Dance Family: October 2025

Monday, October 27, 2025

Father and Daughter

She had her hand out because he had her phone and she was waiting for him to hand it to her :)

Defy

Kenzie, Coleman, and I finally went to Defy again! We had a lot of fun!

Ford Lightning

Since we bought a new house with more land, Doug thought he needed a truck too. He found a used Ford Lightning in Port Orchard and decided to buy it. We had to drive over an hour there to buy it.

We got there early so we went to a park and walked around for a few minutes. It was really pretty there!

Doug's new truck! He really loves it!

The kids love that it's roomier in the back seat than the Leaf so when we all drive together they aren't squished:)

We bought a bunch of fake spiders for a yw activity and Kenzie and I had fun hiding them around the house to try to scare each other with them. They look pretty realistic! Here's a few places I found them one day:

Saturday, October 18, 2025

Kenzie's Soccer Game

Kenzie had a soccer game in Seattle today. It was nice not having a fence between us and her and to be able to sit a little close to the field than normal. It was easier to get some pictures of her. Although, the first half of the game she played on the opposite side of the field mostly, so we hoped she would play the second half on our side, but she still played mostly on the other side. She plays one of the center defenses so she does move around, but mostly stays to one side.

We love watching her play soccer!

We're Buying a House

Doug's been looking for a long time for a house with land and a Mt. Rainier view. He knew that for now at least, he wouldn't only be able to convince me to move if it was in the same area, even in the same ward. He kept telling me if a certain house he found that he thought would be perfect went on sale we'd have to buy it if it was as perfect as it looked. That house didn't go up for sale, but the one next to it did. He booked an appointment for us to walk through it the next day. He really loved it. I thought it was a nice house, but I liked ours better. He was so excited about it though that we took the kids the next day (Jackson happened to be in town for the weekend so he was able to come too!) The kids all loved it! Jackson wanted us to buy it so that he could have it someday after us. Kenzie loves that there's a bedroom with a bathroom attached that she's claimed for her own. Coleman loved the yard. Jordan was the only one not very excited (I think only because he knew I didn't want to buy it) until he saw the barn area and decided the house was amazing. The next day we put an offer on it and they accepted it the following day. It happened so fast. Our closing day is Oct 30, but they might want to close a little earlier so it might change. We have a few things we might do before we move in so we're not quite sure when moving day is.

It's a beautiful house and land! While I would prefer to not move and I really love this house we're currently living in, I am excited for the land, more parking, and the sports court and game room we're planning to build. I'm also glad that the kitchen is really nice and it has a pantry, even if it is a much smaller pantry.

Kenzie made a picture of us in front of the house. There's a little rental house on the property with someone named Barth living in it. So she included Barth in the picture. Doug says that whenever she draws a picture it comes true. She drew a picture of us with a trampoline before we got one, and she drew one of Doug working at Netflix before he was hired there. He had her draw one of us in front of a house with land and a Mt. Rainier view a couple months ago, and now this has happened.

We went back on the day we were waiting to find out if the offer would be accepted to make sure we really could see Mt Rainier from the house. We could see it from the yard! We weren't able to go in the house, but we know the view would be much better from the house. The pictures we took don't show the view as good as when we were actually standing there. It was pretty amazing!

There's a garden out back with some tomatoes growing in it. Living amongst the tomatoes was a cute little frog that Kenzie caught.

Such a cute little guy! I think she named him Timmy.

This is her excited, shocked face when Doug told us they accepted out offer!

Both so excited and shocked!

Orchestra Concert

Jordan had his first orchestra concert a couple weeks ago. He's playing the piano and did a great job! They only played one song, but he had a solo during it! It's nice that we can easily pick his piano playing out of all the instruments playing because his is the only piano:)

He's in the very back by the piano.

Mariners' Playoff Game!

Doug and I went to the Mariners' first ALDS playoff game of the year! It was so fun and exciting to be there! We sat in the 300 level. The fans stood for so much of the game that sometimes it was hard to see. But it was fun having everyone be so excited the whole game. The Mariners lost in the 11th inning, but it was great game up until then.

My mom and I always like to see which jerseys people are wearing, and I was really excited to see a Tino Martinez shirt! He was my favorite play in 95, but he wasn't here for too many years so we never see his jerseys. I was wearing my signed Charles Gipson jersey, which you also never see. But then my mom saw one this past week when she was there for the ALCS series! I didn't think anyone else owned a Gipson jersey. My parents had it custom made for me around 2001. It's so fun watching the Mariners in the playoffs!

Portland with the Young Women

Kenzie and I went to Portland with the other young women and leaders for a night. I was recently put in as yw president so we have a new presidency now. Heather and Shannon were the other leaders that came with me. We had 6 young women attend. It was a lot of fun! We got there late Friday night. We stayed at a lady in our stake's mom's house in Lake Oswego. On Friday morning we woke up and went to the Portland Temple to do baptisms.

We hadn't been able to make an appointment so we just showed up hoping they wouldn't be too busy to accommodate us. It turned out that the huge group that was supposed to show up at that time, didn't come so it was just us. It worked our perfectly!

Kenzie, Lorelei, Delaynie, MOrgan, Paisley, Jase

When we came out of the temple it, there was a couple coming out too (from a different door) that we're pretty sure had just been sealed to each other and their kids. It was pretty fun to see their excitement!

It's so pretty!

Then, after a quick stop at Target, we went to see the Portland troll. We're hoping to take the yw to see all the ones in Washington in the next year or two so we thought it would be fun to start with this one.

We went to Powell's Books in downtown Portland (and walked through some sketchy parts!) then had lunch at Cane's before heading home. Kenzie, Jase, and I had never been, but the others all had been there. I thought it was like any other chicken strips I've had and don't quite understand all the hype about it. I guess others just really love the sauce, and I thought it was just okay. Kenzie felt the same as me. It was fun to go though and try it for ourselves :)

Sweet 16!

Kenzie turned 16 this year! She was super excited for her birthday and we had so much fun celebrating her!

She had to wait until Jordan got home from school to open present (after 11!). We watched some youtube while we waited.

We went to Banyan Tree for lunch. She wanted the rice soup they give us at lunch.

And rice and broccoli.

Next we went to Target so she could pick out a few things and then we went home. We hung out there, she looked at her presents, watched more youtube, then had soccer practice.