Family Outing

On Saturday we went for a drive out to Clay Creek. It was so warm and beautiful. We stopped at the side of the road and walked down to the Siuslaw River. While there we saw a dragonfly which M was able to get a few good pictures of. Then we headed to Clay Creek Campground and played in the creek for a while. The kids loved it, only wish I had thought to bring their swimsuits. It is a really nice little area and I think when the kids are a little older we will take them camping there.

Siuslaw River.

L trying to grab the minnows.

Walking along a trail.

The dragonfly.

This tree was pretty neat. Right behind K there is a large spot

where the branches meet that makes a great spot to sit in.

You could read a book, watch the water, even fish from it.

Here we are at Clay Creek. K wanted to put her feet in the cool water

so we all took off our shoes and socks and walked around in it.

It was a really hot day, around 95 degrees, so the cool water felt great!

M took L out to sit on the rock and K followed behind.

I stood on this flat rock and laughed as the little fish tickled my toes.

My lovely family enjoying the beautiful scenery. We had a wonderful day.

Another Year Older

Today was one of the best Birthday's I have had in a while. My husband and oldest daughter made a cute cake for me and we all went out to Road House Grill for dinner. We went early so there weren't many people there. Dinner was wonderful and the staff even sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a HUGE Oreo hot fudge sundae. After we split it, we came home and I opened my gifts. I received a SLICE from my mom-in-law and hubby, a Big Bite from K along with a picture she drew for me, money from my parents, money from my dad-in-law, and scrapbooking paper, magazine and massage membership from my aunt.
I received many calls and emails full of well-wishes from my friends. As if that wasn't enough, two of my good friends stopped by to bring me treats and wish me well. Em brought me some rhubarb bread. I am not fond of rhubarb, but it was delicious! Lauri stopped by too and brought some heavenly chocolate and cream cheese brownies. It was so sweet of them to take time out of thier busy days to come see me.
I am so blessed to have so many great friends and family around me. Thank you for making my birthday such a special one. You all hold a special place in my heart.

Cruisin' with my Friend

Yesterday, K had a play date with a friend from school. We met at our neighborhood park and the girls played with Hannah's electric car. They had a wonderful time driving around the playground and shared nicely. K even took L for a ride in it.

Hannah and K in the cute car.

K taking a turn driving.

K was very insistant that they stay on the "road" and not drive on the grass.

K offered to take L for a spin.

L loved it and was very unhappy when her turn was over.

Crash and Burn

M took K on another bike ride yesterday and she had a blast. Unfortunately at one point when they were stopped and looking for cars before crossing the street, K fell down. M said he isn't sure what happened. One second she was up the next she was on the ground. K doesn't really know what happened either, but said that she hit her face on the ground.

Here is what her face looked like.

Here is a close up. She got a bit of a cut under her eye.

Here she is looking cute as a bug with her little owie.

This is her owie today. She has a bit of a black eye.

We are putting Neosporin on the cut to keep it from getting

infected and hopefully she won't have a scar there.

Miscellaneous Fun

K hiding in the tomato bushes.

Another day of swimming fun.

Dad put out the sprinkler to play with too.

A day at the park.

Helping Daddy ice a cake.

Playing in the sandbox.

K's New Bike

M got a bike for K from a co-worker. We had been thinking about getting her one, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. M brought this one home for K to try out. She LOVED it!

Getting on for the first time.

Going "Super fast", as K likes to say.

Going down the sidewalk; she knows she isn't allowed in the street.

She rides like a pro. When she gets a little taller we will take off the

training wheels. She can't quite reach the ground yet.

Keeping Cool

It has been really hot here so M put the tarp up over the deck that we use for shade and filled the pool with water. The girls had a blast playing in it; stayed in for more than 3 hours.

K in the pool trying to swim.

L splashing around.

K putting her hair in and L putting her face in.

L kept trying to drink the water then she would crack up laughing.

L splashing around. She really loves the water!

