Little Clips of the Past 2 Months!

Last week the children and I were able to go to Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast for a Family Reunion of sorts with part of the family. Lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, Grandma Judie and Grandpa George! I only took pictures on the first day, and the only shots I got were the cousins finding a message in a bottle! They were all so excited, and we didn't want to spoil their fun by telling them that we didn't think the bottle had traveled very far. We all had fun...

Some close friends recently went on a hike to Greenwater Lakes, and I was reminded what a fun hike it is for children, so we did the same hike a couple weeks ago. We loved the bridges along the hike and the fishing...not so much the mud...

The MUD...AHHH! It was everywhere...

Zachary's first time water-skiing and he loved it...

We went to the Buckley Log Show for the first time, and we loved watching the competitions! We decided that all the Logger type guys looked a lot like Uncle Tom, Brian's Sister's Husband. Many times we would have to do a double take because we thought we saw Uncle Tom...

Anna's Dance Recital as a dancing flower...(the first picture is a clip from a video I took, because I can't manage to post videos, so I clipped a scene)...

Amelia blowing bubbles in the sun....

Tulla's 5th Birthday Celebration with a homemade dog food "cake"....

Feeding the sheep at Grandpa & Grandma Kayner's on Father's Day...

Baseball games for Zachary occupied much of June...

The Memory of Memorial Day

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile now! For Memorial Day we visited Dyan and her family at Lake Tapps, and the children had a blast swimming in the cold, cold lake! Megan and Amelia's first dip in the lake...Amelia wasn't too happy!

"That was Cold!!"....

Cold Anna taking a break from the freezing lake...

To end our day we went to Grandma Judie and Grandpa George's house to enjoy some family time. My brother's family came up with some fun games for the children to play! Here are the participants of the First Annual Memorial Day Games...

The Egg Run was the first challenge of the day!

The children LOVED the donut eating contest...

Water games, that required help from Grandpa ;)

In the end, they all just wanted to get wet...

Should He Stay or Should He Go??

Brian forwarded the following email to me with a request to fill one of the temporary positions...I of course said no, but do you all think I was a bit too hasty with my decision??

EMAIL in Question:

The Office of International Aviation is soliciting qualified candidates for technical positions in Afghanistan and Iraq to help rebuild the civil aviation systems in those countries. Chosen candidates will have the opportunity to enhance their careers with experience in a challenging and rewarding international environment while supporting top U.S. foreign policy objectives. Each position offers an attractive compensation and benefits package and return rights to the FAA at the completion of the foreign assignment. Below are the vacancy announcements for these positions:

Kabul, Afghanistan (Temporary, NTE 18 Months)

Baghdad, Iraq (Temporary, NTE 12 Months)

New York

My friend, Dyan, and I had a wonderful opportunity to go to New York City! We stayed in Times Square and toured through the city, did some shopping, went to the Broadway production "Wicked", participated in the studio audience of the Live with Regis and Kelly, had some laughable experiences trying to use the Subway, and witnessed the aggressive tango of pedestrians and drivers! All in all we had a great time!

One of the highlights of our trip was serving in the Manhatten, NY temple.

We enjoyed some amazing views in NY...From the top of the Rock...

View from our hotel window...yum, yum chocolate...

View of Lower Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry...

We took a tour on the first day of our trip, and we LOVED it! We were able to highlight all the NY treasures and learn some very interesting history. Here is a collage of some of my favorite places that we visited on our tour...

Anna's Classic Tea Party!

Anna turned 7 years old yesterday and we celebrated by having a Tea Party with some of her friends! Each girl had her picture taken with this darling backdrop! We served dainty sandwiches and delicious bite sized desserts! The girls played a classic game of musical chairs and made a bracelet to take home. It seemed like everyone had a good time, and I personally loved putting the whole thing together!

The Flower Pot Desserts turned out really cute, and the girls loved them!

This was my first attempt at making the delicious Cupcake Pops, that were created by Bakerella, and featured on the Martha Stewart show...

Goofy birthday girl blowing out the candle on the darling cupcake pops....

The Birthday Decorations! The bright pinks with the black and white was really fun! :)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!!

Our neighborhood made available group tickets to the Opening Day of the Tacoma Rainiers! So, we bought tickets, which included the game, hot dog dinner, Rainier hat, 50th anniversary mug, and a firework show! We really had a great time watching the game and hanging out with our neighbors! :)

Family Photo...Finally!

My wonderful family! I love this big group...we have so much fun! I'm grateful everyday that we were able to blend together without too many problems :) Thanks Angie!

My beautiful sisters and me....

Easter Sampling...

Each year our ward has an Easter Egg Hunt and breakfast. Anna and Zachary were the only ones who would let me take their picture. Megan didn't want her picture taken, and Amelia wouldn't hold still long enough for a photo! :)

"Spring" Break in the Snow

As a family we enjoyed a couple days in the mountains during spring break. The children loved the "pioneer type" conditions (no running water in the cabin, however we did have electricity and heat), but we didn't let on that we really had it pretty good. ;) We did lose power for a few hours due to the wind and mild storm, but all in all the weather was nice and we had a great time!

Our die hard sledders...they averaged a few hours a day in the snow!

Our small cabin at Camp Zarahemla...