Bruce Bulletin

Arnt they beautiful!

2011-09-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

My friend Mark took these pics and I am ecstatic about how they turned out. it was exactly what i wanted! Thanx!

August

2011-09-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

August we were busy busy... is there any month we arn't! We had two more reunions this month. First we went to Winchester Bay, OR for the Tolley reunion (i'm still waiting on the pic). It was a lot of fun, not the drive, but when we finally got there it was fun. We did stop a lot, we visited my grandparents in Longview, and Josh's Aunt Beth in Portland. We visited the Tillamook cheese factory which was nostalgic for me because as a kid we went there a lot, the Portland temple, and a cool mansion in Portland. In Oregon Kalei got to ride a go-kart with daddy, i was bummed that Kamaile wasn't big enough to ride but she was scared watching Kalei to it was prolly best she couldn't. We got to go on a fun kiddie train ride, bumper boats, and mini golf which was really fun. The food was, as always, amazing! I think the favorite part for the girls was the hotel. They keep asking when they get to stay in a hotel next!
The next reunion was the Bruce reunion (grass pic) here in Moses Lake. I dont know how we did it but we fit everyone in Grandma Bruce's house. Everyone was really feeling the love... and the heat!! We did golf in the morning with most of the adults, yes i went, and i actually liked it! I didn't take it as seriously as everyone else and ya our team lost but whatev! After that everyone took a much needed nap break and then back to Grandma Bruce's for a game of Bunko! Its a pretty fun game and perfect for tons of ppl.
End of August was the fair. Because we were gone for reunion we didn't get to enter anything into the fair, usually my family has a competition to see who's picture gets the highest ribbon. Amber won by default. The girls danced at the fair and got to see all the animals. We offered one ride to each kid and both of them choose to ride the ponies. Well we get up there and Kamaile bolts... she didnt ride anything.... too sacred. But Kalei got a kick outa the ponies and asked if she could do it again cuz Kamaile didn't want to. What a smart cookie that Kalei is!
The end of the month has been crazy. First with the whole dentist thing. Kamaile of course did nothing wouldn't even let him look inside her mouth. She was clawing her way outa there and wasn't having any of that. I wish she could have watched Kalei go. Kalei let them clean her teeth and even let them do a frenectomy, look it up but be warned its gross. They basically snipped the extra skin that holds the top lip to the gums. Most ppl dont even notice it but Kalei's went all the way to her front teeth. I was going to include a pic but i thought it was too gruesome. Anyways the dentist said that adults usually have to be put out to get it clipped, not my Kalei, becuase anethesia is hella expensive i persuaded her to just "be a big girl" she could do it. I held her hand and they numbed her, gave her like 3 or 4 shots in her mouth then got out the laser and burned it off. She did so good i can't tell you how proud of her I was/am. She just laid there and took it. She squeezed my hand when the were giving the shots but other than that she laid still and didn't move. As long as they didn't get in the way of the TV she was good. LOL genius that TV! Not to leave Kamaile out, she has some news, before we left for Longview we started potty training. She did ok and had some accidents and of course we were not going to take her with just underwears on vacation. She told us just about every time she had to go. While on vacation we only changed her like 3times! When we can back it was underwears for then on out. My little girl is potty trained. She refuses to wear diapers! I love that little girl she basically trained herself! We have also been to the pool a lot this summer. Here are some cute pics.
If you follow my facebook you will have known by now that Josh and I are trying to buy a house! Such a big step for us and i coudn't be more excited. We have offered and be countering back and forth but hoping to have a definite answer by today. We will see! Ok long post hope you made it.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2011-09-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

July

2011-08-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Man i'm really bad at blogging lately. July was a lot of fun starting with the 4th of July. We did a low key celebration and just stayed in Moses. We had a bbq at my parents house and I made a red, white, and blue trifle it was yummy. We also played a lot of Blongo Ball. We scored some awesome seats on the Stake Center lawn to watch the fireworks. The girls really liked it. Nice and relaxing holiday.
Later that month we took the girls to A Day with Thomas. Kalei as you know is obsessed with Thomas and of course Kamaile is too. The girls had a lot of fun, especially on the train ride! If your fans of Thomas i recommend doing it.
Our next adventure took us to Longview, WA for the Rodeback Reunion. It was a lot of crazy fun. We played games from Minute to Win it, went to the fair, and had a potato salad off! Ok funny/sad story from the fair. We got the girls a snow cone before we left and on the way to the car the girls got tangled up and both went hard to the ground. Kamaile got a good cut on her leg but all they cared about was the snow cones that were all over the group... both were crying and Kalei kept saying 'i'm so so sorry Kamaile.' Hilarious right!... it was sad and funny all at the same time. The bandanas were Amber/my parents idea... it turned out pretty crazy. This is my all time favorite picture ever! classic.
We left the reunion early to make it back for the girls end of the year dance recital! Kalei did so good learning two different dance routines!! Kamaile got scared, i'm assuming of the dark, and i had to once again go on stage and encourage her to dance. She got into it about half way through... We are very proud of both of the girls.

Busy Busy June

2011-06-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

June isn't over but we have already done tons of stuff. On the 5th my 2nd little niece was blessed so we took a trip to Rexburg, ID. It was a long drive and not one i ever wanna do again so you better move back Amber!! Anyways the girls really love their new cousin Harper and had a good time vising with Adyson as well.
The next week we had TWO graduations to get to. Josh's brother Jacob graduated from Big Bend. It was really hot in the gym and you couldn't really hear anything because the speakers/microphones sucked so i can't really say how good it was. The next day we went to Ellensburg for Josh's mom Gwen's graduation. It was outside and actually the weather was pretty nice. The speakers were very good and all of them commented on how they tried to keep their speech short which was much appreciated. I can't remember the number they said but there was a ton of ppl graduating that day and I think they even had two ceremonies of graduates! If you were wondering Jake got his AA and Gwen got her BA in Accounting.
Kalei finished up t-ball and got a cute little trophy. We were so proud of how good she did with it. By the end she was actually running towards the ball to field it and got some good hits off. We still need to work on running the bases though! When i ask her what her favorite part of T-ball was she says the hotdog party at the end! The girls had they 2nd dance performance at Spring Fest and Kamaile actually did her whole routine! I was so proud of her. She looked pretty cute. I tried to upload the video but apparently its too big so you will just have to trust me. Here is a pic with the signature Kamaile grumpy face. Trust me she is a happy girl.
Father's day was this last week! I can't say we did anything super special. I made Josh pancakes sunday morning and the girls surprised him with a new tool chest and a Green Lantern card. Kalei is totally into Green Lantern right now. She had me buy him a Green Lantern beach towel too to use at the pool. LOL. Also on father's day Kalei gave her first talk in church!!!! We had been practicing for literally 3 weeks! I wanted her to memorize it so that she could be a big girl and stand up there without me whispering. She had it down pretty good with a few hand prompts from me she was pretty much ready. The plan was for me to sit in my row ( i teach a primary class) and for her to go up like a big girl. Well i had to help her set up her stuff and then i told her i was going to sit down. She said but mom in this church ppl just whisper in your ear you have to stay! LOL. I stayed up there with her for moral support and she did her talk. She did very well.
So what have i been up to. Well i've got the sewing bug and i got it bad! I finally finished my owl quilt for Kalei! I'm very proud of it. I already have plans for a 2nd quilt for Kamaile. I followed this tutorial http://obsessivelystitching.blogspot.com/2010/04/first-quilt-ever.html this chick is amazing and the tutorial was awesome! I also have made some hats for little baby Harper and a small car blanket for Kalei. I found another awesome tutorial for the hats. Super easy ppl! http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/02/knit-receiving-blanketknit-baby-hats_08.html Right now i'm working on a car seat canopy another tutorial http://buzzaboutbaby.b logspot.com/2009/05/car-seat-canopy-tutorial.html some pajama pants, and some scrubs! I really really want to make a dress for Kalei out of a t-shirt but the tutorial i found online, that i wont mention, was really bad and she didn't explain very well. So if you know of one with lots of instructions send it my way. I'm so thankful for our ward sewing class that has given me the confidence to finish all these sewing projects i've had bookmarked forever!
Thats all folks thanks for reading!

What have we been up to...

2011-05-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

LOTS! The month of May is almost over and boy has it been busy! The girls had their first performance for dance. They both were so cute. Kamaile was doing great up until she had to go on stage and dance. She was so scared and just clung to me like for dear life. It was pretty dang embarrassing. After my very best effort she took off running to grandma on the other side of the stage. Next day at church my primary class said "sister bruce we saw you, your daughter didn't want to dance!" We are hypeing her up for her next performance, hoping that she will get use outa the expensive dance costume! For now she just likes to dress up and play Just Dance. Kalei did awesome. She went out that and did her whole routine. I was so proud! I had never seen it all and was surprised at what she had learned. They both love dance and are always happy when they get done with class.
Our friend Jess coaches a t-ball team and was able to get Kalei a spot on the team. I knew Kalei would love this. My parents got her a carrot bat for easter last year and that thing has been her best friend. She always asks to play baseball. When we told her she automatically said yes! We got her the cutest mit and cleats. The first practice was a bomb! She totally hated it and didn't want to listen at all. The next day we went out back to practice and still she wanted nothing to do with it. So I decided i would just teach Kamaile since she was excited about it after seeing sister play. Well of course if one kid it doing it the other wants to join in. The three of us had our own little game and Kalei's love of baseball was renewed. Just in time for her first game! She did awesome and was so stinkin cute. The bat was too heavy but she tried her best and actually got a good hit. She doesn't like wearing the helmet cuz its huge on her little head but she was a trooper and wore it. Its so cute to see her out there... and since Kalei plays Kamaile has already asked for a mitt of her own!
My little girls are growing up so fast! Kamaile talks like crazy now and is very polite! She loves to do everything sister does.... for mothers day the primary got up to sing so Kalei went up. Kamaile (who is in nursery) technically shouldn't be going up but she was determined and walked right up on stage. She stood in the front and just smiled the whole time. When they were done she came back down thinking she was the coolest kid there! She is our scaredy cat though, everything scares her. We went to the park and parked next to a fire hydrant, she wouldn't get in the car because it was scary! (which she says with shoulders shrugged, and hands to her face) It was pretty funny, i did impromptu therapy and slowly we walked up to it and touched it. Thats my kid scared of her own shadow! She acts like the boss around here and a million times a day i have to get after her about making Kalei mad. It must be a younger sibling thing.... Anyways she is growing...
Kalei is my little adventurer, she wants to do everything. As of right now she is doing dance, preschool, and t-ball. I'm sure whatever we offer her she will want to do it. She is a brave little cookie and will try just about everything we throw at her. She is strong willed and wants to do things her way... unfortunately i see a lot of me in her.... my dads curse was sure true, "i hope you get a kid just like you"
I've been staying busy feeding my creative side. My ward is doing sewing classes which i absolutely love! So far we have made some snazy pillow cases which I was so excited about. I also have been knocking things of my to do list. I did some decoupage letters for the girls and made a shirred dress for me, kinda messed up that one, made it too small but hey Kalei has a new dress! My long term project is to make a beginner quilt! I'm going to do it... i imagine it will take awhile but i'll do it! I've also been knocking out some recipes from my cupcake book my mom got me for easter. Those are peanut butter cup cupcakes! and yes there were amazing!
Josh has been a busy fellow too! Golf season is upon us and that means no Josh on Saturdays :( He is also getting into biking again although I dont know if he has actually been riding yet... Ok this was way too long but thats whats been going on with us.

April 2010

2011-05-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

So in talking to my sister today i realized that i need to update this thing. Josh has been really busy at the office and business is booming so to speak, which in turn means more work for me, which means not as much free time. I barely have enough time to keep up with my shows! LOL Anyways... April was a lot of fun for us. At the beginning of the month Kalei had her preschool outing to the fire station. We were really excited for that and they did not disappoint. We even got to watch a training session where they put out a fire. Of course Kamaile was scared of everything, she is going through this phase where everything scares her. We parked too close to a fire hydrant once and she wouldn't get in the car unless i picked her up. I tried to tell her it was ok and after 5mins she actually touched it... then ran back to the car as fast as she could. Anyways fire station way cool!
Later in the month was of course Easter! With everything going on we didn't do the usual egg dying and fun treats.... Easter snuck up on us and I was left thinking man we really dropped the ball this year. We did make the girls an Easter basket which they totally loved. We went out to Quincy Lakes for the Tolley egg hunt and as usual the girls totally scored. Their aunties are reaping the benefits of their good candy finding skills.
Also during the month the girls got their dance outfits! They are so stinkin cute and have their first performance this saturday! Kamaile also got her 1st hair cut! It took some convincing but after some support from sister and candy she was good to go. I totally love it and realized that now all three of us have the same hair cut! Thats about all the big stuff that has happened this month and i promise to start blogging more and adding more pics. Here are a couple random ones of the girls! Love em!

Austin

2011-04-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

We are doing a lot of activities for Austin. On the 15th of April we are doing a dinner/auction to raise money. Dinner is 15$ a person. On the 16th of April we are doing a garage sale at my house. If u have stuff to donate let me know. For more info on anything just let me know. Don't know Austin? Check out his page. He is an amazing little boy with awesome parents, let's help them out. www.cotaforaustinj.com

Kalei's Birthday

2011-04-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

On the 9th of March our first little girl turned 4!! I am still in shock! She has been such a blessing to our lives. Every morning (around 5ish or earlier) the little stink comes into our room and snuggles. She is very loving and gives tons of kisses and hugs and is starting to just rub her cheek against my cheek its cute. She always says mom i want to tell you something... "i just love you." It makes me happy. She's starting to get her favorites picked out and for her birthday she wanted a Thomas the train birthday. Im not sure how she got into Thomas but she is hooked and sister is following right along. I'm ok with it, i kinda like all the trains. She has a train set now with a couple trains. Josh and I made her cake this year. We tried to make Tidmouth Sheds from the show... it kinda looks like it. She loved it. We invited her friends and cousins and we had a party at the office. They played pin the funnel on Percy which went over pretty well i was surprised. We sang happy birthday to her twice and she got to blow out the candles twice, she was so cute and was just soaking up all the attention. She wore her Thomas shirt, her Thomas cape, and Thomas party hats. She had a lot of fun and got some fun new toys, pajamas, and movies.
Because her real birthday was on a Wednesday we had her party on a Saturday and I decided that we would just do something special as a family for her on her real bday. I asked her what she wanted to do and automatically she said go bowling! I figured that was pretty easy to follow through with and it would be fun. Well Wednesday is league day... ALL DAY! We thought if we went during the day we could get a game in no problem, but no league day during the day too. So we saw the arcade and asked if she wanted to do that instead. We didn't have to ask twice... we ordered some pizza and started playing games. Her favorite was a roller-coaster game where you sit in it and it moves. We played that like three times.... 3$ a pop!!! We got some free tokens for buying the pizza there which helped. BTW Kamaile hated that game, it scared her that it moved and blew air in your face. She sat on the ground next to the game while we played. I surprised Kalei with an petite cake from Walmart what she had been asking for ever since Kamaile's birthday. It was actually pretty yummy! I would say she got pretty spoiled this year but its her day and we love her!

