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Our tree is decorated!

Our tree is officially decorated!  Our lights didn't work this year so we got new LED lights which are very bright and vibrant.  We had fun getting the tree at greendbluff again.  Thankfully it wasn't snowy when we were up there and we didn't have to bring a sled.

I always like to see what ornaments we put on the tree.  Justin's ornament's are still in the original packaging from each year that he got the ornament.  Mine are wrapped in tissue paper and caden's are too.  Everyone's are separated and we pick which ones we like and add them to the tree.  It makes our tree look different every year. 

This weekend I made christmas cookies with my mom.  It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas....  Well, it has for a while actually.  :)

Merry Christmas!

Last weekend we got out the christmas decorations.  After Justin and I got married, I started collecting nutcrackers at Christmas time.  It seems like each year I have bought one or two.  This year I let Caden pick one to buy.  He picked the one in the red on the right. 

He also added a different hat and was walking around the house with it.  I let him know that they were for decoration.  It sure made me know how Clara felt in the nutcracker when her brother broke her nutcracker prince.  :)  I think we dodged a bullet on our nutcrackers breaking, but it sure was funny to see him play with the nutcracker.

I also bought some santa's last year, so they are mixed in with the nutcrackers.  :)

What's new with us?

 I love Black Friday!  No joke!  I love to find the deals and I love to see what I can find!  I was able to get pretty much all of my Christmas shopping done this year which is good since it seems I have no extra time!  I did two major shopping trips this year.  One in the middle of the night and a second one (with Caden) at 9am.  We didn't score the $150 tablet like my sister did, but we did pretty well.  We also just made a cyber monday purchase on Sunday night, so we are getting deals all over the place.

One thing I have noticed this year is it seems everyone wants to get in the Christmas spirit early.  I see a lot more people decorating this year, and the lights are going up on a lot of houses.  Even our neighbor Griffin put up Christmas lights.  We got our tree this weekend and it is a very fat tree.  It is taking up about 1/3 of our family room.  I am sure I will post a picture soon, but it is a funny fat tree.  We decorated our house for Christmas today.  We got out the decorations and went to town.  Caden was so excited and running around the house "helping."  The other thing we were able to do was fix some decorations.  We bought stocking hangers 2 years ago that you can put pictures in.  Well, they still say photo here... so we added our photos this year. 

Tomorrow night is our office Christmas dinner.  It is not even December yet!  I guess that is one of the many reasons why christmas is moving quick this year, we are doing things earlier this year. 

We also have not gotten hit with the snow yet.  Last year at the end of November we had a ton of snow!  Not this year!  So far, minimal snow, and none has stayed!  I am sure I will pay for that, but excited for now!

Caden helped me wrap some of the presents on Saturday night.  As soon as we finished he asked if Dad could open his presents in the morning.  I told him he would have to wait until Christmas.  He asked me to show him on the calendar when that would be.  You know it's a long ways away when you have to turn the page...

Trick or Treating with the boys!

We had a festive group to go trick or treating this year.  We invited our neighbors over and a friend that I work with who has 2 boys.  Keegan was a monster, Gavin was a monkey, Caden was a cowboy and Bruce was a chicken.  Bruce had light up shoes on, so when he walked, his chicken feet lit up.  It was pretty funny.  All four boys hit up the neighborhood for treats.  Justin was the only guy with us moms, and our neighbor's sister was visiting too.  My friend let justin know his costume could be the guy from sister wives as everyone we walk by keeps commenting how cute his boys are.  So funny! 

We only had a few tricks, including a kid walking around pretending to be a zombie, and  house that was handing out air fresheners and construction paper.  That house also had a karaoke machine and they were chanting Halloween sayings out their door.  It was a pretty funny scene, but I guess you had to be there.  

Caden's bucket broke, so he ended up using a grocery sack.  It worked out well for him, he got a ton of candy.  We filled up his batman lunch box and now every night when he eats a good dinner, he can pick a treat from the batman box.  Looks like he will have enough candy to last through Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all!  I didn't get my costume totally organized, so I am a festive mom!  Caden is a cowboy.  Justin got to be a scary guy! 

He actually wore the mask for a while, but when we went to the first house, he scared the people.  He apologized and realized it would be better if he wore the mask on top of his head.

