Tennis-One of my favorite things to do when I am home is to get in a few games of tennis. My dad often asked me before I came if I had been practicing and would try and intimidate me by telling me how good he was getting with no one to play at home :) I had been jogging through the pregnancy so I was pretty sure I would be able to play a little bit, but I knew I definitely wouldn't be as good with my 7 month pregnant belly slowing me down a little bit. The first thing he mentioned when he saw my belly as I got off the plane was how I wasn't going to be playing tennis and he was a little bummed! Poor guy! I did bring my racket though and we got out to play a few times...and I am not the only one in the family that brought their rackets either! We had a few nights and mornings of some fun games of tennis. I was able to play and won a few games against everybody, but I definitely wasn't able to move around and play at my best.
Dad got tired of beating everyone so he had to take a break with Jake...rough life.
One of the tennis playing crews...
Anytime anyone would hit a ball just over the net making me run to the net to save it, I pretty much had to let those ones go. I am glad I was able to move around and play as much as I could, but I am excited to have my mobility and my body back to myself once this little guy gets here. Then I will be ready to take my Dad down on the court again :)
Moses Lake Water Park-After the wedding was over and Matt and Chelsea headed out on their Oregon Coast honeymoon we all headed up to Moses Lake and spent the day at the pool and water park. We were going to go white water rafting, but with all the little kids that wouldn't be able to go and we didn't want to leave anyone behind to watch the kids...and three of us were pregnant too...so we decided to head to the water park instead. There was fun for everyone there so it was perfect! There was shallow water and small slides for the little ones, big pools, a lazy river, and a splash pad for the big little ones and pregnant ones, and big water slides, high diving board, regular springboard, and body boarding and surfing for the brave big kids. And...to top it all off, Christine's family brought stuff to make Sno-Cones! They were a hit and were a perfect addition to the fun day! We all had blue mouths and we didn't care one bit. My dad did some gymnastics and also some swim and dive team so he was able to show off his tricks and would get in trouble for some of the risky ones that people often hurt themselves on, but the lifeguards would tell him no just because they had to and loved watching someone do neat tricks and flips off the board in good form even! The rest of us have picked up some of his tricks, but he can easily out preform all of us combined :) It might have been over 40 years since he competed on the diving board, but he's still pretty good...but Dad, no matter how good you are, you will never be allowed to wear a Speedo again. Those days are long gone and your tricks won't ever be worth your family seeing you in a Speedo :)
The water slides were fun to race down with the two of them being side-by-side. My mom went down a couple times and raced my dad, but I don't know if anyone beat my dad. Maybe Chad? Easton and Will loved the slides too and even though McKay wasn't tall enough, he was still able to go down until the day was over and loved it! I didn't even consider going down the big slides, but I was caught off guard when I was taking Katelyn to the top of one of the 4 foot slides and after I sent her down, the lifeguard told me I wasn't allowed to go down. They didn't want any pregnant/surprise births happening and weren't going to risk me going down that little slide and something happening :) Made me laugh, but I was okay with it and made the walk of shame back down along with any of the other 2 and 3 year olds that couldn't handle it.
Here's some videos of the boys and Abby surfing...some of them got the hang of it and some need some more work :)
Blessing-Nick and Christine took advantage of having everyone home and had itty bitty Mikilah blessed. With her family and our family combined there we took up a lot of the church that day. Mikilah is such a sweet little girl and was passed around constantly. Katelyn was never very happy when she couldn't be the one to hold, feed, or carry her around. Katelyn clarified that she will be a very willing helper with this coming baby of ours. My mom made Mikilah's blessing dress that was beautiful, but I don't have any of the pictures of it. It was a sweet blessing for a sweet little girl from my brother. After church we had a yummy BBQ with our two families and all tried to hide from the hot sun in the shade. The BBQ ended with some fun singing and guitar playing. A wonderful Sunday filled with two families and all about a new little baby and her beautiful parents.
The Law men singing and playing a classic drinking song that made us all laugh!
Abby and Luke serenaded us all with a few fun songs, too.
Four Generations that are all 22 years apart if I heard that right...cute!
Spoons and Games-With the ENTIRE clan gathered together we just had to crown a new champion for Spoons! Brooks and John created a masterpiece that will show off the winners of our tournaments and made it very official and there is no question who the reigning champ is...Ryan :) I came in third and David claims Katelyn is a distraction for him so he wasn't able to win. Poor guy.
