B&B Wilson Family

no more blogging here

2012-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

To keep updated on our family check us out on facebook.

To keep updated with crafts and recipes I making go to www.notacheese.blogspot.com.

This blog will be toasted once I figure out how to make it a book.

Valentines Day.

2011-02-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Happy Valentines day! Here is what happened at our house. The girls woke up and opened their mailboxes to find love notes from mom a dad and a small toy. They were little strawberry shortcake figures if you were curious. After we enjoyed some pancakes in the style of http://www.jimspancakes.com/ I think they turned out nicely.

Butterfly
Flowers

Hearts

We were so sticky that we had to have a bath.
I am including this awesome picture of Vera in her church clothes the previous day.

For family night we decorated small heart cakes that we baked from a heart tin my mom got me.Ben's says happy heart day.

Ginny's all decorated by herself.

ViVi's says love one another. Which is what she told me to write because that is what we learned about for family night.

These are the cards I made the girls.

And this is the card I made Ben.

Hope you all had a Happy Hearts Day!

Valentines!

2011-02-02T16:16:00.001-08:00

If you do not already know Valentines Day is my favorite holiday. What a better time to put hearts everywhere and say "I love you" all the time. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to with decor and goodies.
Above we have the girls getting ready to make heart shaped spritz. Below is what we ended up with. Dipped in candy melt and sprinkled. I would have more pictures of the girls making them but the camera died.

This is something my mom made in her wards super saturday. Its a saint candle in a jar on a candle stick. Its all E600 together and after dried you can fill it with different decor. We chose sweethearts cause they were so cheap at the store and they look amazing.

This is a heart garland I learned how to make from the blog: eighteen25.blogspot.com. Super cute. Its just 81/2 by 11 paper cut in 3/4" strips. Poke holes near the top and less than halfway down and glue them together and string them.

I had a cute Valentines basket that was given to me by my buddies in the Miner family. I still have their Valentine on my fridge. So cute. Anyway I filled it up with stuffed hearts I made from scraps of fabric I had. One is a bandana. On is from a dress I made Ginny one is from Ginny's apron, another from her octopus costume. An institute masquarde fabric... and on and on. Good memories now hearts.

This is all over the web right now. These mailboxes are from Target's one-spot. Violet and I put the stickers on and suprised the girls after school and nap. The girls will be sending love notes to eachother this month and putting the flag up when they leave a note.

Here is a close up on Vera's

This wreath is also from the blog eighteen25 as well as the subway art below.
My buddy Marin came over and we cut many circles (this one has 115) from felt and straight pinned them to a styrafoam heart. I'm thinking I need 25 more circles. Anyone else? Oh the circles are just the same size as one of my drinking glasses. They are folded in half and then in quarters and pinned on. I think it turned out nice.

And for family tradition our down stairs is covered in conversation hearts we've put up since we got married. They say thinks like "xoxo" "just friends" "U R Hot" etc... "sexy" has been discontinued, and "wanna make out" is hidden well, it may too be discontinued for propriety. Ahh how things change when you get older and wiser.

Lastly Ben has yet to cut new hearts for our front door. Here is last years door:

Well I hope you are enjoying the love that is in the air. I know I am. Happy Valentines Month!

I Met Bakerella!

2010-10-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today at Williams Sonoma in Bell-Square I met Bakerella. Yes, Angie Dudley of http://www.bakerella.com/ the queen of the Cake Pop! Above we have Me and Vi and Vera with her while she is signing my book. I even wore my Bakerella T-shirt. She was suprise and glad I did. What book you ask? Oh! The cake pop book. Amazing ideas and tips on how to make awesome and delicious cake pops. I have already looked throught it and you should go get one too.

Here is her signature!

I am so excited to start using it. Hooray! Thanks Angie for coming to my neck of the woods.

From Bakerella's Camera:

Virginia Wilson - Preschool, Religion and Swimming lessons

2010-09-24T10:18:00.001-07:00

PRESCHOOL

My very big girl Virginia Ines has started preschool. Above is a picture of her on her first day, after school was over. She has been excited for months to go to school and loves every day. I asked Ginny what her favorite parts of school were, "I like how fun it is and I like the sandbox." I asked her what was fun about school and she said, "play dough and painting, and there is one more thing... oh actually its about the park. I already told you though." This is a picture of her take home bag she decorated at preschool orientation. She did it herself. I helped her with the gingerbread but the concept was hers. She also wanted a rainbow out of pipe cleaners so we braided them and she added glow in the dark beads to the top and now it kind of is a rainbow tree. This is Ginny posing in her first day of school dress.

And this is her first painting of the year. I asked her to tell me about it and she said, "It is an orange Robin because the color of the tummy tells you what kind of Robin it is."

RELIGION

Often I find Virginia somewhere in the house doing this: marking her Book of Mormon OR

Doing this: Reading the children's scripture book or the gospel art book (under the piano bench).Now I am not the most diligent personal scripture reader myself but we do well as a family or a couple. Ginny continually amazes me with her spongy brain. She will sit and tell Violet what is what in the gospel art book or "read" aloud the children's scripture book (she watches the videos and memorizes the words) its kind of crazy. I will find her with the video on just watching happily. Thanks to her amazing primary teacher for all the church items she has given Virginia.

Now for some examples of spongy-ness:

*We are leaving our old building in Seattle (we went to a baby blessing) and Ginny sees another church nearby and says, "Mom, you see that church over there." "Yes," I said. "They don't teach God's plan," she explains. "How do you know that Ginny?" I ask. She says in a mysterious hushed tone, "I just know." Totally cracked me up.

*Ben was showing her a picture of Joseph Smith reading the Bible, you know the one before he goes to the grove to pray. Ben says, "Whats this a picture of Ginny?" And she says, "Joesph Smith." And he says, "What is he doing?" She replies, "Reading James 1:5 in the Bible." Ben looked at me with amazement.

*I finished reading a series of books and started crying on the couch because that's what I do when I finish books (well sad ones anyway, okay and really happy ones). So Ginny and Vi came up to me and put their little hands on my face and ask me what was wrong. I say, "I just finished my book and a lot of good people died." And without any pause Ginny says in a sweet reassuring voice, "Its okay mom we will see them in the Resurrection." That sure made me smile and I gave them hugs.

Those are just some of the best ones from the past few months. I am sure we will continue to get a bunch more.

SWIMMING

I will leave this post with two photos of Ginny at swimming lessons this summer. The top is of her first day and the bottom her last. She loved her teacher Katie and did level one with her twice. We hope to start again soon. I really recommend Gold's Gym for lessons, you don't have to be a member, and you can use their showers.

Vera's Nursery

2010-08-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

So our little Vera will be 8 months on Tuesday and I finally finished her nursery. This is the only nursery I have been able to all out decorate because you can't paint in apartments. So this is still the same bedding and mobile the older girls used and we went off of that theme. Ben did the painting. Nice work honey!I think you can tell from this first photo that Vera really likes her new room! A special thanks to Auntie Cyddie for her favorite blanket, which matches the room very nicely. And to Ashley B. for the bear Vera loves to grab at night. I hemmed some cream curtains for the window and found a cream rug to match the bedding. Then I painted the three paintings to match the bedding and used white to tie in the baseboard trims.

I finally framed some cute artwork of animals I found at Ikea. Then I set up Vera's dresser with blankets and burpies and a basket of books for bedtime. With Muffy Vanderbear living on the top shelves, as well as Gunny Bunny (a bunny Gunnar bought me that looks like him, glasses and all). And I keep the quilt on the rocker for my back and because it looks nice. The wall above will have the girls baby annoucements framed when Grandma is finished cross-stiching them. Love you Gram.

Camping trip #3

2010-08-13T11:32:00.001-07:00

So this third camping trip we won at Ginny's preschool aution. We were going to go with another family who would bring all the food and cook it for us. Turns out that family had a serious emergency and couldnt come with us. We hope they are doing well and our prayers are with them. So instead of that senario we were able to invite Meaghan's family, Ben's sister, to join us and bring our own food. We camped at Gold Basin near Granite Falls, Washington.

We went on a hike at the Ice Caves. It was beautiful and an easy hike for our girls. It was a little scary for me considering and 11 year old girl passed away there the week prior due to ice collapsing. Our hearts are with that family aswell. We didn't venture close to the ice.

Where we stopped for lunch Anika found a napping rock. We thought that was pretty cool.Bridget also napped in the pack on the way back to the car.
Due to rain for most of the second half of the trip we spent some wild time in the tent.

And under blue tarps Garrick lashed to the trees.We had lots of fun catching up with eachother and riding bikes and enjoying good food, thanks to Garrick's awesomely constructed box oven. I plan to make one soon. Hooray for camping! Next summer we won't do it on consecutive weeks.

Camping Trip #2

2010-08-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

On July 22-24th we went camping with my Mom and Gunnar and Lily, while Gavin was spending time with my Dad. Sadly Grant and Elaine couldnt make it. We had lots of fun below are some highlights.

Ben was the master chef this trip and the Evil Gunnar kept him as a pet as you can see. Grandma helped Ginny work on a puzzle book given to us by the campground host. Ever heard of Harold the Hodag? He was featured on this puzzle book. If you know who & what Harold is I will send you 4 homemade cards if you are the first to comment the correct answer on this post.Ben told Lilly a pretty scary story at campfire. Yes our fire was pretty much out.Ben took us all on a hike. Violet enjoyed the pack this time.Ginny found some pretty flowers.After some car sickness, from the car ride to the trail head, Lily and I joined in the hiking. We saw a really cool bird while getting over the nausea; he got so close he even stole a tissue from Lily.After the hike a cool dip in the river made it a great day. Warmer and slower than the last river we had a great time. Can you see Gunnar in this picture?
Stay tuned for our last camping trip this summer.

Camping trip #1

2010-07-18T18:23:00.001-07:00

We went camping at Salmon La Sac campground in our great state of Washington with our good buddies the Maxfields. It was great weather and the girls had fun hanging out together in the tent, playing in the dirt and water, and going to the bathroom in groups a whole bunch of times. While the kiddos slept Catan, Ticket to Ride, and other fun games were played by the parents. S'mores were made with Reese's, which were delicious!We also did a family hike. The girls learned about things like horse poop and huckleberries.Vera had a good time in the pack with dad.After, because we were hot and dirty, we jumped in the river right on the edge of our campsite.Throwing rocks was Emma and Violet's favorite thing to do.It was so nice to cool off in the COLD water.Later we went to Cle Elum Lake not too far from the campsite for a little dip. It was pretty full, even some trees were underwater.

Ginny found a tree stump she called her "look out" that she fit in. It was pretty cool. We had so much fun with our pals that we wish we were doing it again next month. We miss them already. The good news is we are going camping again two of the next three weeks. Happy summer everyone.