Catching up january and february

2011-03-11T08:57:00.001-08:00

Its been a long time since i have blogged. Its been busy to say the least. Ok lets start at the end of January. As some of you may know Eastern Washington University won the football championship this year! Being Josh's alma mater we went back to spokane for their celebration. It was a lot of fun actually. The girls got to meet Swoop (the mascot), Kalei was all about it, Kamaile not so much. She prefers the stuffed swoop that doesn't move! We spent the night with are friends Andrew and Christy in Spokane (thanx guys) and went shopping the next day. I miss Spokane!
For Valentine's Day Josh and i really wanted to go to the temple in Portland where we were sealed. The temple was actually closed during that time and some other stuff came up so we ended up staying home. We celebrated early going to PF Changs in Tri Cities and then to the temple. It was a yummy and much needed night. We also made our signature chocolate dipped fortune cookies. Kalei helped with the boxes and dipped the fortune cookies, and Kamaile well that was her contribution. When the 14th, actual Valentine's Day, came i didn't expect much since we already celebrated but Josh woke up early and surprised all three of us with a balloon, candy, and a potted flower. I had to wake the girls up and they were not happy but once they saw the balloons and candy they were excited. It was really sweet and made me happy just knowing the girls were happy. Josh learned a valuable lesson though... i'm not a house plant person. The poor plant died from dehydration :(
Its been a busy time in the Bruce house the girls and I are sick making life a little more hectic with extra doctor's visits. My sweet princess Kalei turned 4 this last wednesday and i have to get all that together to make a post about her birthday. I can't believe how big they are getting. Kalei says the craziest stuff sometimes. "when i'm a mom i can drive the car" "i'm just gonna do this for one more minutiae and then i'll come ok" "kamaile you need to say please (then she shares the whatever that i have already told her to give to kamaile)" and my personal favoritie "i can't my hands/legs are broken." Kamaile isn't so innocent either that one has a temper on her. But she loves to snuggle and loves her blanket!!! if we do not have her blanket we are in serious trouble. I'm starting to teach her her colors and ABCs. I started awhile ago but she frustrated me cuz she thought it was funny to say the wrong thing. Uhhh so annoying i decided to give up. Then on the same day at church Kalei's primary teacher said she loved kalei cuz she could spell and write her own name which can be difficult for her teachers to remember. Then Kamaile's nursery teacher said how smart kamaile was in class, honestly i had to ask are you sure you arent thinking kalei! She assured me it was Kamaile so i figured the little snot was learning but was acting dumb around me. To prove the point josh quizzed her on what color her skittles were and she knew!!! The little brat! So bruce school is now in session and i'll just have to get over the fact that she may act dumb but is really smart! I love my little girls and the craziness that comes with um!

For Austin

2011-02-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family, some of you may know Ben and Courtney Jones they are both from Moses Lake. Ben's family is in 6th ward (Steve and Diane Jones) and Courtney's family is in town as well. Their little boy Austin contracted e coli which damaged his kidney. He has been a trooper and will be receiving his mothers kidney this summer. The family already has $11,000 in medical expenses and expects much more with the upcoming kidney transplant. To help raise money they are doing a fundraiser through PartyLite selling candles. They are hoping to do more fundraisers and if you have any ideas or would like to help set something up they would be more than appreciative. I've attached a flier with more information about Austin.

The information for the candles you can find here:
http://www.partylite.com/en-us/pages/fundraisers/fundraiserproduct.aspx
i have samples of all of the scents and if you would like to place an order just call me up and i can come to you or you can come to me.

If you want to help but dont want candles they will be having a yard sale coming up and are accepting donations for things to sell, or you can visit Austins donor page at:
http://cota.donorpages.com/PatientOnlineDonation/COTAforAusitnJ/

New Years Resolutions

2011-02-09T22:56:00.000-08:00

So one of my new years resolutions was to start teaching the girls more about the church. I started with reading them the conference talks during breakfast. Ill be honest i don't watch conference. My mind always wanders or i end up falling asleep. I get much more from reading. It was going ok but they lost interest real quick and so i just stopped. Kamaile has started getting really into my purse, she demands to carry it even though it is bigger than she is. We found some alternatives that she has started taking to church. She feels like a big girl carrying around a purse and what fits perfectly into her purse, why her little Book of Mormon that Uncle Tristan got her. Its a tradition that my brother started with each of his nieces so Kalei has one as well. They both love carrying them around so i figured why not start reading them. So i printed out a scriptures chart they can color when we finish reading a chapter. Kalei loves it she is thrilled to color in the number every night and after we read (because they have no idea whats going on and prolly dont listen to ppl talking just like their mom) we draw a picture about what we read. Kalei loves it, eats it up. We don't read every night and most nights I'm tired and ready for bed but she reminds, even demands to read. I am so thankful for my little girl and her willingness to learn. It was a resolution but let's face it resolutions don't last very long. I feel like it was Heavenly Father giving me that extra push that he knows I need. Its been a tough week for me and it has been a huge blessing to read the scriptures and conference talks every night and feel the spirit. Another resolution Josh and I made was to attend the temple every month. We did this when we were first married and it was a huge blessing, also super easy cuz we could literally walk there. After moving back and having children it wasn't so easy or even in the forefront of our mind. After a horrible week we r heading to the temple, a perfect time to be reminded of Heavenly Fathers plan for us. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for each of us and knows exactly what and when we need something and as painful as it is when its not the right time. I pray that we will always keep that in mind and hopefully this was the push you need to keep up with your resolutions.

Kamaile turns 2

2011-01-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

Ok I think i'm almost up to date on all my posts. On the 16th of January our baby Kamaile turned 2!!!. She had a Toy Story/Jessie themed birthday. She loves Toy Story. She got the movie for Christmas and watched it just about everyday. It was a no brainier what her theme was gonna be. My mom made her a cute Jessie outfit to wear on her birthday. I went all out and made her a homemade cake with marshmallow fondant. It turned out way better than i thought it was going to. Kamaile had a blast opening all of the presents and opening the door when people arrived. She was afraid of the candle when it came time to blow it out but thats what sisters are for right!
Ever since her party she has been a chatty cathy. Everyone remarks on how much she is talking now. She always has a really serious look on her face and doesn't say very much in front of ppl but now she waves and says hello to pretty much everyone. One of her favorite phrases now is "common Kalei." She is doing really good at putting two and three words together.
Her 2yr check up couldn't have gone better. She grew a 1/4in and gained a little over a pound. She is making her own little curve but its a curve so we are grateful for that.
She is getting a lot of teeth now and her hair is still really short but its growing... so much so it gets in her eyes all the time. She is our little bruiser and has gained a lot of nicknames my favorite of which is Kamonster! Shes a rough little girl. We love her so much!

Josh's B-day and Our Anniversary

2011-01-24T09:41:00.001-08:00

On the 18th of December Josh had another birthday. He is now 29 one more year until the down hill slope! JK. We had family over for cake and ice cream it was fun. Kalei loves to blow out the candles. She also likes birthdays she was really excited for all the birhtdays that happen just about every month.

On January the 5th Josh and I celebrated our 6yr anniversary. Josh took off the day which was a surprise and could have never happened if my parents were not off work (thanx mom and dad). The plan was he would get off at 2pm and we would go to the movies... Well it was a thursday and i didn't think they would be open for matenees but we went, and just as i though they were closed. So we went back to my parents and we played some games with them until i got hungry then we went to an early dinner. We had steaks at Michaels on the Lake. It was really yummy.... i always forget to take a picture of the food because by the time i remember half of it is gone! After that we went to the movies we saw The Tourist. I love Johnny Deep and had been wanting to see it. It did not disappoint. Somewehre in between Josh gave me my present. Darn him we said no exchanging gifts but he got me something anyways. It was a very thoughtful gift. Almost 7 years ago Josh got me a CTR ring. I loved it but had to laugh cuz it was a Young Womens ring with all of the value colors. A funny gift to give your girlfriend. But i loved it none the less. Over the years he kept telling me i needed to get rid of it and get a new one. I said no that it had sentimental value. Well this year he got me a new one. Isn't it awesome! It was a fun anniversary and we look forward to many more!

Christmas Post... ya ya i know!

2011-01-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to play catch up on blogger... Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We started a lot of new traditions with the girls that they seemed to enjoy. We decorated gingerbread houses, made Christmas ornaments, and Kalei made a Christmas chain. Oh and we hung our stocking over a real fireplace this year. The girls loved wrapping presents and were really good about wrapping the presents and putting them under the tree. Kamaile liked the small packages and carried them around but never tried to open them... although some of them got loved too much and needed to be re-wrapped.
They loved decorating the tree and really loved their new ornaments, Kalei got Rapunzel and Kamaile got Jessie from Toy Story (from grandma rodeback). Every time someone came over they would point them out to them. We went to the lights parade downtown and it was so much fun but really cold... We parked our car and watched it from inside! The girls really liked it though. They really liked Christmas lights. One night on the way home from my parents around 11:30 at night we decided to take the girls around to look at the lights. They totally ate it up. And it was a super surprise to see lots of deer out and about in Moses Lake so late at night. Kalei said they were reindeer so she was really excited to see them so close to Christmas.
The girls got to meet Santa this year. Every year the Tolleys have a Christmas Eve party and Santa comes and hands out gifts. Kalei was so excited to get to go up and get her present from Santa. Kamaile got Toy Story 3 from Santa and when we ask her where she got it she remembers Santa gave it to her. The girls got spoiled with tons of gifts which they all love. We got spoiled too and i can probably blame my cool gifts on the reason i haven't dedicated too much time to updating my blog. Nicole got us Goldeneye for Wii.... Its awesome! I'm really good so if you have the game lets play!
On Christmas day Kalei took a nasty spill and sliced the gums off of her front teeth. There was so much blood and where she feel was a splatter of blood. It was not fun I do not like to see my little girl so bloody. The gums went back in place and healed right up. She had a pretty grizzly smile for awhile but its back to normal now.
Thanks for all of the Christmas cards we received and all the presents as well. We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends.

Kamaile, our little sleepy bear

2010-12-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

Ok i finally got a break in all the madness of December. This is just a funny one that we have been collecting for the last couple of weeks. The first pic started it all and since then we have been cateloging all her crazy sleeping positions. There are a lot more but you get the gist!

Disney on Ice and Kalei "reading"

2010-11-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

So last night we took the girls to Disney on Ice. It was so much fun and i'm pretty sure i had as much if not more fun then they did. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much Kamaile liked the show. When we first walked in Kamaile saw a picture of Buzz and Woody on it and she just stood in front of it pointing and so excited. I knew right then she was gonna like it. We were on the end of the row and she stood on the esile just pointing out everything that she liked. She responded the most to Snow White and of course Toy Story. It was so cute because she clapped when everyone else did too. Kalei had a blast too she saw tons of characters she knew and her face was priceless. She would look up at me every so often and just smile and give me a hug. After the show she stomped out saying "that was so fun." She said her favorite was Belle and the Princesses... although we all noticed that Sleeping Beauty got the shaft and was not included in the show! Its one of their favorite princesses so she was disappointed. We had awesome seats it was perfect!

Kalei has been working hard in preschool and at home learning her letters and learning how to write them. I got this awesome book too that is a teach a kid to read book... she really likes that and asks to do 'her lessons.' Kamaile is always included too and loves to show me her scribbles and put them on the fridge. So I have a pic of Kalei showing off her handwriting... she wrote the top Josh and i did the bottom... i show her how to do it and she does it... i did not help her in anyway. The second one is her writting Dora... its kinda a bad pic but you get the jist. I'm so proud of her and her willingness to learn. We love both girls so much.

Halloween... ya two weeks later!

2010-11-14T13:56:00.001-08:00

So our Halloween was pretty fun this year. We did the batman theme and i think it went over well. We went to the patch and the girls had a blast hunting for the perfect pumpkin. Kalei kept telling me she needed to find Cinderellas pumpkin that could turn into a coach!! So cute. Kamaile kept trying to pick up all the pumpkins even if they were too big for her. Pumpkin carving keeps getting bigger and bigger and fun every year! I didn't even get a pic of my pumpkin but it was pretty cool trust me. The girls did some trick-or-treating this year. We went to the high school and down town. This year we took Kalei to her first haunted house... she screamed soooooo much it was hilarious but she wasn't very happy with us. She loved to dress up as her "kitty cat" as she called it, and loved to wear makeup too. Kamaile liked it too although in the pics she looks a little scared. She also wasn't feeling well so she didn't get to do as much trick-or-treating this year. It was fun and we are already thinking of good ideas for next year.

I'll go ahead and put a little update too. The girls are getting bigger. Kamaile says a lot of words now her favorite of course is NO. She's a silly little girl. She loves nursery and for some reason is in love with Toy Story... i'm pretty sure when we took her to the movie in the theater she slept through it but whatever. She is loving nursery and loves to do whatever Kalei does. We signed Kalei up for a dance class its jazz/ballet/hiphop. She is very funny to watch. She is the smallest in her class. She loves all the tutus mommy has been buying her and loves to show off some of her dance moves. We also have Kalei in a co-op preschool with some other moms. I have to teach every sixth week. Kalei has a blast and loves to tell ppl what letter she learned about in preschool. She is getting really big and keeps asking to be a baby. She is fascinated with babies and loves her little "baby" sister Kamaile. For more pics from halloween go to facebook. Love ya all.

Long Time Coming.

2010-10-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well its finally official. Joshua is a Doctor!!!! He took his test awhile ago and tried to find out asap if he passed or not. When we got the word i went to work throwing together a surprise cake party. We are so proud of Josh and all the time he has put into this. He did two years at Big Bend here in Moses Lake, three years at BYU-Hawaii, two years at Eastern, and one year of rotations. So what is that 8yrs after high school.... omg that sounds long! He deserves this and its a big weight taken off our shoulders. Randy is also glad to have the extra hand they are really busy. I need to still get a pic of Josh with his license but we have been busy. I'll have to do another update blog later.... lots to talk about. Anyways a big hug goes out to all the support we have had through the years and the friends that we have made. We love you guys!

