Wedding Pictures

I still havent' been posting like I said I would..sorry! I didn't ask Amy if I could do this..and, she can tell me to take these down if she wants! But, here are a few pictures from the wedding. We go to see the photographers pictures yesterday and they are AMAZING! But, here are some shots from my mom's camera.

This is awesome! I do not think that pictures of us four have been taken in over 15 years! Here is Carey, Holly, Amy & I. Amy & I have been friends since we were 5 and we met Carey and Holly in 6th grade. Holly & Carey are cousins. We see each other as much as we can, but this day was a true treat for us.

Here is Amy with a REAL Pepsi..not a diet! I had to snap a picture of this..my two friends together :)

Here I am with my walking partner, Bill. Not the best picture, but you can see how we were dressed.

It was a great day. Timberline Lodge was amazing! I threw several fits about having the wedding there...I mean, it's February, there is snow...it's cold! But, Amy & Matt were right on...it was AWESOME!

Amy's Wedding

Yes, it's really been like 2 months since I've posted and Amy has asked when I'm going to start up again. I told her maybe around her wedding, and since she got married on Saturday, I thought I should start blogging again :)

For those of you that don't know Amy, she has been one of my very best friends since we were 5! Yes....27 years! Matt & Amy got married at Timberline Lodge on Saturday and I was a bridesmaid. I have to admit to being slightly nervous about the whole thing. Amy & I have always been close, and will always be close, but we don't get to spend a lot of one on one time together and she has a lot of great friends that I am not close too. Truthfully, I did selfishly think that I may be the odd one out for the weekend, and I was okay with that, but a little nervous. Let me tell you, I was welcomed with opened arms, and feel like her friends are now my friends.

I was able to ride up the mountain with her parents on Friday afternoon and that was great fun! Her parents helped raise me and shape who I am. Some of my best childhood memories are of camping, boating, fishing, laughing with Amy's family and since having a family of my own, I haven't spent a lot of time with them. The ride up the mountain was a true blessing. We laughed, talked about old times and had a great ride.

The wedding itself was beautiful. Amy looked amazing in her red and white gown. All of us bridesmaids wore red, along with the two flower girls. The guys were in red too. I wish I had pictures to share, but that will have to come later. Amy & Matt gave Amy's daughter a family medallion during the service and told Emma how much she was loved and included in the marriage.

After the service was a fun reception with a great dinner, alot of laughs and dancing. Tristyn had been waiting for this day for months. She had the perfect outfit picked out and had so much fun. I was so proud of her, she even danced for about two hours. The reception included time to hang out with Holly and her cousin, my long-time friend, Carey and her husband Terry.

That's a recap for you. It was the perfect weekend.

I will try to do better with keeping up the family blog. I have been so awful lately.

Fish Guts And Good Friends

Last weekend Kyleigh and I went to stay at my friend Heather's house. I watched her son Andrew when he was three until he was five and then they moved away. Andrew & Kyleigh were Jr. Zookeepers at the zoo on Saturday morning so we had to get up at 5:30 to have the kids to the zoo by 7:00. We don't get to see each other very often but when we do we just pick up where we left off and have an awesome time! Most of the pictures of Andrew look like this:
















Before class:















After class: You can't see it but they have fish guts all over them. When we asked Andrew how he got fish guts on himself he only had one word to say "Kyleigh". Kyleigh's answer "I thought Andrew would want to eat fish, so I tried feeding him". You can't tell they've been together since they were three :) More like siblings - LOL!
















We had so much fun with them..and, can't wait to get together again! We miss you guys!

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!!!

Saturday was a ton of fun! It was Kevin's birthday party. We had a blast at his house. I don't have any pictures of him..I've got to be careful about taking pictures of him - he has too many to blackmail me with! :)

He set up a slip-n-slide in the backyard and let the kids go for it!

Kyleigh chillin in the hammock!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!

Thanks for the friend you are...I don't know what I'd do without you!

Up The Mountain

Last Saturday my friend Holly and I decided to load the kids up and head for the zoo. When we go there it was so packed out that they were putting people into shuttle buses to get up there. We decided that despite the drive, it just wasn't worth it.

