Volleyball and Weekend Trip

A few weeks ago, our good friends Todd and Traci asked us to come back over the mountain to help them bless their new baby at church. We of course said yes as we love to visit the Adna ward and all our old friends! We also found out that Clint's sister and her family would be coming to Spokane this same weekend for a volleyball tournament- so we were bummed that we would miss out on seeing them since they were so close, but we found a way to make it work! We left our house at 6am on Friday and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Spokane and ended up walking in the stadium the same time as Karen and Greg! They were really suprised to see us, as they didn't know we were coming for sure. We had mentioned we might, but then we just came and met up with them there. We had fun watching Kris play volleyball and as she goes to college next year to play, we are hoping some of her away games are close enough to come watch. She got an awesome scholarship to play for Westminster in Salt Lake City next year.... way to go Kris! Here are some cute shots of her playing...

This is Karen and Greg with Clint. They live in Utah, so it's so nice for Clint to have family that lives somewhat close by. The rest of his family is in New Zealand and Australia.

After we watched the volleyball and had lunch, we hopped back in the car and took off for Chehalis. We left at 2:30pm and didn't arrive until 9pm! What's up with the snow in the mountains every time we go! We had slow driving conditions over the White Pass mountain range with snow flurries and slush/ice on the roads. We are having a cold snap around here. Tomorrow is April... I'm ready for spring! We dropped Zach off at his friend Austins house for the weekend. They hang out... talk about girls... play video games... talk about girls some more and eat. Teenage boy stuff! We hung out at Traci and Todd's and got to see their brand new baby Raigan. Here's some pics of the sweet girl.

Here's one of me and Traci.

On Saturday, we got to go to Tumwater and see some of Clint's buddies from work. He really misses working with them- I'll be glad when he's settled into his new job and back on the street with his "road dogs".

I also got to go to dinner on Saturday night with some good, good friends. When I lived in Chehalis, I had a group of 8-10 women that would hang out and go out to dinner and a movie once a month or so. We always had such a blast and it's just fun to have friends that you know you can call for any reason. I just love them! Anyway, about 7 of us got together on Saturday for dinner. We always have a great time together. Sunday morning we just got ourselves packed and ready for church. Going back to our old ward was so nice. It's like coming home- everyone is so happy to see you and welcoming. I'm glad we live close enough for the occasional visit!

Construction and Shutters

We are definately living in a construction zone right now. We will eventually have 8 homes on the block we live on. There was only one other house besides ours when we moved in and recently they started construction on 4 more. Just yesterday they started the dig out for the house directly behind us. I'm actually really happy about that for a few reasons. One... when we get neighbors we can try and see if they want to split the cost of a fence. Then we won't have to put it up ourselves. If we are REALLY lucky, the builder will add it for the buyer (we're hoping for that scenario). Also, the dust here in the spring is bad from all the wind, so having homes around will cut down on that aspect. So here's the view from our backyard and side yard. Notice the porta-potty that tipped over last night... ewwww!

I also went out yesterday and bought the wood for shutters. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE shutters. I've made them 4 times before and this is my 5th time. I think they add so much character without a huge deal of cost. In fact, Zach has been wondering what kind of job he can get as he gets closer to turning 16 and I thought maybe he could wash windows (again with the dust here) or even make shutters and sell them on craigs list or pass out flyers in the neighborhood.

Here's the shutters... what do you think?

And one more indoor project. I added some lettering to my kitchen. If only it were really true!

cute video

I thought this video I saw on my nieces blog was way too cute. Don't know the kids... but I laughed and laughed. You'll have to pause the music on my blog so you can listen to the video.

Emily's Birthday!!

So my girl is 13 today... a big teenager. I really can't believe it. And the best thing about Emily is her sweet attitude and kind disposition. She definately is a great girl to have around. For her birthday, we fixed up her room. Right after she got on the bus, I grabbed the paint supplies and got busy painting her room pink. She's NOT a pink girl, but she got a cute bedspread for Christmas that she had wanted with pink and brown. So the pink walls just matched with the dark brown accents. I had already made the wall corkboard/magnet board/ chalkboard and we hung that up. Clint hung up the shelf for all of Emily's little figurines and I made the window panes with all her old photos. Clint saw it and said he almost cried looking at all the pictures of Emily growing up. We're proud of you Emily!