Mt. Rainier Tubing Fun!

Daddy has to walk, but Brayden gets a ride up the big hill

She doesn't look happy but really she was:)

Yummy! Donuts!:)

Our nephew's birthday is in the beginning of December and he wanted a "snow party." So his mom decided we should all go up to the mountains and go tubing as a family. What a great idea! We all got dressed up in our snow attire (you all know what I'm talking about, that attire that takes up so much room and we only wear 2 times a year:), stopped to fuel up at Krispy Kreme, and made the hour drive to Snoqualmie. Although I wasn't a fan of the crazy steep prices for tubing, we paid them anyways and got started. As we were looking down the steep hill I was thinking "there is no way Peyton or I can do this." Travis and Brayden LOVED going down the hill and Brayden didn't ever want a break from it. Eventually I got the guts and went down the hill (screaming the whole way:). It was fun. Peyton's favorite thing to do was ride around in the inter tube but she even went down a few times and thought it was fun. She kept saying "Again, Again!" We had a really good time and finished the afternoon off with lunch and cake at the lodge. We will definitely be doing that again as a family!

Tree hunting

Ok, so maybe Peyton didn't "love" seeing Santa. Had to get the picture anyways:)

Ok so this is late, but better late then never!:) On Thanksgiving weekend we went out to find the perfect tree. Every year we say we are going to get a fake tree but we can't seem to give up one of our favorite traditions- Tree hunting. This year we met a few friends at Hunter's Tree Farm and found the perfect tree. The kids loved riding on the tractor, looking at the animals, saying hi to Santa Clause, and eating the treats.
We also had a blast decorating the tree together this year. Brayden was actually able to help out a lot and even Peyton tried to help. (She only broke 2 ornaments:). Great start to Christmas traditions at the Metcalfe's house!

Zoolights

Grandma and all her grandkids

Momma was getting dizzy quick:)

My MIL's birthday happened to fall on the day after Thanksgiving this year. We asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate and she said "Zoolights!" We thought that sounded like a fun idea and prayed for no rain. Luckily it didn't rain that day, although it was pretty cold for us. We all had a great time. Riding on the carousel, looking at the aquarium, feeding the goats, seeing the camel (you can get a ride on them for $5), drinking hot chocolate in the freezing cold, and just starting out the Christmas season. Good times and good memories!

Thanksgiving

Travis sitting at the kids table:)

The ladies of our HFG enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner. I love these girls!

Ok, I'm the first to admit that it's been way too long since I've blogged. Life has just gotten busy, but hey, better late than never right? We were luck enough to have 3 Thanksgivings this year and they were all great! We had one with our HFG group which I'm always impressed with how good the food is there. We celebrated with Travis' family the Sunday before Thanksgiving (and of course forgot to take pictures). And on Thanksgiving day we celebrated with my family. I love having a day that requires us to look at our lives and remember what we are thankful. We are so blessed!

October all in a blog

Recycled Chicken

Wow, life has been busy!!! I'm sure you can tell that by my blog not being updated lately. October started out with Brayden's soccer practice and games. He has already learned so much and is gaining more confidence each game. His coach is amazing and is so encouraging (which is what Brayden needs:). A few weeks ago they had to take him out of the game 3 different times because he was crying:( He is just a sensitive little guy and was upset when someone took the ball away from him. He thought they were being mean to him by not sharing:) I finally had to be firm and tell him no more crying during the game and he did better after that. By the next day he had the croup so I'm sure he wasn't feeling 100% during the game either. We all look forward to the games as it is a family event, and Peyton is his biggest cheerleader!

Also in October I hit my 75 pound weight loss goal! It's exciting and I feel so much better about myself. I sleep better, I eat better, and I feel more like Crystal than I have in a long time. I still have 25 pounds to go and I'm pretty sure these are going to be the hardest to get off, but that's ok. Our goal during the holidays is to stay active so we can keep on losing! I thank God for His faithfulness!

This year for Halloween Brayden was a fire fighter and Peyton was a recycled chicken (meaning, the costume has been used before:) Peyton was able to wear her costume 4 days in a row and she loved it. She called it her boc-boc (think chicken sounds here), and keeps asking to wear it even now. On Wednesday we went to toddler gym a the YMCA and did a pumpkin parade. The kids get to play in class, then walk around the Y in their costumes and get candy. She thought that was really fun. Then Thursday we drove up to Grandma's work and visited her there and took her out to lunch. Friday after school we went to Papi and daddy's work and trick-or-treated there. Since Brayden was a baby the kids have been coming dressed up. The kids love it and so do Travis' co-workers.
Saturday was halloween and we started out the day with a soccer game, toddler gym, and 90 minute Zumba (I dressed up as a nurse, very original!). Then we joined Renovo in downtown Puyallup for a carnival. It was so busy, a lot of people, but so much fun. Peyton and I were in charge of the cupcake walk, and Travis and Brayden handled some of the games. That was a blast not to mention all the stores and business' giving out candy and coupons!!! We finished off the night at my sisters for a yummy fall dinner, and the cousins going trick-or-treating. Peyton stayed back with me and helped pass out candy which she thought was so fun.
Even with all the craziness October has brought us, we love it! Now it means I can official start listening to Christmas music and finish my Christmas shopping (I'm already half-way done!:) It's the most wonderful time of the year!:)

Tiffany and I at the Tacoma Dome Christmas festival. 3rd annual!

