seattle

A few weeks ago, My mom, Kelsey, Mary and I had our first ever girls trip!!  It was so much fun it was ridiculous!

My mom, Mary and I flew to Seattle, where Kelsey picked us up at the airport.  She had the cutest little basket in her car set up for us.  It had treats, chocolates and matching bracelets in it for each of us.  How cool is that!

We grabbed lunch and drove straight to Leavenworth.  It was a good 2.5 hour drive, but TOTALLY worth it.  I have never seen such a magical town in my life.  It was unbelievable!  I felt like I was inside a snow globe.  To top it off, it was lightly snowing the whole time we were there.  Everything has a Swiss feel to it, and EVERYTHING has lights.  It felt like a whole different world!  The shops are adorable, the town is adorable, and everything is magical.  We had a blast there.

We drove back to our Hotel after that, and ate ourselves silly and crashed.  The hotel was awesome too!  The theme of the hotel was pineapple, and the décor was so cute, bright, and fun.  The blankets on the beds were the best I have ever felt.  We all snuggled into the beds and vowed to never get out.  We fell asleep watching Hallmark Christmas movies and eating chocolate.

The next morning we ate at this cute little breakfast café; in down town Seattle.  It was old, quaint, and perfect. It was so freaking good!  Best crepes ever!!

 

nutella hot chocolate, with a cute little leaf design in the cream

After breakfast, we headed to the Space Needle.  It was so cool to be able to look at Seattle from being up above it all.  It was absolutely freezing, but totally worth it. It is gorgeous City.

 

 

 

After the space needle, we headed to my Pikes Street Market.  I immediately fell in love with this place too.  WOW!  Best fruit, calamari, flowers, market, EVER!  It was so much fun.  We even visited the gum wall.  So gross, but cool at the same time.

Home of the best cheese curds and tomato soup ever!!!

 

Pikes Market was so fun.  We shopped, ate, watched the dudes throw fish, put gum on the gum wall, and ate the best fruit we have ever had.  It was so cool.

After the market, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Nutcracker.

The Nutcracker was put on by a Professional Ballet Company, right in downtown Seattle.  I have never, ever, seen anything like it.  The costumes, the set, the live orchestra, the beyond talented dancers.  It was unreal.  Truly unreal.  We all had our jaws on the floor the whole time.  It was so cool!!!

My mom surprised us with bracelets too!  They were the same brand that Kelsey got for us!  How cool is that! 

We crashed that night after the nutcracker.

The next morning, we rode bikes to breakfast.  It was so fun!  It finally stopped raining, so it was perfect.  Riding Pineapple bikes through Seattle to breakfast...doesn't get much better than that.  Except for a little incident, where my mom fell.  :(

A big reason we did this trip, was to celebrate Mary's 13th Birthday.  Yup, she will officially be a teenager next week!
She was so much fun on this trip.  I love her fun-loving personality.  She kept us laughing and on our toes the whole trip. I am so glad I have such a great kid to share trips and experiences like this with. 

In the elevator

After Breakfast, we headed to the airport, and made our way home.

It was definitely a trip none of us will forget.  It was special and fun and magical in so many ways.  I am hoping that it will be the first of many Belnap girls trips to come.
Happy Birthday Mary girl!

24 hour book of mormon read

Mary got an idea from one of the Young Women in our ward to read the Book of Mormon in 24 hours for her value project.

Mary recruited her friend, Lydia Muhlestein, and they put a plan together.

The plan included me taking them to the Dollar Store, where they bought so much junk it was incredible!

The plan also included them dragging mattresses, shelves, pillows, blankets, speakers, and all of their junk food, downstairs, where they set up a huge "reading room."

I'm pretty sure the "set up" for this huge undertaking took as much time as the actual project.

the "pantry"

about 15 hours in

going a little looney...about 18 hours in

Once they were all set up, they opened the Book of Mormon and started reading.

They read and read and read.  They also listened to it and followed along. 
I was upstairs with the rest of the family, doing our usual stuff, but throughout the day...and night...I could hear them down there reading.

