Lost Lake

About a year ago, we bid on an auction item and finally made the trip (the Entwistles in tow). Deb & Mike Curtis from Trinity Pres. gave us use of this RV resort at Lost Lake (near Olympia) for the day and also brought us a huge picnic lunch. We had a blast doing everything from fishing to swimming. We didn't catch anything, but Emma had fun trying.

Wine and chocolate

Last week, we had Zach, Suzi, Annie and her invisible boyfriend (sorry guy - you have to be a boyfriend for at least a year before you make it into the pictures OR we remember your name ... actually, the pic with him in it was just blurry). Anyway, we each brought a bottle of wine and a chocolate dessert. I made edible chocolate plants with chocolate rocks, Suzi brought an oreo ice cream pie plus chocolate linguine which we served with homemade ice cream, and Annie brought a chocolate mouse with raspberries. Needless to say, it was REALLY good. We all had our favorites, but there weren't many leftovers!

Shaving cream, anyone?

Elena is in what we call the "tactile phase". This is a picture of her as she was just getting started at our friend Tonja's playgroup. The shaving cream eventually made it all over her body, along with paint and some sort of corn starch "goo". Elena is SO different from Emma, who won't even wear a shirt if it has one speck of dirt on it.

Gig Harbor

Here's a little shot of Gig Harbor that I took at Anthony's. God has blessed us by allowing us to live in such a beautiful spot!

Walking the New Bridge

A Gig Harbor Weekend

This weekend is huge as far as the history of Gig Harbor goes. On Saturday, the community celebrated the groundbreaking for the new history museum (it's changing locations and will now be right on the water. They had a free salmon BBQ, old fashioned kids games, and live music. A man taking pictures for the event asked if he could photograph our family. He then emailed us this picture and is making us some enlargements of others. Nice guy huh? Today (Sunday), we celebrate the grand opening of the new Tacoma Narrows bridge. Ross ran with about 15,000 people in a once-only bridge span run. At 9:30 this morning, they'll do the first official toll, and then on Monday, we pay out the nose for the rest of our lives! After church, we'll be returning to the bridge to walk across it (with about 40,000 other expected guests). It's fun to be part of this history.

Here comes the bride!!

Stacie just returned from Orlando for the wedding of one of her best friends since junior high - Joey. It was a really fun time of dancing, good food, and the kind of laughter you can only have with the people you've known for that many years. Joey - we wish you and Rich all the best. We love you!!!

Beating the heat

Well, if you haven't heard ... we're having a heat wave!! Life is all about being naked with popsicles at the moment (or pah-dih-coes, as Elena loves to call them). These are some pics of Elena and her friends Abby and Faith enjoying the outdoors.

The famous cousin Abby

Emma and Elena cannot stop talking about their new baby cousin. When we went to visit her in the hospital, Emma said "Mommy, her toes are kind of wrinkly and they look kind of weird. But we still love her." Ah, honesty. Abby is very famous in our household right now and the girls can't wait to babysit her. Emma said "Mommy, when I'm 8 or 9 do you think I could help you babysit Abby?" I said "Honey, you can help me babysit her now if you want to." Then Emma got a huge smile on her face and said "Well, that's what I was really hoping for but I just didn't know if it was OK to ask." Abby is also scoring points with her mom, who is sleeping more now than she did while she was pregnant! Way to go Abby!!

A baby is born!!

After 26 hours of labor, we finally got our new niece and cousin, Abigail Faith Durr. She was born on June 30th and weighed in at 7.6 pounds. And as you can see, she's just perfect!! Jodi quickly came to her senses and decided that going natural was only for the crazy. So with drugs on board - though very exhausted - it was a wonderful birthing experience. We felt very involved, which was so cool. Emma and Stacie walked the halls with Jodi and Jer during the labor. Emma read Jodi a book. Then Ross stepped in to do a little PT action during contractions. But that was only for a short while. Jeremy rarely left Jodi's side - what an awesome hubby and birthing coach. Welcome baby Abby!! We love you already.