small group work party

Our small group has decided to rotate houses this summer to do work parties! We started at our house on June 4th, with the goal of tearing out this invasive shrub. The guys hacked away at it & made some progress, but we still have some work to do!

Ava & Macey playing in the sand.
The kids did great & spent a lot of time playing computer games inside & swinging outside. :)

We also weeded the front yard flower beds & covered them with new bark mulch!

Looks so nice!

Stephanie power washed our front walk way & Colin blew all of the moss off of our roof. Overall, we got a ton of work done & I was so inspired that I weeded in the backyard, every day for the next week! Boy was I sore. :P But the yard is looking nice as we make our way into outdoor eating, entertaining, playing & general living season! I love Summer! Definitely my favorite season. :)

Thanks for all of the help, guys! What a wonderful idea! :) Can't wait to work on everyone else's projects!

memorial day weekend getaway

Over Memorial Day weekend, Kenton & I went to the coast (without the kids) with our friends, Carolyn, Jesse, Stu & Jacque! The house we stayed had a view of Dragon's Cove, a house we stayed at for my Mom's 50th birthday celebration.

We were spoiled on our first day with beautiful, warm, sunny, non-windy weather! :)

View from the front deck.

View of the rental house.

We walked down to explore the rocks.

Jacque's mock senior portrait. :P

Kenton's turn!

So relaxing to not have to worry about the kids while we explored near the ocean. :)

Jesse looking for treasures in the rocky sand.

Barney (Stu & Jacque's dog) got to come with us. He did great & only jumped into the ocean once. ;)

My turn.

It felt so nice to sit in the sun.

Kenton took a turn with the camera.

Great shot, Kenton!

At sunset, Carolyn & Jesse carried the bench out so they could sit comfortably.

Self portraits. Gotta love them!

Pretty sky.

Me & my love.

There was lots of board-game playing all weekend long!

Such a nice view from the main room of the house!

Making lunch & drinks!

Setting up another game. :)

We went out on Sunday to check out Strawberry Hill.

Stu's touching a sea anemone!

Pretty star fish.

Tic Tac Toe. This was right before the guys had a drift wood throwing competition. Or maybe there was not competition...just for fun. :P

We also stopped at Devil's churn, but it was low tide so there wasn't a ton of action.

The whole group!
So much fun - we'll definitely have to do it again sometime! :)

springtime sprinkler

Cedar got a fun sprinkler for his birthday & Finn has been asking to use it all the time. We finally had a sunny day & Finn decided it was warm enough to try it out. The sprinkler shoots balls out & the boys had a lot of fun chasing them around & putting back in the top!

Sweet Cedar

Saggy diaper. No need for swim suits in our back yard, right? :P

Finn has been really willing to smile for the camera lately.

So handsome.

The busy two-year-old is not so willing to smile for the camera. :P

memaw's birthday

On May 21st, we celebrated Memaw's birthday!

Couldn't resist taking a photo of me & my cuddly 4 1/2 year old! Such a sweet boy.

Cedar loved celebrating!

Yummy chocolatey fudgey cake!

As you can see, there are always lots of little helpers celebrating & trying to get a close-up view of the cake. :)

Papa & Memaw

Mom & her daughters

I liked this candid shot. Not sure what was so funny, but doesn't Mom look cute! And so happy. :)

Memaw & her sons-in law.
We missed you Erik!

All of the grandchildren!
Tyler (11), Sadie (7 3/4), Ronan (6 3/4), Cohen (5 1/2), Finley (4 1/2), Griffin (almost 4 1/2), Cedar (2), & Tate (6 months!)

Cute kids. :)