Fun at the Water Park

The bad thing about living in Moscow in the summer is the fact that there is NO water to go swimming in that is clean and closer than 2 hours. There is a water park in Moscow though that is really cute. There are 2 slides, a deep pool with 2 diving boards, and a fun water park for the smaller kids. It's a lot of fun, but since it's the only place in town with water, EVERYONE is there! We still bought our summer pass yesterday though, so we'll be there a lot this summer too. Poor Livia was sad because she couldn't go down the water slides last year because she was too short, so she was excited for this to be the year! We went there yesterday for the first swim of the year, and she was STILL just an inch too short and they wouldn't let her slide. She was with her friend, and she came back down the stairs and I could tell she was fighting back tears, esp. since her friends are tall enough! So today, I bought her some water shoes and we went back and re-measured her and she was STILL too short by a half an inch, but they said she was close enough and gave her a special bracelet to wear so she could go on the slides! She was sooo excited! She wanted to go down them over and over today! It was cute. Sydney was like a fish today as well. She is so independent and free-spirited. It is so much fun just to watch her! Here is a pic of the water park.

Priest River Fun

While we were in Priest River we had all kinds of fun. Both my family and Mike's family live there, so the girls are extra spoiled with all 4 of their grandparents there, and even 2 of their great grandparents. We did everything from swimming, golfing, bike riding, roasting smores, jumping on trampolines, and playing in sprinklers. The girls love it in Priest River! They have free reign of anything and everything, along with their grandpa who is constantly giving them ice cream and candy!

New Puppies!

Aren't they sooo cute!!!? Me and the girls went to Priest River this weekend and we got to watch my In-laws' puppies. Their little Bishon had 3 cute puppies. The girls were in heaven! Jane is such a good mommy to them.

Happy Birthday Preston!

Today is not only the first "official" day of summer, but it is also my brother's birthday! He would have been 36 years old!!! That is way weird to think about. He died just after he turned 18 in a car crash in 1990. We were actually here in Moscow at the time, while my mom finished her masters at the U of I. I don't remember a ton about him since I was only 10 when he died and we were 8 years apart, but I do remember it was on July 1st and you could hear fireworks every night from local people; plus, the last conversation I had with him was him giving me some fireworks; so this time of year always reminds me of my brother. Since we weren't able to go to the cemetary on Memorial Day this year, me and the girls decided that we would go there today, since it was his birthday and we were in town. The first picture is his senior picture.

Summer Finally!

Well, summer has FINALLY come! It came overnight practically, It just snowed here last week and now it's hot. Strange! The girls are LOVING it though! They are SOOOOOO ready for summer. Everyday they try to wear shorts and tank tops. They were in their swimsuits so quick! It was funny! We are finally getting weather in the 70's and 80's! Woo-Hoo! This weekend is suppose to be in the 80's as well, and we are leaving tomorrow to go visit my family in Priest River, where my parents have a pool! It should be lots of fun! Here is a pic of the girls "Sun-Bathing".

Father's Day

We love our Daddy!

Father's Day started early on Sunday with us girls making breakfast for Mike. We made one of his favorites, Cottage Cheese Pancakes. (I know, totally gross! - He loves them though!) :)

Then Came the gifts of course! The bottom left picture is actually kind-of funny I think, because if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see what his face really looks like! It was a gift certificate for a 1 hour deep tissue massage! He's never had one of those before, and you can totally tell that he has mixed emotions!!! In the bottom right picture, you can see the cute frames that the girls painted for him and put pictures in. They are pretty cute!

After church, we had a big BBQ with all of our neighbors. There was a TON of food there, as usual. It was nice to kick back and relax though. Especially for Mike, since he had just gotten back from Seattle the night before from a youth temple trip. We have really awesome neighbors though. That is one thing I'll miss when we all go our separate ways, especially the girls, since there are a ton of kids for them to play with!









After we teased Mike with all the gifts that WE wanted him to have and that he pretended to really like you know; we then surprised him with Guitar Hero III! He has been wanting that for a while now, and I am WAY tired of hearing about it, so I finally cracked and bought it for him. Now instead of hearing how bad he wants it, I get to constantly hear the actual guitar music! Lucky Me! :) I actually have tried it though, and I GUESS it's kind-of interesting. It's definitely a lot harder than you would think! As you can see, we all had to take our turn with it! The girls have already fought over it today!

All in all I would say that we had a pretty good Father's Day! Mike is a very good dad and the girls absolutely adore him! We are all very fortunate to have him on our lives. Happy Father's Day

Livia, The Climber!

