Mariners FanFest

On Saturday we went with some friends of ours to the Mariners FanFest at Safeco. It was pretty cool...you could run the bases, get autographs, tour the clubhouse, and lots of other fun things. Here were some highlights.


Getting ready to run the bases.

Travis standing on 2nd base.

A family picture in the M's dugout.

Oh, Travis, you're so silly!

True love! Jenisa's mom and I have decided they are going to get married one day. Although I've asked her if she really wants her daughter to inherit the last name of "Butts"...she says Travis will be taking their last name, instead. :)

Potty trained!!

That's right...Travis is potty trained! Yahoo! And what's really great is that it was actually not a terribly difficult thing. I was expecting, or at least had geared myself up for, a longer process, but it really only took two days! We started on Monday, and he had an "accident" every time except twice. Same thing on Tuesday morning, until naptime when he woke up crying and wanting to sit on the potty, and he pooped! And since then, he's only had one accident. What tricks did we use, you ask? Nothing earth-shattering...just M & M's as rewards, and special underwear that he picked out at the store (Elmo and Thomas the train). We encouraged him "not to get Elmo wet", and that also provided motivation. At this point, it's still a lot of work since he needs help with the whole process, but that will get easier with time. It's so fun to see him excited and proud of himself. Three cheers for Travis!

Travis on his "loilet". Our favorite feature? The "splashguard".

The kids' favorite game

Jayna is actually relatively subdued in this one...usually she's squealing and laughing. At least they're keeping each other entertained!

Book recommendation

I LOVE to read, and I just finished a book that I highly recommend. The title is "My Hands Came Away Red", by Lisa McKay (her debut novel). It is Christian fiction, which I'm generally not very impressed by...I find Christian novels often full of easy answers and lacking depth. But this one was honest, intense, fast-paced, and tackled a subject that Christians often find easy to ignore. It was SO good! A general summary of the plot: An 18 yr. old girl goes with 5 others on a summer mission trip in Indonesia, they find themselves in the midst of major violence stemming from Christian/Muslim conflict. That's a really lame summary, so just trust me, it's good. The author portrayed the emotional and spiritual conflicts perfectly...she didn't gloss over anything, but she also didn't ramble and fill it with "fluff". All right, you get the point. Read it!

Welcome to our blog!

My reasons for starting this blog are twofold. First, I am hoping it will be a tool to allow our family to stay better connected to our friends and larger family. However, it just may end up that I will be the lone visitor to this blog, which is okay, because my bigger reason for starting this blog is simply so that I can chronicle our family life. Kind of an online scrapbook, I suppose. As I get older (coming up on the big 27!), I realize that not only does time seem to be flying faster every year, but I forget things I never thought I would forget! I'm excited to be able to look back at previous posts and remember the "growth, struggles, fun, and love" that my family or I have experienced.

At the same time, I don't want this to become another "to do", so I'm not promising to post every day! Or even every week, for that matter. But I am excited to begin this project, and to have this outlet.

Feel free to leave comments on my posts so I know you stopped by!


P.S. For any of you who have never considered starting a blog, I totally recommend blogspot. It has been so easy, and fun, to set this up! I am by no means a computer whiz, but it really has been a cinch.