The Stifflers go camping.

Well, we have been busy. I need to get better at this whole blogging bit. It is such a great way of keeping up with family. So, here we go again :)

This is not necessarily in order, but I will start with the camping trip that we took up to Olympic National Park about a week ago.

Eric and I went on our honeymoon to Sol Duc Hotsprings and had not been able to make it back in the last 9 (can you believe it!!!!) years of our marriage. So, when some old friends offered to save us a spot at the campground we jumped at the opportunity to join them! Thank you Geoff and Jaime!!!

Here are a few photos of our trip there!

We spent 3 nights and were able to spend an afternoon at the Hot Springs resort. It was fantastic. It was a little crazy with three kids there so we did not end up getting any photos of the time swimming but here is a promotional photo that I pulled off the web.
The resort has 3 naturally heated mineral pools and a fresh water pool that is kept pretty warm too. This is one of our very favorite places in the whole world, so if you haven't been I would totally encourage you to go!!!

Here are some more photos of our trip :)


Blueberry faces!
Hiking near the Sol Duc River My Handsome little (or maybe not so little anymore) man!
Kids checking out the riverSol Duc River Salmon Cascade. In autumn you can see the Salmon running. They jump up this thing like crazy.Good Morning Mama!
Miss Reyna and I the morning we built the fire (Girl Power!) Reyna and I made this :)What do you mean I am dirty???I sure like this guy
Beautiful Lake Crescent
Learning to skip rocks with daddyThis is what miss Julia thought of the lake.
Going for a walk in the river
It was cold.
This is a stick
This is mossMaking smoresThe view from our campsite
Popcorn and Games a perfect way to end the day!So it was a long one I know. But I had too many great photos to share! I have several more to share of other fun things we have done this summer, but that will have to come later... The troops are restless :)

What we've been doing lately....

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Yes, Those are my kids playing Guitar Hero and yes they are pretty good at it... I can also proudly say that they (all three) know all the words to Living on a prayer and Eye of the Tiger. I am such a proud stage mom...... Well, it has been fun for our family, especially since we have been stuck in the house with sick kiddos for the past 10 days or so... We are finally all pretty much well again and I am so glad!
Here is a very necessary picture of miss Julia on roller skates.. I didn't know they even made them this small!!! We took all three kids to a skating party at skate world and it was a blast!! Surprisingly Julia was the best skater out of the three!!! Here are a few more photos of our adventure ( all courtesy of our dear friend Christina)

Noah was a little concerned about falling
Reyna and I skating , we both look a bit unsteady..

Eric and miss JuliaAll having a treat...

Oh Christmas where did you go?

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It has been a weird year. It seems like a lot of things went "wrong" this year. Weather, Family illness, Economy... It is interesting to me the expectations that we have for the Christmas season. It is like I have a mental checklist of the Christmas activities that we must do in order for Christmas to be a success. Find a Christmas tree : Check. Decorate tree and house : Check. Go to several family gatherings and eat WAY to much : Check... And the list goes on. Well, this year my checklist went something like this. Christmas Tree: Check. Decorate Tree: Check. Get snowed in and trapped in your home for 7 days: Check....

For the first time I can remember Eric, the Kids and I stayed home for Christmas Eve and Christmas... At first I was kind of Bah Humbug about the whole thing. I was thinking "What are we going to do here stuck in this house, still?" I felt sad that maybe the kids would be disappointed in Christmas, like they had somehow been gypped. But in the end we ended up having one of the best Christmases ever!! Here are some photos of our fun :)


Tree hunting (Reyna did not want her photo taken, can you tell??)
Mama I have the map.We found it!!!My little man helping out!!

Julia had an altercation with the snowman.She won.Decorating the tree.

Making "Gingerbread" Houses (with Graham crackers)



Uh Oh our house fell downReyna's masterpiece
'kay kids eat your sugar and go to bed...... (not the best plan I think)

Eric won the "best design" award... His house was most resistant to destruction.After our decorating fun we all sat together around the Christmas tree and Noah read us the Christmas story from his bible. It was really sweet to listen to him read :) He is growing up so fast!
Some photos of Christmas morning.
Julia was not impressed with the idea for a photo of three "monkeys" in a row.The kids opening gifts. Julia was much more interested in sitting on the gifts then opening them.
I guess she won her fight with the barbie house too.
Reyna playing barbie house.. We have officially entered the "Barbie age"Molly was entertained watching all of the activities...

Well I still have a ton more to post, but I am running out of time for now, so I will post Christmas part 2 soon. Really, I will.

Reflecting on the Snow

First off I know I am a total blog slacker. I will do my best to remedy this. Life is so busy that it seems that time flies by and then somebody will say to me "you know you haven't blogged since September". Oops.
That leads me to the title of my blog..... I love the snow. It is beautiful and fresh and such a rarity here that it is truly a treat when it comes our way. I am also finding that while we are "stuck" surviving Arctic Blast 2008 (or whatever silly name has been thrown out there) we are having a rare opportunity to just slow down and really enjoy time as a family. It strikes me as kind of tragic that it takes 9+ inches of snow for us to really have some good family time. I love that the kids are at an age where they can be involved in all sorts of activities and that I can watch them grow and learn, but I am beginning to feel that we are really missing out on some of those quiet times. This is day 6 of being totally cooped up in our house. It has been a tough week. I have been fussy. All three kids had the stomach flu ( Julia first then Noah and Reyna at the same time, awesome), I had to go to Les Schwab to buy a new car battery for the van the DAY after our first "snowstorm" (never a good idea, half of Battleground was there getting snow tires cause they saw a snowflake). That was after standing outside with my car in the middle of the road, three screaming/frozen kids and a dead battery waiting for Michael to come save me cause Eric was convinced that we really didn't need a car battery after the 5 or so times that the car HAD died on me. Did I mention that it was only about 20 degrees outside??But I am not bitter....
During this time I have learned so much about my kids. It has been really fun to discover how funny and innovative my kids are (Not that I didn't know this already, it's just a different perspective I guess). I tell you I have not been bored. I just spent the last 20 minutes or so listening to Julia's Knock-Knock joke. Knock- knock. Who's there. You. You who? Knock Knock..... and we could probably go in circles for hours. Noah and Reyna are so cute playing all sorts of make believe games that have the appropriate amount of swords/badguys and babies/princesses to keep them both happy. I am secretly hoping that the snow sticks around awhile longer, it is totally worth the "inconveniences" of slippery winter weather to watch these precious little people uninterrupted. Here are a few picks of our snowy fun :)

All bundled up.

Julia was a little bit unhappy that she tipped over in the snow.
Throwing snowballs at daddy
This was before things got really exciting around here...I bought Julia a new coat. It may be a bit big.

This is our dog Molly. She is a miniature Daschund and has a super funny personality. Here are some photos of her this morning after the freezing rain made the snow hard. She was inching around so carefully...

Notice that if she were to fall through there would be more snow then dog. Fortunately, the only times she fell in she was close to the edge and no rescue effort was necessary.


I am going to do my level best to be a better blogger from now on. I hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas!!!