Happy Halloween

I can't believe Halloween is over. October went by so fast, I still can't believe it. Kelsi and her classmates at Kindermusik were able to dress up this week. Kelsi is a cupcake and her friend is Dora! You may have seen pics of this little girl on our blog before...she has short curly blond hair so this wig cracks me up.

Some of her classmates...

Our little cupcake...

So cute!

I love this picture. I told Kelsi to go stand by Daddy and she ran over put her arm around him and said "CHEESE!" and then she was out of there. Such a poser.

Trick-or-treating at the church. We had a chili cook-off, games, scary maze and trick-or-treating of course!!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

DC

John and I were able to go to DC for a few days this month. We left Kelsi with a good friend and with my MIL and while we missed her SOOO much, she didn't ask about us once. While that hurt my feelings a bit, I guess it is better than the opposite!

Well, our adventure started by heading to this hotel in Alexandria. It was nice on the outside...but a little dated on the inside....still..we had BEAUTIFUL views of DC especially at night. It was amazing.

The next morning we woke up early and got our comfortable shoes on and headed into the city.



We walked and walked and walked. My Capitol pictures are not uploading for some reason, so I will have to post those later. We started at the Capitol. We took a tour and then walked to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian (those pics aren't cooperating either). We then headed towards the national mall and here is a picture of the Washington Monument with the Capitol in the background.

The Lincoln memorial.

John and Abe.

View from the top of the Lincoln memorial.

We walked to the Vietnam memorial. The weather was PERFECT for sightseeing. Mid 70's and overcast. The sun came out for about 30 min and I was SO happy that it went away because it was pretty humid but bearable without the sun.

SO many names.

We went to the Natural History museum.

That's the Hope Diamond in case you are wondering.

We ate here. It is the oldest restaurant in DC, started in 1856. It was delicious.

The next day we headed here to our next hotel. We had a view of an electrical unit, but the hotel was AMAZING. I was originally planning on attending just two lectures (one on managing finances and one on staffing) but the lecturers were so captivating and energetic that I stayed for the whole series. It was very motivating and inspiring. It was great to meet with other people in our situation and we learned some great pearls that we hope to implement soon.



We also got to meet up with my cousin Chase and his wife for dinner our last night. We had a great time and I hope to upload the rest of our pics soon. Check back later!!

FALL FUN

I took Kelsi to the little farm down near our house where she could feed the animals. It's a cute little place and she loved it even more than she did last year. Kelsi ran straight for the wagons.

She pulled it around everywhere.

She got to feed this Horse a whole carrot.

There were chickens, turkeys, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, dogs and cats.

We took our annual "sit on a pumpkin" pictures.

Kelsi and her friend Jane with their treasures.

These four kiddos are all in Kindermusik together.

Last year I couldn't get Kelsi to sit on these props. What a difference a year makes.

Jane got to pull Kelsi around while mom looked for her keys that she thought she had lost in the pumpkin patch. Turns out they were in her purse all along. Silly mommy.

Getaway

My friend's family has a wonderful condo up at Schweitzer mountain and she hosted a girls getaway last weekend. Below is the whole gang (minus Amy). It was so much fun. We all trickled in at different times on Friday and just hung out, talked and played games and stayed up WAAAAAAAAAYYYYY too late.

Saturday morning we took a morning walk/hike around the resort. It was so beautiful.
After our hike, we headed back to the condo and had a great lunch and then I had to excuse myself to make it back for the RS broadcast that I was singing in (well, the program before the program) :P With NO sleep and not knowing my solo I was pretty emotional and nearly had a nervous breakdown on the way home since I could NOT get one part of the song down. Miraculously it went well and I was in bed just after 8pm. It was awesome.

It was so beautiful. This was our view from the condo. Can't wait till next year!!

Burnt Cabin Saddle

We went on a double date with some friends and went four wheeling up Hayden Creek. It was such a beautiful ride. We forgot our cameras, but our friend used his camera for a couple quick shots. It was sad that we had to drive so fast because the scenery was breathtaking. John took us on some fun trails with a bunch of big bumps (I don't know the technical term), but it was fun and I got some good air. He took us on a couple more technical trails that shook me up a couple times after almost tipping my four wheeler and hitting hidden roots. I realized that I like climbing MUCH better than going downhill.

