Five Little Sampsons

The Architect....

2012-01-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

Jack - our Architect in training, received a giant bucket of Legos for Christmas (Thanks Brian!). Since then he has been building many different creations. We take pictures of them and then we have battles :) He asked me to post some so he could show people some of the things he has done. Here are a few that I was able to capture before they were put away.

This is a park. You will notice the police station where someone is sleeping on the job. He also created a fountain in the middle that rotates, and a mail box with actual mail inside. He has a story that goes with every piece of the park.

This is a pizza place - with delivery man heading out the door. The yellow diving board looking thing in the back is the oven where the pizza comes out on a conveyor belt.

This is a a public park...I can't remember all the details.

We build a lot of ships. Mostly they are pirate type ships and then we battle using a dice so no ones creations actually get destroyed. These planes are some that Dad and Jack created together.

Jack is a pretty creative kid. I hope he sticks to the Architect idea - he definitely has the mind for it.

Christmas Catchup

2012-01-07T22:26:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2011 was awesome at the Sampson household. Renton city has a lights display called "Clam Lights" down by Lake Washington. It's a little weird, but pretty fun. We ended the night with some hot chocolate and marshmallows...yummm....

In preparation for the day we made some gingerbread houses and sugar cookies. Olivia came over and helped make the sugar cookies - it was a big mess, but a lot of fun.

On Christmas Eve the Battys and the Sampsons joined us for our Christmas Eve party which included a Penguin Piniata....

Here they are Christmas Morning:

The day after Christmas we went over to Sampsons for a party. It was so much fun. The adults played a game called "Hedbanz" which I would totally recommend.

We will miss you Aunt Sheila....

2011-12-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my incredible Aunt Sheila and my Dad. Sheila passed away last week totally unexpectedly and I will miss her so much. She had amazing music ability and I am sure she has already set up a new choir and is arranging music as we speak with Grandma by her side.

Growing up, having the Cope’s come visit was always a special treat. Sheila would bring energy with her. No matter what we were doing and where she was, she brought life and laughter in to it. Of course there are all the fun stories she told us about our Dad growing up. But it was more than just the stories. I think from those I learned more than the fact that my Dad was a pest growing up, but how much they loved each other in that family. There wasn’t a lot of outward showing of emotion, but there was always a sense of love and companionship in every story. It was good to know that brothers can be your friends, even when they melt and deface your favorite doll.

When I was sealed to my husband, Sheila was there. She came over from Colorado to be part of my wedding which was a big deal to begin with and I was so glad to see her there. During the ceremony Sheila got up and fixed my dress so it lay with the back spread and pretty while I was kneeling on the alter. The sealer called her “my little bridesmaid”. She wanted to make sure I was as beautiful as I could be for that special moment. It was such a loving and unexpected thing for her to do - it is one of my most powerful memories of that day.

I got the opportunity a couple months ago to take Sheila and a couple of the judges she was working with to see Seattle and the view from the building I work. Her time was very limited outside the performances she was judging, but she made the time to see me and see where I worked. It was great to connect with her and spend some time just chatting and catching up. Now, I am even more grateful that I had that chance and that my kids got to spend a few minutes with her as well.

I will miss my bridesmaid and really can’t believe that I won’t see her again in this life. I am grateful that Sheila was part of my life and that I have great memories of her. Most of all I am grateful that we are an eternal family and that even though she is gone now, it is not for forever.

The perfect pie....

2011-11-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

Okay - I am going to brag a little bit. This is the most perfect pie I have ever made. The crust was perfect, it baked perfectly, and looked so beautiful. I made 8 pies for Thanksgiving (crazy I know - blame my Mom). I made a peach pie for myself because it is my favorite. Then it turned out so perfectly, we didn't end up cutting in to it until last night (two days after Thanksgiving). It tasted pretty perfect too :)

We had a turkey at home on Sunday and let Jack have his first drumstick....

He really enjoyed it :)

On Friday we took some family pictures with the Sampson family. Here is one I took from my cell phone. We will post others in a couple weeks.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

Visit to the Great North....

2011-11-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

We went to visit Nate and Kathy in Grande Prairie Alberta Canada. It was my first trip very far in to Canada. Here we are crossing the border:

The reason for the trip was that the Canadian Buckleys had a new addition to their family - Leah Mae Buckley was blessed while we were there. Here is a picture of Jack and Leah:

Grande Prairie is significantly far away and in the middle of the tundra. Here are pictures of the view from Nate's back porch. We took the kids to the park and check out the view there :)

While we were visiting we had a true Canadian experience. We went Curling! It was SO much fun! All the kids got to curl as well and it was a awesome. The first picture is Kathy and Cooper.

We also went 5 pin bowling. It was a very interesting experience. The balls are really small and you have no control of where it ends up. We had a great time.

Some Celebrating after the few strikes we had:

Thanks for letting us come play Canadian Buckleys!!! We had a great time!

Buzz, a Queen and a Giant Mustache

2011-11-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween this year.

Jack was a Giant Mustache (His idea - and making the costume was pretty interesting)

Mackenzie was a Queen. She has upgraded past Princess :)

Jaron was Buzz Lightyear (To one-finiti and beyond!!!)

Sorensen's came over and we went to the Pumpkin Patch. It was so much fun.

A year in Wenatchee has made Mauvia weak :) She was cold the entire time

Later - we carved Pumpkins

Jack made sure his pumpkin had a giant mustache. Kenzie was a girl and even had a bow and eye lashes. Jaron's was....well....Jaron's :)

It all started 10 years ago....

2011-09-11T16:51:00.001-07:00

Ten years ago today, I got the opportunity to be sealed for time and all eternity with the best man in the world. I am so grateful to be his wife!
Here are some shots of that day!

Love you SO much baby!!!

First Day of School 2011

2011-09-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

August 31st was the first day of school and our sweet Kenzie started Kindergarten. Jack started the third grade (which is totally awesome - by the way).

Jaron had a hard time letting his sister go to school when he had to go home.

The first day of school Jacket:

Jack wore the same maroon jacket to the first day of kindergarten and first grade. After that he decided he wanted to take a picture like this for the first day of every year he is at this elementary school. Here are the pictures from kindergarten until now:

I took this picture because it reminded of the one four years ago - which was the last time these two boys were in the same class.

Here they are coming home and heading to school on the bus on day two for Kenzie.

The bus driver (Jim) has been our route driver the entire time Jack has been in school. Thanks for keeping them safe Jim!!

2011 Vacation.....Awesome!

2011-08-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

We spent an entire week in Powder Mountain, Utah (9,000 feet above sea level). It was so beautiful! Thanks Gail and Ian for letting us use the cabin!

We went hiking and swimming every day. Here are some hiking shots:

Kenzie and Jaron found "the biggest blowie in the world" and they wanted to see if they could blow all the stuff off....eventually they picked it up and made it work...so cute :)

Natalie and Justin joined us the first night and then Grandma and Grandpa Buckley joined us the second night. Jaron is still convinced that we stayed at Natalie's house - he will be so confused when we go to their house in Logan :)

We went to the Union Station Train Depot in Ogden Utah and they had a lot of old trains outside you can tour.

We compared everyone to the one of the steam engine wheels - it was REALLY big!!

