{this moment}

:: picking ..... lots and lots of blueberries!! ::

celebrating 17 years

While my folks were here, the pastor and I had our 17th wedding anniversary! 

We got to go away for a lovely over-night at Snoqualmie Falls.....

It was our first time visiting these falls (which were HUGE) and they reminded me

of our trip to Hawaii and the ones we saw there! 

We stayed at the very beautiful Salish Lodge which overlooked the falls....

The only bummer was that there was HUGE construction going on, hence

all our pictures looked like this: 

BUT, that didn't hinder us from having a lovely, lovely time. 

We ate dinner at the lodge and had a great view of the falls and watched a beautiful sunset. 

The food (and conversation) was spectacular!! 

I know you're laughing at the pastor's shirt. No, I did not buy it.
He bought it himself and wears it unashamedly.... that's only a teeny,
tiny part of why I love him. He loves me so well, and I am
SO thankful we met that first week of college. We've practically grown up together,
and I've now spent more years with him than without. WOW!
How I am looking forward to growing old with him.
The best is yet to come!! 

play on

We've been doing a lot of this lately....

While my folks were here, the pastor found a basketball hoop

on Craigslist. 

The boys' interest in the game had increased, and we were getting 

continuous request to walk them over to the park to play. 

 Now the fun can be had right outside our front door. 

Endless hours. 

 Popi got in on some of that fun..... 

I'm sure it reminded him of all the hours he spent watching me out front shooting hoops! 

 The boys did a four day camp called "Run to Win" this past week, focused on basketball. 

They got lots of exercise and had great fun! 

I was impressed with the camp, and hope that next summer we will do it again....

Toby and Ellie start soccer practice today. They are both very excited. 

Happy Monday!! 

{friday harbor}

We took a day while my folks were here to experience a ferry ride with them. 

We headed to the little town of Anacortes and walked on a ferry that took us through

the San Juan Islands, over to Friday Harbor. 

It was a BEAUTIFUL, clear day and perfect for this trip. 

When the ferry docked, we got off, had some lunch, browsed a few shops,

got some ice cream, and then walked back on the ferry for the trip back. 

It was about the perfect length of time, and even though the ride

was about an hour each way, the conversation was sweet and the scenery 

was beautiful. Mount Baker was out in full splendor. 

Ellie and Drew both enjoyed documenting the time in their

respective journals. 

It was fabulous! 

{this moment}

:: celebrating Drew and Whit ::

{downtown}

We don't get downtown too much. All the hustle and bustle is not so appealing to the pastor and I.

Although it's not my favorite place in the world, it sure is fun to experience every now and then.

And when we have guests, it's the perfect place to take them to get a "feel" for our city. 

So, the second day my parents were here we took off to Pike's Market, upon my mom's request. 

I was surprised at how she loved the city.... or at least the one day experience. 

We came down here December 2010 with them. I took many more pictures of the

market on that visit. Kind of fun to look back! 

This particular day was a bit cloudy at first, but soon the sun came out and it was just lovely. 

The BEAUTIFUL, cheap flowers in the market are one of my favorite things. 

I think this bunch was 5 dollars! Crazy.

Drew got to pick out a very cool, leather journal for his birthday from Nannie.
Every time we come down here, he heads straight to this particular booth
and dreams of when he might buy one..... and he got to this time!
One happy boy. 

 After we walked through the market, we walked out to the water to take some pictures.
Not exactly sure of the story about the ferris wheel. It has something to do with the
anniversary of the World Fair, I believe.... (also the orange color of the space needle, which was how
it originally looked I think). The air show was going on..... see the teeny tiny jet formation
in the picture below? SO COOL and SO LOUD!!

We headed over to the center of the city..... where all the different museums, the space needle,

and the dome water fountain is. This area reminds me so much of Balboa Park in San Diego!
The kids LOVE the water dome. It's practically like a water park. People come decked out in their swim suits.... and the best part is the water in synced to music!

Three of them got a little wet.... other's chose just to watch :) 

 

Such a fun day! I suppose one day we will all make it up the space needle.
It's so darn expensive though, so for this family of 7, I'm not so sure when that
will ever happen. Love that we have so many exciting places
to take our out of town guests to! 

{at the beach}

Our summer is flying by and I have O so many pictures to share! 

We had such a sweet visit with my folks, and got to go on quite a few outings 

with them. We live in such a beautiful part of the country, though I will say,

it's taken me a good two years to get acclimated to the Northwest rain/cold. 

We've actually had a real summer (unlike last year) and it warmed up quite a bit!

The pastor was outside watering our grass tonight. It's brown. Such a novelty here. 

I've got tomato plants growing in pots out back and as of late, they've been wilting!! 

It's suppose to get up to 90 by the end of the week and then the forecast says

thunder showers on Sunday. It hasn't rained for a good month, so we are 

quite ready for some showers. I know most of the country is desperate too.... 

My kids don't cope well with the heat anymore. It makes them so uncomfortable. 

It's strange how 80 degrees feels SO HOT here! 

We have many beautiful beaches very close to us, and this is one particular 

beach a little south of us. This day was BEAUTIFUL for my parents.

I guess it was probably high 70s. The water was freezing, but that didn't stop

the three littles from going in. Ellie chose to just draw. She loves sharing her sketchbook. 

 

The kids were just happy to be in their bathing suits OUTSIDE! 

Toby requested to have his picture taken with the statue above. 

He's so darn cute. 

I love the picture above with my mom and the kids and the little green books. 

Those go way back to my childhood and are called "Wordless Books"...

My sweet mom uses every opportunity to share the gospel with 

my kids and disciple them. I love that. And I love that they are singing

songs from my childhood:

My heart was dark with sin,

Until the Savior came in.

His precious blood I know,

has washed me white as snow.

And in God's Word I'm told,

I'll walk the streets of gold.

To grow in Christ each day,

I read my Bible and pray. 

How I need to remember that simple gospel message EVERY day....

And O how I need to daily remind my kids of it!
I pray the Lord will give me many of those grace-filled conversations.