Memorial Weekend in Spokane

Devon at his last Cub Pack Mtg. He really likes Scouts, I hope there are some where we move. He most recently earned his Marble badge and that has been the 'cool' thing to do lately. The boys are obsessed with playing and trading marbles. They always come home from school with some new ones to show me.
Over Memorial weekend we went to Spokane and went to Spokane Falls at Riverfront park. The waterfall is HUGE right now! It was really neat to see, Spokane really is a beautiful city, we'll miss it!

The kids love romping in grandma and grandpas 3 acre yard, I love it too as they occupy themselves for extended periods of time :)
Grandma lets them choose a treasure from her special box before they leave and they all chose sunglasses. Cool Dude.

More Pictures...

In orvietto, the cutest houses!
overlooking the view in orvietto
the 737's that took us from counrty to country

yummy snails!!

Carrie, i totally forgot to put a picture of me in the headband you made me in my last post. Sorry! i remebered today, so i decided to post one! This is Abby and i after we hiked up to the top of St. Peter's dome at the Vatican. (yes, it is a country carrie) Anyways, behind us is a view of Rome, when your at the top of the dome, you can actually see the wall around the Vatican country, its so small!!

i don't want to be fat

I am announcing that I am not drinking ANY soda for at least the next month...including and especially DR. PEPPER. (That's pretty much the one and only soda I drink). I figure this post will make me somewhat accountable on my quest to be healthier. I realize there are other things I consume that I probably should cut down on...like the spoonfuls of chocolate frosting I ate after lunch today, but this is where I'm starting.

On a seperate note, I started my new job today at LDS Family Services as a receptionist. It's a part time position and I'll be working every morning Monday-Friday. It was just like any other first day, where you learn some of the basics and you wish you could just get started, but I think I will enjoy it and I really like the hours. I have to get up early (before 6:30!!!), but it's nice to get up and going.

Im Back!!....

Hey Family!! i'm so happy to be home, i had such a fun time and i learned a lot. I hope you all enjoyed my emails. I was so happy to come home and find out that the Whittles are going to be close by, thats going to be so fun! Well here are some random picutres, not put in correct order, sorry, but here are just a few glimpses of my trip..everyone can see the rest of my pictures at our next family gathering! Enjoy! the coloseum
beautiful Velden Austria

on our way to the greek island, agenia
the acroplois, right before i slipped and fell!

remains of the berlin wall

the beginning of our trip in London
we own a construction company in london!
these were in cambridge, london..this picture is for carrie, these were in a chocolate shop...they are 100% just pure chocolate slabs!!!

I have so many more pictures, but i didnt want to take up the whole page! By the way the girl in all the pictures with me is Abby, my canadian friend.

My garden

So...gardening is sort of my main hobby so bear with the pictures! My garden has way out grown its' bounds. My tomatoes are like monsters, I even had to rip up one tomato plant to make room for the others. Here's some pictures.

My cayenne peppers! There's quite a few on my little plant, I'm surprised how well this tiny plant has performed.

My watermelon! I have another one growing, too, but it is smaller and seems to have stopped growing for some reason. But this one is growing and I can't wait to eat it!

My watermelon plants have climbed everywhere and over everything. I guess next time I should follow the planting directions.

My garden! You can see the tomatoes in the back are busting through every nook and cranny they can (those are my Italian Cherry Tomatoes, mom!). I also have crookneck squash, cucumbers, tomatillos, yellow tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and some chile plants. The plants around my garden are Sunflowers. In the fall we'll landscape that part with permanent plants, but the sunflowers take up the barren space till then. The two big stalks are two Sunflowers.

I've gotten some tomatoes from my garden and let me tell you, they are the BEST tomatoes I've ever had! They have a punch of flavor that, seriously, makes even vine-ripened store tomatoes bland. This year I've gone organic in my gardening, I think that and raising my garden bed higher with better soil have made a huge difference in my garden.


This is Friday. We've had a bit of a cold spell these past few days. Last week we hit the 100's, and the past few days it's actually rained and the high was 85ish. It seemed a lot colder than that though! I even made hot chocolate for the kids! I didn't realize till after I bundled up the kids, complete with jackets and hats, that it was probably no less than 68 degrees. But we were freezing!

Baby Shower!

Last Friday I had a baby shower for Bev, she had a boy! Cody Nathan Whittle is his name and he's so cute! My wonderful jack-of-all-trades friends Natalie and Reagran helped decorate, well they did most of it and Becky brought some awesome mini quiches and a divine Andes mint/brownie torte cake. It was fun to get together!