They had a fountain in the front with weird horses - we had to take a picture :)

We spent the afternoon at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden Utah. They got to dig for fossils, see dinosaurs, and search for gold. It was really fun!

Last stop - we went to the Hill Air Force Museum. It was so cool. We plan on going again next time we are in the area.

It was a GREAT vacation!

The USS Sampson....

2011-08-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well...our ship came in as part of SeaFair. The USS Sampson is a 510ft Destroyer (I had hoped for a yacht, but a destroyer will do ;) )

There were two or three Coast Guard ships protecting the Sampson the entire time it was there. We watched them escort every boat that came close - even a guy in a kayak. Notice the large machine guns on the ship...would have scared me to death...

The tour took a full hour and we got to climb all over the ship.

I turned around and saw the kids had found a place to sit...I quickly took a picture before panicking and telling them to get up. They were sitting where the missile's launch...super safe. Then I had them stand before the long range gun - we were told they could hit something 9 miles away.

Here are some of the crew. The first picture is one of the members of the VBSS (Visit Board Search and Seizure) crew. He said that they can board and take control of a ship in under five minutes. Apparently the Sampson biggest advantage is its speed, and they have two little boats they use to move to the other ships they have named "lightening" and "thunder"...

Some more pictures....

No more training wheels!!!

2011-08-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

Kenzie has learned to ride a bike without training wheels! We are so proud of her. Here are some action shots:

Jack loves his scooter and is starting to do tricks. I couldn't get a good shot, but isn't he handsome :)

... and this is where Jaron was while they were outside

Menatchee Adventures....

2011-07-17T08:55:00.003-07:00

The Sorensen's have once again invited us over to play! We had so much fun! On Saturday we went to Leavenworth and went hiking up in the canyon. It was so beautiful!

After hiking, we went in to tour the cute Bavarian town and listen to the polka band playing in the square. We had gelato first at this really great place. I don't know the name, but I would highly recommend it.

After leaving Leavenworth, we went back to Wenatchee (Onatchee, Menatchee, depending on which kid you talk to) and we went swimming in the Columbia River. It was the coldest water I have ever been in. Ben and Gray decided not to be part of the fun.

We had so much fun - Thanks Sorensen's!!!

Running Crazy....

2011-07-17T08:55:00.001-07:00

I have run several races the last couple of months and wanted to post my accomplishments and brag a little bit ;)I ran the Sound to Narrows 5k with Zanda and Roger Nelson - It was really fun but we didn't see the Sound or the Narrows bridge :)

I ran the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon for the second year and beat my goal time by 5 minutes. I was slower than last year, but considering I had major surgery the first of the year and didn't a lot of training time - I still feel really good about it.

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to run in the Warrior Dash - 3.55 miles and 12 obstacles that included jumping over fire, climbing over junkyard cars, crawling under barbed wire through a foot of soft mud, and 8 other very scary obstacles. We received an awesome Viking helmet, a medal, a cool t-shirt, and a gigantic turkey leg. I ran it with DeAnn and her niece Kaylee. It was totally filthy, but SO much fun. Thanks DeAnn for giving me this experience for my birthday!!

Here are some before the race pictures:

After the race we were hosed down by a giant fire hose to get all the mud off. We changed clothes and got a turkey leg...then headed home for a shower!

I'm hanging up my shoes for a few months and just doing "good for me" running - no more challenges for a while!

Jack's Baptism and Family Fun....

2011-07-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Jack got baptized on Saturday July 2nd! We are so proud of him! Thanks to everyone who came and all the family who participated.

My sisters Mandy and Brenda and my Brother Nathan came with their families and my parents and spent a few days after the baptism with us. Here is a picture of the entire crew:

On Saturday after the baptism Jack asked if he could get in the pool:

After we got him out of the box, we filled up the pool in our backyard and everyone had a good time. The two younger boys Jaron and Cooper weren't quite sure they were ready to go out with everyone.

Sunday after church we went to see the locks in Ballard and had a picnic at the park there. It was a beautiful day and they had a band playing while we ate. So much fun!!

After we went to the Seattle Temple to see the beautiful grounds. Here is a picture of all the grandkids (except Mary) that were here. I also included a picture of Grandma taking a picture for those siblings that weren't here to watch :)

Monday the 4th of July we spent the majority of the day at Alki beach in West Seattle. I managed to only get one picture but you will have to take my word for it that we had a great time.

We had a barbecue and shot fire works from our backyard. The majority of the crew had to leave at 5 am on the 5th, so we had to finish the fireworks early. Kenzie and Grandma don't like the sounds and several other kids joined them to watch Tangled instead. Kenz actually fell asleep with her hands covering her ears.

This is a typical "end of the day" shot with Kathy (Nate's wife) reading to the kids.

Family is so awesome!

Memorial Weekend at Deception Pass...

2011-06-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

As is tradition we spent Memorial Weekend camping at Deception Pass (the top of Whidbey Island in Washington - about two hours from home). It was so beautiful!! When we got there the sun was shining and we were sure that was going to be the only sun we saw all weekend. Luckily we were wrong and it only rained a little bit on Friday night. Kenzie said a prayer before we left and asked that it would be sunny - we were so blessed! It was cold at night, but the rest of the time was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend. My cousin Kurt and his wife Bonnie came and camped with us. It was their first camping experience in Washington. I warned them they would not all be like this, and the massive blue tarp should be an indicator of how things typically are :)

The campsite:

The beach....Jaron figured out how to do a "sand angel", Kurt figured out if you took rocks and stacked them against a log then covered them with sand you could make a recliner, Bonnie flew a kite and napped on the beach, Paul hit rocks in to the water (like always), I took a nice nap and Jack and Kenzie built lots of castles.

At the end of the trip we took the time to stop and walk out on the bridge:

Jack is 8!!!

2011-06-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

My firstborn has turned eight and I am not quite sure how that happend (hopefully he will survive to nine :) ). Jack's birthday was a busy day because we were heading out to camp for Memorial weekend. Jack wanted donuts for his birthday, so he got up early and we went to the store to pick them out. Then we took some to his school class to help him celebrate. Once we got home, he got his birthday donut to blow out.

He opened presents from everyone....

We will celebrate more in a month when he gets baptized.

Happy Birthday JACK!! We love you!

Preschool Graduation for Mackenzie!

2011-06-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie has graduated preschool! We are so proud of her. She is SO ready for kindergarten!! Big thanks to all the teachers (Melanie, Carla, Paul, Melanie and DeAnn). The school was so much fun and she learned a lot.

The whole class (Morgan, Justin, Mason, Brooke, Mackenzie and Morgan)

CONGRATULATIONS! - on to kindergarten....

Happy Birthday to Jaron (W) - 3 years old!!!!

2011-05-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday was Jaron's birthday - I can't believe my baby is already three! We had a King party for him tonight (Kenzie had a princess party, so Jaron needed a king party....makes sense right?). Jaron invited his friends to come over and help him celebrate. All of the boys got crowns, (although they were smaller than we anticipated) and all of the girls wore tiara's:

Jaron wanted a brown cake with blue frosting. I didn't have any "brown" cake mixes, so he chose the one with the sprinkles. I was able to make the blue frosting and look - candles!! He loved having everyone sing to him and even danced. He did a good job blowing out the candles (with a little help from his Mom).

