Derek & Alison's Wedding!

We all traveled to St. Louis for Derek (Joe's son) & Alison's wedding! It was so great to be a part of the celebration. Alison made such a beautiful bride! And Derek was very handsome!

Me and my boys!
Derek and David especially enjoyed teasing Alex. I'm sure they are sharing something inappropriate in this picture....
We all had so much fun at the reception! My dance with Derek...I can't believe he is now a married man!
Alison has an identical twin sister, Amy.
Olivia and Mia sure enjoyed seeing their cousins and dancing at the reception.
Derek looks so much like Joe! I hope we will be getting to see more of Alison and Derek ...maybe we'll even get another grandbaby soon :-) !!!!

Camping at Suttle Lake

It's been a while since we've been camping...I forgot how much I love it. It's so nice to just get away - no TV, no computers (although, I did update my FaceBook status from my phone!) Hmmm...where to next weekend? The coast maybe?

My Mountain Man! The view from our camp spot. I love Suttle Lake because the spots are so large - you don't feel crammed in with everyone right on top of each other. The lake is so peaceful in the morning...

Fun at the Fair!

Olivia, Mia and I went to the Marion County Fair with our good buddies Tracy and Jake. We had a lot of fun riding the rides, enjoying fair food (well, we never did get that Elephant Ear, Dang It!) and seeing the animals.

The kids got to go in a fire truck, ambulance and complete the fire fighters challenge. Mia was so proud of herself!
I just love my girls! We all loved the Ferris wheel!

Thanks for the fun day, Tracy and Jake!

4th of July!

We had a great family-filled weekend this 4th. Derek and his bride-to-be, Alison, came out from St. Louis for a quick visit. It was wonderful to meet Alison before the wedding (which we will be going to in August!). What a beautiful, smart, and charming daughter-in-law we are going to have! Derek looks so much like Joe it kinda freaks me out! The weather was so nice we were outside all day. The boys all had fun shooting targets. It was great to see Joe with all his boys and Alex with his brothers...

Olivia FINALLY got to go up in the tree house (she's been itching to get up there for a long time). Mia got some help from her Daddy and got to go up too.

The girls love to catch salamanders! Mia was even brave enough to hold him!

Our little Sweetie, Mia.

David resurrected his old tree swing that he made when he was 16. He even climbed up the tree and jumped off the branch like he used to when he was a kid! The water is only about 7 ft or so there is not much room for error! Yes, I made sure Kelli had plenty of life insurance in place!

We finished off with fireworks in the evening. What a great weekend!

July Ya Ya's - Our 9th Anniversary!

Wow, the month went quick! Why does summer always fly by? We celebrated our 9th anniversay last night. I am so blessed to have this amazing group of women in my life! I can't wait to see what the next nine years have in store for us!

Love you all! XOXOXO

Alex's 8th Grade Graduation!

I still can't believe my baby boy has graduated from the 8th grade! It was a very special ceremony as the 7 graduated will be leaving Abiqua. It is so bittersweet...

Brandon, John, Alex, Kelsey, Savannah, Mackenzie & DakotaAll the 8th graders had a slide show with pictures from their lives. It was fun to see their baby pictures. I really enjoyed looking through all of Alex's pictures and reminiscing (shedding a few tears along the way). They were presented to the audience by a teacher who recited nice things their classmates had said about them. They also gave a speech talking about favorite times at Abiqua, their teachers, and goals for the future. Each graduate also paints a self portrait of themselves. These portraits will hang at the Middle School along with all the past graduates.

Alex's Aunt Heather came to the graduation too.
One of our most favorite teachers, Ms. Anna Von. She will be leaving Abiqua this year too...living in Mexico for a year with her husband and getting "immersed" in the language.
The kids finished off the year with a great day at the beach in Neskowin. Surprisingly, it was a nice day and we all had a lot of fun. The ceremony was to say goodbye to their guide group members who are moving on.

We are sure going to miss Abiqua but are very excited (and a little nervous) for high School!

June Ya Ya's - Kathy & Laura's B'day!

Our Ya Ya's celebrated Kathy & Laura's birthdays this month with a "Strawberry Shortcake Party". We were missing our Jamie (she's working way too hard). But as usual we spoiled our girls with fun and special gifts...

We even had a pinata! I can't ever remember trying to hit a pinata...it was actually kind hard!

A Ya Ya Birthday would not be complete without the "fake blow"!!!!
Good friends, good food and good times - that's what Ya Ya's are made of!