detroit lake 2011

A little over a week ago our family went on our annual camping trip to Detroit Lake, southeast of Salem, Oregon. We had such a wonderful time together as a family of four for 4 days, 3 nights. It was just nice to relax, rest (we went to bed early every night!), and not have anything we had to do! We spent our mornings warming up around the campfire, our afternoons at the lake, and our evenings enjoying the campground, S'mores, and games!

{Click on any of the pictures below to see them larger.}

LIFE AT CAMP!

FUN AT THE LAKE!

S'MORES!

ZINGO!

Sister & Brother...love these two!

Our family...I'm so lucky!

there and back

I can't believe that at this time last week we were camping in a tent at Detroit Lake! It's amazing to me how quickly a week can go by! We had such a great time and there are a TON of pictures to sift through, but I wanted to start with our traditional pictures that I take each summer...on the way to camping and on the way home.

On the way to camping...

And on the way home...

In years past usually the second picture shows the kids sacked out from exhaustion, but we had promised them a movie for on the way home, so they were wide awake in hopes not to miss it!

And, here are the kids being a little bit goofy as we were pulling out of the driveway. I think they were ready to get on the road!


Lots more to come!

more summer fun!

Last week my friend Natasha invited me and the kids over for an afternoon of fun in the sun (and water) in her backyard. They have a blow up larger-sized pool that I knew the kids would have a blast playing in and we had been wanting to do this all summer. Before we realized it, the summer was coming to an end, so we really wanted to make it work and last week was finally our chance! It was the perfect afternoon to relax and just let the kiddos splash in the pool and for me and Natasha to chat and catch each other up on the busy-ness of our summers. Natasha and her family will be leaving soon (in January) to be missionaries in Africa for 2 years, so every chance we can get to be together, I will take it!!

And what fun they had!!

Mikayla and Austin had just finished a couple of weeks of swimming lessons, so they wanted to role play swim teacher and student. It was pretty cute to watch!

Mikayla & Allie - great friends!

slip n sliding with friends!

A little over a week ago I helped out my good friend Kim by watching two out of three of her kids while she worked on a long list of things to do. Austin & Mikayla enjoyed the afternoon with two of their most favorite little buddies! Kenneth & Elizabeth are great friends and I love watching how much fun they have together! It was a beautiful sunny day so it was the perfect opportunity to have some backyard fun in the sun...with the slip n slide!

A great way to end the day...
with POPSICLES!

We love our time with friends!!

daddy's work picnic

A little over a week ago Ryan had his company picnic and families were invited along for a yummy barbecue and some fun in the sun! The kids had a BLAST enjoying all of the activities...

Three-Legged Race!

Tug of War!
Water Balloon Fight!
Yummy Food!
Pinata!

And finished the day with goody bags!

Music on the Green

The first Wednesday in August we invited some good friends of ours (the Newtons) to join us for a picnic and some country tunes at Music on the Green, our town's weekly summer concert series. Surprisingly, we actually hadn't been in FIVE YEARS! And, the last time we went...it was also with the Newtons!

Ellie & Mikayla in July 2006!!

And 5 years later...still the best of friends!

It makes me want to cry!
How have our babies grown up so much?!


And since 5 years ago, we have added two other little ones into the mix!

All four of them had such a fun time dancing to the music!

Nothing like a little silliness to add to the evening!

Austin (almost 4), Mikayla (5 1/2 yrs), Claire (2 yrs), Ellie (5 1/2 yrs)
Can you tell it's close to bedtime...grumpiness, silliness, oh my!


It was a beautiful summer evening with friends!
I hope that we don't wait five more years to go again!