Retreat 2008! It was a HOT one!

Another great year in Gearhart, OR for our annual "Bible Study Retreat". Each year it gets better and bigger. This year we couldn't all fit in the house and had to split up and some some of us stayed in these really cute cottages! They were adorable and I am so glad I decided to stay there! We read the book "Authentic Faith" by Gary Thomas and it was amazing. If you have never read one of his books...check them out. He is an amazing author, an easy read and very meaty! If that all makes sense! Andrea spoke about the book and our theme was "Defiant Beauty" which Gary refers to in the book. Wonderful weekend learning more about ourselves and the struggles that life can bring and how God can work through those times and bring us to an even better understanding of who he is through our struggles.
We had almost double the people this year. It was a wonderful weekend of hanging out with some of my best girlfriends and getting to know people better. I look forward to this weekend all year long. It's not only a fun weekend to get away, but also a great time to be at the beach. We were surprised to get down to the coast and have very warm weather. Friday it reached almost 100 and it was COOKING...how often do you go to the beach and have that kind of weather on the Oregon Coast? We were shocked!
Andrea speaking at our first session. She is an amazing speaker and I'm not just saying that because she is my best friend. God has gifted her with it!
Me, Andrea and my cousin Beccy
Some more of the ladies listening...

On our way down...
Yummy lunch at our favorite Cafe "Pacific Way". Patricia and I Megs and Railene
Patricia and Pam R.
Karen, Pam F. and Marilyn

Andrea, Me and Cathy
Eileen, Sandy, Diane and Linda
How many pregnancy pictures do you actually like? I thought this was a nice one.
Classic style of picture taking for me....Teri and I Getting ready to take the group picture
My "Sista" in-law. She is amazing and came this year to our retreat and played the guitar...loved it!

Megs and Cathy
Angela, Andrea, Patricia and Cathy
We are fun ladies!
Teri and I as we are getting ready to depart for home!

Woodland Park Zoo and the Flansburg House!

We had a blast on Friday hanging out w/ Erin and Micah and all the animals at the Zoo! It was a beautiful, sunny day which has been rare for us here in Washington. It was a full day looking at the animals and letting the boys explore the zoo on foot, which is a newer thing for Erin and I. It was fun to watch them run around and check out everything. Here are some pictures of our wonderful day... Just getting started...
Petting the animals...Max likes to get down and talk to the animals...it was cracking me up.
I was shocked he let me take this picture!

Exploring the ZOO...
Having fun! The Zoo's Monkeys....
Our "Monkeys" hanging around...

Classic picture...always have to get one of these.
More exploring on foot...

Group Shot...
On our way out...exhausted!

Mom, Max and Micah.
At Micah's house playing hide and seek
Who knows? Just playing around...
Dinner time
Max learned how to swing on his belly! Micah always teaches him something new when we hang out.

A visit to the DENTIST!!! Fun Times...

While we were at my dad's house Max took a very small fall and bumped his tooth loose a little. Luckly our dentist is our friend and has looked at it a couple of times. The tooth should be ok, we just need to keep an eye on it. Max LOVES, LOVES our dentist and every time we drive by his office he wants to stop by. Probably because the people that work there totally love on Max and give him toys and make a big deal about him being there...it's so funny. He also asks to go see the dentist whenever he has something hurting in his mouth...it crackes me up. Here are some fun pictures of him in the chair while were trying to warm him up to the idea of taking pictures of his teeth...no luck, but we did try. We have his official 1st cleaning in August so we will report on that later this summer. Fun Times I'm sure!!!
Putting the plane together...loving it.

This picture cracks me up..."Show me your teeth"
Hmm...don't love having this on...time to take it off!

Olympia Museum with Natty and Chase

Our plan for a week had been to go to the Spring Fair the day it opened in the morning. Well plans changed when I realized they didn't open until 3pm that day which changed our plans so we decided to make the best of it and go down to Olympia to the Children's Museum which we love...the kids included! Well to our surprise there were 3 schools with 70+ kids there for their field trip which was too many when your trying to keep an eye on your 3. We were there for about 30 minutes and then left to get some lunch. We did get some pictures of the short visit. Railene and I were just so happy we have a membership so we didn't have to pay for the short time we were there. Memberships are GREAT! Max loves hanging out with Natalie and Chase so anytime that we can spend with them is wonderful! Love them!Natalie
Chase
Max
Natty and Max


I love this place and so does Max. It's so cute to see them get all dressed up in the stuff they have for the kids. Fun times!

Family Day, finally!

Seems like we hadn't done anything as a family because so much was going on, but finally we had an open day and decided to do some family things. We went to the Tacoma Children's Museum and then to the Super Mall and just got to be together. Max got to go on his first ride on the Merry-Go-Round which was fun to watch. I can't believe how busy we can get...with Loren working some weekends, going out of town for different things and just having other things going on...life gets so busy. I love that Loren was able to go with us to the Museum and see Max play. Fun times...

Mommy and Max
I love that Max likes to clean things...he actually does try and help around the house too.
Dinner time
Wow, scissors...we haven't used those before.
First ride on the Merry-Go-Round

Play time w/ Micah and Fingerpaint!

We have been getting together monthly with our good friends Erin and Micah, who is Max's age. This was the only picture I got of the boys and it's eating. We love our the days that we are able to get together and Max LOVES Micah and asks on a daily basis if we can see him. Erin and I became friends in high school playing tenis together but actually became close friends after we graduated. She has always been such an important person to me and I love our time together. We were in each others weddings and also had our boys 7 weeks apart...Micah came first and then Max. Love you Erin!!! And Micah too...Our most recent play date...the boys!Erin and I while the boys were Jumping!The boys FIRST playdate...out of the womb!At Erin's Baby shower towards the end our pregnancy's!

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FINGER PAINTING...well Max likes to use the brushes! Auntie Andrea bough fingerpaints for Max at Christmas time and we have done it a couple times. Max actually painted for about 15 minutes and the next day it only lasted about 2 minutes. Either way it's fun and creative time for him.



Painting is fun!

Wow, it's been a while!

Hellooooo! I haven't had much to post lately! I have some pictures on my camera that I need to download so I can write about our last couple of weeks. We have been busy hanging out with friends, my mom was here this past weekend. We enjoyed the great weather we had this past weekend and it made us anxious for SUMMER TIME!
I am just starting my 30th week of pregnancy and the discomfort is for sure settling in. There are some new aches and pains that I didn't experience with Max. I have been getting weekly massages and adjustments from the chiropractor and as of this week start seeing the doctor ever 2 weeks. I can't believe we only have 10 weeks left! WOW! We are getting excited about meeting Baby Cole!
I will write more when I post my pictures later on! For now Max and I are waiting for Marigold to come over since we haven't watched her for a couple weeks since they went on vacation. We will probably go on a walk and I will get to use my double jogging stroller for the 2nd time if the weather holds up. I really loved it when I used it! That's my exciting day! Hope your day is just as exciting if not more! Take care...