. We had such a great time. I told the girls they could dress up like princesses if they wanted to. Taiya got super excited and went all out as you can see in the pictures. Brynne put on a dress and asked for some sparkly eye polish.

Here's Princess #1. She had all the princess essentials. A high barrel bun, a huge pink flower, pink tights, make-up, white tutu, princess shoes, pink coat, and even matching nail polish. It scared me a bit to see her so dolled up. My Dad's famous words would apply here: "Did you buy the baseball bat to go with it?"

The pink plastic dress-up shoes were not the best idea. I didn't have the heart to tell her no. So I had to piggy back her everywhere. Picture this, I carried both girls from the car into the building, Brynne in my arms and Taiya on my back. My arms were throbing by the time we made it in. But it was definetly worth it.

Here's Princess #2. She's in heaven with her very own bucket of Mickey popcorn. Don't ask me how much that cost. Too much!!! Brynne decided to wear her Chrsitmas dress from last year. She looked really cute with her sparkly make-up, curly ponytail and white princess shoes. Anyways, I wish I had more pictures of Brynne but as you can see she turns her head in all of them.

These Disney friends were the welcoming act who got the show started. The girls were squealing when they skated out. They really put on a great show.

Lightining McQueen and friends did a fun little rally. They were followed by the Little Mermaid then the Lion King and it ended with Tinkerbell. There was a lot of great skating and musical songs.

Here's the girls and our friends we met up with just waiting for the show to start. Our seats were on the side almost at the top. But it didn't seem to matter, the show was easy to see. This wasn't Aaron's thing, so he took the opportunity to go snowmobile in the new powder we had just gotten. It was a perfect girls night out.

Halloween FUN!

2009-11-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

Taiya wanted to be a ladybug for halloween. We feel in love with the ladybug costume on the front of the Pottery Barn magazine. I just couldn't justify the price. So I cut the picture out of the magazine and that became my inspiration and pattern for the ladybug costume. I took both the girls to JoAnn's with me to find all the stuff we would need. Brynne got so excited, that I bought enough to make her a costume too. I invested too many hours into making 2 sets of the tutus, wings, and headbands. By the time I finally finished I couldn't hardly wait for the girls to try them on. Well, Taiya wore hers everyday and totally loved it. To this day Brynne still hasn't put her whole costume on. For some reason she wasn't digging the ladybug costume. I didn't feel like forcing her into her costume this year. So I let her wear what she wanted. I just figure this will make a great story to remember. I really had a great time making them. I surprised myself that I could actually do it. It was fun to see them come together even without a pattern.

My Princess ladybug!

I found these red glitter ruby shoes at Target. They went perfect with the red glitter headband, I thought they finished off the costume perfectly.

All of us at the Trunk or Treat enjoying some hot cocoa.

We found this little pioneer dress in a friends dress up bucket. Brynne totally loves this dress. This is what she wore instead of the ladybug costume. Cracked me up!

By the time we made it down to Grandma's trunk of treat she decided to put on her tutu and shoes, better then nothing. She really couldn't make up her mind. I would post more pictures of Brynne, but in all of them she has her head turned away. She wasn't in the mood for taking pictures.

Princess Ladybug Taiya and Her Grandma "Grape" at the Trunk or Treat! Grandma had us over for a yummy dinner before we all headed down to the church to load up on too much candy. It was a fun little halloween. We were glad it didn't rain.

Pillowcase Dresses

2009-10-06T15:43:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to do a little show and tell. I ventured out of my comfort zone and picked up a pattern for making these dresses. These dresses are made from my Great Great Grandma's pillowcases. She did a fabulous job hand embroidering them 50 plus years ago, so I wanted to find a way to showcase them. With my pattern I made the bodice and added it to the pillowcase. All and all I was pleased with the way they turned out. I loved taking the girls to church in their homemade dresses. Can I just say girls are so much fun!!! Thank you Great Great Grandma!!!

Brynne - 2 1/2 years

Taiya - 4 years

A Favorite Summer Memory

2009-09-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Before summer gets to far away, I thought I better share some pics. of our fun little outing. It's become a Stafford tradition to hike up to Green Water Lakes each summer. It's a gradual 2 mile hike so we think it's perfect for the kiddos. The girls were so excited to hike with their cousins. This is Taiya and her cousin Brayden. I love catching unknown pics.