Coeur D'Alene Family visit

We spent a week in Coeur d'Alene having a mini Anda Family reunion.  Not all the Anda's (my dad's side) could be there at the same time, but it was a continuous week of festivities, activities and family time.  Truly a great week for all.  To start out the week, we went to Silverwood.  This is like 6 flags in the Inland Northwest.  Roller Coasters, kid rides and a waterpark.  If you brought 2 cans of food, the price was discounted.  Turns out the waterpark was closed too.  All in all, it was a fun day at the amusement park with about 11 Anda's.

The next day, we went on a bike ride on the trail of the Coeur d'alenes.  This was a great trail, paved and flat.  We rode about 13 miles that day.  I also discovered I was missing a bolt on my bike that day... So my bike became dangerous, and I borrowed my mom's. 

Tuesday we headed back to Spokane so Justin could work and I met up with everyone at Spokane Discount.  We let my Aunt and Uncles know that no trip to Spokane is complete until you have shopped for the extreme bargains at Spokane discount.  I mean really, why wouldn't you want to have a pair of shorts for $1.42. 

Caden & I cam back on Thursday night for dinner and decided to stay until Sunday for more family bonding.  The next day, we were all getting ready for our bike riding adventure on the trail of the Coeur d'alenes when Charlie and Caden pointed out that not only were they matching, but Jeannette and I were too.  I mean literally - we were wearing the same shirt we both bought at Spokane Discount.  Not planned, but yes, we are the big dorks wearing the same shirt on the same day.  :)

Pete & Vanessa met up with us too and actually made it to Coeur d'alene surprisingly early (like in the morning)  We weren't expecting them until about 2pm.

This was just before we hit the trail.

This is us having our picnic lunch after the bike ride in Harrison on the trail of the Coeur d'alenes. 

We lined up the grandkids for a picture, we took about 6, none are great.  :) 

Uncle John gave the kids some airplane rides in the grass.

This was during cocktail hour after the bike ride.  All of us were just enjoying hanging out.

All the kids in their Halloween shirts, possibly acting like whatever was on their shirt...

This was the trail of the Hiawatha crew.  We biked the 18 mile trip and made good time on the trail.  I used my mom's bike because mine was a disaster thanks to the missing bolt.  At the end of the ride, Lookout pass was selling all their bikes from this season, so I scored a bike for about $110.  (Retunred my faulty bike to Costco...)

On sunday, on our way out of town, we stopped at Discovery park for a picnic with Pete & Vanessa before they headed back to Pasco.  This is a great park in Spokane Valley and has toys for kids of all ages and abilities.  With that being said, Caden & I were sitting and spinning gently on this circular looping merry go round thing.  Next thing I know my brother runs over, jumps on, spins us out of control and as I fly off, I accidentally kicked Caden in the head.  All of us were in shock about what had just happenend and Caden was crying since I had just kicked him in the head.  Yikes!  Just goes to show you, we can make anything that is "safe" a little more dangerous!

Overall it was great to see some extended family, wish more could have joined us, but we will do it again I am sure.

A day at the pumpkin patch

We hit up the pumpkin patch last weekend.  It was so fun to go out in a field and find the perfect pumpkin, along with the perfect stem.  We went to Knapp's and enjoyed the Pumpkin Chunkin, the corn maze and the all the animals.  If you haven't seen the pumpkin chunkin, it is awesome.  They basically "shoot" a pumpkin out of a cannon at a target.  He hasn't hit the target yet, and it is a quarter of a mile away from the cannon.

Caden meets Ryan Leaf

When I was in college, Ryan Leaf was the quarterback for the Cougars.  He was a great asset to a great team that broke records and played well.  After graduating, he made some bad choices and was not the stellar role model you would hope he could be. 

Well, we ran into him at the Cougar game on Saturday.  He is doing a book tour.  He is actually turning his life around and trying to right some wrongs.  Based on that, I wish him well. 

Since we saw him, we thought "why not let Caden have a picture?"  So here is Caden's 15 minutes of fame today.  After we took the picture, his publicist asked if they could post the picture on thier facebook page too.  I said sure.  Then my Dad recognized her as Margo Myers - past tv personality from the west side of the state.  After that, they realized that none of them took a picture and asked me to e-mail it to them. 

