New Arrival!

August 28, 2009 at 7:45am we welcomed a beautiful new baby to our family, Sienna Leigh Dahl. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. The labor was quick and relatively painless (thank goodness for modern medicine!) and she is such a joy. We feel so blessed to have her as a part of our family. Elise wants to hold her every second that she can. Tyler likes to hold her too, but can't let on too much because she's a girl. Jason has pretty much avoided her so far, but I'm sure that will soon change. Here are some pics!

Too much stuff!

Last week Tyler and Elise went to science and art camp every day. They had SOO much fun, which is a good thing, 'cause they're going again this week too! Friday was my mom's birthday and we decided to go to Disneyland after the kids got out of camp to celebrate. The plan was to pick the kids up from their camps and head straight there. I thought that they would have quite a few things to bring home after the week, but HOLY COW, not only did they have a ton of stuff, but a lot of it was quite large! My trunk was full! I'm going to get a picture of them with all of their things and post it...maybe after this week is done. What on earth am I going to do with all of this stuff???? At least I can immortalize it with pictures before accidentally disappearing. :) (Okay, I won't get rid of all of it...)

Saturday we went up to Santa Barbara with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law to officially celebrate my mom's birthday. It was really fun seeing the house where we used to live and letting the kids play on our old elementary school playground. The same tables that I sat at for lunch were STILL in the lunch patio. I showed Tyler all of my old classrooms. It was great. Then we went downtown to eat and spent some time at the beach. It was so hot downtown, I thought the beach would feel great, but there was a really chilly breeze. Brrr! The kids had fun swimming anyway and Brian made a great drip castle/wall with Tyler. I got my suit on but was too chicken to do anything but get my feet wet. Wayne and my dad went in with the kids while my mom, Julie and I sat comfortably on a beach blanket. Afterwards my mom, dad, and I went to Solvang and had some delicious Ableskeivers. YUM! It's such a beautiful little town...I highly reccommend a visit. I was lame about taking pictures, but my sister-in-law with her awesome camera took some. Hurray! Julie just e-mailed me some pics...here they are!



One super funny thing...Saturday morning, Jason comes around the corner to our family room wearing Tyler's darth vadar helmet and carrying a lightsaber when he breaks into song...yes, the Star Wars song....dum, dum, dum, dum, dee, dum, dum, dee, dum. It was SO CUTE!!!!! I ran to get my camera and begged him to do it again, but he ran off. I WILL get it on video and post it for all to see. It's seriously hysterical!

They're Baaack

Hurray! My family is back! It's been great having everyone home. The kids so love to play with each other...I find myself looking at them and thinking, Man, I love my kids! Then of course they start fighting and I think, wanna go back to Canada? Just kidding. I love having them through it all.

We haven't been doing much since they've been back...just the normal. It's so nice to have lazy, unstructured summer days. We just do whatever we feel like doing and it's awesome!

The other day we went down to my parent's house so we could escape the heat and go swimming. I made Tyler some lunch and took it out to him on the patio. He was such a sweet boy and brought his plate back inside to my mom. She said to him, "Perfect! I can put some fruit on your plate for everyone to share." She started to put fruit on the plate and Tyler stood there thinking. Then he said, "Well...I let Rocky lick this plate clean." (Rocky is my parent's dog, if you didn't guess). Needless to say, the fruit was removed from the plate rather quickly!

While the cat's away...

I guess I could fill you in a bit on Jason's and I's doings while the rest of the family was in Canada. Wayne took the nice cameras, so the pics I took this week were with my phone. Sorry!

Thank goodness for my mom and some good friends who helped keep me entertained this week, or I would've been a sad cookie. It was very nice having Jason here...I think I might have had a hormonal breakdown if he wasn't.

Okay...I started writing the things I have done and they were so boring I decided to delete them! I'll just highlight...
We spent a few days swimming down at my parent's house. Jason had a BLAST, and it felt so good to just float, weightless in the pool.
I got my haircut and saw a chick flick with a dear friend. Ate dinner with some wonderful friends who felt bad that I was all alone. :) You saved my sanity! Thanks so much!!!! Went to California Adventure, cleaned (my house is still clean btw! Woo hoo!), organized closets and Elise's old baby clothes...and FINALLY updated our blog! Oh! Today Jason and I went with some friends to ride these little trains at a local park. It was so great! Jason didn't want to get off!

A couple of funny stories from this week:

Jason and I were shopping at Home Goods and he was just singing away. An older couple came up to him and asked him, "Do you like to sing?" to which he responded, "No" and then went straight back to singing at the top of his lungs. It was so funny! For those of you who don't know, he sings a mean Star Wars theme and Frere Jacque...all with the syllables...doe, doe, doe, doe, di, doe, doe, di, doe. I've got to catch it on video one of these days!

This morning, Jason was standing on the kitchen chair facing backwards, and suddenly his face turned bright red and he started grimacing. I asked him, "Jason, are you going poopy?" He grunted, "yeaaah" and kept on grimacing. It was hysterical!

Here are some pics:

Busy week...

Here are some more pics of the kids and family in Canada. I couldn't post any of the video...I'll have to wait until Wayne gets home with the videocamera.

These are pics of the family hiking in Waterton, swimming in Emerald Bay, and fishing in Crandall Lake.

