"Little Women" Family: Meeting Shailee/Spokane Trip- May 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Meeting Shailee/Spokane Trip- May 2011

For Memorial Day Weekend, we went to Spokane to meet Grant's baby brother, Aaron's, almost fiancee, Shailee. (Wow, that's a mouth-full!) On the way there, we stopped to play in the snow on Snoqualmie Pass. There was a lot of snow still and it was pretty cold, as you can tell by looking at Sariah's face, who was in sandals. Poor girl!

Fun things we did the first day:

-Went to Mongolian Grill- so yummy! Our girls loved picking out their meat, veggies, and sauce and then watching the cooks grill it up on the huge stove top.

-The men (Aaron, Phil, Gene, and Grant) went fishing (of course!) and had a great time just hanging out together.

-While they were fishing, the women and kids went swimming at the hotel. The kids all fought over who got to swim with Shailee (they all fell in love with her, almost instantly!) She was so great with them and didn't seem to mind one bit. Also, I took Calyssa swimming, for the first time. She wasn't too keen on it! The water was a little bit cold, for a baby, so we kept the swim pretty short.

-Late that night, Michelle, Shailee, and I went to Shari's for some late night girl time and a treat. It was so relaxing and Calyssa even fell asleep in my arms. (I love how Shailee wasn't afraid to leave Aaron to go swimming or to Shari's, with us, even when she just met us. Also, just how helpful she was. She was always helping someone- whether it be one of the family or a complete stranger. When we went to the store, she returned a bunch of carts, from random spots in the parking lot, to the store. When I asked Aaron about it, he said that she is always doing stuff like that. He wondered how he would ever keep up with that and that she makes him want to be a better person. How awesome!! So glad he is marrying her! We all absolutely love her already and are lucky that she is joining our family! Good choice, Aaron!)

Fun things we did the second day:
-We went to Riverfront Park.
-As typical of the family, they threw the baseball around (they always do that or throw a football.) Shailee enjoys baseball too. The kids tried stealing the ball and were quite happy when they were able to get it, as you can see in the picture. :)
-The kids played on the Big Red Wagon.
-Aurora enjoyed chasing the birds. She entertained herself for quite a while, chasing birds.
-Went on a walk to see Spokane Falls, which happened to be really full! Incredible and beautiful!
-The kids enjoyed zipping their raincoats up and getting sprayed by the falls. They had a blast!!

Some fun pictures Grant and I took of Aaron and Shailee together. As you can see, they are madly in love!! :) So cute!

Random pictures I took of Spokane Falls. I had a lot of fun adding different affects in my favorite new website (picnik.com- a free online photoshop.)

The last day, we had some more fun together playing soccer (which a lot of us, including Shailee, enjoy.) It was such a fun family activity and even Grandpa got out there, which was so neat!! I was totally impressed! (My sister-in-law, Michelle, did especially awesome and blocked tons of goals! I bet she had some serious bruises the next day!) A random kid from the park even joined us. Fun times! We also had a picnic in the park, of Subway sandwiches.

On the way home, we stopped on Vantage, during a thunder/lightning storm. We tried to get a picture of the lightning, which was a bit in the distance, but it is pretty tricky to get that. When it started to get closer, we left and ended up in the middle of a downpour. It was crazy!

People joked around about how Aaron and Shailee looked like Barbie and Ken and how they should be on top of their cake. Shailee laughed and said she was no barbie. To which we told her that we would make sure and put basketball shorts on her (which Shailee loves to wear), LOL!! So when we got home, the girls dressed up these Barbies to look like Aaron and Shailee. How fun!

My Favorite Part of The Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 17:21-24

"21 And when (Jesus) had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them."

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/17

To learn more about The Book of Mormon or to get a free copy: http://www.mormon.org/book-of-mormon/

Our homeschool program!!

My style of homeschooling is "public school at home." We began homeschooling on our own, the 1st year. Then we were enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) for 3 years. Now we are enrolled in ORLA. Our girls are taking several classes at an Elementary School that is no longer used for a typical Elementary School. Instead 450 homeschooling students (K-12) take classes there with certified teachers (you choose which ones and how many) but you do have to be at the school with them until they are 12 (in another room with toys for the younger kids) or sign them out to a friend. Then you fill in the rest at home. For example, my girls take Music, Art, P.E., and Science at the school 2 days a week and then I teach them Math, Language, and History at home, on the other 3 days. The school also pays for an additional $300 a year of curriculum (like the Math, Lang, Hist.) We do have to keep up with a certain number of hours per week. We also have a "home room teacher" that helps us with everything, like deciding what extra things to do at home and making sure we don't miss anything. We are really enjoying this program-- it truly is the best of both worlds! If you have any questions, email me. :)