On a side note, we went to Northern Quest the next day and ... Ryan Leaf was there selling and signing books.  We purchased a book and it is signed for us, so stay tuned for the book review...

Cougar Football Saturday!

What is not to love about Butch Cougar?  What a great mascot!  Caden loves Butch Cougar and was glad to see him again!

Caden, my dad & I headed to Pullman on Saturday to see the Cougars take on Stanford.  We were hoping for a miracle and the cougs would win.  That didn't happen, but we sure had fun walking around campus, having ice cream at ferdinand's and having lunch at the fieldhouse before the game!  Go Cougs!

Ready for halloween!

We are ready for Halloween! 

I am pretty proud of my skills! I made the vest and chaps for Caden's costume! Awesome skills, I know.  He is going to be a cowboy and we took some inspiration from Woody.  Thanks to Aunt Jeannette for letting him borrow the boots, holster and gun.  He is ready!  Now the hard part is every morning he asks how many days until Halloween.  Pretty sure we won't be talking about Christmas until December 1.

Nissan Xterra - Sold!

UPDATE:  - This is now sold!!!!! Awesome!  Thank you Craigslist!
Nissan Xterra for sale - Black, 2WD, 93,000 miles $5,500.  Anyone interested, you know who to call.  Kelley Blue book value is $5,800 - $6,600.  Family members - this would make a great island car.  We will deliver within reason and we are going with Cash only. 

The queen mum

I met the queen mum... Ok not really, but a good imposter!  This was part of my trip to Vancouver BC.  The entertainment at the opening reception was ... icons from canada.  The mounties were there too.  Not sure how the Queen mum fits in, but it was kind of funny.

This is me working

This is me working at a recent tradeshow in Orlando.  I know, it is awesome!
I have been doing quite a bit of travelling this year.  The big trip was actually 2 in a row, - Vancouver BC, then Orlando FL - in the course of 10 days on the road with about 16 hours at home.  All of this made me a little punchy by the end. 

Ladies man at 4

Yes, we have our hands full with our little ladies man.  This is Caden with one of his numerous girlfriends.  This was the day he told us that he would be going on a date with Claire.  The date consisted of follow the leader around various areas of our neighbor's yard (her uncle).  We all had a good laugh. 

I have to say, Caden is quite the social butterfly.  My mom can vouch for this because every day that he heads to the playground, he is actually going there to make friends.  He also makes sure that  he looks good because people won't want to be his friend if he doesn't have a cool shirt on... his words, not mine. 

Rei sale

We found the Rei ding & dent sale! Lots of bargains to be found if you can handle buying something that has either a minor defect or someone changed their mind. Well I got these sandals for a screaming deal - $21!

Justin & I were amazed at what was being sold and why.  The cool part was that each item had a return tag with the reason listed why it was returned.  I also got a camelback for about $24 that had a small tear in the side pocket.  Since I had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with it, I scored that too!  There were sleeping bags returned that "weren't warm enough" and hiking boots covered in mud that were "not fitting right."  Justin found a North Face Jacket with no reason code, and we didn't find anything wrong, so for $49 he got it!

Lets just say that I love a good deal!

Haircut time

It's time for the back to school haircut - a little delayed on my post...

My dad got the joy of giving Caden a haircut in August.  Not bad! 

Cowboy Caden

Last weekend we went to the Benton Franklin County Fair in the Tri-Cities.  Below is a video of Caden's first real cowboy experience.  Enjoy!

Rockin b Ranch

What a fun night we had at the Rockin B Ranch.  This is their last year of performing, and it was very reminiscent of Rawhide in Phoenix but on a smaller scale.  We had a great dinner, they put on a fantastic and entertaining show and keep everyone interested.  The musicians were very talented and we had a blast.


One thing we weren't expecting was the audience participation.  We had the opportunity to interact with the performers.  Caden didn't miss a beat and was able to be a volunteer during the shoot em up show.  He also made his way on stage during the actual dinner performance and basically walked across the stage and smiled for everyone as they were all laughing that he had the guts to walk across the stage.  As super mom, I wasn't sure how to corral him back to where he was supposed to sit.  Luckily the woman in charge let him know that he needed to be sitting.  :) 

Tough being 4 but really fun too!