Vera Photos

2010-07-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some six month Vera photos for your enjoyment! She is such an angel in our family. She has been rocking back and forth on all fours for a few weeks and should be crawling anytime. She likes to say "Buh." She loves her sisters and always want to see what is going on. She doesnt like baby food or a bottle, but she is definately getting enough milk from mom. Vera also really loves chewing on books, we try to keep her from doing it. She is still working on sleeping throught the night, I think she will have it in one more week.

Nori's B-day/Seattle Chocolate Tour

2010-07-01T11:09:00.001-07:00

Last Friday was my mother's 50th birthday. It was also my brother-in-law's bday. I made the above cake for his party that we were unable to attend because we were celebrating with my mom. The cake is called "Pretty in Pink" from Marcel Desaulniers book Celebrate with Chocolate. It's a rich chocolate cake with a strawberry cream cheese frosting. Below is a picture of the granny smith apple pie I made my mother. She is about to blow out the candles and on the table are flowers from Pike Place Market thanks to Aunt Cyddie.Here we have a goofy Gunnar with the balloons.The next day we had a chocolate tour in Seattle. The party included Cousin Mary, Aunt Angie, My Mom, Me, Aunt Cyddie, and Cousin April.We started out at the Dahlia Bakery, famous for coconut cream pie by chef Tom Douglas. This bakery is also the bakery in Sleepless in Seattle. We had a sample of the coconut cream pie. As well as a chocolate krinkle cookie. (This is an example cookie, not the exact ones we had).

Then we went to the chocolate box and sampled their brownies. They were chocolate covered, very moist, and delicious. Here is a picture of our tour guide passing out the chocolate.

Then we sampled a cupcake from Look Cupcakes. Best cupcake I have ever had. It had ganache inside as well as chocolate Swiss buttercream icing.
Then we had Gelato from Gelatiamo, it was chocolate gelato and lemon sorbet gelato. The pair together was divine. Note I've eaten a bunch of the lemon already.
Here is a photo of the sisters in front of Sister Sandwich.Then it was on to Pike Place Market. We went to the Confectional for raspberry white chocolate cheesecake. The Confectionals slogan is "Forgive me Chocolate for I have sinned. I have not yet had my daily confection." I didn't have much of the cheesecake for fear of my dairy allergy, but what I had was good.They also serve a very rich dark chocolate drink with spices. It was so good. They say you have to serve it warm or it will solidify.
Kukuruza was our next stop and it was yummy gourmet popcorn. We had rocky road (below) and Tuxedo (further below).They also sell all different kinds of old fashion pop and candy. Like lipstick candy and candy buttons.Our last stop on the tour was Fran's Chocolates, yes now even more famous for Barak Obama's love of the salted milk chocolate carmel. Although I agree with Michelle Obama that the dark chocolate is better. Below is what we sampled, a raspberry truffle, a milk chocolate sea salt, and a dark chocolate square. I have loved Fran's for years, this stop was no surprise for me. We had a fabulous time and then ate lunch at Art at the Four Seasons Hotel, where I had the best crab cakes. The tour includes a bunch of chocolate history as well as a card to get us discounts at these and more places in Seattle for the next two weeks. If you get the chance take the tour! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM.

Crafty stuff

2010-06-16T22:04:00.001-07:00

So sorry I havent been posting. I will tell you about the girls and our home in the next post. For now here is some of the crafty stuff I've been up to. Cake pops for Amy's baby shower.

Veggie garden cupcakes for this weeks gardening Relief Society meeting. These are from my book "Hello Cupcake."

Also I've made many cards over the past few months and haven't posted them on the card blog. I think I am going to start my own crafty/baking blog this summer for these things. We shall see.

These next two cards have crystal effects on them but you can't quite tell.

This one with the cupcake is my favorite. You can't quite tell but the heart is glittered.

Hope you enjoyed these and are inspired to get crafty yourself. :)

Mount Aix

2010-06-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

After the second time cancelling our climb of Mount Baker due to weather, we decided to just do something else while we were waiting for schedules and the weather to see eye to eye. Why not Mount Aix ("Ike's")? Here she is on Saturday:

Aix is the highest mountain in the area east of Mount Rainier. If you want to see of the nice views check here or here. It was a gratuitous snow climb in fortuitous weather. We got plenty of this:
There was even a nice summit scramble. It was an all around great day.
(Why didn't we climb Mount Baker today?)

Tulip Time

2010-04-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

My sister Miranda visited us from Utah last weekend. Despite being a Washington native she had never been to the tulip festival. What better excuse to pack up the girls and hit the fields? Here's Miranda with Violet.
This year we went to Tulip Town. I'd say I like Roosengaarde a bit more; they have fewer varieties but bigger fields of each, which makes for better pics. Nonetheless, Ginny was still soaking in the floral ambiance. As if Miranda isn't cool enough, having her was an added bonus because we had a dedicated family photographer. He we are with some of Vi-vi's flowers (everything purple belongs to Violet, at least according to her).

It was a beautiful day and a great time was had by all. We even stopped for some much-deserved ice cream on the way back to Kirkland. Tulip power!

Happy Easter

2010-04-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

So Easter this year was really fun for many reasons. Our top reasons are; Grandma made us Easter baskets (in the above photo Ben, Bri, Ginny, Vi, Ver), Grammy sent us Easter cards and candy, we got to hunt for eggs in our very own back yard, and it was General Conference. We also spent Sunday at Ben's sisters it was great. Enjoy the pictures below!

Ben races Ginny for eggs

Vi finds eggs

Ben is ready to hunt for the eggs the girls missedVera watches the action

Ginny hunts for eggs

This is the video of the begining of the hunt.

The girls sustain the prophets during conference

And I just threw this one in cuz its adorable. Look at those strong neck muscles!

We all hope you had a Happy Easter with your families and that you feel the love of our redeemer Jesus Christ.

Virginia turns 4

2010-04-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Ginny's birthday. No you're not having Deja Vu Violets birthday is one week exactly before Ginny's. So here is Virginia's exciting day:

Breakfast of pancakes shaped like penguins.

Her very first haircut at a fun haircut place, thanks Grammy!Playing on the boats at Bellevue square mall.Going to the park, riding her bike there with Pop to guide her.A new outfit from mom.Dinner at Red Robin! And a present from Pop inside 12 boxes. WOW! Yummy ice cream.

Blowing out candles on a cookie, because we forgot at Red Robin.

And a new book for both girls read by mom. Pop also brought three robot dinosaurs for the girls to play with. Thanks so much.
Happy Birthday Ginny!

Violet Turns 2

2010-03-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Violet's 2nd birthday! This blog is full of Violet pictures for your enjoyment. Here we have Violet enjoying a birthday breakfast of a chocolate-sprinkled doughnut. She loves doughnuts a lot. Here is Violet using her fingers to tell you that she is two. When asked she usually says she is three, but I think she will get it soon. :) I asked her if she was mommy's big girl and she said "I mommy's angel." I thought that was sweet.
We went to the park and had a picnic lunch. She had tons of fun playing in sand, driving with the wheel...And yes, swinging, her favorite.

Back at home since it was so warm (70 degrees!) we went into the pool in our back yard, which was a lot of fun.

After, she opened a gift from me and Grammy, a new outfit from the Hannah Andersson outlet.

We picked up dad from work and went to McDonald's for dinner and played on the play place.

Violet is a good dipper.

Later we went home and opened gifts with daddy. Here she is sporting some of the jewelry from the dress up box.

The other gift was combine for Ginny as well, a lawn table and chairs with umbrella. Very exciting. Time to blow out the candles with a cupcake from our favorite bakery place in downtown Kirkland, Sweetcakes. The lady even gave her a free mini cupcake because it was her birthday.

Chow down Vi! Happy birthday my little angel.

Cherry Blossoms Spring is here!

2010-03-20T16:54:00.001-07:00

We are happy to say we have made it to the Quad for family pictures again. It was crazy crowded today and everyone was trying to take pictures with or of our girls. Good thing we didnt stay to long. Here are some photos of all our girls under the same tree around the same time after they were born. In order of birth Virginia, Violet, Vera (who happends to be two and a half months older than the other two).

And here are all the girls together this year.

I added this one because its very adorable. :)

Happy Spring!

Olympic Dreams

2010-02-25T22:02:00.001-08:00

The family headed two hours north to Vancouver for some Olympics action! It was Ben, Bri, Vera, Brandon, and Ashley. It didn't take us long to find some mounties. Oh yeah, and we brought signs!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Abbotsford. We had plenty of opportunities to try out Vancouver's mass transit. Here's Bri trash talking some Canadians.One of our goals for going to Olympics was to get on TV. Well it happened at our second of four events. It was a men's curling match (our first event was a women's curling match). Ashley made a sign encouraging the skip of the USA team, who had lost some tough games. The camera liked it and we were shown on TV four times during the match. The "GO USA" sign was mine. We received a visit from John Shuster's fiance who gave us some team USA curling pins for our effort. To cap it off team USA won on an overtime rock that hit thick and curled into the four foot circle. Here's at a look at the US men sweeping a stone. Shuster is on the left.

We had lots of time to kill so we went to see the torch. It was fenced off and very crowded. If I look like a vampire in the picture it's because we were all sleep deprived.

At the Belarus-Germany Hockey game that evening we caught up with Quatchi and Miga, the Olympic mascots. They rock.

On the way home from the hockey game Vera was serenaded by some very friendly, very drunk Canada fans. Their repertoire was a delightful mix of old country songs and Christmas hymns with modified words. Early the next morning we got on a bus for Whistler where we saw biathlon. For those of you who don't know, biathlon kicks butt. It's a mix of two very cool things; cross-country skiing and shooting. We saw the men and women's mass starts. It was riveting action.

Ashley made an intelligent sign that made it on TV a few times, though only in the background. (The five black circles are what the athletes shoot at, each the size of a half dollar from 50 yards) We had a great time at the events, absorbing Olympic atmosphere, and we even raided the official Olympics store; it was a 25 minute wait just to get in the front door. Bri and Ashley racked up pins; bought, given, and traded. Here they are at the bed and breakfast in Abbotsford.

Luckily we were close to the Vancouver temple being built in Surrey. We stopped by to take a look. The outside is complete, they're just working on the interior. All you can see is lights in the windows of the steeple.

Conclusion: The Olympics are awesome. We especially love the winter Olympics. Vancouver rocks. It's like Seattle, only friendlier (and Seattle is pretty friendly by US standards) and has better public transport. Vera was an angel. She slept through the night four straight times.

