The Pacific Northwest

We have been spending more time out doors now that the foliage has come in. Our favorite things to do are go geocaching and tenting! While Nana and Papa Haupt were here in April we got to go geocaching with them. It was muddy, but fun.

We had built up a lot of anticipation to find the 3rd geocache that Dad had placed. This geocache had taken him quite some time to make, and we knew what it looked like, but had a really hard time keeping it a secret from Nana and Papa. We have a love-hate relationship with secrets in this house;).

When we go to GZ, thats ground zero in geocaching speak, it was super muddy. Only Dad knew where it was hidden, so he let us look around for a while. Papa nearly followed his GPS into the lake - "It says go right, the machine knows Dwight, the machine knows!"

We finally spotted it! If you can see it you should come geocaching with us!

Charlotte has been asking to go tenting for nearly a month. She will tug on Levi's arm and get him to lean in close, then she will say in her loudest whisper "I want to go tenting so badly". So, on Memorial Day weekend we did!

We bought our first tent this year, it arrived a few weeks ago and we had a blast setting it up. We got to assemble the poles, and stake down the tent. 

Can you believe how big it is! We thought it was big, but didn't realize it was big enough for our family and all of our stuffed animals! If you have ever been to our house you know that we have a respectable stuffed animal collection. 

There is even has an orange play room for kids! This will come in handy on our camp outs, a place of our own.

The top is all windows! We are really excited to take it out where the stars are bright and count them as we fall asleep. Well, while some of us fall asleep, there may be one or two of us that will stay up all night to count them all. You know who you are - Daynappers ;)







We set up our sleeping bags, and brought all of the necessary friends from inside, Hish and Nuggles. They were brave bears and slept the whole night outside.













With the tent set up we had time for S'mores! We have become expert S'more makers, as long as the smoke blows the other way.

The only thing better than S'mores is chocolate! Its the best, if fact Charlotte has become the chocolate police, only handing out just enough, so she can keep her stash in great supply.












Even Kate made an appearance at least when the chocolate was out. She was an easy distraction from the S'mores, which is hard to do.

Look at that face! What a cutie, and yes, we are mesmerized by those blue eyes too.












The rain came out and made an appearance just after S'mores. We were prepared with a great rain fly.

We settled in for the night, with flashlights and scary stories. Our favorite is the one about the cookie monster, but we will have to tell you in person, so ask us sometime to share! It sure is fun in the Pacific Northwest when the rain stops!

November in our house

Levi said he wanted to do this next post but he is officially out of chances ;) November was a fun month for us, my cute little family spoiled me for my birthday with a brownie hot fudge sundae (it was a nice break from cake J) and presents. Later that week we got to go to the Dr’s for the 20 week ultrasound. Levi took last minute guesses before the stenographer announced another girl. The girls were thrilled, although Emma interrogated the stenographer to make sure she knew what she was talking about. Levi was happy, girls are routine by now, a boy would seem foreign. I was grateful to see a healthy normal baby, and quickly came to terms that I was getting what I needed. I was thinking a boy would be fun because its something our family hasn’t seen yet, and I only have 2 sisters. The girls in the car home admitted to praying for a boy, then going back and praying again, stinkers.

Uncle Adam came to visit us from Portland for the weekend. I guess the drive was worth not having to cook Thanksgiving for himself. We’re so grateful he came and we had a lot of fun, like the rest, he’s a great uncle and the girls had a wonderful time.

This Thanksgiving is the first time that I’ve actually had to cook a whole turkey, by myself. We’ve always been around more experienced family, friends, or by ourselves where I’ve  just cooked a turkey breast. We were hosting Uncle Adam and our missionaries so I knew with that many men I had to suck it up and cook the whole bird.  It went really well, and I had everything timed pretty well, despite losing power for a little bit. We loaded Adam and the missionaries up with leftovers, and didn’t have to eat turkey sandwiches until Christmas.     

The Christmas post will be in several installments, so hang in there!  

A birthday surprise for mom

Making monkey bread with Uncle Adam

Easter Fun

We decided to celebrate Easter a day early this year, and by early Emma thought that meant wake everyone up at 6 am. 

The girls were excited to find new scriptures, and movies in the baskets. Then Emma decided we needed to have an Easter confession as well.

The girls caught onto the Easter Egg hunt concept quickly.

And hit their stride before we could catch up.

The Easter Bunny forgot how tall we are, but we improvised.

We gorged on chocolate, then headed to Mt. Vernon Washington to go see the Tulips!

 It was a perfect day to go for a drive and walk through the tulip fields.

We were surprised by the array of colors!

It's official, this will now be a family tradition!

After seeing millions of tulips, we now have a new favorite flower

We even gave the Claritin a run for its money.

 We couldn't help ourselves, so we bought the Birthday Girl and her Bestie some tulips to take home (FYI they looked gorgeous even before they opened). 

We had a wonderful time enjoying this beautiful world our Lord has provided us. We hope everyone gets that chance to think of Him today, and all that He has done for us.

A Happy Valentine's Day

We started a new tradition in our family for Valentine's Day. Today when Levi came home the girls were conveniently in their room while Levi set out a "Valentine Trail". At first the girls were more interested in playing in their room, until they saw all of the hearts.



The girls followed the trail of hearts from their room



Down the stairs



Around the hall




Through the kitchen, by this time they were running



And to the "Treasure Chest" in the living room



Inside they found Valentine Roses for each of the 3 girls in the family



Homemade Valentine Cards from Daddy, and a Special Gift and Card from Mom

They were so excited to have new shirts, even if there were not the same.

Charlotte could not wait to get hers on.



Along with the shirt was a heart shaped box of chocolate, can you tell Charlotte is a chocolate aficionado?




When everyone had received their Valentine's Charlotte declared "I be back", when she returned she had collected every single blue heart to go with her "Rella" shirt.




We hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day as much as Charlotte and Emma.
We Love you all!





Welcome Summer!

Summer has come a LITTLE early to good ol' Va, and we've coped by frequenting the pools here at our apartment complex. And, what's the fun of summer with two little girls without matching "suit suits" :) with any luck I'll be able to get rid of my farmers' tan. So, what do you do to stay cool and have fun in the summer?

Here are some pics from Memorial day, we had some friends over who were smart enough to bring their camera, unlike us, Thanks Jessica!



Emma and Maddie



Maddie's ADORABLE brother Ian..... he might be my new favorite boy!



Daddy and Charlotte in the "lazy river" ( it has a current, hence the tube)



She looks like she's hiding from the sun, she's really scheming about how to get out of the tube....trust me.



Mommy and Charlotte trying to pose for a picture before being run over from behind!



Ian and mommy



Slippery fish in the kiddie pool!



C'mon Charlotte, get back in the kiddie pool....



JAIL BREAK.... making a run for the big pool!



Maddie, "the little mermaid" you all know the scene I'm referencing



If you two don't play nice, I'm turning this tube around!



Charlotte and the "preferred one"



what a good swim teacher! kick Charlotte kick!



Somebody spin that kid!



its called a "mommy break"



Jump Maddie Jump!



Scampering off to lunch

we had a great time. stay cool!