women's luncheon

Yesterday, Carolyn & Jacque attended the Women's Luncheon at Grace with me!

We sat at a table with my sisters. Sasha hosted our table & it looked so cute!

Miss Chelsea (the Children's director) was the MC & she announced all of the ladies that participated in the Swim Suit Fashion Show...which included my mom & myself. :)

My mom wore a wool suit from the 1920's!

This is the 1940's suit that I wore.

Here's my mom in her 1960's lifeguard suit. So cute!

I also modeled a 1960's suit.
It was scary, but we had fun. Luckily, I only had to be on stage for a minute or two for each suit. ;) There were other women modeling suits from the 20's to the 70's...I just wasn't sure how they felt having pictures of them in swim suits posted on some random blog. Sorry. :P

Mom, Katrina, Gretchen & Becca

Carolyn, Jacque & me

Kenton hung out with the boys at Jacque's house to play with her new puppy, Barney. When we met up with them, I caught Cedar getting himself stuck in their banister. Silly baby. :P

summer vacation

We've been trying to stay busy during my summer break, but sometimes it's great to be lazy in the mornings. We stay in our jammies & cuddle our blankets. :)

Of course, two boys can't be lazy for long. Here Cedar is in his favorite/the most dangerous place in the house. He loves to climb onto the fireplace & terrorize the top of the book shelf. :P

First harvest from the garden (other than lettuce): carrots & Early Purple broccoli

Finn ate them both at dinner, saying "Yum yum!" the whole time. I sure do love the effect of gardening with a child. He is so proud to harvest & eat the food we grew from seeds. I have to keep an eye on him, because he likes to harvest something everyday. But he's usually pretty good at asking first - or at least giving me some warning that he's about to pick something. :) I can't wait to see if he'll try some of the other foods we're growing - tomatoes, peppers, green beans, cucumbers, squash. I wouldn't be too surprised if he gobbled it ALL up! :)

emerald park

On Wednesday, we walked to Emerald Park to meet Gretchen with all of the cousins (Becca was working, so Gretchen was watching the Chase kids) & Amy with her kids for free lunch!

Finn's steering the ship!

Griffin's steering the other ship. :)
I love watching their imaginations at work.

Ronan, Sadie & Gretchen

Tyler followed Cedar around & kept him entertained & safe. As you can see, he enjoyed the attention. :)

Ronan pushing Emma & Amy pushing Ethan on swings. I didn't end up with photos of Macey or Cohen, but they were there too!

Thanks for coming to "our" park, guys. It was lots of fun!

father's day

This year, my parents were in Kauai on Father's day, so we had to do a quick little celebration with my dad on Friday, before he left.


The boys helped me deliver gifts for Papa: Cosmo's Caramel Corn variety pack & an underwater camera for his trip.

Me & my Papa

Papa & us.
My boys sure do love their Papa. It's been so special for them to have so much time with him while I work. Finn can work all day outside "helping" Papa in the yard & Cedar reaches for him when he sees him. I love the bond they're building with their Papa.

On Sunday morning, Finn & I got up early to make Kenton a card. Finn helped draw an "alien dad" on the front & wrote some of the letters in his name. He also drew some "alien letters." :)

Helping Dad open his gift...

...a badminton set!
Something Kenton has talked about wanting since we bought a house with such a large backyard!

I made baked french toast for breakfast - kind of a big deal, since Kenton is the one who always has to make breakfast if he wants anything other than cereal (I'm a cereal girl, but I do appreciate when he makes breakfast).

So, Kenton got a break on Father's day & ate a "fancy" breakfast. :P It was quite tasty! We all enjoyed it.

After Finn & I went to church (Kenton stayed home while a sniffly Cedar napped), we went to Papa's Pizza for a free pizza for dads. We also ended up making pizza on the barbeque for dinner. Pizza for lunch & pizza for dinner - Kenton's kind of day!

We tried a new frozen yogurt place in town called Vanilla Jill's after dinner.

Finn liked his vanilla cone with sprinkles!

Proof to Finn that he has green eyes. He insists that his eyes are brown. :)

Proof that I was there. :)

Happy Father's Kenton! You are such a great dad for our boys. We love you so much & appreciate all of your love & hard work. You tell great stories & are always striving to be better at all that you do. I'm so glad we get to raise our kids together! :)

corvallis with monica

On Thursday, I drove up to Corvallis with the boys to meet up with my friend Monica & her baby Adam. It was our first time meeting each others' boys, which shows how LONG it's been since we've seen each other. But it was as if no time had passed. We had a great time & had plenty to catch up on. :)

We ate lunch at American Dream Pizza - a local favorite that I've been missing! :)

Then we let the kids play at Central Park.

Adam is just about 6 weeks younger than Cedar. They enjoyed watching each other...

...& watching Finn! :P

After playing, we packed up & walked through the Oregon State University campus - Monica & I both attended OSU, but at different times. We walked over to the animal sciences area to look for cows & sheep...

...then made a stop at Finley Hall! Kenton lived in this dorm when I met him & it is definitely part of the reason why we chose the name Finley (I already had liked the name Finn, so it just made sense). :)

After a quick snack break & one more chance to run around in the grass, we loaded back into the car & said good bye. We'll definitely try to get together again soon...Monica lives in the Portland area with her husband Ben, so it's really not THAT far away. :) Thanks for coming down to Corvallis, Monica & Adam. We had a great time!

best lane park

On Tuesday, I met my sisters & Kelly at Best Lane park for lunch. This week marks the beginning of my 4 week break from work before our summer session. I've been pretty quick to look for ways to fill up our days & to get out of the house. It was our first time at this park & the boys had a lot of fun!


Cedar explored in Aunt Becca's bike trailer...

...& showed off his new walking skills!
He's getting better every day, but also has had plenty of painful tumbles - ouch!

Picnic lunch.
The kids barely stopped playing to eat & Kelly's boys were zooming around on their bikes most of the time! But they came over when they got hungry. :)

Sweet Griffin. :)

family

This month, we were blessed with visits from lots of family! Outi's brother Jukka & his wife Maarit came all the way from Finland! They made quite an impression on Finn & Jukka became Finn's "favorite friend" quite quickly.

We also got a short but very sweet visit from Nana Lee & Papa Lew. They took Finn on a trip to Toys R Us where he got to buy some new Bakugan toys! I asked him today if he remembered to say thank you. He said, "No. I wanted to but I didn't." So he thanked God instead for letting him get more Bakugan. :P Sweet. He plays with them all the time, lately, & has been having a lot fun figuring them out. Thanks Nana Lee & Papa Lew! :)

all about finley

Finn has a new favorite friend - Outi's brother Jukka (from Finland). He & his wife, Maarit, have been visiting this month & Finn is loving his new playmates.

Cuddle break with Mummi

Being brave & scaring Mama...& the neighbor lady. ;)

Our first carrot from the garden. I pulled it up to see how big it was (we are letting the rest of the carrots grow some more) & asked Finn if he wanted to eat it. He said "No, cause it's dirty" but was excited when I told him I could wash it. :)

I told him to save me a bite & I barely got a taste.

He ate it quickly & said it was delicious. "It tastes like cinnamon!" I didn't taste the cinnamon. ;)