Date night...

So I had a goal when Taylor was born and that was to still make one on one time with Tucker. I haven't been as good about it as I had hoped. Usually when I just have him it is a quick trip to run an errand and the drive thru at McDonalds for some ice cream or something.
And then I heard that Toy Story 3 was coming! And I was so excited to take him on a date. We both love Toy Story and I knew it would be a good time for him and I to get out together.
Because I was so excited and because I thought it would be a mad house with mommies and kids, I pre-ordered our tickets. We were all set to go the Saturday after it came out, at 2:45. Because I thought it would be crazy, I decided we should probably get to the theater by at least 1:00, at the latest. Well, we pull up at 1, and it is like a normal afternoon at the movie theater. No long lines, no mean pushy mommies, no screaming kids, totally normal. We walk into the theater for our 2:45 showing, and WHAT? it had already started? So I go back out and ask an employee what the heck was going on. Well, she kindly told us that the earlier showing was still going on, and hadn't finished in our theater yet, so we would have to wait in the hallway until it was done and then we could enter for our movie time.
Anyway...long story short, we waited for about a half an hour in the hall at the theater, and then once people started coming out, we went in and were the FIRST ones there for our showing, and the ONLY ones there for about an hour or so! :)
You will notice that in the picture, Tucker is on an empty row. Yeah, just Tuck and I alone in the theater for about an hour! :) Finally at around 2:15-2:30ish, people started showing up and the theater wasn't even full! :) Either way, I guess Tucker and I had a lot of good bonding time! :) Luckily I had some books and a few little things to play with in my purse to keep him occupied until the movie and of course, we had popcorn and snacks! :)

We did have a great time though! We both loved the movie and Tucker still talks about our date to the movie together. I need to do this more often with him! I love my little man!

Taylor's room...

When I was pregnant with Tucker, I totally nested, and had his room ready like a month before he came. (maybe it was because he was 8 days late) But I literally followed Ben around with a vacuum the last month I was pregnant with him. And every detail of his nursery was complete before he was born.
When you have a second child, things are a little different! I'm not so OCD about things with her. Obviously I can't be, with a 3 year old. But I was very happy in June when I finally got some things on her wall and made her room look a little more like a nursery and a little less like a storage room. :)
I finally hung these cute frames on the wall and the mirror. I had the mirror in Tuckers nursery, also above his changing table, but he kicked it off one day and it got a huge hole in the frame. I loved the mirror so much, I kept it in storage thinking that one day I could creatively fix/cover the hole. For my baby shower, we made these big pink tissue paper flowers. I kept them because they were so cute, and just recently found both the mirror and the flowers in our storage room. I put the two together, and vioala! problem solved! :)

I love Taylor's bedding! I had a hard time finding girls crib bedding that I liked that didn't seem too cheesy. And I am a girly girl. I like pinks and purples; still, I couldn't do it! My good friend even gave me a pottery barn set that was so cute, that would totally have gone with some of the pottery barn bedding colors that I had for Tucker. But I just couldn't do it! I don't know what it was, but something about the cartoon flowers and butterfly's just was too much for me! Anyway, I finally found this cottage chic line at Target.com! I love it! It is girly, but not cheesy, and still really feminine. And it went perfect with our already green walls! :) No painting! And I still got to use some of the accessories from Tuckers nursery because of the greens and blues.

Oh, and here's our little lady, the epitome of feminine... :)



{always curling her toes, just like her daddy!}

June birthday parties...

This little guy turned 3...

4 buddies: Garrett, Carter, Tucker and Milo...

complete with a inflatable water slide and fun outdoor games...

We loved our summer hanging out with these guys!
Happy Birthday Milo!

And this guy turned 4...

Decorating volcanoes...

AND getting to erupt them!

and more outdoor fun!

Happy Birthday Dallin!
I swear, we are going to have another child, JUST so I can shoot for a summer birthday! :) Summer birthday parties are the best!
And we are so lucky to have such good friends!!!
Thanks for the good times Danna and Jani!

September 13, 2003

7 years ago today...

My how time flies...

Love you more and more every day! :)
Happy Anniversary!

Natalee's funeral...

Here are some pictures of the actual funeral. I wasn't sure if I should share, but it was so beautiful and a great celebration of life.
Here are Natalee's sisters. All in blue, Natalee's favorite color.

The Walton family...

Ben and my brothers and dad and some cousins and uncles were the pallbearers...

Kelli, Cassidy, Keyton and Tucker...

Natalee is in such a beautiful place, overlooking Portland...



My mom, her mom and my aunties...

And I found this cute picture I missed before of Tucker helping my grandma put in her curlers. I have many many memories of doing this with my grandma as a young girl. She puts her hair in curlers every night!!

