Dressing the dog

A couple weekends ago, while I was in the shower, Belle was busy entertaining herself, at of course, Rooster's expense. Belle came running into the bathroom telling me I "had to come look at this". I reminded her I was in the shower and it would have to wait. A few minutes later I can hear her giggling and squealing. I peek out the shower curtain and see what I "had" to go look at...



I started laughing and told Belle to get her camera she had gotten for Christmas and to take some pics of Roost. Well her battery was dead so she got my camera and I turned it on and she took some pics. She would say "Oh you look sooooo beautiful, Roosta".



And a wardrobe change...



I love how Roosty always goes back to the shower. Looking for me to save her. And a few self-shots...





I was laughing pretty hard at her self pics. What I would give to spend a day in her head. I can't even begin to imagine what exactly goes on in there! Fancy, dancing, Polly Pockets and dress up!

Dora the Explorer

This Saturday was the Kids Fair at the Expo building. Belle and I went with a couple of our friends. Lets just say I didn't think there was much of a "fair" going on here. It was a lot of vendors trying to get you to buy their stuff. They had games for the kids to play and then the prize was a piece of candy or a ruler or bookmark. There were TONS of people there. Too many people for me. I thought I was going to lose it a couple times. You had to wait in lines that took forever and then the reward wasn't that great. The main reason we went was to meet Dora the Explorer. After waiting for about 30 or 40 minutes it was our turn!



I think it looks like Dora is about to lose her shorts!!As we were walking around we met Tinkerbell...



We also walked by a booth that had bubbles that were strangely easy to catch and keep.



Then we went to the face painting booth. There were only two people here doing the face painting. But, we waited for our turn because they did amazing work! Belle chose a pink and purple swirly for hers.





Blakeleigh also got her face painted!



She is just so serious!



The last thing we did was decorate a frisbee. First, you pick out the color of frisbee you want and then they put it on this thing that spins it around. You get the colors of paint you want to use and squeeze it onto the spinning frisbee. It was so fun and I want to make dishes the same way, somehow. Belle's turned out really good!



The Fair was an okay time, just too crowded. I don't think we'll be going back next year...

The Big Dinner

I again had the pleasure of being in Washington with Tren Feb 19th to the 22nd. His company was having its annual dinner and meetings on the 20th. Tren picked me up at the airport Thursday night and we were off to Bellevue to check in to the hotel that the meetings and dinner were being held at. We weren't sure what to think of this hotel we were staying at. We just knew it had valet parking and that it was pretty expensive. We finally get to the right place and as we are pulling into the valet parking driveway, we see a really nice black Porsche and a nice Mercedes. Tren said "I feel bad for the guy who has to park this!" talking about his little truck. Then I spotted the head valet man. Like in the movies, he was a tall man, wearing a long black coat, suit, and a hat similar to a police man's. We pulled around and the tall man and his little vehicle parkers didn't really make a move to assist us. So, we get out and Tren says to the tall man, "I guess I need you to park this?" The man just looked at us, Tren wearing his dirty work pants and shirt and me in regular clothes, and then finally he sees "General Construction" on Tren's shirt and realizes we are special and he does indeed need to park the truck. So Tren gives his keys and gets our valet card and grabs his suit out of the truck and I get my suitcase and we head in to check in. We go to the front desk and get checked in and the man gives us our room cards and the key to the mini-bar. We head up and our room was amazing! Here is the best pic I could get...



We start poking around and I discover wonderful terry cloth bath robes in the closet and we notice the mini-bar is stocked with juice, water, candy, nuts, power bars, and adult beverages. We also notice the key we were given didn't work. Tren calls down to the front to let them know our key doesn't work and when the front desk answers the phone they say "Good evening, how can I help the Sundquists'? " HA!! Tren explains the key doesn't work and within seconds there is someone at our door with a different key. We check out the goods and then notice the card with the prices for everything in the mini and decided we weren't that thirsty or hungry. So we call to the front desk again and ask if there is a restaruant close by or in the hotel. There is a lounge in the hotel that serves food all night. YES!! So we get some things put away in the room and Tren shows me his new suit and asks if I brought his socks up. I hadn't seen any socks. This means the socks are in his truck that has been valet parked. I jokingly say we can have the valet boy go get them and we both laughed and thought "right". We head down to the valet man and explain to him the situation. Tren left his valet card in the hotel room which you're supposed to give to get your keys, and as soon as he told the man it was the little Tacoma the man said "ohhhh! right... I'll see what we can do". So we head to the lounge and eat and talk with some other people who were there for the meetings. Then we head back up to our room and BAM!



