Girl's Movie Night Out

I am planning another Girl's Movie Night Out to see "My Sister's Keeper". It is a movie made from a book, so if you like to read the book first, you should have time to because we are going on Thursday, July 9th! Join us! I will add on to this blog post to let you know what time (and if I forget, email me and I'll let you know.) We will go in the evening, probably between 8 and 9pm. I understand that you need to bring some tissues. It is more of a dramatic chick flick than a funny chick flick.

For sale

Not my kids. Promise.
Elizabeth wanted to have her own sale today, so yesterday she gathered up some things that she wanted to sell and tore up little papers and wrote 50 cents on each paper and then taped the price on. Today after swimming lessons, she went right out to start her sale. Check her out.
It was also the last day of swimming lessons for this two week session. We start the second session on Monday for two weeks.
Today was the fun day and both girls went on the low diving board. Here are some pictures of that.
Elizabeth tried to get up the courage to jump in without help, but couldn't do it, so one of her teachers tossed (really dropped slowly) into the arms of the other teacher. Elizabeth did level 2 swimming this year, but gets to go back to level 1 on Monday because she needs to work on some things more.
Olivia's turn to be dropped in. Olivia gets to do her minnows class again for the next two weeks.

Our Dads...

Happy Father's Day! I hope you are all remembering your special dad and those other dads who you know too! I think I have the best dad and extended dads. I also have pretty great brothers who are dads and brother in laws who are (almost-one isn't a dad yet) all wonderful dads too.

I wanted to do a post on my dad, Andy's dad, and my grandpa and my wonderful husband too.
My dad, Paul, is the best. He is so willing to help with anything that anyone is doing. He will go up and introduce himself to complete strangers and find something in common with them (and a lot of times people in common too). He loves his kids and grandkids and likes to take the grandkids on walks. His favorite hobbies are genealogy and reading good books (at least before he was made the Bishop of his ward. Now he doesn't have as much time for the genealogy.) He makes his own delicious strawberry jam and even shares it with us. My dad is a great example to me of a follower of Christ. Ask anyone who knows him.My husband, Andy, is great. He is fun loving and humorous. He enjoys playing (wrestling they call it). He loves to drive, read, plan trips, make me surprised, make me happy (and he's good at that), and he take great care of us. He is willing to help, if needed, and is nice to everyone without judgments. He likes to play games and eat yummy food. It's a great thing that I happen to like those things too. He doesn't complain very much and gives great talks, without stress. He just plans the talk by reading on the subject, writes a few notes, and gives a great and memorable talk. He actually spoke on honoring our parents a few weeks ago and gave great examples of stories from the scriptures where they honored their parents and how to apply it in our own lives. I love him so much.
Andy's dad, George, is another very nice dad of ours. He loves our kids (which is a huge plus for us) and likes to help them have fun. He works really hard on whatever project he has undertaken. He likes to fix things and make things nicer. He is unassuming and modest when he talks about himself and doesn't put himself above anyone. He is quick to apologize if he thinks he has offended anyone and is sincere. My Dad's dad, Grandpa Gordon, is funny. He will normally pull a funny face in pictures, but is super sweet also. (This picture was taken in 2007 because in the rest of the pictures I have he is looking down at a cute baby of mine or with too many other people.) He loves it when we visit them and likes to make sure that the kids get a treat. He asks each of them about what they are doing and always asks me how I like being a mom. He acts ornery, but is really just great underneath. I know that he's really not mean, like he acts. Sometimes, he growls too. He is very helpful to my grandma, especially since she has broken vertebrae in her back in the last few years because of osteoporosis, and is very loving and concerned about her too. I visited with him one day in the hospital while she had a procedure done to correct some back problems and he was very concerned and open with how worried he was. I really enjoyed seeing that side of him.

Somehow, I picked pictures that had all three kids, just Vincent, just Olivia, and just Elizabeth with each of the dads. I'm pretty cool that way.
Happy Father's Day!!!

Great Week!

This week was so nice. Shoot. I was going to put the pictures from the rest of the week on here, but I went to load them and I have to recharge my battery first. Only nine would transfer before the battery died. Oops.) I'm in the mood to blog though. I'll add pictures later. Come back to check. And they are added now, so no one probably was even up and checked this when there were no pictures....