A night of Encore went well and we were singing and laughing all night long. We played some Settler's, lots of UNO, Battleship, and I even challenged Grandpa Bob to The Farming Game! He beat me really bad, again. He knows how to roll the right numbers at the right time and in all these years, he just has it mastered. I won't give up though and I will have to keep practicing even though I lost really bad. I even played Julia who has never played before and she beat me...I don't know why I like that game so much when I keep losing so bad :)
Dairy Queen and Tillamook Ice Cream-Part of being home meant I would get to join in with Dad's addiction to ice cream. Between Dairy Queen Blizzards and cartons of all sorts of flavors of Tillamook Ice Cream, he is one happy man. Tracie's kids have spent the last few years in Germany and when Dad mentioned Blizzards they responded with, "What's that?" He couldn't believe they were so deprived :) We just had to let them experience American Blizzards and they seemed pretty happy with them! Who would have guessed?! Katelyn chowed down on one too and was in heaven. David approved because I let her have an Oreo one...the only flavor worth the unhealthy-ness in his eyes :) I didn't surprise Dad with any bean flavored Blizzards like last time! The Tillamook Ice Cream just can't be replaced. I have found some fun flavors out here on the east coast, but nothing will be the same as Tillamook and it will always be a favorite memory of mine of the west coast...and it is so good too! Rich, creamy, flavorful (and lots of yummy flavors), and just right!
Garden-After all the commotion of everyone being home settled down, Mom mentioned she hadn't paid much attention to her garden and was wondering what state it was in. Katelyn and I, with her baby in hand, headed out to check it out and found a lot! A lot of weeds and a lot of food! We worked on some of the weeds and Katelyn enjoyed showing her baby how to play in the sprinkler while I worked. We gathered up some of the veggies and headed in! Katelyn thought the tiny tomatoes were so funny and I thought she was funny!
Luke's yard work-Luke had some projects he was in charge of around the house and also at our neighbor's house. He was getting paid to mow over at the neighbor's which we were all fine with, but when we all found out that my parents were paying him to mow the lawn at home we weren't as okay with that! We all grew up mowing the lawn and I think I learned when I was 8. I was excited to learn, but that excitement quickly went away when I realized that it wasn't that easy to push the mower and keep the lines nice and straight and to avoid the sprinklers and that I had to pick up the dog poo before I mowed. So many things that I had to keep up with and I had a section of the yard I was supposed to do each week! I specifically remember that I was never paid for that service I provided (though I probably made my dad pay to replace many sprinklers to make up the difference so I guess it evens out) BUT, we all had a good time teasing them about loosening up on the youngest child because he is just too cute. They also have a riding mower, which makes it pretty nice except it didn't always work so sometimes Luke managed to get the tough job done with the push mower. One time was a little messy and he came in looking like this. I guess my parents have no choice but to pay up! One day before going out to mow, Luke found this little gem in the garage. It is a solar powered AM/FM radio on an elastic arm band! I guess this is what my parents used before iPods and all this fancy new technology came around. Luke said it still worked even :)
One time Luke came in and was a little messy as he had grass covering one of his legs.
Puzzles with Papa-Katelyn has a few puzzles here at home, but Grandma Gigi had way more and she loved going through the puzzles she had nearly every day. Some she would tote around the house with her looking for someone to do them with her and probably lost pieces. She and Papa had a good time doing puzzles and she loves snuggling up to do them too.
Piano-Katelyn loved playing the piano. She liked to flip back and forth from her two favorite songs from nursery, I am a Child of God and Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam. Those were her special songs she would pound out and go to town singing and playing. She liked when I would play along too while she would sing but often she just needed help at the places she would get stuck and was ready to finish the song without mom's help so she would interrupt me and then continue on. She has a mind of her own and likes to run the show sometimes.
One of the tennis playing crews...
The water slides were fun to race down with the two of them being side-by-side. My mom went down a couple times and raced my dad, but I don't know if anyone beat my dad. Maybe Chad? Easton and Will loved the slides too and even though McKay wasn't tall enough, he was still able to go down until the day was over and loved it! I didn't even consider going down the big slides, but I was caught off guard when I was taking Katelyn to the top of one of the 4 foot slides and after I sent her down, the lifeguard told me I wasn't allowed to go down. They didn't want any pregnant/surprise births happening and weren't going to risk me going down that little slide and something happening :) Made me laugh, but I was okay with it and made the walk of shame back down along with any of the other 2 and 3 year olds that couldn't handle it.
Here's some videos of the boys and Abby surfing...some of them got the hang of it and some need some more work :)
Blessing-Nick and Christine took advantage of having everyone home and had itty bitty Mikilah blessed. With her family and our family combined there we took up a lot of the church that day. Mikilah is such a sweet little girl and was passed around constantly. Katelyn was never very happy when she couldn't be the one to hold, feed, or carry her around. Katelyn clarified that she will be a very willing helper with this coming baby of ours. My mom made Mikilah's blessing dress that was beautiful, but I don't have any of the pictures of it. It was a sweet blessing for a sweet little girl from my brother. After church we had a yummy BBQ with our two families and all tried to hide from the hot sun in the shade. The BBQ ended with some fun singing and guitar playing. A wonderful Sunday filled with two families and all about a new little baby and her beautiful parents.
Spoons and Games-With the ENTIRE clan gathered together we just had to crown a new champion for Spoons! Brooks and John created a masterpiece that will show off the winners of our tournaments and made it very official and there is no question who the reigning champ is...Ryan :) I came in third and David claims Katelyn is a distraction for him so he wasn't able to win. Poor guy.