Tren's socks had been located in his truck and delivered to our room! Amazing! We went to bed and Tren was up early for his meetings. He had to be in these meetings all day. I decided I was going to catch up on some sleep and lounging. I woke up around 9:30 and couldn't lay around anymore. I took a shower and put on my robe :) and waited for Tren to take a break or something and let me know if they were serving breakfast somewhere for all the other wives in the hotel. Tren hadn't heard anything and finally around 11 I decided to order room service. I got a bagel w/ cream cheese and a Mountain Dew. Within about 7 minutes the man was at my door to deliver my breakfast.



Quite the little spread for a bagel and Dew! It was delicious and cost $15. House keeping came and wanted to clean the room and I told her I didn't need anything done, but she spotted the tray from breakfast and came in and hauled around, emptying trashes and replacing towels. It was hilarious! Tren's meetings lasted until about 3 and then he came back and it was time to get ready for the dinner. Tren looked so handsome in his suit!



Cocktail hour was from 5:30 to 6:30 and then we headed into the "Grand Ballroom" for dinner. We had a salad and then our dinner. I wasn't sure if I wanted the vegetarian or the beef. I am not a huge fan of big slabs of meat, but I also was a bit worried about what might be served as the vegetarian dish. So I went with the beef and I am SOOOOO glad I did. It was delicious! I am pretty sure I ended up with the biggest one at our table (lucky me). One lady had the vegetarian and I couldn't name one thing on her plate. I'm very happy I decided against the vegetarian. Very. After dinner they had the service awards for people who had been with General for 5 years and on. Every person being honored was asked what they wanted said about them... things like their most memorable jobs, who influenced them and things like that. The first few said they wanted to thank their wives for supporting them and holding down the fort while they were gone working and for listening to them complain when they got home from work. I thought it was so sweet. But then I realized every one of them, if they had a wife, said that. Tren started poking me and saying "remember that...remember that" because I too will be holding down the fort and keeping things together while he's gone. Ugh. It was definitely an eye opener. I've known I would be alone some of the time, but it put an entirely new twist on things. After the dinner and awards, there was dancing and more good spirits! It was such a good time and I am so glad we got to go. I didn't want to leave that hotel where everyone waited on you hand and foot. Yes, you got charged an arm and a leg for it, but it was nice. We were staying at the Westin Bellevue in Washington. We found out our room was $550 a night. Holy Crow! Definitely a "once in a lifetime" experience,... until we get to do it again next year!

LaPush, WA

In the books, LaPush is where the Indian Reservation is. Our first stop was First Beach, where two characters frequent in the books. I wanted to get Annie and a friend some driftwood from First Beach. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, we could hear the waves crashing onto the shore. It was so amazing! There were tons and tons of huge trees and branches up on the shore that had come in with the tide. We had to climb over them and then we were on the nice sandy beach.



I wanted to be sure to get driftwood that had freshly come up on shore. I didnt want to grab something from all the piled up stuff. Annie's piece is shown here, right where I found it on the beach. (its in the lower right corner)



The beach was so awesome! We spent a few minutes walking around and checking things out, but we wanted to get to the rocks that you can see off in the distance. So, we headed to Second Beach.

To get to Second Beach, you have to do some hiking. This gave me a great opportunity to take a few pics of the trees. They were covered in moss and the moss was SO green. It was very quite in the forest and kind of eery.



We finally made it down to the water and again had to climb over trees and then we were on the sand. The waves were crashing so hard into the rock piles and it was so loud. I was a bit nervous venturing out onto the rocks because I didnt want to fall in.



People were out collecting sea weed and there was also Twilight fans there because we would come across "twilight" written in the sand. It was funny. We did our own sand drawing...



And here are a few pics I had to include of Second Beach...







I am so glad we came to the beach. Not just because of the whole Twilight theme, but because it was so awesome. I haven't seen anything like it in my whole life and I can't wait to take Belle and Rooster back! Tren said he would definitely be going back, too. It was so much fun, and I hope next time we light a fire with the driftwood to see it burning blue and green.

Oh Edward!

When I first went toWashington to leave Tren for work, back in early January, I had just started reading Twilight (book one of the four book saga). After sitting in the airport for my 3 hour delayed plane, I nearly finished this first book. So. I became "obessed". I am now on book 4 and almost done! I did my research and discovered all the places, Port Angeles, Forks and LaPush are all within 2 hours driving time of Tren's new home. Heavenly Day!! So, on my visit I just made to Washington this last weekend, we made Saturday "Twilight Day". We headed out around 11 and our first stop was Port Angeles. We only zipped by the port and headed out.



