3 years and 3 months

I decided to take a break from packing, painting, and decluttering to catch up on a little blogging. A couple weeks ago we celebrated Danny's 3rd birthday with a rocket birthday party at the park. The kids had fun building and painting their own rockets (with some help from moms).
Danny's lunch request was his dad's chicken wings. YUM!
We hunted for moon rocks (candy wrapped in foil), had a real rocket launch (and lost the rocket), broke open a rocket pinata, and ate rocket cake.



We had a family party on his actual birthday with presents and a treasure hunt provided by Leah. We love our busy 3 year old. It is so fun to watch him learning his letters, starting to draw pictures, helping around the house, negotiating punishments, and making jokes.

Kaylee hit her 3 month mark a few weeks ago too. She's starting to play with toys and really notice everything around her. She likes being upright in her exersaucer, the bumbo, or the bjorn. And her smile just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Here she is with Aunt Lisa.
At the zoo with dad.
At the pumpkin patch with Danny and our friend Hailey. In her Bumbo chair with a toy.
And looking pretty on Sunday.
Sure love these two! They are growing up TOO FAST! But it's so much fun. Time to get back to packing.

Moving to Seattle

I'm supposed to be in bed right now, but I've been taking a stroll down memory lane, reading through four years of blog posts and watching my family grow and change. It's been an incredible journey.

And, a new stage in our journey is about to begin. I'm writing this post from a hotel room in Seattle, where my company is transferring us. Carrie and I are excited to move back to the West but we are also going to miss all of our friends in Houston.

So many firsts happened for us in Houston. My first "real" job. The first time I met Carrie and found out what it was like to really be in love. The births of both our first little boy and our first little girl. Our first home and our first dog. Evacuating for our first hurricane and hunkering down for our second. We will always have some amazing memories of our time in Texas.

We look forward to making some great new memories in Seattle! We are both intimidated by everything we are trying to get done in the next month to get ready to move - it will be quite an adventure. We hope our friends will come and visit us when we get settled.

The cost of good memories

Danny got some real spoiling during fair week. On the second day he ran up to G-Pops and said, "Hi G-Pops! Can we go buy stuff now?" Grandpa had already treated him to ice cream, a wagon ride full of cousins, carnival rides, and a new toy sword. Danny caught on a little too quickly.

It never ceases to amaze me how expensive EVERYTHING is at any sort of carnival or fair though. Once you enter the gates everything seems to cost at least twice as much as it should. For example, when else would you pay $3 for a slice of homemade bread with butter and jam? Most of the carnival rides cost between 3 and 5 tickets. Each ticket costs $1. So, for a 1 minute ferris wheel ride you're shelling out $4. Ridiculous, right? Sometimes an outrageous expense is worth it for the memory and experience though. Here is our memory.

Grandma Hong decided to take her grandkids on a few rides at the fair one morning. We chose the ferris wheel. The man said Danny was too short though, and he ended up in tears (Danny, not the man) while his cousins rode. Grandma let Danny choose the next ride. He'd had his eye on the pirate ship fun house all week. Interestingly, this ride had the same height restrictions, but Danny must have grown an inch between rides because they let him enter. Grandma handed over the highly overpriced tickets, led the crew in, and then the crew quickly led themselves right back out. "Too scary!" they shrieked. The tickets had already been purchased and handed over, so there was no other option but to force the kids through the scary pirate ship so they could have a good time. Mindy held Kaya by the hand and Grandma took Danny and the foursome made it through the "fun" house while Olivia and Lacy waited outside.

After that we decided to take a break from fair rides and explore some other venues. The kids had SO much fun. There were no tears of sadness or fear. Just smiles and fun.

Tractor rides. Free.Playing in the beans. Free.
Digging in the beans. Free. Playing in the hay. Free.
Walking around with family at the fair. Priceless.

Maybe next year we'll just head straight for the beans. Thanks again for a fantastic 09 fair G-Pops and Granny! What is the most outrageous thing you've spent money on to create an amazing memory?

Baby Kaylee x 3

Shortly after Kaylee was born, her three-year-old cousin Kaya decided she wanted to be called Kaylee as well. Having an extra baby Kaylee during fair week was a little confusing at times.
"Kaya, can you come here?"
"No. I'm baby Kaylee."
It became particularly confusing when G-Pops bought Kaya a doll at the fair.
"Kaya, I mean baby Kaylee, what is your dollies name?" I asked.
She got a big grin before responding. "Kaylee."

Kaylee meets . . .

One of the best parts of our visit to Idaho was that Kaylee finally got to meet most of Matt's side of the family. I missed getting pictures of her with everybody, but here's the ones I did get. Kaylee met . . .

Cousin Olivia

Cousin SarahCousin Corbin
G-Pops
Grandma Angie

Cousin Calie
Aunt MindyCousin Kaya
And some scary fair guy . . . . oh wait.
That's just dad with some facial hair and a teriyaki-stained apron.

Kaylee rode in the Bjorn a LOT during fair week and even adjusted well to napping at the fair.

Very well.

Bull Riding

For some reason, the mechanical bull really called to me this year at the fair. Did I take a ride though? Nope. Instead I let my 2 year old son face the beast. Twice.

Apparently he had enough fun that he did want to do it again. After watching Danny ride, some of his cousins decided the bull was a little too scary though. Uncle Lance rode instead. Maybe if rec management doesn't work out, Lance can become a professional cowboy.