We're Back!!

2010-09-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

Got back sunday afternoon after a horrible three day journey of travel... lets just say we wont be going on another trip anytime soon. The layovers were the worst we started on friday and got back sunday... its more like 2 1/2 days of travel but does that make it any better.... i think not! We got used to sleeping in the airport or where ever we were for that matter. Our adventure in Ukraine started on the 25th of August... that saturday we went to a cultural celebration held by the members... it was really fun they had a lot of dancing and they told the history of how Christianity came to Ukraine. I couldn't understand anything that was being said but it was an awesome night. We got to see the prophet there too which was awesome. That Sunday we went to the temple dedication.... we were not able to sit in the temple but where in a big stake center next to the temple. It was awesome being there and it was a beautiful session. The prophet is a funny guy and you can feel his love for us. After the dedication I followed the masses (leaving josh behind) and went to stand by the temple to get a glimpse of the prophet... well i did more than that. Along with tons of pics and one video i got to shake his hand and got to shake Preseident Uchtdorf's hand too. Elder Nelson was there too but i didn't get to shake his hand. It was an awesome experience to be so close to the prophet.
For the next week we just went around Kiev... we went everywhere... no stone was left unturned sort of thing. Everyday we woke up took a marshutka (bus) to the metro... usually stopping at McDonalds to eat breakfast. McDonalds was sooooo yummy there, their hash browns were amazing thats the main reason we kept going back. The metro, every time no matter what time of day, was packed.... i mean packed ppl!! Like was to close for comfort packed! And to get to the surface we had to ride a super long escalator. you couldn't even see the top of the escalator they were that deep... Sometimes we had to ride two escalators just to get to the top...they moved pretty fast though to make it go by faster. The bus system was funny too... just when you think they cant possibly fit another person in the bus bam 5 more ppl come one... one time there was this old man trying to get on and ppl were literally pushing him into the bus so he could fit. It was hilarious and made me laugh.
As josh as my guide i was told certian fo-pas if you will for Ukraine... #1 i was not allowed to talk... unless necessary no english... apparently they take advantage of English speaking ppl... by the end of the trip it was very annoying to both of us that i couldn't do anything... ppl tried to talk to me and i would just smile and look at josh. i was like a little baby and needed josh to do everything for me because i coudn't talk to anyone. #2 i was not allowed to sit on the ground... easy right... wrong! we freakin walked everywhere and its not like there are benches lining the streets... i wanted to sit down and i didn't care if it was on the ground or not... so stupid but again we didnt want to attract attention to ourselves. It was also very dirty there and a lot of stuff surprised me but i got the indifferent face down to a T. Like how all the chicks there... and i mean ALL... wear super short skirts... like one gust of wind and i'm gonna find out if your wearing underwear or not short.... and super inhuman no one should be wearing high heels... it was crazy how high some heels were. i'm sure i totally stuck out with my new balance shoes and jeans... or maybe i didn't cuz no one was paying attention to me... LOL. Omg the things that pass for a bathroom in Ukraine... that crazy picture with the hole in the floor ya thats the toilet.... i'll let you imagine how to use that... Oh and another thing you are expected to grab toilet paper before you enter the restroom... not the stall the restroom... umm ya i was not aware of this custom... we will leave it at that. Not much has been said of your hotel room... well a picture says a thousand words... it was pretty darn crappy had a decent toilet though... it was 30$ a night i wasn't expecting much.
Anyways so we got to do and see everything Josh wanted to see on his mission but couldn't. Which included tons of churches... like tons... everyday we saw about 5.... Josh kept saying we were at a new church but they all looked the same to me! We got to go in a lot of museums too... interesting side note... most of them were not very good and they made you pay extra to take pictures. We did a lot of site seeing and a lot of eating... the food there was amazing and i fell in love. Sadly i was too busy eating and didn't get pictures of the food. They have this fast food restaurant called Shvdko... super yummy its all ukrainian food. We ate borsch and varenyky there all the time. Borsch is beet soup with cabbage and potato... its yummy trust me. Varenyky is kinda like ravioli... they make dough and put all sorts of stuff in it... potato, cabbage, meat, and they have a dessert one too with cherries.... again super yummy. They also had this super yummy roll that had raisins and like a cup of poppy-seeds in it.... looks gross but was sooooo yummy. Oh and another funny thing they love dill... everything we ate almost always had dill on it... our first breakfast they put dill on our fried eggs.... it was pretty good but different.
Josh got to connect with a few of his mission buddies and some of the members from the areas he served. It was an unforgettable trip thats for sure. I loved getting my passport stamped but they did a super crappy job.... we always compared to see who got the better stamp.
The flight home was soooo long... We had a 22hr layover in Finland so we spent the night in a way nice hotel... Finland seems like a cool place to visit and we wouldn't mind going back there someday. They love reindeer there... i guess they have a lot of reindeer farms they raise them for the meat. Josh had a reindeer pizza while we where there and they had the cutest reindeer souvenirs so i got the girls a really cool reindeer purse. It was a long journey and we were really anxious to see the girls again... Kalei was surprised and asked right away for her presents... Kamaile was hesitant at first but then started jumping and freakin out.
We got back on the 5th and the next day the 6th was my bday. I"m officially 27 now... not sure what significance that brings... my dad reminded me i'm almost 30... not too worried about that cuz ppl still ask if i'm in high school. My mom made an awesome Chinese food cake inspired by Hello Cupcake... i love that book(i'll try to get a pic posted tonight). Thanx mom. For more pics from Ukraine check out our facebook page.

July-August

2010-08-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I've updated this so one is needed. Last time i posted was around the 4th of july... Other events in July included an office party at Silverwood... it was really really fun and the girls had a blast... riding tons of rides... and when i say girls i really am just talking about Kalei! Kamaile was content to just sit in the stroller and watch everyone... a people watcher at heart! We did take Kamaile on a kiddie rollercoaster and she did NOT like it. It was really fun though and auntie Claire watched the kids so we could ride some rollercoasters too! We ended July with the pioneer picnic which was pretty fun. We also got a new calling the end of July... we are now Sunbeam teachers! It was our first calling as a married couple and here we go again!
August has been busy so far and we haven't even gotten to the end. On the 14th we went to the 2nd Annual Rodeback Reunion in Longview. It was a lot of fun to see everyone together... we rented out the pool for just our family and then had a fun park day.... well actually we went home cuz it was way too hott outside for park time... It was record high of 94 i think.... which is nuts for the area. We also had a Wii tennis tournament and family volleyball games... that was the best part, the volleyball. I've never laughed so much in my life! This coming weekend is Josh's 10year reunion... i can't believe we are old enough to go to reunions! Next week is the day i have been waiting for/dreading for awhile now. On the 26th we start our adventure to Ukraine. We are going to be gone about 12days and i'm scared! Mostly to leave my beautiful little girls! I'm going to be worrying about them prolly the whole time and wont relax until its time to come home...LOL. It should be fun and i'm really excited to see Josh back in his old stomping grounds. I guess a couple of his old mission buddies are going too so they will be all back together again...a mini mission reunion in Ukraine.
I guess we have been pretty busy looking back... we have been filling in the gaps going to the pool when we can i have been a readaholic.... living with Claire and Nicole who love to read encourage my love of reading so i have been busy reading.... reading... and more reading i think i've read four books in the last month or so. I'm starting the womens murder club series hopefully today and i can't wait for mocking jay to come out! If you have any recommendations i'll take em cuz i'm going to be doing a lot of reading on the plane!

4th of July in Seattle

2010-07-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun weekend visiting Josh's cuz in Seattle. Thanx so much for letting us crash there Robby & Jen! It was a lot of fun and the girls had fun playing with their boys! It was good to get outa Moses Lake... enjoy the pics!

For little Austin

2010-07-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

My good friends the Jone's are in need of some blood and prayers. Their little guy is in the hospital up in Spokane with E. Coli. This Fast Sunday keep them in your prayers and if you can go and donate some blood in Austins name. Here is some info that i took from Cortney's blog. We love you guys and hope Austin gets well soon!

We are also asking everyone we know to donate blood to their local blood bank (kind of paying it forward for all of the blood Austin will be using) or finding an Inland Northwest Blood Center to donate to to in Austin's name (http://www.inbc2.org/). They also need our address
Austin Jones
1710 W Hillcrest Dr.
Apt #134
Newbury Park, Ca 91320
This can offset some of our costs, but more importantly replace some of the blood we are using. Thanks for every one's love and support. We just want our little guy back and running.

Growing

2010-06-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a true update in a long time. Things have been moving around here... literally! After Josh's graduation we moved back up to Moses Lake where we will be staying permanently. For the present we are living in Gwen's house which is nice because we get to save some money for a down payment. Josh is studying for his bar exam and hopes to take it here in a couple weeks. The girls are growing like crazy. Kamaile is getting so big shes not really the baby anymore. In two weeks she starts nursery!!! She is so ready for it. She is our little bruiser, shes tuf and ruff when she plays. She loves balls and any stuffed animal. She is always carrying around a "baby". She can say baby, ball, grandpa, momma, dad.... and a lot of unrecognizable sounds. She is able to communicate what she wants. If she is hungry she goes to her chair, if she wants something outa the fridge she goes to the fridge. Its cute. She loves to run, she pretty much runs everywhere and usually falls a lot. Kalei and her usually play well most of the time but sometimes they just wanna do their own thing. Kalei is growing as well. She loves to repeat phrases usually things i dont necessarily want her to repeat. "this book sucks mom next one" "we dont scream and dont act like that" "Kamaile Bruce stop that right now" "who did this" oh and sometimes she spanks Kamaile too oh and my personal favorite she grabs my face and says 'mom you need to listen to me'. ya its funny but not in the moment! She loves to shop... much to my dismay because i do not like to shop! She loves to try things on and run out and show daddy and sister. Her favorite thing right now is her flip flops.... she refuses to wear shoes! She loves to ride her bike and since we have such an open space here she can ride it inside! She is still sassy... when i ask her to do something she doesn't want to do she says no i'll go to bed!!! She still loves the park and absolutely loves the library. They both do actually... i have to read to them everyday for waaaay too long. I try not to complain because reading is a good thing. They love to go "swimming" although they never get very wet... usually they just stand in a puddle. You can tell they love each other Kalei always makes sure i have Kamaile's special milk for her (she has to drink pedisure right now) and when Kalei is crying Kamaile is always there to bring her a stuffed animal. We love them!

Joshua Bruce DPT

2010-06-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

It was a fun filled weekend for the Bruce's actually just the last two days we haven't actually gotten to the weekend yet! Josh had his final presentation on Thursday so we got a hotel and spent the night since graduation was Friday. Our hotel had a pool with a tube slide... pretty cool but we didn't actually get to go on the slide... :( The girls loved it and i'm super mad i didn't get a pic of them in their swimsuits! But i got ones of them in their towels... sooooo cute. Actually Kalei did not appreciate the pics. Graduation went well... the girls were ok... Kalei feel asleep towards the end right when we started to take pictures. It was a pretty quick ceremony which we were very thankful for. Here are some pics of the graduate! (you might have to click them to be able to see josh) We are so proud of him and glad to be done!

Graduation

2010-06-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

At the end of this week Josh finishes his last internship here in Tri Cities and next week he graduates. He will be receiving his Doctoriate in Physical Therapy. Its been a long road and we are both really excited to be done... maybe Josh more than me! He has worked so hard and we are looking forward to reaping the benefits of his hard work. I really want to send out a cute invitation but Josh has been reluctant to say the least. I still have a little time so maybe you will still get one. We are very proud of him non the less and if you would like to join us for his graduation ceremony it will be held at the EWU field in Cheny on Friday June 11 at 2:00pm.
What's next for us... well Josh will become the newest member of Moses Lake Sports Physical Therapy on June 20th. Moses Lake here we come!

Dinner Ideas

2010-05-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

So i'm sure i'm not the only one who gets tired of making spaghetti every night for dinner.... dont get me wrong spaghetti is yummy but i need variety in life! Today i was thinking about our time in Hawaii and remembered this awesome dinner that we had with our friends the Kai's. Josh became good friends with them while he was there with Mitch and when i moved over we had sunday dinners with them. One dinner blew my mind!! So amazing and when we moved back i made it all the time. I guess I forgot about it but when i remembered today i was like OMG i totally want it. Its called Butteryaki (sp? its like teriyaki only instead of teri its butter). Anyways its pretty easy and soooooooooooo yummy. DISCLAIMER: this is not a health meal but if you dont care or are willing to hit the gym a couple more days this week this is your meal. So i tried to be artistic and stuff like my favorite blog MyKitchenCafe .... but ya... i just realized that i used a chipped bowl.... uhhh. Anyways as you can see this is very versatile you can pretty much use whatever you want. My favorites are shown but if you go to the Kai's your choices are endless: shrimp, chicken, steak, spinach, zucchini, onion, pineapple..... the list goes on forever! Go ahead and start your rice at this time thats gonna be what everything sits on! Next get out your pancake girdle you know you prolly got like 5 at your wedding! This is your weapon of choice for this meal but if you dont have one (i looked everywhere for mine and couldn't find it anywhere!) you can use a regular frying pan. Now going back to the Kai's... they had a huge table and maybe 3 or 4 of these griddles on the table and everyone got to help cook some of the stuff. WAY FUN! So first i always marinate my steak... i cut it into strips or if your lucky you can just buy it that way... and i put it in a ziplock and pour on some Shoyu (i'll come back to this) and a couple sprinkles of garlic powder. For chicken i would just do S&P and shrimp is good to go naked. Nothing fancy for the vegys either just chop them up. Ok fire up that griddle and slap on a healthy amount of butter (the name of this recipe has butter in it so you know there is gonna be a lot of butter). I usually start with the vegys to give the meat time to marinate.... its up to you....there is no real order but only so much can fit on the griddle at one time... although if you are doing spinach do that last cuz it cooks up quick... and it shrinks too so keep that in mind when buying. Ok each time you start a new vegy slap on some more butter... your gonna use a lot. You shouldn't need that much butter for the meat though. Ok so everything is fried up and ready to go but the thing that makes this out of this world is the sauce!!!! Aloha Shoyu (i've only been able to buy it at walmart but if you can find it else where...) Its amazing and in Hawaii this is your "soy sauce" its not as salty as the regular stuff so dont get scared by this next part. So i just take a regular glass fill it about half full... depending on how many ppl your feeding.... then put in about 4to5 spoonfuls of sugar. I know what your thinking but trust me its good! Out of this world good! So what you are looking for is a sweeter taste... dont worry you cant over do it... just slow down after 4 spoonfuls and taste often. This cannot and should not be done with Kikkoman's or you will prolly die!! Ok so load up your bowl starting with rice and for an extra special presentation get some sesame seeds for topping super yumm... then spoon a good amount of the sauce to your taste and have at it.... sooooooooo amazing!!!! So i think its a pretty unique dinner and now its your turn if you managed to read this whole thing you have a challenge... i want a yummy recipe thats out of the box... i'm ready for the challenge.

