American Idol finalists

We have a couple of American Idol contestents living with us!

GO BEARS!!!

Sunday, September 27th, the Chicago Bears were in town to play the Seahawks. Our good friend Matt has season tickets and since he was going to be out of town, he gave Ryan his ticket. Anyone who knows Ryan, knows that The Bears are his favorite team! If Chicago doesn't do well, it makes our house a little uncomfortable and quiet. Quiet can be nice, but not this kind of quiet.

Thankfully The Bears beat the Hawks and it made for a wonderful evening at home for our family! Thank you Chicago! Ryan said that this is the first time that The Bears beat the Seahawks in Seattle since he was born (1977).

Payton in her "Go Bears" cheer leading uniform
Ryan and his little Bears fans.
Gracie had her Bears onsie on under her sweater

Loving babies

Gracie loves her baby! She loves to push her around in a stroller, give her baby it's binkie, and feed her. It's so cute watching Gracie cuddle her baby. She's growing up so fast!

Top Chef

Payton LOVES to help cook! Like here, here, here, here, and here just to give a few examples. Any time Payton can help, we let her. She enjoys seeing dinner made from start to finish and it's helped with her trying new things. Especially since she's such a picky eater!

Ryan wanted to make homemade pizza and Payton loved being able to make it the way she wanted it! Simple dinner, but oh so yummy!

Payton's first day of Pre-school

On Tuesday, September 15th, Payton started pre-school. *Sniff sniff* I can't believe my baby girl is now in pre-school. Yes, it's only pre-school, but still, she's going to school.

On Monday, Ryan went to the Meet and Greet so Payton could see her classroom and meet her teacher. I unfortunately couldn't go since I had to work, but I was very thankful Ryan got to see where Payton was going and be able to meet her teacher too.

Payton was so excited to go to school, I don't know if she even slept the night before!

Ryan and Payton finding Payton's name tag and signing her in.

Ryan had taken the day off to celebrate my birthday with me, so it worked out even better that he got to take Payton to her first day of school with me!

Payton's name tag.

Waiting for the rest of her classmates to arrive so they can all go back to their class together.

After we picked up Payton from school we went to Red Robin to celebrate my birthday.

Payton and Daddy

Gracie and I

Payton had a wonderful first day of school. She had a hard time leaving and said she wanted to live there. Thankfully now she understands that she gets to back!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Sunday the 13th, Ryan had invited a few of my closest friends out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. He made reservations at Grazi, my most favorite Italian restaurant. It was a great evening with some of my most favorite people!

Payton took these pictures of Ryan and I before we left for dinner
She did an excellent job!

Me, Nika and Tiffany

Matt and I

Jannette and Brian

Tiffany and Calen

My yummy birthday dessert

Natalie and I

Me and Hilary

Tiffany and I

Me and Nika

And the award of Mommy of the Year goes to...

Not me!!! Gracie got a fat lip WHILE we were at the doctor for Payton!

Ok, so this is what happened.. Payton had had a cough for about a week and Ryan and I didn't think it was much to worry about. But since she is starting school, we wanted to rule out any sort of sickness so she could attend her first day! SO, last week I took her to the doc's office.

Picture it, Payton sitting up on the exam table, me and Gracie in one of the chairs. Gracie's squirming, like normal, and wants to sit by herself. I put Gracie in the chair next to me, next to the wall so there was support on either side of her. The nurse was talking to me and I was turning to face the nurse and within 2.2 seconds we heard a thud, gasp, and wail! Yes, Gracie fell on the floor. Her front tooth nicked the inside of her lip, causing it to instantly swell. The doctor was in the exam room next to ours with another patient and heard the thud and scream and came over right away. At first he couldn't tell if she was going to need stitches, but thankfully, she didn't. Phew!

I couldn't get a good picture of how big her lip was. It got about as large as a peanut m&m. Thankfully the swelling has come down almost fully, but it's still black and blue inside. Our poor babe!

Oh, and Payton is just fighting the cough on her own. She doesn't hasn't had a fever since we took her and she hasn't been complaining about her ears, so all is good with Payton!!

Went a little Loon-y

Ryan, the girls and I headed to Loon Lake, WA to visit my parents who have a house right on the lake. Last year the girls and I took a couple of trips and would like to do so every year. This year, Ryan was able to join us and the four of us had such a great time spending the week with my Dad and Step-mom. We feel so spoiled that we had the opportunity to visit. Payton looks forward to it and is already talking about going next year, but wants to go without Mommy and Daddy.

Payton and Grandpa making pancakes


One of the neighbor's dogs. He was "fishing". There were a bunch of fish swimming around right there and at one point, he dove in to catch one. Sadly, no luck..


Payton swam from the beach to the end of the dock all on her own! I was shocked standing in the lake and her swimming away from me. I sadly forgot my camera, but thankfully Grandma was standing on the dock taking pictures of my brave little girl!!

Payton "adopted" a frog while we were there. She discovered it in one of Grandma's flower pots and named him Ribbit. Every time she would hear him croaking outside, she would go running to find him.

Gracie lounging on the boat. They both did so well on the boat!

While we were there, my dad made cement steps leading from the dock up to the grass and had saved a step to put the Girl's hand prints in it. My step-brother's children had visited a few weeks earlier, so their hand prints were on a couple of the other steps. I love that their hand prints from this summer will forever be at the lake!!!

Gracie tried squeezing the cement, so we did her footprints instead.

Ryan flew home on Tuesday while the three of girls stayed until Friday.

Making cookie dough for homemade ice cream!

Making ice cream. It was so yummy!!!!

visiting Great-Grandma Ev (my step-mom Rosie's step-mom) I've known her since I was twelve. I try and visit her whenever I make it over to Spokane.

Playing at GG Ev's house

We had a fabulous time at the Lake! When we are there, we feel like there is nothing we need to do and can truly relax. Ryan and I got to go on a date night, which was so appreciated, the girls got spoiled with hugs and kisses from Grandpa and Grandma, we swam, we slept, we drank coffee on the deck in the early morning hours, had wonderful conversation, and add another year at the lake to our memory books.

Thank you Dad and Rosie for having us over, we had a wonderful time! Thank you also for all of your help with the girls!! Love you..