Light Fixtures

We haven't had a hall light for a couple of weeks because the light bulb broke off in the fixture and we couldn't get it out. It has been hard to change the light bulb in that fixture for a long time so we decided it was time to get a new one. Neither Darren nor I knew how to change a light fixture but, once again, Jon came to the rescue. He helped us change the fixture in the hall, the dining room and the two porch lights. (The light bulb broke off in the porch light, too, so we had to change that one. And it would look dumb to have mismatched light fixtures for both porch lights so we changed both of them.) The good thing about all this is that Darren learned a new skill and I kind of did just from watching. Our next project will be fixing the oven because the bottom heating element has gone out. Oh the problems of home ownership. Here are some pictures of the light fixture changes. I don't have any before pictures, though.

Wedensday

We had a family reunion planned with Darren's parents and siblings for this week. We were going to spend two nights in West Yellowstone, Montana and tour Yellowstone, then go to Utah and spend more time together. But Darren's Grandma Bell passed away and so our plans changed. Mike, Kim, Camilla, and Courtney flew in from Indiana on Tuesday and then all of us drove to Spokane, Washington on Wedensday. Once we got to Spokane it took us an hour to find the hotel. When we finally got there we were all tired and hungry but the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful.














Carrie riding in the car. Ethan took this picture. She probably didn't know it was even taken because she was trying to get a nap in. It might not look like it but she can actually sleep that way in the car. That's something new I learned about her this weekend.



















The kids climbing a hill at one of the many rest stops we made. It was a good way to get rid on their stored up energy even if they were pretty dusty when they finished. Courtney and Camilla made it all the way to the top. Way to go girls!
















Ethan riding in the car




















Kevin and Ethan posing at a gas station

Thursday

Today was Grandma Bell's funeral in Quincy, Washington. I don't have any pictures of the funeral but Darren has some nice ones so hopefully he will post them. We left about 6:30 am and drove from Spokane to Quincy. I had never been to Quincy. It looks like a small farming community. The funeral was very nice. I learned a lot about Grandma Bell. We were also able to see family that we don't see very often and meet a few that I had never met.

When the funeral was over we drove to Seattle. We stopped at Snoqualmie Falls (not sure if I spelled that right) on the way. Then we checked into our hotel and went to Uncle Richard and Aunt Sharon's for a yummy barbeque. They fed us Wedensday night and Saturday night and both were excellent meals and very much appreciated.
















Ethan at the falls















Kevin at the falls















All the kids at the falls















The kids posing on some rocks
















Shandy's ankle after two days of traveling and dealing with the heat. What a trooper she was the whole time! For those of you who don't know, she is 6 weeks away from having a baby.



















Kevin holding his new cousin, Cannon. (Not sure I spelled that one right either.)





















Ethan with Cannon

Friday

Today we slept in. It was nice. In our room we got up about 8:30 am. Darren went to Fred Meyer's and got some food for breakfast. Then I went and checked out the work out room and Darren took the boys swimming. We finally all met up about noon. One of Carl's favorite places is the Locks. I'm sure they have an official name but that's all I know. These locks take boats between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. We watched the boats come in from Puget Sound, tie their boats to the side of the lock and raise up with the water. Then they moved into Lake Washington. They also have a mini aquarium like structure that lets you see all the salmon in the water. The kids spent a long time looking at that. The locks were pretty cool.

After the locks we went to Archie MacPhees. It's a novelty toy store with very inexpensive toys. We all had fun looking at the fun things they had and bought a few things.

Lunch was at "Dicks". We got burgers and took them to the Arboretum to eat. Then we went back to the hotel and got ready for the Mariner's baseball game. Pat stayed with all of the kids and watched them swim and swim and swim. She is such a good sport and we really appreciate her. The rest of us went to the Mariners game. They played the Red Sox and got beat. But it was still fun. When we got back to the hotel all 5 kids were sound asleep in Pat and Carl's room.





















The kids looking at the salmon (Darren took this picture)






















Us at the locks. What a cute family!
















Courtney got some fake mustaches from the toy store and she shared with her cousins. Thanks Courtney!
















What do you think? Should he keep it or shave it?

