Peru Crew

Both Doug and I had the amazing priveledge to be able to travel to Peru on a short term mission trip with our church's singles ministry. I went in '96, Doug in '98. Both trip were incredible and the relationships with the people there as well as our teams remain very special to us both.

One of the full time missionaries that we worked with over there was Cynthia Sundman. She is an amazing woman of God and has such a heart for the young women of Peru. It was an honor to work beside her and is always so great to see her when she is in town on furlough. She is currently home and so we got together with some of Doug's team this weekend to see Cynthia and celebrate her 25 (yes, 25) years serving in South America.  Thanks, Colleen, for opening up your beautiful home for us to get together!

 Our kids were the only kids there, but they were quite amused and entertained by Buster Brown, Colleen's dog. 

They couldn't stop laughing and playing with him.. it was pretty sweet!

 Chillaxin' in the chaise!

 Pretty girl....

 Crazy monkey... 

 Mike and Steve, the BBQ kings! 

 Lori and Paul... such fun people!

 Sweet Deb and Lori... the "Thelma and Louise" of Portland! 

 Doug and Richard chatting

This group can NOT take a "posed" picture.. alway silly, all the time! :)

A lovely time with lovely friends, indeed!!

Water Fight

 Last week when it was hot we went over to Jody's place while she was planting her summer flowers and her garden. One of the things the kids know how to do well at Jody's house is use the hose and the watering can. We are usually in charge of the watering duties in the summer when Jody travels, and the kids do a great job helping me keep her plants alive! So they helped Jody water her new stuff!

 Matthew ready to water... just not sure what! 

 Evelyn working hard!

 Jody helping them water the mailbox flowers.. you have to do that in the street so they need some help.

After watering, Jody decided to start spraying them with some water from the hose. Well, let's just say it got crazy from there!!

 Evelyn got the hose and returned fire...

 Run Jody Run!

 Wrestling match!

 "I'll help, sissy!"

 Jody wins!!

 Run kids run!!

 Oh, boy.. what's coming next?

 "One more time, JoJo!!"

 ..and she obliged!!

We love you, Jody!

Cubbie Graduation

 Evelyn finished up her second year of AWANA last week. She now leaving the realm of Cubbies and heading up to Sparks, the next level of club. We are so thankful for this amazing ministry and how it has helped in planting God's word into Evelyn's heart, and she is SO excited to be wearing a RED vest starting next year! HA! Award night was lots of fun, especially for the kids.

 Evelyn's friend Heidi has been in her small group for the entire time. We actually go to church with them, too! We love this sweet girl and her family and enjoy the Wednesdays when she comes for the afternoon to play and have dinner with us before club!

 Commander Stone.. he is absolutely amazing and has such a heart for kids to know Jesus. 

 Singing with the whole group!

 After the large group program, the kids went to their small group rooms. Matthew decided to be a Cubbie for a night and plopped himself into one of the kids chairs. The other kids seemed to think that was fun so we let him stay.

 He had a great time, too! 

 Evelyn's small group teacher, Autumn. She is amazing and we are so thrilled that she is heading to Sparks with the kids next year!!

 Evelyn getting her certificate and her awards. We are so proud of her!

 Heidi and her loot! 

Checking it all out!!

Evelyn is sad that club is done for the summer. She will miss staying up late on Wednesdays.. haha!! We look forward to next year and what God will do in her life thru this amazing ministry!

Random

I am not sure why, but my camera has NOT been in use much these past couple of months. Either I don't have it with me or just choose to enjoy the moment instead of trying to capture it on film. BUT.. life still has been happening at a fast pace. To be honest, I am glad there have been less photos.. I don't have much time to blog these days!!

Here are a few random things that have been captured on my trusty Nikon:

 Just when I thought I could start reclaiming my tupperware drawer.... I came out of the shower to hear "Mom.. we made Sam a house!" Poor cat.. he is such a trooper!

 Our friend Julie gave us a hand-me-down Lightening McQueen backpack for Matthew. I seriously don't think he took it off much for a week!! This is what he wanted to wear one morning when he got up. Yep.. his new shoes, his backpack, and a diaper. Who needs more than that to watch a show? 

 One of the kids' favorite things to do.. Hippity Hop races!!! This was by far the most loved Christmas gift.. and one of the cheapest! 

