Summer 2009

Somehow this Summer just flew by unreasonably fast. I still keep thinking, "Summer's over already?!" and we're already quickly approaching October!

We DID work really hard at having FUN this summer and lots of it. It's the first summer we've had where school is not looming heavily over Nate's shoulders. The first summer where vacation time is on the books and waiting to be used. The first summer we haven't had HUGE yard and/or house projects begging to be accomplished.

In May we had a weekend where we made an offer on a house and then pulled out after realizing the epic amounts of work required to make it happen (it was a REPO). After months of wondering if we should sell while the market is good (and it really IS good in the Tri-cities right now) and find a house that's actually larger than 1000 square feet, we finally had to sit down and make a decision if trying to sell our house all summer long was how we wanted to spend it. It was decided that this family needs some peace and fun for once and the house selling would have to wait until next year. And then we both heaved huge sighs of relief and got busy planning summer.

And of course, no summer is complete without a trip to the zoo. Well, at least WE haven't seen a trip to the zoo in way too long...so in May we stopped for a few hours on our way home from family.




June just wouldn't be June without swim lessons, sun burns, park trips and the annual "Filling Of The Pool"...as witnessed below...




Of course, most of you haven't heard about our newest family addition. Since you know that we aren't having any more of the human variety added to this nest, then it would have to be a new pet! And, yeah, we haven't told A SOUL about him since we're just so embarrassed that we could possibly be silly enough to add one more doggy-door-using type around here. Now's the time to introduce him....

















even though he WAS quite a surprise to even US......

















Here he is.... In all his red-hair glory....

















Oh wait.... That's not a DOG! That's not even a CAT!




That would be the little 11 month old that I couldn't keep out of my dog door all summer long! Isn't Cade the cutest?! :-)

Our summer wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the beach for a week. And so that's what we did. I found a DEAL on Craigslist for a 2 bedroom condo at Long Beach, Washington for the 4th of July week! We were completely stoked and immediately called these two people to drive on up from Utah and enjoy it with us...



My Mom and Dad aren't ones to turn down a trip to the NW coast, as that's where they spent the majority of their years before turning ship and going to Utah (of ALL the places!). It was an amazing week! Just too much fun. One blog post couldn't ever do it justice, but I'll try...

We got to see an incredible Fireworks show right on the beach, with the waves crashing behind us and thousands of people lighting off all their own fireworks all around us. Scared me to death, but was something I'll never forget!

We spent all our quiet, down time in the condo working our hearts out on this...




1000 pieces! And we finished it the night before we left! Kenzie and Natie were even big helps and my mom and I obsessed over it just a little... Nate and my Dad tried a piece or two and then went back to their laptops. :-)

We tried to go see as many scenic places that we could, like the Astoria tower...




Or the Northhead Lighthouse that Natalie was too young to go up in, so I stayed with her and we played with the camera...




We got as much playtime on the beach as we could possibly cram into one week...





And now I have way too many beautiful photos to choose from to scrap! It was a week to be remembered, for sure!

On the way home, Nate got the grand idea of stopping in the Gorge to do some hiking. No, really, it WAS a good idea...we're just not usually the family that can handle that much STUFF in one day. It turned out to be really awesome, though. Nate and I spent quite a few of our first years together hiking trails in the Gorge, Mt. St. Helens, Rainier and more. Doing it with kids is a new adventure...doing it with OUR kids brings new meaning to the saying... "Get it off!! Get it OFF!! Nature is all OVER me!!!!" Our poor, nature-deprived, overly-sensitive 8 year old girl...she's one of a kind. It was a good day, though. A long, good day...




And if that's not enough to keep us busy, we also had tons of family come visit, a few trips out to the Hermiston Aquatic Park, lots of picnics at the park, plenty of afternoons playing in our little pool, a few trips to paddle around in our canoe, a few free movie mornings, lots of quiet afternoons at home watching movies...




...and even a few trips out on Nate's Dad's new boat. Thank goodness he decided to buy one and saved us a few thousand dollars...




All in all a fantastic summer. And so as not to leave you without a little anticipation for the next elusive blog post, I'll give you a little hint to how we finished out our summer...

Next week...



We're Moving!!!

March and April 2009

This is so, so sad. The state of my blog. I mean, really?! It's been since April that I posted. Time for a serious update...

March
(Yep, I'm really going back that far!)

In February we got some fabulous news. Most of you already know it, but it bears repeating on the blog. This amazing and incredible sister of mine called to say our lives would be changing. Her hubby had gotten a job here in Pasco, Washington of all places and they were moving in just a few weeks...all the way from Albuquerque, NM!! I thought I was going to die of happiness, the news was THAT good. Not a month before we had finally given up on our dream of moving to family. Tri-cities was going to become our permanent home (for the moment, anyway) and we were trying to hand things back over to the Lord. He had other plans for us than we could understand. I felt like I was being given a gift from Heaven. I know...so cheesy, but really, I couldn't have asked for anything better than getting my sister to live down the street from me. And really, she DOES live just down the street from me. In March they came to live in our little neighborhood. We have Sunday dinners together and park trips and movie nights and swap babysitting and daily phone calls and the best ever baby kisses from Cade that fill up that empty (I'm not having anymore babies) spot in my heart. It is the best. Truly. And we all really like Rick, too. :-) (That's just for you, Ricky!)