Now, I have to remember what we did without pictures. Great. (Don't worry, I'll still ramble on and on.)
Wednesday we went to swimming lessons and the library to pick up the prizes for finishing part of the summer reading program and then Elizabeth was picked up to play at one of her swimming lesson buddy's house for a while. While she was gone, I made dinner for a family in our ward while Olivia watched a show and Vincent napped. I made cheesy manicotti noodles with spaghetti sauce, chicken with spaghetti sauce, French bread, cherry/lime jello with pears, and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. We had leftovers from Olive Garden with our French bread, jello, and cookies. I took a nap after Andy got home because I had a headache and backache. It was nice. I woke up in time for game night and played some games.The lighting was bad in all the pictures I took from the side you could actually see Vincent.

Thursday we all got up and ready early and went to Kennewick to get the window fixed in the van. YEA! Too bad it wasn't the right window when we got there. Boo! Anyway, so the boss there ordered the right one (he actually ordered the right one the first time, but the place in Tacoma sent the wrong one) and said it would be ready Monday morning. YEA! So, we had some time to spend before swimming lessons and decided to stop by Ransom's in Kennewick. It was Sami's (Sara's daughter) second birthday. Shirley was gone grocery shopping when we got there, but the girls made themselves at home and picked all her raspberries (and ate them too). Vincent played with Scooter. He actually does pretty well with him and likes to pet him. Scooter seems to like him too. I chatted with Andy's cousin Sami and her mom and brother before they all started working on their job hunts. Shirley came home after Elizabeth called her and the kids played with her for a little while before it was time to go to swimming lessons. Olivia's class got to go in the big pool because the little pool was cold (I guess, from some more history from another mom whose kids take evening classes, Wednesday night some kids went in the baby pool and they had to clean it all out-like major went.) So, anyway, Olivia was able to dink around in the big pool with a life jacket, but spent almost the whole class hanging on to the edge instead of playing games. I'm pretty sure she's all set to hang out in minnows again next session. =)
Oh, Vincent slept through the whole swimming lesson. I moved him to his stroller and everything and he didn't even wake up. It was so much easier. An older girl from our ward whose sister takes lessons, helped play with him on Wednesday, so that day wasn't bad either. If he has a stick or rock, he's happy, mostly.
Olivia was pretty good at picking the purple raspberries.
Elizabeth hunting for raspberries. Notice that she's wearing a skirt, but also a superman armband.
Vincent went for a ride in Grandma Shirley's swing. He loved it.
The teacher managed to pry Olivia off the wall for a little while. Here she is all by herself too.

Elizabeth had just come out of the water after doing a "bob" for this picture. She's trying hard in her swimming lessons.

After swimming lessons, we played at home and across the street. I cleaned while the kids played. I don't remember the rest. I guess it wasn't much. Or maybe it was so great, I blocked it out or something. Oh, Andy went to his parent's house while I read to the girls and then Vincent and I watched "Benjamin Buttons". Very odd.
Friday, we got up and ready for swimming lessons early and had enough time to go to the library (again!) for the books I had on hold for our book group at church (Lynn Austin's The Refiner's Fire series-The first one was great!) and then rushed over to the book store to use the kids' book coupons from the reading program. They picked some books (and so did Vincent and I) and we hurried over to swimming lessons. Friday was "safety day". They just sat outside the pool and talked about safety. Elizabeth didn't get wet at all. Olivia's class went in for the last four minutes. Vincent threw a huge fit because he saw another kid with a Ritz cracker. I wouldn't let him mooch one off the other mom, so he cried for the last few minutes of the lesson and ALL the way to the car on the other side of the parking lot. He is stubborn. Don't worry, I fed him when we got home. For the afternoon, we hung around, played, Vincent napped, crafts, dinner making, phone calls, etc. After Andy got home, we went to Lowe's so he could get more things to work on his DVD shelves he's making and I ran into my cousin, Lisa, and her daughter, Raquel. Their men-folk were on their father son campout. We walked with them around while Andy picked out the things he needed without the girls driving him crazy. It was fun to run into them. Funny too. Andy stained the wood while I read to the kids and then I went to the grocery store for some essentials for the beginning of next week. I hate going on Saturday. It's always so busy. Vincent went with me.

Now, we are getting all stoked for our parties Saturday afternoon and evening. Gotta make cookies in the morning for the parties and I really need to weed the garden again. I think I'll try to get up early to do it. We'll see. Obviously, I can't weed in the evening. The mosquitoes like me to much. I am very likeable, you know. =)

Almost surprised!