My sister Selina and I doing Zumba on halloween. She looked great and actually won the contest:)

Fire Fighter "so I can help people"

Boc-Boc

My mom, sister and I getting ready for Zumba!

Boc-Boc at toddler gym

Travis consoling Brayden after he got taken out of the game for crying:(

Firsts for the Metcalfe's

Peyton loves to climb on the couch and cuddle with her brother. I love it!

Brayden's first soccer practice

Picking his apple

They were "buddies" on the field trip and couldn't let go of each other. They loved that

Brayden and Cooper on their first field trip to the Apple Orchard

This year has a lot of "firsts" for our family. Brayden started pre-school this year and just loves it. I love his teacher, we can tell Brayden is learning so much, and loves to learn about Jesus everyday. He is definitely a child who learns from watching other kids learn so school has been fantastic for him.
Along with school, another first was his first field trip! It was to the Apple Orchard and I was able to go along. How fun to see their excitement about picking apples, and just being somewhere with their new friends. I was glad I was able to go and see things from his eyes. He now feels like he's an expert on picking apples and eating them:)
Another first is a sport! Brayden is signed up to play soccer this fall at the YMCA. He had his first practice last week and loved it. (After he got over his initial cry fest because the ball wouldn't go where he wanted it to:). This is so fun for him as he's been watching his older cousins now for awhile do sports and couldn't wait to get "bigger like daddy" so he could play too. I'm sure more updates on soccer to come as the year progresses.
One other first this season is Travis going back to school. He is going to UW Tacoma to get his MBA. This is something he's wanted to do for a long time and now the timing was right. It's going to be hard on us as we won't see daddy as much, but we are excited for him to start and finish as quickly as he can:) I was able to go to his school orientation a few weeks ago and it was just weird to be back on campus again. A good weird though. I'm sure we'll be taking many trips to downtown Tacoma to visit daddy at school. That's enough firsts for now, but I'm sure are more to come:)

Anniversay weekend away!

All that is left of our donuts. We were so excited to eat them that we forgot to take a picture before:)

Travis and I celebrate our 7th anniversary on the 21st of September. Since Travis started school yesterday though I decided to surprise him with a weekend away. Surprised he was!! He was so shocked he scared me a little bit:) Travis thought his mom was coming over to take us out to breakfast Saturday morning. She arrived and then I told him he had 5 minutes to get ready to go. It was so funny to see his face. He just stared at me and was like "what are you talking about." He wasn't sure about the idea at first because he had a lot of little things to do considering we had a Saturday with no plans but he warmed up to the idea fast.
Our first stop was Seattle. We are Food Network junkies and are always seeing all these restaurants on there from Seattle and of course we've never been to any of them so I thought it was time to change that. We started with Lola's for breakfast. It was the best breakfast Travis and I have had. We shared these donut bites that come to your table in a paper bag. They serve them with marscapone vanilla bean cheese and a blackberry jam. So good! The rest of the breakfast was delicious too and we can't wait to go back and have it again!
Across the street from Lola's we checked out the Dhalia bakery which has made it on the Food Network as well. Travis grabbed shortbread muffin with jam for later and I got a chocolate cupcake with chocolate malted butter cream. Yummy! We then walked down to Pike Place and it was such a beautiful day to walk around. The sun was out and it was perfect.
After Pike Place we walked to Pacific Place and looked around a bit. I got a new cell phone which I've needed for some time and we had chips and salsa at this little Mexican restaurant there. Let me tell you, some of the best chips and salsa we've had. The chips were flavored with this yummy lime salt that made them delicious! After our snack we went and saw the movie Julie and Julia. It was pretty good and helped round out our Food Network weekend pretty well:)
I surprised Travis by staying at one of his favorite hotels. The Bellevue Club. This hotel is attached to a high end exercise club which is sooooo nice compared to the Y, and we were excited to work out there. Our first workout we went swimming in the pool, relaxed in the hot tub and sat in the sauna (tough workout:). We then got ready for dinner and hit PF Changs. It was our first time and we really liked the food. Fun atmosphere too. We walked around Bellevue Square which is my favorite mall and Travis got a Starbucks. When we got back into our hotel room we had free champagne waiting for us which was a nice touch.
On Sunday morning, we had breakfast in the room (bread from Great Harvest Bread Company and homemade jam), and then we went and worked out for a few hours. The equipment there was so fun because you could watch TV while running on the treadmill:) We finished off our weekend at Cactus, a Mexican restaurant that Rachael Ray recommends. It was yummy. We had a great weekend away, the kids loved staying here with grandma, and we can't wait to try out some more new restaurants in the near future. My favorite part of the weekend was surprising Travis. He didn't know what I had planned next and I think that was fun for him. Happy Anniversary babe! Here's to 7 years, only 70 more to go:) XOXOXOXO

Seaside Oregon trip

Strawberry chocolate twinkie

Chocolate covered twinkies

Flying a kite!

