They really left!

August 8th my sis Julie and her family moved to Albany, NY. That's really far away...

Shawn and I were over at their house helping them pack up a few days before they left, and then we stopped by the night before they left to say our good-byes. It sucked. I cried. A lot. I miss her a lot, and I think about little Raisin and HayBay all the time. I just have to go visit the as soon as I can. This dang wedding I'm planning has put a damper on travel plans for the next few months, so hopefully I'll get over there sometime next summer. That sounds so far away.

Anyway, here is a photo we took of us and the kiddos in their creepily empty house. Love you Jules, and miss you tons!!!

Leslie's Wedding

My friend Leslie got engaged a little before me, and thus got married a little before me. It's been fun having someone who is also totally submerged in all things wedding to discuss and bounce ideas off of. Her wedding was Saturday August 1st, and was officially over 100 degrees here in Spokane. She was NOT so thrilled about that - which I totally understand. That just fueled my fire to engineer/fashion some sort of upward blowing fan to the inside of my dress. I'm going to be sweating come time to say my I-do's. Anyway, enough about me...

Leslie's wedding was awesome, and here are some pics I took of the magical day.Here's Leslie and Sean's cake... I totally LOVED it! Look at it, it's so pretty!!Super cute photo of me, Leslie, and AndreaShawn and I

Vacation Week

Last week Shawn and I had the week off for vacation. We spent half the week with my parents in Seattle, and the other half with Shawn's family camping at Priest Lake, Idaho.

Our journey started at the Bumping River at Mt. Rainier where the Walker side of my family has a reunion every year. Shawn, Ellie, and I went up for the day on Saturday, and it was really fun to see my uncles and cousins that I haven't seen for several years. I wasn't great about taking pictures that day, but here are a few:

Here's me and my adorable niece Luci. I just love her so much!!!Here's me and my cousin Cassidy.Here is a shot of my sister-in-law Kati and I roasting marshmallows for s'mores. We both LOVE them so much, so we jumped at the opportunity to make them together. A little cuddle action with Kati...A gorgeous shot of Mt. Rainier as we drove away.

After Bumping River, we were off to Seattle. We brought our bikes over so that we could explore the area on two wheels. I had a really good time there, there truly is "no place like home". We rode the ferry from parent's house over to Alki Beach where we rode our bikes around and checked out all of the people. It was a gorgeous day!!! Here's Shawn and Ellie on the ferry.We stopped and watched the volleyball players on the beach - they were really good and fun to watch!Here's the crew with downtown Seattle in the background.On a different day we went down to Lacey for a bike ride, and it was a beautiful path as well. Ellie said she felt like she was riding through a rain forest. Here's a shot of the crew on this day.The last day we were there we had kabobs for dinner; it was fun getting to make our own and then grill them. Yum, yum, Dad!!!

On Thursday, we were off to Priest Lake. Shawn's family does an annual camping trip up there on Kalispell Island, which is pretty cool because you can only get there by boat making the island pretty secluded. There are only about 30 or so camping sights on the island. Here's the view from our campsite.Shawn hanging out by the fire in the evening.Me doing a bit of the sameMy demise... the outhouse. Yuk... The bees were really bad this year up there, and this little devise was the only thing that kept my sanity. Shawn's sister had it - it shocks bees!!! I seriously carried this thing around everywhere.It didn't take us long to discover the source of all the bees. Here is a photo of Shawn and brother-in-law Mark looking at the bee nest discovered in that stump (in the middle of the photo). See the nearby tent? Yup, that's mine! Every morning, the buzzing was SO loud that it woke me up. Scary, and I hated it. Shawn tried his hardest to kill the hive off, but was unsuccessful.

The Barfing Dream Part 2

A month or so ago I wrote a blog post about the dream I had that I was throwing up on my wedding day. If you remember I told the dream to Shawn, and he confided that he would probably realistically be throwing up on our wedding day.

When we got to Seattle last weekend, my mom said she had a surprise for us. We walk in the room, and sitting on the table were two curious objects. "What are these?" Some kind of hats???Oh no! They are custom made barf bags!!! We were both cracking up, and at the same time totally loved them. Mother got these at the hospital she works at and dolled them up with fabric and sequins for us. They punch out so that the bad is long when needed!

