The Washington "Mommy-ment"

On our final Saturday night before school started, we got tickets to visit the top of the Washington "Mommy-ment" (as Mark calls it). It was such a perfect evening to be in D.C. The weather was beautiful and the crowds downtown are finally starting to dwindle a little bit. 

enjoying a little treat on the lawn as we waited for turn to go up!

there was about a 90 sec elevator ride to the top, and what a view!

Keaton kept saying, "we're 500 feet up! I can't believe we're 500 ft. up!" Nice smile, Mark!

nice view of the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial!

love this quote about the Memorial! It really is incredible!

being silly with my boy!

The largest free-standing stone structure in the world! standing 554 feet 7 ¹¹⁄₃₂ inches tall!

After the memorial, the sun was setting, so we took a little walk down the National Mall.

The WW2 Memorial is especially beautiful at night. What a fun way to celebrate the end of summer!

10 months old!

Hi Sailor June! 

I love you more every month of your life. 

Here's only a few of the many things that make me kiss you 100 times a day: 

your chubby feet

the way you smile back at me after you've conquered a flight of stairs...

the way your ride in the cart at Target...

the way you cry when you're in jail...

the way you help me unload the dishwasher...

the way you get into EVERYTHING...

the way you play and talk in your crib after you wake up from your nap...

the way you look in a coonskin cap...

the way you kick your feet and say "OOOOOO" when you're excited!

the way you lounge around like your daddy...

the way you play so contentedly with your brother...

the way you let me cuddle you...

Thank you for being beautiful you!

We love you beyond words!!

Girls Trip 2015

Since Ange and and Charles tied the knot last summer, 2015 was supposed to be the year that we  invite our husbands to join us for a trip to the island! But Ange and Charles (very inconsiderately) decided to get pregnant with the first baby, so we decided to put off the island trip one more year so that hopefully Ange and Charles can join us next year! 

Even though we missed having Ange with us, we understand why she needed to stay home this year! 

Baby Michiah was born on June 21st!

Amazingly, this is our 12th girls trip!  We now have 11 kids between the 4 of us, and each year, I feel more thankful for these friends, and these few days I have every year to get away with them. 

This year, Mel, Meg, and I found ourselves at St. Pete beach on the gulf side of Florida.  Thanks so much to my dad and Pinky for hooking us up with hotel points, so we could stay here! 

It was stormy our first evening in St. Pete, and the sky and beach were absolutely beautiful during our walk to dinner.

Look at those clouds!

We spent most of our time relaxing and talking, but one of my favorite things we did was spend a day at Busch Gardens in Tampa! It had been way too many years since I'd ridden a roller coaster, and it was so much fun! I was pretty proud of myself for not getting sick. There was a two-hour block of time during the middle of the day where all the rides were closed due to lightning in the area. Even though this was a bummer, it cleared out the park somewhat, so there were hardly any lines for the rest of the day.

Mmmm....funnel cake!

The Cheetah Hunt! This was one of the longest roller coasters I've ever been on. It lasted over 3 minutes!

 "Smile Angelo!"

Falcon's Fury was crazy. We were whisked to the top of this 335-foot tower. Once we hit the top,  our seats pivoted 90-degrees so that we were looking straight down over the park. Then it is a complete free fall for 6 seconds. Whew!

We enjoyed dining out a couple of nights on the waterfront of St. Petersburg.

We found this amazing Gelato place called Paciugo in St. Petersburg. We liked it so much we went back again the next night!

Right before we left for the airport, we tried to recreate this photo from Perdido Key in 2004. 12 years of vacationing with these girls and I can honestly say we have more fun every year! I love them!

New Life Ranch

Mia, the boys, and I took a day trip to visit my good friend, Marla at New Life Ranch.  Marla and I met a NLR as kids, and now her husband Luke is a director there. It's so hard to believe that it had been 4 whole years since our last visit! Both of our families have grown!

New Life Ranch is the center of many of my favorite childhood memories, and it's always a treat to go back and visit. The camp has changed considerably since I was a kid, but the sounds and smells are so much the same.

All of our kiddos in front of the chapel.

 It was a blast showing the boys and Mia around and getting to spend some time with Marla and her family. Marla and Luke now have another son, Max, whom they adopted from foster care. He is precious! 

The boys loved swimming in the creek, going down the slides and the "Wet Willie. 

Mark and Wyatt

After a full day of pool, lunch, and creek, we headed back to Marla's for dinner and more playtime at their house. 

Marla and me and all our kids: Mark (5), Wyatt (6), Peter (8), Sailor (0), Keaton (7), and Max (3)

I'm hoping we can make this visit an annual tradition!

Boise!

While we were in Oklahoma, Dad, Aaron, Sailor and I took a short trip to Boise to visit Justin and family! I had not seen Justin or Sheri since before we moved to Hawaii, which is crazy! I was so excited to finally meet my sweet niece, Ruby. 

We meet at last!

Papa and his girls

Dinner out with the whole clan.

Fun day at the pool.

meeting Uncle Justin

Breakfast at Goldy's in downtown Boise

It was so special to get to spend some time hiking with Aaron and Justin. So rare that we get to hang out, just the 3 of us! Thanks so much to Aunt Sheri for watching Sailor.

Made it to the top of Table Rock, overlooking Boise.

Poor Aaron ended up tripping on the path down from Table Rock and got a hairline fracture in his arm!

Fun with cousin Ruby!

 Justin has turned into quite the chef. He and Sheri now own a food truck called The Funky Taco. They are set up every weekend at the local farmers market and have quite a following. They have an awesome menu with unique flavors and all fresh ingredients. 

Here's their amazing Airstream that is setup like a restaurant kitchen on the inside - 5 sinks and all!

On our last evening, Justin made us the MACHO TACO and the THAI-CO - seriously the best tacos I've ever tasted! I'm so impressed with brother's skills!

A sweet trip we will never forget! Hoping it will not be another 5 years until we see them!