Elise and Tyler swimming in Emerald Bay.
Tyler and his best buddy/cousin Joshie and their rock collection.
Tyler and Elise's first fish! Jon helped just a little. :)
An amazing picture of Wayne and kids at Crandall Lake.
Tyler and Elise at the new playground in Waterton.
Tyler before and after his haircut by Aunt Jill.
Elise climbing the ladder to the treehouse.
The older cousins on the farm. Notice Elise has no coat on. That child just refuses to wear a coat. Thank goodness it was only chilly the first couple of days!
And last, but not least, the whole family up at Cameron Falls.
Sorry to inundate you with pictures. Will someone comment on where to go to post a slideshow?

Wayne and Elise come home tomorrow...I am so excited! We decided to let Tyler stay up another week so he can play longer with his cousins. We don't get to see them very often, so we felt that it was important. He's having so much fun. He better talk to us every night on the phone though! I can't wait until he's back too. His baby brother and mommy miss him very much.

Home Alone

I am home alone, but am far from putting my cheeks in my hands and screaming. :) Wayne took Tyler and Elise to Canada to visit his family while I stayed home with Jason. So I'm not truly alone after all! It's been a nice week resting and getting things done, but I sure do miss everyone. Wayne has been so sweet and has posted some pics and videos for me so that I can see what everyone is doing. I wonder if I can cut and paste them in here????? Ah hah! I was able to save them on my computer...so here are some pics of Wayne and the kids in Canada...
Elise with "Arazel"...one of grandma's kitties and Elise's FAVORITE thing at Grandma's farm.
Tyler, Elise and cousin David. The trampoline is another favorite in "kid paradise" (a.k.a Grandma's farm.) :)
The town of Raymond built a wonderful new community pool. The kids spent 4 hours there yesterday and had a BLAST. Elise is over her seasonal fear of swimming (it seems like every summer she has to warm up to swimming by herself) and was a regular little fish in this pool. So was Tyler! It was so fun to see the pics.
Yesterday while the kids were swimming, Wayne and a bunch of the guys hiked a beautiful peak called Lineham at Waterton National Park in the Canadian Rockies. (Thank you siblings for watching the kids for us!) As you can see, it is just magnificent. It's a tradition to hike a different peak every summer that we are able. I can't wait to be able to do it again...there is nothing like being on top of a mountain peak to make you feel closer to nature and to Heavenly Father. Everyone is hiking there today...I hope to get some more pics tonight. Happy Birthday Carol! I hope you are having so much fun celebrating with all of your kids and grandkids! Jason and I miss you!

Pitiful, I know

Hopefully I'm back on track and will keep my blog updated more regularly. Things are going well here. Christmas (I can't believe I haven't updated since November) was great. We celebrated in CA with my parents. In January my brother married his wonderful wife, Julie. She is so much fun and they seem so happy together. We are truly thrilled to have her as part of the family, and it's also fun to be connected to her family through her. Her siblings and parents are just awesome! I'm still waiting for my dad to give me a disc with wedding pictures, so I can't post any...but follow the link to Reed All About It to meet Julie and Brian.

February FLEW by...what did we even do then???? The beginning of March brought with it some rain, and as usual, rivers of water leaking through our windows. We finally decided that the band aid solution wasn't going to work this time and we had to get serious about fixing the problem. The result is fantastic...re-installed NON-LEAKING windows! We're also re-painting because, due to the water leaking problems, we had a LOT of rotten wood.

My grandmother turned 92 this year (or was it 93???), so to celebrate her birthday we're meeting the Oregon McFarlands and families at the Oregon coast for an unofficial family reuntion the first weekend in April. Hopefully the weather will be nice, but we'll have fun regardless. I'm sure I'll have some nice pics to post-the coast is SO beautiful.

Our friends are moving (boo hoo)...we used to go to Disneyland with them all of the time when Tyler and Elise were little. Here is a picture of the old crew one last time...
We will miss them very much, but know they will have a blast in their new place.

Jason didn't want to pose for the picture...here he is with Tyler trying to get him to stay...super funny! This is such a classic picture. Sadly, this is what Jason looks like many-a-day when I ask Tyler to grab him before he runs off or before he does something naughty. The classic "arms pinned to his cheeks" is an image I will not soon forget! Sorry buddy!



In February (something we did that month!) I signed Elise up for ballet at a fantastic studio with a friend of hers from school. The teacher is just amazing and Elise loves it. Here's a bad pic...but all I have is video and I don't have the patience to upload it. Sorry! She is SO cute in her class. I LOVE to watch her.

Here's a really cute pic of the boys at...you guessed it...Disneyland.

Tyler is playing t-ball again this season...this time for the Mets. Yes, we know. Here's a pic of him taken by Wayne while posing for his official pic...
I think he was going for the "cool athlete" look. He's having a lot of fun and has a goal of hitting it out of the park. Go Tyler! I think he's having ALMOST as much fun playing as we are watching him play. It's the best!

Jason loves to steal Elise's bike helmet and go for a drive in his police car. You can also occasionally find him trying to ride Tyler's big bike (thankfully he can't get up by himself...although he's gotten close!). He is also INCREDIBLY obsessed with balls...basketballs, soccer balls, and baseballs. He steals Tyler's mitt and tries to catch the ball. He puts the basketball on top of the tee and tries to hit it. He throws the baseball in the basketball hoop. Yes, he's a little confused. He really gets it right more often than not, but it's not as fun to talk about! Wayne and I are hoping that he'll be our future meal ticket. :)

I guess that ought to do for now. I'm going to try and be better!