Oh The Drama

On Saturday Avrie lost her 5th tooth! It has been loose for a long time and was just hanging there, but it took us 20 minutes to get it out she is so afraid of anything painful, or even what she perceives to be painful. There was a lot of cajoling and bargaining and it finally came out! When her baby teeth were developing either her mother took some meds or she did but it caused a brown line across her front teeth, it is not decay but missing enamel that goes all the way through so glad it is only affecting her baby teeth and hopefully she will have nice pearly whites when the new teeth come in.

We took Avrie to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Destina went to the parade and then to the Farmer's Market with some friends and both girls wanted to get their face painted. Avrie was so cute she is really good at the hula hoop and after her face was painted she went to the hula hoop booth and was hula hooping with her arms folded and her eyes closed. She had people stopping to watch her and she was definitely the cutest cat there! Destina had fun hanging out with her friends, running into us occasionally but she was enjoying her freedom and Avrie was loving the one on one attention she was getting all day long. She wanted a snow cone and kettle corn and it was her lucky day.

Ryan is so much like Scott when he has a crazy idea there is nothing that will stop it. Ryan saw this hammock in his sporting goods catalog and he saved his money and went down and bought it. Now he sleeps in it every night, yes he is in there sleeping. He thinks it will be great for camping this summer, crazy kid.

Found Some More Pictures

I found some more pictures on my camera not sure where they were hiding but here they are.

My cute little niece's daughter, she has the cutest kids and they are so good, except that I think she might be trying to steal some candy and got caught red handed!

More food shots, I was too busy to eat a lot of food that night so I am glad I have pictures to see what I missed out on, actually I did eat one of these yummy shrimp cocktails.

This was an awesome site all 17 of the cakes done sitting in the fridge, each of the flowers were hand made and the cake was so good!

My little sister and her husband, they were not here nearly long enough but we are sure glad they came. He wasn't quite sure what he got himself into when on Saturday he found himself helping our friends load their moving van, not part of his vacation itinerary but glad to put those muscles to work!

And another picture of Katie just in case we forget what she looks like!

Joyful Things

This one is for you Katie! Having Katie so far away with a 3 hour time difference makes it hard to keep in touch, she calls and checks in, love that, but for her this blog is her lifeline to home right now.  I love how happy she is in this picture, she radiated joy all weekend long while she was home. She was happy, confident and joyful, and according to a couple guys at the wedding she was pretty hot as well.

 I love the relationship that my 3 older girls have, it was not always this way, when they were little they fought like cats, Katie shared a room with Kelsie and Katie claimed that Kelsie was a loud sleeper and so for about a year she would make a bed in the hallway to sleep so that she would not have to be sleeping in the same room as her noisy sister, and her mean older sister would not let her sleep in her room, but the last 6 months all 3 have shared a room. McKenzie and Kelsie shared a queen sized bed and Katie had a twin bed.  About 5 days after Katie left I went down to their room and Katie's twin bed was all made up nice just like she left it, and I asked the older girls why they were still sharing a bed when there was an extra bed in their room, and they looked at me and said, "We didn't even think about it." They truly are best friends and as a mom I could not ask for more!

Ryan is turning into quite the handsome young man, he has a great relationship with Tim's mom so I had her pin the flower on Ryan, since I was incompetent when it came to doing that. Ryan runs her 2 huge big dogs a couple times a week and she "gets" Ryan because he is so much like Tim.

 I love this little girl too. She has struggled and it has been a hard transition for her since she came home from Haiti. I am not sure what lies in her past but she struggles with trials that go pretty deep. My heart breaks for her and the struggles her family has. She is a beautiful girl and when she smiles she lights up a room!

We loved having grandma and grandpa come over for the wedding, and McKenzie was glad they were there to help celebrate her special day!

Digging out!

Ok, so my eyes are almost closed but this was the only shot with the whole family so it will have to do.

I loved McKenzie's bouquet she had a new one for each day. This was Thursday's. The colors tied in so good with all the green outside and they were exactly what she wanted.

 Here are a few more shots from the candy buffet.

The Menu for the night.

Today was the first day that I didn't have a million things I needed to do. Every since the wedding I have still been really busy. First taking 2 days off work for me means that I have to fit my missed work in either before or after the wedding and also with the holiday on Monday I was doing extra visits all week long, I put in two 12 hour days this week just trying to fit it in. But I did have Tuesday off so that was nice, and I was able to get a lot done around the house.
Last weekend we moved kids around to different bedrooms we gave the little girls the big bedroom that the 3 older girls were sharing and since Kelsie is the only older girl left she got the little girls room. So among the wedding mess and company mess, love having company mess, the whole house was in disarray. I purged my bedroom of all things wedding, I returned all borrowed items, except the few that are still in the trunk of my car, I have been making piles of stuff to take over to McKenzie's house, and I have been cleaning. There is still stuff to do but with 5 kids still in the house there will always be things to do.

