Birthday Boys

My boys turned 11 last week! It has been a hard, long journey, but so rewarding! Just looking at all our old pictures makes me realize how much they have grown (and how much I have changed). Thought I would share a few:

The boys and their tool belts so that they could be like dad!
The first day of kindergarten. Even then they were too cool for pictures!

Flexing with dad last summer in Shasta

We had a birthday party with a lot of their friends and it turned out one of the funnest parties ever! We just played flag football and ate pizza. It was great.

The crew posing for me

The McLoughlin family came into town right in time for the party...more to come on their visit.

Last days of Summer

We had another great weekend on the Lake. This time we went out with Dianne, Mackenzie and their foreign exchange student, Laura. It was great! Laura even wakeboarded! All those pics are on Dianne's camera, because I was taking them for her. Oh well, I will post pictures of beautiful Laura later.

Nyle and Dianne tubing
Hang on Di!

Sydney smiling away!

My beautiful neice, Mackenzie. I know this picture is sideways, but I kind of like it that way!

Dianne became a wakeboarder this summer! I'm so proud of her!

Tyler and Dustin trying to stand on the tube
I love this happy, smiling face!

Sewing projects and a Moonlit hike!

First off, here are some pictures of a few sewing projects I finally completed, thanks to Dianne!

This skirt doesn't look too cute on the floor, but it looks cute on...my first attempt at clothing for me!

This is Sydney's apron. She picked out all the fabric!

My apron

Last week my good friend and "leader of hikes" was out of town and so I thought I would lead a hike. We did it in the evening to include more women that are usually working during the day. We hiked Clear Lake. It was a beautiful little hike, but the maps said it was 5 miles and it turned out to be more like 7! The sun set long before we got to our cars, so a few of us walked through the dark woods, using only our cell phones for light, and got the cars and picked everyone up at the lodge. Thank heavens for the road to the lodge! Otherwise, everyone would have had to do the spooky hike through the dark woods! Needless to say, I will not be leading any hikes anymore! I don't think anyone would follow! It was still a lot of fun and everyone had a great attitude! Here are some pics!

My boys being told that they really didn't want to swim in water that was 38 degrees all year long!

Monica and Syd
The sun is setting and we are only half way around the lake!

Syd and friends in front of a giant tree

Hiking, boating, berries & more boating!

I am so behind! I can't believe my last post was the quilt show...sorry! We have been busy! Wednesday we went on a hike with Tyler's class (anyone who could come). It was great! We did Tam rim, right above Three Creeks lake and it was beautiful! Here are some pictures.

Snow fight in July!

View from the top of two of the Sisters

Little Three Creeks lake below us

Three Creeks

Tyler on the edge of a cliff...I was scared just looking at him!

The hikers, minus some moms taking pictures!

Tyler and some buddies taking a breather

Boating for FHE with the Greens, Petersens and Trammels

Rick, we all feel this way at the lake!

Swimming with the crew

We also went to visit Julia last week and picked berries before we went home! Yummy! I (meaning me and my 3 excellent helpers) almost filled two five gallon buckets and only paid $23 (the berry farm had just dropped their prices that day)! It was awesome. I made a bunch of jam right when I got home and froze about (5) 1 gallon bags full of berries.

Tanner and his smiling, berry eating face! We have been eating cobbler ever since!

This was a hike called Canyon Creek...the wildflowers were spectacular! Not only did they look beautiful, but they smelled incredible! This is a view of Broken Top.

This is the hiking crew. We stopped here for lunch, but the mosquitos were so bad, that we really ate fast! The next morning Sydney came to me with her eye swollen so much that she could hardly see out of it...she had two mosquito bites on her eyelid and one just under her eye on her cheek. I guess the spray didn't stop them from feasting on us!

Tyler playing in the creek

Monica and Dane

The kids cooling off

Nyle and Syd

More boating pictures. Tyler on the wakeboard.

Tanner wakeboarding

My boater babe, Sydney

It has been a great summer. I will try to keep updating, but we are having so much fun playing!