Veggies and Flowers

I had so much fun this year planting my garden and flowers and having success!  For whatever reason I had a hard time growing stuff in San Diego.  I have come to figure out that I am a northern type of gardener!  I wanted to take some pictures of all my flowers and garden and I am so glad I did it when I did because now we've had a lot of rain and they aren't looking so hot!

 We added this flower bed when we moved in.  I had fun just planting some easy growing flowers in there.

 This is one of my favorite parts of the yard, these English garden steps carved into the hillside.  They lead down into the woods.

 I picked lots of salmonberries in our yard.  They are yummy!  I have a bunch frozen and am hoping to make jam.

 This was the first time I grew carrots, the family is enjoying them!

 Green onions

 Zucchini!

 Little broccoli florets

 And another favorite part of my house is the front porch.  And can't forget a picture of Lane on the first day of school!

Football!

 

 Lane has wanted to play football for a couple years now, this year he was able to!  He's been at it for a few weeks now, but this was his first game.  He is the youngest on the team, he is in 3rd grade but he's playing with 4th, 5th and 6th graders.  His size fits in with all the other though.

 Lane is number 3, running into the action.

 I can tell he really likes his team and his team and coaches like him too.

The final score, 25-6.  Lane's team did awesome!  

Sadly, Lane had to have surgery this week.  We flew over to Anchorage on Wednesday and on Thursday he had a small hernia repaired.  We had had this planned since June but it was right in the middle of football season.  The season here is really short so by the time he can play again there will only be a week left.  But he's learned a lot and I think we've figured out that football is his sport!  His surgery went really smoothly and he's recovering great!

Case's 4th Birthday

 Case's birthday was July 31st.  I didn't get around to posting about it because we left for Washington just a few days later.  I can hardly believe he would be four.  I know a lot of people who have kids Case's age.  When ever I see a four year old, I think of Case.  We miss him everyday, but lately it seems I feel that ache a little more.  There are times when I feel the loss stronger than others, and in recent months that's how I've felt.  We went out that night to Monashka Bay, Reese and Lane fished and then we let four balloons go.

 It was a windy night so those balloons floated away quickly.  This is something we do each year, flying hugs and kisses.

I made lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting.  Every year we sing happy birthday and let the kids blow out the candles for their brother.  It's good to remember him in a happy way.  After the cupcakes, Lane started a picture video that I had made of many of the pictures I had of him.  He started it without any of us knowing what he was doing, what a cutie.  Lane has a lot of memories of Case and he likes talking about him and looking at pictures.  I hope he will continue that for Estelle too.  Happy 4th Birthday Case William!

Cousins

One reason that I love going to Washington a couple times a year is watching my kids make memories with their cousins.  I have great memories of playing with my cousins growing up and so will my kids! We got to go to aunt Cortnae's house to see all the animals!  The kids always love that.  Ducks, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, cows, etc.  

All the cousins on Reese's side.  They are funny together!  All those girls love Lane and Raylan!

Brielle, Estelle and Hazel with their littlest cousin Oren!

I got a couple of cute pictures of Lane and Estelle when we took a walk one day.

We went out to my aunt and uncles in Sandy Point and played with lots of extended family too!

Lane and Kai, good buddies :)

Suncadia

The last three days we were in WA we stayed in a house with my dad and my siblings and families in Suncadia, in Cle Elum, WA.  It was a beautiful place and it had an awesome pool that the kids loved swimming in.  Here are some pictures of our stay.  I got lots of pictures of the little girls because they still stick close to us, but I hardly got any of those 4 big boys! It was a fun end to our trip.  Early on the last morning we got up and drove to SeaTac to fly back up to Kodiak.  We were greeted with some nice weather (not raining) and were thrown right in to football and school!  

The Fair

Last week was the Lynden Fair. I went every year when I was growing up and it's really fun to be able to take my kids now. On Monday we met my sisters and friend Kristen. Monday night was the demolition derby. Lane watched it last year and loved it so he was really pumped to go again this year. 

Tuesday night Reese and I met Matt and some friends to see Dwight Yoakum in concert. Fun times.

Estelle was crazy about all the animals she saw.

Wednesday we went with Mop (grandma) and aunt Cortnae and girls. The kids went on rides. Estelle was a little unsure of the rides but with Erawyn, Shallon, and Marryn's help she was able to go on quite a few!