 A night out with the gals from our small group Bible study.. love these ladies!!

This spring the kids have been WAY more interested in bugs. As much as I am NOT a bug person, I have been good about letting them explore and get dirty while trying to find new critters. In this picture they have found an ant colony. If you know me, you know that I don't hate many things, but I HATE ants. But I put on a brave face and let them play around with it. 

A bit of random. A few pictures. That's all. 

Make it a great day!

Giada

Evelyn loves to cook. She is learning how to do more in the kitchen as she grows and enjoys it so much. She is also a big fan of Giada DeLaurentiis, a famous TV chef. My kids don't watch a lot of TV, but 2 or 3 times a week Evelyn and I will watch 30 minutes of Giada together snuggling on the couch. I am not sure who enjoys that more! (smile)

Well... when I heard that Giada was coming to Portland for a book signing to promote her new cookbook, I knew I had to take my sweet pea to meet her! She was beyond excited, counting down the days until "the big day"!

The day of the signing,  we got down there TWO AND A HALF hours prior to the 4pm signing so we could be one of the first people in line and hopefully get home before 5:30 so Evelyn could make it to AWANA. I was not sure how well Evelyn would do waiting for that long, but we packed a bag of fun stuff to pass the time and set off. Needless to say, she was a ROCKSTAR! We were about 20th in line and had fun hanging out, reading, talking and being thankful that it wasn't raining! She didn't complain once and didn't ask "how much longer?" as much as I thought she would! The nice people at Williams Sonoma on 23rd also brought us samples of Giada's recipe's, which was a fun treat too. When it was finally time, and the line started moving, Evelyn go SUPER excited, giggling and jumping up and down. It was pretty cute.


Evelyn had brought Giada two things: a large lemon and a picture of a lemon she had drawn (if you don't know, Giada LOVES lemons and uses them in a lot of her cooking). Giada said hi to Evelyn and when Evelyn said hi back and handed Giada her gifts, Giada and everyone surrounding us said a collective "awwwwwww"! Giada thought that was the sweetest and chatted with my girl for a bit. She asked Evelyn what she liked to cook and pointed out her daughter's favorite recipes in the cookbook (Jade is 4). Evelyn wasn't shy and talked well. It was the sweetest moment. The smile and joy that exuded from Evelyn was absolutely priceless... a moment I won't forget for sure.


Ok.. pictures. You want pictures. Well.. sadly... I don't have many. There were very specific rules about cameras. One of which was NO flash. And things were so rushed. AND I was taking the whole experience watching Evelyn. Therefore, ALL of my pictures turned out blurry!   I was so sad. BUT.. because my sweet girl captured so many people's attention, we had two pictures of us up on the Williams Sonoma facebook page!!! "I'm on the internet!!", Evelyn squealed, so proud and excited!

Here are the pics I took and ones from the WS site:

 Waiting patiently...

Love her to bits!

Ev and I in line.. it was SO long!

Next in line.... SO excited!!

Her shining moment.. they were talking to the WS manager!

She was SO nice.. and SO tiny!! It was a treat to meet her!

Since there were hundreds of other people waiting for the same opportunity we had, it was time for us to go. I am not sure if Evelyn stopped smiling the rest of the day!! "That was one of the best days of my life!" she said on the way home.

Mine, too, sweetie. Mine, too.

A Taste of (Hopefully) What's to Come

We had summer-like weather the past few days, a welcome treat for all of us, especially this vitamin D deprived momma!! We have gotten in plenty of bike riding, park playing, basketball shooting and soccer ball kicking! Yesterday it was predicted to be in the 80's, and all Evelyn could talk about was getting out the sprinkler! Thankfully the weatherman got it right and indeed it was a hot afternoon. The sprinkler came out of hibernation and was put to good use, creating a fun afternoon with LOTS of smiles and squeals from my little people!!

A few shots from our fun time.....

 This might be my favorite of Matthew... love his face!

 He had a blast.. can ya tell?

We took a break and enjoyed a smoothie.. Evelyn thought it was so funny that she got it all over her face! She loved soaking up the sun and enjoying a summer treat!

Apparently the temperatures fall today and rain returns tomorrow, but I am thankful for the glimpse of summer we had! It's going to be a fun summer for sure.. if and when it shows up to stay! HA!