Everyone loves presents!!! Thanks everyone for all the great stuff.

Cole and Gracie couldn't make it but brought this great doctor kit over early...so fun!

I found him here filling his shoes with dirt post party....

To explain the "W"....about a year ago Jaron started telling us that "W" was his favorite letter. He would say that things with words on them were "ABCDE's" instead of ABC's and always pick out the W. We were working with him on how to spell his name and he says it is spelled "JARONW" and only invited people to his party that had a W in their name - I wasn't invited by-the-way :) When he writes his name on something it is a giant W and then an O and an N. Pretty good for only being three :) So if you come to our house and see something marked with the initial W - don't be confused...that stands for Jaron!

Happy Birthday Sweet little Monkey!!!

New Addition to our family and the trip to the zoo....

2011-05-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

This is Mosely - our new member of our family! He is a six month old Golden Retriever, Cocker Spaniel mix. He has a lot of energy and is going to be a big dog, and he loves to play fetch :)

Jack's second grade class went to the zoo this week no a field trip and I got to go with :) Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Easter and the Walk for Babies....

2011-05-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Easter was really great this year. We dyed eggs - kind of. Mom the control freak put the eggs in the color, the kids just told me what to do :) It was the only way to do it in a short time and keep everyone clean....

The Easter Bunny came and left us each a treat - and eggs all over the house.

All dressed up in our Easter clothes!

We got ready and went to church. Another mother-of-the-year moment - notice Jaron's feet. I didn't realize he didn't have any shoes on until we had taken five minutes of pictures. Awesome.

After church, we went down to continue the Easter Celebration at the Sampsons. Ian told the kids how/where the indoor egg hunt was going to happen. The Criddle's just got back from a cruise - so Addie's hair is all in braids

The hunt!

Last Saturday we participated in the March of Dimes Walk for Babies. My office raised over $10,000 this year, which was totally awesome. All of our kids were premature and have benefitted from research done by the March of Dimes. In typical Seattle Weather, it rained. But we had a good time anyway!

The Princess is FIVE!!!

2011-05-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

The day she has been waiting for has finally come - Kenzie is five! To celebrate this grand occasion, we had a Tangled Princess Party. Invitations went out, and 8 beautiful Princesses joined us for the party.

We painted finger and toe nails (thanks DeAnn and Jeanette for all of the help!). We made tiara's and put on earrings and rings. Then, we were ready for the main event - watching Tangled.

After an hour of the movie, we stopped the show to open gifts and had cake. You will notice that Mom of the year forgot the candles, so Kenzie had to blow out a number 9 candle. Oh well, she had a good time!

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!!!

Congratulations Brian and Emily Criddle!!

2011-04-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Emily (Paul's sister) and Brian were married on March 24th and we are so happy for them!

The kids were pretty good while we were waiting for the wedding. Thank heaven for video games :)

Emily bought them all new clothes (wahoo for free easter clothes!) They all looked so great. We got a great picture of Ian and Gail, and then Paul and I took one of our own.

They had a photo booth for people to take pictures, and then leave one for them in a scrapbook. It was so much fun - we took up an entire page.

Paul taught Jaron a new trick - it was a lot of fun to watch him. This kept him happy through a few minutes of the open house :)

We are so excited for Emily and Brian!!

Earthquake Video (sorry it is sideways)...

2011-03-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

At the Seattle Pacific Science Center they have this really cool globe. Normally they have the actual weather patterns showing when we go. The last time we went, they had a video of the earthquakes that have happened in the past month. If you look - there is a key that shows the size of circle indicates the magnitude, and the color indicates the depth of the earth. You can see the date rolling. Watch for New Zealand's big one and also all of the activity in Japan. We watched it for a while.

This is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen...

Star Wars and the Farm

2011-03-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

It is sad to say, but my kids are definitely city kids. For preschool we went to the Farm on a field trip. If you ask Jaron, he would tell you his favorite part was the cow, and feeding the chickens. There was not a cow, just a spotted horse. But no matter how many times I told him, he was convinced it was a cow. The kids got to pet a pony, sheep and a rabbit and feed chickens and a pig. The pig was 600lbs, and very wooley. The farmer asked the kids which weighed more, Mommy or the Pig....we won't be going back :) The kids got to card wool and use it to make a sheep at the end. It was a lot of fun.

Star Wars came to the Pacific Science Center! We went (Jack and Paul are going to go again), but here are some highlights:

February Recap...

2011-03-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Paul turned 32! Kenzie and Jaron helped make the cake. Jack and Jaron helped Dad by doing the laundry.

Grandma and Grandpa Buckley and Aunt Natalie came to visit during mid winter break:

Here is a recap of February....it snowed, it melted. The kids were actually able to make some snowmen (brother and sister snowman are the names in case you were wondering).

Memories...

2011-02-09T11:14:00.001-08:00

So I am going through all of our old photos to make some albums that the kids can pull and look through and found some things that made me laugh. I thought they would be worth reposting :)

Cute new family pictures...

2011-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

We had family pictures taken a couple weeks ago - and they turned out great (thanks Mel!). I am so lucky to have such cute little monkeys :)

Here are some of my favorites - enjoy!

Christmas Catch-up

2011-01-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve the Snedakers and Hansens joined us for a party. Here are the pinata pictures - the kids picked a chili pepper. Very festive :)

Once it was destroyed it made a very nice hat!

After the pinata we did our first ever re-enactment of the Christmas story. It went much better in our heads that actually what happened - but the kids had a good time.

Here are some Christmas morning pictures.

We took new family pictures - they turned out super cute (thanks Melanie!!) I will post some once we get the editing done.

Hope you all have a great 2011!!

Random cuteness...and the beard

2010-12-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Getting the Christmas tree decorated - so pretty :)

Santa riding on a reindeer - then they switched roles. Oddly enough they are the same size from head to bum...Kenzie just has slightly larger legs, but Jaron has larger feet. Pretty crazy that they are two years apart.

We went and saw Tangled for cousin Hailey's birthday in 3-D (thanks Andrew)...we kept the glasses :) Kenzie thought they were sun glasses and wore them on the trip home from Utah - until she fell asleep.

Jaron didn't understand the picture and pulled his own face.

Jack got to go on a limo ride to the fire station for raising his goal during the fund raiser. We had a really great time.

Kenzie was "reading" to the other kids. Family - notice Jaron's wizard cape? Yes, that is Grandma Howell's apron. It has become a wizard cape and we have to fight him to take it off at night. I will try to post some other pictures.

The Beard...Oh - the beard.

Justin and Paul decided to grow out "nasty" facial hair for the Buckley family photos this year. The picture above is before we left for Utah. He trimmed on Thanksgiving morning - truly disgusting.

He did shave before the picture - but not before they got the reaction they were looking for from the mother-in-law :)

The bird....

2010-12-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen the movie "the Great Outdoors" - you know the part where John Candy is trying to get the bat and is dressed in a catcher mask and has a racket....picture that in your head while you are reading this.