So, March was full of visits from Grandma and Grandpa, and helping Rick and Jen move and Natalie turned 5!! My baby is going to be a kindergartner! Oh, what has happened to the time!? We have been pleasantly surprised to find Natalie has a new obsession with Dinosaurs. I'm not sure how it started? She loves to watch documentaries with her Daddy...maybe she saw one and loved it? It's been all about Dinos around here for quite a few months now. She wanted a dinosaur party with a dinosaur cake. She wanted dinosaur toys for her presents, too. We had a small family party (we actually have family here to do that now!!!) on her birthday because she got sick and then had a friend dinosaur party the next week. She was so spoiled. We had dino cake and pin-the-horn on the Stegasaurous games and lots of fun dino presents. Here are some pics to see all the action...


April

April was such a big month! We had so much going on and so much more to be grateful for. April saw our first Spring trip to the park with Rick and Jen. I'm afraid April scared them a little. While Albuquerque was seeing 80 degree weather and the opening of this sister's pool...we were having a LOT of rain showers. It just kept raining and raining and raining. Jen kept asking where was that sun and blue skies we promised. Rick was just a little skeptical. I think we're making up for it now, though. We took the kids out to Charbonneau Park to celebrate a beautiful warm Spring day...even though it was a tad chilly still.


Easter was so fun for us this year. The ward had the cutest Easter egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter and the kids had so much fun. They scattered the field with Easter candy and chips and bottles of pop and the kids just went crazy picking up their loot. Then in the afternoon we colored eggs with Jen, Rick and the kids (more stuff with family!!!) and had a small egg hunt in the backyard. We had Easter dinner with all the fixin's at our house the next day. I love making Easter dinner...ham, potatoes, yummy rolls and pie.


April also found some more good news for this Trimble family. Nate's Dad got a job at Hanford and was able to move he and Nate's Mom here from Arizona. Since all the family is in Washington (mostly on the west side of the state), this was great news for all of us. We were beyond thrilled as we get to have them living just a few minutes away. More family!!! So unexpected, such an incredible blessing for us. We were able to help them find a place to live and move their stuff in just a couple of weeks. Everything just fell together in the way that things do when it's meant to be. The girls think this is the best thing ever, having their grandparents so close by. They love to go over and play with all of Meme and Papa's fun toys and all of the sudden we've become a popular summer destination for all of Nate's sisters' families from the west side. Nate and I have begun to joke that you might want to be careful what you pray your hearts out for...we're not used to all this family time. :-) No, really, it truly is the best!

But best of all for April, was the chance we had to celebrate Kenzie's 8th birthday and her baptism. We were so fortunate to have lots of family travel to be here for this special occasion. My parents came from Utah for the week and three of Nate's sister's families came, as well. It was soooo fun having all this family here (I'm sensing a theme in this blog post, are you?) for Kenzie and she was just thrilled. We packed our little house full of people, Jen's house full of people and Nate's parents' house full of people, too. We were so lucky to get the opportunity to use a friend's indoor pool to host a big birthday party for Kenzie and Jen's little boy, Noah, too. He turned four on the day of Kenzie's baptism, so they shared a pool party together. We had a great lunch and lots of cake and the kids swam to their hearts content, even though it was a breezy, cool day outside. Kenzie got more presents than any 8 year old little girl needs, but she, of course, thought it was "the BEST DAY EVER!!!".


I really stressed about Kenzie's baptism. I never should have, though. It couldn't have been a more perfect event. I was worried that the Stake baptism might not be personal enough or rushed or even too long of a meeting, but none of that was true. The speakers and musical numbers were just right and the baptism itself, was just perfect. I don't think I've ever seen such a sweet, sweet smile on Kenzie's face. She just beamed with joy for hours that evening. All her family was there for her, she had a beautiful dress to wear and she even got to be baptized with her good friends from primary and school. And what a wonderful experience it was to have the chance to watch my incredible husband baptize and confirm our eldest daughter a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There aren't words to describe how incredibly proud of her I was. Afterwards, Kenzie got to go out to eat to her favorite restaurant, Red Robin, with her Grandma and Grandpa and then visit with cousins and go to church with everyone the next day. She even got to sit on the stand with the bishop all through sacrament meeting and she was SOOO good!! Nate and I were able to bear our testimonies and share with her our belief in the good choices she was making. April was a good month.



To be continued...