Taiya chillin' on a huge fallen tree. Where she ate her yummy tinfoil dinner. Aaron and I stayed with Brynne who started out walking, but she eventually ended up like this. We weren't too suprised. The only problem with giving Brynne a shoulder ride is she had stepped in dog poop twice so things were a little smelly.

THere are few of these cool bridges. It's such a scenic hike that follows the river.

Brynne feeding Papa Doritos. I love that her mouth is open while giving him a bite.

Brynne taking her sweet time. We had plenty of time to take lots of pictures.

Our little hiker did really well. She was so proud of herself, check out her little hiking boots. I didn't get many hiking pics. of Taiya, she left us in the dust, so she could keep up with her cousins.

Taiya's Sweet Quad Skills

2009-08-10T21:04:00.001-07:00

Taiya started riding her Yamaha Raptor 80 Quad by herself one month after her 4th birthday. So her summer has been filled with laps around the property. It's pretty impressive she's actually quite good. I love when she gets all her riding gear on, I can't believe she's getting so BIG.

We let her take Brynne for a short ride, their little helmets kept bouncing off one another. Kind of cute!!!

Here she is riding with her cousins Brayden and Landon. Last year Aaron built a little riding track in our backyard, it gets lost of use when the cousins are in town. I love this picture!

I wish I had a picture of Taiya riding with her puppy backpack. She'll zip her teddy inside and take him on a ride. She likes to go on rides with her Papa around the property. Whenever he gets home from work, she's begging him to go with her.

Our Hawaii Getaway

2009-06-30T07:00:00.001-07:00

For our seventh Anniversary, Aaron and I went to the Big Island of Hawaii for six days. The best part is, Aaron had been planning this trip for months. I found out a week before we left. I was pretty impressed he picked the coolest resort ever, bought tickets, and even lined up his sister Steph and husband Chris to take the girls for us. (you guys are the best THANKS so MUCH!!!)

We spent the first 3 night here at the Hilton. I have never seen such a cool resort. It spands a mile wide. So they had a tram, riverboat or walking museum you would take to get from one end of the resort to the other.They had everything we needed right there, snorkeling, dolphins, mini golf, water front restaurants, hottubs, pools ect. It was so relaxing and felt like a dream.

This was the view from our back deck.
I loved the amazing blue clear water of the ocean. On the Big lsland there is a ton of lava rock everywhere. It looks so cool when the waves splash over it.
We were out exploring one day and this is what we passed on the side of the road. We're not so sure what you would call him, but we refer to him as the LavaRAM.
We spent the rest of our trip on the other side of the island in Pahoa. Yea!!! We got to spend a couple days at Kyra's (my bestfriend from high school) with her husband Josh and their sweet babies. It was so fun to finally see their beautiful home they built. They spoiled us with some amazing BarBQ. Kyra and I spent way too long looking back at old pictures and having plenty to laugh about. I love picking up right where we left off.

Everything was so green and tropical on this side of the island. I thought Washington was green. Ha!

Josh and Kyra were our tourguides for a couple days. They showed us some of their favortie beaches. On our way there we got to do a little jeepin in the jungle. We also saw some beautiful waterfalls, great lava cliffs, and huge waves. The last night we were there we hiked to the valcanoe. From a distance we could see where the lava meets the ocean. I was suprised how much red glowing steam comes up.

Here I got my first view of surfers. I loved watching the waves come in.

I thought the tide-pools were so cool. They fill up depending on the tide. We swam in these for awhile, the water was really quite warm.

It was a dream come true. I loved spending some getaway time with my honey. Aaron, thanks for the amazing trip. Your the best, Happy Anniversary!!! Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible. Now it's back to real life.

Sorry I'm Way Behind!

2009-05-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

We were in Bear Lake visiting my mom and fam. for over a week. So it feels like I still haven't caught up. So sorry about the blog. Here's a quick update.

These are the 5 girl cousins that got to play at Grandma's. They were so cute to watch. They were always up to something. For as little as they've seen each other, they got along great.