Today is my 27th birthday! It was great! I had a lot of fun today. I had several phone calls, a lot of facebook comments, a bunch of emails, two mailman delivered cards, more than two personally delivered cards, a few visitors, roses, slippers, a DVD, and a date with my husband!
My day-NOT in a nutshell.
I woke up when the kids got up at 7:30 (now that it's summer, they have all forgotten how to sleep in) and then got them all situated and went back to bed. I woke up for real about 9am and took some nice phone calls in and then I got ready for the day and gathered all the things I needed to do while I was out for swimming lessons. Camp form (last one! Yippee!), bag of library books we read, snack for Vincent at the swimming pool (which doesn't even work, he wants to walk around-Thanks, Torrie!), towels for after swimming lessons, and outfits for the girls to change into. A little bit of work to do all that. Elizabeth actually got all the books that we read, so I didn't have to sort them out, I only had to put them in the bag and then tote the heavy bag to the car.
In the morning Andy's sister, Sara, called to make sure that I could still babysit her daughter, Sami, this afternoon while she went to teach a piano lesson and asked if anybody was taking me to lunch. I hadn't been invited by anyone for lunch, so she asked where I'd like to go with her. I picked Arby's because I love their market fresh sandwiches and curly fries. Yum! Then, Andy's other sister, Torrie, called to see if she could come to see me at swimming lessons because she couldn't come to lunch with Sara and I. I guessed that Sara had invited everybody from Andy's side then. But, I was almost surprised. I didn't know WHO was coming at least and I didn't say anything about it until it was over. Andy's third local sister, Suzie, came with her two sons and Andy's parents and cousin, Sami. Andy had to work and couldn't get away, so we missed him. I'm glad I have people around me who love me and want me to be happy and taken care of.

So, I took some more pictures at swimming lessons of Elizabeth and her friends who are taking classes at the same time.Olivia in her swimsuit with her cute skirt on top. She loves that skirt and wears it as often as it is clean. It's her swimsuit cover up for the week that she takes off when we get there.
After swimming lessons, I went with Sara to the library to return the books and check out more.
Then it was time to eat, so we drove over to Arby's and saw the fun group there. I didn't take any pictures, but I thought about it.
I took Sami (the younger) home with me to babysit her and she played with my girls while Vincent napped.
My little sister, Janessa, came over to see me on her way home to Vancouver. She wasn't going to come to our town, just Walla Walla, but she came up mostly for me because I couldn't make it over there again. It was great to visit with her for a while and see how her Jackson has changed. We determined that Vincent is about the same height as Jackson (he was taller with shoes on) and that Jackson pushes OR tickles Vincent when he gets close. One of those.
Jackson with Olivia and Vincent looking out the window (probably spying on our neighbors).
Vincent with Jackson.
Vincent eating a hot wheels car and causing havoc.
Me with Elizabeth before she took my camera again.
The nicest picture of our group that Elizabeth took. Bad angle!
Sara came and picked up Sami and visited with Janessa and I for a while and then went to run other errands. Janessa left to drive home.My kids under our tree watching Janessa and Jackson go home.

I caught up on my emails again and made and appointment for my new window in the van (Thursday morning!) There was a little lull in the afternoon with almost silence. The kids watched a movie they borrowed from the library and had some snacks.
Andy came home early at 5pm and we hung out until it was time to go out to dinner. The babysitter came over and we left. We were going to go to Red Robin because we have a gift card to use, but when we got there there was no where to park, so I told Andy that I didn't really want to go there anyway. I wanted to go to Olive Garden. I love it there and that's where our wedding dinner was. So, we went there and had delicious food and fast service (faster than ever-there was no wait to sit down even!) When we were done we went to Sears to buy new jeans (Happy Anniversary!) for Andy (they are having a great deal-buy $50 of pants or jeans and get a Sears rebate card that is $50 to spend anywhere in the store.) Andy needed jeans and found two pairs of his very favorite kind (can't find them everywhere) and bought them. I think I will use the rebate card to super shop clearance there. Then we went to Best Buy (we saw and talked to your dad, Monica!) to look for something and then off to WalMart for some groceries. Fun stuff, right? Well, we needed midweek groceries. Came home, put the kids to bed, and just hanging out until bed time. Vincent turned off the computer..... Vincent changed my answering machine to Spanish and I can't change it back.....Vincent spilled cereal on the kitchen floor for the babysitter..... Still a good day and call us (but not too early), our answering machine is funny apparently.

Happy "Surprise" Birthday....Again!

