4th of July 2024!

Happy 4th of July! 

Our annual 4th of July celebration kicked off this year with Miss Brenda giving Michael a foot massage. She even gave me one which was a nice treat! She was trying to teach me how to give Michael and foot massage, but I not touching anyone's feet thank you very much! 

Michael was supposed to be gone at a baseball game this year so Pa asked Bill to be the fill in Griller. Even though Michael ended up coming Bill still took over the job so Michael could just relax! 

Ga-Ga & Pa always invite tons of people from church and lots of them came. It's always such a good time visiting with everyone! 

Owen and Caleb just love to play strategy games with each other. Jack will join in too. You can see he has the Switch in his hands so sometimes he just hangs out with them and plays his own game. 

I think the girls were having fun with make up! 

Such beauties!! 

Zeke was hanging out playing on his Kindle. The kids actually came down on the 3rd of July and they stayed 2 nights at Ga-Ga & Pa's...that's why Zeke's pill container is sitting on the end table next to him.  

It was such a gorgeous day to be outside! 

In the background of this picture you can just make out Pa showing Terry the cool sandbox he built the kids years ago. Well it was time to dismantle it...basically because it was rotting away. Now in it's place is a nice elevated deck that Pa built. 

Here's a better picture of Pa & Terry! 

Before the food was ready people were just hanging out chatting in groups. 

At one point Jan decided to get up and go down the slide. She's hilarious! 

Time to eat! 

Good food and good folks! 

4th of July is always my favorite...I love the food, I love the sunshine, I love the festive clothing!

I love it all!

I also love leading Bingo! This time around Papa, Addison and Miss Brenda won!  

The Kuch's brought their badminton set so the boys had fun playing with that! 

Always so nice to catch up with friends! 

My favorite tradition! 

Ga-Ga & a few of her sugar bears! 

Such fun memories made with friends! 

Papa & Miss Ruth! 

Annual Photo Prop Pictures! 

So happy my man was able to spend the day with us. It would have been fine if he had been at the baseball game, but I loved having him there with us! I might be smiling in these picture, but my back was hurting me so badly this day...I was actually in a lot of pain. My mom thankfully has one of those ice packs that's like a sheet and can cover your whole back I used that and took ibuprofen and it made it somewhat bearable.  

Cute girlies! 

This year the fireworks kicked off again with the neighbors in the cul-de-sac setting off jumping jacks that went off for easily 5 - 6 minutes straight. They haven't done that in years...it was cool!  

Time for snacks! 

This year we bought the fireworks from Bill & Christina's church. It was a fundraiser for their upcoming mission trip. It was so fun to get to buy some really cool fireworks and also have it go towards a good cause. I really hope they do it again next year! 

Snakes! 

Boom! 

Will break for little smokies! 

This little light of mine! 

Another amazing year of celebrating in the books! 

Ear Piercing & Back To School Bash!

Back when we visited Logan in July there was a possibility that Jen and Logan would be coming out west for a few days at the very end of August. As it got closer I hadn't heard from Jen. I knew that they had a lot going on and there had been quite a few wild fires around Spokane so I thought they might have decided not to come over after all. Then on Saturday, Sept 2nd, at almost 9pm I got a text from Jen saying they were available the next day if I was still interested in Logan being with Ella when she got her 2nd hole pierced. Of course!!!!! 

I was actually able to go onto Claire's website and book an appt for the next day at 1pm. Logan and Jen weren't able to get to church until around 11:45ish which was perfect since that's about the time church gets out. I told Jen that I wasn't going to tell Ella about Logan or getting her ears pierced, I wanted Logan to come upstairs at church and surprise her. 

Ella and I volunteered in Kids Church the next day so we were heading out of the room to go downstairs. I was going out first so I saw Jen & Logan before Ella did. Then Logan came around the corner and Ella was so confused....like what is going on here? 

I said...."Are you ready to get your ears pierced?" She was so surprised...in a good way. It was the best reaction. 

Jen actually got it on video! I love these girls so much!!! 

Ella and I rode with Jen & Logan to Southcenter Mall. We had a little bit of time to kill prior to her appt so we walked around the food court. I really wanted a pretzel, but we still went and checked out all the food areas. Nothing else really looked amazing...we also weren't super hungry so something small like a pretzel was a good choice. 

After eating, we went over to Claire's. There was one little girl in front of us, but I was able to still fill out the online forms while we waited. 

Of course the girls shopped! When you get your ears pierced they give you a 20% off coupon on your whole purchase they were also having a deal where if you bought 3 things in the store you got 3 things free. It applied to the whole store. On top of that, they had a section where everything was priced at $3 each. Ella and Logan got matching wallets, Ella got earrings and a bracelet...Logan got a bunch of stuff too! 

I asked Ella if she was nervous and she was. I told her that was one of the reasons I didn't tell her about Logan or getting her ears pierced earlier in the day. I knew she would have been consumed with nerves and not able to have fun at church. 

Logan's a goober! 

After the little girl was done...boy did she cry...poor thing! It was Ella's turn. She held Logan's hand, but honestly she did great! 

Yes it hurts, but it's more like an achy hurt. 

She just breathed through the pain! 

One, Two and done! 

The ear piercing portion is free the only thing you pay for are the earrings. Which the cheapest nice earrings that she won't be allergic to that they carry and use for piercing are $65! They are just plain round silver studs. She actually really likes them a lot and heavens knows she has enough earrings so we didn't need to get anything special. 

After ear piercing Logan needed to go to a few places for back to school shopping. She was able to find a sweatshirt, but she couldn't find the shirt she really wanted. Then it was time to take us home because they needed to drive home Spokane. 

It was a super short visit less than 4 hours, but it was such a good time. I absolutely love these girls' friendship. Logan is so crazy and outgoing while Ella is more reserved and shy. Logan's influence is so good for her....it's okay to be silly sometimes. 

Look at these beauties!!! 

This above picture reminded me so much of this picture. It was taken in February 2013 over 10 years ago almost in the exact same location in our driveway!!! Look at these cuties. I love how Logan is even wearing pink in both pictures. Sweetest precious friends ever!!! 

After Jen and Logan were on their way we just had about an hour or so before our next adventure of the day. 

We were celebrating our Back To School Bash at Red Robin with Papa & Miss Ruth! 

Michael really wanted a Blue Moon...for some reason it just tastes so much better at Red Robin. He decided to get the stein!

 

High Schoolers!!! 

Middle Schoolers!!! 

Michael and Papa!!! 

I love this picture of me and Miss Ruth! 

It was so nice visiting with them...it had been quite a while since we'd seen them. Summer is always so busy! The kids are going to get to spend some more time with them later in the month though. Michael and I will be going to Poulsbo for his Water Conference! We were talking about how it's not going to be very long and no one is going to need to watch the kids if we're gone for a couple of days. Owen is almost 17 years old and driving. Next year Jack will be 16 and driving. They are so self sufficient already....it's more that we need someone there to make sure they aren't driving each other crazy.