We had to buy them matching dresses. From the Left: Ellie is my brother Grant's daughter, then Taiya and Brynne, then Evelyn and Brielle are my brother Brandon's girls.

Bath time!! Can you believe they actually fit?

Grandma Sheryl bought the girls a fun bouncy house. It fits perfectly in our living room. Especially since we don't have any furniture in there. Thanks MOM!

Taiya has been way obsessed with frogs lately. That's what she's holding. It's kind of hard to tell. One Saturday she caught 7 and then put all of them in that little mason canning jar. Poor little froggies. She hauled them everywhere she went.

Our babysitter Melanie was so nice to let my girlies ride her horse. They really liked it. Maybe a little too much. Taiya thinks she needs one. I'm not sure I know how to take care of a horse, I'm sure they're more work then a dirtbike. Thanks Mels, we had a great time.

Aaron's 30th Birthday!

2009-04-14T14:45:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it? He's 30! Well we had to do something BIG this year. So I planned a surprise party with all of Aaron's Friends. Although he didn't seem too surprised, we had a fun time celebrating. Aaron's Brother Don, and his friend Nick took him dirtbiking for the day so we could get the house ready for the party. I was so careful about keeping plans and announcements a secret. The one thing I couldn't totally control was the weather. It kind of gave it away. It poured all day long. Since the guys got an early start, they were ready to come home by two. The party wasn't until 6:00 so the guys had to do some stalling. After hitting a couple stores just to look a stuff nobody was buying, he started putting pieces together. Anyways, it was still fun to have all the anticipation. Aaron wasn't expecting so many of his friends there. It was really cool that so many came. We had a catered dinner from Branks BarBQ. Either I was super hungry or their food was really good. I was way impressed with their ribs and coleslaw. Then we did the usual; talk, open gifts, cake, and Ice cream.

This is just after the BIG surprise. Aaron has an obsession with snowmobiles, so I used his as my inspiration. So, his party colors were white, black, and orange. Which are also his KTM dirtbike colors too. It looked a little like halloween, but the cake pulled it all together.

The gift! I really surprised Aaron with the BarBQ. I didn't ask for any ideas for his birthday. For once I finally knew exactly what he needed before he did. We have a great deck that sits totally empty, well not anymore. Every year we have a huge July 4th celebration, and Aaron's dad has to truck his BarBQ over to our house since we didn't have one. Thankfully that's not the case anymore.

The CAKE! We'll here it is. I attempted a snowmobile replica. It was quite fun to make but I wish a had another 3 hours to spend on it. I eventually ran out of time and had to get the other decorations done before guests started showing up. So I had to call it good. Chocolate cake with white frosting is really tricky, I had to freeze the cake in order to frost it without getting crumbs everywhere. I actually spent 51/2 hours on it. It was definitely worth it. I think Aaron thought it was pretty neat.

I used:

- waffle cone for the hood

- tootsie roll for the handle bars

- skor bars for the skis

- rolos for the dashboard

- black licorice nibs for the track.

Blowing out the candles! Aaron didn't even get a chance to blow out his candles with Brynne sitting so close. She got them all. I also made a slide show of Aaron that I showed at the party. If I can figure out how to get it on here I will.

Just got to say, I'm a pretty lucky gal. I've got one amazing husband. He is such a hard worker, great husband and one really fun Papa. He can do anything and everything. I'm so lucky he's mine. Happy Birthday Aaron!

Happy Birthday Taiya!

2009-03-26T10:34:00.001-07:00

Taiya's 4th Birthday!
Blowing out the candles.
Taiya wanted a LadyBug cake for her birthday. She was my little helper, we had a great time making her cake. Taiya loves to eat the frosting.
Our Lady Bug cake. It turned out better then I was hoping. Half way through, I was getting a little nervous.
Grandma and Grandpa Stafford joined us for dinner, cake and ice cream. We're so glad they came. The really started once they got there. The girls are always so happy to see them. They got Taiya a great pair of rollerblades and PJ's.
Birthday outfit and a treasure chest I made her for her dress up clothes. Kind of fun!

Birthday girl with gifts!

