Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo

August 2008 Catch Up

On Saturday, August 16th the kick off to the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo began. They have the Grand Parade every year but did the 1st Annual 5k Rodeo Run which was before the parade. I decided I wanted to sign up but would only do it if my dear husband would. He agreed and we did it! It was the start of some changes in my life that I'll post more about later.

The last run I participated in was the Cherry Blossom Run in George, Washington on a 4th of July when I was 15 or 16. I took 1st in my division. Of course that was only because my cousin, Heather had placed 1st of all the participants and since she got a medal for that, I was fortunate enough to get the 1st place medal in my division.

I am a silent competitor. My only goal was to not finish last and I didn't! Tom pushed the kids in the stroller and let me go ahead. I wasn't that much quicker than him though and we ended up finishing at the same time. My most rewarding moment was when he took a shortcut down a street so he and the kids could cheer me on when I passed by. Jayni seemed so excited and it made me work harder.

Well the outcome wasn't as amazing as it had been 12 or so years ago but it was an accomplishment for me. In the 6+ years I've been married I've gained a little over 50 lbs. and I carried that junk to the finish line in 37 minutes 33 seconds. I thought that was pretty amazing to accomplish a little over 3 miles since I didn't practice beforehand! Here's Tom & I in all our glory afterwards waiting for the parade to start.

On Wednesday, August 20th I took the kids to the fair for Kid's Day even though it was raining and a little cold. I can handle that way more than a scorcher like the day we went to Grant County Fair. We were only there for a couple hours and the first thing we did was go to the library's booth and the kids both won books. By the booth was a stage that was about to perform a show with the help of children. Jayni was lucky enough to participate. She was so cute and I have a video of her whole two minute performance. Unfortunately it's too large to post! Boohoo!!

We finished out the day with watching some of the animals being judged (Jayni insisted), going through the animal barns, and having lunch. We then went home for naps!

On Saturday, August 23rd we returned to have family day. Jayni did the tractor pull again, saw our neighbor's pigs, and then got our wristbands for the rides. We're lucky enough that Tom's grandparents help with the fair because we were able to ride the rides free. Thank you Grandpa & Grandma Underwood!! We had a great time riding the rides.

I love this sequence of pictures. Whenever Mason's scared he covers his ears. It's so cute! I also love the look of terror on his face in the last one.

As you can see from these next pictures Mason was still a little scared but finally got a little more comfortable and the hands came down.

After the rides we took the kids home to have naps. We returned for the rodeo that night but didn't stay long because the close proximity with a can't-stay-still boy wasn't working. We walked around a bit more and then headed home. It was a fun day and created great memories!

The British Are Coming, The British Are Coming

We have had a pretty busy summer and because of this (and my laziness), I've been really bad about keeping up on my blog and reading blogs. So, here I begin with a few posts of what we've been up to this summer.

In mid July we had the opportunity to have Max come all the way from England and stay with us. For those who don't know, Tom was coaching Max while we lived in England and became good friends with him. He came for a week last summer to go to the Big Bend basketball camp shortly after we arrived back.

Max came for about 2 weeks this time and without his parents. While he was here he and Tom were able to go to the Seattle Aquarium and see a Mariners game, attend the Gonzaga basketball camp, and join me at the Chlarson Family Reunion. Tom was in Florida for work while Max was at basketball camp so I picked Max up in Spokane and we headed to Moses Lake for the weekend and he was fortunate enough (or not) to meet my whole family.

Here's Max, Jayni & Mason the day he was returning back to England. I can't believe we didn't take more pictures during his visit. I'm so mad at myself!

While Max was here Jayni and Mason slept in our bedroom with us. The day after Max got here Jayni wanted to take her nap in her bed. I only had her sheets on the bed since she needed her bedspread in our room at night. This is what I saw after she came out from her nap. I was pretty excited to see that she put the top sheet back and positioned her pillow and animals.

Here's Jayni at Gonzaga University while waiting for Max to finish with camp.

We had a great time while Max was here. He was so great with the kids and very helpful. I've missed him being around like no other. It was nice having him to distract the kids during the day and I enjoyed being able to have him around to tease and be goofy with. I hope I didn't bore him to death on the days we just stuck around the house while Tom was working. If I did it was payback for him almost letting Mason drown in our neighbor's pond right before he left. I guess you can't rely on a 16 year old watching your kids while talking to the neighbor girls.

Thanks for coming Max and thank you to Jackie and Ross for allowing him to come! We miss you and look forward to you visiting us again next year!!

Day at the Park

This past Saturday we spent the day at the Riverfront Park in Spokane. My mom wanted to have one last get together before my sister, Leisha headed back home to New York with her family. So we met at the big red wagon, had some pictures taken and then ate a picnic lunch.

My sister, Shaila took pictures of the whole family and she also took individual family pictures and pictures of the grandkids. This is the one I took with my camera so I'm guessing that none of the kids really knew where to look.

After pictures and lunch we headed to the amusement rides and let the kids (young and old) ride the rides. It was fun to see the reactions of the little ones. Mason rode the dragon roller coaster four times! He would ride it and then get right back in line, yet every time he would look like he was beyond scared. Jayni kept asking to ride the ferris wheel and when we got there she was adamant about not riding with me and chose to ride with Uncle Milo.

All in all we had a good day and I wish I took more pictures but didn't. I've been really bad about this lately! Before heading home Tom and I drove to Tomato Street, which is one of my favorite restaurants. Mason was asleep before we even got there and so we just ordered to go and stopped at McDonald's since Jayni wanted that more than anything else. It was a long day but worth it!!