So here's the story... The kids and I got home the other night and there was a bird in our house (I have learned from google that it was a Nuthatch - pretty fitting). We found the bird because it flew past Kenzie in to our family room. She screamed at the top of her lungs and ran down the hall to their bedroom. Jaron, not really sure what was going on, sat there until the bird flew by him. He screamed and followed his sister - slamming the door and moving the rocking chair to block the bird from coming in. As they sat and cried in their room - I tried to figure out how to get the bird out.

In church on Sunday I taught a lesson about how Heavenly Father loves everything, even down to the little birds. In the lesson there was a story about a bird in the tabernacle on temple square. They couldn't get the bird out and some suggested to shoot it with a pellet gun. The head guy decided that he couldn't do that and prayed for help on how to get the bird out. They were finally able to coax the bird out by turning off all the lights an opening a door, so there was only one light for the bird to follow. How fitting then - that on Monday I would need to apply this newly found knowledge.

Jack stood in the hall to keep the bird from flying that way. The bird flew from the kitchen to the family room over and over . Jack was using a stick horse to wave to make sure the bird didn't fly his way (he was so brave), and I was walking towards the bird to get it to fly out. Finally the bird flew in the right direction, but landed on our ceiling fan. Jack looked at me and said, "Why don't we just keep the bird as a pet". We felt this bird was going to live with us forever. Much to Jack's dismay, I remembered the story and figured turning off the lights would be the only way to get the bird out.

Kids still screaming in the back room, me on the cell phone yelling at my husband for not being home, and Jack cowering in the hall swinging the stick horse over his head in the dark - we finally got the bird to fly out the front door.

Not exactly John Candy, but still pretty funny :)

Fall Fun with the leaves...

2010-11-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

Now - looking at the pile of leaves we were playing in, you would never believe that we don't have a single leaf bearing tree in our back yard. Lucky for our kids, our neighbors do :) Usually it is too wet and slug filled to be able to play very much with the leaves, but we had a really beautiful crisp day yesterday. The kids didn't seem to notice the wet, and I didn't see a single slug.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Halloween has come and gone. Luckily my kids REALLY like the costumes they have had in years past. So these may look familiar, but here are the costumes:

And Paul was all prepared to hand out candy:

Jaron was very tired at the end of the night when Grandma and Grandpa reversed trick or treated and brought the kids treats. Jaron didn't want Grandma to go home :)

Which one of these things is not like the other....

The Pumpkins for this year:

The fine creations of Eunice, Emily and Addie

Kenzie (done by Grandma), Jack and Jaron

We had a great Halloween!

Preschool visit to the Pumpkin Patch...

2010-10-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

This week was the letter "P" at preschool - so we visited the Pumpkin Patch.
We rode on the wagons:

The kids tried to give Paul a ride on the wagon...it was a little harder that way :)

We found the biggest pumpkin in the patch...

And Jaron stepped in a rotten pumpkin - he was not a fan

And tried to find the smallest pumpkin in the patch. The kids had to put them in size order from smallest to biggest - they did a great job.

Other cute pictures....

Wenatchee Adventures...

2010-10-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

We went to visit our friends the Sorensens who have recently moved to Wenatchee WA (about 2.5 hrs North East of our house). We went down to the farmers market, and then visited a really cool old timey soda shop called "The Owl". The kids all got ice cream sundae's and Paul shared his shake with Jaron

After we were all sugared up we went on a walk over a bridge to the Columbia River where the park had a collection of interesting art.

The kids were mostly excited about the giant acorns we found. Jack had an entire pocket full to bring back to our squirrels that live in our yard. Wish I had taken a picture, but I got a purse full of acorns instead :)

While we were at the park, Ben and Mauvia noticed a little train station. The volunteers that ran the train were just killing time between birthday parties - so they took us for a ride free of charge. It was really fun and a great experience for the kids.

Train conductor - didn't catch his name so we called him "Bob"

Oh - the big news - I met my new boyfriend at the soda shop...

Paul didn't like that much (ha ha)

So - I let Greysen move in on my turf...Grey is cuter anyway :)

The Arm is repaired!!!

2010-10-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

Kenzie's arm is all better. If you look at the X-ray you can actually see where the break is repaired. The body is so cool! Any bets on how long it will be before our next break, or stitches, or ER visit or....

I also got to go to Phoenix again. It was 105 - 109 degrees while I was there. It was too hot to really enjoy the baby blue Mustang convertible I was given as a rental car - although I did go for a drive. Here is a picture of the sunset one night - totally beautiful.

I took this picture on the plane ride home. It was great to be home.

Other cute pictures -

First day of school and other cute things...

2010-09-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

Jack started school on September 1st. We have taken his picture in the same jacket on the first day of Kindergarten and 1st grade. So - he wanted to take the maroon jacket and get a picture on the first day of 2nd grade. He wants to do this every year until after the 5th grade he says. The jacket is getty pretty ragged - and as you can see, much too small :) Oh well...the school adventure starts again!

Other cute things:

Jaron was helping clean the windows. We sent Jack outside to clean and gave him the spray. Jaron thought the spray was on his side. We laughed, but when I went out to get the higher parts of the door - he kept doing it. We got it on this very cute video:

Emily and Brian gave me Mariners tickets for the black day (my birthday) - so Paul and I got to go and sit in some great seats. The Mariners lost (of course) but it was still a lot of fun. Paul kept getting mad at me for taking pictures of Ichiro's rear - but he would bend over and stretch at every batter and it was right there...really funny.

Cute pictures:
"Wook Mom - I can climb!"

The broken arm and other adventures...

2010-08-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

The X-rays of her buckle fracture. The doctor says if you are going to break your arm, this is the break to have. She has to wear her cast until October 1st. She is not very excited about it. She keeps saying - I don't want to wear this. I told her it was an accessory like a necklace. She quickly corrected me that a necklace doesn't go on a wrist, that it would be a bracelet. At least she has kept her fashion sense through all this.

The arm pre-cast and getting the cast put on. She chose pink of course.

The Casting Crew

While we were in Ephraim for my Grandmother's funeral, we went to visit Snow College. They have a brand new library and a beautiful new courtyard area with some statues of Lorenzo Snow and Erastus Snow (we think) Anyway, here are some pictures of our adventures.

Yes - Justin is almost as tall as the statues. Kenzie is perched on their arms :)

In loving memory of Arlea Hope Howell

2010-08-16T13:14:00.001-07:00

Arlea Hope Howell was an educator above all things. Every memory of my Grandma has her teaching me something - gardening, cooking, fishing, love of literature, community service, appropriate tick removal, playing games, etc. My Grandmother was an amazing woman.

Memories of my Grandmother

When I was 9 or 10 my parents took a long trip to Egypt and Israel. Grandma took all of the kids in my family and drove us around the state to stay with cousins. She would let us stay for a while, then pick us up and take us to another house. The best part was on the way we would stop at every historical marker. Grandma would tell us the history of the roads we traveled. I never questioned whether she knew her stuff or not, she just did. Later in college I actually used one of the lessons she taught me on a paper and had to call her for more information.

Another of my strongest lessons in life was when we went to a school carnival at the elementary school where Grandma was the principal. She let us participate in the cake walk - and I won two cakes! I thought that was the best part, but I didn't want to share. I figured they were my prizes. Grandma pulled me aside and helped me understand that if I made that choice, the majority of the cake would go to ruin and everyone else would be sad. I was kind of mad at her at the time for making me share...but I did it - and it was the right decision. The next time we went down Grandma was dressed as a giant Kool-aid man, it is hard to stay mad at that!