Next stop? FORKS WASHINGTON where the hometown of the books is written about. I was so excited! Tren... not so much. As we got within miles of the town, his hissing at me began (the vampires in the movie hissed/growled at danger or anger). Yes. Yes. It was funny at first, but then I just got annoyed with him.



(please note the tourists getting their pic taken with the sign) Forks was definitely a small town, with one road as the main strip. We are driving down the strip and I see this!!:



I thought I was going to jump out of the car! Tren saw what I was squealing at and said "I am not going in there". But, he turned the truck around and we did go in! The store had tons of little collector things. Clothes that said things like "My boyfriend glitters" or "Team Edward" or "Team Jabob". There were little phrases that were on blocks of wood and they had little charms for a charm bracelet. They had so much stuff I can't list it all. I got myself and Annie a little something (I can't be specific as she has not received it yet). And then I got myself a black shot glass that said "twilight Forks, WA" in white writing in the twilight font. This store would have been 100 times better if Tren wasn't the one following me around and bringing me down. Annie and I will be going back someday and the store will be the experience it should be!

After the Twilight store we went and had pizza at a place there in Forks and then headed on to LaPush. Again, Tren is hissing at me and saying he keeps seeing Edward running in the trees along side us. He had too much fun mocking me. As we got to the city limits, I'm assuming, there was this:



For those of you who have read the books, you understand and will probably chuckle at this sign. I will do a separate post of LaPush...

I have to say that I do complain about Tren hissing and being a party pooper, but he was such a good sport in taking me there to see all this ridiculous stuff. When we were in the store he was asking me what things meant that you would only understand if you had read the books. And he also remembered things, like where Jacob 'came' from, from the movie. I was surprised at his questions because I thought all he was doing during the movie was trying to come up with jokes about vampires or hissing at me. On to LaPush...

Our Family

Tren asked me to have Belle draw a picture of our family for his fridge in his new apartment. A couple of nights ago, we finally got to the drawing. I gave her a piece of cardstock and some markers and crayons. She chose the black one and started first with herself and Rooster. But she drew them so big there wasn't a lot of room left for me and Tren. She started with some legs for me and then sighed and said "I ruined this, Momma! I need a new piece of paper... look at all this crap I just did over here!" and pointed to my two long line legs. They started about an inch from the top of the page leaving no room for my head. She seemed very upset about it and started to scribble over them. I gave her a new piece and she tried again. Here is Rooster on the first draft... I love it!



I told her to start smaller and she would be able to fit everyone in. So, she started with herself and then Rooster and she noticed there was plenty of room for me and Tren. After putting on her finishing touches, I gave her some heart stickers I had and told her to put a few of them on. First thing she did was pick the tiny-est heart and put it on Rooster's body like it was her little heart. I thought it was so sweet! But, then she removes the heart and puts it as a bow on Roosters head. She started to put hearts between me and Tren and coming off her body. These hearts were "love we were giving each other". She used a ton of the hearts and I finally had to tell her to stop so I could have some for the Valentine's I'd originially bought the stickers for. Then she signed her name and was quite pleased with her artwork.



She has changed the way she draws her people. They used to have huge ears the size of the eyes, but now no one has ears. I still love that they don't have bodies. Just a head with huge eyes, a huge nose, a little smirk of a mouth, arms, legs and some hair. Rooster doesn't even have ears. And her signature has changed too. She just does lines for her "L's" now. So cute!

Falling asleep is hard to do...

Belle has been having a hard time actually falling asleep lately. Our bedtime routine:

Have a snack of applesauce or fruit or something. Brush teeth and go potty. Then she gets tucked in and I turn on her music (currently a Phantom of the Opera/Johnny Cash cd Tren made her).

Well last night I headed to my room right after tucking her in. I have been reading the Stephanie Meyer TWILIGHT books (love them! freaking love them!) so I jump in bed and READ! I shut the door just a bit and began reading. I left Rooster in Belle's room, at Belle's request. I can hear her Phantom music WAY too clearly so I hollar at her to turn in back down. She can't hear me since the radio is right next to her bed. So, I go in and turn in down and tell her not to mess with it or it gets shut off. I head back to my room. A few minutes later I can hear a Johnny Cash song on that is also my ringtone when Tren calls me. Belle knows this and I can hear her call out to me "Momma its for you!" as if it was my phone ringing because Tren was calling. She laughed at her funny self. So, I too quitely laugh and get back to my book. A few minutes later, I can hear giggling and then some footsteps and pouncing and Belle squeals. Then I hear Rooster come to my door and I hear her sniffing and snorting. I quietly pull the door open, thinking Belle is out there too, but instead.... this is what I found.



