Arlee and Baby Lydia's Room

I thought since we bought new furniture for the girls room I would post some pictures. Arlee was not happy about putting the toys away for you all to get the clean effect- that rarely happens as she loves to play in there. Anyway, here they are.

 Lydia's side of the room. Changing table, crib and glider

 Arlee's side of the room. Bed and kitchen

 Arlee and Lydia's side combination. Toys, dresser, glider and closet

We were able to get 25% off the crib, 45% off both the dresser and changing table and the glider and ottoman we got for free. I tell you this was a steal of a deal. We only paid about $875.00 and that is WITH the tax. What a GREAT deal! I, of course would have to agree. We are reusing the bedding that we bought while we were expecting Arlee. It goes great with the white furniture.  I have to say that we are all very happy with our amazing deal through Toys R Us/ Babies R Us. Now I just have to wash more clothes (which I know probably won't fit for the right seasons), buy diapers and have Lydia cook just 12 weeks longer. It is coming so fast and we can't wait to have her get here. I know that Arlee will be a great BIG sister.

Chels

Just a side note,
Arlee and I can't wait until next Tuesday (Sept. 27th)! We will be flying to Utah and Hans will join us there for just a few days. Arlee and will come home on the 18th of October. Happy happy Joy joy!

Our Little ol' Mini Vacation!

We had a little mini vacation to the Tri-Cities area of Washington (about an hour and half away). This consists of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco, Washington. Hans was working there Friday through Sunday. Arlee and I drove down on Friday in the late afternoon to try and find me a dress for Sven's (Hans' brother) wedding. We are supposed to wear navy blue and let me just tell ya.... 

I am not really finding anything. Especially, not anything that I am going to look decent in. I know what you are thinking. 'What pregnant woman thinks they ever look good?' I do, but I can't find anything that I don't have to get plastic surgery to fit into, modest (whether it be the length, no sleeves or too low) or be able to alter it in some way to make it work.  Those problems are hard enough to fix, but it doesn't just have to be navy but ALL navy. I might have to be the only one standing out in the pictures (as my new sister in law put it) I would hate to be the only one in the wrong outfit, but this just might happen. Either that or plastic surgery it is, plus loose a couple inches off my legs. What do you think? I am open to all ideas.

So after an evening of shopping as you may already be able to find. I didn't find anything. I have looked online and found a couple of things that if they don't work I can return. So I think I might have some kind of an outlet to this maternity dress shopping nightmare.

After shopping, (Arlee was such a trooper by the way) we went and found a park as well as some water until Hans got off to meet us at the hotel for check in.

Day 1: Shopping, park and river

 Arlee and the Columbia River either in Richland or Kennewick (area was kind of confusing as to which one we were in)

 Trying to figure out a different toy on the playground

The next few are pictures of the sun set on the Columbia River. I am not sure which one I like the best so you get to see all of them. Aren't you lucky?

 of course I like the ones with Arlee throwing the rocks in the water so those are also included. : )

 Hey where did the rocks go?

 Arlee playing with my phone after Hans got home. As you can tell she loves that thing since she wouldn't even look at the camera to give me a smile.

Day 2: Swimming, shopping, driving around (trying to find a different park which led to Arlee's nap), temple (still napping and I am getting garments for Hans- this was exhausting in itself), visiting with Hans (awake by this point), found a park and more water for rock throwing, but left because people were smoking, met up with Hans, etc.

 Hans called me and asked me to get him some much needed garments seeing as he forgot to pack his. The distribution center in right next to the temple, so I hit two birds with one stone. Not a very big temple. Even smaller than the new ones in Salt Lake City, Utah. But they are still equally as beautiful and important.

 We found a different park.

 I love these birds. They are so much bigger in person than you would think too. This one is right off of Bateman Island which ties onto the Columbia River.

 Arlee loves to place the wood chips up on the toys in the playground. She was playing with a little boy for awhile. They would take turns putting them on and the other would wipe them off. It is always fun to watch her with other little kids and how they interact.

After the park we met up with Hans and went to dinner at PF Changs. It was a pretty good time. Arlee loved trying to eat with the chopsticks and coloring. Our waitress was great! She knew exactly what Arlee wanted. Perfection if you as me.

Arlee loved this horse.