A night of Encore went well and we were singing and laughing all night long. We played some Settler's, lots of UNO, Battleship, and I even challenged Grandpa Bob to The Farming Game! He beat me really bad, again. He knows how to roll the right numbers at the right time and in all these years, he just has it mastered. I won't give up though and I will have to keep practicing even though I lost really bad. I even played Julia who has never played before and she beat me...I don't know why I like that game so much when I keep losing so bad :)
Dairy Queen and Tillamook Ice Cream-Part of being home meant I would get to join in with Dad's addiction to ice cream. Between Dairy Queen Blizzards and cartons of all sorts of flavors of Tillamook Ice Cream, he is one happy man. Tracie's kids have spent the last few years in Germany and when Dad mentioned Blizzards they responded with, "What's that?" He couldn't believe they were so deprived :) We just had to let them experience American Blizzards and they seemed pretty happy with them! Who would have guessed?! Katelyn chowed down on one too and was in heaven. David approved because I let her have an Oreo one...the only flavor worth the unhealthy-ness in his eyes :) I didn't surprise Dad with any bean flavored Blizzards like last time! The Tillamook Ice Cream just can't be replaced. I have found some fun flavors out here on the east coast, but nothing will be the same as Tillamook and it will always be a favorite memory of mine of the west coast...and it is so good too! Rich, creamy, flavorful (and lots of yummy flavors), and just right!
Garden-After all the commotion of everyone being home settled down, Mom mentioned she hadn't paid much attention to her garden and was wondering what state it was in. Katelyn and I, with her baby in hand, headed out to check it out and found a lot! A lot of weeds and a lot of food! We worked on some of the weeds and Katelyn enjoyed showing her baby how to play in the sprinkler while I worked. We gathered up some of the veggies and headed in! Katelyn thought the tiny tomatoes were so funny and I thought she was funny!
Luke's yard work-Luke had some projects he was in charge of around the house and also at our neighbor's house. He was getting paid to mow over at the neighbor's which we were all fine with, but when we all found out that my parents were paying him to mow the lawn at home we weren't as okay with that! We all grew up mowing the lawn and I think I learned when I was 8. I was excited to learn, but that excitement quickly went away when I realized that it wasn't that easy to push the mower and keep the lines nice and straight and to avoid the sprinklers and that I had to pick up the dog poo before I mowed. So many things that I had to keep up with and I had a section of the yard I was supposed to do each week! I specifically remember that I was never paid for that service I provided (though I probably made my dad pay to replace many sprinklers to make up the difference so I guess it evens out) BUT, we all had a good time teasing them about loosening up on the youngest child because he is just too cute. They also have a riding mower, which makes it pretty nice except it didn't always work so sometimes Luke managed to get the tough job done with the push mower. One time was a little messy and he came in looking like this. I guess my parents have no choice but to pay up! One day before going out to mow, Luke found this little gem in the garage. It is a solar powered AM/FM radio on an elastic arm band! I guess this is what my parents used before iPods and all this fancy new technology came around. Luke said it still worked even :)
Cooking-Katelyn always likes to know what I am up to and if it looks interesting she wants to join me. If it doesn't look so fun, then she wants me to stop and go do something cooler with her. Cooking and cleaning in the kitchen is one of her favorites that she always joins in on. We made up some zucchini bread from our garden adventure and hit the jackpot by adding extra nuts!
Puzzles with Papa-Katelyn has a few puzzles here at home, but Grandma Gigi had way more and she loved going through the puzzles she had nearly every day. Some she would tote around the house with her looking for someone to do them with her and probably lost pieces. She and Papa had a good time doing puzzles and she loves snuggling up to do them too.
Katelyn loved the toy room for all the new toys, but she will always have favorites with the baby dolls. It looks like this baby wouldn't go down for her nap so Katelyn had to get in her bed and help!
Katelyn liked being in control of the radio too...anything she could get her hands on!
Peaches were just starting to ripen up at the end of my visit at home. We have always gone out and picked some Elberta peaches and some Gold Medal peaches. The Gold Medal peaches are the ones I always drool over because they are so big and soft and juicy and perfect in every way. They weren't quite ready before I left, but the opening day for Elberta peaches was the day before I had to fly out. I was a little disappointed We showed up with about 8-10 boxes ready to be filled with yummy peaches. The Elberta's are close to being as good as the Gold Medals and by far better than any peach I have ever had from a grocery store so I was ready. The peaches weren't though! Almost all of them were still green and Luke, Katelyn and I searched and searched and only found two boxes worth of peaches and only a few of them were ready to eat. They were good, but I didn't get my fill! About two weeks later my Dad mentioned that they just got back from the orchard and picked like 300 or 400 pounds of juicy gold medal peaches and I was bummed I missed out. I always want to move back to Washington during peach harvest. I just need my yearly fill of heavenly peaches!
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