Kayelin Violet Giles

Our baby girl is finally here!! She was born on Saturday August 22 at 11:00pm. She weighed 7.2 lbs and was 19inch long. She has been a precious new addition to our family and we are so excited to have her in our lives!

Joshua turns Two

It's hard to believe that my baby is now a toddler who can walk and talk and be a little person. The time goes by way too fast!

Unwelcome visitors

We had notice some bees trying to make a little home over by an outside vent. So after trying a couple of different sprays to kill them off, which didn't work, so we tried to cover their hole to trap them in hopes of them dying inside. The first time didn't work and so Ben tried again the night before he went on a business trip. After having plugged it a second time he went to read about how you shouldn't do that. We woke up to Bee's that decided to find an exit in our house. needless to say we had to get an exterminator and have mass clean up of bees! We learned an expensive lesson that day!

The Ape Caves

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There are a set of Lava tubes close to Mt St Helens that we have been wanting to check out for quite some time. So we decided to go camping for the weekend and go exploring. It was really fun except for it being a little too cold and long for Joshua otherwise we had a good time!

4th Anniversary

Ben and I went to a little town called Seaview in Wa that is just outside Astoria, OR for our Anniversary. We stayed in a bed and breakfast that had WONDERFUL food. I love the anticipation of good food. We had a great time together and it was nice to get away before baby number 2 came along.

It's a....

We've learned what we are suppose to be having come around August the 24th. We are happily awaiting the arrival of a baby girl. It will be fun to have one of each!

Easter

Joshua learned this year that Easter eggs have chocolate in them. There couldn't be anything better in the world to that child than chocolate. The apple didn't fall far from the tree with the chocolate addiction.

Barber Shop of horror

Does my child have an older sibling to blame this on? No. Did he magically get a hold of a pair of scissors? No. Was there any way that I could have possibly been able to point my fingers at someone else or something else? No. I was simply impatient. His hair was getting so long I could not stand it any longer and decided that I indeed could cut this child's hair. I mean how hard could it really be? I watched my sisters-in -law give me a demonstration and figured indeed I could do it. So off I went with the little buzzer thing and buzz buzz buzz. I took one look and started peeling over with laughter at what I had done!! I guess there was no beginner's luck for me that day. I put that buzzer thing away called up my sister-in-law Sara and went in for an emergency fix. Let's just say I haven't had to see his hair that long for MONTHS. It has been kept short to help even out the damage. You gotta start somewhere and at least he doesn't care and there is no one that can hurt his feelings about his hair, so I figure all is well, until the next time I take to cutting hair!!

The zoo

Elsa and I and our kids went to the zoo the other day and we had a great day. Joshua had gone to the zoo when he was a few months old and so it was fun to go when he was older. He was happy to be outside and run around. The funny part was when he got really super duper excited to see.....a puddle!! Yep, my child is easily amused, give the kid a puddle and you have made his day. The animals were okay, but nothing compared to having a puddle to play in.
We thought it would be fun to see how it would look for Joshua and Alexis to have a little house together with a happy little visitor. I can just see the future.

Writing on the wall

I have heard stories where almost every child decides to use their creativity and create artwork where one perhaps doesn't want it. I had tried to monitor the crayons to avoid that kind of a situation, but alas a mom can only have so many eyes to help her in the task of doing everything. I was getting ready for the day and Joshua was happily playing until I turned around and found this!! I quickly got my camera took a picture and then proceeded to do the motherly thing and tell Joshua that it was a big no no. To tell the truth, how lucky am I that he only wrote on the mirror? I'm hoping that this is all the creativity that I ever see on the walls of my home. A mother can always hope.

Sometimes you win sometimes you lose

Joshua has had a cold and with it a very runny yucky snotty nose. He can start to grasp on to the idea of blowing his nose which has been wonderful. Then one day I was doing laundry on the bed when Joshua thought he would use his wonderful new skill on all of my clean clothes. The first time was funny, by the fifth time I had to move the basket; no one wants to wear snotty clothes and I don't want to do more laundry!!

storytelling

I put Joshua in the Chair and left him to play. A little while later I heard him talking. So I went in to sneak a peak and there he was reading himself a story. It was hard trying to get him to do it once he was found out, but here is a little snipit.

