Ant Hill

At the Liberty camping property, there is a big ant hill on the other side of the creek. I never liked going over there because the ants always crawled up my legs.  :-/

One day, John came back from exploring with the boys and had a confused look on his face. He told us that James calls the ant hill:  ant - hill.

No big deal. I didn't really get it.

Until I heard him say it for myself. 

Aunt Hill.

As in, "Mom, we went and saw Aunt Hill."


A few days after our trip, we were out running errands, and James spotted a huge debris pile.


"LOOK MOM, IT'S AUNT HILL!"

Girl toys!

See that blue basket next to the bookshelf in the picture below? To date, that little basket has held all the girl toys we own. First world problems.

Last week, we found a play kitchen for our girly!

The boys definitely use it more than Beth, but she'll get the hang of playing with girl toys soon!

Memorial Day Camping 2014

Our first camping trip of the season was a huge success!

We spent the weekend at Grandma Willie's camping property in Liberty, WA. It is a beautiful piece of property. I always love that John grew up camping over here - and now our kids get to do the same!
 

(The first of 2 clearings for camping.)

(Beautiful creek runs through the middle of the property. In the Fall, it goes way down so kids can play in it.)

(Campers and fire)

We have realized that our camper is perfect for what we do, but we are running out of room inside - quickly! When we saw this tent at Costco, we snapped it up. It's the perfect extra space we need. I especially love the magnetic doors it has on both sides and that Bethany can't step over the door jam to escape!

This is Grandma Willie (Uncle Dave's mom)

A couple of hours before we arrived at camp, Grandma Willie and her sister Norine decided this stump had to go. It was hilarious hearing about these two going to town on the old stump with a couple of garden tools. I'm glad someone got a picture for us!

After the stump was cleared, it was the PERFECT digging hole for the kids. They spent hours with the tractors, shovels and dirt.

I'm sure this was payback for something!

The kids made some new friends - Chloe, Memphis, and Brody.

John smoked up pounds and pounds of meat all weekend.

Beth and Sadie are good buddies.

Boys went hiking with Auntie Lauren and Uncle Dave a lot.

On Sunday, we took the fishing boat out to Lake Cle Elum.

It was rainy and windy and cold, but we toughed it out.

And on our way back to the launch, Uncle Jake (finally) caught a fish! We actually cooked it on the fire later. Yum!

Later, we let the boys bust out the dirt bikes. James had the time of his life. He had a huge smile the entire time he rode. It was hard to get him off the bike.

"Did I go really fast Auntie Kim?!?"

Nate tried the bike out, but got a little nervous so John helped him ride it back.

For this trip, Nate was quite happy riding on the back of James!

Grandma Willie cheered them on.

We got quite a few pictures of dirt bikes!

Nate tried the bike by himself again with the help of Dad and Uncle Dave.

But he decided the trike was a better way to ride... for now!

The boys also played a lot of baseball.

And, of course, there were lots of s'mores!

This was such a fun trip that we always look forward to. And it was even relaxing because there were so many people who were happy to watch the kids or take them on "adventures"!

{Extra thank you/photo credit to Kim & Lauren for getting half of these pictures! They're amazing.}

Last Night's Mountain

I know I post pictures of this mountain a lot, but I love it and I can't get enough of it.

So, sorry.

But not really.  ;-)

I've taken a nice little break from updates recently.

Memorial Day Camping 2014 coming soon....  :-)

Camping Prep

Our first camping trip of the season is coming up, and the boys are going CRAZY with excitement!

 As soon as John comes home, they suddenly go into scramble-packing mode:

James begins throwing everything from the garage into the camping pile - loudly proclaiming why we MIGHT NEED this or that.

And Nate quietly gets every bag I own and fills it with toys from the playroom. Then he gets distracted and starts playing with one of the bags of toys. Then somehow they end up dumped out all over the deck. And currently, there are piles of toys all over the house.  :-)

So..... we're pretty excited, I guess!

Now the boys can help mow the lawn!

Bethany's Dr Appt - 14 Months

At 14 months -

Weight:  22lbs 1oz  (50 %)
Height:  29"  (15 %)

+ 3 shots  { They wanted to do 6 shots!!! We'll go back later for the other 3. :-/ }

Mother's Day 2014

We had a pretty low-key Mother's Day this year, but that's just the way I like it!

After church, we had a great lunch with my family then headed home and played outside until bedtime.

The kiddos each chose a rose for me. Nate's was pink, James' was orange, and Bethy "chose" yellow.

This dress isn't anything special, but I bought it the day after I found out I was pregnant with Nate (JUST in case he was a girl). Over 4 years later, someone gets to wear it!

Of course, Mother's Days is still all about my moms too - and I can't say enough about Terri and Sheri. (I don't call them that, but I think it's funny that I have Terri, Sheri and Keri. Could get confusing when I start losing my mind!)

Anyway.

Do you ever feel so overwhelmingly and undeserving-ly and continuously blessed? That's how I feel when I think about the moms that God gave me. Like, seriously. They are the best. And I'm SO thankful for them.

Fishing Time!

John has been looking forward to taking his boys fishing for a long time. He ordered a boat a couple months ago, and it finally came in last week. The men have been busy putting the finishing touches on it, and we all took it out for the maiden voyage Tuesday night.

This fishing boat works perfectly for what the guys want to do. It's extra deep with a flat-bottom floor to make it easy and safer for the kids. John added the seats and steering console to make it more comfortable. And it's small enough to take anywhere, but big enough to fish out in the Sound.

 It was a wildly successful first-trip out! Bethy even did great. (Phew!)

The guys are looking forward to taking it everywhere this summer!