Arlea and Demont Howell have been two strong pillars in my life. Things I have learned from them have helped shape who I am. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that we can be together again, but I will sure miss them now. Grandpa left us two years ago in September and Grandma passed away Sunday August 15th. Although I am glad they are together again, she will be grately missed.

I love you Grandma!

(Grandma and Mom)
Arlea Howell raised six children who have since had 33 children (and great grandchildren....). Because of her efforts, all of the cousins know each other and we stay involved with the others lives (some more than others :) ).

Museum of Flight....

2010-08-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field last night....Jack really enjoyed it.

The kids got to get in a real helicopter, airplane, and hot air balloon basket. The Museum left all the working controls so they could get a feel of what it would be really like.

They got to stand by (and under) a 737 like the ones we use to get to Utah...very exciting :)

We got to go in the original "Air Force One" and see the really awesome state of the art communication equiptment from the 1950's. The rotary phone outside the President Suite had a plaque that talked about it being under surveillance - funny...

We waiting in line a bit and all I had were my sunglasses for entertainment - pretty cute :)

July Catch Up....

2010-07-29T17:36:00.001-07:00

July has been a crazy month at the Sampson house. The biggest news - we saw a moose!! We were at the Buckley cabin east of Park City and we were playing "Pooh sticks" on the bridge(consult your Winnie the Pooh if you don't know what that is - it is really fun). We walked back across the bridge and right behind us came this adult moose. I hurriedly (and a bit frantically) rushed the kids in to the car and watched the moose from the back window. It was awesome!

Here are some other pictures of us at the cabin. Yes - that's Paul, not the CHIPS officers :)

Other than that - the sun has come out in Washington. Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying it.

We love SUMMER!

Birthdays, Concerts, Blue Tarp Camping...so much to catch up on!

2010-06-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

Jaron turned 2!!! I would say we have entered the terrible two's, but we skipped that and are already in the deviant three's. He has so much language, and his favorite thing to say right now is "I don't like it". Grandma Sampson taught him to blow kisses. So he will come attack you, then get up and say "love you" and blow you a kiss. At least he gives loves after his attack :) Such a sweet tiny boy!

Jack had a concert at school. He did so well! The kids wanted to stand in front of the sign and take a picture - they are so silly!

Jack turned SEVEN...can you believe it! I can't...every day it amazes me. He actually snuggled up next to me the other day and said "Mom, can you believe I'm almost seven?" I told him no and realized I must really say that a lot! He is such a great kid - we love him so much!

Over Memorial weekend we went to Deception Pass (not conception pass - thomas) to go camping. It rained almost the entire time we were there. If you haven't seen the blue tarp camper commercials - that was us :) Emily loaned us her giant blue tarp, which totally saved our camp site.

We still went to the beach. We built sand castles (and cloisters), flew kites, threw rocks into the ocean (a lot of rocks). Jaron tried to play baseball like Paul does - it didn't turn out very good.

Jaron didn't like loud sound of the waves at first. Because of the storms the tide seem to come in with a violent feeling to it. It was beautiful, but very loud :)

We had a great time!!

SOD....HOORAY!!!

2010-05-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

After a three year battle with our front lawn, Paul has finally given in with the seed. We have put sod down, and it is beautiful!

Now - everyone pray that our cursed front yard accepts its new addition and we can actually have grass.

This is us after 6 hours of yard work - pretty huh :)

The many faces of Kenzie...

2010-05-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Kenzie is a girl of many talents. She has also learned some new tricks this week.

First - she has learned to stand on one leg. She told me she called the ballet school and they had one more spot for her so she could learn. She is so advanced, she has even been teaching her little brother:)

Second - she has learned to cross her eyes. It is hilarious, but we have had a hard time getting her to stop. This video isn't her best work, but it was the best we could do on demand.

Cute angelic picture that needs to be shared. This is my sister Natalie's wedding and all of our nieces. So cute!

In Search of Missing Teeth....

2010-04-30T20:41:00.001-07:00

They are gone - the tooth fairy has them, and we have not seen the replacements yet. We were worried, and then our friend Owen came over, and we learned the tooth fairy had taken his as well.

Jack feels that the money left by the tooth fairy was sufficient and is no longer looking. However, Mom is hoping the teeth will return before family pictures in November :)

Congrats Jack!

Kenzie is FOUR!!!

2010-04-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

She made it - even though now she is convinced because she had two parties, she turned four the first time and five the second. It's amazing that we argued for five minutes about it. Her logic is sound...but it just doesn't work that way.

Here she is blowing her candles out - I barely missed the blow!

She had a birthday party with her friends Mason, Justin, Sadie, and Tate. Zoe and Jack were there too. Daddy set up a treasure hunt and Jack was the reader.

They found all kinds of tinkerbell stuff once they were done. They had a great time.

She got to choose what we did, so we went to the aquarium with her best friend Tate (and Bailey - but she is imaginary). An octopus ate the kids:

Tate found a fish with his same hair color :)

They had a great time!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!!!

Easter and the clock...

2010-04-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

Because of General Conference this week, I dressed the kids up in their Easter outfits last Sunday and made them sit for pictures - so cute.

Kenzie and Jaron started performing this the other day. Kenzie says it's from Mickey Mouse clubhouse :)

Other cute pictures....

A film by Jack Sampson....

2010-02-19T17:01:00.000-08:00

Jack is going to be a movie producer :) He asked Paul if they could make a movie (they are on winter break right now). Paul had him do the story boards, wrote the lines and get the movie all layed out. Then they built all the characters and started filming.

For your viewing pleasure - Drago

GREAT JOB JACK, MACKENZIE AND DADDY!!!

(and Jaron for sleeping through it)

Happy Birthday Paul!!!

2010-02-11T20:13:00.001-08:00

He is now officially old...yes Paul has reached the ripe old age of 31 :) To celebrate we went to XXX in Issaquah - it is a rootbeer, burgers, and classic cars restaurant. There is a classic XXX burger that is at least 4 patties and the bun is the size of a plate.

Here are some "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" photos:

Other cute pictures from dinner:

Because Mauvia said it would be a year before I did this post - I am adding this picture :)

Halloween Party - sorry so delayed...

2009-11-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

the Snedakers...

the Cutlers...

and the Sorensens's :)

Halloween Fun!

2009-10-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch with the Sorensens - it was so much fun. Here are the cutest pumpkins we found:

Immediately Kenzie fell and got dirt on her pants. We didn't hear the end of it the whole trip. We had to go to Grandma's and change (thanks Grandma and Addie)!!

For Family Home Evening on Monday we carved the pumpkins. Jack dove right in, but every time asked Kenzie to touch inside the pumpkin, she said "NO!!". Paul picked up some of the guts and pretended to put them on her - you can see how well that went.

They turned out pretty well. Jack wanted his to be "with crazy teeth". Kenzie wanted her to be a scary Zonbie (see video below), but we ended up with a scary warewolf instead. Jarons just looks like him - don't you think?

Okay - we are unsure of where she came up with this. We didn't even know she knew what a zombie was. But she started doing this and we had to get it on tape - so funny.