It was pretty cool how the whole feeling in our home changed.  There was an underlying feeling of an added measure of the spirit.  It was just a little more peaceful and comfortable.  It was really neat.

They read all through the night, and into the next day.
They came upstairs to use the bathroom and to eat an actual meal, and then headed right back down.

Lydia ended up having to home, with about 4 hours left of their 24.  It was 11:00pm by this time, and Mary was sooooo tired.  I went up to her room with her, and together, we finished.

I am so proud of Mary, and for her desire to accomplish such a huge goal.  I am really happy for her to have such a neat experience with the scriptures as well.  She definitely strengthened her testimony and her faith.  This is more important to me than any other thing Mary could do.

I am so proud of her....even if she does some pretty crazy stuff. ha!

thanksgiving 2017

Thanksgiving this year was here, at home.  Sometimes it is nice to just be together as our own family unit and re-connect with each other.  We are a very busy family, and even though I feel like we spend a good amount of time together, sometimes it is just nice to have time together where we can do whatever we want, and just have fun.  It is good for everyone.

Thanksgiving morning, we all did a Turkey Trot 5K in Midway.  The weather was amazing!!  This winter season so far has been unusually warm.  In fact, it is December 13th today, and we still don't have snow.  Not great for the snow skiers, but perfect for running a 5K with the family.

We did bikes, stroller, skateboard and running.  It ended up being a ton of fun! The kids had a great time, the scenery was pretty, and the race was really fun.  The race ended down a good downhill, and by that point, all of the kids, aside from Sam, were with Ben.  He piled all of them in the stroller, hopped on his longboard, and literally zoomed them down the hill.  ALL four kids were in the stroller!!  They flew so fast that they broke the wheel on the stroller.  Sam and I were already through the finish line, so we missed their grand entrance.  I would have loved to see that amazing Maynard spectacle for sure!

It was a great way to start Thanksgiving.

As usual, we made a show out of pulling the insides out of the Turkey.  It is so great to get the kids reactions.

 We had Thanksgiving Dinner, watched movies, and hung out the rest of the day.

The next day, decorated the house for Christmas, and then we headed to Salt Lake to see the movie Wonder.  It was awesome!!  Such an amazing movie.  We loved it.

Saturday we hung out, and then we got our Christmas tree.  Again, it was really warm, and it was so nice to let the kids run around the tree lot, and to take our time picking out the "perfect tree."  We decorated it that night and played games.

Sunday we went to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square.  It was beautiful as always.  We had a really good time.

 

We watched the live nativity, looked through some of the church museums, enjoyed the lights and then called it a night. 

It was a really good Thanksgiving for all of us.  So grateful for my family.

big buddy wrestles

A few months ago, William asked me if he could try wrestling.  For whatever reason, wrestling had never crossed my mind for William.  He enjoyed flag football, he was talented at soccer, and he loves snow skiing.  I figured that we would keep him in those sports and see which one he ended up gravitating to the most.  Thank goodness William spoke up about wrestling...I had no idea how perfect of a fit it would be for him...but I should have.  It is pretty obvious now that I think about it.

After William asked about wrestling, I looked into it, and found that there was a rec. club, called "Little Wasps" that practiced for an hour a week, and then had tournaments every Saturday morning.  It was cheap, it was not time consuming, and it was a good introduction, so I signed William up.

He literally asked me EVERY DAY for two solid months when wrestling was going to start.  He was so excited. 

He had his very first practice last week.  Ben took him, and he said that William just did what he knew, and he would just kind of body slam kids!!!  He ended up making a kid cry on his first practice.  Good grief!  He didn't try to hurt anyone, he just had no idea what he was doing, and they kind of just let the kids go at it.

William came home from that practice sooooo excited about wrestling.  He absolutely loved it!  He was begging for wrestling shoes.  Apparently, to him, that was the coolest thing ever. He also could not wait for his upcoming "Battle" on Saturday.  Yes, he calls his wrestling matches battles.  I LOVE it, and we haven't told him any differently.