Awesome day of bowling

We had another awesome day of bowling.  We have turned Caden in to a little bowler as well.  Before we went bowling on this day, we told Caden if he could get a spare or a strike, we would take him out for ice cream.  Well, what do you know, he got a spare, so we headed to Baskin Robbins.  What a fun day we had.  He also bowled this crazy shot.  We weren't even sure what we should tell him to aim for, so we said just try and hit the pins.  He didn't hit those pins, but had fun trying.  He also caught the eye of a young gal on the next lane over.  She though Caden was quite the character and a good bowler too.  Pretty funny to see him bowl and then check to see who was watching him.

Chocolate zucchini cake goodness

Some of you may be aware of the awesomeness that is known in our family as Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  Others of you may have only heard of it.  Well thank you to the power of the internet, I am going to share it with all of you today!

Caden helped me make this cake the other day, and when we put it in the oven, he called it the mud cake.  When it was done and he got to taste it, he loved it.  The joke is on him, there is zucchini in it, so he is getting a little bit of vegetables.  I love it because it is not too rich, but light and fluffy and moist!  Awesome is a great word for it!

One of the best recipes ever!  Here it is:

½ cup soft margarine
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla
½ cup sour milk (can use regular if you don’t have sour)
2 ½ cup flour
4 Tbsp coca
½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼ cup chocolate chips
2 cups grated zucchini (shred in food processor, before making cake)

Cream margarine, oil & sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla & sour milk.  Beat with mixer.

Sift dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture.  Beat well.  Stir in zucchini.  Pour batter into 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle top with Chocolate chips.  Bake at 325 for 40 – 45 minutes.

Yum!

Dress up at North Wall

I am not always sure what Caden is learning at school, and when you ask him what they do, he gets quiet.  Today he told me they learned about Kings and Queens and I asked if they might see those at the museum today.  He thought they might.... So imagine my surprise to find this picture in my e-mail.  The kids are learning about Kings and Queens and this is them all dressed up!  Notice Caden has a pink wand, it makes him happy!

I hope to post some pictures and stories from our Rockin B Ranch Adventure soon.

Fun at the bowling alley

We are starting early to encourage fun activities that we can do as a family.  Bowling is the name of the game.  As some of you may know, my first job was working in a bowling alley, and we all got the honor of being on a bowling team with our friends.  My mom signed us up for bowling since she felt that we needed a saturday activity that didn't involve tv.  Good idea mom!

Caden was so excited to get his bowling shoes on and that they gave him a ball.  He wanted it to be blue like my ball (still have the falcon from 1995) and I also still have my bowling shoes circa 1995.  Let's just say they are still awesome!

Notice the socks... That is all Caden's doing.  We try to get him to push them down, but he likes them pulled all the way up.  He also picked black socks for the bowling alley... Lets just say he has his own sense of style.  :)

We found a deal that gives kids free bowling every day of the summer.  So what that means is we are going bowling a lot in august.  Caden had so much fun and I was really impressed with the automated bumpers they have.  It's not completely free, you have to rent shoes, but it was worth it!

Justin & I went bowling for date night on Sunday and saw this deal, so we have embraced it.  Happy bowling in August!  I am sure we will be back about 5 more times this month. 

Our garden is in bloom

This is our lavender plants which are in full bloom!

Our garden is blooming and the flowers are gorgeous!  We also have a pretty hearty vegetable garden too!

Today we harvested a zucchini, which I made into Zucchini pancakes!  Yum!  Summer in Spokane!

I am back in town after a 2 week travel spree for work. I was in Vancouver BC for 5 days and then Orlando for another 5 days.  I am tired from flying all over, so I am focused on family time now.  We have some short fun things planned like Portland, Riverfront Park and the pool.  At the end of the summer we will be heading to Orcas to relax!

Why sleep in a bed?

Why sleep in a bed when you can sleep on your diego couch?

You may not see my kid in the mess there, but he is sleeping on his little pull out couch.  I am not sure all that goes on after I put him to bed, but each night I discover something funny when I check in on him before I go to bed.  He is a character.