Our friend Connie made Taiya and Brynne beautiful Strawberry dresses for Taiya's birthday. So cute, what lucky girls.

Brynne dancing in her new dress.

Laundry at the Stafford's

2009-03-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

I love this age. The girls are always busy trying a new adventure. Although, jumping into the laundry is starting to become a ritual. I stack all of the clean clothes by the arm of the couch, and the girls have so much fun jumping and burying each other in the mound of clothes.

I love these smiles!
There were a few times where Brynne just barely cleared the couch. Thankfully no disasters!

Random Pictures!

2009-02-23T21:59:00.001-08:00

As most of you know, I haven't been too good at updating my blog lately. So I missed a few pictures I wanted to share.

Christmas Dresses! Loved these.

My sweet baby!

Taiya asked me to do her hair like Cinderella's. It's so fun to watch her change 15 times a day. She loves dress-up.

A Christmas family photo.

Taiya at the Sand Dunes in Oregon. We went last October, I just finally got these pictures off Aaron's camera.

Ready to ride.

Can you guess who that is? I couldn't resist posting this picture. I love the Sand Dunes!

Aaron and our pup Carhartt taking a hike.

Snowmobiling in Whistler, Canada

2009-02-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

Aaron and I went to Whistler, Canada for 5 days with a couple of friends. We had my mom watch the girls for us. Thanks Mom! Anyways, we did this trip last year and fell in love with it. The snowmobiling in Canada is amazing. At times you feel like you're on top of the world. We rode until we could hardly hold on. My snowmobile muscles certainly got used. I also went skiing for a day. Without the kids, I was reminded how much fun Aaron and I have together, we actually have a lot in common. It was a great get away!

There were sweet views like this everywhere you looked!

I wish I had more pictures of Aaron, I mainly took videos of him. He's awesome on a snowmobile. He admits this is his favorite of all his many manly hobbies.

I'm surprised how much I like snowmobiling. I follow Aaron around hoping to keep up with him. I got a new sled this year, so I can actually climb some good hills.

On top of the WORLD!!!

Head-On, For Christmas!

2009-01-08T07:21:00.000-08:00

So here are a few details... I was driving with Aaron as passenger and both girls in the back in carseats. We were taking Taiya to gymnastics. The roads were obviously snowy. The car coming the opposite way was fishtailing the entire width of both lanes and shoulders. I slowed down hoping she would get control. I moved onto my shoulder and as she came at me, I started to drive into the ditch to try to avoid a head on. But she obviously caught my front drivers side. It was kind of crazy to see my life flash before my eyes. Thankfully we were so blessed, it could have been so much worse. Once Aaron and I got the airbags down we checked on the girls and they were perfectly fine. Definitely traumatized. After calling 911. We had 2 firetrucks, 2 ambulances, and 3 cop cars there to help. I went in the ambulance due to my neck and back, which is feeling much better. I'm seeing the chiropractor 2 times a week. Aaron got two black eyes a cut on the nose, scraped knuckles and a jammed thumb. He's still kind of messed up. I can't believe we made it out of that so well. It could have been so much worse. Oh yeah, this was Dec. 23rd, 5:20 pm. It kind of put a damper on the holidays. No car, super sore, insurance calls, etc.

My tire got most of the crash, look at how far back it got shoved. It's at least a foot off. Kind of funny, but if the car is running, the horn honks. It's got some funky stuff going on. The dash is all tweeked too and the both airbags came out. It was mine and Aaron's first time getting hit by a 200mph airbag hopefully the last. Good thing I had my head turned, so it didn't break my nose. Sure going to miss the 4runner. I thought she held up pretty well, especially compared to the other car.

Her car doesn't look as good huh. She had a 7 month old in back in a carseat. Thankfully they were both ok too. Carseats know what they are doing. There were 3 kids 3 and under involved and none of them got hurt. The girls had their big puffy coats on, so it probably helped take some of the seat belt impact.

This is the 5 foot ditch we went off into. I didn't realize it at the time, but I guess we drove through a barbed wire fence too. The gal who hit us stayed on the road and spun 360's.

Here's one of Aaron's 2 shiners!

Brynne's 2nd Birthday!