The Ring Bearer and the Flower Girl

2009-09-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

Our good friend Olivia got married over the weekend and she asked Jack to be the ring bearer and Kenzie to be the flower girl. They were absolutely adorable! They did a great job standing still during the ceremony - and even kept their clothes clean the entire day.

Pictures of the bride, groom and the wedding - can you see my sweet kids?:

Other pictures:

"Look what happens when I twirl around..."

Look what Jack found laying around...

Cute Pictures of the kids...

2009-09-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Jack found the bubbles - too funny!

This is Kenzie's fresh wake-up face. I've been trying to capture it and finally did. She is so cute first thing in the morning!

This is Jaron's "what did I do Mom?" face - right after he has done something he knows he shouldn't have. Pretty angelic, hard to stay mad at this face!

8 Wonderful Years

2009-09-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

On September 15th it was 8 years since we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. The day couldn't have been any more different from the beautiful sunny day in 2001 :) We barely saw each other between work and meetings, and when Paul got home the bed was full of kids.

I couldn't imagine my life without Paul in it - I am so grateful for the last eight years!

Love you Baby!!!

First day of school and other

2009-09-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Jack is in First grade - I can not believe it. Here are some pictures from his first day:

Here is a picture from last year first day - same jacket, bigger kid :)

Kenzie discovered static electricity (or it discovered her?) and got stuck under the stroller.

Jaron finally made it into the pool - he worked on it all summer - HOORAY!

Cute picture of Jack and Daddy

The Birthday/Anniversary Runaway

2009-09-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

Paul and I ran away for a night for my birthday and our anniversary combined. Grandma Sampson came up and watched the kids while we went for our adventure (thanks Grandma!).

We started out on my birthday going to breakfast with the kids. It was fun, but IHOP was super duper slow. We had lots of fun creating towers with the coffee creamers while waiting :) Then Paul and I dropped the kids off and we went golfing. I haven't been in years and it took until about th 7th hole for me to get my swing back, but eventually I did okay. Paul was awesome! And, luckily, the crazy old couple we were paired with didn't get angry at our "creative rules". Jenn, you were thought of often while there :)

After that we checked in to a great hotel and had a nice dinner. The next day we slept in, kind of. Paul slept in and I was able to lay in bed and read. It was really nice. We saw Harry Potter in the IMAX - the first half hour was 3-D. It was really cool. We looked cool doing it too :)

The end of the trip was the SeaHawks game. It was SO much fun! We would definitely do it all again.

Adventures from the last two months...

2009-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wow - life goes by so fast. When I looked at the pictures we've taken and realized what we have done - we had a great summer.

Here are some adventures from the past couple months.

Camping at the Ocean with the Sorensen's:

This trip was definitely an adventure. The site was REALLY small and it was gray and rainy the entire time, but we still had fun.

We found some lost heads at the beach...(they ain't got no body and no body ain't got them...he he he that's for you Audrey :) )

Jaron got sick so we had to go home early. He threw up several times and I don't think anyone was spared from getting hit. Sorry Mauvia!

It was a fun trip anyway :)

Adventure number two:
SeaFair!!!

We went and toured the "mavy boats" (kenzie) and then watched the Blue Angels from my office at the Columbia Center.

The boats were kind of crazy. We were only able to tour one because we got there at lunch time, and the only one available was a Canadian mine sweeper type boat. Crazy canadians only had one gun on board, and it was from the Korean War :) The boat goes really slow and the guy said that they mostly patrol fishing boats, but the boat is slower than most fishing boats so it is difficult. The kicker is, they can't board other ships without a Mounty on board, so if they do find someone doing something illegal, they probably won't catch them and if they do they can't do anything. Pretty funny. The kids enjoyed seeing the ship anyway :)

The best part about the picture of Kenzie is she is "just attending to have noculars".
Jaron just helped Nancy work :)

Peace, Love and Tank Wars...

2009-07-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

The Kilt-de-sac of FIRE!! (Yes - it is spelled incorrectly on purpose)

Nine years ago, Rachel May and I went to a party at Aaron Smith's because she thought he was dreamy. There I met one Paul Sampson - who wouldn't even talk to me :) Nine years later, Rachel and Aaron are married with four kids, and Paul and I have our three. Every year we get together (Paul and I invite ourselves) with the Smith family and enjoy the 4th together.

Rachel May Smith Aaron & Blake Smith (& someone I don't know)

They draw a big chalk circle for fireworks. Many people spend lots of money at Muckleshoot reservation on fireworks.

The opening ceremonies are smoke bombs of every color.

Then - comes the tank wars! My favorite part. This year we bought several large tanks, several small tanks, and one awesome attack fighter jet with multiple rockets. It pretty rocked the battle and took out a ton of tanks. Jack was loving it!

When the time comes we gather our belongings and walk to Lake Meridian in Kent and watch the fireworks show over the lake. It is beautiful - this year was the best I have ever seen.

This is Kenzie before and after the fireworks. She didn't really enjoy the loud noises and her and I spent a lot of time in the house hiding :)

(yes that's her face down in the grass)

Thanks to Smiths for letting us be part of this awesome 4th of July tradition.

End of School, Youth Conference and the Babysitters....

2009-07-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

It is the end of school - as of June 22nd, Jack is no longer in Kindergarten. He loved Miss Barbie's class and we are going to miss her. We are so proud of Jack!

Paul and I got the opportunity to go to Youth Conference with the youth of our church ages 14 - 18. Both of us were cabin leaders, but we slept in a tent :) If you look behind our tent, you will see we are back near the Sound - at Deception Pass. It was an environmental learning center called Cornet Bay. It was a great experience, which I probably won't voluntarily repeat in the near future :)

The reason I was able to go to Youth Conference with Paul was my parents. They flew up to watch the kids so I could go. We were able to spend Saturday together and we went to the fountain in downtown Seattle with the Sorensens. Kenzie said we went "phwimming phwimming at the mountain" and asks to go back every day - even though she was afraid of the water. My Mom was helping Kenzie go and run away from the water. Right as her back turned a large stream from the fountain came and got her wet from head to toe - all down her back! It was hilarious, but I was laughing too hard to take any pictures! Kenzie wouldn't talk to her for hours after that.

My sister Natalie was able to have a week off of work over the summer, so she came up to visit this week as well. It has been SO awesome to have her here. Jaron was helping her get ready for church. It was too cute not to document.

Camping with the Sorensen's

2009-07-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial weekend we went camping at Deception Pass. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect!! We had Cranberry lake within a short walk from our site heading one direction, and the beach a short walk heading the other direction. Plush - FLUSHING TOILETS!! I wasn't expecting them and had brought our own paper. I told Paul that is the only way we are camping in the future - a place with running water :)

We quickly set up camp - the kids LOVE staying in the tent.

Cooking was a bit of a challenge. We had planned on using a power converter to power a grill - it didn't work. Luckily, Sorensens had thought to bring a COSTCO sized box of tin foil - I think we went through the entire thing!

Saturday afternoon we spent some time at the beach. For some reason, Jaron thought that you picked up rocks and sat them on the back of your neck. Later, we figured out because when we hide things from him we usually put them behind our back - we were guessing that was why he did this. It was so funny to watch!