Circus, Circus, I love the Circus

2010-05-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

We are geeks around here and can only quote disney movies... anybody know the movie...? Anyways saturday we took the girls to their very first circus. It was put on by Shriners so it was a no brainier that we were going to go. As most of you know Kalei went to Shriners as a little baby because of her hip dysplasia. They took such good care of our little baby and they will always hold a special place in our heart! Anyways on to the circus. The first thing we saw when we walked in was elephants... you could ride! I was sooooooo excited and so was Kalei when i told her she could ride one! I really wanted to go with her but we are trying to teach her that she doesn't need me to do everything... so she went by herself... I was glad that there were some other moms on the elephant with her cuz i was kinda nervous she would fall off. She totally loved it though... we should have taken a video cuz her face was priceless. As soon as she got off she said "is it my turn again?" at $7 a pop no it was not her turn again for the rest of the circus. We did go down close to the ring and let her watch them walk around. She totally loved the elephants. The rest of the circus was pretty *yawn and Kalei almost did fall asleep until the elephants came running out whereupon she perked right up and got that cheesy smile again. After they left she went back to being sleepy and wanting to go home. Kamaile was freaked out by everything. The clapping was not good for her... she jumped and cried every time the audience applauded. The lighting was really horrible in there so we did not get any pictures at all really but of course we got some of Kalei on the elephant.... i blame the terrible pics on Josh... i'm very upset at how they came out but i guess they are proof enough that Kalei rode it on her own. It was a good time and good memories.

Kiev Temple and Kamaile's stats

2010-04-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

In 1998 the Kiev, Ukraine temple was announced. Two years later (i think) Joshua got his mission call to serve in the Kiev Ukraine mission. He was excited becuase he thought there would be a new temple in his mission... 12years later in Aug of this year the temple with be dedicated and opened. It has always been Josh's goal to go to the temple and over the years we talked about it often. He signed up for temple updates and we watched the progress. The latest one said they were planning to dedicate the temple in the fall. We were super excited and put some money away to go. Well about a week ago they announced the dedication to be August 29... not in the fall its in the summer when plane tickets are expensive... anyways so after working some magic, using some flyer miles and our tax return we have purchased our tickets and will be going. I'm soooooo excited for Josh, there was never a doubt in my mind that Josh would miss this. It will be a sacrifice for us but I believe its the right thing to do. We are not going to be able to make the open house but we are going to be there for the temple dedication and are sticking around for a couple days after words to get a session or two in. It will be such an awesome experience and i cant wait. A couple of his mission buddies are going as well and i can't wait to get a pic of all of them together again in Ukraine. What about the girls you ask... my sister amber has agreed to watch the little angels for us. She is a big reason why I am getting to go! We also have two super long layovers one in Finland and one in New York since this is a temple trip we want to try and hit up those temples as well.

Now for Kamailes stats. She had her 15month check up last week. She grew about 3inchs in height and only 7oz in weight. She is now in the 3rd percentile.... lower than Kalei!!! She eats way more than Kalei and i just can't believe it. We now have to start going in for monthly weight checks... ahh geez...Kamaile was suppose to be the good one! Other than that she is doing really really good. She is getting TWO teeth in the bottom front... her first teeth so its exciting for me. She is trying to talk but nothing is recognizable as words. Although when she drops something she will go "ooooooooooo" its cute. Kalei has been into dragons and dinosaurs lately and tells us what they say all the time so Kamaile has picked that up too... when i ask her what a dragon says she says "rarrrrr" its way cute... i'll have to get a video of that. I also pulled out our 18month clothes and am loving all the cute clothes i forgot i had. It reminded me of Kalei when she was this age... i can't believe that i have two children... and it hit me the other day when Kalei started talking to me omg Kamaile is going to grow up so fast and be a big girl like Kalei... its just weird to think about.

Girls Favorites....

2010-04-16T09:24:00.001-07:00

So every morning its pretty much the same routine... Kalei comes into our room and says she hungry.... usually i can put her back to sleep by getting her in bed with us and sometimes not. Well this morning she came in and wanted me to read to her! Ahhh that girl. Her favorite book right now is this Dora book we got her at Costco. It has like 12 different stories inside it and she cannot get enough! Its gotten to the point where i hide it because she would have me read it all day long if i would. Kamaile on the other hand has her favorite book as well. Its the Grumpy Cat! She loves this book when ever we start reading time she keeps looking for this book until she finds it and then thats the only book she wants to read...over and over and over again! Its funny cuz in the pic i took she looks grumpy but that because i took away a crayon she was trying to color the book with. I'm glad that they like to read but omg i can only handle reading the same book for so long!!! Another one of their favorite stops is the library... Kalei loves to pick books to read .... i've started putting the books back myself because i feel so sorry for the lady that has to put away the 20 books Kalei has pulled out! Kamaile has fun there too... they have a big lego board and tons of little cute children chairs and couches... Its defiantly one of their favorite days of the week. I also added a cute one of them at the park yesterday! It was hot enough to pull out their summer wear!! Their new favorite activity at the park... soccer...

My New Hair....

2010-04-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Kalei took these pics so ya! I haven't had bangs in like forever and i was really worried but i am having fun styling it. Oh and those are my new sunglasses! 10$ at Target... awesome!

Easter Fun

2010-04-06T10:58:00.001-07:00

This year was pretty low key compared to Easters past. The weather was pretty crappy which contributed. Friday night we went to Gwens to dye easter eggs with her. We tried tye dying some eggs and Kalei got to do some princess eggs as well. Saturday we went to Quincy for the Tolley egg hunt. It was really cold but fun non the less fun. Kalei was not interested in any of the candy she went right after the eggs. Kamaile wasn't really interested in anything she just liked to walk around. Combined the girls made $25... mostly in part to Kalei picking up the money eggs. They seriously cleaned up! On the way to Quincy we stopped and got a picture with the Easter bunny. Kalei loved him Kamaile not so much. That night we dyed eggs with the Rodebacks. Kalei had a blast putting the eggs in and Kamaile did too but she kept throwing the eggs and breaking them so she didn't get to enjoy it as much as everyone else. Sunday we had dinner with the Rodebacks again and then went to Randy's for games and Clair hid some eggs for the girls that had cute clips and things in them. It was a very successful weekend.
Amber and I also had a little craft night while the boys were at priesthood.... actually it was pretty much me sewing this cute fabric i got at JoAnns and working on a skirt i have put off for awhile. It was fun to see Adyson and the girls get to spend time together. Josh was not feeling well all weekend which is the reason he is not in many of the pictures. Enjoy!

Kalei and her bike

2010-03-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

So on her 3yr check up one of the questions the doc asked was if she could ride a bike... i looked at her like 'what she is only 3.' So feeling like our child was way behind... (which she is prolly not) we went straight to Walmart and bought her a bike! LOL Anyways we tried it a few times in the house and she didn't really get how to use it and it just frustrated her so it went to the way side for awhile. Well today was a nice day so we took them outside and remembered hey we have a bike... so we got it out and got to really ride it. It was so cute to see her in it and after she got the hang of it we road it around the apartment complex. She is really bad at turning and ran into the wall a couple times... anyways enjoy!

Kamaile's Crazy Tongue

2010-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Remember when we got Kamaile's tongue clipped... well now she has a wicked long tongue... she picked up this cute habit at grandma and grandpas this last weekend... isn't she cute!

Kalei is officially 3 years old

2010-03-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

I waited until her actual birthday to post this blog. We love our little princess and have been blessed with such a cutie. She is so smart and beautiful and we are so lucky to have her. Even though she drives me bonkers sometimes she is my little Kaleizy and i wouldn't trade her for anything.
On Saturday we had a Cinderella party for her here at our house. She had the dress and crown to wear. She didn't like how scratchy it was so i put a white onesize underneath. She also got two Cinderella Bday cakes and all the decorations... spoiled... well maybe. She was old enough to enjoy it though. All her grandparents were in attendance as well as auntie clair and great grandma bruce! She was the perfect little princess. I had to picture the cinderella present she got... doug and linda (who were unable to come) got it for her... i totally wanted to get it for her but didn't.... i'm glad she got it... she LOVES it.... along with all the tinkerbell fairies and her plastic food. She also got some tracing books, a paint set, and a piggy bank.
To celebrate her day today i'm going to try to not say no to her... prolly not gonna happen, she does have some odd requests... i did give in to her already when she wanted to sleep more...actually i already broke the not saying no... she wanted a Princess Bell Bday cake for breakfast... i talked her into oatmeal! But i plan on taking her to the park, McDonalds playland her fav, and maybe she can pick out a cupcake at Fred Myers... or ice cream somewhere... whatever she wants, she is the princess.

San Diego Book

2010-03-07T13:14:00.001-08:00

After we went to DC we thought it would be fun to make a collection of Bruces Travels... both Josh and I love to travel and I hope we continue that in the future... I made everything in the book... thanx a bunch to my fav website Shutterfly for making it a book.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Creative

2010-03-01T09:47:00.001-08:00

So i got the idea from U-Create.... Im not sure i 100% like it.... im up for critique

Kalei's Birthday Announcement

2010-02-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

So I have been really busy and just sent these out yesterday. All are welcome to come and we can't wait to see you at our little princess party!

San Diego

2010-02-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

So i finished my work so now i dont feel as bad wasting time on here blogging. This last week we had a blast in San Diego. Josh went to CSM (an annual physical therapy conference thingy). He was excited to go since he didn't get to go last year with his class mates due to Kamaile coming a little early. I was a little nervous about the flight because i wasn't sure how Kalei would react to the take off and landing. She actually really liked it and read all the magazines like a billion times. She also loved the complimentary drinks. We are cutting back on her juice so she felt really special when ordering apple juice! There were no complaints from Kamaile either who loved to look out the window.

Josh had lots of fun and said the classes were really good at the conference. He also hit up the vendors and scored about 100pens and what not. He loves to collect all the promotional stuff and wont let me use any of them... LOL. While josh was at the conference the girls and i explored the city. I got to drive the rental car and get familiar with the city. Just a not about the rental car. We went with the compact to save money but boy was that thing tight... so tight Josh couldn't even fit in the front...LOL. It was a Ford Focus obviously not designed for two car seats! But it had guts and i had fun driving it. It loved driving there... i was born to drive in a big city. Mostly the girls and i went to just about every park i could find on the map. Kalei loved it... it was warm (sometimes too hott) and wonderful to be outside again. The first day was a little rocky... After being at the park for like 10mins Kalei peed her pants and after coming back to the hotel and changing her she pooped her pants! Not fun.... she got a very uncomfortable shower and then it was nap time.

Just a little note about our hotel. It wasn't what i thought it was going to be but there was free hott breakfast and that was the main reason for choosing the hotel. We got two queen beds which we thought would be perfect... the girls in one us in the other. Well no didn't work out like that. Kamaile is a menace.... no one wanted to sleep with her. She likes to sleep with her feet in your side and kick you all night. Usually it was the three of us in one bed and Kamaile in the other... i feel sorry for her husband!

The second day was much better we went to Sea World! I was pretty surprised at how expensive it was. 69$ a person plus 12$ parking fee... i mean common! But we paid so i guess it wasnt' that much right? Anywas we got there right when it opened 10am because i did not want to pay another 12$ for parking the next day. It was so much fun touching all the animals... mantirays, dolphins, starfish... i think thats it but i cant remember. I really really wanted to go swimming with the dolphins but it was 190$... are they freakin nuts! I was content to just touch him on the head! We caught the sea lion show which was pretty good... Kamaile got freaked out by the clapping but Kalei seemed to like it. The Shamoo show was what Kamaile loved, she was so cute clapping and dancing to the music. They also had this way cool children's sesame street playland place. The girls totally loved that and i did too but we had to keep moving cuz we only had one day! Next we headed to the arctic part of seaworld... we got to see penguins, white whales, and polor bears. They had this really cool polar bear cave as pictured below. I thought it would be so fun for Kalei so i encouraged her to go... well right when she got inside there was a really loud growl like a bear waking up and wasn't happy that Kalei was in its cave... it scared her so bad she cam running out and slipped hitting her head... josh dropped the camera trying to catch her.... It was hilarious... now Kalei is scared of polar bears!! We finished up the day riding the Atlantis water/roller coaster ride and getting a family pic sitting on Shamoo!

Saturday was beach day. We picked up Josh and headed to the beach. It was so pretty but cold! The girls didn't go in the water but i got some good pics. Next to the beach is a little plaza thingy with rides so we took kalei on a carousel ride (her favorite!) and got a Chip Stick... its like a potato on a stick that they deep fry... its really good.

Our last day Sunday we went to the USS Midway... an aircraft carrier museum docked in the bay. It was actually a lot more fun than i thought. This is really Josh's thing he likes but i went along because Kalei LOVES airplanes. She was going crazy in there with all the airplanes... and she loved going in the ship jumping over all of the hole thingys... i dont know what they are called. She also got to go in some of the airplanes and push the buttons. It was prolly just as fun for her as SeaWorld if not more. It was interesting to see everything and a little claustrophobic. After the Midway we went to the temple. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a lot of temple grounds to walk around but it was still pretty seeing the temple... Kalei said it looked just like a castle... and it does. Our last stop on the trip was the VW dealership... ya thats right we looked at cars! This was obviously not my idea but Josh has been wanting to show me the new VW van... trying to convert me to a family car. It was actually pretty fun and we got to test drive it too!

On the flights back both planes were delayed and we didn't get home till 5am in the morning... Way crappy. Thanx to Brett for staying up and meeting us at the airport in Spokane!

