Our Day Playing Tourists

We decided since we have been in Washington for almost a year, that it was time we saw some of the "tourist" attractions. So for Memorial Day, we got to play tourist. We went to the space needle early this morning (we left at 8:30 am - early for Emilee). We wanted to beat a lot of the people to the Seattle Center, since the Folklife Festival was also going on this weekend.

Family Togetherness!!!

Brian - trying to see over the edge - but not getting tooooo close!!!

Checking out the sights!

Oh - what a view!!!

Emilee and Michael wanted to see which direction they were going!!

The front entrance

Then we decided to visit Pike's Place Market to see what was there.

The famous pigs you can follow to Pike's Market.

They had some gorgeous flowers - too bad we can't tranport them to Utah for the wedding.

The famous Pike's Fish Market - fish toss!!

We then decided to make an impromptu visit to the

Seattle Aquarium.

There were tide pools where the kids could touch the star fish, sea anemones, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, etc. Everything that is found in the Sound.

Emilee even touched things - there was a bathroom close by to wash her hands.

There was an enormous octopus - well it looked pretty big anyway.

Emilee surfing on an orca whale's back.

It was Michael's turn to catch a ride!

Morgan has to keep up with the others.

And the kids all together!

We had a great day and a lot of fun. We finished the day off by going to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Morgan even finished her entire meal - and that says a lot!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! We definitely celebrated this at our house. Dianne got cards and presents from Brian and the kids. Morgan's card had a sign inside of it that says, "Go away all of you! Just leave me alone!" This was for Dianne to put on her door so she wouldn't be disturbed.

Morgan wrote Dianne a poem in school. It was very sweet of her, but the poem made us all laugh.

Morgan also gave Dianne a thermos, it had a drawing of the whole family around the outside.

These are mom's presents from the kids! All Disney! The Mickey and Minnie on top are salt and pepper shakers.

Precious Moment of the Disneyland Teacup Ride! It's very cute!

Precious Moment of the Dumbo Ride! Definitely a favorite at our house!

Dianne couldn't wait to put them up on display.

Aren't they cute?

Dianne also got a Cinderella Carriage Antenna Ball.

Last, but not least, Brian's present. He gave Dianne a choice of an iMac, iPhone, and Ipod!

Emilee's Adventure

Emilee wanted to drive to dance on Tuesday night. It was a nice day for once, so I decided to let her drive since she has her learners permit. Things were going well until she started going off the road to the right on a curve, and then over corrected and crossed the other lane of traffic, to go in a ditch and up the side of a hill - sideways...which naturally tipped us over on the passenger side of the suburban.

These pictures are after some good samaritans came and pushed the suburban off it's side so it could be towed out.

All I can say is I'm glad no one was hurt - she bruised her knee a little bit, but otherwise we are both fine. I have to say we have good neighbors here. About 3 minutes after this happened, Rob (Morgan's friend Christina's dad) drove by and stopped to help. Then some others came. Rob called his wife Julie, and she came. Then the people who lived close by came to see what was happening. Rob knew them, and the next thing we know, they are bringing a flatbed tow truck and a backhoe to straighten us up and pull us out of the ditch.

Once the suburban was on the flatbed, it was obvious how much damage there really was. The sheriff came, and I told him what happened. He said at least I didn't blame it on the sun or a dog - a lot of the excuses he hears lately. He didn't even give us a ticket.


Then as I am trying to figure out where to have them take the suburban, the tow truck driver's brother comes along to pick up his kids from their house, and he has a body shop. Rob said he did really good work, so we had them take the suburban there.

We are all doing well, a little stiff and sore today, but no one was hurt - which is our greatest blessing!!!

Mid Winter Break!

The kids were out of school for mid winter break. They had the whole week after Valentine's Day off, and so we headed down to Utah. We stayed at Dianne's mom's house. The kids had lots of fun and got to hang out with their friends. On Friday, our family and Dianne's mom had the opportunity to go to the Draper Temple Open House. It was the first temple open house that the kids had the opportunity to attend. They really enjoyed it!

On the way home, the kids entertained themselves using Dianne's camera.

Black and White Experiments:

Funny Faces:

Random... yes all are of Michael...

Hanging out in the suburban!

Emilee and Morgan's fun at a gas station while Brian was pumping gas and Dianne and Michael were getting food.

Are we there yet?

NAP TIME!!!