The summer in pictures

Well, hello everybody! Because this is my first blog post ever, I decided to do all my catching up in one quick photo flyby of our summer. Enjoy!

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Some highlights from June

Our anniversary, June 10. Yes, it is snow. Sometimes I do miss Texan weather more than I care to admit!

Jude's 4th birthday, with his oh-so-tasty dirt cake (which is neither dirt nor a cake. Discuss.)

My cousin's wedding in Tacoma.

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Picking huckleberries on a Sunday evening in July

Some friends from church invited us to join them picking huckleberries one evening at a lovely spot about 30 minutes from town. The kids loved hunting down undiscovered bushes along the trail, and we all got to enjoy the fruits of our labors, baked into some Saturday morning muffins.

Jayson, Jude & Asaph in the wild

Jonah with a choice huckleberry

Spring Valley. Ain't it pretty? Just one of the many reasons you should come visit us!

Paul and a friend from church. Does this remind you of a scene from Genesis?

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Family Reunion at Lake Tanwax

For those of you who weren't there, this is what we do every July with my mom's side of the family. I have many (yes, many) cousins, and we all actually like each other. Really. And there are boys galore, which means tons of fun for my four kiddos. This year was marked by one unique feature--namely, that the stomach flu picked off dozens of us before the three days were up. (We, thankfully, made it home before anybody in our household got it.) But we still managed to enjoy all of our usual reunion activites, including...

...swimming in the (brrrrr) lake [Paul]

...playing Scrabble® [my mom and my cousin]

...playing more games [my lovely cousins]

...and more games of another sort [more cousins]

...and then letting the kids play, too [Jonah with his second cousin & his first cousin once removed]

...enjoying the view [Asaph & Jayson]

...and eating ridiculous amounts of food (though not necessarily while standing in a circle)
Exciting activities not pictured: Jet skiing, bon firing, singing, cooking, bicycling, and cleaning up. Cleaning up is a family specialty.

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And then came August

This summer flew, as they always do.

Our nephew came for a visit with Jayson's mom and taught Jonah some fancy fingerwork on the piano. (By the way, we now have a real piano on loan from one of Jayson's former students! Thank you, Jenny!)

Grannie M with her boys! (We just needed Jayson' brother to complete the picture.)
Paul thinking deep thoughts

Asaph with his fun new hat from Aunt Lynn

Paul helping get the yard ready for new grass

Jayson and the boys have spent hours breaking up the packed clay in our barren back yard in the hope that we'll have some grass growing there before next summer.

My big boys on their first day of school! Jonah's in first grade, and Jude started preschool this year. Summer's over!