2008-12-26T07:30:00.001-08:00

Brynne turned 2 on Friday! Yeah!!! We celebrated on Saturday due to Ward Christmas Party. Taiya and I made Brynne's favorite ELMO. Turned out kind of cute. You'll notice Brynne isn't smiling in any of the pics. I don't think she was feeling too well. She's has had ear aches on and off for the past month. But, she was still a good sport, and we had a fun time. Since she doesn't eat anything but ice cream, we put her candles on her little ice cream cone. Kind of funny.

Brynne blowing out the candles, she actually knew what to do. I was surprised!

ELMO Birthday Cake! Taiya and I had a fun time creating him. Brynne was so excited to see ELMO.

Brynne opening presents with her Papa.

Playing matchbox cars with Taiya. Aaron bought her balls and cars for her birthday. He scored big with her, they were her favorite toys.

Our Thanksgiving Traditions!!!

2008-12-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

This year it was our turn to spend Thanksgiving with my mom. I wanted to go a week early, since a hadn't done my yearly visit yet. So we made arrangements for Aaron to fly down for Thanksgiving, and then ride back with us. I drove the girls in Aaron's BIG red truck down to Idaho. It took me 2 days. About 16 1/2 hours. We made alot of potty stops for Taiya. I was somewhat nervous about this venture. But it actually turned out pretty good. The roads and the girls were thankfully good. We had fun hanging out with Grandma Sheryl. We all got sick for the first week. But by the time everyone else showed up, we were feeling up to socializing. Fun to catch up with everyone. It was amazing to see how fast our Thanksgiving meal was prepared. There were so many to help. Our Thanksgiving Traditions at Grandma Sheryl's include:

- A Great Turkey Dinner

- Lots of Board Games

- A Few Family Runs

- A Clay Pidgeon Shoot

- Volleyball @ the Church Gym

- A Studebaker's Pizza Visit

- And our new tradition - Visiting Dad

Grandma Sheryl and Taiya!

A Great Turkey Dinner!

Mom & Me

Our Studebaker's Pizza Visit!

The Clay Pidgeon Shoot!

Taiya with Papa and her shooting earmuffs.

Visiting Dad!

Too Cute to Spook

2008-11-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

We took the kids over to their cousins (Brayden and Landon) in Spokane for Halloween. We knew they would love dressing up and trick or treating in a real neighborhood with their COOL cousins.

ELMO! Brynne had the cutest elmo costume. It was a fight to get her in it, but once she was in it was all worth it It didn't take long for her to figure out the trick or treating routine. She was so good at saying thank you.

Bumble Bee! Taiya has been dressing up in her costume all month, so she was so trilled to do it for real. It's so fun when they are old enough to get excited about the holidays. She raced to each house with her cousins.

I was suprised how well the girls did. I'm sure it helped that their older cousins were leading the way. They filled their buckets pretty easily. Brynne unwrapped at least 30+ pieces of candy, but never ate a full piece. She's not a big fan. No worries, Aaron, Taiya and I helped her eat it up.

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's my favorite time of year. I love fall in Washington. We had the perfect weather on Saturday for the pumpkin patch. We went to Thomasson Family Farms in the afternoon, they have the funnest little kid play zone. It's all John Deere themed and it's set up for kids 8 and under. My mother in law Sue and I took the girls for a couple hours to play. Aaron was able to join us for pumpkin picking and popcorn.

Taiya with big pumpkins.

Brynne sharing her popcorn with papa.

Lori, Taiya, Mother in law Sue, and Brynne, we were just getting ready to go on a hayride.

Break for popcorn.

They had a fun little bike track for kids. Taiya has become quite the bike rider. I was suprised how fun it was go to round and round.

Brynne on her bike she's not quite tall enough to reach the peddles. Sue and I took turns pushing her around the track, we were trying to keep up with Taiya. What a fun little day. I always look forward to our trips to the pumpkin patch.

Puyallup Fair!

2008-10-09T22:55:00.001-07:00

Sorry this is a little late. I forgot I had these pictures. We made our yearly trip to the Puyallup fair. So much fun! We made sure to go when Dora was there. So we waited in line for my girls favorite person ever. Although, I think Brynne is starting to like Boots better.