Can't wait to see you again, Natalee!

Sweet Natalee...

Like I said in my last post, June was a month of good-byes. One of those good-bye's took us back to Portland. It was a hard good-bye. My sweet little 13 year old cousin, Natalee, passed away and was taken back to Heavenly Father. She died of cancer. And even though she was in pain and the last few months had been so hard for her, it was so hard to say good-bye. It was a hard visit, and a hard funeral to get through. I can't even imagine what my aunt and uncle and cousins are going through, but we tried to make the best of our trip despite the sadness in our hearts.
Tucker, is he a boy or what?

We carpooled with Nathan, Angie and Carter. Carter was going through this stage where he would feel everything with his thumbs and just rub them back and forth and back and forth to feel everything. It was very cute. I have soft seats in my car, and Carter loved them! :)

Tucker is a crazy sleeper and this trip was no exception, this is how he sleeps most of the time! I made the boys sleep together, so I could have a bed all to myself!:)

And little miss Taylor Rae is such a daddy's girl! She LOVES him! He can always make her laugh, but then again, Ben makes most people laugh! :)

Tucker eating a chocolate chip muffin in bed naked after his bath. Life doesn't get much better than this! :)

Just hanging out with Papa, Nathan and Carter:

I love this stage when babies are just discovering their hands and feet. Taylor would just stare at her hand for hours. :)

My two babies!



After the funeral we headed back over to visit my dad and the Arctic Lady again. Since Ben wasn't with us when we went down to Portland in April, and the boat was still there, he wanted to see it. Also, my dad's crew was down this time. I wanted to see Dennis and Pedro, the two guys I had worked with when I worked on the boat 8 years ago.
We had to wear hard hats because the boat was at a ship yard getting worked on.



Nathan and Carter in the wheel house...

Ben & Tucker in the wheel house...

My family with Dennis and Pedro. Love these guys! :)

Just the four of us:

Me and the little lady with the big lady! :) And yes that is a lot of cleavage you see on the Arctic Lady. You might want to make sure no boys are around when you read this.

The Tuck man and I:

Ben had fun climbing the highest points on the boat that he could find! :)

The kids on a pile of buoy's:



my mama and grandma came with us too.

Taylor wasn't all that impressed with the Arctic Lady:

On our way back to Spokane we had to stop at Multnoma Falls. It is so beautiful, and again, Ben was with us, and everything is more fun when Daddy's around. :)
Tucker & Ben:

The whole fam:

Our Tuck man:

And our little lady. What a little love nugget!

We love and miss you Natalee!

June...

June for us was filled with graduations, birthday parties and some sad good-byes. I have a ton of pictures from each, so I will start at the beginning; Kristin's graduation! My cute little cousin Kristin graduated from high-school and we went down to Milton-Freewater (Walla Walla) for the graduation. It was fun being with her on her big day. :) It's always exciting to be with someone as they pass from one phase in their life to the next. :) I just can't believe that she is graduating from high-school. I swear she is still like 6 years old!
(Elaine would hate me, I always use WAY too many exclamation points!!!) :)
Here are Kristin and Tucker on her big day. He always has to play hard to get at first, even though he loves Kristin. :)

Kristin and my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Scott:

Angie, Nathan and Carter also came down for the graduation party...

Kristin and her best friend:

da girls...

Cousins!
Lisa, Stormee and Trinidy...

At the actual graduation, Stormee had made her this very cool poster! :)

And I love this shot! We got her good with silly string as they walked by to go get their diplomas! Good times! :)

It was a quick trip, but well worth it! It is always fun to hang out with family that we love so much! And Tucker loves Aunt Kathy and Uncle Scott (and their many dogs) so I always want to make sure he has that connection with them.
This face pretty much sums up how we felt about leaving...

Since Memorial day had just passed, and I was feeling guilty for not visiting any graves on the actual Memorial day, I wanted to make sure I got in a visit to my family members who have passed on. Both of my dads parents, his brother and a cousin of mine (along with some other extended family members) are all buried in Milton-Freewater. It had been a long time since I had visited their graves, and it was so nice to visit them again and remember them.
Here are Tucker and I at the headstone of my Uncle Dan (dad's brother) and his daughter, my cousin, Summer. She passed away when I was 12, and she was 17 and my Uncle died my freshman year in college, in 1997.

And here are Tucker and Papa at the headstone of his parents, my grandparents, Barb & Howard Campbell:

It was a good Memorial day!
Milton-Freewater is a good 3 hour drive away, and it is oh SO nice when you get this the whole time:

Both were just passed out in their seats! :) Hallelujah! :)