Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Anacortes

On our second adventure in our new home we took Kent's sister to a beach in Anacortes.  We packed a picnic and headed to the beach for some fun in the sand!  Aunt Laura helped Emma build sand castles and of course Emma immediately knocks it down.  While we were playing in the sand the fishing boats attracted a couple of sea lion friends.  We had lots of fun exploring the beach and hope Aunt Laura visits again soon!

Auntie Laura (Urla) and Emma building sandcastles.

Emma filling her bucket with sand for her castle.

Our friendly sea lion waiting for the fishing boats to leave him some left overs!

Emma escaping from being buried in the sand!

Daddy and Emma throwing rocks in the ocean!

It looked like so much fun Auntie Laura had to join in!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Padilla Bay

Now that our family has settled down in Sedro Woolley, we have had the chance to do a little exploring.  On our first adventure we headed to Padilla Bay.  We spent most of the time exploring the beach looking for crabs and other sea creatures.  Then we headed up to the Padilla Bay research reserve.  Inside they had lots of information about the bay along with an aquarium.  We hope to go back soon and spend more time exploring the trails.

Trying to find the perfect rock!

Digging in the very wet sand.  Emma wanted to try building a sand castle!

Emma's first crab!

Emma was not too sure about the crab.


But she did enjoy moving the rocks to find them!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Easter 2013

Since the majority of our family was out of town or working Kent, Emma and I spent Easter with Kent's cousin Kyle and his family in Olympia.  One of the perks of living in Western Washington is being able to spend more time with our extended family and attending our family events.  Kyle and Emily made a delicious dinner and of course put on an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos.  I was so happy Emma had the chance to participate in an egg hunt this year.  Last year she was still a little young and did not quite grasp the concept of finding eggs, but this year she definitely caught on quickly.  Thanks Kyle and Emily for having us over for Easter!  We had a great time and enjoyed watching Emma play with her cousins!

The Hunting Begins

And the hunt begins!



 
Look Daddy I found one!

Our attempt at getting all of the kids to smile for the camera!

Checking out the goodies in the eggs!


Some post egg hunt jumping!

The girls eating there Easter cupcakes!















 

Seattle Pacific Science Center

For Emma's birthday her Aunt Laura (as Emma would say Aunt Urla) bought her a gift certificate to be used at the Seattle Pacific Science Center, so since Squirt's baby shower was cancelled we thought it would be fun to head to Seattle with Aunt Urla.

Riding the ferry to Seattle! 

Bubble racing

Checking out the dinosaurs.

Taking a ride on what I think is either a caterpillar or a centipede.  Not quite sure.

The coolest exhibit at the science center was definitely the butterfly sanctuary. 

This little guy was very fond of Kent.


Thanks Aunt Urla for taking us to the science center!  We had lots of fun!

 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The PURRfect birthday!

Well,  Emma's best friend in the entire world right now is her very furry kitty cat Walle.  From the day she was born she has loved Walle.  During tummy time as an infant Emma absolutely loved wiggling her toes in Walle's fur.  Though it has taken time for Walle to warm up to Emma he seems pretty fond of her as well.  So, for Emma's 2nd birthday I thought it was fitting to have a black and white kitty cat themed party for her.  At first I thought there would be lots of ideas out there for decorating, cake ideas, etc.  Well I was wrong.  Everything I found was either Cat in the Hat or Hello Kitty.  But, I did find some really cute ideas and Emma's birthday was a blast.  I hope everyone who came enjoyed themselves and thanks for celebrating our precious little girl's 2nd birthday!

 
The Inspiration!
 

 
Emma wiggling her toes in Walle's fur!

Best Friends

Kitty Cat Party

I made cat ears out of headbands and felt for each of the children.  I think the boys thought it was too girlie, but Emma and Lainey enjoyed them!
Emma and her friend Lainey!  Don't they make adorable kitties? 

The yummy food!

Emma's kitty cat cupcakes!

We couldn't have a kitty cat party without some mice!

To keep the kids entertained we filled a tub with rice and added plastic animals! 
 
It was quite the hit!

Unwrapping presents!!!

She received a very cute dolly (Rita) from her Great Aunt Kathy.  Thanks Aunt Kathy!

Waiting patiently as we sing happy birthday.

YUMMY!

Eating her favorite pink ice cream.

(Prior to the party I scooped the ice cream into cupcake wrappers.  I definitely recommend doing this for parties!)
Our beautiful 2 year old!!!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Happy 2nd Birthday Emma!

During our stay with our families Emma turned 2!!!  Kent and I still can not believe that on February 4th, 2013 our little girl turned 2!!!  She has changed and learned so much over the past two years and we are so excited for the plan God has for her.  Since her birthday was on a Monday, we decided to have a her party the following weekend.  But, I wanted to make sure we celebrated her special day, so we spent the day doing things Emma loves.

Play Center in Gig Harbor
Emma absolutely loves to play on slides, so this was a special treat to slide down a slide in a tree!

Climbing through the tunnel under the tree!

She wasn't sure what these were for, but she enjoyed climbing on them and jumping off.

Playing in the magic sand with daddy!


Cold Stone Creamery
So, on our way to have birthday ice cream we asked Emma what kind of ice cream she wanted, her response was "pink ice ceam".  We definitely made sure she had pink strawberry ice cream which she completely devoured.
 

Posing before her pink ice cream ends up all over her cute outfit.

Finally digging in to her pink ice cream.


 
 
Presents
After ice cream we headed back to Grandpa Young's and opened a few gifts mommy, daddy, and grandpa bought Emma for her birthday. 
 


 
Happy Birthday Emma!  We love you so much!
 


God's Plan

It has been awhile since I last posted, but now that the Grunenfelder household is beginning to finally settle down I have time to write about our adventures over the past two months.  As many of you know Kent was laid off from work in December, so we packed all of our belongings and headed to Kitsap County to live with our families until we could find a job.  I am not sure what we would have done without our families.  We are very blessed for all of their support!

After we settled in at our parent's Kent began applying for jobs everywhere he could.  Kent ended up going to three interviews while we waited to here back from Snelson a company Kent had interviewed with in Sedro Woolley back in December.  Towards the end of February Kent and I headed to Gillette, Wyoming for one of the three interviews.  Right before we left for this interview Snelson called and offered Kent a job.  After not having any options we now had the opportunity to have multiple job offers and were very confused as to what we should do.  We were not very sure what God's plan was for us at this point because neither Kent nor I could picture ourselves living in Wyoming, but thanks to a long talk with a good friend we realized we needed to explore all of the options God was providing us before we made a decision. So we packed up our stuff and headed on a long road trip to Wyoming.  Kent really liked the company and the people he interviewed with, however we were not so excited about living in Gillette, Wyoming.  On our travels back to Washington we spent a long time talking about what we should do, what we thought God wanted us to do, and what was best for our family.

Well, during our road trip we realized that the biggest reason we needed to go on this trip was to spend the time just Kent and I discussing what Kent wanted out of his career and what our expectations were for our future.  God definitely sent us on this long road trip so we could find clarity without any distractions.  Kent and I made a decision on our way back to Washington to take the job with Snelson in Sedro Woolley.  We are so thankful to our family and friends who have prayed and supported us through these last few months.  We are so happy to finally be settling down in Sedro Woolley and look forward to what God has in store for our families future.