Balloon Rally Weekend

We went to my hometown of Prosser, Wa for the Great Prosser Balloon Rally. We experienced the whole works... waking up early to see them set-up and take off, walking down the bridge to see them touch down into the water, the street fair, and then night glow that evening. Fun times with family! Here are some pics!

Getting the balloons all set-up Saturday morning.

This is my little sister and two of my nieces with us!

All the balloons beginning to lift off

Balloons over the Yakima River

Ready for the night glow to begin

Night Glow

Remembered

Last week, a little boy from our elementary school passed away.   He was in an older grade and I did not know him.  I always have to question the purpose for a child's death, I know I shouldn't. I guess this boy at our school had some heart problems and surgeries previously.  Our school had a special circle of friendship for him where all the 4th graders wrote messages to him and sent them up in balloons.  I was not there that day (didn't think my Kindergarteners would understand or behave calmly), but I was told that the song, "Somewhere over the rainbow" was playing as they let the balloons go and at that point a rainbow appeared in the sky.  Here is a picture from a co-worker.   A real testament that God is in control, no matter the purpose.   
                     

When I was in High School, I did an internship in a Kindergarten classroom to see if I really wanted to go into teaching.  I was in  that classroom for 2 hours a day.  Kindergarteners have a funny way of getting into your heart.  That year, one of the girls in my class, little Becky, was in a car accident with her mom and 2 baby sisters.  They slid off an icy road into the river and all drowned.  Whenever I would go back to the Kindergarten class, my heart was pained when the other little girls would tell me that Becky wasn't there, that she had died.  A sweet little 5 year old. That was almost 10 years ago.  I guess the point of this blog post is to say that I remember.  That she is remembered. 

Wal-Mart Fun

So while I waited for hours (seriously) to get my new battery at Wal-Mart (yes, for our new car, haha), I found this creepy decoration in the Halloween aisle. First it yells at you, then it has this really evil mad man kind of laugh, and it was shaking so much I thought it would fall off the shelf!

New (Old) Car!

So our trusty little car named Robe (pronounced Robie, it's a Probe, but the letter P fell off many moons ago, so it just says robe on the back), has been making me nervous this week. This car has driven me so many places and helped me out so much. It took me from Washington to Rexburg numerous times my last year of college, and then from Washington to Utah for my student teaching. It has driven me to Canada to see Kyle. This summer it has taken us all the way to Los Angeles and everywhere inbetween. I have put over 60,000 miles on that car in the past 4 years. Kyle and I have managed fine for a whole year with only 1 car, but now that Robe is threatening to stall at every stop sign, we started looking into buying a second car. We've been looking on Craigslist and at a few dealerships, but today, we found something we really love. It's nothing close to a new car, but for us, it's something we've both always wanted, an SUV. It's big enough for a few kids, which we hope to have in a few years, haha. So even though the gas mileage on this car will be half the mpg we get with Robe, we're very happy to have a 2nd car without having a car payment still! We got it for only $1800, yay us! It's a '97 Ford Explorer.  We have yet to find a good name for it, but are open to suggestions :)

Yard Sales!

I have to say that ever since I graduated from college and moved into my own apartment, I have really loved yard sales.  So after buying a house this summer, I've become obsessed with them!  We needed so much furniture for our house and we got such great deals, I just had to share.  I think 4 years ago, I would have been embarrassed that 75% of my stuff is from a yard sale or thrift store, but now I totally love it!  Yard saling makes me happy!  Here are some of the deals we've found this summer!

 Table and chairs $15.00  (Our old table was too big for this little nook space)

We had a big mirror in my living room growing up and I loved it.  So I was happy to find this one for $4.00!  (Then I added some ivy to it from our wedding reception decorations)

Plant Stand $5.00

Armoire $5.00

Tall chairs for our island/bar $5.00 each

Over-the-range microwave $40.00  (Kyle installed it)

Refrigerator $50 (The lady even kept it for us for 2 weeks until we moved, people are so nice!)

One of two speakers $5.00 we bought for our computer (which doubles as our tv) 

Glider with matching rocking ottoman $30.00 (They don't match now because we put a blanket from Mexico on the glider) I tell everyone that we can have a baby now that we own a rocker, haha!

$5.00 Camping chair which doubles as a backpack

$10.00 Book shelf for Kyle's Star Trek stuff , hehe

 

$5.00 Huge book shelf for our mission memories/church books (We only got this so cheap because when we asked the guy how much it was, he said "How much do you have?"  We seriously only had five dollars cash left that day, so he said, "Sold"!  Yay!  Then of course we had to drive home with it hanging out the back of our car since we have a tiny car, hehe.

Computer $3.00 and it plays DVD's so I can watch movies while I walk on the treadmill so I don't get bored.   The monitor was free.   

Lawnmower from Craigslist $65.00  Yes, it has a lot of power.  It's just hard to get that power started, hehe.  I actually like mowing the lawn, but Kyle always has to come pull the starter cord for me.  He says, "It just needed a big jerk to start it" He's actually quite the opposite of a jerk in my opinion, ha!

 

So, all in all, I would call this a very successful summer of yardsales!!  Can't wait for next summer when we'll be able to buy baby stuff hopefully, hehe!

"We're dying to have you over!"

Too early for Halloween?  I love when the stores put out their Halloween stuff (even if it is still 2 months away, haha).  Kyle loves it too.  Kyle likes looking at the nasty severed fingers and limbs, but we both like planning parties and decorating, especially for Halloween.  So when we saw the Ghost Cookie Pan at a yard sale, I had to buy it! I also got the matching seran wrap!

 Then we saw a cute idea in an oriental trading magazine.  It was a little skeleton in a box, sorta like a coffin.  It said, "We're dying to have you over" lol.  Then on the inside there were details inviting someone over for a Halloween party.  So we got these skeletons at the dollar store yesterday so we can invite people to a party in this same creepy way!  Muah-ha-ha (Kim's evil laugh). 

Blogging in General

Welcome to the world of blogging :)

I always thought I would wait until we had kids to have a blog... I mean... you have to admit the majority of people use blogs to show off their kids and the funny, silly, or frustrating things they do on a daily basis.  Plus, stay at home moms seem to have some kind of blogging connection to each other, like their only link to sanity, haha.  I only say that because I'm stuck with 25 kindergarteners everyday, so I have a small insight into their world.  Not completely, but I think I have a glimpse of it at least.  After the last 2 years of my life (since I met Kyle really), my life has been a non-stop adventure, one I feel worth documenting.  So here we are, world!  Thanks for letting us into the world of blogging!

New Blog!

This is a test for our new blog! Not sure how to use all this stuff yet, but it looks like fun. I'm going to attempt to add a picture even! So excited to enter the blogging world! Yay!