February Weekends

2010-02-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

Oh boy this month has been a busy one for our family and it just keeps on going. So the the first weekend we went back home to watch the superbowl with our families... we were really looking forward to it... Unfortunately the girls got sick and our plans were not what we expected but fun non the less... and the Saints won so it was a pretty good weekend. I ended up getting whatever the girls had and Kalei got worse while Kamaile got better. It was a pretty miserable week and hard on the girls seeing as i tried to just lay in bed all day... it really took a toll on my house as well.... i didnt' clean anything for a week... We planned on going to Longview for valentines day and to visit my grandpa in the hospital so Josh planned ahead and bought be some flowers early.. lilies soooo pretty! On friday we headed out to Longview... i was feeling a lot better and the girls were doing better too. Saturday we went up to visit my grandpa rodeback. He was NOT doing good. He just had double knee surgery and was in a lot of pain... they couldn't get his pain meds right so it was pretty painful. After the visit we went to IKEA way fun! That night we celebrated Valentines Day by going to the Oak Tree in Woodland with my parents and aunt and uncle Luster. Worst service in my life... it might take me like two more posts to tell you all the stuff that went wrong. It was definitely one Valentines Day we will not forget! Just a few of the key highlights... we went there at 6 didn't leave till 815 and they messed up just about everyone's meals. We finished off the night at my grandparents playing Clue. My parents went back sunday to visit while the kids and i went to church with the Lusters. The rest of the day was spent playing Clue and visiting with the family. We played prolly 20games of Clue... its the newer version with a few new twists... its addicting trust me. On Monday we went back to Portland to visit my grandpa and headed out back to Kennewick. On the way back we stopped at this cool Stonehenge replica... it was pretty fun. Josh helped me climb up a column so i could stand and be really cool... after i got up there i realized that it prolly wasn't the smartest thing and didn't want to stand anymore. We leave tomm for San Diego and Kalei is defiantly excited... its so cute to hear her say i'm going to San Diego... she's a doll. I added a few random pics of the girls for fun.... That is Kamaile in her favorite spot in the house...underneath my desk wrapped in all the cords. Then a cute one of the girls hugging during our Valenines photo shoot! enjoy!

Happy V-day

2010-02-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Cutest Giveaway Ever!!

2010-01-28T22:20:00.000-08:00

I usually do not post things like this on my blog but this is totally worth it! Bunny Lane Designs through Mamma Tortilla is giving away this soooooooooooo cute doll. She comes with outfits and matching blanket!!! And if you win you can customize the doll for our blond hair blue eyed little girls too! They are so cute and I really really really wanna win... Honestly i might just try to buy one even if i dont, they are that cute!

Sew Sew Sew, and Kamaile walks

2010-01-25T18:08:00.001-08:00

I have been busy sewing a lot. Well in between working... i was pretty sad when i had more tapes mailed to me cuz then i couldn't' sew but i need money! I got the sewing bug after reading a Rag Quilt Letter tutorial on U Create, one of my new favorite web sites. I am not a master at sewing by any stretch of the imagination but this seemed easy enough and so cute for the girls. I did learn somethings which I will share with you guys... keep in mind that i know very little about sewing. I used scrap material for the letters mostly from what my grandma and mom gave me. For the insides i used "thick" interfacing. Kind of a funny story... i had no idea what interfacing was so i walked around Joanns for awhile and even called my mom who finnally convinced me to ask someone... The lady must have thought i was a retard. There was like 50 different kinds... NO JOKE. So i asked her which one she thought i should use and i bought it. It was kinda thicker which she thought would be cute. After finishing the lettters and washing a few (thanx to kalei for spilling milk all over them) i learned that maybe the thicker kind was not the best. I should have used felt like it was suggested later. Oh and be really really careful when you cut the frays.... ya needless to say i cut into the stitch lots of times!!! and kalei 'helped' by grabbing the scissors and nearing cutting T in half!!! It was a trial and a half but i made it. Total cost was about $5 for the interfacing... I'm going to leave out the extra cost of the animal print that i really didnt' need but thought would be cute! These letters I made for Adyson (my sister amber's daughter). I think they are pretty cute and i'm pleased, now i am starting my letter... ugg. New adventure after than... i'm gonna make a blanket... easy enough right?

And a bonus for all of those reading my entire ramblings.... Kamaile walks!!! She woke up on her birthday and decided that she wanted to start walking!! This was actually a video i took today but you get the jist.

Kamaile Turns 1

2010-01-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone that was able to come to Kamaile's party this last saturday... we had tons of fun and it was good to see so many people! I made cupcakes for her penguin themed b-day party. Kamaile loves penguins so it was only natural that we chose that theme. I loved themed parties its always so much fun... although i need to get better at decorating... i'm sure that will be easier when we actually have money! Anyways so we bought a really cute penguin onezie for Kamaile to wear and then in the mail my sister sent the same onezie for her b-day present... it was really funny... but it was big enough for Kalei to wear so they both sported their penguin pride, Kalei is also a big fan of penguins. So i also made lunch for everyone (clubs the usual) and then we sang happy b-day.... unfortunately Kamaile fell asleep before any of the good stuff. So Kalei stepped in to blow out the candle and open the presents... So after just about everyone had gone Kamaile decides to wake up and enjoy her self with the cake and new toys everywhere. It was really funny. Its hard to believe how much she has grown in one year. Oh and i almost forgot... when Kamaile woke up on her b-day she decided that she was going to walk... now she walks everywhere... its soooo stinkin cute... i'll have to upload a video of it some other day. Again thanx to everyone. Enjoy the pics.

Kamaile's B-day Invitation

2010-01-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

I only sent out invites to the grandparents this year so if you are in the area and want to come we would love you have you! Thank you to Sears for the awesome pics!

5 years and counting

2010-01-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm embarrassed to announce that i forgot to talk about our anniversary in the update i did the other day. The good news is Josh prolly won't get around to reading this anytime soon so i'm good! So on January the 5th Josh and i celebrated our 5year anniversary!! I can't believe its been that long. We have had quite the adventure these past few years and it has been a lot of fun. I feel very blessed to be married to such an awesome guy, so happy for my two gorgeous girls, and very thankful for all the places I have been able to visit. I expect more great adventures to come. We just moved and i couldn't find the camera so the only pics i have are on Josh's phone... :(
So to celebrate we went to Red Lobster. My only requirement for anniversary dinner is to go somewhere that we do not usually go...ie somewhere expensive... common let me splurge!!! So we went to Red Lobster...(we actually used the rest of a gift card that Josh got from his boss so it wasn't that expensive). I was excited because, like my sister, i LOVE shrimp. So i already knew what i was getting... the shrimp lovers plate. Well when we got there i saw these new lobster nachos. Now i'm not a big fan of lobster but i do love my nachos so i had to try em. OMG they are freakin amazing!!!! I was so in love with them that the shrimp was just ok. Although i got coconut shrimp and they were way way good... the sauce for them was sooooooooooo good... Kamaile totally loved it. Yes we had to take the kids with us... and those dumb people put us in the middle of everyone... what were they thinking... hello you always put kids in the deep dark corner of the restaurant... but whatever. It was really fun and we even went to Fred Meyer and got chocolate covered strawberrys and a Napoleon... something Josh and I had never had before. It was a great anniversary! Dont forget to read the update below!

We are alive

2010-01-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well its been awhile since i've been on here and just today i got the internet back!!! thank goodness! This one is gonna be a long post but i added lots of pics so stay with me. Right after my last post we had Josh's b-day... he is 28!!!! It was low key just family and friends at the house. It was fun and Josh picked out that super fancy cake from Safeway. He got mostly money which works for us!! Kinda annoying though cuz now when he wants something at the store and i say no he reminds me about all the money he got in gifts...LOL.
On the 19th our ward (ML 4th ward at the time) had a Christmas breakfast. It was so much fun and Santa even made an appearance. Kalei loved him this year and talked his leg off. Going on and on about all the movies she wanted... Snow White, Bell, and Ariel... pretty funny. Kamaile sat on his lap but i think only because Kalei was there too.
Christmas eve we went to the McDowell's for the Christmas party. One word to sum it up... YUM! They always have the yummiest stuff there. Kalei made a friend there too. Josh's cuz's son Jack and Kalei were best buds... they sat on the couch and had a very grown up conversation. It went something like... Hi i'm Kalei.... (jack) Hi... my shoes are untied.... then they ran around and screamed the rest of the night.
So the holiday went great the girls made out with tons of toys... it looks like the toy department threw up in here. Usually I name which toy was their favorite but Kalei seems very pleased with pretty much everything... well almost and Kamaile is happy with life. I would say its a tie for Kalei between Kung Fu Panda (from uncle tristan), The Rescuers (anutie clair), a princess book with mini princesses in it (g&g rodeback), and the complete set of full side princesses... all seven (grandpa bruce). What did we get her you ask well i thought she would filp a lid at our present, Snow White movie.... but noooo she watched like 5mins and went back to the princesses. The pic pretty much sums it up. Bad luck i guess. Kamailes fav present is by far the stand up play center.... as shown...(from grandma bruce). What was my favorite present... well its a tie between all the money and gift cards and the Wii !!!! Josh might be more excited about that though... now he actually has a game console. Anyways it was fun jumping around to all the family events and super fun watching Sherlock Holmes on Christmas as is our family tradition... along with everyone else in Moses Lake... that place was packed!
After the holidays the 29th to be exact we made the not so fun move to Tri-Cities... now the actual move was tedious and loathsome... but after getting here i was totally excited. We have choice again! No more Wal-Mart for everything you need.... i have a choice between a million different stores to shop at!!! Its like heaven! We also upgraded to a three bedroom which is a blessing... now only one room looks like a bomb went off instead of the whole house.... that is an actual picture i just took to prove my point.....LOL.
So since the move i have had no internet.... it was pretty boring the first two days but then we visited Doug and Linda (josh's aunt and uncle) and they let me borrow a book. First off i have to tell you a little something about me some of you may already know... I love to read but its not always a good thing... i usually stay away from reading unless i have nothing else to do and that is because i get addicted.... like real addicted.... like i can't do anything else until i finish the book addicted. Of course the book has to be good but you get the picture. So needless to say i finished the book in three days... and that was only because i pried myself away to unpack and take care of the kids... So the book i read was A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill O'Reilly. I am a huge fan of Bill O'Reilly (i would love to meet him if any of you out there have connections). We share a lot of the same ideologies (fancy word i picked up from Bill)... and i very much liked this book. It was a short of history of his life and how he got to be the person he is today. He is super hilarious and his stories are outrageous. It was a great book and i highly recommend it.
Well thats whats been going on lately the girls are good... Kamaile made it to that bladder appointment and the doc said she has a good chance of just growing out of it. In the mean time we have to keep her on medication for six months so she doesn't get any more uninary tract infections... if she does that means trouble. Kalei is as sassy as ever. She treats Kamaile the same way i treat her. If Kamaile wants something she will say stop crying please... then when she stops she will give her something. Hilarious!!! Kamaile will be turning one on the 16th... still haven't got invitations out but it will be on the 16th at our new place in Tri-Cities at noon if you are interested in coming. Those invitations should go out soon so stay tuned. And if you made it to the end of this post good job... i prolly would have not finished.

Princess and the Frog

2009-12-16T23:23:00.000-08:00

So remember how Kalei has loved being on Disney Princess Online well the newest princess is Princess Tiana from Princess and the Frog. She has gotten to know her online and the new Tinkerbell movie we got has a preview for the movie as well. Kalei has been so excited to see the movie and asked us everyday when she could watch it. She kept saying buy it mom! Well we decided that we would take Kalei to the movies for the first time and she could watch it. Our two biggest fears were that 1) she would get scared of the loud sounds and dark theater and want to leave or 2) get bored and want to leave. It was a pretty expensive gamble but we did it. She totally loved the movie. Her aunties Clair and Nicole came too which was a nice treat. Kalei bounced around lap to lap and loved the whole movie. There was a scary part but she just turned to me and said scary mom... that was it... just matter of fact! She did great and it was fun to take her. She is growing up and doing big girl things now... we just love her!
PS: Now instead of asking us to buy the movie she wants us to take her again to the movies!!

December

2009-12-10T20:00:00.001-08:00

Its been awhile since i did a proper post. We have been busy these last few weeks. We got to cut down a Christmas tree this year. I was really excited about that. It was one thing as a kid i loved doing. There was no lanterns or hot chocolate after we were done but it was still a lot of fun. My mom likes to get the girls ornaments every year and this year kalei got a cute little people bus!! She is totally in love with vintage little people so it was perfect! Josh finished up his internship after Thanksgiving and it has been awesome to have him home. I have finished up my time for BYU-Hawaii and am no longer working for them... there were some tax issues and they cannot have me as an employee while i am in Washington unless they have a licence. I'm sad to finish but its time to move on i guess. There is still a chance that i might start back up next September but who knows. Kamaile has not been doing well. She just recovered from her second urinary tract infection. They did a special test to see if all her parts were working correctly and now we are just waiting for the results. I'm working on my Christmas cards/newsletter and i hope to have them mailed out by tomm...(cross your fingers.) Most of you loyal readers are on the list... if you want one just send me your address and i'll make sure you get one. Happy Holidays guys!

ElfYourself

2009-12-10T18:30:00.001-08:00

Saw this on the Cassidy's blog and could not resist! Does my head really look that big??

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Vote for my kids....

2009-11-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

This is a contest i entered the girls in. We all know they are super cute so lets vote people!

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

Peppermint Ice Cream

2009-11-14T22:33:00.001-08:00

I totally totally love peppermint ice cream. I tried it last year and fell in love. I dont add the candy cane bits... not a big fan of chewing my ice cream... but i'm sure its good. Per the request of Amy i am posting it to my blog. You'll have to let me know how it turns out. (This recipe is ment for my Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker ICE-20 Series.)

PEPPERMINT STICK ICE CREAM
Preparation: 5 – 10 minutes, 25 – 30 minutes chilling time; optional 2 hours to
“ripen” in freezer.
Makes about ten 1/2-cup servings.
1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
3/4 cup crushed hard peppermint candies
In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to combine the milk and
granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 – 2 minutes on low
speed. Stir in the heavy cream, vanilla and peppermint extract. Turn the
machine ON, pour mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and
let mix until thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes. Add the crushed peppermint
candies during the last 5 minutes of mixing.

Growing up

2009-11-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

The girls have really been growing this week. Kamaile started walking behind Kalei's car type thingy... it was really cute i turn around and Kamaile is walking behind it. So cute... i tried to get it on video but i guess by the time i came back with the camera she was done. Kalei has made some awesome strides as well this week. She loves FisherPrice.com and DisneyFairies online. At fisher price she has gotten good at painting and she loves the ABC's as well. On the fairies site she can visit all the fairies and learn about them. They have games as well.... those games are a little advanced and usually she makes me play them while she watches. I started getting annoyed going to these sites all the time so i decided i would teach her how to use the mouse and she could roam around the site by herself. I am amazed at how fast she is catching on. She is so smart and she reminds me of that everyday. I just love em.

