An Answer to Prayer?

For the last couple of weeks, we have had family councils, family prayer, FHE, and even a family fast to help us bring more love and unity into our home. Well, to make a long story short, the answer to our prayers came last Thursday when our dishwasher "died."

After spending 3 full hours washing dishes by hand on Friday, I told Steve we needed a new dishwasher now! Then I remembered what my mom would say when our dishwasher broke at home. . ."Why do we need a new dishwasher? I have 7 of them that work perfectly fine."

So, not wanting to spend another afternoon washing dishes by hand, in my most excited voice over the weekend, I asked, "Who would like to help me wash the dishes?" Ben and Rachel immediately and enthusiastically replied, "ME!" I couldn't believe it!
They took turns hand washing and drying the dishes, while joking and laughing as they did it. (These are "real" smiles on their faces! They were having a blast! If only I could get them to do all of their chores this joyfully!)The rest of the weekend they spent playing together. What an ironic answer to prayer. Our kids have really cooperated all week as they've washed dishes together. (But "me" of little faith, ordered a new dishwasher, anyway.)

Happy Birthday, Sophie!

Time is flying by so quickly, I forgot to post the pictures of Sophie's birthday! She turned 2 on September 21st, and we had a little "family" party. We have a tradition of serving breakfast in bed, but we didn't want syrup all over the crib! We actually had waffles for dinner--I had to make something our birthday girl would eat!She is such a girlie girl! She was so excited to get new clothes:
She's had lots of fun with her new ballerina puzzle:
She knew just what to do when we lit the candles. (Note to my sisters who stress out over the cake: By the time you've made a couple dozen "fancy" cakes, you find you're lucky if you get "fancy" enough to put sprinkles on top!)

It surely tasted yummy!Happy Birthday,Sweetie Pie!

Celebrating 14 Years!

Sunday was our 14th anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's been 14 years, but looking at all of the kids around us makes it more believable, I guess.

We decided to celebrate by leaving Friday for a little piece of Bavaria- Leavenworth, WA. This is a little town in the middle of apple country, where 40 years ago the residents decided to make this a little piece of Germany. I would have loved to be at that town meeting:"All right, we can't all be apple farmers. So the plan is to turn main street into a German town. Joe, open a German restaurant. Janet, put your nutcrackers on display and call it a museum. Bob, you'll have to learn to play the accordian. And everyone, get some lederhosen."

It is a fun little town, though, and since Tammy served her mission in Austria it was full of memories. We got to eat schnitzel and spatzel for dinner! (I can't belive there aren't more german restaurants around). It was great.

We stayed at the Bavarian Lodge, right along main street.

The next morning, we popped into some of the little shops and the art fair that was going on. Our favorite was a little toddler T-shirt that said "All mommy wanted was a back rub!" (sorry, no picture). We got a vase from one of the artists and a Christmas ornament from the Christmas store.

Thanks, Johnsons, for watching the kids for the night. Here's to the next 14 years!

BYU Wins!

For the first time in many years, BYU came to Seattle to play UW. We made it a special day for the boys and headed to the game!

Several of our friends were there...

And the the boys had friends there too...

We had great seats at the end zone right in the middle of a huge section of BYU fans.

But binoculars helped see what was really going on.


It was close, but BYU won, 28-27. It was a great game- fun up to the last second!

Back to School!

And now the kids are back in School.

Steven's not going to let us take "first day" pictures for very many more years, but Mom persisted! Steven is starting 7th grade, his second year in middle school.

Ben is in the STEP program again, this time as a 5th grader.

And Rachel is in 2nd grade this year. She loves it.

Sophie's been spending a lot time at the YMCA playing with the "kids," she calls the place "bubbles" because they get to play with them. Sorry, no pictures. We'll have to get some.

Our Summer (Part 3)

We also visited Fort Worden. This is an old fort that was used until 1953 to protect the entrance to Seattle from invaders along the Pacific Ocean. These bunkers held huge 12-ton guns that could fire across the sound, in case anyone sent a ship in to get us. It must have worked, since we were never attacked they never had to use the guns to sink any ships.

They closed Fort Worden when it was no longer useful to have a fixed fort (we use subs and warships now), and now it is a state park. The kids had a blast exploring the bunkers and the tunnels underground.
The bunkers are a free-for-all, letting you climb all over the wall and through the tunnels.



There are no lights in the tunnels, so we had to use the flash on the camera to light the way.


Since Fort Worden is next to the ocean at Port Townsend, we spent a few minutes at the ocean before heading home. We've got to plan to go back and spend more time- this was a fun trip!

Our Summer (Part 2)

We had a great summer- very busy, lots to do. We didn't leave town on any trips, but here are a few of the things we did after our last post:

Ben made sure that frogs know that if they come to our yard, DON'T GET CAUGHT! (Yes, frogs jump higher when "helped" on the trampoline).

Just before school started, we took one final trip to the Olympic forest. We stayed in Sequim (pronounced "squim," for you out-of-staters). We spent one day hiking the mountains, and found Marymere Falls:

The hike was an easy hike, just about a mile off the road.

Sophie had the easy ride. 
Finally we made it to the falls.
Then we hiked around a little more, and found a creek. Sophie had fun just throwing rocks: