Pre-Spring Break

We got to go to Colorado again this year for Brent's convocation for OMT. I look forward to this trip to see my dad, Kim, brothers and nephew and niece. Not to mention my fave friends from my high school days. We had so much fun! Here are some pictures to show just how great the trip was.

All the cousins.
It was such a fun dinner seeing them all interact together.

I love sleeping pictures! This is Elli when we arrived at Julie's house.

I went to bed with this beautiful sight.
I had to turn on the light just to get the picture. So glad they didn't wake up!

It's always so hard to get a good family picture. This one epitomizes the trial of parents to get everyone looking at the camera with a pretty smile.

Sammi's first kite-flying experience. She loved it! I love that I got to share it with her. Thanks Julie for having awesome kites and thanks to the Colorado plains for all the wind.

Isn't he the cutest? I needed a place to set him down while I took off my jacket and shoes. It struck me as so comical that I just had to take the picture. They were kind enough to stop the conveyor belt and let me get a good picture.

We had a fun but very exhausting trip. I didn't realize how adjusted we are to the humidity of Tennessee nor how much drier the climate in Colorado is. Poor Scott was stuffy the whole week. But from the moment we left the airport in Louisville, he has been clear and gunk-free. It's good to be "home!"

Baltimore Trip

We took a fantastic trip to Baltimore to visit Ann and Andrew. They worked really hard the whole time we were there to make it to "favorite" aunt and uncle status. (Others beware: you have a hard act to follow!)

Now that we live in the middle of nowhere, no trip to a big city is complete without a stop at Target. Sammi insisted on getting her picture taken on this big red ball outside the store. So of course little sister, Elli, also insisted she get her picture taken on the other one! They are quite the pair. Sorry, we only had our phones for pictures so most of them aren't that great.
While in Baltimore we visited the zoo on a ridiculously hot and humid day. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who thought to go and the zoo was overrun with school groups. It was Brent's worst zoo experience and my second worst (the absolute worst for me involved a lot more crying.) We also visited the Science Center and had a fun, fun time there. We loved the dinosaurs and the lie detector test and the science in action room. Oh, and we had tons of fun in the little kids room with a water table, a play zone, a building area and a giant thing where you push the pins through back and forth and make hands, faces, feet and all kinds of shapes.
We spent a fun day in D.C. We made the mistake of asking a police officer the best way to the Smithsonian museums. He sent us up a boring street about 8 blocks. Only to find out when we got there that we had been one block from the museum we wanted to go to when we asked him. Must have been his first day. We walked 5 or 6 miles that day, but we got to see one museum, eat lunch in a quaint little burger joint and see the Washington Monument lit up at night. The girls were troopers with hardly any complaining or fussing from them. They loved the strollers and the times the chose to get out and run around. It was a long day and there was so much more I wish we could have seen. But in the end, we loved what we got to do. (Which also included visiting with a former companion of Brent's from his mission. We chatted for about half an hour in the shade outside the White House.)
Brent and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the D.C. temple, thanks to great babysitting by Aunt Ann and Uncle Andrew. We needed to do some laundry so our church clothes would be clean. We were a little behind schedule with that and the dryer was taking longer than we thought. We were worried we'd miss the distribution center and we desperately needed to make a stop there. We kept checking the clothes and they weren't dry. Then at the last moment when we could still make it, I checked one more time. My skirt was dry, Brent's pants and shirt were dry. I checked the rest of the clothes. NOTHING else was dry. It was all too damp to wear! We felt the like the Lord blessed us with that little miracle so we could get to the temple and the distribution center before they closed. We had a lovely time and were able to do sealings. We were a part of a family file set and witnessed a whole family, mom and dad and their son and 6 daughters, sealed together. The mom of that family was also sealed to her parents. It was so cool to see a whole family at once be sealed together.

Sammi's highlight was playing blocks with Aunt Ann and Uncle Andrew. And she loved attending the baptism with them on Sunday after church. My highlight was all the friends and family we got to see who happened to live out there as well. Brent's was discovering my friends' media center and making plans to build his own (probably not actually his highlight, but the most talked of thing since we've returned.) And Elli loved going to the park across the street and all the chances she had to play, play, play.

p.s. We're looking forward to seeing more family in a few weeks!

Christmas Presents Are Up!

We had a great Christmas. We only took a few pictures during our whole trip. I can't believe all the photo opps I missed. Ah well, I've got great memories.
Here's a picture of the Passey Christmas morning tradition. I've heard all about it and it was so fun to be a part of. Before any one can go down and see stockings, everyone lines up at the top of the stairs. The youngest are in front and we arranged ourselves by age with the oldest in the back. Now, I am the oldest of ALL the siblings, but I pulled the mother card and got to stay in front to help Elli down the stairs. We waited there until Grandma or Grandpa rang the bell then we all filed down to the family room to check out our stockings and open presents. So fun!

We got a few presents to hang on our walls. I got them all hung up yesterday and this morning. I'm very impressed since we have other pictures that have been waiting since we moved in to be hung! And as you can see, we still have a few empty frames that I need to print pictures and fill.
Claire gave us the picture at the very top. It's a collection of architectural details that together spell PASSEY. I think it's a great addition to our family picture wall.
Mom and Dad Passey gave us the FHE assignment board. We're doubling up on assignments for now. We may or may not end up with enough children to divvy out all the assignments :) So far in 2010 we are 100% with doing FHE weekly. Man, that feels good!

This picture cropped funny so excuse the great white space above! Mom Passey sewed pillows for our bed when we moved out here. For Christmas she made matching window coverings and framed some of the fabric. Our room looks a little more designed now. It's look totally professional if it weren't for the piles of laundry that need folding!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. I'm looking forward to 2010!

Vacation Part 2!

Let's wrap up this fantastically fun vacation! On Monday we hung around in the morning getting packed, finishing laundry and saying good-bye to Grandpa. Then we drove to Bremmerton to take the ferry over to Seattle. Sam seemed to love to boat ride. It was windy and chilly so we spent most of the time inside, but we did see lots of jelly fish and seagulls before we retreated inside. After the ferry ride we headed straight to Pike Street Market. We got to see the guys throwing fish around and lots of amazing artists with their stuff. My favorite part, however, was the flowers. Sam's holding a bunch of flowers we bought for Aunt Liz. After the market we headed out of downtown to find Liz's house. After a confusing drive where our map didn't match our directions, Brent's expert orienteering skills got us on the right road and we made it to Liz's right on time! We can sum up our driving for the week in one word: lost! We had fun with Liz. She's got a cute house with two dogs, several chickens and a fun garden (including sunflowers!) She also has a Wii so we got to experiment. We played it a lot Monday night and Tuesday morning. Tuesday we packed up and headed back to Seattle. We took the underground tour. It was cool to learn the history of the city and see a glimpse of what it looked like a while ago. This was an old sign we saw down there and for obvious reasons had to have a picture. After our tour, we headed out to the locks. We grabbed lunch first at Totem House. I had the best fish and chips I have ever had!! Then we headed over to the locks. We got to see the boats come in and the whole process! It was amazing! Another amazing feature of the locks is the salmon ladder. This is where the salmon come through going from salt water into the fresh water. They hang out for a while as their bodies switch from salt water fish to fresh water fish. Next to where we watched the fish jump up the ladder was this neat sculpture. Sam and Brent are just adorable!

We made it home safely and have recovered from our adventure in Washington. It was a great vacation, from what we saw and did, to the family we visited, to the fun times we shared as a family. It was great to have Caitlyn with us. I was quite sad to send her home in another car...

Vacation!

I love vacation! It's the recovery from vacation that's always a bit rough. We had an awesome vacation in Washington this last week. Our vacation started at 3:45 am on Wednesday morning and ended at 1:00 Wednesday morning the next week. We took an early flight to Seattle Washington. Samantha woke up at 4:00 am and stayed awake until about 30 minutes into our flight. She didn't seem bothered by flying in the least. She fell asleep and then we put her on the floor in front of us. Isn't she cute! We rented a car and drove into Seattle. We were lost several times but eventually found the Seattle Center and made it to the Science Museum. It was fun with lots of cool exhibits. They had a special dinosaur one that I particularly liked. The stuff for kids was fun and Sam just wanted to walk everywhere! She would hold our fingers or push the stroller, but she wasn't up for letting go...yet! After the museum we drove to Shelton and stayed with Brent's grandpa.

On Thursday we went with him into Tacoma and went to lunch at a nice sandwich shop and then to the Glass Museum. They have a workshop where you can watch glass artists making cool things. It was awesome. They also had a really cool, education exhibit about glass art including technique, medium, purpose and stuff. It helped me appreciate everything we saw a bit more. Sam learned the fine art of carrying a purse! We got in trouble for taking this picture inside the museum. But they were nice since it wasn't of any of the art.

Friday was a relaxing day. We stayed at Grandpa and Ann's house enjoying the beauty of Puget Sound and all the pretty flowers that grow in Washington. We helped Grandpa water the flowers (it took us about two and a half hours) and when we finished it started raining! All that water. That afternoon Brent, Sam, Grandpa and I dug clams down on the beach. I haden ver dug clams before. Sam and I had fun picking them up, after Brent and Grandpa dug them up, and putting them in the bucket. If Brent and Grandpa didn't go fast enough Sam would take the clams out and make a pile of them and then put them back in the bucket! That night Brent and I went on a date! We went to Xinh's for seafood and then to the Shelton bowling alley for an hour of bowling. We had such a nice time. Sam had a nice time while we were gone; she decided to take her first steps! Caitlyn got her to take seven steps!

Saturday was a busy day. We went back to Tacoma and went to the zoo and aquarium. Sam loved how close she could get to the animals and the water-life. There was a fascinating exhibit on seahorses. They had some pretty fantastical looking seahorses! We also saw a herd of caribou that were all perched on the edge of their little cliff staring intently at the yak in the neighboring area. They also had sea otters, walruses, whales and polar bears. It was a fun zoo.

Well, this post is getting long so I'll finish the rest of our trip in another one. Enjoy the pictures!