Baby Shower, Bri Birthday, and Baby Blessing (talk about the B's)

2010-02-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Alright, sorry about the lack of posting. But I bet you can give me a break considering I had a baby two months ago.
Here are some pictures from my baby shower my new ward threw me. They did a great job and they were so nice to even throw me one. :)

This is Becky my VT and I at the shower. She was the mastermind on the blue and white winter theme we had. It was beautiful. Thanks Becky!This is the spread of goodies. Look at the awesome snowy tree centerpiece. Also check out the hanging hearts that Shannon put up in her house for V-day.

These are the party favors, they are so adorable. Little hot cocoa packets with marshmallows, mints and kisses. They even say Vera's name on them. :)

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Then there was my birthday: on friday the 5th I celebrated with my niece Olivia. We share the same birthday. We had a cowgirl party. I made horse cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla from my Hello Cupcake book.

For festivities we played "pin the tale on the horse" and we bobbed for apples. Here is Olivia going for it.Even I did it, only took one dive.

Here are the birthday girls together. For some reason I have extra bandanas stored on my hat. Love ya Liv!

On the morn of my actual birthday my sister-in-law Ashley took me to brunch in Seattle. YUM! Thanks Ashley, you spoil me! After lunch I met my best buddy from college, Tawona for a movie and cupcakes. We saw "When in Rome" and it was cute.

Ginny took this picture of us infront of the cupcake shop.

Later we had dinner and games at the Maxfields. Jessica baked me that lovely, decadant cake you see on the table. It was delish! Thanks Jessica! So I was more than spoiled on my birthday. Thank you everyone.

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Lastly, on Valentines day Ben blessed Vera. We were really excited to have all of Ben's local family in the circle with him on this one.
Here is Vera in my blessing dress

Here is the family on that day.

Thanks to all who visited, we love you!

Redemption on Amabilis

2010-02-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

Last year in March I tried to cross-country ski up Amabilis Mountain. Brandon barfed in the first quarter-mile. Despite my skis AND snowshoes I still found myself waist deep in powder and had to turn back half way up.
This year things went a little better. I got to test my skis that I stole/bought from Joe's when they went out of business last spring. We (myself, Brandon, and Chris) zoomed to the top in great snow conditions. Unfortunately, there was no view to speak of, which is too bad because you can apparently see Mt. Daniel in good weather. But things were pretty nonetheless (see picture). The ski down was quick and fun. Yay for cross-country skiing!
Coming soon: what I found when I got home.

A new treat and Christmas

2010-01-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

I don't know if any of you have heard of this before? Bacon filled cinnamon rolls? I thought this would be really greasy and quite odd... but it turns out it was delicious. Thank you Cakespy! Click here to find out how to do this.

Here are some of my favorite holiday photos:

Present Violet

Vera in stripes.

Happy 5th anniversary!

Ginny rides her new bike for the first time!

Vi and Vera matching jammies.

All the cousins on christmas eve.
We are missing Hally, Alec and Cooper.

Baby Vera plays Jesus, Olivia plays Mary.

Grant.

Violet sings Jingle Bells.

Meet Vera Winter

2009-12-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Baby number three is here! Vera Winter Wilson was born at 12:17 am on 12/17. She was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 inches long. Don't worry, we have the details for all you delivery junkies out there. Bri was induced this time around thanks to some back-room dealing with her three-time ObGyn. We were in the delivery room for 14 hours! Most of the time was spent sitting around being bored. They gave her a very small petocin dose and refused to break her water. Bri got a little sqeamish when they put the IV in (like always) so the doctors were worried about the delivery going too fast. We passed the time messing around on Ben's laptop and the wireless network. This changed when Bri's Doctor arrived on the scene and kicked things into gear, about eight hours in.A few hours and an epideral later, it was time to start pushing. It took all of two contractions, maybe four or five minutes, to push the baby out. Not bad Bri! We were able to get a good amount of sleep then host some guests the next day. Here she is, Vera Wilson, age 12 hours. At this age, she looks exactly like Ginny and Violet did.

We're all excited to have a third little girl in our family. Ginny and Vi-Vi love their new sister.

Thanksgiving and Christmas goodies

2009-12-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

So the girls and I have made some fun yummies we thought we would share with you.

Here is an Angel Mocha Pie (sans mocha) my grandmothers creation and a thanksgiving tradition in my family. Along with spice cupcakes with carmel frosting that look like turkeys. This is from my hello cupcake book.Up close turkey A whole family of turkeys

Here is my Gige she is excited about cake pops. Yes Cake Pops by our beloved Bakerella (see my cool stuff links for her blog).We made these for our ward christmas party on the 4th. And boy did they dissapear fast!

Yummy! oh just incase you were wondering they are chocolate inside. :)

Fast Times in North Juanita

2009-12-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

A lot has been going on. On the 21st of November we made the big move to our new house. We got lots of help from members of our old and new wards and family. The girls love the extra space they never knew the didn't have in the 8-by-8 foot closet they had been living in. Ben has had plenty of opportunity to test his handymanness on a wide variety of minor disasters with the house. We are proud to announce we now have towel racks, a garage door that closes, hot water on the main floor, laundry outlets that work, new toilet seats, and kitchen drawers that close.

We got a helpful visit from Bri's mom and we spent thanksgiving with the Wilsons at the Williams' house (Ben's sister). They're our new neighbors. We celebrated being new residents of Kirkland by going to the Kirkland tree lighting.

The next week we took a ride on the Santa Train. The Santa Train leaves from North Bend, goes to Snoqualmie where kids and parents get cookies, hot chocolate, and a meeting with Santa.

The girls were a little scared of the big man, but we all had a lot of fun. Oh yeah, those rail cars aren't heated, it was cold!Just yesterday we took Ginny to see the Nutcracker at the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. We'd been encouraged by her ability to watch ballet on TV with trance-like attention. We went with Ginny's best friend Riley. It was the Saturday matinee in the nose-bleed section, so there were a lot of well-dressed kids around. She did great and everyone had fun.

No Net

2009-11-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone just wanted to say we wont have internet starting midnight tonight for a whole week. So if you need to reach me call me. :) WE ARE MOVING!

Violet Portraits

2009-11-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

So I was dissapointed with this time at the portrait studio.

Here are the ones I thought we okay. Enjoy!

Both girls

Halloween Goodness

2009-11-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here are the cupcakes I made for the ward party,

from the cupcake book I got for Christmas "Hello Cupcake."

Here we have Violet attempting to gut her pumpkin.

Here are our finished pumpkins; Ben, Vi, Ginny.

Ben and I in costume at our adult costume party on the 29th.

Ben is John Adams and I am Bella Cullen from book 4 of the

Twilight series. I'm not so sure you can tell

but I am pregnant and I am drinking

blood (V8) and I have a Forks High School sweatshirt on. Here's the gang at the trunk or treatHere Ginny decided to change at the after party and match

her aunt Ashley (dressed as Elphaba).

Out front at the after party.

Here's a better shot of the octopus costume and fish

costume I made for the girls. You cant see the two

tenticles in the back but Ginny does have all eight.

And here is the back of Vi, tail and head fin. Happy Halloween!

Our house, in the middle of our street.

2009-10-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

Lots of news

2009-10-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

We will go from fun to big in these announcements. Last weekend we enjoyed the family tradition of going to the pumpkin patch. We prefer Craven Farms. There we had a lot of fun searching for the best pumpkins. Here are some photos.

Ben had his 27th birthday on Oct 7th. Yes late 20's. We celebrated at the Melting Pot with Brandon and Ashley. He also got some great gifts. A hula hoop picked out by Ginny, and Violet pick him an awesome new tent for back packing (lightweight and roomy!).

Ben made Brandon a card that was a flag of the their own country, Brotheria. He drew the national seal inside.
Here is Ben with some knifes that can cut through hammers and stuff, and me.

So like previously mentioned, Ben is 27 and we will be married 5 years on December 28th, He turned in his dissertation on September 27th, and is officially free of school with a PhD to show for it. He landed a great job in Bellevue at Intellectual Ventures as a Research Scientist and as of last week enjoyed his first paycheck. We are also expecting our third little girl December 17th.

When asked about the slew of recent accomplishments Ben remarked: "See-ya suckers!" to his fellow UW students. "Stay in school, kids," he thoughtfully added.

But that isn't all. Ben and I will be proud home owners on Nov. 19th. Yes we are moving. We are a little sad to leave Seattle and our great ward but we are also excited to be so grown up and independent. We have never paid rent before because we have managed apartments for free rent ever since we got married. So it really seems like a big step. We will be living in Kirkland and hope all will visit as we will have a cozy guest room set up for you and all your family. Come on over! Here are a couple pictures.

Living Room

Kitchen

(4 bed 2 bath, just in case you were wondering)

What's Been Going On?

2009-09-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty exciting month in Wilsonland. Here's a sneak peak at some of the festivities.

First we went to the beach. We had luxurious accomodation at the Bonica's beach house in Lincoln City (aka Joe's Ark). The weather was a little windy but we had a great time with the girls, including Lilly who came along to occupy Ginny.

One note about this trip is that it was a girl get together with husbands optional. I was the only husband who came. That's me in a house with six women and as many as five children, all of whom happened to be girls. The HD flat screen downstairs mixed with college football kept me happy in the man-cave while the women shopped, or whatever it is that women do.

We also had the opportunity to go to our first ever Sounders game with Brandon and Ashely. We liked the marching band and loaded up on Sounders gear. Too bad it ended up a 0-0 tie. At least it was an exciting game.

Bri has been talking about taking me to see Wicked (The New Musical!) ever since two hours after she saw it last time, about two years ago. So we headed down to the Paramount for "one short day in the emerald city", which is ironic, seeing how we live in the Emerald City: a point which was not lost on the advertisers. Gravity was defied, hearts were softened, and we all learned a valuable lesson about not judging a book by its cover.

(Isn't Bri a babe?)

Lakes, Lutherans, and Mountains

2009-08-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

So Brandon and I saw the summer was wearing thin and we still were needing to climb a big mountain. With no volcanoes in the picture we decided to go for a remote big boy: Mount Fernow, third highest non-volcanic peak in Washington, lord of the Entiats, at 9249 feet (but who's counting right?). I have to make it sound dramatic because no one's really heard of it. Here's an idea of what we were dealing with:

The trip started with a ride up Lake Chelan on a Ferry. We got off at Lucerne, about 4/5th of the way up the lake and caught the bus to Holden, an mining village turned Lutheran retreat. Being the only Mormons within 50 miles we decided to lay low until we could retrieve our bags and head up the trail. That trail got us to this nice meadow. From there we had to go up and over the saddle you can see in the background.The other side of the saddle is the dramatic headwaters of the Entiat river. We found a soft, flat place to pitch our tent. The view wasn't bad either:

The next morning we set out at 4am and arrived at the summit just after dawn. If you're not in on the secret, the best time to do anything outdoors is at dawn; this was no exception. The views were amazing in the hazy dawn glow. Here's Brandon with the North Cascades beyond.