You will be tired of Wedding Photos

I got the proofs back from the photographer but I don't have the disk so I can't post any of them yet. They are really good it will be hard to decide which ones to buy. Meanwhile here are some more from my camera unfortunately, there were not as many pictures as I hoped.

The salmon getting prepared, she was the official salmon lady in charge of getting the salmon done just right. I had the beef tenderloin and it was so good.

  Here is the wedding cake sitting in the fridge, There are more glamorous shots from the photographer but we kept sneaking in to see it. Tim's mom did a fabulous job!

 Here is part of the tent set-up where we ate. We managed to fit everyone in, we had a few last minute RSVP's so we were a little tight but I think everyone had a seat.

We used a lot of lemons in the decorations and I had a crate of lemons that I juiced the other day, brought new meaning to the phrase, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" Avrie and I had fun she was in charge of turning the switch on and off the juicer! I have enough fresh, now frozen, lemon juice for a lot of lemonade.  I had about 10 lemons to go and my juicer started smoking so I think my juicer has juiced it's last lemon!

Here are the crazy girls that did McKenzie's hair and make-up both days. These 3 girls have been friends since we first moved here, and they made quite the team and did beautiful work!

Last Day of Preschool

She made it, she finished off her first and only year of preschool. She loved every minute of it, but the last couple of weeks she has been ready to move on. She had the count down going on how many more days of preschool and how much longer until she can go to Destina's school. She learned a lot this year working hard on numbers and reading. Today when I asked her how her last day of preschool was she said, "We just played and we didn't learn!" I am glad that there was at least one day of playing and no learning! She will miss all of her friends and her great teacher!

Avrie's first day of preschool!

Avrie's last day of preschool!

She looks almost the same but she is taller, has lost 4 teeth and she is now 5 instead of 4!

The Candy Buffet

McKenzie wanted to do a candy buffet and when word got out one of Tim's mom's friends offered to be in charge setting up the candy buffet. She did a wonderful job!

 Tim's mom found all the purple and yellow candy she even made purple and yellow fudge bon bon's and her friend put the table together for the reception. I made all the signs, it turned out so cute and fun.

It was a big hit I saw people carrying out more than one take home container of candy and people munching on them throughout the night. 
I think Ryan has almost finished off the leftovers he carried out about 4 gallon sized ziplock bags of candy at the end of the night.

Can't Wait to See them All

McKenzie only had 2 requirements for her wedding, she was a really easy bride, the first one was she wanted a particular dress and we came pretty close to the one she picked out on the internet. The second one was she wanted a great photographer and great pictures!  She won on both accounts. I can't wait to see more!

Dream Wedding

Here is a sneak preview! The wedding and reception were a perfect experience for McKenzie and she was the perfect bride. We woke up on Friday morning to a light rain but it cleared up by noon and although it was a little chilli, the night was perfect. The army of people that came together to pull off the reception was amazing.  On my end I had my dear friend that drove 900 miles to attend the wedding and she was my ironing master, she showed up Friday morning bright and early with most of the table cloths and she stood there for another couple of hours ironing the center crease out of each one. My older sister and I decorated each table, and she was there offering help every minute of the time she was here and never once complained.  I could not have done what I had to do without either of them and so appreciate their efforts. My nephew who drove 3 hours to come to the reception showed up and when I mentioned that we were short on help and needed an extra server he willingly stepped up and worked all night long helping out. Another friend stepped in at the last minute to help serve as well.  It was a great evening and Tim's mom had all the details planned out, it was amazing to walk into the kitchen throughout the day and see the cakes coming together, the food being prepared and all the volunteers so willing to help.

Day One Down...Bring on Day 2

Katie arrived at 8 am yesterday she had an orthodontist appointment and an eye appointment and we had a luncheon to get ready for and then a wedding ceremony to go to. When I saw her in the morning she looked a little rough from an all night flight. The next time I saw her she looked gorgeous. Even on no sleep she made it through the busy day! And contacts FINALLY no more eye infection and glasses!

 We had a family  luncheon before the Wedding ceremony. The room looked really cute with pictures of Tim and McKenzie when they were little on each table and a picture of them together.

 Scott's brother Mark came all the way from Portland to cater the lunch. He and his helper AKA grandpa, did a wonderful job he made my job stress free and the food was sooo good!

