June: 10 on 10

Granny's dress

Great-Grandma (Granny) made Addison a special dress for her birthday. Sunday was the perfect day for me to catch a picture of the two of them while Granny was in town. We love Granny, and love that she was thoughtful enough to make this dress for Addi. Unfortunately, I had just accidently poked Addison in the eye before taking this picture, so she isn't particularly cheery! But we will still treasure the picture.

Shout to the Lord

Symantha was a part of the LSCC Kids' Choir this Spring, and the big performance was on Sunday. She had been so excited... until a couple of days before when she was suddenly so nervous. She had a solo and a few speaking parts and her biggest worry was she would get a frog in her throat, sound horrible and everyone would laugh at her. We could not convince her that this would not happen, and even if it did, she just needed to do her best. I was really nervous for her, but she did great! She had a little cold, so she did get a bit of a frog in her throat during second service. We could see it in her face that she was almost going to break down, but thankfully she held it together.

Her cousin Lacey was also in kids' choir, which was an added bonus for Symantha.

And it was really cool to see some of the adults be a part of it, like Aaron...

and Aunt Stephanie

It was a really great experience for her.

Here is a little clip of part of her solo. Sorry for the long space at the beginning, I can't edit these video clips!

The big sale

Andrea's neighborhood had a garage sale weekend, so Sara, Chelsea and I joined her in trying to sell some of our junk treasures. Friday it poured and we had lots of people come. Saturday it was beautiful and NO ONE came, well except a few every now and then. Luckily, it was just a great time for our kids to play in the sunshine and us to sit and chat!

The kids did make quite a mess of Andrea's house and Addison continued to check out the garage sale loot, so it wasn't ALL relaxation. But it was still fun. 

I love this picture of Andrea and Heidi skateboarding.

And I also loved getting a little baby fix from this cutie, Harper. Thank you Chelsea for having a baby.

Oh, and I made $100 (almost, I just couldn't make the last $4 to get me to that point, but I am rounding up). That was just a bonus.

Great Wolf Lodge

This is how excited the girls were about returning to the Great Wolf Lodge.... 

Especially since we were there with the whole Edwards' clan, cousins and all. 

It was this girl's first time.

And she had such a great time.

Well, most of the time. Except when it was just a little too much for her and she had a meltdown or two. Or when water splashed over her head in the wave pool with Grandma. But for the most part, she was unafraid and went down all the slides with no fear. Even the big red one that she turned around on and went down head first, upside down on her back. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen, and she was not bothered by it at all.

The big girls had no fear this year either. Especially Symantha, who went on the Howling Tornado repeatedly and actually enjoyed it! Even Grandma and Grandpa went down that one, much to the delight of the rest of us. It was so fun having this time with the Edwards'.

Hailey couldn't wait for the clock tower show and Story time again. Addison loved watching it too.

She is the right age for it.

Colby is not. 

 But he was a good sport and hung out anyways.

Symantha thought it was so cool that she got to spend some time with him.

I love cousins.

Someone tried to take Derek's spot when he went to get coffee. I told the person the spot was taken and she reluctantly got up. So, Colby came and sat by me to prevent any more awkwardness. Then we laughed that the lady must be wondering which of these guys is my husband....

Neither one is really appropriate!

Then Addison's fear of dressed up creatures returned. You may remember the fear of the penguin at Christmas - she still sees pictures of penguins and says they are scary. 

So you can understand why "Violet" would terrify her.

She clung to Daddy the whole time this wild beast was around.

Daddy and Addison actually had some very sweet times during this trip. While I was taking some of the kids to do the Magiquest thing with the wands,

I caught them having some very sweet moments.

It was a great time!

Back to Cle Elum

The girls always look forward to our first camping trip of the year. I love that we have a great place to go without bothering with reservations or other people. Sometimes I take that for granted, but this year I appreciated it all the more since we could decide at the last minute whether we were going camping or not. It was POURING down rain at home on Memorial Day Weekend, and the forecast was a good chance of rain in Cle Elum too, so we debated going. I'm so glad we did because it didn't rain until when we were leaving on Monday and it was such a great family time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures... never complete without one of the backs of my three girls.