A Pampered Birthday

Karen came down to visit for a few days and I took the opportunity to pamper her for her birthday. I took her for a pedicure in the morning followed by lunch at Ruthie B's tea room. After lunch she took me to get a body massage. When we got home we hid out in my bedroom watching a chick flick. M sent K up with some chilled sparkling cider and chocolate covered strawberries for us to eat. It was a wonderful and relaxing day.

Getting our pedicures.

I made us some cute flip flops for after our pedicures.

High Tea at Ruthie B's starts with a bottomless pot of tea, coffee or hot chocolate and a scone with clotted cream. We don't drink tea or coffee so Karen had hot chocolate and I had Strawberry Lemonade. I don't like hot chocolate, but theirs was SO good. And the scone was devine!

Then came the tomato and basil soup and a tiered

trivet with finger sandwiches and mini salads.

It was all so good and really filling!

To finish they bring out a plate of desserts. They are about four bites

each and really good. A perfect end to a perfect lunch.

Welcome to the Jungle...

So, our garden is very overgrown. I think we may have put just a little bit too much in our beds this year. But we are producing very yummy results. Our strawberry plants put out about 15 berries each day, which was enough for the girls to have a snack. We have gotten some quite a few zucchini off the plant and there are still many more to come. The green beans are getting pretty long, it will be time to pick them in about a week, I think.
We also got a very yummy green pepper off the pepper plant and there are more growing. Our corn is coming in, although not very many stalks came up. Our pumpkin plant is over shadowing our strawberries and I fear that we probably should not have planted one this year. But we will see how it does. We have a ton of flowers on our tomato plants which is very exciting. I am hoping to make lots of salsa this fall with them. Even our broccoli and carrots seem to be doing well. The only plant not doing much is the cucumber plants. They have flowered but nothing else seems to be happening. We will just have to wait and see what happens with them.

Here is our Jungle of a Garden.

The tomato plants are so big, they are out of control!

See our big pumpkin leaves in front of the tomatos?

Here are the first fruits of our zucchini plant.
I made Em's delicious zucchini bread and
tonight I am making her yummy
Cheesy Sausage Zucchini Casserole.

On Saturday, I went to pick blueberries at a local farm. I got 8 pounds for $11.00. A pretty good price. I would have gotten more, but it took me 2 hours just to pick that many.

We got a food dehydrator last year for Christmas from my mom-in-law and M has been using it a lot lately. Right before Independence Day, he made beef jerky and then dried some cherries. We still have a lot of berries in the freezer and jam from last year, so we decided to dry the berries I picked. They turned out pretty good, though I don't care for blueberries.

Here is a close up of the jerky, cherries, and blueberries. All of them are a hit!

Thanks again for a wonderful present, Mel!

Independance Day

We got together with our friends for our 4th Annual Independence Day BBQ. I can hardly believe we have been doing it this long. We started at 5pm and enjoyed some yummy food. Then the kids played in the water features while the parents visited. When it got dark enough, we went out front to light off some fireworks. The neighborhood we do it in always has one person down a few houses that has great fireworks, but this year, we had a few of them too. The Dad's put on the show while the rest of us just sat back and enjoyed it. The kids really liked the fireworks and even played with some sparklers. We all had a great time.

The littlest one of our clan this year in her adorable patriot swimsuit.

Playing in the yard.

The kids really liked the slip and slide, although they never

really got the hang of the whole "slip and slide" part.

Playing in the kiddie pool.

The kids played with sidewalk chalk for a while too.

Dinner was so yummy! We had BBQ beef sandwiches, baked beans,

deviled eggs, green salad with strawberries,

watermelon, chips, and lemonade. For dessert we had

chocolate chip cookies and a delicious Trifle.

Here are the boys relaxing after a huge dinner.

The girls visiting on the patio after dinner.

Most of us are lined up here to watch the show.

Kids getting ready to play with sparklers.

K really liked the sparklers.

Look at the pretty sparks. I love fireworks!