 He made these cute little love birds out of apples and we had ham and turkey, homemade mac and cheese, shrimp, crab, pasta salad, 2 different kinds of lettuce salad, fruit, rolls...it was all so good. Thanks Mark your talents in the kitchen we so appreciated and we were all well fed.

 

I made red velvet cupcakes for dessert, that was my contribution!

We had family and friends travel to Bellingham for the wedding and we really appreciate everyone who came to support Tim and McKenzie they were so happy to be surrounded by family and to feel the love that was shown to them throughout the day!

 

McKenzie has wonderful grandparents, family and friends that have been an important part of her life, and we are so happy that all were here to help us celebrate!

They say you can pick your friends but not your family, thanks Paul for making us laugh!

Tim's mom giving him one last kiss before he becomes a married man, sometimes you can't take 

the little boy out of the man!

It was a busy day but everything went smoothly except for a passport issue and some red lights. McKenzie was beautiful and calm and one relaxed bride.

Every minute is scheduled out!

The last 2 days have been crazy with every minute scheduled out, I still have to work one more day and then I have things scheduled out after that.  Family arrived today, so happy to see my sister and her family the house is full but I love it. The most important thing on the to do list today after cleaning and baking and work and shopping for pants for the boys was pedicures for McKenzie and me, it was nice to relax for a minute hour and have someone take care of us. Although we were both so tired we almost fell asleep. Then it was off to meet the family for dinner and home for chatting. So even though the day has been packed it was filled with some fun things to do too.  Katie will be home Thursday morning and she has an orthodontist appointment and eye appointment first thing and we are setting up for our luncheon hopefully everything will go smoothly. And the weather could not be more perfect crossing our fingers that it will be this nice on Thursday and Friday! I have one more table cloth to iron, but the rest of them are ready to go!

I missed a day!

Mother's Day was great but super busy trying to get the last minute wedding stuff done and adding more to the to do list. One of the things I volunteered to do was iron all the table clothes for the reception. I naively thought that I could get it done in an hour or two. Didn't realize that they were 120 inch floor length table clothes and that it would take about 30 minutes to iron each one and I have a little over 20 to do.  So a friend and I spent about 3 hours ironing last night and I did a couple more today before work and hopefully we will finish the rest tonight. I will never take for granted nice big ironed table clothes again someone worked hard to make them look that nice! Now I have to figure out how to transport them without wrinkling them again!

Converstaion with Avrie

Today when I got home from work Avrie came upstairs and said, "Mom come help me find Sponge Bob on TV!" I told her, "Avrie I do not like Sponge Bob very much can you find something else to watch?"
Her reply was, "Mom you don't have to come down and watch it with me,  I like Sponge Bob and you can watch something else later."

She had her kindergarten orientation this week, and I dread going. I don't like that they expect us to be there for 90 minutes in the middle of the afternoon and that the kids are pulled aside and "tested" to see if they are ready for Kindergarten. I get it that they want to get a base line of where the students are that are coming into kindergarten for the next year and all the stuff, but September is still 3 months away and there is a lot that little kids can learn in 3 months. So I usually don't put too much thought into these things and I go but get out of there as soon as I can. Avrie on the other hand didn't want to leave she did her testing, which by the way she rocked, and then wanted to go to every part of the school and check it out. When she insisted on going to the lunch room to eat, there was not a soul there nor any food, I told her it was time to go and had to practically drag her out. The teacher that did her assessment was pretty amazed that she knew all the ABC's in random order without making one mistake and recognized all the numbers to 30 in random order. I think she is ready for kindergarten.

In One Week...

my baby will be married!

She was our traveling baby we moved 5 times before she was 2 years old. She was born in Monterey CA, when she was 2 months old we moved to San. Angelo TX, when she was 8 months old we moved to Kaysville UT, when she was 16 months old we moved to Suwan South Korea, when she was 22 months old we moved to Ft. Mead Maryland. We lived there for 2 years before we moved back to Utah.

She was a trooper she just rolled with the punches and we were young and having fun with each new adventure.

 

Pretty soon she had a sister to play with and she loved being the big sister, little did we know it would be to 6 younger siblings. Some things are better left unknown!

She was always ready to have fun and had the bug to travel at a young age. She loved family vacations and was always such a great helper.

She loved adventure and was very athletic gymnastics was her life for a lot of years. When we moved to Bellingham life changed for her and it took her awhile to find out who she was without gymnastics and what she wanted to become.

She is a planner, has the 5 year plan always planed out, although somethings change, people come and go from life Tim was a keeper.  She knew after they had been dating about 2 months that this guy had possibility and that he might just be the one. Now 2 years later they are making it official and are getting married. We love Tim, we are excited to see what they do and to watch their future unfold!