A Favorite Place

We love going camping and fishing up at Fish Lake. It's about a two hour drive from our place and is sooooo beautiful. It became a favorite camping spot of ours about four years ago.
Our friends Aaron and Carrie (and their two kids) came up for a couple of days and we had a great time together! Mcayden loved having his friends there to play with. He got filthy.
Some other friends of ours let us borrow their boat, so Rick and Aaron went out fishing as much as they could and the rest of us went out a couple of times to enjoy speeding along the lake. It was really windy the first day, but the weather shaped up nicely for the rest of our trip.

T+P+L = Baby Heaven

Trip to Utah + Pharmasist's Comment + Levsin Drops= Baby Heaven. Seriously.

Going to Utah was a huge, huge blessing. To make a long story short, we found out about some drops for colic. They are called Levsin drops. A pharmasist casually mentioned them to me when I was asking if there was anything else they knew of that could help a baby with colic. Because we were out of state, our pediatrician couldn't get us the other meds he wanted us to try (apparently they don't compound the other medication at the two pharmacies we gave them, in Utah) and agreed to try the drops.
The difference? Night and Day.
Addison feels sooooo much better. No more grumbling tummy. No more painful, hysterical crying, No more terrible, heart-aching, helpless feelings of not being able to comfort or help her.
We are all so relieved. Addison is the happiest, cooiest, sweetest baby! We are in baby heaven! What an angel.
So, if you have (or know someone who has) a baby in the future--with colic. They may want to try the Levsin drops. They may not work for every kid, but for our little munchkin--they have been wonderful.

Sunday Talks in Church

Rick thinks we're on a ward "hit list" because we have been asked twice to give talks in church and I've been called three times to substitute in Relief Society (all in the past month). Every time we've been asked, we have been out of town...until yesterday.
So, we gave talks in church! Rick talked on the LDS Church walefare program and I spoke on Adversity. I think Rick did an awesome job--he really doesn't like public speaking, but you'd never know by the way he delivers a talk. He's relieved it's over. :) I like giving talks--it's fun to read about a subject and learn more about gospel principals. There is an awesome talk on adversity, I would suggest reading http://rusch.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/the-uses-of-adversity.pdf.
Here are the kids getting ready for church. Addison is wearing a dress Auntie Debbie gave her, for the first time. Now that she's three months old--like magic--she fits in some of her three-month outfits. Fun! New clothes! I love Addison's little shoes. Mcayden looks so handsome in his shirt and tie. He is growing up so fast. Too fast for Rick and I.

Day Out with Thomas

We bought tickets a couple of months ago to go see the "Thomas" train. Mcayden was really excited and talked about it for about two weeks before the big day!(We tried not to tell him too far in advance because he is our little "elephant" and would talk about going every day until we went!) The train has been touring around from state to state.

Mcayden and Daddy on the bus that took us to the train station.

We were greeted by a friendly clown, "Genii Blue"at the Snoqualmie train station. She directed the line when it was time to board the train.

There were all kinds of train sets set up in one of the tents and the kids were free to play, play, play.

This is a whole train station and town made out of Legos. There were even two trains (Thomas and Percy) riding around the track. I forgot how many thousands of Lego pieces they used to build it. Mcayden kept saying, "I want it."

Mcayden seeing Thomas for the first time. His expression was priceless. (So, this is why we buy tickets months in advance, wake up early on a Saturday morning and drive for 40 minutes to ride on a train!) He was really excited and jumped up and down, "Thomas!"

The train ride was about 25 minutes long and took us up to the Snoqualmie Falls and back down. It was really pretty.

Mcayden with Sir Topham Hatt (the head of the railway).

They had live entertainment. Rick and Mcayden are shaking eggs along with the music "Shake your egg by your elbow...shake your egg by you nose...put your egg on your head..." It was really cute. Mcayden really enjoyed it.

It was a fun morning for all of us. We were so happy we went. Mcayden's excitement and expressions made it so much fun.

Two Trips and a Blessing

Rick's sister called and asked if he would be able to go down to Utah and help with some computer problems at their body shop. For payment, they flew us down! It was sooo nice. (Thank you, Trevor & Lora!) We were able to bless Addison down there and it was really nice to be able to spend time with everyone.
On Monday, Rick and I went down to Colorado for a couple of days and our kiddos stayed back in UT with our families. Mcayden had a blast--he went to Lagoon (an amusement park) with his cousins. We didn't know if we were going to be able to get him to go home with us!
While in Colorado, we stayed with some good friends of ours, right outside of Denver, in Parker. We were able to visit Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Broomfield, Loveland and Fort Collins. We are considering moving to Co. and it was great to have the time to go check it out!

Sunday, July 13, 2008





What a bunch of great men! Rick, our dads, family and a couple of friends were all in the circle. We are so thankful they were all able to be there for Addison's blessing.
They held Addison on her tummy during her blessing and she was so relaxed, she fell asleep. She was wonderful the whole day! She seemed to enjoy being held by everyone and wearing her pretty dress!


My sister Debbie surprised us and flew in from Virginia just for Addison's blessing! My mom had invited us over for brunch on Saturday and when we arrived, Debbie greeted us at the door. It was a wonderful surprise! It meant a lot to us that she was there!












Addison's Blessing Dress...






My mom made Addison's blessing dress. She did an absolutely amazing job! It is beautiful and fit Addison perfectly! She added really special details, including handbeaded smocking and hard-to-find German lace. It looked so pretty on Addison. It is a treasure!
We were talking about how after all that work, she only gets to wear it once. It's kind of like a wedding dress that way.
Mom, we really appreciate you putting so much time and love into making such a special dress for our little Addison. Thank you so much! You always do so much for us!

Happy 4th of July!

Addison's first Fourth...

Mcayden and Daddy had fun at the hobby shop today. Mcayden came home with his own mustang. Can you tell he likes it?

We had a very relaxing 4th of July this year. It was great! Rick built a fire in our new fire pit and we had hotdogs, Brats, corn on the cob and potato salad. Yum. Mcayden got to stay up until almost 11p.m. and watch the fireworks. He loved it and kept saying how"gorgeous" and "pretty" the fireworks were. Because we have an awesome view from our house, we just parked our camping chairs out front and watched a panoramic fireworks show. If that wasn't good enough, Rick later took us up on the roof for an even better view! What a fun night.

Alaska Fishing Trip

Rick went up to Ketchican, Alaska on a now-annual fishing trip with all the guys in his family.
They stayed and played with Rick's cousin Cody and his family. Rick said Cody was a great tour guide and he and his wife were awesome hosts.
Thank you Cody & Heather!
Rick brought home about 45lbs of fish (salmon and halibut)! I can't wait to try Heather's halibut lasagna recipe. I was told it was delicious! Yummm.

Here are some highlights from his trip...