This is the deck before. You can see the two tone deck color as we were in the middle of pressure washing the deck, which is my new favorite pass time.


This is the next phase with new railings and cool sun shades and lights. It looks really cool when its all open.


We now need to sell the hot tub and stain the deck and pergola. That will be a big job, but I can't wait to see the finished product. Just wanted to share the fun.

Another Monday

Kierstin is not walking all the way just yet, but she does like to take about four or five steps...and then she lays down.













This was Father's Day. I love this picture of Mom and Dad with the babies. I just wanted to share.








And now...stayed tuned for my next rant.

This is my day: we wake up late because we have been up with a tremendous storm in the middle of the night. It was the kind of storm that made me bring each of my sleeping children downstairs to sleep one in my bed, two in the "cave" and the baby in the play pen. The lightning was unbelievable. So, we wake up late. We have to be at swim lessons by 10 which means we have to leave by 9:30 and we wake at 9. So, we are running a little to get everyone together. Larry is staying home with the promise of a new big job. We get there, by the way, Kierstin is sick...not happy. We get there, get everyone set up and we realize that we have forgotten goggles, which Kimball simply cannot swim without and I am an idiot for even considering it. I then here Kaden quietly say, "oh crap", in response to just realizing that he had walked out of the house, gotten into the car and driven all the way to the gym without shoes on. SO, we are late, we have forgotten many things, I have eaten nothing, the baby doesn't feel well...but we get Kaden in on time. Kimball and Kyra get ready to swim in the "outdoor pool" while lessons are going in the inside pool. Remember the bad weather from last night? Well, it had one more good laugh at us this morning. Kimball jumps in, I sit down getting the baby who does not feel well situated and Kyra comes to me to use the restroom and the thunder starts, then the rain, then the lightning...which closes all pools. Ha ha, right? And that was all before 10:30 am.

We come home, I get Kierstin ready to go to the doctor. She ends up with just a cold that has to pass but she is really angry when we have to force a breathing treatment on her. But, we get home and all is quiet. I then get the good news that Larry has booked a massage for me because I have been complaining of a sore back for a few days. What a treat that was. I feel restored so I offer pizza and family movie night to the kids. Pizza goes okay. Movie was resisted at first because they all just want to play with their friends, duh. But, they give in and we set to watching "bend it like beckham"...which I really enjoy but quickly realize that the children are not interested. One by one they leave my family night, with my permission of course. They play, I watch the movie and then it's bed time. Kierstin decides its time to throw up with all of the coughing she is doing. I have failed to mention the ongoing battle of wills today with Kimball. He is now old enough to think that he is entitled to an opinion and an argument with his mother. He is not nearly as afraid of me as I was of Mom. That is something that will have to be remedied if we are to make it through the teenage years. He is a beautiful, intelligent, well mannered, genuinely good kid, but boy did he inherit my temper. So, after another welcoming breathing treatment, talking a little sense into Kimball and sweet good nights, everyone is down...but I still hear Kierstin coughing in the baby monitor. I wonder what kind of night this will be. Hopefully it will not include flooding.

Why weight?

Ok, for those of you who have noticed the weight scale recently added to my scale...I have digressed. I have gained back the two pounds plus one more. Now, the thing that bothers me more than the gaining three pounds, which really does by the way, I am more aggravated at myself for caring enough about the number on the scale but not at all about doing anything to change it. I don't want to go to the gym. It's not because I don't enjoy working out because I kind of do once I get there. It's just that it is such a process. It is laziness but with balancing the kids and where they are and what they need and then making sure that it all works is irritating. I don't AT ALL want to count calories. The idea is so offensive to me for some reason. I want to just eat to feel satisified and not have to think about it. I am developing something of a hate for food and cooking, which is silly I know. I want to enjoy the process of eating and feeding my family...and I don't want to keep gaining weight. I want to eat well enough to lose the weight. I want to have the discipline to go to the gym because it is what I want to do not because I have to. I don't want to be the girl who is obsessed with what my weight is or whether or not I worked out today. I don't want to ever care that much. I don't want my children thinking that they have to be obsessed about it either. There is so much more to life that gym time and BMI!!! I am ranting, trust me, I know that. I am just so irritated about the whole thing. I care, my body cares, maybe no one in society really cares but I think they do. I know that it is something that must be given proper attention, but not every time I eat or think about what's for dinner. It's just so silly to me. Of course that's why I weigh 176 pounds today. I have not cared for nearly every meal that we have eaten out this week. I have to declare a moratorium on eating out, at least for myself. It's too much. ok, i am silly for being so bugged about this...but I am so not this person and it is annoying me.

And...

1. I hate mosquitos and they could be an overwhelming reason not to live here.

2. Brittany called and said that all is well and that the little buggers name is William Joseph...or Billy Joe. :)

Holy Crap with all this Rain!!!

I have had it! I am so sick of the rain. I don't know how people live in Seattle. I guess that living there one would come to expect it...but here...I don't. I was expecting sun today and was ready to make myself put on a swimsuit...a task I despise...and go to the pool and I hear thunder. For the remainder of the day Kyra has reminded me of what a bad mother I am for not letting her go swimming today. I suppose she thought I might let her swim in the lightning and hail. I suppose she thinks that I control the weather. I am important and all, and I may be capable of many things...but controlling the weather is not in my bag of tricks.

In other news, Brittany had a boy today. His name as of this morning was Jackson Taylor...but she was not sure once he was born...so I am not sure where that will fall. But he is healthy and happy and I am assuming cute as I have not seen a picture yet. The technology in those parts is not quite up to speed. :)

Oh, funny thing! The other day Larry and I were laying in bed watching "Celebrity Fit Club", which is not a show I watch except that Screech had a big fight with Marsha Brady and I was laughing my head off. Anyway, they are weighing in and Larry nonchalantly asks me how much I weigh. Mind you, in all the years we have known each other he has never once asked me that question. I am not bothered by it because I have said my weight to him before...he just never remembers. SO, I tell him that I now weigh 175 pounds...aghast as I am by that number on me he then says, "Wow, I didn't think you weighed that much. I would not have guessed that...................(long pause).......Wow." So, now I am keenly aware of the number. 175! I have never weighed that much and now Larry knows that it is higher than he thought. Now, one might say that I should be happy that he didn't think that it was that high as I don't look like I weigh that much...and there is that. BUT! He is then prompted the next day to make sure that we are both eating really well and that we both go to the gym. SO...the moral of the story is that while I knew that I weighed too much, someone else knowing that you actually do weigh too much and then experiencing a "Wow" moment are two different things. Needless to say, I went to the gym and took all my vitamins and ate around 1400 calories today. That is motivation.