Isabell's 1st brithday Party (June)

My oldest friend, Elizabeth, was throwing a 1st brithday party for her little girl, Isabell. It was so fun to get to see her and her little girl again. It was also nice that Cache got to go and play with her daughter. I have to say, that growing up, this is not really anything that we considered while we were playing Power Rangers and giggling about boys. I'm just glad that we have stayed good friends despite the distance and time between us. It's always hard to keep a friendship going, but when you have the kind of history we do, it has been easier. :)

Birthday Girl and her cow hat!

Cache's horse hat!

Isabell opening her presents, and Cache helped her out! She wanted to wear every clothing item she got :)

Matt, Elizabeth's husband, was trying to convince Isabell through the tube...

So were the grandpa's and Aunt Megan :)

It worked! Cache was dying to try it out, and he almost climbed in over her!

Cake time! Elizabeth helping her eat it :)

Happy birthday little Isabell!! :)

Elizabeth did such a good job with the treats and decorations! It was a farm themed party and there were so many cute things everywhere! Glad we could make it!

Trip to Portland (June)

Since we were up in the PNW, we decided it would be a good idea to visit Grandma Smith since she lives only hours away from the valley and who knows when we will get to the chance to see her again. So Mom, Mike, Brandi, Cache and I all jumped in a car and drive down to visit. Luckily, we were able to visit some cousins and Aunts along the way as well. Always nice to catch up with family. Grandma was having a good day and was able to enjoy the visit as well. She said that Cache was a sweet boy. I just love that we got that time with her.

Playing Lincoln Logs with Uncle Brandi and Grandma Cole at Aunt Debbie and Great Grandma Smith's house

Goofing off with Uncle Brandi at the mall

Cache's hat at Dairy Queen on the way home :)

Seattle Children's Museum (June)

While we were in Washington, I really wanted to take Cache to the Seattle Children's Museum since he is finally old enough to enjoy most of it. I would say that it's probably geared more towards 3 year olds and older, but he did have a good time and wore himself out anyway!

Riding the lady bug scooter

Water Table

Trying to get a turn in one of the vehicles. He's not used to having to fight for playtime lol

The other kid was monopolizing the drum stick, so Cache went and found a different one...it was the pestal from a mortar and pestal set in one of the close by village houses.

Driving the scooter in the village!

His favorite station. You put the plastic balls in the tubes and they shoot all through this maze of clear tubes until it comes back out the bottom. He loved that!

Helping grandpa with the Legos on the walls in the Lego room!

Sliding down the "snow slide" on the mountain!

Painting! This is genius!

Had lots of fun! Maybe he'll get to go again someday!

Father's Day June 2012

It was sad that Jared couldn't be around for Father's Day, but I suppose that's what you have to endure when you have a family in the military. We were able to plan a dinner for Mike and Mom for Father's Day, though and had lots of fun. There was a fun story that came out of it though. I suppose it's one that will stick with us. Cache was eating chips and salsa, and at one point started to choke and cough a little. He then grabbed my hand, brought it to his mouth, then proceeded to spit it all into my palm. When he was done emptying his mouth, he said, "There you go!" As if he had done me a great honor! Silly boy. It was quite funny and will turn into one of those stories he's told time and again as he gets older ;).
And we did get to enjoy a fun surprise for Grandpa Kenny! Before I left for Washington, Brandi and I decided it would be fun to plan a surprise for Dad since who knows when or how many Father's Day's we will get to all spend together. We got Kristi in on it and planned to surprise Dad with a trip to the Mariners Game! We had wanted to keep it a secret until we got there, but Kristi suggested that Dad might want to dress a certain way if he knew we were going to a ballgame. Of course, the look of surprise on his face was pretty priceless. It's not often we get to surprise Dad!
We met up with Anna and Brandi in Issaquah and all headed to Seattle. I have to say, that everytime I end up there (driving myself or not) I am glad that we don't have to deal with that type of traffic on a daily basis. I still miss the area and the people, but the NOT the traffic. Especially on game days.

View from our seats

Cache was having a good time :)

The family (minus Kristi who took the picture)

Ok, so there are two things a person (at least me) has to get when they go to Safeco. 1. Dip 'n Dots and 2. Garlic Fries! These are the best, most garlic-y fries you have ever seen! Piled high with salt, real garlic and herbs. Soooo delicious! Cache, of course loved them.....but he didn't really know that these fries+ rubbing the eyes because you're tired= massive pain and no fun. Unfortunately, he did figure this out first hand. After trying to flush out his eyes in the bathroom twice and trying to calm him down for about an hour, he kept rubbing his eyes and making it worse! It came down to having to take him to the first aid station and have him held down by me and two EMTs while we poured normal saline over his eyes and rubbed it all away. Poor little guy didn't know what to do, but after an hour of crying and burning, I'm sure this felt so much better. Luckily, this did the trick, so after about 10 more minutes of calming him down, he PASSED OUT! lol And of course, he got about a half an hour in before the Mariner's scored the winning home run and everyone was on their feet cheering! I was just glad he got SOME sleep in after all that chaos, and at least the Mariner's won on Father's Day! What a great present!

Poor monkey

Here's to an eventful Father's Day! :)

My Dad's house and Cache's other 2nd Birthday Party (June 2012)

Ok, so I suppose we all know that I am no goot at  blogging while I am on vacation, and apparently I am even worse at doing it when I get home! There are just so many pictures, that it seems so daunting! But I am going to do my best to get some done before the baby decides to make it's appearance (which is in 26 days!) Also, I must apologize for any spelling errors ahead of time because on the trip, my computer screen cracked and now has these lovely black lines and blobs on the screen that I have to try to type around.
For the first part of our trip, we stayed at my dad's house while we were waiting for Jared to arrive from AT. I have to say that it probably took us about a week to adjust to the two hour time difference, but once we did, things got a lot better. Of course, it didn't help that Cache chose this particular time to cut some more teeth. It would just be my luck that he would wait two years to get the rest of his teeth, and then decide to cut about 7 all at once! Sheesh
It was a lot of fun for Cache to run around his backyard and mess around with the chickens. He wasn't as interested in them this time, unless it was from a distance, and we tried to have him hold some eggs, but he didn't find that very appealing either. He would just drop them as soon as he touched them. At least they are thicker and stronger than most eggs! lol He also really loved chasing around LInus and throwing his ball for him with the flingy thing (I can't remember what Kristi calls it). He got really good at calling his name, even if it did come out as "Dinus! (Linus)" most of the time.

Playing with his Buzz and Woody in the dryer!

"Hello?"

Playing with grandpa's Legos before church

Throwing the ball for Linus with Grandpa

Cache's mini pool! Linus loved to try to get his ball out of the pool, Cache kept trying to keep it from him.

But it didn't work long!

Playing at SES's playground

Good Ol' Rattlesnake Lake and Rattlesnake Ridge. Cache loved throwing the plentiful rocks in the lake...could have done that forever...

At the park with Aunt Lily! And her crazy slide hair :)

 We also got to throw Cache a family birthday party in my dad's backyard. It was so nice to be able to share this with family, even though Jared couldn't be there. :( But he got a curious George cake that turned both his mouth and fingers blue! Classic! He got some awesome presents too. Too bad, I was so busy with the party to take too many pictures...

Birthday boy! And very pregnant Momma

Uncle Brandi was on Skype on that laptop. It was pretty awesome, actually. Technology rocks!

"Uckies!" In other words, clean my hands please!

Trip to Snoqualmie Falls! I think he was more interested in the rocks to climb on

Stretching out his back like Grandpa

Nakey boy!