Pretty in Pink

Kaylee had a fun trip to Richland too. Really, as long as she's got milk and sleep, she's pretty happy. She had so much excitement on the trip that she started sleeping really well at night. Hooray! Kaylee got to hang out with Uncle Aaron and Joy . . . not sure who was furrier. :) Grandpa Couch loved giving Kaylee snuggles, and didn't even mind that she was often on edge and screamy when he had her. "Don't worry," he whispered to Kaylee. "You'll like me a lot when you get older."
"Don't worry," he told me. "I don't take it personally." Grandma Couch didn't have quite as much Kaylee time because she was too busy bear hunting. Kaylee was not a huge fan of the PJs I made her and Danny wear. I'm not sure if it was because they were orange and yellow or because they matched her big brother. Personally, I thought they looked pretty cute.Kaylee did seem to enjoy Sunday, though, when she got to be pretty in pink.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Danny has a recent obsession with bows and arrows, sparked by the story of Nephi's broken bow. In an effort to help Danny liken the scriptures :) Grandma Couch bought Danny his own bow and arrow when she was visiting after Kaylee's birth. Sadly, the cheap plastic toy was a bad shot (go figure - the $3 toy doesn't work very well). When we were in Washington, Grandma got out her finely crafted childhood bow and arrow and gave Danny some real shooting lessons. He was entranced. She then took him on an animal hunt around the yard to find bears and other beasts. After downing a yellow bear and a snow leopard, they came across this giant. My brother Aaron purchased this bear when he was 10 years old. It's had a lot of "love" in its time and is pretty shabby. Despite Dad's many efforts to part with 20 year old stuffed bear, my Mom insisted on keeping it. "For this precise moment," she smiled as Danny shot the beast with pride. On our last morning in Richland, I asked Danny what he'd like to do before we left. "Bear hunt!" Uncle Aaron kindly obliged.

Home Sweet Home

Danny, Kaylee, and I had a wonderful trip to my home in Richland the first week in September. We then met up with Matt at his home in Idaho. Now, after almost 3 weeks of travel we are back home in Texas. It's wonderful to have 3 places that feel like home! I'll be posting different trip adventures in several blogs, but here's a start.

I was really nervous about flying solo with Danny & Kaylee. The flights themselves didn't worry me nearly as much as juggling all of the paraphernalia through security and then between flights in Denver. What a blessing that Danny was cheerful and cooperative, Kaylee slept the entire first flight, and there were no delays or kinks(Matt on the other hand got stuck in Denver overnight! Glad that wasn't me and the kids). Here are Danny and a strollered up Kaylee at the Houston airport (in case the TX flag wasn't a give away).

Richland was LOADS of fun! I forgot how much I love soft, fire ant free grass and air that lacks humidity. Grandma and Grandpa's backyard was so much fun for Danny. He played outside hours every day.

Super Man Swing with Grandpa


Bocce Ball with Uncle Aaron

"Gardening" with Grandma
And of course there was also some dog agility.

One afternoon we went to the splash park. I'm not sure who had more fun - Danny running and eating a snow cone or Grandpa playing hookie from work to spend the day with us. :)
There was also fun to be had inside playing legos, drawing, chasing Joy, reading books, watching the aquarium (and adding a new fish named Dory), coloring, playing instruments, and playing games. Generally there is nonstop fun and attention for Danny. What a lucky guy!
One evening Grandpa treated us to a Tri-Cities Dust Devils game. Not quite the same as an Astros game, but lots of fun. Danny enjoyed the Cracker Jacks and trying to hit the whiffle ball. Kaylee enjoyed being held by Grandpa.

A highlight of the Richland visit for me was a kid-free date with each parent. A movie with Dad (Julie & Julia - very cute) and shopping with Mom (lovely new black pants, shirt, and jacket). What a treat. I was also able to get together with some high school friends that I hadn't seen in years. We had a great time catching up and reminiscing. We ate hot fudge sundaes and laughed a lot! It was so fun to see you Lucas, Shanelle, Chris, and Shawnee!!

Thanks for a wonderful trip to Richland Mom and Dad!

Fair Food

Greetings from the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Danny, Kaylee, and I had a wonderful trip to Washington to visit my parents. I forgot the USB cord to download pictures, so those will have to come later. They drove us over to Idaho to meet up with Matt and the Hong crew. Now we are up to our elbows in teriyaki chicken.

Kaylee did quite well on her first plane ride, terrible on her first long car trip, and AWESOME sleeping at hotels and grandparents. Perhaps because she's worn out from so much fun, but she is consistently sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night now. HOORAY! I forgot how many "K" names there are on this side of the family though. Kaylee now joins the ranks of Kerry, Carrie, Calie, Katie, and Kaya.

Danny has been doing pretty well and LOVES getting spoiled with attention by all his grandparents. This year he has really gotten into the fair. Especially the food - the first hour on the first day he drank a smoothie, had an ice cream cone, and shared a giant cinnamon roll with his uncle. Today he saw Grandpa Hong and shouted, "Hi G-Pops! Let's go buy stuff!" Maybe we'll keep him away from the fair at least one day.

Every year at the fair there is the standard food fair and then the new, unique, questionable fair food. I love to eat corn on the cob, scones, tiger ears, caramel pull aparts, a prime steer burger, curly fries, ice cream, cheese curds, paninis, and a corn dog during the week. That is my standard favorites. Today Matt tried the new wacky food of the fair, and I trust his taste buds enough not to try it. Chocolate covered bacon. YUCK! What is the weirdest fair food you've ever tried?