Friends

Two of our good family friends are moving away from our small town.  We are not happy about it...but are happy to see them so happy.  I guess I didn't expect to be saying goodbye to people based on the nature of where we are...but after they both leave it will make four of our close family friends in the past year.  There was a wive's farewell last week and I had to get a pic with these two lovely ladies - although all I had was my phone.  Jen and I in a grainy phone pic...

...And Heather and I in a grainy phone picture.   What special ladies with huge hearts.  I will miss them both so much!  Heather had her (three!) boys came over for a twilight play date.  No, not "Twilight" the movie-just a late afternoon/evening play date.  Geoff was out of town and Heather's husband Phil was at a work event. Our boys have gotten into the habit of getting into their jammies as soon as they can (especially Jack)which is why they are in pajamas in these photos.  But it didn't stop them from running around, playing chase, and climbing hills and being active, adventurous boys.

We went to Bend and Portland this past weekend and got to visit with the other family (our old neighbors) that moved last summer.  Here are four of our six kids eating frozen yogurt and enjoying the amazing weather outside.

And speaking of amazing weather, we bumped into some squadron friends at a local park last week.   Jude, Wyatt, and Scarlett enjoying the blue skies.

4th of July

4th of July was busy~so I didn't get one photo on the actual day.  So I took a couple "4th of July" pics a few days later.  Our friends from Japan were driving through and we got to have them over for lunch a couple of weekends ago.  We get to see out of town friends from time to time because a lot of guys come through here for training.  But they were driving through for vacation.  Geoff and Lance deployed together a couple of times while we were stationed in Japan and were roommates.  His wife Emily had their first son in Japan and I can't believe how grown up he is!  Definitely not a baby anymore.  Emily made me a pasta dinner the night before I ran my first marathon (the guys were gone) and she ran the last few miles of the Naha Marathon with me.  We last saw them on Christmas Day 2003 when we took a mini vacation to Hawaii on our way back from Japan and they were stationed on island.  Nine years ago!  Our kiddos got along great-just give the boys some nerf guns and they are in heaven.

 I love this picture of W and A.

A group shot - A was turning red and getting hot after many attempts to get all three kiddos looking at the camera.

Happy Belated 4th!

Catch-all from my Phone

From a baseball game...

                        The first jar of baby food she finished at one sitting...sweet potatoes!

 Empty!

 Just looking cute in her sweet dress.

 And some things never change.  The boys assuming the arm position before falling asleep on our drive back from the coast.

 Flash back to Dec 2008...

W with his arms up right before going to sleep....(2008)

 Taking some steps.  

                                                       Our flowers this summer so far:

Our landscaping is really taking shape!  Our trees are growing and some of our plants and bushes are flowering for the first time.  We have two trees that have died and the landscapers are still going to replace them.  Oh!  And update from my previous post on my foot-it is a stress fracture.  The doctor told me to wait another three weeks to run.

Little Bits

Mid-month Avery started crawling with her belly off the ground.  She could get around before with a combination of low-crawling, one knee crawl and press to sit, or rolling, but one day the boys and I were watching (speechless) as she knee-knee-kneekneekneeknee crawl crawl crawled all the way to the front door.  There is no stopping her now!

Little hands grabbing my feet.

 She found some clean (but not put away) laundry on the floor one morning and decided...it is time to get busy!

 Let's get to work!

Cutie Wyatt joined in on the fun.

She has the most little feet ever...

She just started taking some steps on her own with a walker and yesterday pulled herself up to stand in her crib.  She has two teeth.  She loves avocados and Cheerios.  She has lots of spunk and lots of love.  She still refuses to sleep more than about three hours at a time.  She is tough...she has bonked her forehead so many times since she started crawling and most times she just shakes it off and presses on.  So busy.  So much to explore.