4th of July and Paul's 40th Birthday Bash

Our country is 232 and Paul is 40 today! Time to CELEBRATE!! We had a crowd as usual - its just not the 4th without a house full. We're just glad the sun made an appearance so we could spread out outside! Those in attendance were the Bradys, Gilletts, Stokers, Meltons, Laverings, Allens, and Beemans. Our BBQing was exceptional this year - mostly due to the shiny new grill on our back porch: Matt and Mary - Love Matt's t-shirt ("The more of my behavior you accept, the less you will have to forgive.") Allen and Leslie - our next door neighbors for 11 years and counting! - Don't ever move!Victoria and Howard - too cool in their shades

Clayton, Mel and Baby Iris (Admit it, you wanna chew on her too! Baby Iris that is!)

Gina, Kelly and Lexi

Above - Bernadette, Carly, Samantha and Hadley

Right - The biggest "animal game" we've ever seen!

Our shirts from Matt and Mary from http://www.despair.com/

Paul got these much needed items in his "Old-Man-Survival-Kit" from the Bradys (items included, hat to cover baldness, Fiber cereal, Centrum Silver and an extra bag of Vitamin M (dark M&Ms - his favorite)

Many rounds of ping pong were played - the girls were helpful at keeping score. This round was between Paul and Matt (left) and Allen and Mike (right)

He managed to blow them all out in one breathe - he's in pretty good shape for an old man!

The crowd gathering around the birthday boy for cake and ice cream

Above two pics are some of the fireworks that were bought by Matt at Boom City. The one right above is actually our "grand finale." They had to carefully assemble it as it was a chain reaction of some sort - well worth the time though!Apparently it takes 5 grown men to put it together!

Below are pictures from the show itself - Most laid out on the hill

Tyler and Kelly's Wedding Day

So, we dropped my sister off, as I mentioned previously (that was a sad goodbye indeed - the two weeks flew by!). Then Paul and I caught a session at the Portland Temple before we attended Tyler and Kelly's sealing at 4:00. Here are some shots, outside the Temple: Doris, Kara, Amy and Tami

David, James and Sarah Hanna Tyler and Kelly Hesselgesser

Doris and Roland Leavens

Steve, Paul, Kara and Tami

Todd, Tami, Tyler, Kelly, Tara and TJ Hesselgesser

Tyler, Tara and TJ

After the Temple, the adults went on a dinner cruise around Portland. It was a beautiful evening, delicious food and great company. After the cruise, and on the way back to pick up Kenzie at the hotel, I realized I had left my purse on the boat. It was after 10 pm and by this time, the boat was gone and it was too late to get ahold of anyone. We were planning on driving home too. So, we headed home (very stressed I might add). The next morning, we called the boat company, they had found my purse. Paul's parents went to pick it up and put it in the mail immediately. I got it on Monday - WHEW! Catastrophe avoided!!

Becca comes to town!!! - part two

OK, not too happy with the alignment of the previous post. That'll teach me to try to get tricky. So, Paul's back from Rainier and the girls are home from Youth Conference - now the adventure we've (Becca and I) have been looking forward to - our pilgrimage to Forks, WA - home of the fictional book - Twilight. Yes, I know - we're pretty pitiful, but indulge us. There's actually a lot to do and see over on the Olympic Peninsula. We had to take two cars. Becca and I, Brianna, Morgan and Justin and Case were in the van. Paul had Kenzie, Carly and Aaron in the car behind us. Becca had brought the audio CD of Twilight for us to listen to during our 3 days of travel. We began with a ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston in beautiful sunny weather (albeit chilly in the wind):Now, I want to paint a picture for you - we're off the ferry, driving along the northern, very curvy roads of the Olympic Peninsula, listening to Twilight, having a lovely time, I might add. Baby Case is sleeping happily in the back seat and, 4 year old,Justin is complaining that his "throat hurts." Not much we can do about a sore throat at the moment - so we continue on. All of the sudden, the throwing up begins. Rebecca dives to the back seat and we're scrambling for a bag from somewhere to catch any further outbursts, but alas, its too late. It's everywhere. So, I swerve off the road to a gravel area. Here's what we get to clean up (now, I debated on putting this on here, Paul said "no", I say, "the moms can handle it" - and will appreciate what was going on - so here goes):It was a group effort getting Justin changed, cleaning the van, etc. We were quite the circus on the side of the road for about 30 minutes: Now we're ready to go again, with a bag ready "Just-in Case" he has a "sore throat" again!