So, we decided to head home over the mountain

Our Destination: Mt. Hood We are going to take the kids camping this summer so we stopped at every campsite along the way. It ended up taking us 5 hours to get home. We found lots of AWESOME campsites though and had a blast.
Tristyn looking adorable..she loves the camera.
The silly boys.

The view from Trillium Lake. Isn't that amazing? I am so blessed to live where we do..with this right in our backyard.

The mountain close up.

Kyleigh just hanging around.

And after a long day nothing is better then a quick nap in the car.

Special Friends

We have amazing friends that live in Germany. We have been friends for at least 15 years, if not more. Our friendship goes way beyond the "friend" category and into family. We see them about once a year and have walked alot of roads in our lives, together. We got married together (21 days apart), had babies together, grew up in our marriages together (Reese & I were both 17), and I am thankful that our friendship has turned into something amazing.

We get to see them about once a year (but stay in constant contact due to wonderful email) and when they are home, our family feels complete again. Here are some pictures from their recent "surprise" visit. They showed up on our doorstep at 7:30 a.m. with a chai in hand. I was in heaven!

Ian & Kyleigh
Sean & Landon
Kyleigh & Ian again. I don't think this night could have gone any better.

Kyleigh & Landon were showered with loves and hugs all night.
Zach & Ian

Ian, Kyleigh, Tristyn & Kristine.

The Big Boys...Dan & Tim.

My main reason for this post is to tell you that Tim is in the Air Force and being deployed tomorrow. Please pray for safety for him and wisdom and patience for Reese as she will be home with all the kids for 5 months. We love you guys! You guys are such a blessing and our thoughts are with you always!

A Play Day

This past Sunday was actually a beautiful day in our area and our family took advantage of it. We had an awesome day. Because of Dan's schedule it's not often that we just get to play. Here are some pics.

We decided to go up to the kids' elementary school and play around so we played some basketball....

Played some baseball....Of course, we had Kyleigh's twin Madi with us. It wouldn't be a great family day without her!

Rode our scooters.

Here are some more random shots.

The school we went to also happened to be my elementary school. Here Landon & Tristyn are sitting on my favorite monkey bars. I remember vividly playing on this for our entire recess. It's funny how small it seems now when I stand next to it.

Here's Tristyn with Dan's best friend Ken. We are lucky to be surrounded by great friends who adore our kids. Uncle Ken is Tristyn's punching bag whenever he's with us. She's lucky he puts up with so much.

We don't call Tristyn our drama princess for nothing. She's upset about something and refuses to look at the camera. Kyleigh's doing her best to make her feel better but she was pretty upset.

You can't tell but Dan is riding Landon's scooter down the hill. As we were leaving he just couldn't resist one good ride. Hey, who says you have to grow up...looks like fun to me!

Playing for Grandpa

This is my Grandpa Lew. I am blessed to have him as one of my grandpas (my other one is awesome too!). He is one of the sweetest, kindest men that I know. Kyleigh & Madi had a band concert the other night but Grandpa is not able to attend and asked if the girls could come play for him.

We went over there on Tuesday and Kyleigh & Madi played their Christmas songs, and even figured out a few of their own tunes. We had a great time and Grandpa was thrilled with their progress since the beginning of the year.

I even learned that Grandpa has played just about every instrument out there, has been in several bands and would practice the clarinet for hours just to get out of his chores.

This reminds me of when me and my best friend played in the band. I played the clarinet and she played the flute. We always had fun "practicing".

Amazing Friendship

Best friends..what would you do without them?? Here is Kyleigh with one of hers. This is Madi (she has several other wonderful names in our house, but we'd better not go there!)



Kyleigh & Madi are a total blast to be around. There is NEVER a dull moment. They are total jokesters and have you laughing constantly. I can't tell you how much fun we all have had watching their friendship grow into something amazing!



They are playing American Idol on the playstation...I'm not sure what Madi's face is all about but I'm sure she'll love that I'm putting her online! Love ya Madi!