She wasn't sure about the sand at first, but it didn't take long until she was sitting in it playing with her brother.

Since we got back from Mexico I have been dying to take the kids to the ocean. There is something about watching them play in the sand that is so fun to me. We decided that instead of going to the fair this year Travis would take a day off and we would go for a day trip to the ocean. We were planning our usual trip to Long Beach but decided on Seaside since it was the same drive time to get there. We are so glad we did! Seaside was beautiful! We loved the beach. It was huge so you didn't feel crowded and they even had swing sets for the kids. The weather was great, we actually got a little hot during the day. They have a beautiful promenade to walk along the beach and a really fun town.
We got there and had a picnic lunch and let the kids play in the sand. Then we put Peyton in the backpack and Brayden in the stroller and took a long walk along to the promenade and let the kids take a nap. That worked out well and it was a great way to get some exercise in. Then we walked the town and checked out some of the cool shops. Hate to say it but our favorite one was the candy store. Ok, seriously this place had chocolate covered everything. Twinkies, Nutter Butters, Pop Tarts, and even bacon. We had to try a strawberry chocolate Twinkies that was pretty good. We made it back to the beach after nap to play some more. We played baseball, soccer, made a small sand castle, played in the water, flew a kite, and just relaxed. When we got hungry we hit a restaurant in town for a yummy dinner and then decided to head out. On the way out of town we had to stop at the outlet mall where I found some great deals! As we were leaving town we noticed a lot of traffic and the longer we sat in it the more we realized we weren't going anywhere fast. We turned around and got a hotel room in town later to find out that there was a huge accident and traffic was backed up for hours. So, we were stuck, but had a relaxing evening in the hotel. We can't wait to go back to Seaside someday and maybe this time we'll plan on staying for more then the day:)

Metcalfe Life

Brayden in front of his cubby

This is the last sight I see of Brayden before I leave, he is sitting on the table coloring.

Brayden and Lita ( my mom) on his first day

Brayden at home ready to go on his first day. He kept asking if it was time to go yet. He got up this morning and put his clothes on, brushed his teeth, washed his face and made his bed without me telling him to do it. He was so excited!

All of us in his classroom at the back to school night

It's been awhile since I've done a family update and I think it's time. Life has been busy, but good and it's bitter-sweet that summer is almost gone.
Bryaden started 4-year-old preschool today! It was such a special moment today and it's like my life has done a full circle. Brayden is going to Puget Sound Christian School this year and I went there 4th-7th grade. My mom has been a teacher there for 20+ years and I grew up with Brayden's teacher's children. They were some of my best friends growing up at church. So how weird was it for me today to take him into school and leave him there? He was excited and was happy for me to leave and I can't believe I didn't cry:) I was happy for him, I know he was ready and it's time for this next step in our lives. I think the reason it felt like such a big step was that my normal stay-at-home mommy days will never be the same. No more getting up and planning the day as it goes. But, that's ok too. Peyton and I enjoyed the time together and I got a lot accomplished in 2 1/2 hours. I worked out and did my Costco shopping trip:) Brayden has been talking about starting school for months and says he day at school was fun and can't wait to go back.
A few funny quotes from Brayden: Yesterday I got home from the YMCA and he was already in bed waiting for me to give him a kiss goodnight. He says "Mom, how was your workout?" I say, "It was great Brayden." He says, "I missed you so much while you were gone (I was gone an hour:), can you tuck me up now." Hahaha, instead of tucking into bed he wants to be tucked up:)
- Travis is in the habit of asking me how many calories dinner is since I do the cooking. So yesterday Brayden had to ask too. "Mom, how many calories was my dinner." I told him, and he said "That's pretty good, now I can have a treat:)"
- Peyton is always asking "Where did daddy go." She says it all day until Travis gets home from work. Brayden answered her yesterday and said, "Daddy just got out of an important meeting, ok?" Hahaha, Peyton said "oh."

Peyton is 19 months and is full of energy and fun. She is very adventurous and strong-willed. I spend a lot of time on my knees praying about being her mommy:) She is talking up a storm and loves helping mommy or daddy more than anything (well except for her blankie). She also loves a lot of attention and making people laugh. I'm hoping we can bond a little more with brother being in school 3 days a week.

Travis and I are still trying to loose weight and that in itself keeps us busy. That just means we spend a lot of time working out at the Y and we love it. I've noticed that our family outings have definitely gotten more active. Instead of driving to the park, we are walking or running to it. Instead of a night here at the house, we are going to the local school and running around the track. It's fun and obviously a lot more healthy for us:) This September we are going to be celebrating 7 years of marriage! Travis also starts school in a few weeks. He is going to the UW Tacoma to get his MBA. We're excited for him but also know that will keep us busier than ever. We are still at Renovo church and are loving what God is doing there. We feel lucky to be apart of it. I think that's about it in the Metcalfe house for now....