Taiya loves the carousel. We normaly let Brynne ride too, but for some reason they had to be two. So I thought Brynne would cry the whole time since she didn't get to ride. But I think she had more fun cheering for Taiya, and trying to find her each time she came around. At times like these I love being mommy.

Grandma Grape (Sue, Aaron's Mom) came with us to the fair. She entertained the girls while we were waiting for Dora. They had a great time, they always love playing with Grandma.

Brynne with a Block!

Boston Here I Come!

2008-10-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We did it! My younger brother John and I just ran the Top of Utah marathon in Logan, Utah. We trained together all summer. I figured since I was running with John, I might have a chance at qualifying for Boston. This was my fourth marathon, and I needed to cut 16 minutes off my fastest time in order to qualify. My goal was 3:40 and we ran it in 3:39:56. Crazy close! I actually had just over a minute to spare in order to qualify. We got pretty lucky, neither of us had a watch, but we knew we were cutting it close. It would have been a real bummer to have just missed it by a couple of minutes. The last 200m were pretty intense. We could see the clock above the finishline. John and I just started sprinting for all we were worth. I was tempted to climb on John's back, he ran so well. I think he could have gone another 10 miles, and this was his first marathon. What an animal! I was worried that I was going to let John down since I had a stomachache for the first 10 miles. Thankfully it eventually went away and we were able to keep a pretty good pace.

My mom and nephew Tanner came to cheer us on. I think they took this picture around mile 19 or 20.

This is around mile 23. I think John got a little distracted by getting his picture taken. As you can see in the picture, the course turns right here but he kept running straight. I am pointing my finger to turn. Kind of funny, He caught right back up. We were so dead tired right here feeling every step. This lady running behind us told us that she was trying to think that she was a Kenyan, since they seem to be crazy marathon animals.

This is our race to the finish. The funnest part of the whole race. The finishline was the best thing I'd seen all morning. And we saw some pretty cool scenery. Yeah!

I had a few friends cheering me on. Julie, Kaiann, and Carrie (from high school) all came to watch. Pretty cool to have them there. We went out for lunch after the race. I didn't have much of an appetite, but had fun catching up with everyone. Thanks Guys.

That night I stayed in Provo with Aaron's sister Stephanie and her husband Chris. Neat to see them. Thanks for the couch, sleep never felt so good. The next day I went to church with John, we were walking a little funny. I caught a flight back home that night. Great to be home, thanks for watching the girls honey.

This is mom and I at the spaghetti marathon dinner the night before.

Getting our fill on carbs. Yum!

It was neat to have a reason for this run. I was running for my friend Carol who has had a lot trama in her life. I was able to raise $6000.00 to help with her rehab. This is a donation stand we had set up at the packet pick up for the marathon. Thanks for all the support.

The Dusty Riders!

2008-09-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

These are some more pictures from our camping trip with Don and Heidi. We rode our bikes to the river. It was definitely a dusty ride. Aaron rode first with the girls on the quad, and I followed on my dirtbike. We had fun skipping rocks and trying to cross the river. The water was freezing and didn't seem to faze Taiya when she was trying to swim in it.

This is Brynne's cousin Brayden's bike. She thinks she's so cool! She even made the dirtbike sound while playing on it.

This is Taiya's little 80. She doesn't ride it by herself yet. But we love it for cruising around the property. I can load both girls on this quad and ride with one arm wrapped around them and the other pushing the throttle. It's actually pretty fun.

Here's my Hot Honey getting ready for a guys ride. Aaron grew up riding in the mountains with his Grandpa, Dad, and Brother. So by now it's become second nature, I know it happens, but I'm still waiting to see him wreck.

I love this picture. My brother John is on the far left, Aaron's Brother Don in the middle, then Aaron. All 3 guys are on KTM's with their gear and all. John just bought his bike this summer. We told him he might want one, or it could be a long boring summer, watching everyone else ride. He's a natural.

Yes, the dusty one is me. Aaron got me a new bike for my birthday. It's been fun being able to ride the different trails with Aaron. It's always a new adventure, still a little out of my comfort zone, but a rush!

