7/27/09

On Monday my friend Susan became an American citizen! She's been studying for a very long time and she finally got to take her interview and do the oath ceremony. I was able to attend the ceremony in the afternoon. It was very interesting to watch all these people (about 16) become Americans. For some, it was an emotional moment. We're very proud of Susan and all the hard work she put into this, and are glad to call her a fellow American!

7/26/09

This is Pastor Jeff Seavey. He preached a wonderful sermon on Sunday morning! We were very glad to be able to attend the campout with LWCC this year!

7/25/09

Everyday we had a worship session in which we sang songs and listened to a message of some sort. Brian (who I mentioned before) asked if I would join their team. I was nervous about it because I don't know all their songs, but I joined in anyhow. It is always a pleasure to play with this group of people! They are highly talented and are always focused on praising the Lord! (from L-R: Annette, Brian, James, George and Me)

7/24/09

We went for a walk on Friday to explore the campground. As we were walking through the forest there was one lone flower growing there with the sun shining on it. I thought it was beautiful dispite it's unpleasant looking thorns.

7/23/09

We went camping with my parents to their church campout. They attend Living Water Community Church and we really enjoy the people there. On the night we arrived, there was already a campfire going in the group site so we all gathered there to roast our marshmallows. The man in the red shirt is Brian Ehline. He's the worship leader at LWCC. He's a wonderful, talented man! He played his guitar for us so we could sing songs around the campfire.

7/22/09

So in all the business of getting ready to go camping, I missed taking a pic on Wednesday! I think it's pretty good that I made it this far without missing a single day. I decided to take a pic of this verse because it shows that it doesn't matter how flawed I am. His power is made perfect in my weakness! Hopefully by the end of the year I can say that this was the only day I missed. I can always try again next year! This pic was actually taken on THURSDAY, but I'm using it for Wednesday.

7/21/09

We were just hanging out on Tuesday. I was busy getting ready to go camping for the weekend, and Daniel grabbed his pillow, towel (blankie) and doggie and climbed up in the chair next to me. He was just so cute!

7/20/09

My husband and children went to a BBQ on Sunday while I was gone. I guess the host of the BBQ decided the boys needed bows and arrows. They came home with these and played with them all week. They are now broken, but they had fun while it lasted. Ethan had pretty good form... I might just enroll him in some archery classes! *sigh* Boys!

7/19/09

While we were driving up I-5 I noticed a street sign that was funny, and decided that I would take a pic of the sign on our way home and it was gonna be my pic of the day. Chuckanut Drive is the funniest street name! I got a kick out of it!

7/18/09

While Susan was in her classes all day I got to go explore the area around Bellingham. My friend Sherrill lives not too far from there so we hung out most of Saturday. She took me to Peace Arch Park, which is on the border of the US and Canada! It was the first time I've stood in two countries at the same time! I know this is a dorky pic, but I don't care! It was so much fun!

7/17/09

I went with my friend Susan on a business trip to Bellingham, WA. We had a wonderful time together in the car all the way up. I'm afraid I talked her ears off... When we got close she programed her GPS device to tell us how to get the rest of the way. (She's not very good with directions!) I thought this was a funny pic cuz she was getting mad at the device. Then once we got it working, we discovered that her husband had programed it with the voice of Darth Vader! UGH!

7/16/09

Summer time means watermelon! I love watermelon... it's so yummy and good for you. I took this pic at the end of the day when I realized I hadn't touched my camera all day!

7/15/09

The movie was fantastic! Onica and I got our pic taken in front of the huge poster board @ the theater afterward. It was so much fun to hang out with her and see the movie together! It's not a very good pic, but what do you expect for 3am?

7/14/09

This was the opening night for the much awaited Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie. I drove up to Kent, WA to see it with my friend Onica. This is her modeling her socks and other hand knitted items that she recieved from friends to wear to the movie!

7/13/09

On Monday night we had my nieces spend the night because we had to set our camping gear up in the back yard to dry. They had SO much fun! This is Daniel, Laci and Taylor eating their cookies on the couch.

7/12/09

When we got home on Sunday we had several zuchinni from our garden that were ready to be picked. I stirred them up in a pan with some sweet onions, bacon and some seasonings. We serve it over rice and it's wonderful! They kids thought it was great that we were eating stuff from our own garden!

7/11/09

This is Donna. She's very dear to me! She's been a mentor type person to me for several months and I love her to pieces! Every year @ the campout she makes elephant ears. They are a huge hit, and at one point I believe the line was probably 20 people deep!

7/10/09

Friday lots of people from church started to arrive for the campout. This is Charissa teaching a science lesson to my boys! They loved her!

7/9/09

On Thursday I went on the hike out to the cape with another family that we know. This is Kirsten sitting on the cliff overlooking the ocean. I love this pic cuz it looks like she's sitting on the edge of nowhere!

7/8/09

On Wednesday we went into town to wash some clothes, get fresh ice and go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The boys got so excited @ the laundrymat, because they could see the clothes in the washer moving around! Doesn't take much to amuse some!

7/7/09

When wearing flip flops while camping, one's feet tend to get dirty. Daniel thought it was funny that I screamed when he tried to put his feet on me... but he couldn't see the bottoms of them! EEEWWWW!!!!

7/6/09

Our first whole day camping we went on the small nature hike @ the park. Along the way we met some new friends! This one was trying to get out of our way as fast as he could. Needless to say, I didn't have to use the action setting on my camera!

7/5/09

We went camping for a whole week starting Sunday the 5th. By the time we got to our site and got it all set up it was late and everyone was hungry. So we went into town (cuz we forgot something anyhow) and ate dinner @ Denny's. They had these little packets for the kids to put into their water. It didn't change the flavor, but just the color. They thought it was so cool to have green water!

7/4/09

Independence Day! My camera sucks so I didn't get any good pics of the sparklers we got. (cuz we have no money to spend on fireworks) Some were kinda neat even though they were blury. This is one of them.

7/3/09

We just got a new pool for the kids. We wanted one that was big enough to treat the water, but small enough that they could stand in it. They love it! I guess my husband does too! He got in with them and they thought it was the coolest thing.

7/2/09

We had a turkey sitting in our freezer taking up space. We thought it would be fun to have Thanksgiving dinner in July! Our neighbor has a smoker so we threw the turkey on it first thing in the morning and let it go all day long. We had a bunch of people over to share in the food. Derek, our neighbor, learned how to make mojitos, and served everyone! They were so yummy! We might just make Thanksgiving in July a tradition!

7/1/09

It was very hot out this day and we decided we didn't want to heat the house up with cooking. We went to one of our favorite spots for dinner, The Old Spaghetti Factory. I always get the same thing and Daniel always asks for the lemon from my iced tea. He almost never flinches as he eats it either, but he's so darn cute when he does!