Family Pics

We recently went and had a new family picture taken. This was the winner...

But this was the reality of how the photo session went...

And frankly, the reality of how I feel most days!

Can I really name another post "Catch Up?"

So I'm not even going to try to relive these moments of the past 4 months to their fullest. However I wanted to get the pictures posted for posterity. I blame my lack of blogging in recent months on the fact that I have a new addiction to couponing. It takes a bit of time, but so far I have saved hundreds of dollars, and I love the endorphin rush I get when I come walking out of the store with $27 worth of stuff that I paid $2.44 for (that was my shopping trip today!)

So in the beginning, there was family. Or in August, there was a Mortensen semi-family reunion. We gathered at my parents home, the highlights were...
Spending time with cousins

The fruit stand, the kids earned quite a bit of money all week long.

Moses Lake Aquatic Center

Grandma

And, Sisters!

We missed those that weren't there, but we had a blast with those that were!

Next, was Jack's 3rd birthday.

We had a Thomas the train cake, and opened presents with friends. It was pretty low-key, but the kid is 3, and he was HAPPY!

Some updates on Jack these days, his new favorite song to sing is the "50 States Song," he plays really well with his sister, he is potty training (Hallelujah!), and he says funny things that make me laugh like... While drinking some slushy apple cider, he stopped and said, "this is cold, like Minnesota." Plus, I think he sometimes has a southern country accent, not sure where that came from. But we still love him lots!

In September we canned peaches with my mom. Sadie and Jack played with the "bracelets" or canning rings, and played dodge ball with the peaches.


We went to Spokane for Labor Day. Here is an updated picture of all the Frederickson cousins together. For the past two years it was hard to keep a current picture because we had so many new ones, but I think we are updated for a little while anyway.


I took a girls weekend getaway to Boise to run in my first 5k. I've always hated running but I trained all summer long for it with a "couch to 5k" program (inspired by a friend.) Ever since, I got sick, my running partner got pregnant, Bryan was working out of town, and I have been on the "5k to couch" program. I guess there's always next year!


A recent Saturday family outing to a local train or "Thomas"



A just for fun week in Wenatchee while Bryan was working out of town. The local fire station was having some shindig, so we took the kids. Sadie had a blast. Jack turned up sick that week, so his experience isn't what it normally would have been for him. But he did walk away with a brand new tonka street sweeper truck, that a friend had won in a drawing. She had inside connections, so she gave us hers and was able to get another one for her kids. We also took a ride on a mini fire truck and ate hot dogs, popcorn, and pop! What a day!

In September Sadie also had her 18mo. check up. So updates on Sadie, she weighed 26lbs (63%) and she was 34in. tall (93%.) I'm so proud of the height percentile, who'd of ever thought that a child of mine would be in the 93%, thank you Bryan! She also loves keeping up with her brother and even challenging him at times, she talks a ton, knows her letters, counts to 20, and is a real firecracker at times, yesterday she said "bless you" to Jack after he sneezed, and today she used the word "delicious" about a hundred times, it made me laugh.

The obvious excitement for October was Halloween. Bryan's cousin got married in Spokane that day, so we enjoyed trick-or-treating cubicles at Grandma's office the day before Halloween. Jack wore an amazing Thomas costume made by me, and Sadie wore an amazing Cinderella costume made by a friend of mine (however she wouldn't let me put the necklace or headband on her to complete the outfit.) But they had a great time. Then on Halloween we went to the wedding and the reception/costume party. Fun times were had by all.



In November, we went to Spokane for Thanksgiving. The morning of, we went to Bryan's cousins house to make apple cider in his homemade apple press, eat homemade cinnamon rolls and donuts, and participate in a marshmallow sling-shot fight! We then had our Thanksgiving feast with 32 family members, all the while remembering the many things we have to be thankful for in our lives.

And the kids enjoyed riding around on Grandpa's walker.


And just last week, I took the kids to get pictures taken. Here are just a couple recent pics of the kids that I love.

Wow! I did it! All caught up! Now hopefully it won't be May when I post Christmas!

Thomas who?

To begin this post I must explain the love that Jack has for "Thomas the train." The kid knows all the names of all the trains, he plays with the trains he owns everyday, and can even sing the entire "Thomas and Friends" song. So in nursery on Sunday his teacher was teaching the kids that the prophets name is Thomas S. Monson. To which Jack replied, "Not Thomas!" They kept trying to tell him that, yes, his name is Thomas, but he just kept refusing to except it. So later at home that day, Bryan asked Jack what the prophets name is, to which Jack replied, "Percy S. Monson!" (FYI- for anyone that doesn't know "Thomas and Friends," Percy is like the second famous train on the show.) It made us laugh.

I'm a winner!

