TIMBER!!!!!!

Here's what we woke up to this morning (note the smashed swing set in the middle of the tree!) Our neighbors tree fell over in the middle of the night into our yard. They knocked on our door at 7:00am to apologize (which I thought was very nice of them). Our whole family slept through it! I got up about 6:00am and opened the curtains and still didn't notice. The ironic thing is that we cut down the 10 pine trees that were in our yard for this very reason. Oh well, I'm thankful it didn't fall on a house and I'm thankful it didn't fall while my kids were playing on their swing set. Small blessings . . . .

WARNING: SERIOUS CATCH UP BLOGGING BELOW!

Girls Camp and Jam

I said goodbye to my family last week and headed out to B.O.O.T. (Build Our Own Testimonies) Camp with a group of amazing 12 to 18-year-old girls from our church. It was a great week! There was lots of laughter and tears throughout the week. Most of the week was filled with silliness and practical jokes (I will not mention the names of two of our priesthood leaders who discovered my fear of snakes and used this knowledge to their advantage!) There is also time set aside each day to strengthen the girls' testimonies. On the last night, there is a testimony meeting. There was not a dry eye in the camp ground. I'm thankful for good friends up there to laugh and talk with late into the night, making it our own "girls camp." I'm also thankful my two daughters will each get to have these same experiences.

When I got home, I headed out to check the garden and noticed a raspberries explosion! I think a combination of rain and sun while I was gone really got our garden growing. So, today me and the kids picked raspberries and made freezer jam. It's so great to be home!

New Traditions

Every year for the 4th of July we go to the Tri-cities. My grandparents have the perfect set up. They have a pool/BBQ party during the day and then at night we all take our lawn chairs and sit outside their place and watch the fireworks (the fireworks are let off on a big barge in the Columbia River below).


This year, though, we decided to spend the holiday at our cabin. We started the day with a parade. I love small town parades. First, they're short! Second, there is such a community feel with everyone standing together on "main" street watching their neighbors drive by on their 4-wheelers. It's fun to shout out at people you know! The kids got lots of candy and I got a little teary-eyed watching the veterans walk down the street carrying the American Flag. Thank you - thank you- thank you to the veterans.


We spent the rest of the day water skiing. We're all working hard to master this new sport. Ally and Nicholas are the best by far in our family. They have great form and are already crossing back and forth over the wake. I'll post more on this later.


As darkness set in, we got comfy on our dock and watched the amazing firework displays brought to us courtesy of our neighbors. I swear 2 of our neighbors on the lake were having some sort of fireworks competition. We sat back and enjoyed the show. My favorite part was watching the reflection of the fireworks on the water. It was like 2 sets of fireworks were going off at the same time: one above and one below. It was awesome!


Here are some pictures of the kids on the 4th of July and the yummy cake Ally and I made.

Ocean Vacation

"Who let the dogs out?"
Ally, Nicholas, and Natalie's school mascot is the Prairie Dog. On the last day of school, they blare this song over the PA system. I collected my "prairie dogs" on the last day of school and headed straight to the ocean. We had a great time, collecting sea shells, jumping waves, eating salt water taffy, and visiting the aviation museum. We got home on Father's Day - just in time to make Andrew's favorite meal . . . spaghetti and meatballs. This man is so easy to please! He wasn't able to join us on the ocean trip due to work, but we brought him back lots of goodies from the candy store.