Daddy Daughter Date!

Last night I got to go  on a date with my Daddy! We went to the Mariners game. My parents have season tickets so they get to go all the time, but it was a blast for me to be able to go with just my dad and not worry about kids or anything else. Thanks, Mom, for watching the kids!

It ended up being quite the game. They played the Cubs, which was exciting. The game went into extra innings, and in the bottom of the 10th the Mariners had the bases loaded. Everybody was on their feet for the final batter as he singled and brought in the winning run. It was fun watching how excited the M's were at winning- you would have thought they won the World Series with their celebrations on the field after the game! It was really fun.

We also got to watch a new play, Brad Miller, in his first major league game. It was fun cheering for him at his first at-bat ever in the big leagues. He had a great game- an RBI, a walk, a stolen base, and a couple of great defensive plays. We're keeping our tickets for tonights game in case he turns out to be a superstar- we can say we were there when he started out!

After the game there were fireworks- the first ever fireworks at Safeco Field. They were really good! It made for a really great night!

 

Check out these seats- right on the third base line, only three rows up! I have never had such great seats at a sporting event- we could see the sweat on the players faces. And, we had the best seats of the house to watch the deciding play of the game: a Cubs player made a run for a pop fly, diving to make the catch, and missed it- allowing two runs to score and the game to be tied. It happened just 15 feet from us- so cool!

A Walk In the Wetlands

 The Pacific Northwest is one of the most beautiful, lush, and GREEN places on the planet! Trees over 100 feet tall are the norm, and it often feels like one is in a "fairy land" instead of an actual city. The other day we went with our cousins for a walk in the wetlands- a trail just down the street from my parents house. It is beautiful- and the best part? When it started raining, we just went and stood under one of the tall trees and didn't get rained on a bit.

 Aubrey and the girls:

 Audra and Katie were our navigators:

 Checking out a really cool tree:

Relay For Life

A few months ago my sister Melissa gave me a call and said, "hey, I think it would be really cool if we got a team together for Relay For Life." Sounded good, except I had one question: "What's Relay For Life?"

My mom and sister worked incredibly hard to organize our team (which consisted of family members) and raise money. My others sisters- Steph and Ilea, joined in. They put together a garage sale and raised hundreds of dollars. The purpose: Cancer Research.

A few years ago I didn't know anything about cancer. Now I know what a horrible disease it is: Cancer comes into your life and takes a part of you. It takes thousands of mothers, sisters, fathers, sons, and daughters every year. If it doesn't take your life, it definitely takes a piece of your soul.

It was pretty awesome to do something to fight back.

On Saturday morning we got my parents motor home and headed to the high school for the fundraiser. We stayed at the high school for over 27 hours- taking turns with our team (The High Five Gang) and walking the track for 24 hours straight.

They started with a Survivor Walk. A whole bunch of survivors walked- including my dad:

 I have to say, watching the Survivor Walk was pretty emotional:

 Claire and Camille were ready to go:

 Here's the family taking a walk:

 We had a booth to try and sale items to raise more money. We made tons of Rice Krispy treats of all different flavors- peanut butter, brownie marshmallow, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't sale very many. Oh, well.

 We made a sign with facts about colon cancer to try and educate others about colon cancer:

 The #1 thing to know is my favorite:

 I love seeing my dad wearing this shirt:

 The girls were so incredibly awesome through the whole thing. Really, they had a great time and behaved incredibly well. They had such a GREAT time playing with their cousins. It was really awesome.

 Look at the smiles on these girls faces:

 This was our baton. We "had" to keep it on the track the entire time. On the second lap it wasn't on the track, and Ken said, "Oh, darn. We're done. We have to leave."

 Even Camille was awesome!

 All the girls fought over who could pull the wagon.

 Some of the booths had activities for the kids. The bubbles were a HUGE hit!

 On Saturday night they had a luminary ceremony. Around the track they put hundreds of bags that were decorated in honor of people affected by cancer. This bag brought a tear to my eye:

 Camille was so awesome- look at her:

 Audra and Claire got to play with a robot- they were so excited!

There were 25 teams total. Each team had around 10-15 team members, more or less. So there were probably less than 500 people walking during that 24 hours. But those 25 teams raised over $116,000 for cancer research! WOW! It was so empowering to see what just a few people can do! It really was a special experience for all of us, and I'm glad I got to participate.

I would, however, say one thing would have made it better: I wish the person in charge of music wasn't such a big country fan.

Root, Root, Root For the Mariners!

It seems like a trip to Seattle would not be complete without a Mariner's game! We smartly got a sitter for Camille and went with almost the whole family up to the game. Unfortunately, the game did not go well for the M's, who lost, but as my niece Katie said, "At least it didn't take them very long to lose."

The weather was great, and the atmosphere even better. A baseball game really is a great American past time, and you can FEEL it in the air when you are there.