We had to run back down to be back in Holden to catch the bus at 1pm. There's only one bus a day. The fact that Bri didn't murder me is proof we got back in time.

Gunnar and Camping

2009-08-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday the 29th- that really hot day in Seattle- Gunnar my little brother joined us for about a week. He graciously watched my girls and the Maxfield girls so I could go to Ben's defense. It was nice to have some AC if only for an hour. In case you were wondering Ben passed and it was about 103 degrees in Seattle that day. We tried to go out to celebrate for dinner but everyone was at the mall and the surrounding restaurants trying to escape the heat. Oh well.

The next day I took the girls and Gunnar to the museum of flight. Little did we know the Blue Angels were taking off that morning. They took off just a few minutes after we parked, it was pretty cool. Here is a picture of Gunnar and Ginny in front of a Blue Angel inside the museum.

Here is Gunnar as an astronaut!

On Friday we got to go on our roof and watch some Blue Angel magic in the sky. It was pretty cool. Then we got busy packing to go camping two nights with our buddies the Maxfields.

Us girls enjoyed the river, playing games, and napping...

...while the boys did a short & nearby hike up Silver Peak.

Here is our family shot with my Gunnar.

Other fun things were swimming in the river, alley-ooping the girls, and a short nature hike together. At night we enjoyed s'mores and games like Seafarers of Catan and Ticket to Ride.

We had a great time.

Utah Road Trip

2009-08-02T17:24:00.001-07:00

My cousin Erika was getting married in Utah. What better excuse to pack up the kids for a road trip? Any Northwestern Mormon knows the drive to Utah well. This was my first time driving from Seattle as opposed to the Tri-Cities. It's a twelve plus hour drive. Our plan was to leave early in the morning to take advantage of the girls being asleep. It took 16 hours counting all the potty breaks and run-around breaks. My sister Miranda mercifully put us up for the duration of our stay in scenic Eagle Mountain. The next morning was the temple ceremony in the brand new Draper Temple with the reception in the evening. Ginny really thought Erika was a real princess, thus the ecstatic look in this picture: Between the Temple and the reception we stopped in to see some of Bri's cousins and her Grandma. Everyone had a great time while I slept off the drive on the couch. This is Bri's cousin Missy with selected grandkids of her uncle Steve.
This is Lauren with her two kids. Katie and Kelly also stopped in.

That evening we were treated to the world's game. That's right Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake. I've been to a few crazy soccer games in my day, but this was the craziest scoring wise. After being down 2-0 at halftime I was bracing for an embarrassing defeat. Then we came back and scored 4 goals in the second half. To top it off, we blocked a penalty kick. We were overjoyed:Saturday morning we went to visit my high school era pal Keith's family. We got to see their luxurious accommodations in South Provo. Sorry, no pics. A word on heat: it was really hot the whole time. Saturday was actually the coolest day, but it was still plenty warm for a little slip and slide. Ginny was a natural, though she preferred running down instead of sliding. Here she is sliding with a little help from dad.

Phil introduced us to the idea of the slip-and-slide relay. It entailed sliding the length of the slip and slide, getting up and completely submerging in the pool (which ended up giving me some trouble), then racing back to the starting point. It turned out to be a good mix of slap-stick and skill. Bri even got in on the action. Enjoy these clips!

We had a great time. Big thanks to the Lewises for room, board, and entertainment. We had a blast.

We are having a...

2009-07-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Girl! Apparently we are good at girls. So just incase you were wondering, we have a girl coming December 17th, but probably later because I dont go into labor. Anyone who sends me early delivery vibes will recieve chocolate desserts made by me. Here is a picture from today, and now I can see the Ginny/Violet resemblance. We will post our trip to Utah soon.

Goat Rocks Fiasco

2009-07-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

It started with a bargain. Bri came up with it: Ben finishes reading the Twilight series (he was bogged down in book two) and Bri goes backpacking with Ben in the Goat Rocks. Deal. In case you're wondering why the Goat Rocks, it's where the vampires go hunting in book one. It was also on my list of places to check out. In case you're wondering what the Goat Rocks are, they're a high volcanic ridge just south of White Pass in south central Washington. The next major development came a few weeks later when we found out Bri was pregnant. But the deal had been made. That brings us to last Friday, when we set out from Conrad Meadows into the heart of the wilderness. Here's Bri with the highest point of the Goat rocks in the background. That was our destination.

So Conrad Meadows is apparently the largest sub alpine meadow in Washington. Take that for what it's worth. The first section is actually range land for cattle. After a few miles you get into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Bri was stoked.It was a hot day. It was 102 when we passed through Yakima. Luckily the altitude, time of day, and shade were on our side. The mosquitoes were not on our side. Despite applying bug spray Ben ended up with 76 bites, mostly on the back of his upper arms, where he missed with the bug spray. Bri escaped with only a handfull. After a long hike with plenty of elevation gain we came to this nice cliff where we camped the night. What a view! Did we mention this was Bri's first backpacking trip ever? Another first for Bri was drinking water straight from a glacier (ok, ok, its technically a permanent snow field). Here's Ben refilling our water supply. Around our campsite we stumbled upon an entire herd of what Ben believes were mule deer. There were about ten that we saw, including big males and babies. They checked us out for a minute then ran off. We were the only people out there. Speaking of animals, Bri proved to be like a mountain goat, only much more attractive. Here she is tackling some snow. That women is four months pregnant!
Let's be honest. This trip was hard on Bri. Her bag was only about 15 pounds, but Ben ended up carrying it about a third of the way, including almost all the uphill parts. Here's what that looked like as we arrived at Surprise Lake on Saturday morning.
Our grand total in mileage was about 15 or 16 miles. It was a great time. Next time we'll do something a little shorter when Bri is a little less pregnant, though.

Violet shows walking skill, still lacks interest

2009-07-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Good headline huh? Yeah, so she started walking on Sunday. I even managed to get seven steps out of her today. The only thing is that she doesn't do it on her own. I have to stand her up and say, "Violet come here," or "Walk Vi!" I know I shouldn't rush her. You just wait, she will walk on her own this weekend while Ben and I are away, and we will miss it. Yes, Ben is trying to kill his pregnant wife by taking her up a mountain overnight. Okay, Okay, no the real story is I told him I would hike the Goat Rocks with him if he finished the Twilight series. He did. So think of me on Friday and Saturday, I'll need some good vibes. I'm sure I'll be fine, unless I meet any VAMPIRES!!! We will post photos when we're back.

Meanwhile heres a Vi Video.

Independence (from hunger) Day

2009-07-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! Bri went all out to make this 96 cupcake American flag. Just Bri being Bri. Ginny helped by placing all the candy on the red cupcakes (except the hearts). We went to Ben's Brother's house in unincorporated King County for some barbecue and explosives. Yeah, we had mortars. Here's a sampling of some of the ten cousins present (a relatively small number for a Wilson get together).

We partook of steak; potato, pasta, and jello salad; corn on the cob; etc. followed up by some mean desserts, including Grammy's apple strudel straight from the "old country," but shaped in an American flag. America was honored.

After things got dark we busted out the fireworks. It was a little strange to hear parents encouraging their kids to play with fire ("Come on, fire is cool!"). We had sparklers, fountains, strobes, and some of the big guns. It was a lot of fun.

Growing Up

2009-06-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Virginia started ballet today. Okay actually its called creative movement, she has to be four years old to do ballet. Yesterday we bought her her first pair of ballet slippers. I was so proud of her sitting so still but excited as they brought in pairs of slippers to try on. We also bought tights since we were there. It was the same store where I bought my dance slippers back when I danced for institute choir, which actually wasnt very long ago.

Here she is all dressed up, she is using hand me downs from Liliaan besides the slippers and tights we bought.

Here she is going to class.

Her slippers and a snack are in her back-pack.

Ben fought back a few tears last night when he held her little slippers in his hand. He had to chuck them out of his hands to keep the tears back. :) She did just fine even when I left her, this is her first class, besides nursery at church. Her buddy Riley is in her class, so lucky! Our little angel is getting so grown up.

Graduations and Milestones

2009-06-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

This last week was a week of milestones for the Wilson Family. Everyone had a little something; let's go in order of age.

Ben

Ben graduated with his PhD in Electrical Engineering. He's not actually done yet, but you can walk if you plan on graduating summer quarter (July 29th, mark your calenders). PhD's get super cool caps and gowns, that make them look like Vasco da Gama or Henry VIII. They also get hooded by their advisers. Interesting fact: by July 29th Ben will have been in college for ten years, ten months, and one day.

Ben celebrated this fabricated milestone by jogging up Mount Pilchuck with Brandon. This was a home-by-lunch hike that packed a lot of punch.

Bri

Bri was working a little magic of her own. She's been taking one institute class a quarter since she got her bachelor's. Well, she graduated from Institute again. This was the fifth time. She would like to share a thought:

"I started attending institute in fall 2001, and basically didn't stop. I knew I wanted to take a class but then I realized I could park for free all day if I took a morning and afternoon class. This was great considering I commuted from Snoqualmie to UW. The institute program has been a guiding light for me throughout college and now into four and half years of marriage (2.3 kids later). With the many trials I have faced no matter the size, institute was the basis for my spiritual development. I have a stronger testimony of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, have developed scripture study skills, and I have always had others to ask questions to, to help me along the way. I know that our Savior lives and loves us, I know that the Book of Mormon is true witness of Christ, I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and restored the church in the latter days. These are all testimonies strengthen by my attendance and personal study. I hope that my understanding will be pass on to my children and strengthen my family. Thanks to all who have help me along the way."

Ginny

After nine months of being potty trained Ginny final past that last lingering hurtle. She ditched the bedtime pull-up. That's right, Ginny is now sleeping away in her big girl panties. Both she and her parents are ecstatic.

Violet

Last of all is Violet. Her milestone is that she is now considering maybe trying to walk. This is a change from not wanting to walk at all. In the mean time she's living up her last remaining time as a free-loader.

BNT

Baby number three is now thirteen weeks old. He/she is now a member of the bigger-than-a-peach club!

Meet Wilson #3

2009-06-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

So today we had a bit of a scare with Bri's pregnancy, which turned out to be no big deal.

Back up.

Did we mention Bri is pregnant? Yes, we'll be "tossin' another one on the pile" some time in December. So in addition to our relief that everything was fine with the baby, we got some nice ultrasound images of the most mysterious and enigmatic member of the Wilson Family: Baby Number Three (BNT). So it's still too early to tell the gender; Bri is 12 weeks pregnant and you usually can't tell until 16 weeks. However, this baby struck us as having an attitude and visage quite unlike that of BNT's two elder sister, Ginny and Violet. They were both angelic, docile little ladies with round features and easy temperaments. It was immediately apparent that BNT on the other hand was more austere, perhaps even sinister. Look at that pointed nose and haughty brow. And it's not just the angle, here's another picture.