The highlight of our trip was an old fire lookout tower in Burnt Cabin Saddle. It was a really large, rickety tower that we climbed up. We all got a little vertigo but once we reached the top it was worth it. It was a cloudy day, but we were still had an amazing view. From our viewpoint we were as high as we could get.

We got a tad lost trying to find our way back, but eventually made it back just as the sun set.


It was a fun date! Even if by the time we got back we were freezing, wind blown and we had to pick little dead bug flecks off our face! We cleaned ourselves up, had dinner and called it a fun night! I hope to get another ride in before the blasted snow comes.

Happy 5th

John and I celebrated our 5th anniversary earlier this month by eating at the Clark House. It is a beautiful mansion that is 100 years old and has been converted into a bed and breakfast here in beautiful Hayden Lake. The atmosphere was very romantic, the views were inspiring and the food was delicious!

Our view. Everyday I am taken back by the beauty that surrounds me.
My handsome husband of 5 years.

Me.

We are completing the celebration of 5 years next month when we take a trip together to Washington D.C. It will be John's first visit and I am excited to show him around. It's also our first trip together since Kelsi was born (without Kelsi, that is). We are VERY excited.

I am so thankful to be married to such a wonderful man. He is so perfect for me. Every day has been an adventure.

POTTY TRAINING - TAKE 2

So after my first frustrating (for both me AND Kelsi) try with pottytraining, I took some friends advice and decided to just let her do it when SHE was ready and wanting to. The days following our first attempt, Kelsi told me that she had to go "poo-poo" and went at least once in the big potty on a daily basis. She especially was good at telling me when she had to go when we were out in public.

Kelsi and I went to CA to visit family and she sporadically still told me she had to go potty. I thought "This is great! She's doing it herself". We came home and she began to consistently tell me she had to go poo-poo and for the last 3 weeks she has been poop trained! WOOHOO! Getting her to go #1 was the issue. She would go sometimes, but again, usually if we were at a store or restaurant.

Today we are going on 5 days of wearing big girl panties (Hello Kitty and her "Tolee" (Kailan) panties are her fav). She has only had one accident so far so I believe we are making progress. I make sure to remind her to not let Hello Kitty or "Tolee" get wet. Last Tuesday she was going to a bday party so when I was at the store buying a gift I slowly walked by the bikes and scooters (I've been wanting to buy her one of those ALL summer long, and haven't). She got VERY excited with the scooter and begged me to let her have it. I told her that I would get it for her and she could ride it if she stayed dry and clean ALL day long. She was a little confused at first and EVERY time she went potty she would say "and now I can ride my scooter!", but she was patient and....IT WORKED. Here she is on her scooter! The next day after staying clean and dry she again proclaimed "And now I will ride my SCOOTER!!!". Very cute.

She is normally very good at getting on the potty (telling me to "hide" - she likes her privacy) and then she gets right down to business. HOWEVER, at nap time she likes to take her sweet time. She gets the job done and then INSISTS that she is NOT DONE yet. She sings songs over and over again until I make her get off. She will hate me for this in 10 years...but she will probably hate me anyway...so...enjoy!

LOOK! Up in the sky! It's a bird...it's a plane...it's ME!

For my friend Kim's bday we surprised her with a parasailing trip. Our first attempt was cancelled because it was too "windy" (it really wasn't...or didn't seem like it). We didn't find out until an hour before we were supposed to take flight, so we still took our unsuspecting friend down and showed her what we "wanted" to do for her.

We tried the following week and were able to take flight! It was SO beautiful and SO much fun!
We were pretty high up there!!! When we first took off and were only about 50-100 ft up in the air I was a little spooked for a split second when I saw a HUGE dark object in the water below us....until I realized it was our shadow. HA! Our instructor thought it was funny to shake our rope....but it was otherwise very peaceful and serene. We live in such a beautiful place.

What a beautiful place to be!