Another Halloween for the record books

2009-11-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

This year's Halloween was tons of fun. We had our annual pumpkin carving at the Rose Street this year. It was a lot of fun. Kalei actually got to pull the guts out of our pumpkin and we had a bubbling rootbeer cauldron as well. Our pumpkins turned out ok... nothing to brag about. Halloween was a lot of fun.... as you can see we did 101 Dalmations. I was Cruella DeVil, Josh was Jasper, and the girls were our little puppies.... It was really cute and we got a lot of compliments. Josh's grandma even called me the queen of halloween.... I think i'm gonna keep that nickname... i do enjoy Halloween...This year we took Kalei trick-or-treating for the first time... she had fun. We took her to our wards trunk-or-treat...really fun. Then we did the usual grandparent rounds. By the end of the night her bucket was so full she couldn't lift it anymore! All in all it was a good Halloween... now only 364 more days till next year... i'm all ready planning our costumes.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

So we went to the pumpkin patch last weekend but i'm just now getting all the pics back from our adventure. As most of you know i LOVE halloween. Its so fun to dress up and carve pumpkins. Its just a good ole family fun holiday. As is tradition in our family we went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins. I enjoy the hay ride out to the patch and then the hunt for the perfect pumpkin in a sea of pumpkins. Its just fun. Kalei had a blast she got to go down that slide thing, pet some animals in the petting zoo, and just run around the pumpkin patch. Her favorite part was sitting on the pumpkins. Kamaile had a good time too, we sat her on some pumpkins and by the end she was starting to pull herself up to stand next to them. When we got to the patch is was kinda chilly but by the time we left it was pretty warm.... hence the progression of less and less clothing in the pics. Kalei had such a good time running around out at the patch that she fell asleep at Costo on a pack of TP... it was a kodak moment. Unfortunately this story has a very depressing ending. Today going over the pics i wanted to check our pumpkins to see how they were doing. Josh wanted to be nice to them and put them in the garage... i agreed... it sounded like a nice spot out of the cold. Unfortunately when i went to pick mine up i put my hand right through it!! All the pumpkins spoiled!! What a waste of money... so we will be having yet another pumpkin adventure only this time the patch is the box in front of Walmart! Enjoy the pics!

Frog Invasion

2009-10-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Our house has been invaded by frogs... so gross. The other day Clair and i woke up to about four or five frogs by the back door. Clair actually found a frog in the kitchen which sparked our frog hunt. Since then all we have been finding is dead frogs all over the house. So gross. One of the 10 plagues??? whats next locust!
I'm working on pics from the pumpkin patch... they should be coming soon.

My Girls

2009-10-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Oh to think that i have two beautiful little girls. I am so happy to be a mother and both of my girls make it so easy. Sure they throw the occasional fit, make stinky diapers, throw up on the carpet, and pee in their pants but mostly they are cute little girls. I have been really busy working lately but i think i have done a good job about putting my priorities in order. The girls and growing and getting smarter!!
Kamaile is growing so fast she will be 9months next month. She is army crawling now and wanting to stand all the time. She is so cute and loves to stand. She is also getting louder making happy baby sounds. She is the loudest when we are trying to watch something.... lol. She is a happy baby and just goes with the flow. She is also eating very well and eats whatever i throw at her. Today we had yogurt with oatmeal/carrots/broccoli/garlic powder/lamb.... i know it sounds gross but at least she got all her food groups!! I have really been enjoying making baby food for Kamaile. It is pretty easy and it makes me feel good to know she is eating so healthy. She definitely is pleasantly plump!
Kalei is my popsicle queen. She always wants either a popsicle or oatmeal. She is super smart and always wants to have study time. I've been trying to teach her three letter words but it doesn't seem to be sticking yet. She loves the park and is becoming a good climber. She loves her disney movies and especially her disney princesses... even though we only own Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas. She also loves to help me type... i am on my computer all the time when i am working and she likes to come in saying "mommy its Kalei's turn" its pretty cute. Sometimes i close the door when josh is home so i can work... Kalei opens the door just enough to squeeze through and then closes it behind her.... i guess she thinks ill be ok with that. Shes really funny!

Kalei is potty trained!

2009-10-01T15:54:00.001-07:00

So i'm just gonna call it... its been three days. Kalei has been wearing big girl underwares and has not had a accident in three days! She even tells me when she needs to go potty. We run to "cars potty" and she has to set it up by herself. We still wear a 'safety' diaper at night but other than that she is good to go. I totally love only having one kid in diapers now. Although it is kinda annoying having to take Kalei to the potty like 10times a day. Someday she will be able to use the potty without mommy but for now i'm just glad that the poo poo goes in the potty and i can just flush it away!
So now some tips i have for those of you working on going potty... first of all this did not happen over night... much to my dismay. Some things that worked for us....
- Shopping for a potty and big girl underwear.... Kalei loved being able to pick out all of her big girl stuff... and when we got home she was excited to use them.
- Have them wear underwear all day. At first she had tons of accidents but if you wear socks and pants then most of the pee gets soaked up. We always made her take a shower right away if she did have an accident.
- 'Don't pee on Sleeping Beauty'.... i stole this from one of the other moms i knew... it seemed to work... kalei felt bad when she made sleeping beauty cry... oh and if she did go in the potty tinkerbell or whoever was on the underwear said thank you to kalei.
- Potty Treats...Every time she saw skittles any where she automatically linked that to peeing and all the sudden would have to go pee. She gets 3 skittles every time the pee goes in the potty. Another potty treat was a puzzle Gwen got her. It worked great... we would take her in and make her sit there but she never wanted to stay, the puzzle worked great cuz by the time she had finished, the pee had come!
Those are the things i can think of and seem to be working. i always like to post pics in every post but i didn't think a pic of kalei in her underwear would be appropriate so here is a pic of her "cars potty" that she had to have... dispite some pressuring for a tinkerbell potty. she got what she wanted.... i'm just glad she changed her mind from the Cars boy underwear she wanted.....

Kalei does numbers 0-20!!!!

2009-09-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I know you have all been waiting for this video. I was hoping that she would learn them sooner but with a new baby and moving... our study times have been non existent. But we are back on track and learning a lot. I'm not sure what we are going to attempt next but something good i'm sure.

Kalei's 1st haircut and Kamaile's check up

2009-09-12T21:50:00.001-07:00

Today Kalei got her first hair cut. It was a pretty big step and yes i saved a ringlet of her cute hair. She really didn't get that much cut off... i just wanted to have it evened out. As you can see in the before picture it was getting a little mullet-ish! So we just went in for a trim. I think it turned out great and she i'm soooooo glad i did it. I was really nervous cuz i really didn't want to lose the curls but actually it shows off the curls well. Kalei did great... i had to sit in front of her and hold her hands the whole time but she did great! I got my hair cut too but that is for another post.

We also had a check up for Kamaile's hips. I was super nervous about her hips because they moved up her date from January to September. But all was well and nothing to worry about. Kamaile did awesome and everyone was ooooing and ahhhhing over her. She never cried a peep.... until the doctor came in... it was weird but funny. She did well and he said to treat her like a normal baby. Her hips are still shallow but everything is within normal limits. We are very happy. Next check up is in 6months... for both girls now!

One year older!

2009-09-08T12:06:00.001-07:00

Sunday was my 26th birthday! It was a lot of fun. We had cake and ice cream at our house... I got an ice cream cake with outrageous oreo ice cream... Tons of ppl came... thanx so much i didn't know i was so loved! The tinkerbell tiara was apresent and it was required that i wear it. I feel really old... well kinda... mostly i'm just suprised that i have two kids already. Its crazy. They are getting big and i love them so much. I feel really bad... Josh and I didnt even get a pic together. Josh got the cake and invited everyone over... it was a lot of fun thanx Josh.
So if you noticed in the pic Kamaile is wearing her halloween pjs... i love halloween and i cant wait, as soon as they start selling halloween stuff in the store it gets me pumped. Its my favorite holiday ever!! i start planning the costumes about November 1st of every year!!! LOL... we have a good theme this year so stay tuned.

I added this cute video of the girls. Kamaile thinks its funny when kalei jumps on the bed. its really cute!

Fun at the Fair

2009-08-24T13:41:00.001-07:00

So this last week was the Grant County Fair... prolly one of the only cool things that ever happens in Moses Lake. We had a lot of fun and totally spoiled Kalei. She got to ride a pony for the first time, she went down the huge pink slide, touched a pig, and went to the petting zoo. She totally loved the pony and kept saying look at me daddy... she was so cute. We went to see all the animals and when we went in to see the pig a little boy asked if she wanted to pet it. She was totally freaked when the big smelly pig got up. It was huge! Next we took her down that huge pink slide thingy... totally a favorite of hers. Then to finish off we went to the petting zoo. She walked right in and tried to sit on the turtle!!!... the lady about had a heart attack! It was hilarious! She didn't really like touching any of the animals but for some reason she wanted to touch that zebra/donkey thing... she tried to crawl under the fence to get to it. All in all it was a great time... and of course i got my spaceburger. I included a few pics of kamaile too, thats about all she got out to do... she slept through most of the fair!

Kamaile

2009-08-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Its been a rough week for me emotionally. Before we left Spokane we found out that Kamaile had shallow hip sockets and a good posibility that she could have hip displasia like Kalei. They said it wasn't serious but that Shriners wanted her to come in in January. I was concerned but i thought oh they dont want to see her until she turns 1 so it might not be that bad. It went on the back burner and i didn't really think about it... with the move i had other issues. I did find time to send in the application to Shriners for her to be seen there. 2 weeks later she was accepted and instead of coming in in January they wanted to move it up to September. I was and still am freaked... why do they want to see her so much sooner. Im pretty nervous now and when i should be looking forward to my bday in 2 weeks i'm just stressing about kamailes appointment. Josh is convinced that she will be going in a cast like kalei. Our doctor is very conservative and we could see him advising us to do a cast. I have gone through a lot of emotions about this and am very nervous for my little baby. Nothing has happened yet but its just my personality to stress out about the what if. I have to focus on the positive that yes there is something wrong with her but it can be fixed and benefit her in the long run. Her appointment is Sept 11 (kinda bad day) so we will have more news then.

Bye Bye Spokane, and Reunion

2009-08-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well we are officially residents of Moses Lake once again. I absolutely love Spokane and wish i could live there. I often find myself thinking oh i'm bored lets go to the mall... ya no mall here boys and girls! Our check out from Cedar Springs went great except the BILL i got from them instead of my deposit back!!! When we checked out she said 'wow this looks great... better than most i have checked out' so i'm thinking ya we did good. Then i get a bill for 8hrs of cleaning that 'needed' to be done on my apartment! messed up!! I was way pissed... i wrote them an angry letter and as promised i have smeared their name to all my friends! DO NOT LIVE THERE... THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF!!!! So that has got me fired up right now sorry for the rant.
On the 6th of this month we had a Rodeback Reunion in Longview, WA. We went to the beach, tie died some shirts, did karaoke, and just had a blast. It was awesome to see everyone! It was soooo much fun and i hope that we continue to do it every year.
No other new news from the home front just getting ready for the fair. Actually i might have some news about Kamaile coming up next month but i will keep you posted. It involves another trip to Shriners and hips... put the pieces together! I included some of my recent scraps of our adventures and then a pic of the Rodebacks at the reunion (sorry its so small, i stole it from Tristans facebook). Enjoy!

Final Days... Fun Times

2009-07-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

So i wanted to get in everything we had been meaning to do before we leave Spokane. Top of the list... take kalei to riverfront park. We have been before but i didnt' have my camera so today we headed out. Josh was only suppose to have class for an hour so i dropped him off and tried to kill time before going to the park. When he got to class the teacher said there was a typeo and class was 3hrs. I was bumbed but i had told kalei we were going there so i felt bad just turning around. So it was a girl day today. We started at the carosel... so much fun... kinda hard to get both kids and myself on a horse but i managed. Kalei totally loved it. (the pics are crappy cuz i used my cell phone) Our next adventure was the water feature downtown... also another favorite of kalei's. The water is pretty cold though so she doesn't necessarily like to get wet. She prefered to sit on a rock and just watch. I forced her a couple times... it was funny. After that i was tired and hott so we took a break on the grass to relax and feed kamaile (shes on the bottle now btw). After that we headed to another area of the park and played on the swings and slides. It was a very eventful day... tons of fun. It was good to remind myself that hey i can do this i dont need josh to be there all the time. Although it would have been nicer cuz i did have to leave my stroller and purse a lot of places out of reach that made me nervous... i guess i was just lucky nothing got stolen!
We are in our final days of packing and one thing i'm looking forward to the most is central air!!!!!!!! Its so hott!! I added this cute pic of Kalei feeding Kamaile. Kalei has always wanted to feed Kamaile but she didn't start taking bottles till now so Kalei has been having a ball feeding a real baby! She truly loves her little sister.

Six Months

2009-07-21T14:05:00.001-07:00

I love to do comparisons of the girls... it was a long time ago that Kalei was six months but here are the girls both at six months... so different... so the same... both cute! (at the request of the peanut gallery the scraps are updated...if you are looking at this for a second time)

Chronic bad decision making

2009-07-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

So it was another crazy weekend for us... we like to keep busy! After the reunion my feet were hurting as i expected they might after playing basketball in sandals/no shoes. I didn't really think anything of it. Sunday and Monday i played tennis in shoes but not very supportive ones and defiantly not made for sports! The pain was still there and again i didn't really care cuz i was having fun... Tuesday i went out and got some awesome shoes i totally love them, on sale mind you....90$ shoes for 50$ thats right kids.... anyways i was all pumped and went to play tennis again... but after playing a little bit the pain in my foot was too great and we had to quit... it was bad and i knew that i had messed something up. Wednesday to add another trial i was totally sick throwing up everything... couldn't even hold down water! It was kinda good for my foot though cuz i didn't really move from the bed. We came back to Moses Lake and the "professionals" Josh and Randy had a consult... they decided that i had sprained or tore my plantar fascia (something like that). Anyways so i was totally bumbed... Josh and my family bought new rackets for tennis and went any played every night while i sat at home sulking. Totally crappy! Randy gave me some exercises that i can do and josh gives me my daily treatments... i'm hoping that this will not last long. Now every time i go into the bedroom i see my new shoes just sitting there.... Let this be a lesson kids.... bad decisions have consequences... maybe not right away but they always get ya.
On a happier note this weekend two awesome things happened... Josh's distant cuz Jade got baptized (congrats sorry i wasn't there) and Josh's good friend Josh aka Harvard got married. I included some pics of the happy couple and some of the kids. It was so cute on the way out to Harvards reception they wanted to hold hands... both of them were totally into it... so cute! Kamaile looked really cute too in her dress so i snapped some pics. Kalei didn't want her picture taken so that is why she is left out. I also included a pic of me and Audrey at her wedding that we went to a couple weeks ago. Its wedding fever! Enjoy!

