family birthday bash

Great-Grandma Billie and Parker shared a grand birthday celebration, year 85 and year 2!  What fun we all had, thanks to Aunt Jeannette, Uncle RJ, and all of the cousins for hosting such a great party and making this a very special afternoon!

Happy Happy Day!  Pure happiness!

Francesca kicking things off!

Parker looking a little dazed and confused, he arrived last after waking from his afternoon nap

Parker getting some birthday loving from his Auntie and cousin Francesca

This was his excitement level when opening his cards, you should have heard the howls of delight as he opened his gifts!  Such a fun little bear!

He loved pushing his new lawn mower all through the house!

He sang part of Happy Birthday to himself then proceeded to blow his candle out like a champ!

Great-Grandma Billie managed to get hers blown out too :)

Wow that is good ice cream cake!

7 years

We celebrated our 7th Anniversary in a low-key and unexpected sort of way this year.  We were visiting Frank's family and were fortunate to spend an evening out, just the two of us, but our original plan of playing tennis, having dinner and dessert out on the town changed slightly when he had a rather large piece of wood fall onto his foot and squash a few toes!  Maybe next year honey....I will have my shot at smoking you on the tennis courts...hahaha, that's just to make sure you have read this ;+)

I love you honey, thanks for seven amazing years!

Some time spent at Great-Grandma's is always a treat, the boys are feeding the fish here

Another beautiful lily in Great-Grandma's garden

I just adore this photo, two of my monkeys acting silly!

 More banana please!

Parker loves to be tickled and Grandpa R always gets a few turns at it when we visit!  Who is having more fun here?

Close inspection of the pumpkins growing in the garden...

Grandpa R getting some snuggle time and reading books before bed

care group camping 2012

care group camping trip 2012

We managed to survive our, now annual, camping trip with our bible study/care group friends, ten families were able to go this year.  We were a group of about 40 (one family is missing here) and had an absolute blast in a sleep deprived sort of way!

Grant looks very forward to camping each year and talks about it all throughout the year so, the decision to NOT go is just not an option (Frank!).  We have fun from about 6 AM, when Parker wakes up, until about midnight each day, awesome times, awesome fellowship with awesome friends. 

WARNING: picture overload...

This is my first entire weekend of shooting in manual mode and I'd say my first attempt turned out pretty decent.  I have a love of photography and am doing my best to learn how to use my camera, lenses and all of their features to the best of my ability.  A labor of love until I finally get it all to come together :~)

hmmm...is she really going to follow me if I keep going...

see my dear, it wasn't all that bad ;) 

Grant was very well taken care of, here he was with Grace and Faith after returning from a wilderness hike.  He was a very happy and well kept little boy for the 2 days we were camping!

He just loved this tree, what a goof ball!

 PBear is finally becoming a little more adventuresome

 And sticks, he loved sticks, the sharper the better.  We were told multiple times and by multiple people that this one is ALL boy!

He looks so innocent, "Who me?!"

Until next year...

summer has arrived!

It's official, Summer seems to have officially arrived, HOORAY!!

Grant absolutely loves to play with squirt guns and was having a ball at his buddy Colin's house this week, I was a nice target while taking pictures with my phone!

TODAY Parker finally decided he wanted to take his first ride on the Gator!  Until today he has avoided it at all costs but his big bro finally convinced him to hop on for a little cruise in the backyard this afternoon!

You'll notice he's holding pretty tightly to the handlebar in front but pretty tickled with himself!

The boys, garden side, kind of cooperating for me with my phone camera out!  Love you guys!!

honey

The cousins have a brand new dog, Honey, and the boys, particularly Parker, were smitten with her!  Since returning home Parker has talked about Honey each day and whenever he hears a dog barking in the neighborhood he points in their direction and says questioningly, "Honey? Honey? Honey?".  I do believe he would have brought Honey home with us given the chance.

A highlight when visiting Frank's family is feeding Great-Grandma Billie's fish, the boys just love it!

I am always envious of Billie's beautiful begonia baskets and couldn't resist taking a few photos this time, their colors were so vivid.

Another highlight seems to have become riding (illegally) in the farm truck.  Poor Grandpa R just can't seem to escape all of his Grandchildren!

I can't decide if Parker looks a bit guilty or like he's about to jump ship!

Happy Independence Day

Yes, seriously, Grandpa R means business on the 4th of July, no wimpy fireworks allowed here!

We made the annual trek to Grandpa and Grandma R's for their wonderful Independence Day celebration.  There always seems to be something...this year, a swarm of bees.  Uncle Scott came to the rescue and removed them a few hours before guests started arriving!

Sweet Parker had a grand time! 

Grant, too, had a wonderful day and received a few handshakes from the crowd, haha!

Grant wanted nothing to do with the sparklers this year but our little Bear couldn't wait to get his paws on one.  I think Frank was as happy as Parker here!

We were so blessed to have a number of our friends travel from Portland to spend this day and evening with us!  Thank you all for making the trip and for making our 4th that much more memorable!

update

The week before last Grant completed his first official week of vacation bible school.  I taught his 4 year old class and we had a blast, in an exhausting kind of way!  The boys and I had to be out the door by 8 each morning, which was nothing short of a miracle, but we did it (thanks Frank for all of your help!) and are so thankful to have had such an awesome time learning about Jesus!  Grant had his friend Taius in his class as well as his friend Sophia so he was quite happy playing with them each day.


Parker has a LOT of words as we approach his second birthday, YIKES!  I cannot believe our baby is going to be 2 in less than a couple of weeks.  Grant likes to remind me that Parker is NOT a baby anymore, "MOM, he's already 1 and going to be 2!"  There is so much to say about our little Bear but I will wait to post more as we approach his special day.


In the meantime...a camping we will go, a camping we will go!