When we saw this Bri and I looked at each other and said "boy". That's because BNT looks a lot like Dad, even at 12 weeks. Will BNT turn out to be a boy? Only time will tell. But now we have plenty of fodder to come up with a nickname. We were thinking Doctor Fetus, but it hasn't stuck yet.

PS Thanks to the lovely ladies from our ward who watched our kids AND the kids we were baby sitting this afternoon so we could straighten this out.

Index Bash

2009-05-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

I'd been saving up for this one since October; Mount Index the imposing sentinel of the Skykomish Valley. It's an impressive sight from Highway 2. Here's the view from our pre-dawn approach.

In addition to the impressiveness of the objective, this trip require a particularly hardcore route to the summit. It started with a six-mile mountain bike. Here's what that looked like.

After that there was a three-mile stretch on an abandoned logging road. It was more like a jungle bushwhack with plenty of washouts to boot. See for yourself. Yes Brandon and Chris are in this picture. From there it was up onto the alpine slopes where the snow was deep, the skies blue, and the views incredible. The one downer on the trip were the avalanche chutes blocking all routes to the actual summit. But it's hard to complain when we got in 20 miles with 4,500 feet of elevation gain and a whole lot of awesome terrain.

Tulip Time

2009-05-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

The news got around. Due to our unusually cold spring the Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley was prolonged an extra week. Time to grab the kids for an impromptu photo-shoot. We met the Robecks and Maxfields from our ward for optimal good times and to have a few more cameras on hand. It worked. Luckily their cameras were much better than ours. We came back with 300 or so pictures, just of our kids. Here are some highlights.

Here's Ginny and Violet in a pristine floral setting. Note the flowers in Violet's hands were found on the ground, not picked! Here's me carrying Ginny from the pink flowers to the purple flowers. It's a good thing all the kids involved were girls, there weren't many masculine colors around.

Bri took some time to introduce Violet to the power of her namesake color.
The whole family had a great time. This was all of our first times at the Tulip Festival. It did not disappoint!

Gunnar's Birthday (April 24th)

2009-05-04T12:38:00.001-07:00

Gunnar came up on the train from Vancouver to stay with us for two nights for his 14th birthday celebration. We met Grant at The Cheesecake Factory and ate a great dinner. We even got the birthday boy a cheesecake.

I bought ice cream cupcakes from Haagen Daz for him. Appantly the one on the Ave is the only one that sells vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, they said they dont even sell it in stores anymore. Lucky Gunnar! They are pretty cute! The cupcake paper is soild chocolate.

Happy Birthday to Gunnar!

Enjoying the cupcake

Ginny enjoying a cupcake

We played lost of settlers of catan inculding seafairers and citys & knights expansions. Thanks Maxfields!

The next day we went bowling and played pool at the hub. Then Gunnar and I saw "17 again" it was pretty cute. Then more Catan was played. Then we had to say goodbye to our Gunnar. Ginny was so sad when we put him on the train. I've never seen her lip stick out so far. Thanks for sharing your birthday weekend with us Gun!

Portraits

2009-04-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

My girls are growning up. Here are Vi's one year old and Ginny's three year old photos.

Happy Easter

2009-04-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Okay I've been slacking off. Here are a few shots from easter!
This is Vi very surprised to have found an egg (Saturday Morning)

Happily showing an egg.

Ginny a late waker-uper proudly showing off her egg.

Look mom I found one in the plant (Side note: our plant's name is Collier Stem, After Collier Strom from Project Runway. This is also why he wears the sassy pink bow)

Ginny happily showing off her card from Grammy and Grandpa

Violet looking at hers

Yet another excited or mischeivous look about the money inside. "Mom think of all the easter candy I can get with this!" says Vi

Our Easter sunday photo. I dunno whats up with my hair ignore that.

We hope you all had a great Easter!

Spring has Finally Sprung!

2009-04-10T11:15:00.000-07:00

So it sure took awhile but the blossoms on the Quad at UW are finally in bloom. We were lucky to get a sunny day to take some shots. Thanks to the Maxfields for taking the pictures! Enjoy a our favorites below.

Ginny's Birthday (March 31st)

2009-04-04T12:30:00.001-07:00

My little girl is three now, and when you ask her she knows it. She hasn't said two since her birthday. So we decided to get her a kitchen. It's really fun and since Violet got some pots and pans it worked out nicely.

Grandma, Lily, and Gunnar came to celebrate with us. This is Ginny in the morning on her birthday. They gave her books, a bear stuffed animal, and a bee finger puppet. Thanks guys!

Here are the cupcakes I made for her party. All I have to say is rolling out spice drops to make the dresses of nine princesses took two hours too long. NEVER AGAIN! The pirate was simple. I'm glad I could make them for Ginny. Plus I had to buy a mini cupcake pan to make them and its a nice addition to my collection of baking tools.

So Ginny and her buddies and cousins gathered at the bell square play place for a pinic lunch and play time. Fun was had by all.

Heres Annie and Vi climbing.

This is Claire sporting the party favors. The boys got pirate hats.

Here's the gang opening presents.

Violet eating a left over cupcake from her birthday.

Ginny enjoying a princess head.

A hug goodbye from her best friend Riley. Thanks to all who came and make the party so much fun for Ginny.

That night we went to Red Robin for dinner. Ginny chose it because of the mac-n-cheese. Here we have Elaine, Grant, Violet, Ben, Brandon, Ashley, Ginny, Me, Gunnar and Lily. Thanks Mom for taking the picture.

Time to blow out the candle! The big bag behind her was from Brandon and Ashley. It contained a pink princess dress, tiara, and earings. Nice work guys. Violet also gave her "The Little Mermaid" DVD. Ginny had not seen it yet.

Tastes great! (ignore my silly face)

Lastly we have Ginny opening her card from Ben's parents.

With the money inside she bought this dress she fell in love with when we were looking for easter dresses. Happy Birthday Ginny. We love you!

This is her in the dress from Brandon and Ashley.

Take Your Wife

2009-03-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I had the snowshoes for another week. Why not ditch the kids in Issaquah and take a stroll up Rattlesnake Mountain? I admit, the REAL Rattlesnake Mountain is northwest of the Tri-Cities is southeastern Washington. This imposter is just south of North Bend.

This is looking across at Mount Si on the Way down. Note the Snowshoes on my back. We had to pack them up the first 1500 feet before we really needed them. But once we were up there it was perfect snowshoeing; sun, fresh powder, and even a view or two. This is what that looked like:

Compared to last week's debacle on Amabilis this was heavenly. The moral of the story: Take your wife.(Note: the good snowshoeing wasn't until above the popular Rattlesnake Ledge, which is what you see from the parking lot.)

Violet 1st birthday party (March 24th)

2009-03-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Violet turned one yesterday! She is growing up so fast. Ginny gave Violet a boat with fish, a captain and all sorts of fun things. She really likes it.

Her party was fish themed. We brought violet flowers for Aunt Mel for letting us have the party at her place. We blew up purple balloons. The cupcake I made look like small fish bowls, The party favors were plastic fish on pixie-stix in the fish bowl vase (thanks Shawna!). Violets littler friends got fish bath squeezy toys.

Here is a close up of the cupcakes

Maddie helped me put up a sign. Nice work Maddie.

Pop came and brought some books which Ginny and him enjoyed before the festivities. We were glad to have him. Thanks for traveling to see us, we hope your cold gets better soon.

And then the big moment! Happy birthday my angel.

I sewed her that little crown. Turned out better than I thought it would.

Violet's buddy Emerald came. Violet is truly jealous of Emerald's beautiful hair. But isn't that what girlfriends are all about? Someone to look up to.

Emerald's mom is my buddy Tawona, here we all are.

Just before presents I had to lure the birthday girl out of the little garden.

She really had a great birthday. Here she is very happy to get a cute bunny card from Grammy and Grandpa (Ben's Parents).

She was surprised to find money inside. (her expressions really crack me up)

Her are the cute outfits she scored from her aunts and uncles.

This is her today modeling one. We love you Violet we are so happy to have you in our family. You are so grown up!

Amapukis Mountain

2009-03-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

Brandon and I went cross-country skiing this morning. He puked in the first quarter-mile. That's a good summary of how things went. There was lots of powder. That's a good thing for downhill skiing, but when you're working against gravity not so much. I didn't see my skis the whole time. By the time we were about two-thirds up Amabilis Mountain the powder was waste deep, even in snowshoes. The deep powder prevented a nice downhill run back to the car. At least the early turn around allowed us to get home just a little after lunch.
Did I mention the near white-out conditions?

Ginny the artist

2009-03-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

My little girl is growning up. This is what she drew yesterday with a stampin up marker. And those markers are pretty hard to handle for small unsteady hands. Its a self portrait of herself. I think its pretty good for an almost three year old. But of course I am biased. Later she decided it wasnt her because she would be drawn in pink not purple.

Ode to Matthew and Dallas

2009-02-21T22:13:00.000-08:00

This year I was honored again to accompany the scouts on their winter camp. There's a lot I could say about it. The weather was nice. Yes, this is February in the mountains in Washington. Wow. Anyway, this is really about two amazing sledders. But first I have to relate to you the awesomeness of our jump. This is the type of jump that responsible adults should have discouraged. We egged them on. I could describe it to you, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Who knows how many a video clip is worth...

Our first focus sledder is Matthew Cook. He was the uncontested master of the slopes landing unbelievable jumps, doing sketchy first descents head first, and getting huge air. Here he is mid flight.

His signature move which wowed onlooking snowshoers and season sled hill veterans alike was the "eagle of glory". Check this out!

The second is Dallas Pinkham. Dallas is the enforcer of the slopes. He gets big air then punishes the snow on the landing. The brutal majesty of his jumps raise an "oooo" from all who witness them. Perhaps the most inspiring part is his unflinching demeanor as he approaches his inevitable doom. He flies straight and true. Here's an example.

What really set Dallas apart on this trip was a particularly hard hit which drew blood. That is hard core, my friends.

For footage of this and many more epic jumps, snow (ice) caves, and scouts, look here.

V-Day and P-Day

2009-02-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day came to the Wilson household and there was a lot of love in the air. The day got started with the girl's receiving their Valentines. Ginny got an alligator because she's been singing a song about an aligator snapping monkeys out of a tree. It may sound morbid but it is a pretty catchy tune. Vi got a Valentine book.
Mom made some nifty home-made fortune cookies for Dad. She baked in some warm-hearted, extra-mushy love notes. Thanks to Shalece Fiack for the idea! They were yummy!
For their big V-day date Mom and Dad headed to the most romantic place on Earth. That's right, the temple. We had previous reservations at a nice restaurant, but then we found out their V-day menu was $125 dollars a plate. Didn't see that comin'. So we did a last minute change. Here we are after returning from our favorite local italian restaurant.
Ben decided to not work on a Monday holiday for once. So we headed for the hills to try our hands (and feet) at cross-country skiing. We went with the experienced Matt, one of Ben's friends from work, pictured below with fiance Anna.
We made it up to Kendall's knob without a hitch. Surprisingly the going up was the easy part. It was the going down that was a bit tricky. We'll say Bri is still a little sore today and leave it at that. All in all we had a great time.

