The posed ones….

There are loads of these – what an incredible day it was and so much love in the air.  We have the BEST “village” of people around us, so blessed.

Rehearsal Dinner

Margie and Molly creating beautiful flowers

Even the kids pitched in to help

The Vows

It’s going to be too tough to recap the vacation so I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures with captions.

Feeding the Garbage Goat

This girl loves her Krispy Kremes!

Me, just after being pulled over (no ticket!)

Putting pennies on the tracks

Add caption

Love Mary’s grandparents!

First stop in Spokane – beer!  Funny party about this pic is that all the rest of the kids are hidden behind Mary and I

Carlos loves a road trip

All the monkeys in the bed

Checking out Spokane

Cool carousel – you get to grab rings and try to throw them into a hole for a free ride

Cute girl by the water

Mama lovin

We put all the kids in this bouncy house type boxing ring – I think it helped them work out their issues

These two are oil and water – sometimes couldn’t be farther apart, sometimes (like this one) they are salad dressing!

It has clearly been a LONG time since I blogged – good news is we have been so busy living our lives that we haven’t had much time to stop and blog about it.  Now, the task of catching up seems overwhelming but here goes….

Starting with Family Vacation!  We took the last week of summer vacation and spent it on a road trip to Spokane and Idaho to visit Mary’s grandparents and take the kids to Silverwood Theme Park.  What a great way to end the summer.  The highlight, for sure, was meeting Mary’s grandparents and getting to spend a little time with them.  LOVE them and wish we could have had longer.  Can’t wait until our next trip to visit.

Trey gets “held up” on the wild west train ride

Aftershock – pure awesome craziness that Mary and I rode!

Levi and Dee spun around, back and forth and upside down!

Levi was the Roller Coaster KING – pretty sure he rode 10 times in 2 days and loved every single ride

That’s Dee and Levi up there

Erin, Alice, Levi and Dee get “held up”

Lines weren’t too bad, but waiting was part of the experience

Bumper Cars were a big hit

Carlos drove Maymay around in the antique cars

Levi and Alice after their first upside down roller coaster

Erin LOVED the Dumbo ride – made me remember back to my trip to Knotts Berry Farm when that was my favorite ride

Love that Levi wasn’t too cool to ride the kiddie rides w Erin

Waiting to get soak on the river ride

She has NO idea she is about to get soaked – she wasn’t a fan

Dry for now!

This is the before pic – but the after one was equally happy!!!

 If you know me, you know I love to bake and almost always give away my creations.   I rarely eat what I make.  I tend to be ultra critical of it and don’t really enjoy it.  Strange, I know, but I’m quirky that way.  My family eats some, but I try to make smaller portions for them to eat and a bigger one to give away.

If you know me well, you know I often bake as a way to work through stress and drama.  There’s nothing like having great music on, mixing, measuring, filling the house with the sweet smell of a pie or cookies to relieve stress for me and I love being able to make people happy.   Win win!
I was invited blueberry picking with a friend and scored (thanks, Erika!) and with fresh blackberries ready to pick now (and my willing crew of pickers) we have a freezer of baked goods to come.
Here are some of my de-stressors the last couple weeks:  blackberry pies, chocolate zucchini cake, plum tart, blueberry muffins, banana bread and zucchini bread.

Just a few pics from a trip to the beach this morning – beautiful summer day and the kids always love to spend time playing in the water and digging.  Got some great shots

 Apparently “nursemaid’s elbow” is common among kids.  I can’t believe after all the kids we have had through our home that we have never had this before (Erin is good like that, we hadn’t done Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease before her either!).  It was awful!
She was wearing too small footie jammies to start and when I went to take them off of her, she was lying on the couch and I was pulling the sleeve down while she was trying to pull her arm out.  There was a pop and a scream and then she sat with her arm bent and refused to move an inch.  If I shifted at all, she would scream and cry.  I felt horrible and knew something was wrong.
Nana came over in her jammies to hang out w the other kids while I took Erin.  Quick fix by Dr Molly and all was fine.  Here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen again, it was no fun!

There is no doubt about it, this girl is on the path to be wearing the blue and gold, waving the pom poms and  shouting out Spartan cheers!
She LOVES everything about it and idolizes the “big girls” who she watches practice.  She’s even getting some of the moves down (well, as down as a 2 year old can get them).
Glad we started going to the games to watch Maxsena cheer – fun to see a little one sporting her uniform and gettin it done.  Too bad she’s too young for cheer camp!

So this week was a celebration of the life of an amazing woman, Beth Gedney.  She wasn’t just a boss, she was a friend and embraced Dee and I (and the kids!) and welcomed us into her family.  There was only love there, mutually.  As I sat at her memorial service and listened to all of the professional accomplishments she had made in the maritime industry, it was very clear that she was both respected and loved by all.  I don’t think it’s hit that she’s gone, I can still hear her laugh   clear as if she were sitting next to me.
As a coincidence, Beth’s memorial service was held on what would have been the 60th birthday of one of my closest friends ever, Lori.  Each year on her birthday, a group of us (her daughters, Dee and our friend, Gay) all get a mocha w 1/2 the chocolate, salt and vinegar chips and pepperoni, mushroom and olive pizza.  A small way to remember an incredible lady (who taught me so much about life and standing up for myself and being authentic – she also dug Dee and was a huge supporter of our relationship).  She is missed daily, wish she could have met our kids.  She would have really loved them and been a cool “auntie”.
Glad to have had the time I had with them, so wish it could have been much more.  They are missed deeply and every day.