On Saturday, our ward had an ice cream social and ice cream making contest. Bryan and I both made a batch of ice cream to take, mostly because we weren't sure if there would be much participation from the rest of the ward. And since Bryan and the other ward missionaries were in charge of the event, they wanted it to be a success. Well the event turned out to be very well attended and plenty of people brought ice cream. When they announced the winner of the contest, I was over on a side yard where a bunch of kids were playing. I didn't hear them announce it, but I did hear a big uproar of cheers coming from the group, and figured they had just announced the winner. Little did I know that the winner was me! Bryan told me later and gave me a $10 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins as my prize. I was so surprised and delighted especially because I didn't even have to stuff the ballot box or campaign for people to vote for me. In fact I didn't even make the ice cream with the intent that I wanted to win. I was just doing it to show support to the ward. I suppose some could debate that because my husband was the one counting the votes, that the whole thing was rigged, but Bryan would never lie,...really! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and because I wasn't around when they announced the winner, I'd like to take this oppertunity to give my exceptance speech. First of all I'd like to thank the Rippys and the Fredericksons for giving an ice cream maker, bowls, and ice cream scoop as their universal wedding gift. I think this was the second time we used it in almost 5 years of marriage, but we are sure glad we have it. Also I'd like to thank those same people for the ice cream recipes that they gave in the gift as well. The butterfinger recipe was the winning ice cream, so I guess in a way this award goes to them too. Thirdly, thank you Bryan for encoraging me to double the amount of butterfinger in the recipe, you were right, the chunkier the better. And finally I'd like to thank the refined taste palates of the members of the Yakima 1st ward, who knew good ice cream when they tasted it, without which none of this might ever have been possible. I love you all!

Proof!

In response to my "July Catch-Up" post down below, my mom sent me some pictures that she had taken of me and my rad surfing skills. If you'll notice there is slack in the rope, I actually got to the point where I could toss the rope back into the boat and ride the surf without it for a while. Lots of fun!

And we are always up for experimenting and trying new things so I thought it would be fun to ride on my belly. It was fun, but even more fun when my sister Heather and I tried riding double. I guess we don't have pics of that, but that was a comical moment for us. And in case I haven't talk about myself enough already, I added a pic of my semi-rad wake boarding skills. It seems like in the past few years due to pregnancies or post-pregnancies, I haven't done much in the way of water sports. But this summer I've been able to do it a bit more and have quite enjoyed getting back into it. I love summer!

These are a few of Jack's favorite things!

Like most boys, Jack loves anything that goes. He loves cars, planes, busses, boats, trains, trucks, helicopters, and most importantly tractors. The kid not only likes tractors, but he can tell you the names of all the tractors. If we are driving down the street and I see a tractor, I will point it out to him and he will tell me that it is a backhoe, or bulldozer or excavator, scoop, hook, crane or whatever else it is. I don't even know the difference between them all but he knows and he loves them. So one Saturday in July we snuck onto Bryan's job site (well I guess it's not really sneaking when you have the key and are running the place.) However Bryan took Jack for his first tractor ride and he was thrilled. Actually at first he was a little timid by it all, but he relaxed and really enjoyed himself after Bryan beeped the horn a couple of times, he thought that was funny.

So of course Sadie got a turn as well and she had no problem immediately reaching for the gears and taking control. It's kind of funny to me their different personalities, but this event displayed them well.

After riding the tractor we went into Bry's work trailer and I'm not sure what the kids had more fun doing, riding the tractor or making a huge mess with Dad's water cooler. There was water all over the ground when we left. I was just glad that I'm not in charge of cleaning up after him on the job too.

One of Jack's other favorite things or person is his friend Madison. There are two years difference between the two of them but they have been good friends ever since we moved to Yakima when Jack was 6mo. and Maddy was 2 1/2. Now Jack is 3 and Maddy had her 5th birthday in July and they are still good friends despite the age difference. So here our some pics of the after party, when Jack finally had enough nerve to go up the slide without the fear of being trampled by 20 five year olds. Sadie and Sam (Maddy's brother) even came out for the after party and the kids had a blast. It looked so fun I even wanted to get in on the action but I'm sure there is some kind of weight limit that I didn't match.

Don't worry, Sam was rescued before Sadie's rear end plowed into him in this last picture!

July Catch-Up

So it is time to catch up on the fun we have been having this summer going all the way back to July. July 4th was pretty low-key for us but I did put the kids in cordinating outfits for the occasion. Kind of corny but I thought they looked super cute! Then mid-July we went camping at Porcupine Bay. It was too short of a trip but so much fun. The weather was perfect, the water was perfect and the company was perfect too! The crew for the event consisted of my dad and mom,

My sister Lisa

Bryan's brother Jordan and his new little wife Kailee (I'm pretty sure I spelt her name wrong, sorry!)

Bryan getting a "fresh water enema" with his brillant idea to ride "bum back" on the surf board.

or his even more brillant idea to ski using the 10ft surfing rope (no, that is not a woman's bathing suit he is wearing, just a little wedgie action.) I have to admit though, it was quite humorus to watch!

Then we have the little ones, Jack and Sadie.

I promise they were having fun, really.

And me, I was there too. Even though this is the only picture of me from the entire weekend. Well this one and one of my bum that Bryan took. I realize that I am always the one taking the pics so there are no awesome pics of me and my rad surfing skills. I guess you'll just have to take my word on it.

And the final pic from the weekend, this one is my favorite, was Sadie stealing kisses from her Grandma!

So after our fun in the sun we had to hurry back to Spokane so we could deliver the new bride and groom to their wedding reception. We got there with just enough time to get all gussied up and enjoy some cake, punch, and getting caught up with old friends. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and the trampoline most of the night.

Don't worry, we gave Jack a haircut the following week when we got home!