The day started off with phone calls and then with swimming lessons. Olivia started her first day of swimming lessons and Elizabeth started her third year. They both go at 11am at the same time. Elizabeth is in class with two other girls from our ward and one other girl from our ward is in the class between my girls. It will be nice to sit (if Vincent will let me) next to each other and chat for the next few weeks.
Elizabeth is the one who has red hair and pale skin. Surprising, I know. She's really hard to spot in a crowd. =)Olivia is on the far right of this picture. She did really well in her class and was doing everything they told her to. We've been talking about swimming lessons for months to get her ready. There is a wading pool in addition to the large normal size pool in Richland, so the youngest, most inexperieced kids go in the wading pool to learn.I took a few pictures, but most didn't turn out, so I will try again later. After swimming lessons, I called my buddy, Ally, from across the street to see if she wanted to hang out for the afternoon, so she came over and we chatted while Elizabeth was trying to watch Star Wars II. Then she said that she needed to run an errand at the mall, so I asked if we could all go and we did. The kids played at the playplace for a little while. Elizabeth and Olivia are such great big sisters to Vincent and helped him to play the "right" way.It was a lot of fun to go with her and hang out and chat some more. Ally is married to a man who is a member of the LDS church, but has not been for a while. They came yesterday and really enjoyed the meetings. This morning she called me to ask where Abraham was in the Bible or Book of Mormon because she couldn't find it and asked me some other questions that were on her mind too. I love being able to help and love that she is so open to learning and is willing to ask the questions that she has. She has been interested in the church since she and Jason started dating for real three years ago, but has been waiting for him to come around. They now have a daughter who is five months old with Ally's son who is 7 1/2 (Elizabeth's best friend, Keone). Last night, they were reading their lesson book for Sunday School together and didn't have the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price to read the scriptures. She came over to borrow mine. Jason's mom dug his out of their basement too. I'm super excited for this to be looking like the right timing and hope that it turns out. I hope I can answer questions effectively and I know that she is open to listening to the missionaries too. (I called and talked to them today too. I told you I am excited! I told her I talked to them and she's totally cool with it. She's so great!) I am really happy today!

After dinner, we did our family home evening to teach our children. I did a lesson on how we help each other and how to treat each other. Elizabeth was in charge of an activity. She had us use blank computer paper to sketch something for my birthday and then had our crayons to color after she checked our sketches. Then, we taped them to the front window. I did the dishes (waiting for my friends to "surprise" me and take me out somewhere.) and fixed my makeup....I knew they were coming because I mentioned to Andy on Saturday that I wanted to go to Walla Walla to see my sister on Monday evening and he said no. He is always up for whatever and doesn't really tell me no, so I asked what was going on and he couldn't come up with anything, so I knew my friends would be coming to get me. (Last year, we were sneaky and TPed each others houses for the birthdays, so this year, we decided to go out for breakfast or late night appetizers or something for our birthdays. It's really only surprising to the first person in the group who has a birthday. Benefit of a June birthday.) I emailed one friend earlier today to tell them that "if they were doing anything, to call Ally because she's awesome and she's my best friend and I wanted her to come". Two of the friends came to pick me up a little after 9pm and took me to Applebees where the rest of our group was waiting. Two other ladies have birthdays in June too, so it was for all of us. We visited and laughed and had so much fun. I have the very best friends!
Julia, Lisa (it was her birthday Sunday), me, Kim, Laurie (it's her birthday the end of the month), Ally, and Jessica.

So, 27 years ago I was born. My mom blogged about it already and even included my baby picture. I'm so glad I was born into the family I was born into. I love the history of my ancestors and all the things they have gone through and I hope that I am growing to be someone that my posterity will look up to and happily reminise about.

AND, eight years ago, Andy and I were married in the Portland Oregon LDS Temple. It was such a great day! I am so happy with Andy and so glad I made the right choices which led us to the Temple and to a family which is sealed together forever. Andy is a wonderful husband to me and a great father to our children.
So, happy birthday/anniversary to me. I'm happy and having so much fun over here!
In a few years, I'll be thirty and flirty and thriving, right? Except there's only one person I want to flirt with....
And here is a bonus picture that one of the other ballet moms (who has an awesome camera) took that had Olivia in it.

