Portraits

Here is Lily's 18 month picture (a couple of months late).  She hasn't had a picture taken since 11 months.  She is quite photogenic, although the photographer had quite a time trying to keep her from pushing the chair around.  Hunter missed his school pictures, so I brought him as well.  They love to take pictures together.  They are good friends and adore each other.

Lily's current vocabulary:  "go away" (taught by brothers) "thank you,"  "bye" "hi" "mom" "dad" "shoes"  She can sign "hat," "thank you," "please," "more," "eat," "drink," "out," "bed,"  and "blanket"

To see more pictures of these two, click on this link and enter Jennifer Wright under the name.

Harry Potter and Hedwig

Some portraits of my cuties.  Hunter picked the theme this year.  He is, of course, Harry Potter and Lily is Hedwig.  I made both the costumes.  The owl was actually harder than I thought, but I enjoyed it.  I think making costumes is therapeutic for me.  Lily isn't too thrilled with it, especially the hat, but this may be the last year I have to decide what she wears before she insists on being a princess.  She is so cute walking around in the owl costume.  It is stuffed and she waddles around in it.

First Haircut

Lily's first haircut at almost 20 months.  She really didn't have much hair to cut, but she was getting the comb-over effect, with some really long strands on top and nothing under.  I fondly call her my little duckling because she still has that downy fuzzy hair.  My girls were very late to grow hair (and once Megan started growing hair, she discovered the scissors and kept chopping it off.)  The boys on the other hand had full heads of beautiful hair early on.  Hunter had his first haircut at 6 months.  My friend Alethea agreed to cut Lily's hair for me.  She is also Lily's nursery teacher.

Father-Son Bonding Trip

Alex has started a tradition that when his sons turn 12, he will take them to their first priesthood session in Salt Lake City.  Since Dylan turned 12 in August, he got to experience his first father-son priesthood bonding session.  Here they are in front of the grain silos at Welfare Square.

The men in black at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.


Doing manly, dirty and slightly dangerous things together.

Future missionary ready to serve.

Is it snow?  No, just the Y above Provo.  They climbed there with buddies Harrison and Mark from North Carolina.

Breathtaking view of the city.

Such studs--Dylan and Harrison.

They visited grandma on the way home.

Buried in Berries. What a Jam Jamberry!

Our kids love the book Jamberry by Bruce Degan, but I'd never thought we'd be living it until we moved here. We picked blackberries this year and found out about "blackberry brambles." Blackberries are Washington's answer to North Carolina's kudzu--with a few "pointed" exceptions: yummy delicious sweet berries, vicious jump-out-and grab-you thorns.

This is where we picked our blackberries. It's a house just down the street from us. We aren't sure where the front door is. The kids call it the Sleeping Beauty house. We just picked berries around the hidden trucks. Blackberries grow so fast here.

The end result of our work was 4 pints of blackberry jam, and 7 pints of blackberry pie filling. Oh, a few scars on legs and arms.

We've also been picking blueberries this year--much easier than blackberries.

There is a park in Tacoma that has free blueberries. Volunteers keep it us. They have over 3000 bushes there. You can pick to your hearts content.

We went with Esther and her kids. Lily even had her own little bucket.

Of course she ate more than she picked. She is a blueberry fiend. She loves all fruit actually. I got a water bath canner this year and put it to work canning apricots, peached, pears, applesauce, and pizza sauce (from our own tomatoes.) I worked with a couple of other ladies and on each marathon canning session, Lily helped us out by sampling the produce (and then putting them back in the box for us to find). By the way, never try to put up 240 lbs of pears at once. Believe me, it's not a good idea. Anyone want pear sauce?

Hunter Scores!

Hunter scored his first goal ever at yesterday's game. We are so proud of him! He has some awesome and encouraging coaches this year. Team Fury rocks! I felt sorry for the other team. (Of course we have often been the other team.) It's a good thing they don't keep score at this age. I lost track of their goals.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Happy 15th Birthday, Megan!

My baby is a grown up. Soon (very soon) she'll be driving. We are so proud of her and the young woman she has become. Keep up the good work sweetheart.