Before we left she blew it a kiss and waved goodbye. I am sure she would have loved to give it a hug too, but  I guess this is the only time she didn't think about it. *She always gives her toys a hug and a kiss before she leaves. Then she says, "See ya later, love you." Darling, if you ask me.

After dinner we went to DQ and got ice cream. Delicious! It was the thickest shake that I have had in a long time. *Only found soft serve ice cream here in Yakima. : (

Day 3: pack up and leave. Got home by 11AM. Then we unpacked and are relaxing for a little bit.

This was a great trip and would be fun to do again. As long as the weather is nice or we can find something to do indoors while Hans is working. I am tired I tell ya. Now off to make dinner, before Hans gets home. : )

Puget Sound/ Dress Up!

I didn't add these to the Seattle trip posts so here they are.

Arlee and Aliya playing dress up

Arlee and Abram

These next pictures are when we went to the Puget Sound (where salt water meets fresh water)

Some kind of bird

Aliya and Arlee playing in the rocks.

We found a little crab! (This one isn't illegal to get even though we didn't keep it. Haha)

Arlee's sandy toes

Hans, Arlee, Kevin and Aliya playing in the water

 Hans and Arlee

 Daddy daughter picture. Precious!

 Aliya, Hans and Arlee playing in the water.

This was a great part of the trip and something that I would like to do again.

Thanks again to the Bohmans for being such a great family to visit and do stuff with. We look forward to our next visit together.

Seattle (Tacoma/ University Place) Trip

Hans had a couple days off so we went and saw some of our friends, The Bohmans that live near Seattle. It was a great trip. Here are some moments of our adventure.

 Narrows Bridge

 Sunset of the Puget Sound

We went to the coast which was about 2 hours away normally, but it took us longer... GPS and Kevin don't mix. (Hahaha kidding Kevin)

 Arlee didn't want to put her feet in the sand.

 When we first got there it was really windy, cloudy and cold. So glad that we brought our jackets. BRRRrrrr.

 Hans thought that it would be a lot of fun if we covered him in the sand. Well with two toddlers and a he got a lot in his face. Of course they are going to grab the dry sand and not the moist sand deeper down. I decided that I would help to make this process go faster. Well, lets just say I wasn't that careful either. Ha ha ha

 Hans, Me, Arlee and Aliya

 After we were done covering Hans; Arlee wanted to try it. She was a lot easier to do. I have to say that she was a lot more entertaining too. Arlee was all giggles and smiles. She didn't mind a little bit of sand in her face.

 Abram and Aliya. Abram ate a lot of sand that day and as you can tell he is about to eat the little bit in his hand too. : )

 Arlee all done

 Hans and Arlee are covered in sand and I am for the most part pretty clean. I got some on me from Hans giving me a sandy hug. Which by the way, didn't feel good at all on my sunburn from Moses Lake Water Park earlier in the week.

 Hans and Arlee running out to the water

Kevin was telling us about how he hunted for clams with some school buddies of his in March. Hans and I thought we would give it a go. I was the spotter, Hans was the digger and Arlee, well she just laughed and repeated everything that Hans and I were saying when we would spot, find or get one. It was pretty entertaining and for first timers a thrill.
It wasn't until we took them back to the car where we were camped out that Kevin told us it was illegal since it wasn't the right season. Just as he was telling us this the ranger went by in his truck. So we covered them back up. I thought the boys cold make some clam chowder, but I guess we had to put them back. Darn. Kevin was also telling us that when they aren't in season they can carry chemicals or something that can be harmful to you. This is probably a good reason not to eat them at all. When they are in season people are testing them and making sure they are okay to eat. So rest assured all you clam eaters!

Here are our holes. Apparently, this is also a NO-NO! For every hole that you dig it is also a fine. I felt like a little kid bringing in something to parent and then them telling me NO-NO! Ha ha ha I am kidding, but I wonder if this is how Arlee feels when she does something and later after showing me I tell her not to do it. Just have to say that I am really glad the ranger came after we weren't doing it anymore. We would have had a nasty fine. Maybe we could have said, 'They never told us we couldn't do it. They should have been watching us.'
We had a great time visiting the Bohmans and we just love their little family. Thank you for taking us to the Washington coast and potentially getting us into a lot of trouble with a hefty fine. All I got to say when you tell us about something awesome, "Is this legal to do now?"

The Washington Explorers