mariner's game (the gang visits part 1)

First of all you should all know that I am feeling much, much better than I was the other day. My soul is calm and has been healed. I sincerely feel blessed. Even though is was a yucky day, so much good came out of. Trials are a blessing in our lives....

Now on to the fun stuff. When I moved to Washington 2 years ago and heartbroken I was leaving my "family" in Provo, Jeremiah said to not worry they'd come in 2008 when BYU plays Washington...well, that day finally arrived and true to his word the gang all came. Yippee!!! Jeremiah works for BYU Athletics and he was the first to come to town. James and I met him downtown Thursday night. The two of them meeting was HUGE for me, I wanted them to like each other and they DID! Jeremiah and I got to spend a lot of time driving around Seattle and catching up on each others lives.

Everyone else was coming Friday, but the big question was what should we do...last minute I ran to the M's Team Store and bought tickets to the game that night. I was late picking up Lindsay from the airport, but she was nice about it. We then drove to Chinatown and waited for James and the boys to arrive. We met Micah, Rachel and Dallas at the game (they drove straight to the Safe from Utah). Jeremiah was there with his work people and sitting in the next section over so he spent half of the game with us too. It was so much fun. I love my friends and love when they come to my town. The boys did really great at the game and it was nice to be with my sweetie (thanks, for helping me get my act together and just do it, I am so glad we did).

So much happened that weekend, it was too much fun as Greyson says. Check back for more pictures in 2 more installments...they are going to be good.

beauty

It was difficult for me to calm down last night, it made it tough to fall asleep. I had a lot of things on my mind and really couldn’t put them aside to sleep. I was kind of in a funk, what little sleep I got didn’t even help me get out of this funk (still kind of feel it, but it fading). I slept in a little, did something different at the gym and was still in a bad way, the funk had gotten worse the longer I was awake. I talked to my sweet friend and things started to get back in order. It is nice to have someone to talk to, someone who wants happiness and goodness for me. Its now the afternoon, I have read some scriptures, wrote a little in my journal, and felt the sun on my skin (what a healing power the SUN (SON) has).

I was catching up on blogs and remembered to look at one of my favorites. Emily is a beautiful writer and for the second time today my prayers were answered by a friend. That, btw, is how I most often see the hand of the Lord in my life.

I have so much to be grateful for even today, one of the funkiest of all. Remembering the blessings in my life helps me to get rid of the “wo, is me” feeling inside. And like, quoted on Emily Anne, focus on beauty and the more you focus on it the more you have of it…

*Sunny fall days, when I get to wear a sweater AND my sunglasses
*Honey Crisp apples
*My journal, and the calming power reflection brings
*It's almost nap time...yes!
*Good friends
*A healthy body
*A job that allows me to make the money I need to buy things that I want
*My family
*The gospel that brings perspective
*My testimony in the Atonement
*Prayer
*No more diapers
*My sweet James who calls me his treasure and treats me like it
*The love I feel daily from those around me (near and far)
*I ability I have to read, search and ponder the scriptures

...I am so blessed (this is just a very small list of a few of blessings)

challenge update

Remember how I was going to exercise 6 days a week for the whole month of August...well I did! WooHoo! And it felt really good. I am still working out, at least 5 times a week and James and I are training for our 5k next month. These days, I wake up a little earlier every morning and work out longer and harder...I feel good.


My new challenge: no French Fries or chips the rest of the year. Zero. Pretty awesome. I did enjoy many fries at Red Robin a couple of days before I started my challenge. And boy were they delicious. I like challenging myself. It feels good to do hard things. A lot of people exercised with me in August, who's up for the new challenge?

peaches

My parents went to Spokane last weekend and picked peaches for us to can. Natalie and Mom canned on Monday, and Stephanie and I finished off the rest on Tuesday. It was fun. I like canning, especially when someone else is in charge and I am just a helper. I can't wait to eat all of our hard work.

goodbye summer, we'll miss you

Summer was crazy fast this year. Right at the end Natalie and I tried to cram fun activities in with the kids. Since both of the big boys we nanny are going to full day kindergarten we wanted them to spend lots of time together. We had nice weather and a great last couple weeks of summer....Our school district was on strike for 2 weeks so we even got a longer summer than planned. But yeah, Connor is in school now.

The Farm:

The Crazy Kids

Natalie and Leah

We found a stage and made the kids entertain us

The little ones doing their dance

I love my Leah Rose

The Children's Museum:

Nolan put on this whole get-up all by himself

Connor and Mason were quite the little hams

This chair was too big

This one too small (or I'm just too big)

Ahhh...just right

They have a little Filipino village in the Museum, I rode on these little bikes on my mission

Seattle Center:

We had hoped to play in the fountain at the Seattle Center, but it was closed. The kids found another way to have fun AND get wet

labor day campout

One should always go camping with the Shaws...all we had to do was show up. Well, that's all I had to do, James had to entertain kids. I really just lounged the whole time (I helped a little when I wanted to). I actually did the pre and post camping stuff, but I enjoyed it. Thanks Emily for inviting us, let us know when you go again.

Honestly, we are just four people how much stuff do we need for one overnight?

James did not want to take a picture and I did (this happens a lot with us)

This is how he made, the above picture and his stinky attitude, up to me

Greyson wouldn't pose for the group picture, thought getting his first bee sing would be more fun (poor guy)

We made homemade ice cream in plastic bags, yummy! Everyone took turns shaking the cold bags

So happy that it worked!

James helping with clean up, what a guy!

I made brownies the night before to enjoy with our ice cream, and enjoy we did!

Greyson loved s'mores

All of us loved James' stories

Aidan is fearless, he loved the zipline

Greyson is very cautious and waited until he was ready, one time was enough for him to know he didn't like it, I am proud of him for trying something that was scary

James and the kids (where are the kids?) made a boat while Andy and Emily packed up and I sat around...

Their masterpiece, I don't think a name was ever decided

Sweet James humored me for a quick photo shoot, nice camping hair we got going on

3 Quigleys and a Farrar