Bear With Me.....

.....I've been busy and I have another blog post full of photos due to not having the time to do smaller more frequent posts.  I guess it means summer has been wonderful and keeping us busy and away from the computer which is a wonderful, beautiful thing.

Here are some highlights from the last two weeks:

We'll start with a somewhat random photo but one I'm very proud of.

Look what I made for the 1st time by myself....

It was gobbled up by everyone.  Hooray.

I have been watching the show "Hoarders."  (if you've never watched it, you must!  check out a preview HERE)
It's inspired me to organize.
I went through a two day phase.
I still have many closets and cabinets to work on but for now this will do.

Before

 Before

After

Sadly I don't have before and after photos for the rest of them but I had fun.

I love organizing. 

It makes me happy.

There is a feeling of such satisfaction when you finish.  

Gracie's closet (sorry for the poor lighting)
We love books

Gracie's area in the living room

We will pick a game, a puzzle or a book over TV any day!

Free gorgeous basket.  I was given 3 of them.
Bliss

Starbucks on The Ridge
2, 000 feet above Eburg.
2 miles straight up.
And, for all the hikers that braved the rain and lightening, they were given free snacks and ice coffee (Iced Via).

My fab hubby who has the best ideas.

What a perfect way to spend a day off

Boy do we live in a gorgeous place

Our little car on a rough road.  Took us 1.5 hours to go up and down
The Ridge.   I got sick from the rough drive and was afraid our vehicle was going to
break into a million pieces.  Thank God nothing actually happened.  

Again, WOW!
I really believe Washington as a whole is the most beautiful & scenically diverse State.

A Baby Shower for Jillian.
And, my gorgeous friend Brooke who is the best hostess.

The fabulous outfit my team made for Jillian to wear.  

We can not wait to meet Baby Girl.

Gracie's 1st Homemade Pizza

Girl loves to cook and bake.

watching her masterpiece bake

We ate the pizza in a tent Loren set up in the backyard.
Yay for a borrowed tent and pretend camping

Ya that's a fan.  It was H-O-T hot in that tent.

Goodbye Tetta

Boy this was a hard day.
Tetta has truly become part of our family.
He is a big brother to Grace and adores her-like really really adores her.
He told her before he left that he loves her.
We all cried.  He did not want to leave.  We only pray we will be given the chance to go to Japan and visit him in the future.  I just can not imagine never seeing him again.

Giving Mariko a photo album of all our time together.
We will miss you sweet Mariko.

Hanging out before the bus arrived

Walking Tetta to the bus.
The moment we had been dreading.

He has such a giving heart.
He bought Grace a special bear to remember him by.

Lots of tears and hugs and we will miss yous.

A final goodbye.
Grace cried for a good 20 min. straight after the bus drove off.

Tetta was an All Star student at CWU.
He won just about every award.
He received all A's and did not miss one day of school.
And, was asked to write an essay about his experience and present it to
all the AUAP students and teachers.  This is a segment he wrote about us.
We were so touched.  His entire speech was just brilliant.
He is going to change the lives of many people in Japan!  He will do great things there.

Gracie's 1st Scooter Ride

Yes, she's wearing a bike helmet and not a motorcycle helmet.
Yes, she doesn't have protective gear yet.  But, they just road around the hospital parking lot across the street from our house.  We wanted to see if she liked it. And, guess what?  SHE LOVED IT!  We are now looking into getting a helmet for her and a harness so she's attached to Loren for safety.  Girl all of a sudden likes a good thrill.

Going faster and screaming "Faster Daddy!!!!"

My little mini-me Organizer

We found a treasure.
A bin of clothes my grandma made for me for my dolls when I was Gracie's age.
This was a special morning.  My mind was invaded by many wonderful memories of my grandma and my time playing with my baby dolls and my barbies.

She found the 1 Barbie I kept and all my barbie clothes and accessories.
I'm still not sure if we'll be going down the Barbie route but boy did she have fun.

Old School

Clothes my grandma made

and some more!

Thank you for bearing with me this whole time......


We will end this post in SPOKANE

We spent a 3 day weekend visiting Mark, Ericka, Katie and Tyler.
A weekend away and a weekend with family was exactly what we needed.
It was such a fun and perfect weekend.

Cousins

I can not believe how tall Katie is.
She was just 4 when we got married 8 years ago.
So much has changed and she's an incredible young lady.

River Front Park:

Girlfriend said she wanted to try the big kid, make your tummy do flip flops ride

She lasted maybe 20 seconds.  But she's didn't panic or cry.  Success!  I would have barfed.  She did great.

Spokane is brilliantly gorgeous

picnic

their new puppy Snickers

And, you can't have a day of cousin filled fun with out an ice cream break.

Rest time after a long day at the park.
They put on an old school story book record and the kids listened while coloring.
Again, so much better than TV.

After rest time, Loren and I were sent out on a surprise date.

We got to go to a scrumptious French restaurant and we even had time for a few minutes of shopping.

Yep-they have fabulous shops.  I found a $50 Gap skirt for $5.  YES!!!!!  The only way I like to buy things-on mega mega clearance.  

Our last day there we hiked at the Enchanted Forrest.
My camera died right after I took this photo.
Stink-a-roo-nee

The hike was great.
The kids explored and imagined.
There were even fairies and ninjas on our hike.
It was a nice way to end our time there.

We can not wait to get back to Spokane.
Looking forward to more cousin and family time.


Happy Summering.