Becca comes to town!!! - part one

Much anticipation and hype occurred as prelude to my sister Becca coming to visit. We had been planning our itinerary for months! We have a 6 page word document (that we were emailing back and forth) to prove it. It's quite humorous and makes me smile. Anyway she brought her two boys, Justin and Case (seriously that's their names), on June 13th for almost 2 whole weeks! The first thing we did, on the 14th, was take Brianna and two of her friends for a late birthday dinner to the Cheesecake Factory:But the best part of the evening was Becca and my sing along to a Debbie Gibson classic, on the way home:

Embarassing video coming soon

My dad and Morgan came on the 17th - Dad came to assist her on her first flight. He was only here for a day and a half, then he headed home - not nearly enough time if you ask me! Here's shot of us playing Blokus:

Brianna, Kenzie and Morgan went to Youth Conference first thing in the morning of the 2oth and returned home late on the 21st. I'm just gonna say that Morgan went away with a few new texting buddies of the opposite sex. She left a trail of heartbreak every where she went.

While our babysitters were away at Youth Conference, we took the younger ones (including two Gidewall kids) to the park. Here's a shot of Rebecca realizing she's too tall for the elementary school monkey bars - after she bangs her shins into the other side.

Above Aaron and Justin - actually getting along for a moment. Right - Brie Gidewall, Case and Carly on the tire swing.

While all this was going on, Paul was climbing Mt. Rainier once again. He went with a couple of new guys this time: Ronn Carlson and a brother of his. He took a different (supposedly easier) route this year, leaving from Paradise. Their first day was beautiful weather. They began their second day at 12:30 am and summitted at 5:45 am in crazy winds and very little visibility. They almost turned back, but soon ran in to the summit, got a few quick pics and immediately headed down:

Above - view of Mt. St. Helens from the trail. Below - that "quick" summit picture and then it was down they went. Paul's the red coat on the right. If you ask me, none of this looks too much fun. I was just praying the whole time that they made it down safe - just the week before, someone had died on the mountain. Paul assured me that with all the stuff he packs with him, he could survive for quite a while up there - still doesn't leave me all warm and fuzzy....