Birthday Party

Today Emma turns 11. 

We had a family party for her down in Lake Stevens at Granddad & Grandma Kris' house. Aunt Allison came over with some great party ideas. First she brought out her most awesome box of beads. She let Emma pick out beads and design a necklace. The she brought out a blank canvas and some gel markers for us all to decorate and sign our names as a keepsake for Emma's birthday. Isn't Allison the coolest!!

Granddad was busy making lunch for all of us while Kris and Deanna kept the grandkids entertained.

Onto the presents!

Time for cake!! 

This year she got another Dairy Queen cake. It is just too hard to make fancy cakes when on vacation. I would not have been able to go canoeing and whale watching with everyone. So this is just easier. And she was totally happy with an ice cream cake.

Trying out the 'stache glasses.

Grandma Kris had another great project for the kids. She has a little Children's Garden at the entrance to their subdivision. She had a few plants for the grandkids to add to the garden. 

Emma put her nail polish kit to work right away. Everyone was lining up for Emma's Exceptional Spa. When she did mine she wanted it to be a surprise. She covered my head with some tissue paper and then put my sunglasses over it so it would stay one. 

Cypress was a great sport to let Rebekah brush her hair. Seems Rebekah gets away with a lot of things other don't because she is so cute.

Party in the backyard

This right here was really my favorite part of the whole trip.

Everyone just sitting and chatting outside eating dinner. I love how we were all just hanging out together because we enjoyed each other. I love the perfect 70 degree weather with NO bugs or humidity. Just a nice gentle breeze bringing the smell of those sweet peas. I love how the chairs didn't match and it wasn't perfectly decorated. But it was warm, friendly, cozy, casual, and inviting. Check out that awesome screen door Adrian just built! It was just such a perfect place to come together and reconnect with each other. Not perfectly decorated, but perfect all the same.

I think I have gotten really caught up in all these perfectly decorated and perfectly presentable homes out here. All homes of people who make much more money than we do. I get a bit starry eyed in their homes. And I feel like I have all these projects and things to buy to make my home more presentable and up to standards. That's all very nice, and looks really nice too. But unless it has this sense of connecting and inviting...There's nothing special to it. I need to reevaluate my priorities again.

All the kids had fun trying on Grandad's glasses.

Family Pictures

Our good friend, Jeremy Rosenlund, agreed to take some pictures of our family for us. It was a beautiful day! We went to regional park close to our house that has some Civil War era ruins. So funny, but there were literally about 20 other groups taking photos at the same time. We all just took turns rotating through the different spots. Who knew it would be such a popular location that day!

Company Picnic

The girls have been looking forward to the Family Picnic at Clay's work. It's a lot of fun. Here they are posing with the "Pegasus" statues outside the main buildings.

 The first thing we always do is get in line for face painting. and then get a balloon animal.

This year they had these huge golf ball looking things for the kids to climb around in. Both the girls wanted to try it out. 

 And new this year was pony rides! Hooray for ponies!

 Each year Emma like to tackle the rock wall.

 Check out Rebekah on this inflatable slide. She is completely airborne!!

 Also new this year was a mechanical bull. Emma did not stay on very well. I got the biggest kick out of watching the operator for the bull. He had the biggest grin on his face the whole time. Just cracking up every time someone fell off. What a great job.

 Both the girls got to build a little locker from Lowe's. Did I mention that they have free barbecue, ice cream, funnel cakes, and drinks? Yes, it is a great event for all the employees and their families.