What Does....

What does feeling really tired and wanting almost a daily nap, and not being able to keep down ones lunch and dinner on a daily basis add up to?????
Answer: I'M PREGNANT!!! yep we are crazy parents that are on to number 2. This little bun bun cake should be ready by August 24th!! We are pretty excited. I am however ready to be done with the first trimester!!! Also I have a new calling in my ward. Just as my child is about to turn 18mnths and I can have a break and put him in nursery, somebody had a funny thought and decided that I should go too!!! So I get to be the Nursery leader. I am curious to how it will all turn out. At least I have being pregnant on my side if it gets to be too much!!!

Let it snow

One of the reasons that I love Western Washington is because of the mild summer and mild winters!!! Snow happens about once a year and it usually melts the next day or by the afternoon. Thanks to all of those global warming fanatics we had snow for about a week and it was past 8inches!! I know to some people it's not that big of a deal, but I prefer to drive to the snow instead of having it all over the icy hilly roads. My poor husband attempted to go to work one day in his vanpool and it took him 3 HOURS to get there!! Seattle does not fair well in this kind of weather!! It was however fun to go to the park and go sledding with Joshua who wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Would you believe that it actually snowed on Christmas day. It was nice to have a white Christmas.

Independance

Like most one year olds they start to want to be big and do things on their own. I usually give Joshua a decoy spoon while I feed him. He does not like that I have a spoon and sometimes puts up a fuss to have both of the feeding utensils. One day I wanted to clean the kitchen and thought that I should give him a chance to feed himself. The results are shown above!! Luckily a few months later he can now almost successfully feed himself oatmeal with out a mess. I can't wait til he can do it all his own as long as it doesn't get too messy!

The Big Bad Wolf and his blankie

Joshua was the big bad wolf for Halloween this year. He was really cute for the short time that he kept his hat on. We went to the ward trunk or treat and had fun and went home expecting to have lots of trick or treaters. Total for that night was a big whopping ONE!!! At least we bought good candy to eat.

Girls night at Forks

For a few years we have been having girls night once a month where we get together and do things together for that night. We each take a turn and we have had some wonderful times together. This is our first little excursion where we went away for the night. Since we had all read the twilight series we thought that it would be perfect to go to Forks and check out the vampire territory. Luckily no one got bitten. We started our trip with a ferry ride from Seattle.
We then drove up to Port Angelas where we were daring to take a little hike in the woods to this little waterfall.

We spent the day shopping in Port Angelas and checking out the sites where Bella had been to. We went to the book store and the clothing store where she shopped and finished the night with a dinner where Bella and Edward ate. We even bought the mushroom dish that she had. The waiter told us that it was never on their menu until the book came out.
We made sure that our accommodations were vampire free. You never know what could happen while you are in Forks.
We then went to the local hospital where they put up a parking space for Dr. Cullen.
This is the swans house where Bella lives.
Here is the Cullen's home. Apparently they leave a message on the board every day for visitors.
We checked out this classic that Bella drove. Actually if I remember right the seats were missing!!
We took a detour from our twilight tour and went to check out the Olympic rain forest since we were so close. It was neat to see all of the moss covered trees.


We ended our trip by going to the first beach on the Quinault reservation where Bella and Jacob talk about his ancestors legends. We had a blast and are excited for our next great adventure!! Sara suggested that we should read a book based in Hawaii next time!

Pumpkin patch and hay ride

We took Joshua to a local pumpkin patch for October. He loved looking at all the pumpkins and anything else that was in his reach. We had fun but by the end we had a very muddy dirty little boy.

Our first home improvement

extra wall space not enough cupboards equals a built in pantry!! We had bishop Grover from our old ward who does cabinetry build us a new pantry that matches the existing cupboards in our kitchen. It looks great and is wonderful to have!!! I have so much more storage I don't know why we didn't do it sooner!!!

Chehalis camping trip

My parents, Ben, Joshua, and I all went camping in September in Chehalis. We had such a fun time!! We went on a small scenic train ride, followed by a hike to some caves that were used by local natives from way back that was fun to look at. Then found a garden that was beautiful to walk through. We had a great time together.