Thank you, thank you, thank you
October 26, 2007 
I got so much good advice and I am so grateful for it! As it turned out, T came home from school with a headache and fell asleep on the chair. And, J’s sister got an ear infection so the play date was cancelled. We are trying for today, but now a cough has descended on our house, so we will see. I think that I will have him go on this next play date and see what he is feeling then. After that I will invite a few kids from his class over and see how that goes. Thanks so much for all the helpful advice! You guys are great.
DH and I have to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday so the rest of this day will be spent getting my talk finalized (I am speaking on humility and DH is speaking on repentance) and getting the finishing touches on my primary lesson. I am planning on making some cookies for the kids to decorate tomorrow and we will probably carve the pumpkins at some point this weekend too. I would really like to rent some movies too. That is a lot for one weekend though.
I went with N to her preschool field trip yesterday. They went to the pumpkin patch. I was able to take A, which was great. He has been so excited about all the pumpkins that we see and points them out everywhere we go. The kids got to do the dark hay maze (flashlights required!) and play in the corn box (like a sand box minus the sand) and ride a carousel. They had a few animals and a couple tractors on display as well. They each chose a pumpkin and back at the school we had soy and dairy free cupcakes (surprisingly delicious) and hot chocolate/apple cider. It was fun to see N interact with her preschool friends, and visit with some of the other moms.
I was so surprised to see frost on the ground and windows this morning. It is a cold morning, but promises to be a beautiful fall day!
Labor Day
September 4, 2007 
Labor Day was always one of my favorite weekends. Growing up, we always went camping. I have such wonderful memories of it. Now, it is a day that DH gets to take off work and we usually do something fun!
This year, on Saturday, we went to Home Depot. That may not sound exciting to some of you, but to me, it was fun. We got the pain for the boys room. T chose a color called Pepper Grass. I am a little worried about the color but he is excited! We got ceiling fans for the kids rooms, and a houseplant.
On Sunday, we went to church like normal and in the evening Bryan’s dad and step-mom came over for dinner. We gave them a tour of the house, and had a pasta bar for dinner. I made these meatballs. It was good. After dinner, we went to see the Crown Point Vista House and Multnomah Falls.
On Monday, we went to the Oregon Zoo. It was fun! We didn’t make it all the way through because the kids were focused on taking pictures with my FIL i-phone, so it took awhile. We did see the bears and the monkeys, fish, snakes, elephants, otters and others. We rode the zoo train out to the rose gardens and took some great pictures. A was so excited to be on the train that he was shaking. It was very cute. After the zoo we went back to my FIL’s hotel and swam in the pool. It was relaxing. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner at Outback Steakhouse. A fell asleep part way through his mac’n'cheese. All three kids were so tired, that they fell asleep on the way home.
A great weekend.
This week, school starts! And my MIL is coming for a visit. We get to preview N’s preschool that starts next week. What did you do over the weekend?
The Beach
August 29, 2007 
We spent Saturday at this beautiful beach. Love that going to the beach is a day-trip now! This is called Haystack Rock, and when it is low-tide you can walk out between the rocks and see all sorts of sea-life. I’ve never done this, but someday we will! We spent the day playing in the sand, and the COLD water. We had lunch from an expensive deli (it was so good though!) and ate snacks and relaxed. Such a great way to spend the day. Of course we built sand castles.
We found a HUGE hole that someone else had dug and played in that and then had to dig a couple of our own. After we had loaded up the wagon and were walking back to the car it started raining. What perfect timing! A zonked out about two seconds after we got in the car and N slept for part of the way home too!
Multnomah Falls
We went to this beautiful water fall for a family night activity this week. A is obsessed with water-falls. Every time we get in the car he is pointing out water falls. Even on the way to Wal-Mart. He was so excited! That excitement was so cute and so fun to witness. The kids loved “hiking” up to the bridge and looking over. The bridge has been there since 1914 and my kids wouldn’t have had to try very hard to fit between the rails and fall down. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. A loved to stick his head through and look down…we just made sure we were holding onto him. There are so many waterfalls along the Columbia River Hwy and eventually we will see them all, I suppose.
Sorry the photo is sideways…maybe next time I will realize that I need to edit it before I upload it.
IKEA
My brother and I went to IKEA-Portland last night. We got there around 5 and we had no problem getting good parking. It was so fun! There was a lot of people but it wasn’t hard to move from “room” to “room” and we got to see everything that we wanted too.
I found the couch I want.
And matching foot stool.
I found an easel I want one of my kids to get for Christmas.
I found several pictures that I would like to buy and put up in my house.
I found the bed frame I want when we upgrade to a king sized bed.
I found a dresser I could use in my boys room.
But, in the end I only spent $2.98. One garbage can and one toilet bowl brush.
My dinner in the restaurant was more than that! I had a bottle of water and chicken strips and fries. They were good. My brother had the meatballs and red potatoes and he liked them enough to buy a bag in the Swedish market. On our way out we got a chocolate bar and a cinnamon bun to share. I would have liked more icing on the cinnamon bun, and I haven’t eaten the chocolate yet, but it is calling my name right now.
Off to taste Swedish chocolate!
Costco vs. Sam’s Club
Now, my review of the two warehouse stores may be biased because I was a member of Sam’s Club in Utah County for 9 years and I am a lot little homesick. My family and I made a trip over to Costco on Friday, since here in the great Northwest, the home of Costco, there is no Sam’s Club. I was so excited to go since I had so many people tell me, “Once you go to Costco you wont go back to Sam’s.” Well.
We got to Costco at about 10:30, and saw that the parking lot was full and there was people going in and out of the store. We went to the membership desk and were shocked that it costs $50 to join as a “gold star” member and $50 to join as a business member. At Sam’s it is $30 for a business membership (which is what I had since I had a salon) and $35 for regular folk. Turns out there is an advantage to a business membership….you can go in a 10:00. What? At Sam’s business members got to go at 8:00 (which worked great for me going before T got out of kindergarten) and regular folk can go at 10:00. Why is Costco $20 more with 2-3 less hours to shop? AND there was no Spaghetti O’s. AND there was no Dove Body Wash. I ALWAYS bought these items at Sam’s. I guess when I hit Wal-Mart I will have to buy a bunch of Spaghetti Rings. There is supposed to be a great photo center at Costco but I haven’t checked that out yet. I need to….my scrapbooks are falling way behind, as I have been a slacker for the last 5 months.
We did enjoy lunch at the snack bar on our way out. The pizza was pretty good. The soda was the right price. T almost had a meltdown when he realized that there would be no pretzel for lunch, which is what he always had at Sam’s Club. Instead, I introduced him to the wonder known as a Churro. He loved it!
So, the bottom line? I like Sam’s Club better, but I will be back at Costco regularly. Any thoughts? Do you prefer one over another?