I contacted my friend, whose husband coaches wrestling, about getting some wrestling shoes.  Not only did they have shoes for William, but her husband, Landon, really wanted William to come try out his wrestling team.  It is similar to Little Wasps, but it is more serious and competitive.  The kids are also older. It is more of a club wrestling.  The kids are more experienced and older, but he wanted William to give it a try.

So, on Thursday evening, Ben took him to Landon's practice.  William came home absolutely beaming!  He had on his wrestling shoes (which he slept in that night) and he kept showing me the move he had learned over and over again.  He was literally exploding with testosterone!

We have definitely found William's nitch.  I can't believe I didn't see it before.  He is big for his age.  He has always LOVED to wrestle his dad and his brothers.  All he wanted to do in football was tackle people and "smash people."  He is a great athlete. It is so perfect.

He had his first "battle" on Saturday.  They have about 4 different matching going on at the same time.  Basically, they just have the kids wrestle for three rounds of 30 seconds each.  They have about 3 different matches. No one wins, no one loses. They have a big cheer and get a sucker at the end of it all.
 It is definitely a little unorganized, but they do their best.  Williams first match was with a kid a little bigger than him.  Neither of them really pinned the other one, or really knew what on earth they were doing.  William loved it though!  He got this determined look on his face, and just went for it. Full force, brute strength.

The second match he had was with a kid that totally knew what he was doing.  His dad was a coach, and he was telling the kid all of the moves to do.  He definitely was better than William, but William didn't care, he had a great time.

The third match, William was with a kid smaller than him.  Neither of them knew what to do. William would get the kid down, and then pin him with his hands, like he was doing CPR, and then he would laugh.

 It was sooo funny!  I finally told him to lay down on the kid, so he just flopped down on him until the whistle blew.  It was epic!

We did notice, however, that William has some great natural talent, and once he learns some moves and has some training, I think he is going to rock this sport!  He definitely has the passion, the drive, and the overflow of testosterone for it already brewing!

It was perfect for his very first experience with "battling."  I look forward to watching his tournament this next Saturday, after a couple more practices, and hopefully him learning some moves.

He loved the practice with the older, more experienced kids, so much, that we are going to take him there twice a week, and then let him do his Little Wasp "battles" on Saturdays.  Landon, the coach of the "club" wrestling, said that he thinks William will do great with it.
Once Little Wasps is over, he will then do the tournaments with Landon's group, if he feels ready. 

Go William Go!

pinewood derby

Sam had his pinewood derby last night.  My dad cut out his car for him, and Sam designed it. 

I walked into the kitchen Monday evening, to see Sam painting his car with a toothbrush!!  For real!

I told him that I bought him paint brushes he could use, and he responded that he couldn't find him, and that the toothbrush was working just fine.  I just bit my tongue and let him do his thing.

He ended up doing a great paint job!  haha!

He had a great time at the derby.  His car came in 3rd out of 4 every single race.  I guess 3 is his number. 

I am so glad that he wasn't caught up winning and in being competitive.  He was having a blast just watching the races, and being a part of it all.  I love that so much about Sam.  He could be winning or losing, but as long as he is having fun, he is content.  What an awesome trait to have.

At one point during the derby, the Scout Master asked all of the boys to tuck in their scout shirts.  Sam and his best friend, Blake were wearing sports shorts, but he made them tuck their shirts in anyway.  Karli, Blakes mom, and my best friend, was sitting by me.  We about died laughing watching our boys run around with their shorts up to their ribs and their shirts tucked in.  We literally laughed until we cried when we saw this picture. It was great.

Can't wait to pull this picture out when they are seniors in High School....hahahaha

This picture melts my heart.  It is so true to the friendship these boys have.  They have so much fun together, they are happy together, and they watch out for each other. 

The most ironic thing of the night...Sam won the best paint job award!  hahahaha!  I guess painting his car with a toothbrush was the way to go.

oh penny

In August, not too long after we found our cat, Penny, after she had been missing for 29 days, we noticed that she seemed to be missing again.  I figured she was just hiding in one of her corners in the house, so I didn't think much of it. 