The middle of Nowhere, CA

Devons teacher called me today. Devon told her we were moving to CA and she wanted to confirm with me so she could know if he was returning next year. She asked him what the town was called and he said "it's called The Middle Of Nowhere" I guess he's heard Troy and I say that alot....

Troy did it!

Well, Troy got the job! Hooray-I think :) He doesn't have to start til August 11th..but we'd like to be settled a few weeks before that so I think we'll probably move in July. Crazy! I'm so proud of Troy, he's worked so hard to get to this point, and I know that he will be a great principal!

Cartoons and Crepes!

Every Saturday morning the kids look forward to cartoon time and I usually let them have a 'picnic' breakfast while they watch. Last weekend I made crepes, which they ALL love (you know how often that happens)! Alex enjoys being part of the gang now, he is growing way too fast!


I have an obsession with Cool Whip. It seriously is the best thing ever. Mmmm. I still remember the crepe recipe from french class in high school, it's funny to me that it's hard for me to say it in English, but I can say it in French. And I think that's the only thing I remember from that class.

road trip

carrie posted some pictures from my visits with her.. it's
always great to visit the Lambournes and they took me
and my roommate to an awesome restaurant. Anyway
here are a few from the rest of my trip.

mom bought this for me, can you believe that?

this is how the first few days were

but we finally had some sun in san diego!

A Visit from Aunt Kate and other Lambourne Adventures

That title sounds like a great book doesn't it??

Anyway, this week we got 2 visits from Aunt Kate!! The girls were all hyped about it and LOVED it! Lizzie's little attitude melts away and she, especially, loves the extra attention from Aunt Kate. Here's also a few recent pictures, including today's Mother's Day meal!!

(what is it about our family and taking pictures of food??)

Lizzie riding her bike!! She can barely get to the pedals, but she can do it!!

A yummy dinner of ribs, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and marinated mushrooms all made by my loving husband!!

Playing in the laundry hamper. This made the girls sooo happy!

Showing off their "potty" charts. This has really helped Caitlin not have very many accidents anymore. And Lizzie has really caught on- she has been out of diapers for a week! She even wore underwear to church today!! Yes, there was an accident, but Rod was subbing in nursery so that worked out okay.

From my garden!! This is actually my second big squash from my garden, it is so satisfying to enjoy the fruits of my labor. The smaller squash is ripe and ready to eat too, but it didn't grow as big. I think some grow bigger than others depending on how well they were pollinated. But that's just my theory.

Me and Kate!! We went to this great Spanish tapas restaurant. Rod and I really like it, so we took Master Kate and her roomie there. It was a lot of fun.


Sunning in the back- notice Lizzie's painful smile. That kid has Travis smiles. I have to catch her off guard to get a cute, genuine smile!

Other news- me and the rest of the Primary Presidency were released today at church. How bittersweet! Although, if I'm being totally honest, I have to say it's more on the sweet side. I do love all the kids, and that they all know me and run up and give me hugs and say hi at ward activities. And my Sunbeam class that I taught before being the presidency is now CTR 7's!! Not being able to keep closer tabs on them will be hard. But the next presidency will be absolutely awesome, so I am looking forward to sitting in Relief Society next week!

We're SAILING! #2

I'm not sure what happened on that last post. But Dad and I went sailing out on the S.F. Bay with a friend from my book group and her husband. It was a breezy, but beautiful day! We tilted pretty good for a while. I would have been nervous, but he was an experienced sailor.

We're SAILING!

California here we come?

Here's a picture of the valley, can you see Mt. Shasta in the background? And below is the church building in Fall River Mills, they do have a small ward but still bigger than a branch!

I know I've talked to most of you, but I thought I'd post the latest on the job front. Troy's interview in CA went well and they narrowed it down to 2 people and Troy was one-SO next week he's off to CA for another interview (his dad is going to go with him). From what Troy was told, they really like him and said he's their #1 choice, so if all goes well next week he could have a job (gulp) which of course means a move to Cali. We have all sorts of emotions going through us, of course it's exciting but nerve racking, scary and sad too, the thought of leaving behind our good friends-I just can't even think about it!

The Big Valley area is really beautiful, the little (I really mean little) towns seem cute for the most part. I'm not sure how I feel about living so far away from things I'm used to; it will definently be an adjustment. The church would be about 20 minutes away, hopefully there's some members we can connect with. Anyways, I'll let everyone know how next week goes, it's definently an exciting time!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Wow, 31 years! We love you!