Family Adventure!

We love adventures! Our summer goal is to go on as many road trips and family adventures as possible. Well, school got out on Friday, June 10th and we went on our first family adventure on Monday, June 13th.

We decided to head East and check out the Fort Walla Walla Museum for our first adventure. We all love history and being from the Pacific Northwest we REALLY love to learn about the history of our area. This museum is packed full of awesome information about both World Wars, local agriculture, military, transportation, an old time pioneer village and much more.

Our favorite part of the museum was the pioneer village. There are 15 original buildings from around the Walla Walla area that have been filled with real artifacts, making the little village seem so real. Seeing all of the the tools, furniture, and clothing made it easier to imagine how the old pioneers lived. We highly recommend this museum to anyone looking for a day trip from the Tri-Cities or any other city near Walla Walla. The only thing we would do differently next time is bring our own lunch and picnic at the play area instead of spending $60 at a restaurant.

On our way to Walla Walla we happened upon a small sign that said “Blue Mountain Lavender Farm 4 miles.” So, on our way home we decided to drive the 4 miles and check it out. We were so glad we did! It was a cute little house and the backyard had several rows of lavender. They had lavender lemonade samples and a cute little lavender themed boutique where you could by soap, lavender wands, and much much more.

A few of their lavender rows are you-pick. They provide the scissors and you cut your own bundle of lavender for just $7/bundle. We came home with 2 bundles, a couple items from the boutique and some great memories. We will definitely go back soon!

Be sure to check back often to see what we are up to this summer.

Here are the kids with the lavender bundles we picked.

In this picture the kids are checking out the replica prison at the museum.

Family update

Holy Moly it has been way too long since I posted a blog update. Life got away from me and I hope to never let that happen again. I truly love blogging and I need to remember that. 🙂

We had a couple major life changing things happen in the last 9 months…

First, we bought our first home in October! It is a 7 bedroom house on a little over 1/2 acre and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It has raised garden beds, a small raspberry patch, we put in an above ground pool, it has plenty of “wilderness” places for the kids to make forts, and we got some chickens!

Second, we are expecting our 5th little bundle of joy! I am currently 19 weeks pregnant with a little girl we will call chipmunk (for now until she arrives and we give her a proper nickname). We are all very excited for our new addition and can’t wait to meet her.

Brave little Monkey

For the last 6 years Hubby and I have said that if any of our kids were ever going to end up with a broken bone it would be Monkey (as her name says she is a monkey and often gets hurt on her adventures). Well… we were right. About 2 weeks ago Monkey was playing at a friends house and she tried to jump over her friend but missed, falling on the ground breaking the fall with her forearm. She complained of it hurting for a little while but it never swelled and it only hurt when she put pressure on it so we figured it was sprained. A couple days later she was at a different friends house and tried to do a slip-n-slide. She came home crying, saying that her arm hurt so she couldn’t slide anymore. We watched it close and by bed time it was swollen. The next day I took her to the emergency room and they confirmed she had broken her Ulna.

They put a splint on her arm that went from her wrist to past her elbow and sent us on our way with an appointment to see and orthopedic Dr. She had to keep the splint on for a week before we could get in to see the Dr. My brave little Monkey did not complain even one time about wearing the splint. She was only looking forward to the doctor appointment so she could pick out a pretty colored cast. Our appointment with he orthopedic Dr was yesterday and she picked pink.

Here she is with her cast. I know a lot of kids break bones and I would be surprised if this is the only bone Monkey breaks, as just this morning even with the cast on, she was swinging from the monkey bars.

Upcycling

If you don’t know what upcycling is, let me explain it in the words of my daughter’s friend G…”turning grandpa pants into fashionable high wasted Jean shorts.”

Butterfly had G sleepover tonight and they decided they wanted to do some upcycling. So we made a trip to the local Goodwill where they found these awesome outfits, please note G’s high wasted grandpa wranglers.

We then went to Joann Fabrics and found some notions to use for making them a little more fashionable. They came home and went right to work. After a couple hours this is what they came up with.

Yes… those are the SAME pants, crazy huh!?

This is the back of G’s shirt.

All in all, I would say they had a very successful day upcycling. If you upcycle I would love to see some of your projects.