My "Surprise" Party

We went over to Andy's parent's house, like we normally do on Sunday evenings, for dinner and we were getting everything all ready to eat when his sister, Sara, asked if they were having cake for Sami's birthday too. Shirley said no, and so I asked if they were doing cake for me. I guess that spoiled the surprise. Oops. I had already noticed the cake in the corner underneath a towel anyway. I checked it to see if it was rolls that needed to go in the oven...... I already knew.
I blew out all 27 candles and I even remembered to make a wish! Shh, it's a secret!
Elizabeth took all these pictures of the party.
Archer, Dylan, and Olivia ready for cake.
This is a dress that my mom made for me when I was Elizabeth's size. She likes how "the ruffles at the bottom look like waves" when she spins.
Olivia and Elizabeth were all dressed up and ready to go to church in time to take a few pictures.
Vincent was one sad kid today. Really sad. =(

It was a fun day mostly though. I went to church. The kids did pretty well in the row, even with just me. Andy gave a talk in church today on honoring your father and your mother. He did a great job and told several scripture stories and then related them to our lives. I talked about camp arrangements for traveling (the "mostly" fun part) and helped with Vincent in the nursery for part of the time. Then I went to the woman's Relief Society class and was able to sit by my best friend neighbor, Ally, and her daughter, who have decided to come to church and learn more with her husband who is a member of the church. His parents are in our ward. It was a really great and spiritual meeting. Ally is Keone's mom. Keone and Elizabeth play almost every day, and Ally and I could (and do) talk for hours.
After I got home from church, I figured out more camp transportation and then went to dinner in Kennewick. After we got back from dinner, I finalized camp transportation (by making a bunch of phone calls) and emailed it out to the people who need it. I am not going to camp, but I was able to be the camp coordinator and collect our ward's camp forms and money and turn it all in. I'm also in charge of transportation. Kind of a big job, but definately better than a lot of other jobs to get ready for camp. Nearing the end of it.
I'm excited to see what this week holds and hope there are more surprises to come. There had better be, or I'll be a little sad. =(

Elizabeth Ballet Video

Elizabeth is the one with red hair. She is the one on the far right during the performance and the first one to go across the stage for her solo 1 1/2 times.

See what I mean about people walking through? I do know that girl though. She was in Elizabeth's first few classes when they were little. We still do birthdays and playdates with them.

Olivia's Ballet Video

Olivia danced to the song, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine".
She is the fourth one to solo across the stage and the fifth one from the left at the end.

Ballet GALORE!

Today was the ballet recital day for Elizabeth and Olivia. It was Elizabeth's fourth one and Olivia's first. It was nice. The weather was nice, the girls did a good job, no one got lost coming back to the seats, etc.
I like to take all my pictures I want during rehearsal in the morning, so I don't have to worry about it in the evening. I always end up with someone walking through or someone's head in the way, plus I don't care where we sit at the real thing then and we can hang out in the shade. I took a lot of pictures (like 152-then down to 95 good ones that weren't blurry or the back of a head, etc.), so I'm going to narrow them down. (If you want to see more, they are on my facebook page. If you don't have facebook, you should get one and search for me. They are fun. You can find out what your old friends are up to and see who's still doing the same old things and who has surprised you by evening out and becoming a family person.)

My parent's came for the practice this morning because they had something else to do tonight. My mom helped me by taking video for Andy's parents to see since they were at the mountain working on their house this weekend. Andy and Vincent stayed home doing yard work and hanging out until the evening performance.

Olivia's was scheduled to start at 9am and Elizabeth's was set for 11am, so we had to do something in between. My dad took Elizabeth on a walk by the river while Olivia was finishing up and my mom ran errands, so Olivia and I went over to the Playground of Dreams in the same park as the recital. Elizabeth and my dad met us over there too. They played and played until Elizabeth was freaking out thinking that she was going to miss her groups rehearsal time (nope) and so we went back to the car for her to change and got her to her rehearsal in time to wait for a half hour.
Andy's sister, Torrie, gave the girls lip gloss each time they went on stage. They were super excited about that. She is one of the teachers at the ballet studio they go to, but teaches some of the older kids now. She taught Elizabeth for the first three though. We miss seeing her every Tuesday and eating lunch together.
Olivia waiting backstage for her turn. Paris, Olivia, Shaylie, and Paige
Way up high!
I like this one!
Olivia's turn to curtsy in the middle of the stage. I must have caught her in a run though.
My dad is so great! He plays with them. He was tired too from a campout with my brother and his four boys the night before. He wasn't actually able to stay the whole night even because he has such bad allergies that he couldn't breathe and had to pack up and go back home at 12:30am. Such a great man.
My dad playing the wind pipes with the girls.Elizabeth on the playset. I love this girl. She was playing with anyone who would play with her all over the playground.
My dad pushing Olivia on the grossly oversized swing at the toddler place. She loved it!
Elizabeth had to give it a try too!
Elizabeth all ready for the practice. We just have to put them in their tights, leotard, and slippers and fix their hair and when we get them backstage, they add the tutu and flowers for their hair.
Some of Elizabeth's class. They joined with another five year old class, so it's only every other kid in Elizabeth's class. #2 is Isabelle, #4 is Elizabeth, #6 is Haley.
Elizabeth's group twirling. (Don't judge me for putting more pictures of Olivia in here, I love her more-JUST KIDDING! She just was by herself more during the performance and it was her first time.)