Running for Carol

2008-08-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I have a dear friend going through a traumatic situation. I have set up a fundraiser to try to help Carol and Scott with their huge expenses. I have a website with further details http://www.running4carol.weebly.com/ I will be running a 26 mile marathon to try and raise money for her. PLEASE check it out!

The Cousins Hike

2008-08-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

Beginning of August, we went camping with Don (Aaron's brother), Heidi and their 2 boys. We were in Northern Idaho somewhere. We found a great place by the river. But more importantly near dirtbike trails. I'll have to share those pictures too. Anyways, these pics. are from the hike Heidi and I took the kids on. We were entertaining the kids while the men went on their "GUY RIDE." It was actually lots of fun, the cousins get along so well. They liked to see who could run up the trail faster, then see if they could hide from us.

Little Brynne insisted on walking most of the trail. She thinks she's as big as the other kiddos, and she insist she doesn't need my help. She actully did pretty well. My baby is getting big.

Dress up!

2008-08-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

My girls love to dress up. Taiya thinks she's a princess and Brynne doesn't care what she is as long as she gets a to-to.

I Love this tummy!

Surprise Get Away!

2008-07-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

Life was getting a little too hectic. So Aaron planned a surprise get away. We left the girls with Grandma & Grandpa for their first overnighter. Brynne wasn't feeling well but I know Taiya had a great time thanks Grandma Grape and Grandpa Goose. We got a room at the Shalish Lodge which over-looks a gorgeous waterfall. We enjoyed a quiet evening and breakfast in bed. Then finished our get away with a hike up to Franklin Falls. Loved it! Thanks honey. It did the trick, life seems a little easier after a refreshing get away.

4th of July!

2008-07-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Taiya with her sweet shades!

Brynne with Papa's hat!

Dinner Time!

Grandpa and Aaron making the grub. The new deck worked out great.
We had BarBQ outside and then pulled up the lawn chairs for the amazing fireworks

Love the festive outfits Grandma Sue and Aunt Steph!

We've made it tradition to host the 4th of July get together. We had Aaron's Brother Don, wife Heidi, and boys Brayden and Landon visiting for 5 days. We had a great time hanging out. The cousins get along so well, it's fun to watch them play. On the 4th we had the rest of Aaron's family out for a dinner. The 4th is Aaron's favorite holiday, so he gets a little excited about his fireworks. The guys gave us professional firework display. In between dinner and fireworks, we also snuck in a little dirtbike riding on a track Aaron built in the backyard. Believe it or not we didn't even have any injuries.

Taiya's first trip to the movies!

2008-07-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

While the cousins (Brayden and Landon) were up for 4th of July, we went to the Enumclaw theater to see Wall-e. This was Taiya's first movie. I think her favorite thing was her very own bag of popcorn. Since the movie didn't have many words, it left my 3 year old a little confused. All in all, we had a great time. Grandma Grape (Sue) even came with us. Aunt Steph thanks again for watching Brynne.

6th Aniversary!

2008-06-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I had our 6th Anniversay on the 15th of June. I can't believe it. Time files! We were visiting friends in Nebraska, and it was also Fathers Day, so we didn't go out to celebrate. But we took the girls to a neat park with our friends Jessi & Tyrell. Then they made us a great steak dinner. It thought it was a great way to celebrate, I didn't have to cook.

The Denver Zoo!

2008-06-28T22:49:00.001-07:00

Last week the Bomsta family had their first family reunion in Golden, Colorado. For one of our outings we went to the zoo. It was so much fun. The girls were so fascinated with the animals.

Brynne loved the monkeys and Taiya loved the Cheetah although she insisted it was a Tiger. Whatever makes her happy. Since there was a Carousel (Taiya's favorite) Aaron took 3 trips around. I think I would have puked way before. Brynne had sacked out by then, so I gladly watched from the sidelines. By the end of the day we were all sun-burned and tired of walking circles. We finished off with a McD's ice cream cone (everyones favorite).

Welcome!

2008-06-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally trying to get my blog going. I hope I can keep up with it. I've loved viewing everyone elses lives and stories. I'm excited to keep in touch with you guys. I'll try to get something posted soon.