Hopefully I'll get a copy of the whole family and my little family soon so that I can post them (hint, hint).

Anyway, I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend with family. I appreciate every moment I'm able to spend with each one of them because they mean more to me than they realize. I feel at times we take things for granted and we need to try harder to strengthen our bonds because we never know what life it going to throw our way. Life is fragile!!

Halloween

Nice title, huh? Not too creative right now! We had a great Halloween this year. Jayni planned the costumes months ago. She told me quite awhile ago that she wanted to be a witch and she wanted Mason to be a pirate.

They look so cute! Mason's costume was supposedly a 3T, but it most definitely was smaller!! He reminded me of one of the rollie pollie pirates from the movie Hook.

Jayni had to have a picture with her pumpkin. She's such a sweet girl!! I feel so very blessed to have her and Mason in my life!!

Autumn Hayride

I love Autumn and I get excited about all that comes around this time of year. Two of my favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, the changing leaves, and the brisk breeze and smell of the air.

On October 6th we went on a hayride to a pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins.

     

Jayni with Grandma & Grandpa Perkes

Beth (Tom's sister) & Rex

Bob (Tom's brother), Britta, Rex, Eli, & Asa

Tom & Ryan (Beth's husband) being goobers

Later that evening we went over to Tom's parents house for soup and scones and so the kids could decorate their pumpkins. Usually I look forward to carving pumpkins but not this year. We went the easy route with Mr. Potato Head parts.

Here's the finished pumpkins! The Mr. Potato Head parts were a little hard to poke through the pumpkins so it was actually the adults that ended up decorating them.

Family Reunions

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping with Tom's parents, siblings, and longtime family friends the Goodlander/Maus family. We had a great time! Phil & Sandi Goodlander brought jet skis with them. Jayni & cousin Rex loved riding on the tube with Grandpa Perkes.

Tom's sister Beth, came up with some great games! The first night we did some various relay races. One of them we had to eat a whole donut that was tied to a string and we couldn't use our hands. After the adults were done with the relay races the kids wanted to do the donut game.

Jayni beat her cousins, Rex and Eli, and even ate the whole donut!

The downside for me was not having any showers where we were at. I can't stand my kids being dirty! We ended up using the bin that we store our tent in as a bath for Jayni & Mason to clean up in the two nights we were there. At first Mason didn't like it...

...but soon enough he was splashing and playing in the water. Tom and I used this to wash our feet at night too.

Tom and Mason relaxing together. Tom's sister Christi, designed these cute shirts.

The last night we were there, Beth came up with the idea to have a rodeo. She even made the little horses. Here's Jayni playing with one of the horses. She wouldn't let anybody else use this horse. It ended up coming home with us.

Here's the Rodeo Princess and her favorite horse!

Grandpa and Grandma Underwood (Tom's grandparents) came the last full day we were there and made us a delicious dutch oven dinner. It was fun to be with everyone, play fun games, and eat good food!

In July we also had gone camping for the Chlarson Family Reunion. We went to Ensign Ranch. We had good times with crafts, numerous trips to the big slip 'n slide, and lots of yummy food. Unfortunately, I only took one picture. I have no idea why I didn't think to bring out the camera! The one and only picture I took was this one of Jayni on our way home.

She was so worn out from all the running around and fun she had with her cousins. We packed up and left right after breakfast and I didn't notice that Jayni had hot chocolate all over her face until we got home and had a bath.

Bushman Family Reunion

August 20-24 was a busy few days for me and the kids. My 15 year old brother, Tyler was visiting from California. My sister, Shaila had picked him up in Spokane and he stayed with us at my Mom's for the first night. It was so good to have that time with him. I've always felt such a strong bond with him even though he's 12 years younger than me. He has such a strong testimony and is a very ambitious kid. He had just received his Eagle Scout before coming to visit. Good Job, Tyler. Keep up the good work!!!

Tyler had wanted to come during the Grant County Fair but wasn't able to make it. I ended up taking him to the Benton Franklin Fair in Kennewick. We had a great day and he even rode a lot of the little kid rides with Jayni, Malcolm, and Quinn (Shaila's boys). Here's Tyler and Quinn on one of the rides.

Jayni, Malcolm, and Quinn loved riding all the rides.

Tom was working a booth at the fair for the company he works for. We had stopped by there to change diapers and say hi and then some guy comes up to us to say we should probably call 911. Here's the reason why!

This was the booth right next to us. Note the name of the business. Of course they didn't have any water so Tom took a hose over to them. They started evacuating this area of the fairgrounds because they were using huge propane tanks. Let's just say this was our highlight of the day.

For all those who don't know, I have 17 brothers and sisters! Since Tyler came for a visit, Shaila arranged for all my Dad's children to get together (14 of us, 2 have passed away). My Dad passed away 5 years ago and so it's been about 3+ years since we were all together. We had a little reunion at a park in Moses Lake. It was great! Shaila planned a great day for everyone and we had a good barbecue that evening.

As you can see, it took a few times before everyone behaved for a serious picture!

Here's all the girls! Me, Shaila, Malissa, Amanda, and the youngest, Kathryn.

Here's the boys. Tyler, Ryan, Jason, Milo, Calvin, Carter, Spencer, Tanner, and Trevor.

The boys ended up piling on top of each other.

It was nice to see everyone. Some of us lose touch but then we get together it's as if we haven't skipped a beat. I love all my brothers and sisters so much. They are all valued and loved!