My Birthday/Project Runway Party

2009-02-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

First off I need to tell everyone that I share my birthday, February 6th, with two wonderful girls. My niece Olivia who has turned 8 and will be baptised this Valentines day!

The other is my best friend Tawona! We met at UW orientation back in 2001 and found out we had the same birthday and several interests & personality traits. I love sharing my birthday with these great women.

On the 6th we went bowling and to IHOP for dinner. This was Olivia's party.

Ginny really enjoyed bowling! She did pretty well. I was fortunate enough to get a few strikes and beat Mark and Ben. Thanks bumpers!

Ben got me flowers and made me french toast that morning.

We decided on Trophy cupcakes for that night. Here we have vanilla vanilla, chocolate vanilla, triple chocolate (mine), and a snicker doodle. They were tasty. We watched Fools Gold. It was a fun day.

The next day Tawona and I went out to a movie and dinner at the Dragonfish in the Paramount Hotel. It was tasty! After dinner we came home and got ready for the big party.

For those of you who don't know Project Runway is a fun show about designers who want to become the next best thing in fashion. The winner receives a car, a spread in Elle magazine and $100,000 to start their new line. In preparation for the party I gave everyone rules and 3 yards of white muslin. Basically they could do whatever they wanted as long as they were the ones who did it and they made a dress, oh and kept within a $15 budget. They being couples, or teams of two. Ben went to everyone's house as Tim Gunn and asked questions. I tried to get one of the videos of him interviewing posted on here but they all are just too big. All the models chose a purse and some accessories from the BLUEBRI wall.

First down the runway was team Maxfield. Jessica used fabric she already had and lined her dress with the muslin. Her model was her daughter (my Ginny's best friend) Riley.

She did a nice job going down the runway all by herself!

Then I came down the runway. Ben and I were inspired by Seattle and salmon. I think it turned out rather well. Ben did the dying of the fabric and the designing and help pin. I sewed and gave good input.

Here's the back. if you can zoom in there is some detail I am proud of on the top of the bodice. the peach fabric I already had on hand the rest is the muslin.

My friend Cindy made a toga and my friend Tawona modeled it here.

It was Cindy interview with Tim Gunn I was hoping to post because it was really funny and great. oh well.

Traci followed Cindy's Design. Mark and her did the noble thing of making something less attractive. It was a lot of fun to see.

I think Traci had the best modeling skill though.

Ashley and Brandon did the black & white challenge and the shirt off your back challenge. They used a black dress that didn't have sleeves added them. Then made a belt and head scarf out of the muslin.

Nice hair spin!

Mel and Josh, Mel being the model and Josh the sewer/designer were inspired by daffodils. They did a really good job.

Here is a great shot of the back!

Then the judges Micheal Kors, Nina Garcia and Heidi Klum asked the designers and models questions to help us come up with good scoring ideas.

here is Jessica and Riley being grilled.

Our Winner was Josh and Mel they won a matchbox car, an Elle magazine and more like $10 of supplies for their next sewing project! Our favorite model was Riley and she won Tresemme hair spray and Loreal Paris lip gloss.

Here is Heidi and the dresses... minus the toga...

Happy Birthday! a special thanks to Ashley for the yummy cupcakes!

BAG TAG

2009-02-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Okay my bag is probably not a cute as most of yours but its useful and it clips on to my stroller!

My purse:1) "Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late (and the inside too). No, you cannot go up to your closet and pull out that cute little purse you used back before you had kids. I want to know what you carried today or the last time you left the house."

The outside:

The Diaper Bag

The Purse (well actually I guess its a wallet for some reason I call it a purse)

The inside:

Diaper bag:Looks like we have Purell, A&D, Powder, crayola twists, two small color books, a munchkin formula holder, fish crackers, Vi diapers and wipes, lotion, spare outfits for both girls, place mats, baby shampoo, a sippy cup(for no spill purposes in the car) and usually a bottle. then in the mommy zipper has first aid kit, small tool kit, eye drops a mirror, lipstick/gloss and my wallet.

My Wallet has the usual: no cash, calendar, there's still no pen, various cards plastic and paper, coupons, labels, license, recommend, pictures, small version of my P.B, and random papers/ticket stubs.

2) " I want to know how much it cost :) And this is not to judge. This is for entertainment purposes only. So spill it. And if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I’d love to hear it." The Skip Hop diaper bag was $87 and I don't feel guilty because I bought it with last years stimulus package. I did my part. The Franklin-Covey wallet was probably $50-60 and I bought it like 3 years ago so its really paid for itself because I use it every day!

3) "Tag some chicks. And link back to this post so people know why the heck you’re showing everyone your diaper bag/non-diaper bag."

I tag:
My Cousins: Lauren, Katie, Chrissy, Beth, Missy, Mandi, and Charayne, My Aunt: Cyd and my buddy: Jessica .

Rocking Chair and Quilting

2009-02-04T13:11:00.001-08:00

Ginny got a rocking chair from my dad or "Pop" as he is known here. Here she is really happy to have it. Thanks Pop!Violet also loved it. As soon as I put her in it she started rocking. I had no idea she even knew how.So my mom visited last weekend and she made a pad from my baby bassinet fabric for the rocking chair. Nice work mom! So I was inspired by the blanket that matched the bassinet fabric. Using the technique I learn from the three classes on sewing I took last year, I made a small quilt for Giraffee.Here's the back. This is my first quilted quilt rather than tied quilt.

Here is a close up. My bears mouths are askew but still cute.

A Walk in the Winter

2009-01-29T17:42:00.000-08:00

Brandon and I set out for some snowshoeing last Saturday. We went to Snoqualmie pass for a half-hearted attempt at Snoqualmie Mountain. It turned out to be a bit too icy to make it up without crampons. But we did make it above the clouds for some awesome views. We also got in some snowshoeing down where the snow was softer. The first picture is me looking at chair peak. Below is Brandon in a sub-alpine wonderland.

Obama Icon Me! and cupcakes too!

2009-01-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

Okay as you can see we have been having fun making Obama Icons. Give it a try http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/login.
Trophy Cupcakes has even used it on their cupcakes. I hear (from Yelp reviews) that Cupcake Royal's service is bad and their cupcakes are not as good as Trophy. I was looking for a cupcake place to go on my B-day... I've already been to Trophy and I would say that their chocolate frosting is almost as good a mine. Therefore they are definitely good. Too bad Cupcake Royal. What do you think?

Our Busy Holiday

2009-01-08T10:45:00.001-08:00

So for all those people who might planning to get married over Christmas break I would say try to do it before or after. I know because we got married over Christmas break. 66 couples got married that day, Dec 28, 2004, in the Salt Lake Temple. Here's a photo.

Anyway, that was my disclaimer you will soon see why this makes for a crazy holiday break.

So we spent the Holidays with Ben's Family in Redmond. We shared talents and sang songs.

Most of the cousins were together in their Christmas PJs (we are missing here Hally and Alec). So its from left to right, Annie, Olivia, Hannah holding Sam, Maddie holding Violet, Claire, Ella, Ginny, Sophie and Anika! Phew I did it! And two more on the way.

I made a pyramid with the Williams girls and Ginny.

We even Enjoyed a white Christmas

And it was nice to spend lots of time with Daddy

****

Then on the 27th Ben and I left for our anniversary getaway to Winthrop, Washington. We stayed at the Sun Mountain Lodge. Here's a map.

At the lodge we enjoyed the great scenery of the Methow valley, luxurious accommodations, snowshoeing, and a four diamond dinner (yes the dining room is rated with four diamonds! That's kind of a big deal). Here are some pictures of us snowshoeing. This is Ben in front of the some nice scenery.

Here Bri poses in front of the lodge area. Our building is on the right hidden behind the tree a bit.

****

After enjoying the winter paradise of Winthrop for a few days we headed to the Tri-Cities, Ben's ancestral homeland, for Chud's Wedding. Chud is Ben's friend from High School. We picked up the girls in Cle Elum (from Bri's mom, Thanks Nori!) and headed to the Maxfields parents' house in West Richland. Ginny was thrilled to be with her BFF Riley. She also enjoyed a visit to the Columbia River Washington Temple. We attended a temple session while the girls played with the Maxfield girls.

We had a little reunion of high school friends at the wedding reception. The napkins have picture of Keith and Josh, who were conspicuously absent.

Congrats to the Happy couple!

****

Back at home we had a small New Years gathering.

Seattle fireworks off the space needle at midnight. It was nice even though we were getting dripped on. Gotta love Seattle!

The group; we enjoy playing lots of games. Thanks cool dudes.

****

And the final event was my cousin Ali's Wedding. Here are my two aunts and my mom out front the temple after the sealing.

This is me with the groom at the luncheon

Here is the cake at the reception. Can you say chocolate ganache!

April is a girl after my own heart.

Here they are dancing

We danced practically all night! It was a lot of fun.

Here is a photo of the cool people. Mary, Mandi, Me and Lil'.

It was a great time and I am sad that my other fox ladies couldn't come. Hopefully a family reunion will happen soon.

So as you can see not a lot of time for relaxing when Christmas and New Years scrunch your anniversary. But hey we sure had a great time.

Snowed In

2008-12-21T14:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, another blog entry. Church was cancelled. There's nothing else to do. Even Ginny is now saying "I'm playing blog!" while hitting the keyboard.

So we took a stroll on campus. Here's Ginny and I on a snowy Memorial Drive.

Here's Denny Hall (the oldest building on Campus).

Bri and Vi snuggle in the Quad. Despite the snow it wasn't too cold, about 30 degrees, which actually feels warm after this last week.

This is the same tree we like to pose at in the spring, looking a little more Christmasy.

Ginny enjoyed sitting in the tree. ("No Dad! I want to sit by myself! Go away!")

Ginny made her first snow angel. The snow is powdering with a crust on top. Not optimal snow angel conditions. But I think she pulled it off pretty well.

Here I am with a snow man in front of my building. Drumheller Fountain has been iced over for a week now. I wonder where the ducks went.

Ginny was sporting her snow-bear suit, a hand-me-down from Bri. These are some vintage early 80's threads.

The girls cozy up on a bench. Violet was very sleepy.

Ginny said she was helping keep my ears warm. She did a good job.