(This picture is kinda crappy because I was using my phone and I didnt want her to wriggle out of it before I got a picture.) If you notice her front right leg has a pony tail wrapped around it too, pushed up to her 'thigh'. I called Belle and she came rushing into my room with a little smirk on her face. Trying to be serious and not laugh, I asked her how Rooster got into her sparkley shirt and Belle said "I put her in it,... don't you think she looks soooo beautiful?... I wanted her to look fancy for bed!" As you may know, Belle can go from being in the real world to being in her world in the matter of a split second! That is exactly what she did in her confession. She forgot she might be in trouble, but who cared?...Rooster looked fancy and that was all the mattered to Belle. She is nuts! And I love her!

16 Questions

I am going to start asking Belle a series of questions with each new year. I weighed her and measured how tall she is. She is a mean 33.5 pounds and 42.5 inches tall!! Here are the results of the questioning:

1. What is your name? " Bellami Bea Bare "

2. How old are you? " 4 "

3. What do you like to do for fun? " I like to play in the spring and sometimes in the winter I like to wear a skirt and tank top. " (she did this today and learned that if there's snow on the ground you should wear jeans and boots!)

4. What is your favorite color? " pink "

5. What is your favorite song? " Twinkle Twinkle Little Star "

6. What is your favorite thing to eat? " Peanut Butter and Jam "

7. What does "I love you" mean? " That you are sweet and you are family "

8. Who is your best friend? " Oakley "

9. What was the hardest thing you had to do today? " Clean my room "

10. What is your favorite toy? " Polly Pockets! "

11. Who is your hero? " Tren " (priceless)

12. What is a secret? " When you get someone a present but you don't tell them what it is "

13. How many brothers/sisters do you want? " 4 brothers and 4 sisters " . (yikes!)

14. What are you most scared of? " Monsters "

15. What is the most important thing to you? " The thing that is the most important to me is not telling people that I love them and to keep it a secret ". (I think she got all these questions going into one thing here... ?)

16. What do you want to be when you grow up? " A ballerina "

I can't wait to see what she says next year! I wanted to come up with some questions that required more thought, but I was unsuccessful. I will keep a tally of them as I think of them throughout the year.

Just checking...

... to see who's checking my blog today! Enjoy if you are!

Butte Wheeling

A week ago Sunday, Tren, Belle, Rooster, Lewis and I went for a 4 wheeler ride up to the Butte. I told Belle to get into some pants, long sleeved shirt, boots and find her jacket. She comes into my room wearing her black "party" dress, brown tights and her pink ballerina shoes. I told her to go outside and see if she feels warm in her party dress. She goes out and comes in and says "it's not cold out there mom". Trying not to let her see me smile, I finally get her to change into warm clothes. She gets some jeans on and her boots and a long sleeve shirt and her coat. She chose her skinny jeans and insisted on stretching the bottom around her boot instead of tucking them into the boot. So! We load up and head out. We arrived at the boot and unload the wheelers. We started out with Rooster running along behind us and I felt so bad for her. She did pretty good for a while, but I just couldn't take it anymore.



I put her in my coat so she would be warm. Belle rode between Tren and I so she wouldn't be right in front in the wind. I told Belle to hold on to Tren so I could keep Rooster in my coat and hold on myself. She kept losing focus and would end up reclining back on me as if this was a smooth ride down the river or something! Rooster would get all nervous before we went over a cow crossing bridge and would try to jump out, so I would have to hold her in and smush Belle into Tren so she wouldn't fall off! We stopped along the way to take a few pics... Belle cracks me up!



After this little stop, we got back on the trail and Rooster got into Tren's coat. I could finally relax a little! Belle spotted a creek and she wanted Tren to drive through it. First Tren almost bumped Belle off the back of the wheeler into the water because he didn't know she was standing up and then Rooster tried to jump out and come over to me. What a mess!



And with Lewis in the creek... please note Rooster in Tren's coat!



We headed back and Belle climbed over a fence. At first she didn't think she could, but she did a great job!



And just another of her in her skinny jeans and pink boots! Oh! I almost forgot. As we are riding, she starts wiggling around and saying "my husband is calling... oh my gosh... my husband is calling... i have to get him from work..." I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but then she got her phone out of that skinny pocket and I about died! She was on the phone with that "man" for a good 10 minutes on the way back to the truck. Such an imagination.



She fell asleep leaning back in her "lazy momma" and had a great time. She really likes to go for rides and is asking when we can go again. Maybe next time she'll wearing some boot cut jeans?