Last night he let me know he wanted to sleep on the top bunk, then the bottom bunk, then the diego couch.  I told him the couch wasn't an option and we had just moved everything off the top bunk, so he could just sleep there.  When I checked on him, he was asleep on the diego couch. 

Can't be mad at my independant kiddo!  Just have to laugh!

Nani visits

We have been having fun with nani! 

Justin's mom was here for a great visit.  We did tons of activities, but some of our favorite things were all the reading and time she got to spend with Caden.  Here is one pic of them reading on the deck while Justin and I worked on our garden.

Awesome snack at school!

In case you were wondering, this is what an awesome snack looks like to a 4 year old - smores!

Happy Friday!

Caden's teachers send us weekly pictures of what his class is up to.  I couldn't resist this one.  Each friday, a kid in the class gets to pick the snack, and supply it for the whole class.  Whomever picked the snack this day... well the kids loved it!

Great day off!

I had a great day off last week on 7/5.  Put a truckload of beauty bark in my flower beds, picnic at the park with Caden & my parents, stopped at the cupcake shop, and read a book on the deck in the sun!  Awesome!

Who is the biggest loser now?

For the last 3 months, we have been doing a biggest loser challenge at work.  We all weighed in together in Marchm, and then had our final weigh in last week.  During the challenge, we all tried to eat healthy and exercise more.


At the end of the challenge, we had a celebration and there were prizes for the biggest loser man, woman, couple, corporate & overall loser.  At the event, we had the chance to meet Ali Vincent, since she now lives in Spokane.


I am proud to say that our cvb team won for the corporate prize. We lost the highest percent of weight & body fat. I am happy to say I lost 10 pounds. I still have some weight to lose, but this was a good motivator and will help me to stay on track. It was great to hear Ali speak. She reminded us that you don't have to always go to the gym to workout. Use your body's weight as resistance and start walking. Small changes can make a big impact over time.


Here's to my lifestyle change and healthy living!  Cheers!

My latest craft project

This is the finished product - same chair, new cover.

This is what the chair looked like before I got crafty.

Basically, we ended up with my Granny's dining room set and Pete & Vanessa had recovered the chairs to their liking.  Ever since we got the set from them, I had wanted to make an update, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do. 

I found the fabric last weekend and went to town.  I really like the finished product and am proud of my handy work.  We now have a hipper dining set. 

Like my outfit?

Just found this in the draft blogs - Caden has quite the idea of what is cool to be wearing.  I like to call this the tacky tourist.

Bloomsday for my dad & me

This was my 4th Bloomsday and my dad's first!  We did it together and finished at a respectable 1:49 - That is 8 minutes better than last year!

If you are not sure where we are - I am the one in hot pink shirt and he is in the red shorts!  Feel free to join us and 55,000 of our closest friends next year at bloomsday on May 6 in Spokane!

Seriously Awesome running!

This is Justin running in bloomsday!  He had his best time ever - 1:08 one hour, 8 minutes

More good deals in spokane!

Today I got out of work a bit early and was able to hit up Spokane Discount with my coupon.  I spent less than $20 and was able to get Speedo Swim Trunks for Justin, a bathrobe for Caden to wear when hot tubbing at my parents, 2 cami's for me, an adidas workout shirt for me, and a cardigan sweater.  Oh yeah, and 3 dish scrubbing sponges! 

What a good day of bargain hunting! 

Elton John Rocks Spokane!

I had the opportunity to attend the Elton John concert in Spokane on Friday April 8!  It was amazing!  We had a client event and we invited clients to dinner and the concert and we had a blast.  He sang, and played, and just provided some great entertainment!  These pictures were taken from our wonderful seats! 

What a great event and so nice to have it in Spokane!

He even did a bit of an encore! 

Spring at the park

I am not sure about you or anyone else, but I am ready for Spring!  Since it is April, we have decided that we should do spring activities which include going to the park and seeing the Spokane River in full force!  So this Sunday, that is what we did!  We hit the park, saw the river and bought our summer passes for the park.

Caden got to go on his favorite ride - the planes.  They go up and down and I couldn't get a good picture, so this is as he went by. 

Hello Spring!