Here is the grand old Wellesley Apartments. Classic brownstone architecture constructed in 1925. (Yeah, it's our building).

Then it was time for some hot chocolate. Yummy!

Snow keeps falling in Seattle!

2008-12-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

This is a record snowfall for seattle since 1973! Check out this picture can you guess what time of day this is?

Its 11:30pm! The city lights off the white snow keep it bright all night.

Here is a picture of our snowy window with our stockings. Violets stocking made it in the mail last night. Thanks Mom!

And we will leave you with a slightly different Nativity scene. Here we have the Angel changing baby Jesus' diaper and a little lamb helping.

Keep warm!

MORE SNOW!!!

2008-12-18T12:25:00.001-08:00

Its Still SNOWING!!!

holy cow this is awesome.

Here is Vi and I in the snow

Ginny and Daddy

Ginny and Her "Snowman girl" as she calls it

Up close snowgirl

Hope you are having fun and being safe in the snow!

Let it Snow!

2008-12-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

It snowed last night! Ginny really was surprised when she looked out the curtains this morning. She cheered in excitement and wonder. Anyway here are some pictures!

Vi Vi in the snow!

This is a picture of Ginny's first snow in 2006, she was really excited.

Cold Ginny coming back in this morning.

Here is two short films of how cold she was thus she didnt want to play.

Other Chirstmas items...

Here is Violet going on a sleigh ride. Whoo-hoo!

sweet smile.

Okay this one most looks like Ginny's which is below.

Ginny 2006 (what a chunk!)

Ginny now!

Here is our tree and I finished my Advent Calendar just before December 1st. I have to finish the advents, right now were just using paper.

Here is this years Ginny-gingerbread house.

Up close. She chose to use only the M&Ms on the house and the other candies around or inside. Not one gum drop was used.

Happy Christmasing!

whats going on?

2008-12-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

So sorry its been awhile... heres the update... the girls saw Santa with their good friend Emerald (Tawona's girl). We were a little dissapointed at their stunned faces. I mean I expected tears or glee, but what can you do?

Here is Miss Violet in front of our tree. I will have to post a better picture of the tree later.

Here is my Wednesday gang. Looking awesome ladies! Violet, Ginny, Riley and Emma.

I also went down to visit my mom and siblings (on the train again all by myself!) and I help my brother Gunnar put up the lights. Its been 5 years since my house has had lights up. This is because I havent been home to do it! I think it looks great!

Here is a close up of Gunnar and the Grinch. The snoflake lights are cool. I want some.

Here is Violet being a angel thanks to Ginny. I was getting Violet ready for church last Sunday and when I was finished I said "Violet you look like a little angel!" Ginny heard me and went and got the halo out of our chirstmas hats and put it on her. So smart.

So Violet has been crawling since about a week before thanksgiving. She mastered it after Thanksgiving and now I wish she didn't crawl at all. She is all over the place! Here is the video when she first crawled in November.

Photo Shoot and Apron

2008-11-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Violet had her first portraits taken. Here is a sampling of them. She is pretty funny cuz none have her real smile in it. But hey, they are still adorable.

This is my favorite

Happy girl

Ginny joined in for a couple shots.

Sisters!

On saturday while Ben was at a leadership meeting for church I decided to make Ginny an apron. She such a good helper in the kitchen, and my aprons are so big on her, I thought she deserved it! Plus the fabric was just sitting around.

The best part is that its reversable! And its got a ruffle, a pocket and a bow! I was pretty happy to have figured out the ruffle thanks to the Apron Exchange I did with Allison Wischmeier last spring.

If anyone wants to make something fun come over or meet me at craft group on thursday the 2oth of this month. I got a new sewing machine and I am learning new tricks. I went to a class with my mom in Portland a week ago and got a little break taking the train all by myself! I am taking another in December and January. So I am pretty excited!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

Below are pictures of all the festive things we did this October.

Here is our Haunted Gingerbread House. I used to make these with my mom when I was little.

Here is the back view, Ginny and Ben are working hard.

The Maxfields came over and made one with us. While Violet and Emma played on the floor.

This is us at our trunk or treat at the church.

Then carving pumpkins. Here is Violet and her pumpkin.

This is Ginny's carved pumpkin (the other is mine).

Here are all of them. Note Ben's is the Obama campaign logo.

This is our Halloween Advent calendar. My mom and I made one years ago for my family and we made one for my girls this year.

Here are the girls in the clothes Grandma Nori bought them, on Halloween day.

This is the whole gang at the U-village. Ben is Professor Utonium and I am Buttercup (a powerpuff girl). Ginny is Tinkerbell and Violet is a jack-o-lantern (this was my costume when I was a baby).

Here is Riley and Ginny trick or treating at the U-Village.

Here they are in the leaves.

Here is Emma and Violet. They match!

And here is Vi just before bed on Halloween.

Hope you all had a happy halloween full of lots of fun and candy.

The Patch

2008-10-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air. The leaves are changing colors. So what? What are you supposed to do about it? Answer: go to your local pumpkin patch. That's exactly what we did on Saturday. For the second straight year we went to Craven Farms to pick out the choicest pumpkins straight from the source. We met several current and former ward members including Ginny's bff Riley Maxfield and the Joneses.

Riley and Ginny in a Canoe

Ginny was also pretty stoked about riding in the complementry wheelbarrow.

The pumpkin hype reached levels of hysteria. Little Violet could hardly contain herself when in close proximity to the pumpkins. It was pumpkin-mania! Ginny enjoying the wheel-barrow
In addition to the field of tramlped pumpkin vines, there was also fall and farm related activities such as tractor rides, pumpkin tossing, farm animal petting, a folk band, plus an impressive array of squash and gourds, which was a unfortunately lacking on our favorite, the butternut squash. Ginny made friends with this donkey.

(It's not real). Craven Farms is cool. Happy fall!

Mount Stuart

2008-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

For our last climb of the year Brandon, Chris, and I climbed Mount Stuart. Before you say "I've never heard of that mountain," let me ask if you have ever driven on I-90? Around Ellensburg have you ever looked to the north and seen this?

Well, if you have, on the left you were unknowingly viewing the second highest non-volcanic peak in Washington, as well as one of the most prominent peaks and the largest block of granite in the lower 48: Mount Stuart. It was a handy 8,000 foot plus elevation gain. Here I am on the approach.
We camped at the base of the mountain and got started a few hours before dawn. Here is the sunrise from high on the mountain (Brandon is hidden in the foreground).

Unfortunately that nice cap of white in the picture of me and the mountain proved to be about an inch of ice on bare rock dusted with snow. So we had to turn back just before the summit. But that was more than made up for by the beautiful surroundings; including these awesome alpine larches, the only evergreen tree that's not (they turn gold in the fall and lose their needles).Wow!

Florida... Finally

2008-09-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ben & I and Ginny & Vi all went down to Florida on September 16th and stayed for a week. We stayed with Ben's parents in Fort Lauderdale. The weather was HOT! By the time we got back we were cold here in Seattle, but glad to not be melting anymore. Most of all we had a lot of fun and love from Grammy and Grandpa, Thanks so much for everything. We love staying with you and doing fun things with you! Here are some photos of our journey, Enjoy.

This is on the way down. We borrowed a little DVD player. Our flight left Seattle at 6am so we got up really early. You can see the tired eyes, well except Violet who had had a nap on the plane and was interested in the DVD.

We spent at least 3 days on the beach. Violet found a coconut and practiced sitting with it.

Here we all are in the warm warm water. Nothing like your WA cost.

So did I tell you we left the kids with Grammy and Grandpa and hopped on a two night cruise to Nassau in the Bahamas? This is me on the deck the first night.

Bon Voyage!

This is the next morning in Nassau. We bought new sunglasses, because being Seattle-ites we lose ours frequently.

Here is a picture of our ship. No not the carnival, nor the Norwegian, not the one pulling in either (Royal Caribbean), its the Imperial Majesty boat that I've circled, sorry its a little hard to tell. Basically the size of a Seattle ferry, at least that's what I think. So it was a little choppy without the stabilizers. Next time a bigger boat!

This is us on the boat after snorkeling between Nassau and Paradise Island.

This is me in front of Atlantis the resort. Its pretty crazy. For those reality TV fans this is where Rob and Amber from Survivor and Amazing Race got married. We also saw Oprah's house and right next to it and the same size was her guest house. Mary Kay's house was there too.

This is us Snorkeling

Here is what the fish looked like. They swam right up to me I thought they were going to, I dunno, taste me or something. It was a tiny bit creepy but very cool!

Then we toured Nassau. Here we are in front of Queen Victoria.

This is me in a Market.

We even found a Starbucks. I wasn't homesick anymore after that.

Here is a cool tree. Ben is saying good bye to Nassau.

And one more cool tree. Nice and shady on a hot day.

Here is a picture of Nassau as we left port.

This is our room. Nice queen bed, fridge, vanity, a desk behind Ben, a window out onto the deck (when I looked out behind the curtian a little girl was staring in. We kept the curtains closed). Next time a window that opens out to the ocean. Hee hee.

Here is me looking out a door.

So the food wasnt very good the second night and we had our dinner early both nights so we missed leaving port and the sunset. Also this cruise was sponsored by a country station so it was a little red-neck here and there. But we met some really nice people and Karoked ("love shack" duet, sorry I forgot to video it.) and danced as well.
This photo was taken some our new friends on the last night. Thanks for all the fun!

Back in Florida!

We went to butterfly world with Grammy and Saw all kinds of butterflies. Broward County Florida is the place with the most different kinds of species of butterflies in the world.
This is Ginny looking out, but infact a butterfly landed next to her.

Here is Violet and I under some beautiful flowers.

Butterflies that are Violet!

Ginny and her daddy got to feed a parrot! It was a pretty cool place but very very hot that day, we almost melted to death.

Aparently Florida is the place to go when you are almost 6 months and only know how to roll over. Because Violet mastered sitting, got up on her knees (we missed the first when we were cruising), and learned how to swing. Here is the evidence:

Grammy pushing Violet

She also enjoyed swimming in Grammy's pool.

Ginny learned to jump and not be scared. And also learned to climb up a climbing wall at the park with Grandpa.

We really miss the lazy days of Florida. Hopefully we can go again soon. Here are some videos of the girls. First Violet admiring the butterflies.

Second is what happens to a 2.5 year old in an airport eating waffles at 4:30am. Dont try this at home.

Big Day at the Wilson House

2008-09-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today, September 24th, was a big day here for two reasons. First and for most, it was Violet's 6-month birthday. We noticed she bares a striking resembelance to Livingston, the cabbage patch kid. What do you think?

Also, it just so happened that today I took and passed my general exam. What does that mean? I gave a 45 minutes presentation about what I plan to use for my doctoral thesis to a committee of professors who then grilled me on it for an extra 45 minutes. It also means I'm on pace to finish my PhD in one year. Violet was so excited by the news!