I say the story had to be told! Anyway - here's the beautiful view of Lake Crescent as we were driving:Once we got to Forks, we checked into our rooms, went and ate pizza, then headed out to LaPush (a reservation on the beach) - about 15 minutes away. We spent the rest of the evening hanging at the beach and watching the sun set. Very beautiful! Cool formations out in the ocean:

Wait for it! - Woops!

Amazing Sunset - note the eagle flying right in the middle of the picture. They were flying everywhere. Quite a peacefully, surreal scene!

Day two found us heading out to Neah Bay (another reservation northwest of Forks) and then out to Cape Flattery, which is the northwestern most point in the continental U.S. The hike out to the point was 3/4 of a mile each way - easy hiking. And very beautiful - especially once you get there...

A couple amazing views before you arrive at the BIG view!

Below - Tatoosh Island out beyond the point. Used to be an operating lighthouse.

Just to the right of Tatoosh Island at the point of Cape Flattery

Here's our obligatory Twilight fans picture in front of Forks High School - this IS the reason we took this trip isn't it?

Day 3 - after we checked out, we headed to the HOH Rainforest. When my kids got out of the cars, they said, "It looks like our backyard!" I guess it does, but there was way more moss - and - it was a beautiful sunny day - go figure!

Above - Trying to climb up on a huge root ball for a photo op.

Right - Amazed at all the shades of green!

Left - Carly "hugging" a tree and Justin doing his standard "pointing for a picture" pose.

Right - Morgan and Brianna

About 20 minutes after we got home, that evening, my brother Jacob arrived at our house. He had flown in from Arizona that day and would be in town for a few days. We were able to spend that Tuesday and Wednesday nights with him after his meetings in Seattle. It was the first time he'd been up to visit since Carly was born - before we even moved in to our house! Let not let it take so long next time Jake! K?

On Thursday the 26th of June, Paul, Kenzie and I drove to Portland with Becca, Justin and Case. We would be dropping off Becca with her mother-in-law and Paul and I would be attending Tyler Hesselgesser's sealing to Kelly. Kenzie went down to help watch younger cousins at the hotel. Pictures in my next post.

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....

End of school craziness...

I'm finally back and am going to break all that's been going on into a few posts. After you see what all we've been up to, hopefully you'll forgive me for taking over a month to get to this.

With the beginning of June - all the end of school craziness set in with end of year programs for Carly - they put on a musical production of Treasure Island. Very cute and well done! Aaron's class put on a shadow puppet production about - brace yourself - Environment issues - which included global warming, anti-logging, save the whales, etc. Ask me sometime about my moment of moral dilemma with one of his assignments, then how I didn't go off, but stated my beliefs calmly and effectively. OK, basically, he came home with a digital voice recorder one night before the program, with two questions he was supposed to ask an adult before the next day. Here's what I had to answer:What is the biggest issue we're facing today, environmentally? And - What does your family do to save Mother Earth? And confession, my first response wasn't as nice as my actual, thought out response - Paul helped me with that over the phone... Everyone should be proud of me nonetheless. Aaron was operating the puppet next to the TV on the right.
Brianna also got an award from the English department at a special program one evening:

Carly had a piano recital a couple days after school ended - you probably can't see the song title she's playing - it's Right Here Waiting by Richard Marx. Bring back memories to any of you fans of 80's sappy love songs?
That's the end of all the end of school year activities. The real fun starts on my next post when my sister comes to town....