Fourth of July!

We arrived home from Colorado just in time for the annual Fourth of July parade in our neighborhood.  I am constantly reminded how much we love living here.  Our eclectic group of neighbors are dear friends and it's never boring around here.  Just last week, a guy who lives across the street cut down a tree that was dying and had an artist come and carve a sculpture in the remaining trunk.  Art, crazy, free-flowing gardens, interesting people and the ability to walk almost anywhere I need to - this place is our place.

My kiddos dressed the part this year and I must say that I love the cute result!  Matchy, matchy is too muchy muchy for me on a regular basis but I might be repeating this Fourth of July outfit thing for as long as the older two will agree.

 Water Balloon Toss

 Me and my girl

This girl loves her daddy!

Fifty Years

Maynard and Judy celebrated fifty years.  Fifty years of love, commitment, with lots of kids and lots of grandkids.  Our family is so grateful for these two and it was great fun to celebrate with them (and the whole clan) in Colorado this summer.

 Three boys, being middle school boys.  Walking down the path, singing YMCA (complete with actions) at the top of their lungs.

 Happy Cousin birthday to all eleven cousins!

 The two lovebirds

 Putt putt golfing

 The five of us after a beautiful evening hike with some of the clan.

 Caleb and Doug

 At the top of the evening hike.

 Biggest little guy in our house, his first time on a horse by himself.

 Still secure on the horse with Daddy-O

 Early morning explorers

 Beautiful, chilly morning for a hike

 There was still a bit of snow :))

Thank you, Maynard and Judy for a great trip and for loving all of us so selflessly!!

We swim.

You know how some families really like baseball or soccer or drama?  We like to swim.  So... both boys were on a swim team this summer and absolutely loved it.  They loved it so much that they are already talking about being a Marlin next year.  Those little swim caps are about the cutest thing (although I no longer tell them they are cute).

 Our beloved cousins came to watch the boys swim.  Eliana was trooper to "watch" all of the swimming this summer.

Uncle Steve

My dad had this picture of he and Steve from many years ago, dressed alike and looking like twins.  The caption on the frame read: "He ain't heavy, he's my brother."

Friends Make Friends

When you have awesome friends, their kiddos become your kids' friends, too.  Especially when all of the kids are around the same age and they are BOYS!!  Spunky Miss E was the LONE girl in the bunch.  But, if you can tell by the bottom photos, she was not phased by this fact.  Actually, she jumped right into the action.

We get to see these wonderful friends once a year, sometimes twice.  However, these are friendships for a lifetime.

 Josh, Parker, Grant, Jonathan, Caleb and Jake

 Jude, Daniel, Josh, Parker, Grant, Samuel, Jonathan, Eliana, Caleb and Josh

Father's Day

It's about three months after the fact but I was smiling as I looked through these photos from Father's Day weekend.  It was a bittersweet weekend for me.  My dearest Dad wasn't laughing with us or talking with us or playing golf with us.  I will miss him always.  

However, we celebrated the Daddy in this house with a day of hiking, boating and eating yummy food.  Lots of ink could be spilled about him and how much we love him.  But I'll leave you with the main idea: we love him.  "Up to the moon and back a million trillion times".

Family Photos

I am not the mom who has her camera ready on all occasions.  Actually, I rarely remember to bring the camera to events.  It takes special focus for me to remember such things.  However, family photos are a must.  Non negotiable.  We will capture the children (utilizing the talent of a professional) once per year in good lighting and nice clothes :)