Twelve Years

We went up to visit M's mom for our anniversary weekend. He brought his camera to play around with and got some great shots.

This is his mom's house.

The raspberries were ripe and tasty.

His adoring wife.

I love the colors in this photo.

The stars looking up from the horse field.

The milky way.

The next morning we hiked down to Abiqua Falls. It was very steep; most of the way down there were ropes tied to trees for you to hold on to so you didn't fall down the steep hill. It was a little scary but I made it down and the view was beautiful.

After hiking back up to the top, we headed to Butte Creek Falls. M and I hiked here when we were dating 13 years ago. It's an easy hike and pretty. There are two falls here.

Me behind Upper Butte Creek Falls.

In front of Upper Butte Creek Falls.

Look! It's my hot hubby!

Lower Butte Creek Falls.

After our hikes we headed back to the house to get cleaned up and then M took me out to eat in Silverton. We had a lovely dinner at The Silver Grille. M had salmon and I had steak; they were both tasty.

Giant Jenga

M was asked to make a few games for Mik's upcoming wedding so he took his newly found woodworking skills and used them to make a giant Jenga game. He not only cut and sanded all the pieces, but he also made a Jenga brand at work and branded each piece. It turned out pretty cool. The only down side is that it was so hot at the wedding only a couple of people bothered to even play the game. But at least we have it for future activities and to play with our family in the backyard.

Spring Recital

On June 16th the girls participated in a piano recital for FHE at the church with the other piano students of Kristan. My girls love taking piano and practice whenever they can. They have both excelled this year and are doing great!

L playing Peter Pumpkin Eater.

K playing The Cup Song.

Father's Day

We had a pretty low key Father's Day this year. Just some presents and hanging out with our dear old dad.

The girls got him some much needed shirts and they made

him some pictures and poems as well.

Those girls love their dad!

A Marine Biologist and a New House

K gave an oral report in her 3rd grade class on Sylvia Earl, a marine biologist. She read several books on her and compiled information to make the report. She even drew a picture of Mrs. Earl and then dressed up to look like her for the oral presentation.

Giving the report to her class.

Her drawing and the scuba gear. We used a tkd sparring

vest with two 2 liter bottles of soda and a snorkel for

her scuba gear. K came up with the idea on her own.

Here is the video of her report.

We had our house painted this spring. I had a hard time picking colors but decided to go with Alfresco for the house, Vermont Slate for the gables and doors, with white for the trim. We have an HOA in our neighborhood that is very strict. We have to get permission for many things including painting the house, even if you are painting it the same color. I didn't want the same house color because it was ugly. See above.

I submitted the paint chip colors and we were denied because it didn't go with the earth tone colors of the other houses in the neighborhood. I was spitting mad when I got this letter because there are several houses not  within the "earth tones" of the neighborhood. There is a mint green house, a baby blue house and several gray/blue houses. M took his camera around the neighborhood taking photos of various houses and then wrote a nice letter explaining that we had looked at other houses in the neighborhood to determine the colors we had chosen and we felt these colors fit. He even included photos of some houses as reference. Two weeks later we received a letter allowing us to paint our house. I think it turned out quite lovely and have gotten many compliments on the color. It's beautiful and makes me smile every time I come home.

Moving up to First and Fourth

L had her kindergarten graduation on the 11th of June. They invited the parents to come early to make crafts and play with their kids before the graduation ceremony.

Painting the fence with water.

Watermelon bean bag toss.

Bubble blowing.

Hula Hoops.

And chalk art.

Each child received a memory book and graduation certificate from Mrs. Whitten and Mrs. Cherry. L really loved her teachers this year and was sad to say goodbye to them.

Her kindergarten class.

My sassy first grader.

For K's last day of third grade they had a pancake party. Some of us parents came in to make the pancakes for them. The kids loved it.

Here is K with her favorite teacher of all time.

This woman is amazing and we were lucky to have

her for two years in a row. We will miss having her as

K's teacher but glad we will see her every day at 

school. Even L can't wait until she is in her class!

Bridal Shower

I have been working hard this year helping my cousin with wedding stuff. She is getting married on August 1st and I am her maid of honor. As such, I was in charge of throwing her bridal shower. She just purchased a house with her fiance in April and was in need of kitchen supplies so I decided throw her a Pampered Chef shower.
My hubby, who is quite handy with a computer, made up a cute invite for the shower. I decided to go with a 50's diner theme so I used pinks, teals and reds for the colors. My aunt and I made a couple of banners for the party and decorated Mik's back yard for the brunch.

From Miss to Mrs banner.

We used tiki torches, lanterns, metal flowers, flower pots with flowers, a bistro table and chairs with a few other backyard decorations all of which Mik got to keep after the party.

Here is the other banner I made along with all the 

Pampered Chef items for display.

The gift table. We asked only a select few to bring

special gifts for the bride and asked everyone else to

purchase items from Pampered Chef for her kitchen.

There was also an apron for everyone to sign.

Our beautiful bride to be.

Before we began the festivities, Mik had to open a special present from me. When I got married twelve years ago, Mik was my maid of honor. At my bridal shower two special people in my life (my mom and aunt) gave me a special present...

a granny nightie. I decided to to turn it into a tradition in our family to pass this nightie from cousin to cousin. Mik will hold on to it until one of my daughters gets married at which point she will pass it to her, then my daughter will pass it to Mik's daughter and so on. The other tradition to this nightie is you have to wear it on the day of your wedding rehearsal over your outfit.

While everyone picked out items to buy for Mik, we played a couple of games. One was Marriage Mad Libs.

Then we played a game where you had to wear cooking mittens to put on knee high socks. It was a lot of fun and I was surprised at how fast some of those gals could to it.

Sue got hers on before Sandi even started.

Karen just barely beat us out.

I created recipe cards to match Mik's kitchen colors and sent them out with the invite so everyone could give her a few recipes to start off her married life. I also made her a recipe box. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of how cute it turned out. But here's the recipe card I made.

Mik's white neglige for the wedding night from Karen and me.

This was a fun nightie she got from her bridesmaid.

Here is Sandi telling us how to see if a nightie is perfect...

You see how it looks on the floor:)

We also got a few items for Mik's honeymoon. A camera, books on Maui, a pretty maxi dress, and a cute beach bag to take with her.

Here is Mik in her outfit she will wear for the wedding rehearsal. I made the bouquet out of tissue paper and ribbon from her gifts. It was a fun party and she received a lot of items to stock her kitchen.