Camping trip #3

So this third camping trip we won at Ginny's preschool aution. We were going to go with another family who would bring all the food and cook it for us. Turns out that family had a serious emergency and couldnt come with us. We hope they are doing well and our prayers are with them. So instead of that senario we were able to invite Meaghan's family, Ben's sister, to join us and bring our own food. We camped at Gold Basin near Granite Falls, Washington.

We went on a hike at the Ice Caves. It was beautiful and an easy hike for our girls. It was a little scary for me considering and 11 year old girl passed away there the week prior due to ice collapsing. Our hearts are with that family aswell. We didn't venture close to the ice.

Where we stopped for lunch Anika found a napping rock. We thought that was pretty cool.Bridget also napped in the pack on the way back to the car.
Due to rain for most of the second half of the trip we spent some wild time in the tent.

And under blue tarps Garrick lashed to the trees.We had lots of fun catching up with eachother and riding bikes and enjoying good food, thanks to Garrick's awesomely constructed box oven. I plan to make one soon. Hooray for camping! Next summer we won't do it on consecutive weeks.

Camping Trip #2

On July 22-24th we went camping with my Mom and Gunnar and Lily, while Gavin was spending time with my Dad. Sadly Grant and Elaine couldnt make it. We had lots of fun below are some highlights.

Ben was the master chef this trip and the Evil Gunnar kept him as a pet as you can see. Grandma helped Ginny work on a puzzle book given to us by the campground host. Ever heard of Harold the Hodag? He was featured on this puzzle book. If you know who & what Harold is I will send you 4 homemade cards if you are the first to comment the correct answer on this post.Ben told Lilly a pretty scary story at campfire. Yes our fire was pretty much out.Ben took us all on a hike. Violet enjoyed the pack this time.Ginny found some pretty flowers.After some car sickness, from the car ride to the trail head, Lily and I joined in the hiking. We saw a really cool bird while getting over the nausea; he got so close he even stole a tissue from Lily.After the hike a cool dip in the river made it a great day. Warmer and slower than the last river we had a great time. Can you see Gunnar in this picture?
Stay tuned for our last camping trip this summer.

Camping trip #1

We went camping at Salmon La Sac campground in our great state of Washington with our good buddies the Maxfields. It was great weather and the girls had fun hanging out together in the tent, playing in the dirt and water, and going to the bathroom in groups a whole bunch of times. While the kiddos slept Catan, Ticket to Ride, and other fun games were played by the parents. S'mores were made with Reese's, which were delicious!We also did a family hike. The girls learned about things like horse poop and huckleberries.Vera had a good time in the pack with dad.After, because we were hot and dirty, we jumped in the river right on the edge of our campsite.Throwing rocks was Emma and Violet's favorite thing to do.It was so nice to cool off in the COLD water.Later we went to Cle Elum Lake not too far from the campsite for a little dip. It was pretty full, even some trees were underwater.

Ginny found a tree stump she called her "look out" that she fit in. It was pretty cool. We had so much fun with our pals that we wish we were doing it again next month. We miss them already. The good news is we are going camping again two of the next three weeks. Happy summer everyone.

Tulip Time

My sister Miranda visited us from Utah last weekend. Despite being a Washington native she had never been to the tulip festival. What better excuse to pack up the girls and hit the fields? Here's Miranda with Violet.
This year we went to Tulip Town. I'd say I like Roosengaarde a bit more; they have fewer varieties but bigger fields of each, which makes for better pics. Nonetheless, Ginny was still soaking in the floral ambiance. As if Miranda isn't cool enough, having her was an added bonus because we had a dedicated family photographer. He we are with some of Vi-vi's flowers (everything purple belongs to Violet, at least according to her).

It was a beautiful day and a great time was had by all. We even stopped for some much-deserved ice cream on the way back to Kirkland. Tulip power!

Happy Easter

So Easter this year was really fun for many reasons. Our top reasons are; Grandma made us Easter baskets (in the above photo Ben, Bri, Ginny, Vi, Ver), Grammy sent us Easter cards and candy, we got to hunt for eggs in our very own back yard, and it was General Conference. We also spent Sunday at Ben's sisters it was great. Enjoy the pictures below!

Ben races Ginny for eggs

Vi finds eggs

Ben is ready to hunt for the eggs the girls missedVera watches the action

Ginny hunts for eggs

This is the video of the begining of the hunt.

The girls sustain the prophets during conference


And I just threw this one in cuz its adorable. Look at those strong neck muscles!

We all hope you had a Happy Easter with your families and that you feel the love of our redeemer Jesus Christ.

Cherry Blossoms Spring is here!

We are happy to say we have made it to the Quad for family pictures again. It was crazy crowded today and everyone was trying to take pictures with or of our girls. Good thing we didnt stay to long. Here are some photos of all our girls under the same tree around the same time after they were born. In order of birth Virginia, Violet, Vera (who happends to be two and a half months older than the other two).

And here are all the girls together this year.




I added this one because its very adorable. :)

Happy Spring!

Olympic Dreams

The family headed two hours north to Vancouver for some Olympics action! It was Ben, Bri, Vera, Brandon, and Ashley. It didn't take us long to find some mounties. Oh yeah, and we brought signs!

We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Abbotsford. We had plenty of opportunities to try out Vancouver's mass transit. Here's Bri trash talking some Canadians.One of our goals for going to Olympics was to get on TV. Well it happened at our second of four events. It was a men's curling match (our first event was a women's curling match). Ashley made a sign encouraging the skip of the USA team, who had lost some tough games. The camera liked it and we were shown on TV four times during the match. The "GO USA" sign was mine. We received a visit from John Shuster's fiance who gave us some team USA curling pins for our effort. To cap it off team USA won on an overtime rock that hit thick and curled into the four foot circle. Here's at a look at the US men sweeping a stone. Shuster is on the left.

We had lots of time to kill so we went to see the torch. It was fenced off and very crowded. If I look like a vampire in the picture it's because we were all sleep deprived.

At the Belarus-Germany Hockey game that evening we caught up with Quatchi and Miga, the Olympic mascots. They rock.

On the way home from the hockey game Vera was serenaded by some very friendly, very drunk Canada fans. Their repertoire was a delightful mix of old country songs and Christmas hymns with modified words. Early the next morning we got on a bus for Whistler where we saw biathlon. For those of you who don't know, biathlon kicks butt. It's a mix of two very cool things; cross-country skiing and shooting. We saw the men and women's mass starts. It was riveting action.

Ashley made an intelligent sign that made it on TV a few times, though only in the background. (The five black circles are what the athletes shoot at, each the size of a half dollar from 50 yards) We had a great time at the events, absorbing Olympic atmosphere, and we even raided the official Olympics store; it was a 25 minute wait just to get in the front door. Bri and Ashley racked up pins; bought, given, and traded. Here they are at the bed and breakfast in Abbotsford.

Luckily we were close to the Vancouver temple being built in Surrey. We stopped by to take a look. The outside is complete, they're just working on the interior. All you can see is lights in the windows of the steeple.

Conclusion: The Olympics are awesome. We especially love the winter Olympics. Vancouver rocks. It's like Seattle, only friendlier (and Seattle is pretty friendly by US standards) and has better public transport. Vera was an angel. She slept through the night four straight times.