Washington Trip

For spring break this year we decided to take a trip up to Washington to see Keith's family.  It's been over 4 years since we were last up there (they come down a lot so we still see them but we just haven't been able to make it up there).  It was definitely time!  We left on Friday and came home the next Friday.  A week was a little long for this whiney, grumpy pregnant lady (haha) but I'm glad we went.  The kids really bonded with Keith's parents and had a lot of fun playing with their cousins who live up there.  It also gave us a chance to see some friends that we haven't seen in a long time.    

On the way up we did the trip in two days and stayed in a hotel in Meridian, Idaho (just outside Boise).  It was so nice splitting up the trip, especially because it was so uncomfortable for me to sit that long.  The kids were SO excited to stay in a hotel!  Isaac kept pointing out everything about the room and was so excited  about it.  He would say things like, "Look at this lamp!  And look we have a microwave!  And look at this amazing plant!"  His enthusiasm was very cute :)

Idaho, Oregon, and Washington signs!  I also took a picture of the spedometer because we hit 166,666 miles....spooky thing is that we hit it when we were coming up on Dead Man Pass, which is the top of this really steep big hill called Cabbage Hill you have to go down on the way.  We made it down ok though ;)  

We went out to eat at TGI Fridays while we were there, which is one of our favorite restaurants and the closest one to us is way up in West Valley, UT (about an hour North and way out of the way).  Then after we ate we went back to the hotel and took the kids swimming.  It was fun because we had the whole pool to ourselves!

  

We got there on Saturday and after resting for a little bit we went to see our friends the Wolfgramm's who invited us to a little Easter egg hunt they were doing.  It was great to see them and catch up! 

So glad to be out of the car!

Sunday morning the kids got their Easter baskets and got to do their own Easter egg hunt in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.  They also made "Resurrection Rolls" with Grandma to learn more about Jesus' resurrection.  

Isaac was sad because Malea got more than him.  Looking back I wish I would have designated colors for each of them, but oh well....next year!

Checking out their loot!

Walker Family Easter pic :) 

The kids played with this train set so much during the week!

Later that afternoon, Keith's brother David and his family came over so we did another Easter egg hunt with their kids.  We had a yummy Easter dinner with Keith's grandparents and the kids got to dye eggs and make "bunny racers".  It was a fun day :)

Malea with her cousin Nathan, she is about 9 months older 

My attempt at a picture of all the kids....cousin Amayah was not interested haha

This one was a little better of the other kids but then she was blurry....lol

Keith and his brother David reminiscing over some writing that was under the table....funny boys

On Monday Keith had the opportunity to have a little reunion with some of his high school friends.  They haven't all been together at the same time for 15 years!  We've seen some of them here and there through the years but this is the first time they have all been together at the same time.  We met at a fun park and let the kids play while the adults caught up.  There were two of his friends that weren't able to get work off but we had a pretty good turn out otherwise.

The kids had fun playing together....there were probably close to 20 kids between all of us!

Tuesday was kind of a chill day, the kids played a lot outside riding bikes and swinging on Grandma & Grandpa's swings.  Grandma also took the kids to pick out some legos and they got to go for a ride in this very cool old '71 Challenger that David and their Dad restored. 

On Wednesday Keith took the kids up to their family's property in Goldendale, WA with his Dad to let the kids play and to ride ATV's.  I decided to stay back because I really hadn't been feeling great and I wasn't up to a 2-3 hour drive up there and back.  The kids seemed to have a lot of fun up there though! 

Keith and the kids in front of a huge wind turbin, there are a bunch on the way up to their cabin

Thursday we took the kids to see the Columbia River temple and this really cool 9/11 Memorial of some beams from the World Trade Center. It was pretty sobering to have to explain to Malea what happened and why.  After that we got to go out to lunch with Keith's parents and grandparents at a yummy place called Bob's Burgers in Kennewick. Then that afternoon we took the kids to see the new movie "Home", which was fun.  

That night we hung out with family and started getting our stuff packed up and ready to leave the next day.

Keith and the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Asay, Keith's Grandparents and the kids' Great Grandparents

The kids with their cousin Corbin

We left Friday morning and decided to do the whole drive in one day (ugh).  It was not very fun but we were anxious to get home and didn't want to have to stay the night again.  We made a lot of stops to try and make the drive more bearable and let the kids get out at a park at one point.  I think I was the whiniest one, being almost 30 weeks pregnant at the time!  It's about a 10 hour drive and it took us more like 12, plus we added an hour because of the time difference so it felt so long.  We got home at about 10pm and were sooooo happy to sleep in our own beds!  It was really cute though because both kids missed Grandma and Grandpa "Dub", but especially Isaac.  We called to talk to Keith's dad when we got home and Isaac cried because he missed them.  