Saturday

On Saturday we went to breakfast at Denny's and then decided what we would do for the day. We were all tired of being in cars. But we got in them again, anyway, and drove up to Deception Pass on Whidbey Island (an island in the Puget Sound). You can walk across the pass on a walkway. Then we went to Rosario beach, had a picnic, and played on the shore (and a little in the water, too). Ethan fell in the water but I didn't get a picture of that. That evening we had dinner at Uncle Richard and Aunt Sharon's house again. Another yummy meal! We had to make sure we left in time to go swimming since it was the last night.
















Ethan on Deception Pass walkway





















Us standing in the ocean (it was pretty cold)
















The kids under Deception Pass bridge





















Camilla holding a crab





















Courtney was holding a crab but I don't see it in the picture





















Darren holding a crab.
My boys were too scared to hold the crabs. We were on the San Juan Islands when Kevin was three and he had no problem holding crabs. But that was not the case this time. I am told Carson eventually held one too but I was taking care of Ethan's scraped knee.

Sunday

We just left at 6:30 am and drove for 14 hours until we got home. Too hot and tired to take pictures. When we were driving through the hills/mountains of eastern Oregan our temperature gage read 111 degrees. The rest of the trip was in the 100's or high 90's. We had a great trip but are so glad to be home.

Our struggling yard

We've had a hard time with some things in our yard this year. We have some beautiful aspen trees in our front yard. At the beginning of June our neighbors cut down their aspens. It turns out the neighbor's tree was the parent tree and when it was cut down our trees started to die. We are sad about that. Then you all remember my previous post about our firepit accident. Well, this dead grass is the product of that. Turns out gas and fire aren't too good for grass. Finally, the other day, Darren was fertilizing the lawn. With good intentions he put some on the garden, as well. The fertilizer also had weed killer in it. It took us a while to figure out why the garden looked so droopy. Fortunately, most of it is coming back but this zucchini plant will probably not survive. So don't put lawn fertilizer with weed killer on your garden. It's great for the lawn, not so great for vegetables. The rest of our yard is beautiful and green.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

Can you believe my baby is one year old? Where has the year gone? His party started off quietly. I forgot to make him a separate little cake so we just sat him in front of the big one.















He wasn't too interested at first but soon discovered he really liked his birthday cake.

































Here he is after his mess:
















He got a lot of presents and wasn't too interested in those. But his brothers sure were. They were only too happy to help him open them.
















We love you, Jake! Happy Birthday!

A Sunday Treat

When Tracie was helping me decide what to call my blog she suggested "A Sunday Treat" because I usually make a treat on Sunday. When I was growing up it was a tradition at our house to make a dessert on Sundays. So we still do that at our house. It's usually just some type of cookie or brownies. We don't get too fancy. My favorite is oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but I don't make those very often because the rest of my family doesn't like them as well and I end up eating most of them. Today we made ginger snaps. They are Darren and Kevin's favorite kind of cookie. Ethan is my main helper. Kevin has grown out of it. And Jake is an aspiring helper. (He doesn't last very long up on the counter.)

Soccer

Today was Kevin's first soccer game of the season. We sure enjoy watching those games and Kevin has fun playing. He does a great job. This year they even have official goalies. Well, one of the rules of soccer is that you have to wear shinguards. We could only find one of Kevin's shinguards and had looked everywhere we could think of. Darren even went to a bunch of stores to buy some but there are none available on the first day of soccer season. We really wanted him to be able to play his first game of the year. Then my genius husband came up with a plan. Check it out. Can you guess what we used?

Our new firepit

Curtis and Shandy came up this weekend. If you check their blog you'll know they made a firepit in their backyard. So we decided to do the same thing. Jon found us an old tire rim at a tire store and we already had the brick (also previously supplied by Jon - what would we do without him?). Darren hurt his ankle and couldn't walk very well so Curtis ended up doing most of it on his own. Thank you so much, Curtis. I am sure it is something we will enjoy for a long time. I forgot to get a picture of the finished product. But make sure you read the blog right below this to see what happened next.

Using the fire pit for the first time

So this is what happened the first time we built a fire in our fire pit. I wasn't out there at the time. But when I heard people rushing for the hose I decided to see what was going on. I found a large fire on my grass. Unfortunately the camera wasn't ready at the time. The fire was larger. Just so everyone knows for future reference, don't pour gas directly out of the can onto a fire and then let it leak onto the grass. Also, water doesn't put out a gas fire very well. Have a metal garbage can lid handy to get rid of the fire's oxygen.