Our little camper

Tyson had a break for a week so we decided to go on a little vacation to the North Cascades. It was beautiful there! Unfortunately our pictures don't do it justice at all but here are a few.

Newhalem Campground- We camped here two nights. This campground had over 100 sites but hardly anyone was there! We felt like we had it all to ourselves. We chose a campsite that was near a flush-able, yes flush-able,  toilets. We definitely felt spoiled. Sage was polite enough to pose for a picture just after we finished setting up camp.
                                           


Picket Range (behind us)


This our first hike- River Loop Trail
 


Things were growing everywhere, even new trees out a stump. Everything was sooo green.
 
We should have taken a picture of the little tiny town of Newhalem where this train is located. We had to stop at the store to get bugspray. It was the size of a gas station. 


This is on the way to the Ladder Creek Falls
 


These are "gardens" that used to have tropical fish in them.

 

These falls have lights that come on at night, changing the color of the falls. We hiked this around 9 pm.


 Uh, we don't remember the name of this peak but ain't it pretty!


Lower Newhalem Creek

 

 2nd night at our campsite, Sage wasn't ready for bed yet, although we had already laid her down! It was still pretty light around 9:30-10:00. Crazy!

Thunder Woods Trail-the last hike we did in the Newhalem area.

 
This video contains clips of Sage during our vacation. She was so fun.



We only saw a very tiny portion of this Washington National Park but we would definitely recommend it!

Sleepy Biker

So we finally got Sage a bike seat and now we can all ride as a family! Tyson found a bike/running trail that apparently goes from Spokane to Cheney (where EWU's main campus is located- about a 30 minute drive). The trail goes to a lake which is only about 10 miles from where we started, but we didn't go that far. Our trip was 10 miles round trip, which I think is pretty good with Sage. She had so much fun. Every time we asked her if she was having fun she would just laugh and say "Go, mom!" She did fall asleep on the way back in her cute lady bug helmet, aww.

Mineral Ridge

Hey I am back with another video of Sage, it is at the bottom of this post. She is pretty much the only reason this blog still exists! This video is basically for your guys' benefit, our family and friends, since we are living states away!

Just a few updates, Tyson only has 4 more weeks of this quarter and then he gets a week off! Yay! After that he will start his summer quarter which is a week or so of class and then he starts his first clinical for 5 weeks in Yakima. It technically starts on July 9th. So while he is in Yakima I will be visiting Utah! While I am not thrilled about not seeing Tyson for that long, I am excited to come back for a visit! Wow almost a whole year will have gone by since we left!

As for me, I got my wisdom teeth out a few weeks ago which I totally went under for and am so glad I did. Tyson was great and took care of me and Sage did well too. She could come up to me and say "mommy hurt" and give me a hug. I have been substitute teaching off and on- good and bad experiences, but the money is pretty good- and have been volunteering at a nearby elementary twice a week. Pretty low key, but love spending all my other time with Sage. She can be sooo frustrating at times but is the absolute sweetest thing!

Sage is saying a lot of things lately. Her favorites lately are: mine! Stop it! And Me Do it! When we go on walks and she hears the dogs barking in backyards and such she gets a little nervous. The way she deals with this is (from the safety of her stroller of course) to shush them with her finger to her lips and and then whispers "be quiet". She totally cracks me up.

So here is the synopsis of our video: A couple weeks ago,Tyson really wanted to get out of town for a bit since he had some extra time on the weekend. So we drove to Couer d'Alene and found a place called Mineral Ridge, where we grilled some steaks and went on a little hike. We had a lot of fun and Sage only had one melt down when Tyson didn't have permission to eat one of her goldfish snacks. We spared you that little scene. :)

By the way, Sage is in her p.j.s because she spilled water all over herself in the car. I'm glad we had something for her to change into... I am posting this video because it is fun to hear her talking a little more these days. I edited it so it is a little choppy but you'll get the idea.

Easter

Easter here was pretty low key but here are the highlights! (I like to make these videos because it is easier for me to post on here.)

"Painting" fun!

No mess finger painting was a hit with Sage and a lot easier for me! I got this idea off of pinterest from this blog. Sage had a lot of fun just running her hands up and down the paint in the bag. I would draw a letter or shape with the paint and she loved "erasing" with her hands. She is a cutie.

Featuring our little 2 year old!

So Sage just had her 2nd birthday on Saturday. We started it my opening some presents. Sage actually opened the presents pretty well by herself! Then Tyson and I went to the Temple with family names that Tyson had found, which was awesome, and then got ready for the evening festivities. We had dinner with some of Tyson's friends and had cake and ice cream and played some games. It was a fun night!

Here is a little video compilation of pictures and videos of Sage in the snow, bath and her birthday!

Snow Day!

We have been getting snow since yesterday and it hasn't really stopped yet. This is exciting news for me because I was beginning to worry I wasn't going to be able to use the snow pants I bought for Sage. Well, we used them today and she loved it!

Now she's all decked out!

Yumminess-Pulled Pork Sandwhiches

Last night we tried a new recipe and it was a big hit! Tyson said more than once that it was really good... score!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2 ½ to 3 pound boneless pork shoulder roast

½ c water

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon chili powder

3 ½ cups bottle barbecue sauce

10 Kaiser Rolls, hamburger buns, or onion buns split

Trim fat from roast. If necessary, cut the roast to fit into a 3 ½ or 4 quart slow cooker. Sprinkle roast with salt and ground black pepper. In a small bowl stir together the water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and chili powder. Pour over roast in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 8-10 hours or on high setting for 4-5 hours.

Using tongs, remove meat from the cooker; discard cooking liquid. Using two forks, shred the pork and return it to the cooker. Stir in 2 cups of the barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on high heating setting for 30-40 minutes or until heated through. Serve meat mixture in rolls and if desired, with thinly sliced onion and pickle slices. Pass remaining barbecue sauce. Makes 10 sandwiches.

I halved the recipe because it's just the three of us and didn't add the Worcestershire sauce because I didn't end up having any and it turned out absolutely delicious.

Long time no see...

It has been way too long so here are just a few pictures from the past few months.

Chocolate pudding on that cute little face today!

Christmas pajamas 2011 from Great-Grandma Dixie

Tyson's birthday!


My birthday cake on December 13th: Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting... yum!


Sage's Halloween costume



More to come!!!