(Taken today)

Cows Answer

2008-09-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

Violet is on the top and Ginny is on the bottom. Some of you may have used the fact that our desk has moved, since before Vi was born, if you have been to our place. Thanks for guessing.

Our Girls

2008-09-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

My two cows! arent they adorable?

Which cow is which? Can you guess?

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday the Wilson Family hit the Woodland Park Zoo. It was such a nice Seattle day we had picnic lunch at the zoo. We saw all kinds of animals, here are some of our favorites. Butterflies, Ginny makes a great butterfly.

Elephants!
Violet is not an animal but she sure enjoyed the Zoo!
Snakes
Grizzley or Brown Bear (we learned that it the same bear just two names)
ottersFlamingos! I love how Ginny rests on top her Daddy.

some day I'll learn my excited faces aren't flattering.Ginny on a Flamingo nest and yes, she is on an egg.

And last and BEST of all the animals, in Ginny's opinion, the GIRAFFE!

Then on Monday we went to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. Traditionally being Puyallup Fair goers this was pretty nice. It seemed smaller to me. But we had a good time. Some nice lady gave us a free pass while we waited in line to buy tickets. Thanks Nice Lady!Ginny and her Daddy on an Airplane ride. At first she was really excited but then when she relized that it was going to spin she started to cry and freak out a little. About half way through the ride she said to Ben, "I'm all done crying Dada. Weee Weeeee!!!" Nice job changing your situtation.Here is Mark, Ben's Brother (can't you tell?), Annie, Ginny and I in the teacups. We got pretty dizzy on this one.Ginny sure liked the animals. It was really fun to watch her pet goats, pigs and sheep.

Oh here is one more over excited picture that isnt that flattering, better than the last one though. Its very important because I haven't had an Elephant ear in over two years. So I was glad to finally get one all to myself. But I think it was too much sugar just before dinner. I remember that for next time.

Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!

Princess Master

2008-08-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

So I was watching the girls a few nights ago when I decided to introduce Ginny to Google. I typed in "Princess" and did an image search. The first image was a group of Disney princesses from Disney.com. She started rattling off names so I decided to test her princess prowess. Luckily I had a camera on hand...

Not bad, considering she's never even seen Snow White or the Little Mermaid. I'm not sure how she knew those...

By the way, I climbed this on Saturday with Mike from work. It's called Del Campo. More photos here.

Look in the Water ....... Wilson Girls Update

2008-08-20T15:22:00.001-07:00

I want to start this blog out with something that I didn't think I was going to share, but then I thought this might be helpful to all you reading. Early this month I went to Madison Beach Park with some ladies in my ward. Ginny was playing by the water with the other children while us moms were on a blanket in the shade with some of the younger children. I was nursing Violet and looked up to check on Ginny and she wasn't there. I scanned up and down the beach quickly and then remembered Look in the Water! One month prior to this day I had heard a news story of a Seattle child drowning at a beach park in our area. One reason why the child drowned was because they were looking everywhere besides the water, another factor was the crowded beach. I looked in the water and found my Ginny failing to keep afloat. I probably chucked Violet and hopefully was covered as I darted into the water. There was a older child wading a foot away from her who could have grabbed her, but I guess didn't notice due to the crowd. She was starting to sink as I pulled her out. I quickly turned her upside down and did the baby Heimlich to help her spit up any water. Both of us were shaken but Ginny was just fine. Violet was also alright and I finished feeding her all wet. Thanks to the ladies who were with me for caring for both my girls. I guess Ginny must have been caught by a sneaker wave or tripped and couldn't get out. When I got to where she was the water was to my chest. I am still unsure how that happened having looked away for not very long.
So while you are near any kind of water and you think "where is my child?" Remember to look in the water first! Who knows what her condition would be if she had been in longer while I was looking somewhere else.

.................................................................................................................................................................

On a more happy note. Violet got a new toy. She like to be able to stand and look at all of us rather than being on the floor so much. Thanks Grandma Nori! Violet has also started laughing. Especially at words that start with the letter "p."

Ginny after using the potty correctly nine times received a new toy as well. A stroller for her beloved Giraffee. Stroller is pronounce Stroyer just FYI. Ginny took Giraffia on a stroll to Starbucks (one block away) for a donut. It was really fun.
Here is Vi in my KEDS from when I was a wee one. So cute!
And I think this is Ginny in glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses. What a goof!
I will leave you with some videos. The first shows you how crazy my two-year-old is. Which translates to how smart she is and what she says is amazing. The second and third are with her buddy Riley.

Ginny feeding Vi

Ginny seeks attention from Riley

Ginny sings with Riley

Lily's Birthday and Baptism

2008-08-20T15:04:00.001-07:00

My little sister turned 8! She had a birthday party in the park. I helped make by making a cake. They pinned the pants on Sponge-Bob, had a pinata and just played around. Ginny had a good time too. She was the youngest at the party.

The whole group

That weekend we were down in Vancouver not only did we have a birthday party... But of course a Baptism. Lily asked Ben to baptize her and he was happy to do it.
My dad confirmed her.
And our awesome family friends, the Bonicas and Moholts, came.
It was nice to spend time with our extended Family and to celebrate my little sis. I love you Liliaan!

Baby Squirrels

2008-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today in the car Ginny said "Mama, I am holding baby squirrels."
"How many Ginny" I said
"five" she replied
"How can you hold five Squirrels Ginny?" I asked
"they're tiny mama" she replied

Later when showing them to Dad

"There's a pink one Ginny!" Ben said
"Yes, Daddy pink ballerina squirrels."

On Top of Oregon

2008-07-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

This is Mount Hood. It's the tallest mountain in Oregon, towering more than 11,000 feet over Portland and the Columbia Gorge. Why not climb it?

This picture is from Trillium Lake, where we camped the night before. This spot is so scenic I was able to snap this picture while talking to Bri on my cell phone. We (myself, Brandon, our friend Chris, Ashley's dad Dave, and his friends Matt and Ben) started up the mountain at 6:30am. The first two-and-a-half hours were spent walking up through Timberline Ski Area, which is open year-round. Here I am at the top of the ski area next to the last out-of-bounds markers. In case you haven't noticed, one of my hobbies is attempting to make myself look cooler than I am using photography.

The going was pretty slow. We finally reached the crater. I wasn't aware Mount Hood had a crater because from most angles it looks like a sharp point. However, it does indeed have a crater that is blown out on one side, like Saint Helens, only much smaller. Here's a tour...

After ascending above the fumaroles and up what's called "the Old Chute," we made it to the summit. There was almost no wind and the views were spectacular! Here I am looking out across the Columbia river at Mount Adams in Washington. In addition to Adams, we had great views of Saint Helens, Rainier, the Goat Rocks, Mount Jefferson, all Three Sisters, Broken Top, and Diamond Peak.

After a while on the summit it was down the chute, out of the crater, a glissade (sliding on one's butt) to the ski area, and a quick stroll down to the parking lot: Eight hours up, three hours down. This is Brandon descending down the chute into the crater. There's Crater Rock and some very stinky fumaroles (vents spewing out sulfurous gases).

All-in-all this was an epic climb. Except for the chute at the end, there was nothing too challenging. It was mostly just endurance. However, even endurance isn't really necessary to climb Mount Hood. Most climbers we passed took the chairlift. Cheaters!

Family Update

2008-07-22T10:50:00.000-07:00

We thought you would enjoy so fun pictures and videos of what we have been up to in July. Violet has been getting bigger and more playful. Ginny has become extra attached to her Daddy. She calls for him during the day and asks to see him at work. They have a great time together.

Violet learned to roll over (this is a month earlier than Virginia). The problem is that she doesnt know how to roll back yet. She doesnt like being on her tummy even though she loves rolling.

Violet also got together with her buddy Emerald, who was born a few weeks after her. Emerald belongs to my best bud Tawona. Note how huge my babies are.

Ginny and Vi have started to play together. Ginny takes good care of Violet for me. Reading to her, changing her, giving her a binki, etc.

And lastly we (the Wilson girls) have been spending time in the sun at the many parks Seattle has to offer. The ladies at church have started a playgroup on wednesdays its been a lot of fun. Here is Ginny with James.

And here she is playing catch with Ethan on another day.

I'll leave you with a video of Ginny and the birds. Its pretty funny.

4th of July Camping

2008-07-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of July we set out for an extreme camping adventure. "Why was it so extreme?" you might ask. Well, when you're taking a two-year-old and a three-month-old out into the middle of the woods it's going to get extreme. Extremely little sleep to be exact.
Actually, the girls slept just about as well in the woods as at home, meaning Ginny slept well and Violet didn't sleep. We were joined by the Grismore clan in its entirety. Activities included making smores, foraging for fire wood (we burned some seriously wet and mossy stuff), playing by the stream, hiking in the high mountains, and general laziness and tom-foolery. You can check it all out in the montage.
For those of you keeping score at home, this was North Fork campground 20 mintues outside of Randle, WA and we were there three days and two nights.
p.s. theres a funny video at the end of the montage, if you can make it there.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Giraffia turns 3!

2008-07-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

On Monday Virginia came up to me, tilted her head eyes wide, and said "Tomorrow's Giraffia's birthday mama!" She finished the sentance while nodding with an open mouth smile on her face. Its very convincing everytime she delivers it like that because you know she believes it.
Well who knows Giraffia better than Virginia? No one. So she and I got to work the morning of the first to throw a party for the little "giaff" (another nickname). We got busy making party hats out of paper and yarn. I printed out giraffes with letters on the to color for a banner and taped them to some yarn. And we even blew up some leftover balloons. Lastly a cake was to be made. Ginny asked Giraffia what she wanted and she said "a pink frog cake." I said that I could do a pink cake but not a pink frog. So a light pink cake from the box was prepared in no time. I am glad to say we didnt watch any TV that day and Ginny seemed really engaged in the work. And her face when we sang, priceless. Maybe will do it again next year.

The whole party: Virginia, Giraffia, Beary, Little Giraffee (aka yudder giraffee), Big frog, Froglet (Violets version of Giraffia), Grama Frog, Baby Frog and Baby Seal and Malcom (the final two are Ashley's animals, Ginny made sure to invite them having played with them at Ashley's. Ashley and Brandon joined in the fun, sorry no imbarassing photos)

Below is the banner. It was a lot of fun.

Checkin' the Mail

2008-06-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

Is it ironic, sarcastic, coincidental, facetious, or just plain common sense? Whatever it is, the highest point on Mailbox Peak is in fact a mailbox. I went up to check it out with a friend from work on Saturday. What type of mail is in the mailbox? Well, you'll have to climb the 2.5 mile "trail" with 4,000ft of elevation gain to find out.