Firehouse

Ivie and I have been part of a co-op preschool in the area. We went to the Firehouse for one of our field trips. I know that most kids love going to the firehouse...but not Ivie! She was scared to death the entire time. The noises, the firemen in their suits, the actual firetrucks....everything frightened her. Maybe in a couple of years it will be different.
I think this is the only picture I got of her the whole time....

Xavien's birthday

Xavien turned 6!!
He loves going to school. I think the 3 recesses are his favorite thing about school though. :)
He still loves any kind of action figure but especially Star Wars. I love that one of the first things anyone ever tells me about Xavien is that he is unbelievably sweet. We love our big boy!

Halloween

The kids loved being able to trick or treat around the neighborhood. They were only able to go to about half of the houses til Xavien decided he couldn't walk another step. Maybe next year we will be able to hit the whole neighborhood.

The trunk or treat at the ward building was great! There were 2 bouncy houses that Xavien and Ivie would not leave. Ivie decided she didn't want to jump anymore when one of the houses collasped with all the kids in it. But I think the bouncy houses were a great idea. Plus someone brought their alpacas for all the kids to pet!

First day of school

School starts late here...after Labor Day. It worked out well for us because we were still moving in. Xavien and Kanayla were excited to start at their new school. Kanayla is in 3rd grade and Xavien is in Kindergarten.

Mt Baker

We took a drive up to Mt Baker today. We were able to see some beautiful waterfalls, glacier lakes, mountains, and even get far enough up the mountain to play in some snow. On the drive home we took a scenic highway that followed the ocean. So in one day we got to see a 10,000 ft. mountain and the Pacific Ocean! Pretty good!

Things I learned during the drive today....

• There are not enough public bathrooms for 4 year old little girls who suddenly tell you "I have to go NOW" in national forests.
• There is no such thing as too many flowers or rocks. And flowers do NOT belong in lakes.
• Always bring a sled if there is even the possibility of running into snow.

The ocean from Hwy 11.

The Nooksack River.

View of Mt. Shuksan from Picture Lake. (one of the glacier lakes)

New Home

We have finally arrived in Washington.
The drive across country went well...the kids did an amazing job.
Once we got to Washington we ran into a lot of last minute loopholes with our lender. But 2 weeks later than originally expected we closed on our first home.

I'm going to add pictures to this post later tonight but so far everything is great in the house. It will be a while before everything is how we want it but that is ok. The kids love their rooms and are excited to start school next week. There are still way too many boxes to unpack but progress is being made.The purple room is Kanayla's and Ivie's.
The blue cubby area is in our dining room and the kitchen will be painted the same color soon.
The last picture is of Xavien's room which is a green color with a brown accent wall.

To be continued....

Matthew has received a promotion at work. We are moving to the Seattle area in about a month. Life is crazy with plans for a cross country move.

This weekend we are house hunting so any prayers or wishes of luck would be appreciated! :)