The opposite of this picture is on Sorensen's blog (it's not very flattering of me!!)

Jack is 6

2009-07-04T10:18:00.001-07:00

Man - Jack is 6. Do they ever stop growing? He is so big - and it getting to be such a good reader. I can't believe how grown up he is. We opened his presents first thing because he had to go to school - can't miss school!

For his party he wanted to have a piniata. It was a lot of fun!

Other shots of the kids enjoying dinner :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!

Jaron's 1st Birthday

2009-07-04T10:11:00.001-07:00

Wow - he is one! My little tiny (who really skipped the litte and tiny part) is one. I can't believe it. He wasn't sure about the cake at first, but he figured it out!

Visit from Natalie & Grandma & Grandpa Buckley...

2009-05-17T17:45:00.001-07:00

My family came up for a visit last week and we had so much fun. We tried unsuccessfully to find a beach without the rain twice - but we still had a good time :)

Nat Mom & Dad came into Seattle to spend the day and I took them up to the 73rd floor observation deck of the columbia tower. Here are some shots from that visit.

the furry calapitter....

2009-05-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

We have been invaded :)

Every day we go outside and find at least two furry "calapitters" (thanks Kenzie) on our house, our cars, the shed...they are everywhere. The kids decided we needed to keep one and feed it. Kenzie was talking to the caterpillar while I was taking the picture...telling it "don't be shy, it's just my Mom wants to take you picture so smile" in her very best high pitched baby talk. So funny

While Paul was out looking for the right leaves to feed the furry caterpillar, he ended up coming back with a friend on his shirt - an inch worm. The kids thought this was "so cool" except Jack wouldn't touch it :)

Jack's First School Performance

2009-04-30T21:06:00.001-07:00

Tuesday the 28th was Jack's first "musical performance". The morning of we were talking before I left for work and I said that I was so excited and I was going to take some pictures. He told me that there was a sign that said, "No camera's and no pens...I couldn't believe it either Mom, but it's true". I laughed and told him I would just take a picture before or after. Luckily, there were lots of other parents there taking pictures - so I didn't embarrass him :)

It was an environmentally friendly themed concert. For one of the songs his class got to play the finger symbols - he did a great job.

Another of the songs was a rap about recycling. I tried to take a video during the concert, but my batteries died. So Jack was kind enough to do the rap once we got home. :

At the end he has to do a "cool dude" pose. He said he was super proud of that "because he had to work really hard to learn it". It was so much fun to watch. I can't believe how big he is.

And the walkin' man walks....

2009-04-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

So adorable - he walks almost all the time now. He used to walk like a chimpanzee, but he has kind of mastered it now. He even stops and starts mid walk. He still falls - ALOT, but even that is getting better.

So much fun!

Looking for the baby...

2009-04-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Kenzie got a book for her birthday that has a mirror on the front called "the princess in me". Jaron was trying to find the baby that was in the book and even tried to give it kissing. He would open it very confused as to where the baby would go. It was a good 20 minutes of entertainment :)

Easter and Guitar Hero...

2009-04-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to all! The Easter Bunny came to our house and hid our easter basket in the weirdest places :) Kenzie and Jack had so much fun - Jaron just liked the bright colored eggs.

We had a really great day. We went to church with the Sampson/Bolton clan in Auburn and then went to their home for dinner, an egg hunt, and a really great game!

All the kids were dressed up - aren't they adorable. Jack (almost 6) Addie (6 1/2) Eunice (16) holding Jaron (almost 1) and Kenzie 3

Guitar Hero - what an awesome game! I am not good at it at all, which was very frustrating. More than once I got frustrated and had something come out of my mouth where Eunice said, "what did you say?". I didn't curse, but for those who have been around me lately - it's always something interesting (curse words, jasper, etc.)

Everyone got into it!

Jack called this - the cross drum. I'm sure all the hot bands will be doing it soon :)

We hope you all had a wonderful, less wet than us, day :)

Kenzie turns 3!!

2009-04-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my tiny girl has turned 3 - she is so big!

We had a party with all the friends she had asked to come: Tate, Zoe, Sadie, Owen, and Addie. Even though it was raining and wet, we sent them out to draw with sidewalk chalk and play with bubbles. The sun made an appearance, and they had a really great time. She was given lots of fun princess gifts and dolls, and a really great book from Grandpa. For those who missed it - we had a pink cake with strawberries and cream on it - as requested :) She is so funny!

She is hilarious, and constantly getting bruised. She is also a delegater and always finds a way to negotiate her way out of doing something. I am struggling with the fact that she is three - why can't she stay small?

The addition to our Jedi Force!!

2009-04-04T10:09:00.001-07:00

We had a surprise a couple weeks ago when Stuart and Olivia came to visit and gave Jack a Darth Vader helmet. It is so cool - it actually talks and says things like "don't make me destroy you". Thanks again Stuart - he loves it so much!!

Here is a new brand of storm trooper - notice the purse!

She is going to cost us so much money!!

49th floor of the Columbia Center

2009-04-04T09:11:00.001-07:00

These pictures are the view from my office. I tried to take pictures on a nice day, but we didn't have one this week. I will take some if the sun shines and post them later.

I took this one for you Mom :) This is the view down to the street.

This is my new cubicle - nice eh?

This picture makes me think of what Nephi may have seen in his dream of the great and spacious building :) It's Amazon.com's headquarters, but it's placement and architecture always made me think of that.

Anyway - the job is great. It's been hard to be away from the kids, and Paul and I are going through withdrawls from not being able to talk to each other all the time, but the income will be really nice.

Riding the bus has been a total adventure. They were really excited that I rode the bus :) I guess this past Tuesday, the 3 billionth rider went on the Metro bus system. So the King County commissioner was waiting at one of the stops, with the news watching. People thanked us for riding the bus as we got off. Seriously, it was a big day for me but I wasn't really expecting any fanfare :) I actually got a button to commemorate my first day.

On the way home, my bus charma reared its ugly head and the bus broke down, we had to wait for 20 minutes and then it fixed itself and we were on our way. I apologized to the woman next to me and told her it was my fault. She looked at me like I was crazy! I've had some other adventures, but the first day will always be memorable!

Kenzie the climber...

2009-03-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Paul and I were in our room changing Jaron when we heard Kenzie messing with the blinds. We came in and found her standing in the window behind the blinds. Before she got in big trouble, which she did, I grabbed the camera. She turned around and peeked out the blinds. Although this was dangerous and she was in time out after - the pictures sure are cute :)

Tate came to play and they were hiding in everything :)

The bulldog....

2009-03-23T09:18:00.001-07:00

I don't know if you have heard, but we have a bull dog in our house. His name is Jaron. Here is a video of him to show why we call him that :)

It was the right night for TWILIGHT!

2009-03-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

So in case you didn't know - Twilight came out on video on the 21st. With a little encouragement from Emily (sister-in-law extraodinaire), we had a midnight Twilight party starting Friday the 20th at 10:00 pm :) Eunice, Emily and her friends all made t-shirts with various Twilight quotes on them. They were the group who went at 11:30 to be in line to buy the movie when it came out at midnight. We started the movie about 12:15 - and everyone went home about 2:30 am.