Tolley Reunion

2009-07-14T17:01:00.001-07:00

This is long but so worth it kids!
This last weekend we had a blast at the Tolley Family reunion. We loving going every year and catching up with family we dont get to see very often. This year the reunion was held at Mineral Lake by Mt Rainier. Josh and I rented a B&B with his sisters and mom. It was a humble little place and worked just fine for me, most of the family camped but sorry i'm not a camper...! So Friday before we left, as usually I made sure Josh map quested the directions... we had planned to go through Seattle to hit up 2 Nordstrum Racks... we love that store... its the best store ever! Josh calls it the rich ppl left overs... Anyways so we get done with the Racks and head to the reunion... we wanted to get there in time for the BBQ they were having that night. Well we find the B&B and check in and then Josh realizes he map quested the directions for the B&B not the reunion... so all the information that we have is that its in Mineral Lake... no big deal we will just call someone at the reunion and ask where to go... then we realize there is no cell reception in Mineral!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know what your thinking...what the... there are still places with no cell reception!!! So we ask the owner were the lake is and we figure this place can't be that big we will just drive around... Well we did and found nothing... its a pretty small town and we had no idea were to go! We decided to just drive to Morton... about 15mins away and eat dinner since we had missed the BBQ by then (we ate a yummy morton burger... not sure what the name of the restaurant is but its good we stop there all the time on the way to Longview). We called Josh's cuz Robby and got directions from him... thank goodness he hadn't left yet. Kamaile struck again and super pooped in her onezie... destroying yet another beloved outfit! So after we got the directions we finally showed up to the reunion... yes as you may have guessed we did drive by it... apparently it was at an old school building... ya didn't even think it would be there.
On Saturday we went down to the lake, played a game of Parcheesi, and of course it would not be a Tolley Reunion without a game of Bump... they totally love that game. Now usually i just let Josh play... i'm not totally crazy about the game so it didn't bother me... this time a lot of the moms started playing and i was like man i dont want to look like a bumb... i played basketball i bet i could hit some of my shots... So in my pretty cute outfit and flip flops i joined the huge line of about 30ppl. As my turn came closer i started to get nervous and didn't want to embarrass myself in front of all these ppl. But to my shock i totally sinked my first shot... i started feeling pretty good and sunk most of my shots... the first game i played i got 3rd place... i was pretty impressed with myself. Well the second time i played thats right ppl... I won!!! 30ppl... i was on fire i'll tell you what. I did slip on the floor with my flip flops and landed on my butt pretty good and had to shead my sandals for bear feet.... my feet hurt pretty bad the next day but for Bump Champion it was totally worth it.... ppl were talking about it the rest of the reunion... its great... thats my claim to fame!... oh how did Josh do.... he was one of the first ones out everytime...hehehehehe... maybe i should give him some lessons...hehehehe.
Later that day we went to Mt Rainier with Robby and Jen and their family... It was so awesome... and i thought we were pretty close, and there was still some snow up there... crazy! Josh let me get a cool magnet to go on the fridge... its kinda my thing... i had to convince him though cuz he thinks its junk! That night we had a seafood feast... clams, oysters,
shrimp, and crab... tons of crab. It was super yummy. All in all it was a good trip. I included some pics of the fun we had. Thats Kalei with Asher, Robby and Jens oldest boy... Kalei and him are only a couple days apart and became good friends this trip... they gave each other kisses too!
Now when we got back to Moses on Sunday we were still feeling sporty and decided that we would all go play some tennis. Kalei got this lovely road/rash on her forehead from falling on the track... she also cut her lip and nose too! My poor beautiful girl has this hideous bruise on her forehead but from the pic you would never know!!! Oh well life goes on....

Busy Busy

2009-07-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty eventful last two weeks. Last weekend we had my good friends Audreys wedding... she looked totally beautiful it was such a good ceremony congrats girl! Immediately after that we headed over to Michaels on the Lake for my grandma's surprise 70th bday party. It was awesome she was totally shocked. It was good to see all the fam together. During that time my Uncle Brian came to visit so we got to see his family as well... we had some crazy Cranium games... i think i love that the most about my family we totally love to play games!! Or it could just be me and im good at convincing everyone to play... either way its fun.
We headed home to Spokane for a few days... Kalei went to the dentist again... she did great... i just kept telling her that the dentist liked to watch Cars too and she was totally at ease with him... a kindred spirit i guess. We headed back to Moses Lake Wednesday to prep for the 4th.
Amber and Spencer came too and we went swimming on Thursday and Friday. Shout out to the Bakers for letting us swim at their pool they are nice folk! Kalei had a blast but almost drowned herself with her new life jacket... which was kinda a good thing. Before she would just go and jump in the pool but now she is a little more hesitant. Oh and i forgot the girls swim suit so i had to get Kalei a new one (it was on sale i'm not a huge fan of it)... and we used Adyson's for Kamaile. On Saturday poor Kalei was really sick...Kamaile woke me up i the morning as she usually does and i check Kalei out of habit. Kalei woke up too and moved her hand into something that was "spilt" on the bed. I didn't know what it was so i went to check and if you haven't guessed by now it was puke. Totally gross i guess she had puked during the night and didn't bother to tell anyone. A few minutes after i realized it was puke she started puking again! For the rest of the day Kalei didn't want to leave the room all she wanted to do was lay down... i felt so bad for her... my usually energetic 2yr old was just laying in bed all day. She didn't want to do anything. We tried to feed her but nothing stayed down too long. Fortunately this morning she was up as usual saying hungry feed me, so i knew my little girl was back.
Other big news this last week... Kamaile sits up on her own... she still tips over if she kicks real good but for the most part she's doing good.

Kamaile's First

2009-06-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today was a momentous day for my little baby. I was so excited... today was Kamaile's first time in the pool. She totally loves baths so i new she would totally love it... and she did. She was so cute... i just love her.
Now that i'm looking at the pics i didnt' get a good one of her in her froggy. It was really cold when you got out of the pool so i didn't really wanna spend too much time outa the pool. Kalei is totally crazy around the pool she scares me so bad. I have super anxiety when she is around the pool. She will jump in at a moments notice and scares the bageez out of me. She also swallowed a lot of pool water today as well... every other minute she was coughing up some pool water! She loves the pool as well but we defiantly need to get her some flotation devices. After we made her get out of the pool Kalei wanted to sun bathe like everyone else... and she was so cute with the sun glasses too. I didn't really get any pics of our friends that went with us... sorry guys next time! That was our fun day, enjoy the pics.

Kamaile Attack

2009-06-23T15:01:00.001-07:00

Usually we have to tell Kalei to be soft... but yesterday night Kamaile got her revenge. Kamaile was having a good ole time tackling sister... Kalei not so much! The last pic is my favorite... "hush up Kalei i'm having fun!"

Fathers Day Weekend

2009-06-21T16:42:00.001-07:00

This last week we were in Moses Lake. We had a lot of fun relaxing with family. Here are some pics of our fun weekend. The first is Josh playing soccer. He had an all day tournament on Saturday. He was there from 8:30 to 5:00... we all got a nice sun tan. His team made it to the finals and then lost. :( The next pic is Josh and his babies today on fathers day. Next time i will bring my camera to get some more pics!

Digital Scrapbooking

2009-06-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

So i have been totally hooked on digital scrapbooking. I totally love it and try to finish my work extra fast so that i can have time to create. Im not really crafty or even creative for that matter but i do love scrapbooking this way. Its a lot easier than all the paper and sissors and stamps and what not. Its very orginized and i like it a lot. I posted some pages i did earlier but here are some more recent ones. My goal is to make one everyone moth and then make a calander for next year using Shutterfly. I also did my header and the background for my blog!I get all my digi kits from Shappyprincess.com for free! They have a lot there any i have been satisfited for now. Im sure i will be buying some digi-kits here soon but why spend money when you can get them for free. I'll try to post more free sites if i come across them and if you guys have any sites you know of please share.
I use Microsoft Publisher to create my pages but a lot of ppl use Photoshop. I think you should use whatever program you are comfortable with. There is a program you can get online for free its called Paint.net i have that one as well that i use for things Publisher can't do. There is a disclaimer though... new programs are hard to use or understand and you have to be willing to play around with things until you know how to use it. Good luck and i totally want to see your digi-scrap creations.

Driving me Crazy

2009-06-06T10:30:00.001-07:00

Kalei has been driving me bonkers lately. She cries at the drop of a hat. Josh and I cannot go anywhere without her throwing a fit. We were in Kmart yesterday and she wanted to go down an aisle and we said no... she screamed no! then dropped to her fetal position and started crying. Soooooo embarrassing. Then later as we were leaving some lady said hi to her and she burst into tears yelling mommy! These aligator tears have got to stop. ahh kids.

Kamaile and the Green Frog

2009-06-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

Kamaile loves this green frog Grandma and Grandpa Rodeback got for her. She loves to hear the rattle inside. Enjoy!

Temple Cleaning

2009-06-03T12:34:00.001-07:00

This morning i had the opportunity to clean the temple. I didn't even know members cleaned the temple! Josh got a day off today and so i decided i would go. It was an awesome experience and wonderful to be all alone in those special rooms of the temple. We were literally cleaning the House of the Lord. If you ever have the chance, sign up, you won't be sorry.

Spring Time Fun

2009-06-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

For memorial day weekend we got to visit with Josh's cuz we have not seen in awhile. They came to Moses Lake for Spring Fest and it was so good to see them. It was so good to see their kids aswell they are all really cute! I put in some pics of the kids. I put this funny picture of Hazen with a bag of chips i thought it was a funny one. The next two are of Asher... he gave lots of loves to the girls... i didn't get a good one of him hugging Kalei... this was the pre-hug where she wasn't sure what was going on! We also got to see cutie Holden but i just realized that i did not get any pics of him... sorry next time!
Here's a funny story about Kalei...So shouldn't your kid be a teenager before they start calling you by your first name! Kalei is in that annoying mimicking phase and she just repeats what everyone else says. Josh of course calls me Crystal and Kalei has started to the do the same. So this morning Kalei comes in, as usual to wake me up. She is always persistent and will sit there for hours saying 'wake up mommy wake up, common mommy'. Well today i was tired and i tried to ignore her and sleep but then she was like 'Crystal wake up'... she is way too smart and knows that it errks me when she calls me Crystal.... so she succeeded in waking me up.
I also included a pic of Kamaile Potter (click to enlarge the scar)... and pic of Kalei in her swim suit.

Kalei does her ABCs

2009-05-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is something we have been working on for a while now and i am proud to announce that Kalei knows all her ABCs. The camera distracts her but this was her best take. It was funny when we were watching the play back on the computer, on the letters she hesitated on she was yelling at the computer the right letter... shes a silly girl and we love her! We are working on numbers to 20 so stay tuned for that.

Mothers Day and such.

2009-05-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

So i have been crazy busy working and haven't been able to blog as much. So to start i just have a bunch of random pics that i'm dumping on you all at once. Thats Kalei in her way cute Asian dress she wore for mothers day. Tristan bought for her when she was just a little baby. Next is another pic of the girls in bed together... i thought i would put this on here because the other day my parents said Kamaile had brown eyes and i didn't believe them but it turns out she does (click the photo to get a bigger pic and you will see what i mean). Next couple are just funny pics of Kamaile... she is pretty chunky and we all think its hilarious. Ok the last two are ones we took for mothers day. Josh and his way photogenic siblings and then me (very unphotogenic) with my moms family. Now i think i have mentioned before that i am half mexican and usually when i tell ppl that i add that i am the white one in the family. Well now you know what i mean. i kinda dont look anything like my mexi side and this pic totally proves that. I never realized how freakishly tall i was compared to everyone else. LOL Mothers day was fun and josh and the girls got me some baking stuff.

Stayin Busy

2009-04-28T14:57:00.001-07:00

So i haven't had any work for a couple of days so i have been getting pretty bored... i mean how much TV can you possibly watch... My mom has been asking for me to get prints of our easter pics so she can display them in the house...so of course i go to Shutterfly and look around at getting an 8x10. It was pretty boring and i wanted to jazz it up and i came across scrapbook pages you can create and print. I had heard about digital scrapbooking before when i went through my blog design phase but i didn't really look into it. Well now i'm hooked...here are a few pages i did. The Spring one is a work in progress but it will have to wait cuz i just got a lot of work today and i dont want to fall behind. My love affair with Shutterfly continues with this new develpment of scrapbook pages...i think they look super cute and for $5 (depending on the size) i think its a pretty good deal. You can also do books, calendars, and tons of crazy other stuff. I have never really been into scrapbooking but this digital scrapbooking is totally up my alley.

My Cute Girls!

2009-04-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

I know i know i have been posting a lot lately... but with these two girls can you blame me!

Kamaile Pics

2009-04-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

So my parents said that i needed more pics of Kamaile... its not that i dont love her its just that she doesn't really do anything picture worthy... but here are a few that i have. I also added two of kalei... i tried straightening her hair today... a total bust... she is just a curly hair kinda girl.

Kalei Sings

2009-04-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Since Kalei has been attending nursery her singing skills have greatly improved. Today she came up to me out of the blue and starting singing. I was shocked... who the heck is this kid. She is so smart and amazes me everyday.

To Die For

2009-04-18T21:00:00.001-07:00

Now most of you know that Josh and I come from two completely different families. When making the decision to get married we knew that we would have to make compromises and take what we had learned in our families to blend and and make our own. It was not easy and many things I had grown up doing drove him crazy and vice versa... The first month, as many of you can attest to, were just a 'hey so this is what its like to live with you' kind of learning curve. So when we went grocery shopping for the first time and he wanted to buy ice cream i was like umm no. In my family we never really bought ice cream unless it was a special occasion, apparently his family always had ice cream in the freezer. Spending our limited resources on 'luxury food' was not something i was will to do... and more importantly i didn't really like ice cream... until recently... Ladies and gentlemen i would like to introduce you to the best ice cream i have every tasted...EVER! Ben&Jerrys Cake Batter ice cream... i'll tell you what i cannot go without this ice cream. Since the first time i tasted it i have been hooked. I will admit that this 'luxury food' as i once called it is now a necessity. Since our introduction it has not been absent in my freezer for more than a day. Thank you Ben& Jerrys for creating the best ice cream on the planet and something To Die For!