 The girls were SO excited to get to stay up late and go to a baseball game- even though they didn't really know what it was.

Once there, they LOVED that they got lots of treats. Grandpa really likes spoiling his grandchildren. Audra is hugging the cotton candy above. Below Claire is devouring the cotton candy:

 Audra is in Heaven- peanuts in her right hand, ice-cream Dibs in her left (my girls aren't used to that much junk food- both girls threw up at night from all of it. They learned a good lesson- it's OK to splurge sometimes, but you will pay for it):

 By 9:15 Claire was ready for bed:

 And so was Grandpa:

 With Matt's family:

 The outcome wasn't great, but it was still a fun night:

Go M's!

Fathers

I have to say that I have been incredibly blessed.

Really, when I think of all that the Lord has blessed me with I can't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest blessings I have received are my parents. They ROCK!

I always say that I don't know how they raised 5 kids without going crazy, and it's true- I really don't know how they had 5 kids in 6 years and didn't go crazy!

My senior year of high school my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Us kids decided to throw them a surprise party. After the party I was sitting on the steps with my dad and I said, "Congratulations, Dad! 25 years of marriage is pretty awesome!" He turned to me and said, "Well, there were lots of times I could have left your mom. And there were lots of times she could have left me."

This really surprised me. But I learned a great lesson from that. I learned that my parents did have some problems in their marriage (what marriage doesn't?), but my parents decided to make date night on Fridays standard. They took weekend getaways. Even though we knew our parents loved and supported us kids 100% (and they did- I don't think my dad missed a soccer game of mine in my whole life- I even remember him taking off of work to come watch a JV softball game when I was in junior high), I never doubted that they loved each other more. They put their marriage first, and it was the best parental decision they ever could have made.

When I was looking to get married, I knew I wasn't going to settle. Whoever I married had to be as awesome as my dad- which was a pretty high standard. It had to be someone committed to family, who loved the Lord, and who worked hard.

Ben definitely fits that bill! I love that on Saturdays he doesn't go and play golf with his buddies- he genuinely wants to spend time with me and the kids. We have date nights every Friday night. Ben serves and loves the Lord in a quiet and powerful way that amazes me every day. He takes the responsibility of providing for our family seriously. He is literally one of the best of men, and I thank my Heavenly Father that I had a Dad who showed me how a husband and father should be, and for Ben who continues the legacy of fatherhood in our home (of course, Ben learned from his dad these traits- so thank you to my father-in-law as well).

Pretty much every day I think about how lucky I am. I have such a great life! And I can attribute much of that great life to three fathers: Heavenly Father, my own earthly father, and the father of my children.

Yes, life is pretty great.

Mom! Camille's Making A Messy Mess!

So said Audra. And all I could do was laugh (and take a picture).

Claire (Almost) Turns Four

Summer Birthdays are tough! Not only is everybody else going to be gone over Claire's Birthday, but WE will be gone for Claire's Birthday. Well, we'll be on an airplane on her Birthday, which isn't a great way to celebrate. So we decided to throw her Birthday party early.

But then she got sick. So we had to postpone her Birthday.

Finally today we were able to celebrate.

Claire was so excited! We had to keep reminding her that it's just her Birthday Party day- not her Birthday. It's all so confusing.

But the party went well.

We pretty much duplicated what we did for Audra's Birthday- with fewer activities. We did the same stations that we had at Audra's party, but we did not do relays or a craft. Instead, we put the sprinklers on (it's over 90 degrees today!) and let them play with the Slip N Slide. The kids had a great time- it turned out really well!

Audra made this sign to put on the front door for the guests to read:

 It says: Look. Listen. Have Fun. Be Yourself.

Great advice for all of us!

 I asked Claire what kind of cake she wanted, and to my surprise she said, "A carrot cake." I don't know if she was remembering Camille's cake and she wanted that one or not, but I couldn't even convince her to get an ice-cream cake, she really wanted a carrot cake. So I made one. I am not the greatest cake decorator, but thankfully Claire helped me out and added all the sprinkles to make it look pretty.

 Camille did a great job running around and getting into things:

 The doughnut game was our favorite from Audra's party, so we knew we had to play it again. It proved awesome:

 They all got water guns:

 The octopus sprinkler was the biggest hit- everybody loved that:

 They had fun just running around and playing:

 We had a water balloon toss- a HUGE hit!

 And, the Slip N Slide:

 Camille discovered the water table:

We had hot dogs for lunch, which didn't go over as well as I thought they would. Oh, well.

I think we had 12 kids there, counting siblings. It was definitely a crowd, but the kids really did great. We had a few tears as some kids missed their moms and one kid fell on the stairs, but overall things ran smoothly.

Overall, the party was a success. But I have to say that I am SOOOOO glad that party season is over! No more Birthday parties for a VERY LONG time!

Both Ben and I are beat! But, I am so glad that we were able to have some of Claire's friends come over and celebrate our special little girl! We are so blessed!