Thanks Mom!!! I'm sure these will come in handy for at least one of us!

The Inevitable is Almost Here

Yesterday I went over to my sister Julie's house to bond with the family and help them pack because they are moving to New York in a couple of weeks. I probably did a little more bonding then I did help pack. Jules did most of the packing while I wound the kids up and shared in the madness of too many pixi-stixs.

Here's a photo of Julie and I packing up some things in the kitchen. (This was before the pixi-stixs were brought out). Hayden was like a little addict with the bubble wrap. It was SO funny - he would pop one little bubble every time he had a chance where he knew wouldn't get in trouble for it. He would walk by us, see the bubbles, and just sneak a pop. He'd get the evil eye and pretend nothing even happened. He was even doing little sly behind-the-back pops. I loved it - I was cracking up!!! Here's a photo I snapped of him in action. Here's a shot of Julie and Reyan packing up some things in the hall. Julie had done most of the packing, and Reyan jumped in the shot just in time to have it look like she was offering major help.Kai just kicked back and watched for most of the time. His fuse got a little short after a few hours of packing (which to Kai meant getting ignored), but wouldn't you too?? He's just such a cutie!My favorite part of the day was little Hayden kept coming up to me and saying "hold me, Carmen". Of course I would hold him! I was carrying that kid around all evening. It was as if he knew that I desperately needed some love from my little guy. It finally hit me this week that they are leaving, and it's been a tough realization for me. I snapped this photo of him hanging around my neck like a monkey, and me loving it.

The Original

Since I got the center stone out of Shawn's grandmother's wedding ring, I've had a lot of people ask me what it originally looked like. I really don't know how to describe it when people ask; I usually say something about how it kind of looks like a flower thing or that it's very old fashioned. Shawn left the ring at my house the other day, so I decided I would take a few photos of it - some for posterity, some for show. Anyway, here's one I took so y'all can take a look!

Finally, 4th Pics

I don't know why I still haven't posted photos from our 4th of July at the lake. I guess I just keep forgetting. We had a great time; the weather was just perfect. Shawn gives this day two thumbs up! Here we are right after eating dinner and my delicious apple pie. We're waiting for the evening festivities to begin. At Deer Lake one of the 4th of July traditions is the boat parade. You decorate up your boat and parade around the lake! It was kind of funny and cute all at the same time. We got a beautiful sunset!And then my favorite part, the fireworks!! They were really cool this year. The main show went off, and then people all over the lake lit off tons of their own. It went on for hours, and we just sat out on the deck watching.

4th of July American Pie

For the 4th of July this year Shawn and I went to the lake with friends, and I offered to make an apple pie. After all, what is 4th of July without apple pie??? This was my first attempt at apple pie, and it tasted really good! I was so pleased with myself.

Yum, Strawberries!!!

Yesterday we went up to Greenbluff to pick strawberries - they were SO good! It was great weather for picking, and we definitely did our share. Here's a photo of Ellie and Shawn picking berries.I guess I didn't get the red memo?And here I am with my loot. I ate until my tummy hurt every day for 4 days, and then froze the rest. I just looove strawberries!

Our Little Brace Face

Ellie got braces on Monday!

Here she is eating her last ear of corn on the cob on Sunday night. She ate it real slow and savored every bite. Shawn and I need to buy one of those nifty corn zippers I've seen at Williams Sonoma.

Here are her shiny new teeth!!

Father's Day Flowers

Today we took Shawn's mom up to an iris flower garden in Newport. Shawn's mom, Joan, loves iris. It was actually a really cool farm; they had 2400 varieties of iris, and you could buy any of them. Joan went buck wild. I took a few photos of them searching around for the perfect pink one she had in her head that she wanted to buy.

Ellie's Dance Recital

Last night was Ellie's dance recital, and of course Shawn and I went to watch. She did such a great job; the day before was the dress rehearsal, and she was messing up all over the place! She didn't miss a beat and we were so happy for her. This year her class danced to "Santa Baby" and they wore little Santa costumes. Here's the only photo I took that wasn't blurry or impossible to make out.