Father's Day

After church on Sunday we headed over to my cousin Richard's house.

We had a great BBQ and a great time with family.

These 2 are trouble!

We had such a great day with everyone. It was the perfect way to spend such a special day.

Happy Father's day to my dad. He is the dad that books are written about. A caring loving dad that makes a daughter like me proud.

Happy Father's Day to my Douggie. He is the perfect daddy for our little Emma.

Emma is such a lucky girl and I know she will always be proud of her daddy.

Happy Father's day to all of you amazing dads out there!

I hope you all had a great day with all of your loved ones.

Friday at the Fair

This past Friday we took a trip to the SD County Fair.

Emma and I went at lunch time with Abuelita, Aunt and JuJu.

Douggie joined us in the evening.

Our first stop was the animals.

Then off to the rides in the infield.

Emma wasn't sure whether she loved the rides or hated them.

She was so happy and so excited on one and then in tears on the next.

So funny because she used to love rides.

Talk about feeling like a bad mom.

And I feel even worse because I was taking pictures of my daughter miserable and screaming.

But it is still pretty funny.

I love that JuJu was annoyed with how loud she was.

So mad because she couldn't go on the ride with JuJu.

Started off loving it...

and ended not so sure and crying.

We had a great time at the fair.

Jacob the 1st Grader!

Jacob had his last day of school on Monday this week.

We are so proud of him.

Looking at these two pictures you can really see how much he has grown.

Here is the comment portion of his report card.

It won't let you click on it to see it bigger so I will share the highlights:

-At this point Jacob is arguably our best reader. He just gets it.

-In math and writing, he is easily working above grade level expectations.

-We have loved working with this charming, articulate, humorous, kindhearted kid and we will certainly not forget him anytime soon.

Promoted to First Grade!

After school Aunt Lizzy decided to take JuJu for an ice cream treat.

She invited us along to celebrate with JuJu.

Congratulations JuJu!

Our vacation to Seattle and Victoria Canada

June 3rd - June 10th

Friday June 3rd we flew up to Seattle.

Doug's parents picked us up and we headed to Blyth Park for a picnic dinner and some play time with Ryan, Hadley, Carson, Val, Kevin, Lolo and Benny.

Saturday we headed to a big girl party for Lauren's 5th Birthday!

Emma was so proud to be included with the big girls.

Saturday evening Doug's parents hosted a BBQ and invited over lots of family.

It was so great to see everyone!

Sunday morning Douggie and I took off on a little getaway.

His parent's were so excited to have Emma all to themselves.

We took a ferry, did some sightseeing and ended up in Port Townsend.

Monday morning we woke up and headed to Port Angeles, where we took the ferry to Victoria.

We had a fabulous hotel room with our own rooftop patio and view of the city and harbor.

We stopped by the Empress Hotel for some afternoon cocktails.

We had a yummy dinner at Ric's.

We visited mini town and Douggie loved it.

Then we treated ourselves to some ice cream from the Soda Shoppe.

We ended our night with some fabulous rooftop views from our patio and an episode of the Bachelorette.

Tuesday morning we headed to Butchart Gardens.

It is an amazing place with the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.

We also visited the Craigdarroch Castle.

Such an beautiful house and so full of history.

Then we visited the Parliament building.

We stopped by Church and State Winery and did some tasting.

Had lunch at Red Fish Blue Fish. This was highly recommended and well worth it!

Dinner at Earl's and then dessert at the Empress Veranda... yum!

Wednesday we woke up nice and early and and took the ferry back to Port Angeles and then drove back to Doug's parent's house to give our kiddo a big hug.

Thursday morning we headed to the Everett Children's Museum with Val, Kevin, Lolo and Benny. The kids had so much fun playing and exploring.

Ryan, Megan, Hadley and Carson were so nice and invited us all over for dinner.

Emma was so thrilled to have a slumber party with Lolo and Benny.

She felt like such a big girl sleeping in Lolo's trundle bed.

Friday morning we had the talented Jocelyn take pictures of Emma, Douggie and his dad Bob for father's day. LOVE the sneak peek! Thank you Jocelyn!

Then we headed over to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike's boat for a trip over to Kingston.

Some more of the family joined us by ferry and we BBQ'd and played all day by the boat.

Thank you U M and A C for inviting us out to join you.

We all took the ferry home, except for Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy.

Those lucky ducks spend the weekend on the boat.

Saturday morning Val and the kids took us to Country Village where we played, shopped, rode the train and ate yummy kettle corn.

Look closely at the picture, Douggie squeezed himself in the caboose with the kids. He is such a trooper!

Then Doug's parents took us to the airport and we headed back to reality.

We had such a great trip and loved every second of it!

Thank you to everyone for making this such a great trip.

And thank you to everyone who opened their homes for dinner and for us to stay. We are so spoiled!

Meet Baby Ava Isabelle

This afternoon we went to visit the newest addition to the family.

Baby Ava was born while we were on vacation last week.

My cousin Cris and her husband David are her proud parents.

She is absolutely adorable!

This little girl...

It is amazing what this little girl can do.

She can brighten up even the gloomiest of days.

She knows just when Daddy and Mama need a hug.

She gives kisses and magically makes things all better.

We really are so lucky to be her Mama and Daddy!