Two days til my lil nephew’s first birthday! He came over to see me today, such a little cutie pie. We have a busy weekend ahead, so I probably won’t be updating until after the 4th. Not that you all will be sitting around waiting for an update on 4th of July weekend! Ha!

I’ve been working on a website for our dear friends, Rick & Michele. I finally finished it and we showed it to them yesterday. Check it out! www.ourhoustonfamily.com

The kids and I are going to Lane’s party on Saturday. David has to work. Then, Sunday, we are going to have a BBQ with family and friends, hopefully some fireworks for our annual private 4th of July celebration. Then, we are going to go to Fort Vancouver on Monday for the big fireworks display. It’s the biggest show West of the Mississippi, so they say. We picnic all day, they have music, vendors, events & games for the kids. Good times.

Need picnic or bbq ideas for the weekend? There are some great ideas here: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/holidays/picnic/picnic.html

Have a safe and fun 4th of July everyone!!

Our final day of peace and quiet! We decided to go see a movie. We were trying to decide between Mr and Mrs Smith (my choice) and Batman Begins (David’s choice). I finally caved, after hearing how good the movie is. Good choice. It was excellent. I kept reading how well the characters were cast, how awesome the action scenes were, etc. Truly the best movie I’ve seen in quite awhile. I can’t wait for Tanner to see it. Speaking of, I miss my little man. He left for my grandma’s on Friday. He should be coming home by Friday.

After we went to the movie we stopped in at a new little ice cream shop that opened next door. The movie theater we went is brand new, just opened in April up the street from our house. We would normally have to drive about 20 minutes to get to the closest theater, now it’s just 5 minutes away. Anyhow, the ice cream shop…. it’s called Bombe Gelato - Gourmet Ice Cream and Coffee. I’ve never had Gelato before, but it was very very good. It was explained to us that the difference between that and ice cream is that it has a 6% butter fat content and ice cream has 12-14%. So it’s better for ya I guess, but it’s really creamy and yummy, so if you haven’t tried it and see it offered somewhere, give it a try! It’s good! David had vanilla w/chocolate. I had a scoop of yellow cake (regular ice cream) on a sugar cone. Delish!

We are getting ready to go get some dinner at Red Lobster. Can’t wait - dinner out at a restaurant other than Chuck E Cheese or McDonald’s Playplace. Woohoo! Not that I can’t wait to get my girls home…. but I have to admit I’m really enjoying this break!!

Web Updates: Added Journal Archive. I know that my journal entries are treasured, so I am putting them on an archive page just in case you want to look back of my words of wisdom. LOL. Oh and Katie has updated her own website. Now I realize that it’s a little hard on the eyes, but yaknow… it’s all about letting her express her individuality, right? I mean I did draw the line when she had a bright pink background and light orange writing. Whew!

What a quiet house today… I took Katie and Bailey into town to go to Target this morning. When we got back, McKenzie and Ashlyn left for the beach with Grandpa. Bailey went down for her nap and Katie and I cleaned the house for an hour. Woohoo! A clean house…. for more than 10 minutes. It’s wonderful! Bailey left with Elaine (Grandpa’s girlfriend) at about 3:30, just as she was waking up from her nap. I’ve been able to do some laundry and read. I’m reading Family First by Dr Phil. It’s a wonderful book. There is a quote and I’m not sure who it’s by. It just says “have you heard the saying”. It says: “Children are messages we deliver to a future we may never see”. Wow… that is so awesome.

Well I just came to add a webring to my site… I’m off to bed. Tomorrow is David’s day off, so I’m sure we’ll be getting things done that we normally aren’t able to do with a bunch of kids in tow!

Oh and we did make cookies last night at 8:30pm! They turned out delicious. My family loved them and I do believe that I have found myself a new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Scroll down to journal entry dated: 6-25-05, if you are interested!

Today was Yard Work Day, but everything was working against us. First, the weed eater was broken, then the lawn mower had a flat tire. We decided to go to Clackamas Town Center first, then do yard work later and it ended up raining on us. We did get some weeding done though! Lots more to do.

McKenzie has been asking to go to Build A Bear, as she keeps seeing the commercials for it on tv. She and Bailey were in HEAVEN in that store. They wanted to buy everything. They had mini cell phones, sunglasses, umbrellas, strollers, backpacks — even PANTIES. lol… They are doing a summer reading program. Each of the girls read 6 books so they got $5 off their bears and a prize out of the grab box. Ashlyn picked out a pillow and McKenzie picked out a little hard cover book. McKenzie picked out a floppy bunny and named her Cinderella (which matched the dress she chose), Ashlyn picked out a pink poodle and named her Annabelle (very fitting and has a cute little khaki skirt and white top). Bailey picked out a purple teddy bear that was SOO soft and $1 goes to Children’s Cancer… so that was cool. She was stuck on these mint green jammies and Daddy helped her name her…. she picked out the name Blue, of course because everything is BLUE.

We had a good time. Katie and Ashlyn bought tops at Limited Too sale and we had lunch. The girls got to play and Daddy got to scope out some waffle cones at the All American Frozen Yogurt Company.

The girls are begging to make the cookies we didn’t get to make yesterday… give me some energy. It’s 8:30pm… what are they thinkin? They are leaving tomorrow (Ashlyn, McKenzie, and Bailey) for 3 days with Elaine and Grandpa Sam at the beach. It’s going to be so quiet here and so nice!!

Web updates: Added pictures of Kenzie and Bailey horseback riding on both of their photo pages. Added Build A Bear Gallery on our Gallery Page. Also added a Father’s Day Gallery in our Gallery Page.

Not too much going on today. It’s cloudy - perfect “cuddle up to a movie” kind of day. Tomorrow is “yard work day” since it’s David’s day off and it’s supposed to be fairly decent weather. I think we’ll kind of take it easy today. I’m going to make beef and been burritos tonight for dinner for me and the girls. Tanner is at Great Grandma’s. Also will try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe that I got from allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups all-purpose flour
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Combine flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine soften butter with shortening, sugar and brown sugar and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 min. Note: I take them out of the oven before they start to turn dark! Do not double this recipe, or they don’t bake soft. Can make this recipe for bars too. Spread dough into greased 9×13 inch pan. Bake them at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes.

Well Summer has begun! It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this website. I’ve been busy lately and just not motivated to get updates done. This was a hobby I once enjoyed so much and I miss it, therefore, I am making time for it!!! No more excuses! There are lots of updates to be made and I will get them done over the next few days.

We have lots planned this summer to keep the kids busy and out of trouble. McKenzie starts swimming lessons in July and Ashlyn will be starting Summer School. Tanner, McKenzie, and Ashlyn are all starting soccer, but I don’t think that starts up until August.

What else? We have the upcoming Clark County Fair - where we will have a “ice cream booth” and a “mini doughnut booth”. This is a little side job for David and I. We both enjoy the concessions business and while we don’t have the time to put into it the way we’d like to, we are doing the fair again this year. Adding the mini doughnuts should prove to be interesting. We are also making fresh waffle cones this year. Yummy! The whole family gets involved and it teaches the kids a good deal about work ethic at a young age and also gives them a chance to earn some summer cash. And our savings account will be saying thank you!

Upcoming events at The Ullom House:
Working on:
Family Management Handbook - we are excited about this!
Summer school
Planning for the CC Fair
Next week:
Lane’s first Birthday on Saturday - woohoo!!
Getting ready for 4th of July - double woohoo!!!