After a full day of nobody seeing Penny, we realized that she was gone...AGAIN!!  It was my fault this time, and I felt terrible.  I had opened the back sliding door to let Penny get some air.  She stays right on the back porch, and then she comes in after a few minutes. 

I got distracted a few minutes later, and I shut and locked the door...for the rest of the night.  The sprinklers went on that night, and I am sure, they scared her away.  I felt so bad.

For the next month, we continued to check where we found her last time, ask neighbors if they had seen her, and we checked the shelter often.  No had had seen her at all.  After 2 months, and the cold weather, we finally accepted that she was probably dead, especially since nobody had seen her anywhere.  We were all pretty sad.

I ended up throwing away her litter box and washing out her food dishes and putting them away.  It was a sad moment.

Three months went by with no sign of Penny.  We had given up all hope completely. 
Then, one night as I was praying, I felt very strongly that I needed to pray for Penny to return, or for somebody to find her.  I truly thought she was dead, but I prayed for her anyway.  I prayed until I believed it.

The next day, I was out cleaning up the sandbox, and Sam came running down the road from his friend's house, yelling for me.  I knew by the sound of his voice that it was one of two things. Either someone was seriously hurt, or something very cool had just happened.

He told me that he and his friends were playing in Trey's sandbox, and Penny ran right through the sandbox with a dead mouse in her mouth!  He said that Trey and Blake were following her, while Sam came to get me.

I dropped what I was doing, and ran to Trey's house, while I told Sam to grab a blanket and meet me there.  If it was Penny, and if I did get her, I was not going to get torn to shreds by a freaked out cat again.

By the time I got over there, the boys had lost sight of Penny.  We were in a big field.  I told everyone to stand still and be very quiet, and I quietly started calling for Penny.  Seconds later, Penny came running to me, out from under a big wood pile.  At least it looked like Penny.

The cat had her same coloring, but the cat was tiny, almost the size of a kitten.  I almost didn't pick up the cat, but Sam's big, blue, hopeful eyes, made me decided to at least bring it home.

I wrapped the cat up in the blanket, and once I took a step, the cat totally freaked out!  Thank heavens for the blanket!  I still got scratched up, but not as badly this time.

I brought the cat home, and set it down.  I just wasn't convinced it was Penny.  It was so incredibly small, but looked clean and healthy.

Ben got home soon after, and I asked him what he thought.  He wasn't sure either, so he pulled up a picture of Penny on his phone, and we compared the markings.  There was no doubt it was in fact Penny!!!  We absolutely could not believe it!

She cuddled with anyone who would hold her the rest of the day.  She ate and ate and ate, and I had to scrounge up a bin and borrow littler from a neighbor to make her a litterbox until we could get her one the next day.

The kids were so excited to have her back!

 Penny is also very, very happy to be home.

The next day I went straight to Petco and bought her a litter box and a collar with her name and our phone number on it.  William put it on her the second I got home.  He really missed her so much.

As with the last time we brought her home, Penny tried to sleep like this the first night...

No joke.

Sorry Penny, I love you, but nope, not happening.  I prefer to not have cat in my mouth all night long.

I am so grateful for the prompting to pray for her.  I am so grateful that Sam and his friends saw her.  I am so grateful that even though I didn't think it was her, that I brought her home.

I am so grateful for tender mercy's...and that Penny is home safe and sound.

primary program

Our ward had our primary program 2 weeks ago.  Mary wasn't in it this year, because she's too old, and Molly wasn't in it, because she's too young, so it was the year for the boys to do their thing.

They memorized their parts and did a great job.  I love the primary program and the pure faith the children have, and their powerful spirits.  It is always a very special meeting.

The kids looked so cute before church that day, that I had to snap a picture of my precious babies.  They are my everything.

she's the only one who enjoys pictures, so she gets a lot of them

she was being a little ham, so I took advantage

oh yeah, she is definitely 3