OBX!

We. Had. An. Amazing. Time. :)Earlier in the year Grandma and Grandpa found a beach house on line to rent in South Carolina and the next thing we knew we were planning another trip out to visit my sister and her family and also to discover what is now one of our favorite places ever! The area of Outer Banks we stayed is in the middle of about a 20-mile stretch of kind of an island off the coast of North Carolina. Specifically, the area we were in is called Nags Head. Lots of wide open beach and warm water to enjoy.


Sometimes there was enough of a breeze to get some great kite flying in.
After a very slow/cold start to the summer here we hadn't had a lot of sun prior to our arrival so our bodies needed a break from the sun and water after a couple of days. We decided on some mini-golf and go-kart cars to break things up a bit.



Nate and I took the kids to Jockey's Ridge State Park which is the largest natural sand dune on the east coast. They even have group hang gliding lessons but we chose to just run around and play in the sand.








We also went to Bodie Island to see one of the many picturesque lighthouses in the area.

We enjoyed boogie boarding and swimming, as the area we stayed at had a community pool (where I for some reason did not take pictures). We also came across something we were told were called moon jellys--kind of a jelly fish that doesn't sting or do much of anything. They were everywhere and the kids made piles of them, skipped them, stepped on them, threw them back in the ocean, whatever they could think to do with them.
Last day pictures in front of our house (which was GREAT). The kids are showing us how they feel about leaving.





I hope we get to go back sometime! Wonderful place!

Doing Hard Things

I absolutely love this picture. It represents my daughter doing something she absolutely did not want to do, something that was hard and something that was not a lot of fun for her. She went with the other youth in our church area on a pioneer trek for about three days with no showers, makeup, electronics, pillows, etc. There were many times she backed out and said she wasn't going. There were also many times when I was okay with that. After wrestling with it a little bit, ultimately Nate and I decided we really wanted her to go. We talked and pleaded and even had some sweet friends and leaders who encouraged her and tried to get her excited to go. In the end, I think she kind of wanted to do what was asked of her and, I sunk to a new level of parenting and told her she could get her driver's license if she went. I am so proud of her for doing it with a smile on her face, without anger (that I know of) and she did it well. Her example made me want to try to do what is asked of me without grumbling or anger, do it well and with a smile on my face. I love her for that and I believe we as parents, Amanda herself and even my other kids know there were many good things that came from this experience, especially for her as an individual. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for having a hand in my children's lives; He loves them even more than I do and I am grateful He knows what experiences they need and hopefully once in a while as a parent I tune in and get the message He sends to help carry out His plan for them.

Waitts Lake 2011

We feel so lucky to be able to hang out with lots of family and unofficial family at Waitts Lake every year. This year we were anticipating a lot of rain and yucky weather and we were so surprised to actually have fantastic weather! As always we start our weekend with the White Elephant... Then move on to serious baseball.
Bradley and Paul (my cousin's grandson) had a great time playing together this year. They loved driving the jeep and playing with cars.
Lauren and Amanda: Special Olympics twins.
We had great fishing--day and night.
So excited to have the Fuhrs come join us for one afternoon--cousins from both sides of the family--woo hoo!
We had some serious ultimate track ball going and that led to...
a serious track ball injury. Poor Jared hit a flower planter hard and flipped onto the gravel. He has some pretty cool battle scars from it now.
The s'mores were just right :)
All the kids.
The silly kids.
This year's family photo.

Can't wait till next year!

Birthday #4-0

Ok, so there was another birthday that I guess I should mention but only because some really sweet people made it such a fun day. My friend Sarah randomly had sodas waiting for me throughout the whole month prior. She was so clever decorating my cups, too!Bradley really got into the excitement and this is a "treasure hunt" he put together for me.
Then, Sarah and Melinda put together a lunch at the park with friends. It was a beautiful day and so much fun!


My sweet kids showing me some birthday love.
Nate surprised me with the bike I'd been wanting and blindfolding me and taking me to Olive Garden with the family. Nate typically avoids Olive Garden at all costs so this was saying a lot :)
The great thing about turning 40 is I survived it and really appreciated how celebrated I felt! Later that week I had the opportunity to drive to Bothell and back on Saturday with my dear friend Kirsten to surprise our other dear friend, Trisha for her 40th surprise birthday party! It was so great! Kirsten and I hadn't been alone for that amount of time without kids in about 20 years, I'd say and we had a great time chatting on the drive. We did definitely surprise Trisha, had some delicious food and it was a really great day. The picture below shows Marci, Me, Kirsten and Trisha. We first became friends in 2nd grade!

Prom 2011

The invitation....The dress...
The date (Joe Stevenson)....
The group....
The humiliation!

(We think Amanda will think this was funny in about 10 years or so)

What We've Been Doing This Spring

Just kidding. That was from February when we went to visit the Fuhrs for the weekend...it has been cold, though!
We watched a lot of this. We love this team! They are really good--I'm not being biased at all! We sometimes stop at this happening town on our way home:
All because of this place--best Mexican food!!!
Here we are again with the freezing....
It was well worth it to see this guy play baseball! Watching 4-6 year-olds play coach pitch is the cutest thing ever! We also watched Megan play some exciting soccer, Jared earn the most hits of anyone on the 8th grade B team he played for (he was nervous about playing up with older boys but it turned out to be a great experience), and Amanda do great in track, overcome being injured and compete at districts in two events this year!
Also really enjoyed a springtime hike up Badger Mountain that Megan and I went on for activity days for the 8-9 year old girls at church. I don't think I've ever hiked it when the wildflowers are all in bloom like this--it was quite pretty!

Birthdays 1, 2 and 3!

Over the last three months I feel like I've either been freezing or sitting at my computer typing my fingers to the bone. Spring has been cold and my doctors who I type for have been busy. In between all that we've had some significant birthday celebrations at our house! I love birthdays! Jared joined the ranks of teenagerhood and celebrated with bowling and hanging out with his best buddies.
Jared continues to be a joy and a privilege to have in our home. My one complaint is that I have to keep buying him clothes to keep up with his rapid growth rate. I suppose that's a good problem to have!
Grandma turned the big 6-0 this year! We celebrated by surprising her with a birthday treasure hunt. Grandma is famous for the treasure hunts she creates for the grandkids, spending hours figuring out how to do the clues and how to make them rhyme. The kids love it! Her treasure hunt included a long walk, a stop at My Fro Yo, a boat ride (complete with getting dive bombed by swarms of bees which was not planned but made for lots of screaming and laughter), the movie Hop and dinner at Famous Dave's.
We feel blessed every day to have both sets of grandparents close and involved in our daily activities and are supportive and loving to our family.
Then, all of a sudden, I blinked and had a 16-year-old! I still can't believe it! She had quite a festive celebration with somewhere around 25 or so kids running in and out of the house, singing karaoke and eating and socializing! We wouldn't have it any other way (well Nate might, but he was a good sport and even made an appearance a time or two).

Amanda always amazes and surprises us! There is never a dull moment yet when its crunch time we see her strength, talents and commitment to do what is right. She has been one busy 16 year old but more on that to come!