On the way home from rehearsal, we stopped at a friend's yard sale and visited, went home for lunch, rested a few hours, and went back to the park for the real thing with our whole family of five.
After the girls were done, they even got to pick out colors for their snowcones. They loved them.
Then, we left to go to a wedding reception for one of my MiaMaids. When Andy and I were first married, I was the MiaMaid advisor (teach the 14-15 year old girls) at church.
Home to do bathes, trim nails, fix hair, eat tator tots for a late dinner, and we even managed a drop in visit from Andy's aunt and uncle coming by with a cute birthday present for me. His Aunt Carol made me a jean pocket hot pad. It's cute and functional, which is really the best gift, not that I'm opposed to cute and non-functional things.
We had a busy night.
Then, I took Vincent with me grocery shopping while Andy read to the girls and put them to bed, did two loads of laundry, one load in the dishwasher, made some muffins for Sunday morning (out of a box), and spot cleaned Vincent's carpet in his room. I think it's almost time for bed. Now, I just have to add some pictures first....and fold some laundry.....and probably something else too.
Videos are on their way! They are up at my mom's blog too!

End of School, etc.

Wednesday was the last day of school, so a group of my friends decided to do a fun water day at their neighborhood park that afternoon. We went and had a great time. They blew up small wading pools to play water kickball, and filled up buckets of water balloons, and had quite a selection of popsicles to choose from. We took our neighbor Keone over to play too. The kids had a blast playing in the water! I have awesome friends!
Awesome pools to splash in. These kids had such a great time!
Vincent on the bottom of a tree with a stick he found. That's all he needs. It kept him happy for a while.
Keone with his popsicle.
Olivia was playing with Ethan (a friend's son). She wasn't being mean though, just chasing him and teasing him. It was kind of cute.

When that party was over, we hurried over to the birthday party of a boy in Elizabeth's class at the park with a wading pool in Richland. They fed the kids hotdogs, chips, pop, cupcakes, and ice cream and all the kids swam in the wading pool. They had fun playing with the other kids from school and were mostly pretty nice. Vincent even wanted to try it.It was Skylar's birthday party. He and Elizabeth have been buddies all year.Olivia in the little pool with her water wings.
Olivia eating just enough cupcake to get her face dirty. Then I licked off the frosting and gave the cupcake to Vincent.
Elizabeth with another buddy, Parker, from her class. I don't remember just why they ended up posing like this, but they were both looking and smiling and even in the same frame AND not blurry.
This is what Olivia wanted to do as a break from the pool. Then, she said that she "really, really, really, really" wanted to go back in. (There may have been a few more really's thrown in.)
Malia is another friend from school. Malia's mom took Elizabeth went swimming with them last week, but I wasn't there, so I don't have a picture of the two of them there.
Vincent giving it a shot. He was a little cold, I think. Ethan was in Elizabeth's class too. They all love to play with Vincent. Such nice kids.

Thursday, I set up for a group of friends to go to Whitman Mission just outside of Walla Walla (about an hour away). There is a museum there and self-guided tour of the actual mission grounds. We followed that up with a picnic there and then a few of us went into Walla Walla to go to the Pioneer Park Aviary and the "Rainbow" park. It was another busy, but very fun day. I like those days the best. Hanging out with friends, fun, and food. Always a good day.

My girls and the Welling kids playing in the gazebo in Pioneer Park. They had SO much fun!
This is a bronze statue that is in Pioneer park. You may be telling yourself, "I already see Daniel and Everett, so who is that third boy?" My response is that he wandered over to the statue with our kids and we never did see a parent. Hmm. We told him to find his mom when we left though.
Elizabeth and Olivia in front of a replica of a wagon at the Whitman Mission.Elizabeth arranged a game of "Duck, Duck Goose" while we were waiting for the picnic. She's a master arranger. Just come to a party at our house, and she'll tell you when it's time for everything.

If you just didn't get enough on my blog of these events, (I'm sure that I didn't talk about them quite enough) you can go to my mom's blog or Kim Welling's blog or Dana Tolick's blog for more.)