The first thing the kids wanted to do was snuggle in mommy and daddy's bed!

It's crazy to think that the next time we make the drive we will have baby #3!

Nesting

Well I'm just about 25 weeks and things are moving right along!  Sometimes it seems like it goes by really fast and other days it feels like it's going by slow!  I am anxious to meet her but I also keep reminding myself that I still have lots I can do to prepare and to enjoy my sleep while I can :)

Here's a baby bump pic to start out :)  The picture on the left was taken at 18 weeks and the picture on the right was taken at 23 weeks, I thought it was amazing how much baby grew in just a few weeks!

Nesting kicked in early this time around so we've been busy getting the baby's room ready!  We had to get a little bit creative with Malea's room so that we could fit a crib and changing table/dresser in there.  I've done a lot of organizing and de-junking to make it all work but I think it's going to be cute!

We got both kids new night stands (we had to get ones with legs so that they can be over their heat vents without completely covering them) so we got these ones at Ikea.  The one on the left is Isaac's and that is the natural color, I just painted his with a layer of clear gloss.  Malea's (on the right obviously) I painted white to match the rest of her room.  I thought they turned out pretty cute!

I'm SO excited with how the girls' room turned out!  We found this darling bedding at Babies 'R Us that was matched Malea's existing bedding/decor perfectly!  You would think they were from the same collection but they weren't.  And even better is that it was on clearance so we got it for like 50% off and we were lucky enough to snatch the last one! 

Found this cute vinyl saying to go over the crib :)

The only difference in this picture is the wood lettering is going to be switched out with new lettering to say "C&M" for "Claire & Malea" (did I mention we're going to name her Claire? :))

I had my 24 week check-up this past week and got to have another ultrasound.  At my 20 week ultrasound they didn't get a good look at the heart because of the position she was in, and they also saw this weird lump that they thought might be a placental lobe. Well the baby's heart looks great and they checked for the lobe and it wasn't there so it looks like everything is good!  They said that sometimes there will be a contraction on the ultrasound the looks like a lobe so since it wasn't there this time they think that's what was going on.  I'm relieved and glad that everything is looking healthy!

My Kids' Artwork

Feels good to be getting caught up on blogging!

I decided to do a post solely dedicated to my kids' recent artwork.  I am always conflicted about what to do with their art work when they bring it home from school or make little things at home.  I wish I could keep everything little thing they made but there's just no way!  So I have a little process where it goes on the fridge for maybe a week or two (my fridge always looks messy and cluttered but I don't care), then I take a picture of it and then most of the time it goes in the garbage.  Every so often if it's something special I will put it down in their little bin of keepsakes.  For everyone but probably me and Keith and maybe their grandparents this artwork doesn't seem that special but it's something I want to remember so I'm going to post about it anyway :)  Here's some pics of things they've done recently: 

Malea:

Here's a pic of what I assume is a little diagram helping the kids learn the body parts in Chinese.  I thought it was cute she added a little skirt to it ;)   

 For MLK Jr. Day the kids learned the "I Have a Dream" speech and made these cute little posters.  Her teacher made a comment that she was impressed with Malea's handwriting so I kept this one :)

A little story she made up.  She was supposed to use so many words and I thought it was funny that she said "big" twelve times, lol

This one posted upside down for some reason and I have no idea what it means but I thought it was cute

Another one I'm not sure about since it's all in Chinese

I had some paint out to do a book shelf project and of course they wanted to paint too :)

Malea made this darling Valentine's Day card

Cute little ice skater

Family portrait

This was really sweet....on Valentine's Day I opened the mail and there was this letter from Malea.  They wrote them at school and then sent them as a surprise.  She didn't tell me a thing about it.  This one was definitely a keeper :)

Her school did a fun Chinese New Year celebration so this was one of her art projects for that

A lantern she made for Chinese New Year as well

Malea got this little doll with some birthday money and happened to have this little Hello Kitty backpack that was the perfect size for it (I love her creativity!).....she decided to make a "homework folder" for her doll that included little pockets and worksheets and everything.  So. stinkin. cute!   

Isaac:

Isaac isn't as much into art as his sister but he has gotten in to it a little bit more as he's gotten older.  And between his two different pre-schools he brings home quite a few fun things.  This picture was taken when we went to his pre-school for parent-teacher conference.  I thought his snow man turned out so cute!  I think they made them out of shaving cream.

One night Isaac drew this little guy and told me it was a snail like "Turbo" :)

Some other things from pre-school:

A couple of weeks ago Malea was playing with a friend and he felt left out so I told him we could color.  I'm sure one day when he has a little sister who wants to tag along with him all the time he will understand :)

Isaac decorated this cute bag at one of his pre-schools and got to take home all his yummy treats from his class after his Valentine's Day party

So proud of my kids and their awesome artwork!