The home stretch!

We are almost to the end of the summer! It really has gone by fast but I am very ready to be home again. Just a few more weeks! Makenna is crawling like a pro now. She is also becoming an expert at finding tiny little specs on the floor and trying to eat them. I don't know how babies can always find the stuff that the vacuum misses. She loves to eat table food too. It's nice to finally see her enjoy eating. Her favorites are bananna, string cheese, and carrots(cooked). Maybe we will be able to plump her up yet.(: Parker is getting excited for his birthday this Saturday. He talks about it all day long now. I am going to attempt to make a dinosaur cake for him. We enrolled him in a little preschool they have in our neighborhood. He will start that when we get back. It's just two days a week for a few hours. I really think he will enjoy making some friends and learn a few new things. We can't wait to be back and be able to spend some time with our family and friends!

Here is one of the three salamanders we found in our apartment IN ONE DAY! Crazy! It's like we are living the nature channel or something.(: We also had a few more visits from our frog again.

We went to a park on Sunday and played with Sadie. Water bottle, YUM!

Parker running after Sadie

Silly baby girl! This is one of my favorite looks! She is so beautiful!

Parker resting on the grass after chasing Sadie around and playing on the playground. Some of his favorite things to do.

Candids of the kids

Just some random shot of the kids from the last few weeks. They are mostly of Makenna again because Parker was either running away from the camera or had a binkie in his mouth. That kids still loves his binkie. We are getting rid of them when he turns three. I always think I've rounded them all up and then Parker uses his "binkie sonar" and somehow finds one to stick in his mouth. I think it's going to be a rough experience getting him to stop (and he turns three in just a few weeks!) Yikes!

The Frog Blog

Andrew has been bugging me to post this for a while so here you go, honey. In the last week or so we have had some frogs end up in our living room. We just figured out yesterday that they are getting in through the space between the bottom of our window and our little window AC unit. I happen to think that it's actually just one frog who really likes us and so he keeps coming back.(: They are super cute and to quote Parker, "really tiny baby frogs". Everytime we find one Andrew wants to keep it as a pet and everytime I shut him down. I just can't see a wild frog being happy stuck in a cage. I also don't want to have to buy it and feed it dead bugs. I hate bugs, even dead ones.

A visit from Mike and Renee

We had a great visit from my aunt Renee and uncle Mike last week. The kids and I got to go swimming at their hotel pool and we met Andrew later for dinner at The Cheescake Factory. We are so glad that we got a chance to see them while they were out here in Washington!

All about Andrew

Jamie tagged me like a week and a half ago I'm just getting to it. Here you go!

What is his name?
Andrew Barnes

How long have you been married?
6 1/2 yrs now

How long did you date?
We were friends for 4 years before we really started dating. We both had crushes on eachother but we somehow never hooked up until after Andrew's mission. After we finally got together I think it was maybe 2 months before we got engaged.

Who said I love you first?
He did...in spanish. It was romantic.

Who sings better?
Man, after like 10 years of voice lessons, I hope I do.

Who is taller?
Andrew, which is not hard

Whose temper is worse?
Mine. I'm a spaz and Andrew is super chill

Who does the laundry?
Me. Always me.(:

Who does the dishes?
Me again.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Me still.

Who does the cooking?
You guessed it...me.

Who is more stubborn?
Hmmm...probably me.

Who proposed?
Andrew

Who wears the pants in the family?
It depends on the situation

Why do you love your husband?
He is always happy to see me. He loves his kids. He loves to be with us more than anything else. He is a great provider. He loves me no matter what. He's super handsome. I really could go on and on...

Who do I want to tag?
Danielle, Jenny, and Malinda

Hike at the beach

Yesterday we went out to the a beach on the Puget Sound. I saw a trail right in front of where we parked, so we decided to take a little hike. One of the things I love the most about Washingon is that it is surrounded by thick forest everywhere so there are beautiful trails all over the place. Poor Makenna got bounced around a little bit in the umbrella stroller she was in until Andrew decided to hold her. We need to get a baby backpack for her or something. Paker and Sadie were having the time of their lives running up the trail! It was fun to watch them. After we walked the trail we headed down to the beach and Parker had some fun playing in the sand. And, by the way, Makenna is finally crawling! I was beginning to think she was just going to roll everywhere until she learned to walk, but she proved me wrong. Life just got a lot busier!(:

My name

Here's and interesting little tidbit of information for you. (Thanks Reagan)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 58 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?