This little guy was baptized . . .
In a very special service, Simon Marsh was welcomed into the family of God. He was an absolute angel. Even starting fast asleep, he didn't cry and just looked lovingly into his daddy's eyes. (And of course, his adoring sister looked on in wonder . . . love these kiddos!)
Another school year ended for Travis . . . .
He has worked with this same zany crew for 14 years in the PE department and when their recent retired buddy came back for a visit, they couldn't help but get in trouble!
I got texted my favorite picture so far of this little guy . . . .
And we got to love on him at a BBQ . . .
I still can't get over what an amazing mom my sister is . . . and am super excited to be an aunt again!!
We took a family vacation to Idaho . . .
We spent seven days swimming, mini golfing, swimming, fishing, swimming, doing puzzles, swimming, reading, swimming, playing games, swimming, playing racquetball and swimming. The pool was right across the parking lot from our condo and was salt water - it was great as you don't smell like chemicals, your skin is softer, and the water is sooo clear! The trip was relaxing and wonderful. (On our way down, we stopped for a quick overnight with my bestest friend since 7th grade . . . the girls and I are going back for a week here soon so we'll have lots of pictures then!)
While we were golfing, Haley got a hole in one. Then, on a different hole, she bumped Hannah's ball into the hole then proceeded to get another hole in one all in the same shot!! We may or may not have let them throw their balls over the water fall in our version of "Pooh Sticks" assuming they'd come down the little river and end up on the other side. And they may or may not have gotten stuck and our girls may or may not have had to climb down into the water and use their clubs to try and dislodge the balls. I'm just saying . . .
While fishing, they both caught a fish and Haley caught a turtle. No joke. We saw something big coming towards us as she reeled in and upon closer inspection, it was a turtle! He quickly grabbed half the worm and took off before we could get him out of the water and check him out (which was probably a good thing as who knows if he was some Idaho crazy snapping turtle or something) but who catches a turtle? Haley apparently!
We literally drove all the way from Idaho straight to our friends' lake house for the 4th of July fireworks . . .
It was fun, as always, to chat and watch the show. And from their spot, you can literally see all the way around the whole lake and enjoy everyone's fire works - even better than downtown if you ask me!
Hannah participated in a week long choir camp at St. Mark's cathedral in Seattle . . .
The experiences she got were out of this world including playing the huge organ. She loved absolutely every minute and is already telling us she can't wait for next year.
While Hannah was at choir camp one day, Haley got to go to the aquarium . . .
She is such a tactile kid that the touch pools were her dream come true.
Another day, she got to go to the driving range with Daddy to hit a bucket of balls . . .
They got about 150 and she hit at least 100 of them. She loved every minute!
The most surprising thing about having kids, for me, is how different they can be from each other. From day 1 Haley has loved putting stuff together. When we buy something she WANTS it to be disassembled so we have to assemble it. Thus the beautiful new grill that she literally read every direction and helped with every piece. Amazing kid.
Travis and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary . . .
It has been the craziest journey . . . I never could imagine going through all we've gone through . . . ups and downs, more downs, some more ups, a few more downs, then lots of ups . . . but I wouldn't want to be any where else with anyone else and appreciated the grandma over night so we could celebrate being where we are together.
In August, we went to a blueberry farm close to our house and enjoyed picking some delicious fruit. Upon returning home, we had blueberries with ice cream, blueberries on cereal, blueberry dump cake and handfuls of blueberries till the boxes were gone! We definitely enjoyed the fruits of our labor.
And last but certainly not least, I am no longer a mini-van Momma!!!
After 11 1/2 years, I got a new car! I am still giddy about driving around in my Honda pilot.
As I get asked quite often, here's an asthmatic update for those who are playing along from home. I'm working on tapering the steroids in slow poke motion. Three times I hit a threshold at 40 mg and have had to increase the dosage way way up, increase frequency of nebulizer treatments and even land in the hospital back in April for 10 days. This time, my doctor is taking the sneak attack method lowering me by only 1 mg a week. I'm currently on 42 mg (down from 60). It's painstakingly slow and the side effects are cumulative so I'm still dealing with all kinds of joy. (Weight gain is my personal favorite . . . even while eating salads . . . argggg) I'd like to fast forward to being completely off these crazy drugs, back to Zumba three times a week, walking my kids to and from school, running around doing my daily life at my normal speed, wearing my favorite clothes, stop bruising with each little bump, throw the nebulizer across the room, leave the inhaler at home and go about my "normal" life . . . and then I stop, get over myself and be thankful I'm out of the hospital, home with my family, able to successfully take a trip to Idaho, and continue to regain my strength everyday. The next goal is to get down to at least 10 mg for at least 5 weeks so that I can qualify to have a new surgery called Bronchial Thermoplasty (look it up if ya want) which means, if all goes well, I have 37 weeks and counting. I'm gonna have a huge party when I successfully hit 39 mg as I haven't been on that low of a dose for months. Come on over . . . just look for the big banner that says, "Screw You Asthma!" Slow and steady wins the race apparently so slow and steady I go.
On the calendar for the days and weeks to come: a few trips back the lake to swim and jump off the dock, a trip to the ocean to splash in the waves and build some sand castles, a jaunt to pick some blueberries, a return trip for a week of fun in Spokane with one of our favorite families and little daily adventures in the sprinkler, watching the kids ride bikes around the school and drinking copious amounts of iced coffee . . . loving summer!
