A visit with our best friends

It took almost a month into summer to coordinate a visit with our best friends. I think our busy schedule was mostly to blame. However, on July 10th we were able to spend the day and night in Eugene. It is so great to see how well these guys get along. They were very happy to make some Angry bird purchases(these are a really big hit)!

All Stars

Wow, it was hard to decide which pictures to include. Ellie got to play All Stars for the second year. This year she was the older one on the team so she had lots of playing time. She played third, first and catcher(her favorite)! She was definitely nervous but still did a good job. Her second inning at catcher she tagged a runner out sliding home, she ended up on top of the girl but still held onto the ball. She also tossed to the pitcher for another tag out at home. Those highlights made her very happy, which makes mom really happy. Happy kid=happy mom! I also had to include the blurry picture of Ellie sliding home on a steal. The fact that its blurry is a little funny because Ellie is not known for her speed. But Doug said she was too quick for him to get the shot:) All Stars takes up a great deal of time at the beginning of the summer and once again they only played 2 games because they lost both. However, she LOVES it so we will do it again next year if possible.

July Fourth

We had a fun fourth of July weekend at the beach. We stayed 2 nights at the Surftides in Lincoln City. It was a little hectic getting out of town since we have the deck project going on at home. We also had our dryer break so we needed to stop by Lowe's to buy a new washer and dryer(we discovered it is REALLY inconvenient to be without a dryer). The weather was nice and sunny but really windy. We played on the beach and Jack was really into building in the sand. We also went swimming in the hotel pool. On the fourth we headed to Pacific City for the wedding of two of my college friends Drew and Renee. We even got to drive on the beach for that event. Then after some more beach playing we settled down with a fire to watch so many amazing fireworks on the beach. It was incredible the amount of fireworks that were let off. The next day we played a little more and then headed back to our busy life. It was a nice little break from reality.

Summer so far . . . .

Here it is 3 weeks into summer and it feels like I have barely sat down to breathe. We are busier than ever. These pictures capture some of our life over the last 3 weeks. But only some, as the kids get older I just don't think to take my camera out and capture every moment. Doug and his dad have been building our deck. The kids and I have helped some too. Ellie is on two swim teams and softball all-stars. I was in charge of making the pennants for Ellie's softball team. Jack has had some play dates and lots of lego building time. I have taken the kids to the Courthouse pool alot in between Ellie's practices. She could literally live in the water. We are trying to redo Ellie's room which means Nana has come up with Wayne and done some sewing for us. We have also had visits with old friends. So hopefully the rest and relaxation will also come, but everyone is happy and healthy so we can't really ask for more!

Building a deck

This summer the back deck is finally getting built. This is something we have wanted since we moved into the house. Doug's dad has helped plan and now build. They have been working incredibly hard. Living on a hill makes all of these projects so much harder. But I know when it is done we will spend so much time out there. Ellie loves to get in there and help. She has proved to be really helpful! I'm sure there will be more posts because this is a very big project!