Easter

2009-04-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is a rundown of our fun easter weekend. We pulled into Moses Lake on Friday and just took a break before the Easter madness began. Saturday afternoon we had the Tolley easter egg hunt in Quincy Lakes. Kalei had a blast but it was really dirty for the whole family. The first thing Kalei found on the hunt was a sucker and she refused to pick anything else up unless she could eat the sucker. It was really gross cuz she was all sticky around her face and then the wind started blowing the dust... gross. That night we went back to my parents house and colored eggs with the fam... Kalei had a lot of fun throwing the eggs in the dye and listening to everyone gasp and pull back as to not get dyed themselves. That night our parents had a glow in the dark easter egg hunt for the adults.... we used flashlights that my dad had altered to be super crappy thus making it more difficult to find the eggs. It was so much fun and something we are looking forward to next year. Oh and i found the golden egg!!! Sunday we got on our easter wear and went to church in 3rd ward.... pretty fun i made my parents actually sit in the chapel... (they usually sit in the overflow). After church we headed over to Grandma Bruce's for another hunt... unfortunately it was raining so we had to do it inside... it was still fun though. We we got back to my house we had another easter egg with my Vasquez cuz... again really fun... Kalei got a carrot bat way cool!! So we got so much candy from all of the hunts and were kinda sick... Monday we went searching through the bags to find some candy and to our horror we had left all the candy in Moses Lake!!! Its prolly for the best. Oh and the pick of Kalei's bedding is our easter present to her... love you Kalei!

Playing Catch Up

2009-04-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is my catch up blog... I have been really busy with work the past couple of weeks so i haven't really had any me time... So here are a few pics categorizing what we have been up to the past couple of weeks. The first pic is Kamaile in her blessing dress... Next we have Kalei with her new table she got from us for her birthday... Then its photo-op with the girls... its our practice for easter pics...yes josh has a yellow shirt too! The next two are just of kamaile being happy and then working on her dance moves...LOL. Last week Josh had his spring break so we took the opportunity to head over to Longview to show off the new baby... its a five hour drive so Kalei was being silly...we also went to the temple in Portland where Josh and I were sealed 4 1/2 years ago... i love this pic of kalei. i feel really stupid becuase i didnt get any pics with my grandparents and kamaile so next time we are in town i will totally not forget!!! enjoy the pics peeps!

Pics from the party

2009-03-17T12:51:00.001-07:00

Sorry i didn't get any good pics of the cake back yet. i'll add that when i get it. So first Kalei blowing out her candles...Then kalei eating her cupcake... she had a cupcake cake... it was a dollar bill with her face on it. Then Josh hosting the In The Bag Game. Then the next two pics are of her showing off her Price is Right shirt we made her. Then Kalei opening her presents. If you click on the pics you can see a bigger image. Enjoy!

Announcement!

2009-03-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Omg i have an announcement to make... in answer to my prayers (literally) Forever 21 has finally come to Spokane!!!! I love that store more than anything and when i saw that it was under construction in the valley mall i gasped (literally... the ppl next to me thought i fainted or something). Happiest day ever!!

Happy B-Day Kalei

2009-03-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Kalei's bday... my little sweetheart turned 2 today. On saturday we had a Price is Right themed b-day party for her. She absolutly loves the price is right and asks to watch it everyday. We made her a t-shirt and got her a cake that was a $1 bill with her face on it. We played some games and she opened her presents. She got a lot of good stuff and a lot of money too!! Thanx for everyone that came it was a lot of fun. Yesterday we also blessed Kamaile in Moses Lake.... The plan was to bless her in Spokane but Josh and I got really sick on the 1st and didn't make it to church. We had to call everyone and tell them not to come.... We decided since we were going to be in Moses Lake anyways for Kalei's bday that we would just go ahead and bless her there. It went very well and Josh even got a little choked up. It was an amazing weekend and very emotional for me. I just can't believe how big Kalei is getting.... it makes me sad cuz its going by too fast. Love you Kalei!!!! I"ll get some pics on here as soon as i can gather them up.

Mellow Week

2009-02-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

Well not much has happened since my last post... thank goodness! Kamaile is growing up and is 1month old today. She sure is a fussy girl though... she always grunts and has a lot of baby sounds. All of her dry skin is finally falling off and you can see her beautiful dark skin. She is a lot darker than Kalei and it leads us to believe that she will look more like me... which i am thankful for. Kalei is growing up too... she will be 2years old next month and she is denitintaly starting the terrible twos! She throws a lot of fits now if she doesn't get what she wants. She says tons of words now and repeats everything... she has started calling Josh, Josh insted of Daddy... i think its funny. She has started letting me put her hair in a pony tail which i find to be super cute! She also refuses to drink from a cup unless it has a straw... straw is her favorite word nowadays. Valentines Day was really fun we went to Cyrus O' Learys for lunch with the fam. My parents came to suprise us and were going to take the kids while we went out to eat but we went to lunch early and ruined the suprise... oh well it was still fun. This last week we got Kalei's 2year pics taken at Sears... she did so good and totally let the lady move her all around. Josh was home this last week and it has been nice to have him here to help out with the girls. I was really busy with work this last week too and Kalei helped me out doing some dictation... she loves to wear the head set! I also got my hair cut too... one of my moms friends did it and i really really like it. I just put up some random pics so you guys could get an update of the girls. Oh and we just want everyone to know that Kamaile's Blessing will be March 1st in Spokane... we want all of you to come if you can... call if you need directions.

Tongue Tied

2009-02-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

These past two weeks have been crazy busy... doctors appointments are abundant around this house. Since we have moved back to Washington we have had at least 1 doctors appointment every month between the three of us, most of the time it was 3-4 appointments a month. Thats not even to mention Kalei's spica cast and Josh's tumor surgery. Now with Kamaile the doctors appointments are flowin i'll tell you what. I swear i have been to like every hospital and doctors office in this town! Kamaile's latest doctors visit took us to the ENT. She was a good little eater in the hospital and had no problems latching on... but after a week and a half she started to have problems. It was obvious that she was hungry and she was trying so hard but just couldn't latch on. It was very frustrating not only for her but me as well... if your hungry just eat hello! I mentioned to the doc that she was having some problems and so she sent me to a breast feeding clinic. The chick took one look at what Kamaile was doing and said i bet she is tongue tied. So we took her to the ENT and sure enough she was tongue tied. Now let me back up to 1983 for a moment when my mother had a beautiful baby girl and named her Crystal... The docs looked in that baby's mouth and saw that she was tongue tied as well. They told my mom that she needed to have her tongue clipped or baby Crystal would have speech problems and basically be a freak for the rest of her life.... my mom just could not let them clip her tongue. Baby Crystal grew up and besides having a ridiculously short tongue was fine. Now lets fast forward to 2009... Kamaile's ENT doc said that it is not necessary for babies to have their tongues clipped but since Kamaile was having problems feeding and she was so small that having it clipped would defiantly help. I sat there debating whether or not i wanted to go through with it... i consented and they took us right away to clip it. I had to hold her down... and just had to turn my head when they clipped it... i felt so bad but she only cried for like a minute and then went to sleep... honestly she didn't really care and didn't bleed very much at all. Kalei was a trooper and gave her kisses when she was done. Kamaile is getting used to her new tongue and its cute to watch her stick it out. Because she is getting used to the new tongue she isn't the worlds best latcher but she getts on way faster now. Thats the biggest news in the Bruce house for now but i'm sure something blog worthy is around the corner.

Two Girls Now

2009-01-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

Adjusting to two children is been quite the experience. Kamaile is a good baby though... she sleeps all the time and i often have to wake her up to feed her. To my delight she is a lot similar to Kalei and hardly ever cries. Actually she doesn't really cry at all... fusses is more like it... and thats only when she wants to eat. Man i love my girls! Kalei totally adores her new sister... she will sit there forever giving her kisses. Kamaile kinda gets annoyed after the third kiss but i feel bad telling Kalei she can't kiss her. Kalei also love to hold Kamaile... with mommy supervision of course. The pic is kinda blury but that is pretty much how Kalei holds her. Kamalie also got her first bath this week... she did very well. Kalei had to be in there and tried to help daddy wash her. The other pic is Kamaile in Kalei's bed... Kalei just woke up and Josh thought it would be cute to put them in bed together. Its a cute pic... even if Kalei's smile looks a little funny! Life is really busy now and its hard to find time for everything... thank goodness for Price is Right and Baby Einstein... its the only time Kalei gives me to do other things.

Bloggin it up

2009-01-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

The weekend is almost over and tomm i get to go home. I could have probably went home tonight but i felt like it would be better for me and Kamaile to stay the night just to get that extra help. The nurse took Kamaile to the nursery last night so that we could get some sleep and omg was that awesome!! I really am feeling fine though... i was being a little stubborn with the medication (i am not a fan of drugs) and wasn't taking it until it got really bad... but since i have been taking it on a regular schedule it has been helping. I feel like this recovery will go a lot better than with Kalei, just becuase i know what to expect.
Thanks to all the family and friends that came up to visit it was fun to see everyones reactions to our little princess. Thanks for all the cute clothes too... i have not had a chance to buy very many things for Kamaile so it was nice to have some cute new clothes for her to wear. My parents got her this frogger outfit... she really likes it and she stayed awake a long time after we put it on her.
On another note a super shout out goes to Auntie Clair who was here in Spokane this last week to help out with Kalei. Clair was a trooper cleaning our house, driving me to all my appointments, and being Kalei's personal play toy...lol! Clair took Kalei downtown to feed the ducks one day and she came back totally excited saying duck, bread, and auntie! It was truly a blessing to have her come up and take care of us. Clair is the only person to be at the hospital for both Kalei and Kamaile.

Here she is...

2009-01-16T19:10:00.001-08:00

Kamaile Isis
5lbs 6oz 19in
1:06pm

Our little princess came today. I really like this pic cuz you can see them sewing me up in the background...lol. Everything went great and she is healthy and happy. She has not cried yet... the nurses say she just "talks" not cries. I was able to feed her right away and she latched on like a pro. I'm feeling great and hardly even shook after coming out of the anesthesia. I am really hungry though... i tried to eat and loved every minute but unfortunately it didn't' stay down... so now i'm just still hungry... they said i could try again in the morning. Kalei loves her little sister and smothers her with kisses. We are all doing well and are very happy to have her out and healthy. Thanks to all the thoughts and prayers we have received... i may not respond but i read your messages everyday!

We are a go for Friday

2009-01-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

So i had my last doctors appointment today. Another stress test... he said it was very good and the best one we have done yet. I have been having some contractions but he said that she looked really good and she would be ready to come on Friday. So Friday morning i go in and around 1pm on the 16th my little baby will be here.

Feelin Better

2009-01-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

So its Sunday and I have had a couple days to process what has happened. I'll admit that friday afternoon was pretty difficult and it was hard to keep my mind busy from worrying. I am feeling a lot better though and it helps that baby is still kicking... i'll admit that if i dont feel her in awhile that i kinda freak out but she always starts kicking. We have been praying a lot and i know that everyones prayers have helped as well to keep me calm. I really am ok mom!! We got her dresser all set up in our bedroom and i have been organizing her clothes and getting ready... its making me really excited. Kalei was pretty small so i thought we had a few preemie clothes but it turns out we only have 1 preemie onezie and thats it! This baby will defiantly be in preemie clothes so that means some shopping... and if anyone knows me its that i love to shop for my girls.... i mean common girls clothes are so freakin cute and i defiantly have a style for them!! My mom and i decided on a blessing dress for her last night and i'm really excited about that too! I'm trying to get everything ready before Monday just in case the doc decides we need to deliver. I'm thinking that any day next week is a potential delivery day but the official day is Friday. I guess we will just wait and see.

Another hospital day...

2009-01-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

So today our Friday the 13th turned into another day in the hospital. My baby is really small 4lbs 3oz and is measuring at 32weeks... i'm 37weeks. The fluid looked good but it is still a toss up. This morning he was pretty set on taking the baby tonight but we just don't know. It is pretty apparent from Kalei and now this baby that my body only grows babies to a certain point and then its done. He's afraid that my body will forget about the baby and move on... not good. The converse would be to deliver the baby early and way small but there are some severe concequences with that as well. He kept asking what i wanted to do... um i have no idea!! Its a toss up either way... neither situation is sticking out as the right one. We decided to give it another week... if i make it that long. He is going to consult his other partners and wants to see me back on Monday. He said he might call me up tonight if he feels like we should do it now... Next week i'm going to be heavily monitored and i'm on strick bedrest until the little one comes. Its a very confusing time right now and i just hope that she will be ok.

4 years and counting...

2009-01-05T20:21:00.001-08:00

Today Josh and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. It was pretty low key with the bed rest and all but we still managed to go out. We went to breakfast at Franks Diner... it was really good. We also went out for dinner to Taco Bell... ya I know classy but i had some way yummy nachos!We have had some highs and lows over the past 4 years and it has defiantly been anything but boring. We have lived in Hawaii, both received our Bachelors, and have two beautiful little girls... well almost 2 girls! Josh certainly keeps me on my toes and we always comment how perfect for each other we are. We are pretty much complete opposites in so many ways... what he is good at, i suck at and vice versa. I dont get mussy too often but i'm so glad i married you Josh I love you and the beautiful little girls you have given me. I can't wait to see where life takes us next...

Christmas Pics Finally

2009-01-03T18:55:00.000-08:00

So these are a few of Kalei's fav toys she got for Christmas... She opened her final presents today and took forever! as usual. Thanx to everyone for the presents and for coming to see us.

Baby Drama...again!

2008-12-24T16:38:00.001-08:00

So I bet most of you were enjoying the family and eating yummy foods for Christmas Eve... well we spent the whole day in the hospital!!! Not something i was looking forward to but it kept us busy. I had a normal check up this morning and because of my history of low fluid he wanted to run a stress test on the baby. Needless to say it didn't work out so well and he really needed to know if the baby was doing ok. So he sent me to the hospital to get another stress test and a full bio-physical work up. When i walked into labor and delivery they were like ok so your going to have a c-section tonight... my mouth dropped and i was like no no, no thank you. After talking to my doctor they got the orders for my tests and admitted me... i got my own room and everything. They totally didn't let me eat anything and i was starving!!! They ran the tests and 7hrs later he said everything looked great and i could go home... but they let me stay and eat dinner which i was totally happy about!! So our Christmas Eve was eventful just not in the way we were thinking.