I just found Tony Stark (Nate's black dog) and Angus (James' GSD) tucked in for nap time. 

Bethy's first steps 2/22

It's fitting that her first steps were with her birthday-buddy, Auntie Carol.

One more week to get her walking well before her birthday!

We are sure going to miss these girls!

{Winter Catch-Up} Snow Camping

John and I went snow camping with our friends Will and Devon the second weekend in January. I was a bit skeptical. The last snow camping trip I tried was a total fail.  :-/

The Seahawks played the Saints that Saturday, so our first stop out of town was a dumpy bar in Sultan to watch the game. After we won (yay!), we took the truck and camper over Steven's Pass, through Leavenworth, and over to Blewett Pass. The roads were way too snowy to find a real camp site, so we found a nice little tucked away spot in one of the road-side parking lots at the top of the pass.

You know it's not real camping when you use a hair dryer to get the fire started...

We froze outside for most of the evening, then went inside the camper for another couple hours. I'm told that Devon and I fell asleep half-way through the conversation about socialism and minimum wage.  :-/ 

The next morning, we went for a walk around the snow trails and built a dead snowman. I know, it seemed like a good idea at the time!

On our way home, we stopped by Leavenworth for some lunch. We were very surprised at how dreary the place was. We booked it out of there pretty quickly and had a fun lunch at the 49-er Diner instead.

Although this wasn't TRUE snow camping, it was a million times better than our last attempt.

{I'm becoming that high-maintenance camping lady with all this electricity and flushing toilet business!}

John could probably talk me into more "fake snow camping" trips if it's this easy!

The boys say that I draw the best dogs ever.

Uncle Reed Tattoo

Nate got some football tattoos at the Super Bowl party. I'm not sure who, but someone put a tattoo on his belly so he could be just like Uncle Reed. I wanted to get a picture of the "Uncle Reed tattoo" that he was so proud of. As I was looking back through the pictures, they started looking awfully similar to maternity photo poses....  :-/ 

Go Hawks!

I'm kind of going through football withdrawals right now. Back in October, when the Seahawks started their winning streak, I started to watch and understand the game of football. I've come to LOVE it. It's a sick disease, but during the season I'd DVR all the weekend games, then watch a little bit each night after the kids went to bed.

After the Seahawks won the Championship, Gwamma got the kids "Wrestle Wilson" jerseys. And, like true band-wagon fans, we wore them everywhere.

 (The boat show.)

(Dinner.)

 (James practicing "running game" down the hall.)

(The Super Bowl Party!)

Some of our dear friends from church - Joni and Leanne.

Auntie Katie!

The jerseys still make an appearance around our house. An Iron Man-Russell Wilson? Unstoppable.

{Winter Catch-Up} Christmas Day 2013

Seems weird to go back to Christmas in February, but I really want to get all these pictures caught up!

My parents came over for Christmas morning at our house again this year. It's fun to spend the day with them and the kids love sharing everything with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa has become our official toy-opener-and-setter-upper. And Grandma is our official educational-toy-patient-teacher-and-game-player.

Grandma's favorite gift - the calendar.

This year, we got the boys lots of "stocking stuffers" and one big gift. They've been ridiculously into trains the last few months, so we got them a Tidmouth Sheds. They LOVE it.

Christmas afternoon, my side of the family came over for dinner and more gifts.
Here are a few pictures from the evening!

Can't wait for Bethy to fit into these monogram pj's Auntie Keri got her!

I got the girls a kid-size moby wrap for their dolls. I think it's the cutest thing EVER!

I tried my best to get a kid-group picture...

 Claire and Kenley wanted a turn being wrapped up in the hose...

Which leads to one of my favorite blurry pictures of the night:

Kenley and Claire all twisted up - I think Kenley won!

Bethy - 11 Months

I really can't believe our girl is almost a year old. Holy Smokes!

This month, she learned to say "Dada". Auntie Teirsa taught her to play peek-a-boo. Her favorite game EVER is "bonk" - like, when she hits my head with her head as hard as she can, then laughs and laughs. She learned how to "click" her tongue like a true Carruthers. And she learned to crawl up stairs.

She has become very mobile and easy to lose track of. Bethy is SO close to walking. She walks pretty well holding one hand but needs a little more confidence to completely let go. With 7 teeth in, she eats lots of soft foods and has really chunked up this month.

Next month we celebrate 1 year with the Pretty One!