Week #27: Happy Independence Day

This week we...

...visited with Raleigh and Jordan again. We were so excited that they could come up for another visit. We got together Monday for dinner and visiting. It seems children cannot come to our house without playing in the mud, which Kellin and Erik both did.

...decided shaving cream might be a fun toy. Lainey was awfully quiet...

...celebrated the 4th of July with a big bang. We made our traditional candy stuffed firecrackers. We ate homemade fried chicken and visited with family and friends. We laughed and ate way too much. We twirled and whirled with glow-in-the-dark sticks. We watched the fireworks explode in the dark night sky, covering our ears from the deafening booms. We celebrated 7.4.2012 All American style.

...painted Grandma and Grandpa Erickson's house. We were surprised by the color, and it's definitely different than the blue grey that was on there. The white trim really sets it off nicely, and the paint sprayer made the job so much easier.

We had a lot of little helpers

New back door for the garage

new stain on the back deck as well

...went camping with our ward at Teancum Timbers. Please don't even bother asking if the church owns that camp site...don't! With a name like that you don't have to ask. The kids really wanted to go camping this year and we realized that going on the ward campout would save us a lot of money - free camp site and free food. Plus they did a movie night on the projector with real theater popcorn. We did some service Saturday morning before we came home.

Our view on the way

We used the white canvas tents that were already set up. And it was a good thing we did. Benjamin decided it would be a good thing to throw up in the night - once in his new sleeping bag and then again all over the tent floor. We were so glad that we didn't use the tent we borrowed. One good thing from it, Ben and I saw some owls out in the trees as we went to the bathrooms to clean up.

Lainey wanted to help pump up the air mattress

 Lainey absolutely loves her Don and Verna

We had to try a few trails

They loved the zip line. I couldn't keep Claire away from it.

Jason went with Lainey - I think she liked it in the end. :)

Verna running her popcorn machine

We had to do some service while we were there,

Cleaning out the fire pits and hauling extra rock.

Stacking wood

Week #26: We're famous!

This week we...

...got rained on. It was fun to watch the drops bounce off the sidewalk and road.

...were on the local 11:00 pm news last week. My SIL called me and said we were famous. She had seen us on the nightly news the day before. So I hopped online and watched the news clip. Go here to see our brief moments of fame.

...picked berries again at Mary Strebble's house. Only it was a really hot day and my kids didn't last long. I have no quantity sufficient for jam, but perfect for bowls of berries and ice cream.

There's Lainey with her baby bowl, 

Paul with his medium sized bowl, and 

Benjamin with his Great, Big, Papa Bear bowl.

Claire showing off her meager harvest

They all got so mad when Paul's bowl held more than everyone else's. He's the only one that left his bowl by me when they went to sit in the shade. So I filled it up.

...we saw reptile man. I'm sorry, but I never enjoy the snakes. The kids thought it all was great.

The iguana

The tortoise

The alligator that knows how to fall asleep

 The alligator sitting

The alligator sleeping-this was so funny!

An Albino snake

One of our dearly loved rattle snakes

...remembered the good old days of growing up in Mattawa. I had a bit of fun taking shots of the scenery as we came through for a visit. Lots of things have changed, but the farmland still makes me feel at home.

Just look at the farm sky

This is a shot of my favorite local mountain range.

Yes, they call it a mountain.

 This here is a canola field.

 Here's a shot of the beautiful wheat

This is a new orchard just up from my house on L road.

Nothing like a field, plowed and ready to be planted.