Bricen is 3

I can't believe that Brice is 3 already! He is such a big boy and doing so many big boy things. This year we had a small birthday party on his birthday. Brian took him to a Beaver Basketball game and Brianna and I got the house all set up and ready. My parents, Brian's parents and sister all came over and we hid to surprise him. My plan worked great and he was very surprised and I think felt really special. We opened presents and had fun.

A few weeks later we celebrated his and cousin Everett's birthday with my extended family. We had a magician come over to our house and do magic for the kids and adults. He was great! I had little magic tricks for the kids and it was all a big hit. The 4 kids had a blast and the magician even was entertaining for the adults.

We re-did Brice's room (will have to post pictures sometime). We got rid of the Pooh paint and popcorn ceiling. We re-textured the walls and painted blue. He got a loft bed with a ladder and a slide and absolutely loves it! He still loves motorcycles, dirt bikes and dinousaurs. He is very smart and articulate. Now that he is 3 he can be by himself in the water at the pool with a teacher. He is in the pre 1 swim class and loves it. He recognizes most shapes and colors and can count pretty high. I am so proud of my little man!

Halloween

We had a lot of fun this year at Halloween! We went to the pumpkin patch to ride the wagon and pick out the perfect pumpkins. It was especially fun this year because my brother and sister-in-law, mom and grandma joined us. When we got to the patch, our good friends were there with their 3 kids. Lots of fun! Here are some of the things we did...

Brice and Brianna had a good time taking all the guts out of the pumpkins!

I decided it would be fun to have a Halloween party at our house. It turned out to be a blast. The kids and adults dressed up! Brice, Brianna and I worked on a spider pinata almost all month and it turned out great. We had good food, good friends and family, good spooky music and fun games and crafts for the kids.

Family portrait! Dog, two female cops and a convict - not disfunctional at all!
My mom and dad

The kids

I just love Brian's hair

Countertops!

When we bought our house in 2007, there were many things that we wanted to do to update and make it our own. Countertops were one of those things on the list and I finally decided what I wanted. For over a year now, I have been looking at different companies and granite, quartz, corian, etc. I finally made up my mind and decided to go with the granite. It was quite an ordeal! But I am very happy with the final product. I love looking at my kitchen and just touching the smooth, shiny, cold granite. Here are the before and after...We had the bread board taken out and a towel bar taken down. I got a new undermount sink and a new faucet! Love the sink and faucet!!!

Still Catching Up!

Back in October we went to Disney On Ice. It was so much fun! The kids were amazed when they saw Mickey and Minnie and all thier Disney friend's skating around. Brice's favorite part was when all the Cars came out. Brianna loved the Little Mermaid scene and the Tinkerbell scene. I have wanted to take the kids for a long time and am so glad we all got to go. Brian was even entertained for most of it!

Brice is always a character!

Camping

We took another trip to the lake to go boating and camping. This trip was especially fun because we had family join us. Dan and Mandy, my parents and Mandy's parents went. It was beautiful weather until Saturday night when the thunder and lightning and rain came. We scrambled to make sure our tents would be ok and that we wouldn't get drenched during the night. Our sleeping bags stayed dry!!! It was a trip to remember.

Mandy wake boarding! Family portrait

Brianna and Mandy relaxing in the boat

Dan and Bricen - I think Brice is ready to have his life jacket off!

Tubing! The kids love it

September

First Day of School

Bricen started Pre-School at Albany Christian. He is going 2x/week and has been looking forward to it all summer. Last year when we took Brianna to school, he would sit down and pretend that he was going to stay. When Brianna started pre-school with Mrs. Vicki, I was pregnant with Bricen. I can't believe he is now old enough to start!

Brianna started Kindergarden at Fir Grove Primary. She is so excited and ready to go to school every day. Each student got to ring the old school bell at the beginning of the day. Tradition will be that they will ring it again when they graduate 5th grade and move on to Middle School.

Camping

We took the boat out and camped for a few nights at Dorena Lake. It was so much fun!

Bricen loved the smores and sitting by the campfire.They love making silly faces!

Both Brice and Brianna are better drivers than I am. They had a fun time
driving the boat with daddy.

We went on nature hikes and threw lots of rocks in the water.

Lots of fun!

The beautiful lake, it is so nice to be able to get away from the

hussle and bussle of life and relax and have fun as a family.

August

Aug 1st my brother got married to a wonderful woman. We couldn't ask for a better addition to our family. It was a whole family event with all of us being in the wedding. Brice the ring bearer, Brianna the flower girl, Brian a groomsman and my self a bridesmaid. We were happy to stand up there and support them in their marriage. They will have a happy and successful life together and we are so lucky to have shared it with them.

Bricen and Brianna with Great Grandma's

The happy couple - Dan and Mandy

Our family all dressed up!

July

July was filled with fun! We started the month by going on a trip up to Washington to visit family. We met Brian's cousins in Port Angeles and had a great time watching the baseball tournament as well as going an a long beautiful hike and visiting the wildlife game park. We then took a ferry ride to Everett and spent a few more days with them just hanging out and having fun.

Brice, Brianna and Ben on the Ferry

The Game park was amazing. We got to feed the animals bread from our car window. I'm not sure who flinched and squealed more, the kids or Brian. The Bison were the big hit for our car!

Love the tongue picture!

At the Spit!

Yahats

The beach is one of our favorite places to go. We had a great time on this trip. We stayed cozy in the house, watched movies and went on many excursions. Sandcastles, flying kites and spending lots of time just walking on the beach. Brianna and I even found a few whole sand dollars!

We enjoyed going to the Sea Lion Caves and Haceta Head Light House. The Sunset picture under Sarah's Stories was from this trip.