We watched the movie, these pictures were taken mid movie. Pregnant Mauvia didn't make it all the way through :) I think I woke her up when I took this (rude - I know)

Here are some other photos :)

I know - you are jealous you weren't here. There was tons of food, and we had a great time!

It snowed, then melted, then snowed some more!

2009-03-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been so crazy - and the weather has been nutty as well. It was sunny and beautiful, then yesterday we woke up to snow. Then in melted, then it snowed, then it melted and then about 2 in the afternoon - huge cottonballs of snow came down for about 40 minutes - we ended up with over 4 inches of snow. So crazy! We sent the kids to go play in it and Jack made a Giant snowball - trying to make a snowman. The snow was too weak and couldn't handle any weight on it.

They made snow cakes yesterday and put some in their oven to cook. I also ended up with one in my freezer. Kenzie wants to make it pink and Paul wants to drizzle chocolate sauce on it and eat it. Yuck!

Watch this video - Paul wins the father of the year award for this!

Trip to Utah, Natalie, and a visit to the Draper Temple

2009-03-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Southwest's half price fares, we were able to go to Utah for the mid winter break of school. While we were there, we took the kids on a tour of the Draper temple. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but here are some photos of the way there. It had snowed that morning, so the kids were all bundled up.

It was such a great experience! Jack said that he doens't want the temple to get the "special blessing" (dedication) so he can go visit it every day. Kenzie's eyes were as big as plates when we walked in the celestial room - she said it was "so shiney" We got to stay in the sealing room for a while and the kids got to look in the mirrors that go forever. My Mom tried to lift Jack and about got a hernia :)

Grandpa and Grandpa took care of the kids for us:

One of Grandma's goals was to get Jaron to let her hold him - she was successful :) Much to Grandma's chagrin, Jaron tried to get the other baby out of her crystal cabinet - it was cute, but we had to stop him before he broke something.

Cousin Blake's birthday was while we were there - he turned eight and is getting baptized the first weekend in March. We are so excited for him. My brother Andrew likes to film everything. I'm sure over the years there are several pictures like this:

For Christmas, the Buckleys (Andrew and clan) got a digital drum set - Jack and I had SO much fun messing around with it. You can change the drum kits, one even was human voices and screams. You can also plug an ipod into it and play with real music - super cool.

Really - the point of the trip was so I could spend time with Natalie (or Melody as Kenzie calls her) since I had not seen her since a few months before she left on her mission. As you can see, things haven't changed - it was so good to see her :)

Grandma Buckley bought the kids some new church clothes - they look so great. And Jaron learned to pull a new face. Due to the dry air and "utah boogs", he has learned a new snorty face. We are so proud :)

Paul is 30!! - so he built a fort :)

2009-03-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

Paul turned 30 last month - he has finally caught up to me. Here are some pictures from his birthday.

Kenzie helped make the cake :)

Pictures

2009-02-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

Jaron thinks he can walk - and I was taking picture of him - here is the action sequence:

I know - bad Mom...I should have picked him up. He is still trying though - Mr. Independent!

Here are some cute pictures of the fam :) Enjoy!!

Kenzie's Pirate Eye...

2009-02-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

This is Kenzie's pirate eye. One day she came out to me after watching a Dora with pirates and said "Momma, look I a pirate" and pulled this face. I was finally able to get it on camera.

Hope you enjoy the video :)

The lost tooth....

2009-01-29T08:42:00.000-08:00

Jack has lost his first tooth! I can't believe he is old enough to have a tooth missing :)

Here's the story:
On Monday we had our friends Zoe and Tate over to play. While they were here, Jack had taken one of Mackenzie's plastic bracelets and was holding it in her mouth. In typical Kenzie form, she went to yank it out of his mouth. When it came out - so did Jack's tooth. It was the most bizarre thing to watch. All the sudden, there was a tooth in his lap. We don't even know if it was loose! The tooth fairy came, and Jack was upset because he didn't get cash - he got two quarters. I told him I would check the Mom handbook, but I'm pretty sure that the tooth fairy doesn't come back if you complain :) (gotta love that handbook - it's what keeps their faces clean and their noses wiped!) Paul wanted to know if we could use Jack's tooth for Jaron - he is trying to push through the same tooth that Jack lost. Poor Jaron.....but Gross! The next day Kenzie was still thinking about it and came to me and said "Mom, I sorry I pulled out Jack's tooth".

Too cute to not snap some pictures...

2009-01-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

We were getting ready for church and they just looked so adorable I couldn't resist taking their pictures. They are getting so big!

I got a new roaster pan from my Mom for Christmas. It fits a 20 lb turkey with room to spare, hmmm.... (He is in the 12 month outfit my Mom sent for Christmas, he isn't even 8 months old!)

Jaron found another baby in the box - he spent a long time trying to figure out how to get to him - then he finally decided to give the other baby some kissing (he licked the screen - ewww!)

Speaking of boxes - I heard Kenzie calling me ane went to find her. This is what I found :) So funny! She answers when you call "I right here", even when playing hide and seek :)

Happy 16th Birthday Eunice!!

I hope you can hear this video - Kenzie sings Frosty the Snowman with her own words (yes, she is Paul's child) :) Listen for things like "corn cob pike and puffin nose" Yes, that is Mr. Potato she is holding.

Catching up - sorry!

2009-01-04T10:06:00.001-08:00

I had a minute to catch up - so many posts in one day. Here are some pictures, just because they are awesome!

I told Angie to give me her bedroom eyes, not sure what happened - just kidding!

Our AWESOME home teachers!

Owen is wearing shorts, boots, a long sleeve shirt, gloves and his coat - stylista!! Jack was in a similar outfit days before. BOYS!

Zoe was taking a very important pretend call - doesn't she look so grown up!

Tate is all bundled up and ready to go play outside - so cute!

Crazy Kenzie pictures. The first, Paul is comforting her (or is he mocking her?). Then, Kenzie wrote her name on the fridge with letters - so she says "Tenzie Bows Sampson". The third, she passed out, we only left her for a second!

Cute picture of Jaron and Paul

Christmas!!!!

2009-01-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Jammas :)

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We started Christmas morning opening gifts that Santa had brought and things that . Jack was super excited about all of his Star Wars stuff - he got a new lightsaber, and Grandma and Grandpa Buckley sent him Star Wars Legos!! Kenzie was swimming in a sea of pink - and loved it! She got princess stuff and lots of pink clothes. Jaron was just happy to be eating wrapping paper :)

Building the new Star Wars Ship:

Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Sampsons and had a great dinner with them. We opened gifts that we had for each other. Jack opened his first gift and it was some flash cards. He looked at them over and over - I wish I would have taken a picture. You could see him debating on how to be grateful, even though he didn't want them and wasn't real happy about it. The next gift he opened was one of his favorites - he screamed! It was a clone trooper helmet that talks. Grandma said "Well, I hope that makes up for the first gift!". It was hilarious!

Kenzie received a bunch of "do do Dora the emplora" (Dora the Explorer) presents and loves them. Again, Jaron was just happy with the wrapping paper.

Paul and I feel very blessed for the gifts we received from known and unknown sources. Thank you to all - especially those secret santas who left us gifts on our porch. We will never be able to tell you how grateful we are!

These were too cute to not post :)