On the road...

We left May 23rd (On Tristin's 8th bday!) for the Oregon Coast & Seattle for my brother's wedding. We were so excited to go and all the girls could talk about was being flower girls in the wedding. Tristin was a little more nervous to be the ring bearer, but I told him he would do great. We drove to the coast first and stayed 2 nights there. It was heaven to be near the water again and we had ok weather to enjoy it in. It was cloudy with a few sprinkles here and there (the last day we had more rain). It was nice to go down to the beach several times without it being so cold. We just wore coats and we were perfect! The kids had fun running around, playing in the water, building castles and collecting shells and decaying sea creatures! We went shopping, swimming, played at the arcade, ate yummy food, candy & ice cream. The kids loved the carosoul, buying toys and watching cartoons at bedtime. We had a great time, and it was nice to rest for a few days before driving an insain amount of miles again with 4 kids ready to jump out of the car. We left Tuesday afternoon and headed to Mom's. She had ribs & potato salad waiting for us when we arrived (and my lemon squares! That's how much she loves me! Did I mention she works full time too? She's amazing!) We rested, got our Pj's on, read stories and went to bed. We knew our next week was going to be busy.
We also stayed a night at my brother, Jake's house ( but I didn't have my camera!) He and April watched the kids so Trav and I could go out to dinner for our 10th wedding Anniversary! We had a fun time with the cousins. We also made it to IKEA, but only for 1 hour before the rehersal dinner (DEFINATLY not enough time in that store! But I found a new table within those short 60 minutes, so it was worth it!)
We were gone 9 wonderful days, but were eager to get home as well. We drove over 1600 miles, so we were all really tired. (That's over 3000 miles of traveling in the past month for us!) It was wonderful to see family, friends, see Eli & cindy get married, meet Steve & Carmel from London and be home for a week.

We finally made it to the coast!

Lots of fun at the coast...

Seaside Oregon...

The coast...

We had so much fun at the coast! Oh, how I miss the water...

Rehersal dinner, pedicures & Bingo...

My Mother wins the: MOST- AMAZING- WOMAN -ON- THE- PLANET AWARD!!! I adore her, admire her, and hope to become like her. She has been SOOOOO busy the past few months hosting, planning and preparing for about 50 thousand different events, and I have heard the exaustion in her voice every time we've spoken. Even from hundreds of miles away I could tell she was over doing, over planning & over stressing about every detail. She would tell me about the 25 pounds of hamburger she had browed and then put in the freezer, or about the deserts for a party or the things still had left on her list and I would hang up and just smile- that's my Mama, always wanting to make someone's moment special. She had a HUGE dinner to do for the rehersal and naturally it was perfect! People were taking plates of food home it was so good. Everyone was complementing her and she deserved it. She worked so hard and in all that work, hidden beneath pounds of lasgana, was her reason for doing it: She loved her Eli so much and wanted to show an ounce of it by doing something special for him/them. In addition to tons of parties, She also had an amazing turkey dinner another night when we were there and ribs another night and my homemade lemon squares made too! She doesn't know how to do anything half way, so it didn't surprise me, I'm just so thankful for her and everything she worked so hard to accomplish. (And now for my Grandparents 60th Anniversary party! You'll do it Mama!)

There is my borther Caleb holding Dexter, the dog.
And Mom & I had pedicures! Oh how I laughed...

A Night at G-ma & G-pa's....

It's tradition that when ever we come home for a visit, we have to stay 1 night with my Grandparents. It's purely selfish, let me confess... when we come, I request a few things: her homemade chicken noodle soup, waffles the next morning, a game of Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo, and our thrift store shopping trip. It's just what we do! Trav, Trisitn & G-pa played golf while we went and shopped our little hearts out. Everyone was tired when we came back, so Daisy fell asleep early on G-ma's lap. We ate yummy food, watched Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy, relaxed and had a fun time. I love my Grandparents with all my heart. G-pa fell in love with Willow, and she in return!

Going to see G-ma Lillian...

The morning after the wedding we drove to Sequim to see G-ma Lillian. She was heart broken that she couldn't attend the wedding, so we brought her some treats from the reception and stayed to have lunch with her. It meant the world to her that we came for a visit, it was just something we had to do, I couldn't leave without making the 4 hour trip to hug her!

The wedding...

What a perfect night! I am still in awe at how wonderful everything was- just amazing!

Eli & cindy's wedding...

All I can say is Cindy is AMAZING! The wedding & reception details were incredible and the wedding was precious. The kids did a fabulous job and everyone looked gorgous! It was a wonderful night and we couldn't be more happy for Eli & Cindy! We love you guys!