Livia is turning into quite the little climber! She loves to climb our tree in front of our apartment. In these pictures, she is as tall as our 2nd floor, and I am taking the picture from our upstairs bedroom window! The scary thing, is that this is nothing to her! She has even climbed higher than that in the same tree! She will climb to the very top of the tree, until I make her stop, because I get scared that the treetop won't be able to support her! She is fearless! (When it comes to trees that is!) :)

In this Picture, Livia is right above the picture, still in the tree. And there are 8 and 9 year old below her. That's how high she is!

Friendship Bread

I have gotten this Amish, Friendship Bread a couple of times before, and it never went very good in the past. I usually forget about it so I had to throw it away, or I got so disgusted at the thought of milk fermenting on my counter for several days, so I would toss it. So, when a friend gave me a starter, I convinced myself that I would actually commit to it this time; which I did. I baked the 2 loaves tonight, and it was actually really good! I didn't realize that it was such a sweet bread. My girls even ate 1/2 a loaf all to themselves tonight. I used vanilla pudding in it, but next time I am going to try chocolate. My friend did that, and it was pretty good!

They're Baaack!!!

Well, the girls are FINALLY home!!! 5 days without them went by SOOOO slowly!!! It was nice to have time alone with Mike and get caught up on things around the house, but after the 2nd day, I was dying! My dad brought them home just today! Here is a video of them jump roping outside. Sydney is definitely doing better at keeping up with her big sister! Sorry there isn't any sound!

Homemade Donuts!

Can you tell that Mike & I are really bored without any kids! We almost don't even know what to do to pass the time! Last night, Mike decided that we should make donuts! He found a recipe online that is suppose to be really good. We got it from www.secretdonutrecipe.com. Believe it or not, the secret ingredient is mashed potatoes!! Very strange huh? But it was actually pretty good.

Mike wanted to use frosting instead of a glaze. Yummy Yummy!

Here is Mike's "Blue Steel" Look!

Snow in June!!!

I woke up this morning and this is what I found!!! Snow on June 10th!!! I can't believe this! That is what I get for living in North Idaho I guess! As you can see my poor flowers and plants in the bottom left corner are not looking so good anymore!

Garden Update

Here is our garden update! So far it is going really good. All the flowers are growing really good, thanks to all the rain we've been getting, plus the sprinkler hits them every night so I haven't had to water them in weeks!Here is my fresh Italian Parsley that my sister Tara gave me! I use these just about every day when I make omelette's! It makes them taste soooo good! Sydney's job is to pick the leaves off for me when I need them. She like it. It's cute!


Here is my Roma Tomato Plant that I bought about 1 month ago from our local Farmer's Market. It is doing really good! It's almost doubled in size! This is my first tomato plant though, so hopefully I won't kill it. I'm hoping to get lots of good tomato's so I can make salsa!

Sydney's Artwork

My dad talked me into letting both my girls stay with them for 5 whole days!!! At the time it seemed like a good idea, but it has only been 1 day and I am already going insane! I'm not sure what to do with myself! I haven't had this much free time in 7 years! They, of course, are loving it! They each have their own room with their own dressers and beds, and they are eating ice cream every time I call! Plus, my dad spoils them with McDonald's and Kung Fu Panda, so they are having a ball! Anyway, yesterday I saw a piece of artwork that Sydney had made for me the day before, and it was so sweet and simple. It made me really miss them so much! We have been practicing her letters and numbers everyday for a few months now, and she wrote all of this all by herself without any help! She wouldn't even let me look, 'cuz it was a surprise! (All I did was draw half of a heart so she could cut it out). Now I know that all of our practice has helped! It has now become a very sentimental piece of her artwork! Can you tell that I am missing them?!?! Only 4 more days to go! Here is what she made me before she left - Cute huh!?!

Kid Appreciation Day

After Mother's Day, the girls talked us into having a "kid appreciation day"! We all decided that June 1st was a good day, since it was between mother's and father's day, and that it fell on a Sunday. So the girls have been counting down until June 1st. My sister, Tara, actually looked it up, and she found that our county actually had a kid appreciation day already, on June 2nd; so we were only one day off! Anyway, the girls were very spoiled. They got breakfast in bed, a few presents, and even cupcakes! We even made them some homemade service coupons, like they made for me. They said, 1 free snuggle, 1 free cartoon, and 1 free dessert. They love those! It was fun, but I am kind-of hoping they forget about it next year, so it's not a yearly thing! :)

Here are the girls before church! They got to wear their new dresses that their Nana got for them! They look so cute! Thanks Nana!