Grilled Peaches

I was looking for a delicious, healthy dessert yesterday and remembered I have been seeing grilled Peaches on pinterest for a couple years now and every time I think to myself… I NEED to try those. However, until last night I never got around to it. I am now wishing I had tried it the first time I saw it.  They are so easy to make and scrumptious. Here is how I did it 🙂
Ingredients-
peaches (one for each person)  
honey (1 Tbsp for each peach)
Olive oil

Picture of the peaches before Grilling

Directions-
preheat your grill to a medium heat (about 350 degrees)
Cut peaches in half and discard pit.
Rub a small amount of oil on the cut side of each peach half.
Lay peaches cut side down on hot grill for about 15 minutes (until they are soft)
Remove from grill and rub 1/2 Tbsp of honey on cut side of peaches.
ENJOY!

Peaches after grilling 

Summer Dream

Schools out for SUMMER!  My kiddos last day of school was today.  I am finding it hard to admit that next September I will have an 8th grader, a 3rd grader, and two 1st graders. However, I’m sure by August we will all be ready for a little more routine back in our lives, but for now we are dreamin’…

We sat down together after school today, wrote out our “summer dreams” and put them on this awesome board (made by my awesome co-worker).  We talked about all of the fun things we wanted to do, both together as a family and individually. I felt like putting them on paper and hanging them at the top of the stairs would be a great way to keep them at the forefront of our minds, give us something to look f.orward to, and give the kids a reason to get their summer chores done each day.

A couple of my favorites include, going camping, going to the hydroplane races, and staying home and doing nothing, picked out by my only introverted child 🙂 What is on your Summer Dream list?
Here is what ours looks like..

Senior Sunday

Do you ever wake up on Sunday morning and think…. church? Already? Weren’t we just there a week ago?  Ya, that was me this morning.

My alarm went off and all I could think was ok God, Im sure there is a reason I’m supposed to be there today. I got up and got dressed and much to my surprise my kids were already awake and getting themselves ready for church.  I figured that was my #winning moment of the day. So off to church we went…

We get there and the first thing I see as I walk into the sanctuary are 11 highschool seniors getting their caps and gowns on… IT’S SENIOR SUNDAY!  The Sunday we, as a church, set aside part of our church hour to love, honor, and appreciate our young adults who are moving on to bigger and better things. I got the opportunity to sit next to them while they were called onto the stage and a card was read letting the congregation know who they were, what college or branch of the military they were going into and what they planned to do there.

My heart couldn’t take it… I cried, I cried tears of pride as most of these young people have been members of my church for a long time so I have watched them grow up, I cried tears of hope for these amazing people who are going into the world to make it a better place, and I cried tears of sadness as I have become close to one of the girls who will be moving to a different state with a softball scholarship and I will miss seeing her beautiful face every Sunday.

I am so thankful that I was able to enjoy such an amazing celebration.

Family time

Ever heard of a hydroplane? Basically they are the fastest boats you will see. Reaching speeds upward of 150 mph. It is a long time, multi-generational, family tradition to spend the last week in July camping on the Columbia River watching these boats race.

Well, today is a special occasion. A few boats made a special, one day trip to our town to do some testing and time trials.  So we are taking a mental break day and doing nothing but sitting by the river enjoying each other’s company. I hope you get a chance to spend some quality time with the ones you love this weekend.

My little Monster

Look at those freckles and those lips.  Those eye lashes and the stuffed dog, Goldwin, he is snuggling so hard you can only see a piece of his ear. Every once in a while this perfect boy asks to sleep in my bed (when Hubby works nights) and I just can’t say no as I know this won’t last forever. I love my Monster.

Cookies for Cops

So this week every year we celebrate Police Week. This is a week set aside to honor the men and women in law enforcement. Those who have been killed in the line of duty and those who go out each day with the purpose of protecting and serving our cities, counties, and highways.

This year our family decided we wanted to show our appreciation with cookies. We enlisted the help of a few friends and between the few of us we baked around 25 dozen cookies. By the end of tomorrow we will have delivered cookies to 8 different departments. I encourage you to do something to show your thanks to law enforcement and of course, if you do, I would love to know what you do.