Road Trip Day 1 and Day 2 Part 1

On Friday, July 6, Jared got off work early and we packed up and hit the road at 4:45 p.m.  We stopped a couple of hours later to eat ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery and we went to one store where I bought some jeans.  The sunset that evening was beautiful as usual.

We stopped at Jamestown, North Dakota for the night, which is about 5 1/2 hours away.  After breakfast the next morning, we hit the road for a loooooong day and night of driving. 

Before we drove far, we stopped to explore Jamestown.  We went to Frontier Village which I found very interesting.  I like all of the “old west” buildings.

Inside the blacksmith shop

Inside the barber shop

The scenery in that area is pretty.  I love hills and trees!

It’s not called the “Buffalo City” for no reason.

Yep, we got to see the World’s Biggest Buffalo!  The kids were quite excited to see that, even before we left on our trip.  Ok, who am I kidding, Jared + I thought that was pretty exciting, too!

Yep, it’s REALLY BIG!!  Stay tuned for more pictures of BIG things…

Kiera Gets Her Ears Pierced

Kiera had been asking me for a while if she could get her ear’s pierced.  I told her she could before she started Kindergarten.  She kept asking, so then I decided she could a couple of months early.  I found a place that had 2 people pierce the ears simultaneously and I bought Kiera some numbing cream that I put on one hour before.  I chose medical plastic earrings for her instead of stainless steel because I can’t wear earrings with nickel in them, so I figured Kiera probably shouldn’t either.  One of the girls there asked Kiera beforehand if she was excited and Kiera said, “Ya,” but you totally couldn’t tell.

Marking her ears very carefully…that took way longer than the piercing part.

All done!

At first, she looked like she was going to cry, but then she decided she would be brave and just kept a straight face and didn’t say a thing.  I remember getting my ears pierced at age 4 and I reacted exactly the same way! 

She has pink studs just like I got at her age!  She was so excited to show them to her friends and family after!  I was waiting for the day that Kiera would want to have her ears pierced and I really like them. :)

A Whole Lot of Silliness

He’s wearing his sister’s sparkly pink sandals

Showing his muscles

10 reasons to smile today :)

Another Visit

I forgot I haven’t blogged about my sister + brother-in-law’s visit here.  They flew out from Washington with Sophia for a family wedding at the end of May.  I got to see the new terminal for the first time when picking them up at the airport.

They arrived at suppertime, so we went to our favorite crepe restaurant, which they love, too!

On our way home we stopped to pick up this shelf/organizer.  I was looking for one and it went on sale from $70 down to $40.  It makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I look at it.

The cleanest our basement has been in a long time.

We saw these at the checkout and figured they would be great cups for our kids to take along when we go on our road trip to Washington.  They are insulated, so they’ll keep drinks cooler for longer.

We also saw this on the way home

Haley was obsessed with Sophia’s hair and tried to pull it every time they were together

I love that we had girls 5 months apart!  Now if only they lived close by…

Here are some pictures from my cousin’s wedding.  It was in a machine shed on my uncle + aunt’s property.

Can’t you tell they’re cousins?  Ya, neither can I.  That’s the difference between marrying a blond-haired blue-eyed man and a half Filipino/quarter Portuguese man.

I was going to say, “They look like they’re from different countries,” and then I thought, “Oh wait, they are.”

My sister was here for her birthday for the first time in 4 years!

On the last day they were here, they came over and Art jumped on the trampoline with them.

She’s getting to be a big girl!

The week always flies by when they come, but it was so great to have them visit twice in 5 months!

Coolest Field Trip EVER!

A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege of going on the best Preschool field trip.  One of the girls in Kiera’s Preschool class is the daughter of a pilot.  They come to our church (which is where we had Preschool) and because of that connection, all of the Preschoolers, their younger siblings, and the Moms got to go on an airplane ride!  We were the last ones to go on, so we enjoyed the beautiful morning outside while we were waiting.

My friend, Luke, is also a flight instructor there, so he’s in this plane getting ready to take off. We also passed by each other on the runway as he was coming back and we were getting ready to take off.

Here are the kids listening to a story

Blake decided he didn’t want to come on the airplane with us, but he enjoyed running around and watching everything

Haley just got her first tooth the night before, so she’s chewing on everything

One of the Moms made an amazing cake

Here’s Kiera in the plane, and she got to fly it for a bit. When she pulled, we went up, and when she pushed, we went down :)

Where I circled in yellow, that’s our house!

Here we are after we landed.  Since Blake didn’t come in the plane, another lady came along instead.

It was SO much fun and Kiera talks about it all the time!  The problem is, people don’t believe her when she tells them she went on an airplane ride and got to fly the plane, ha ha!  I’m incredibly thankful that we had that opportunity!

Memorizing Online

Last year, I blogged about my goal of memorizing the book of Colossians and I managed to finish it before Haley was born.  After that, I still worked on memory work a bit, but very slowly.  This year, I found out about http://scripturetyper.com  I LOVE it!  This website helps in Scripture memorization by using both visual and kinesthetic memory.  Kinesthetic memory combines your sense of touch and your ability to remember patterns and feelings (like typing).  So, you pick a verse, or a section of verses, and you can import them or type them out.  Clicking the Memorize It button takes out every other word.  Clicking the Master It button means you type the whole thing for memory.  It records your fastest time and your average typing speed.  It also ranks you against everyone else using the website according to how many verses you have currently memorized, in case you care.  How often you have to review the verses is based on a ratio of 2 factors: the number of times typed from memory and the number of days since last typed from memory.  I mostly memorize verses in groups of 2 or 3 and I find that makes memorizing a whole chapter easier.  This website really accelerates memorization.  I memorized the Sermon on the Mount in 2 months, which is Matthew 5,6, and 7.  I also joined the Sermon on the Mount group and you can post prayer requests and updates on there, as well as give and receive encouragement.  I usually go on there several times a day to type out verses.  Oh, and it also has an app for the iPhone, in case people prefer that.  For me, it makes memorizing easier and more fun.  I highly recommend it!

9 Month Comparison

I know that my kids definitely resemble each other, but I was surprised at how different they look from each other in these pictures.

Such a cute age!