for my birthday, my hubby, went above and beyond!! my day started with breakfast in bed. eggs Benedict..my very favorite!! he had told me earlier in the week that he was going to be taking me out of town for a few days but i had no clue where we were going! long story, short....we ended up going to the Westin hotel in bellevue. this is our favorite place to stay. mine especially because it's right across the street from shopping!!! he surprised me with a pedicure, then 4 hours later, a couples massage! this, in and of itself, was a huge deal since he had just told me that he would NEVER get a massage...grossed him out. so this was a huge act of love on his part!! :) it ended up being wonderful. you'll have to ask him his thoughts because he may have some other thoughts on that. thanks anyways hon, you're a good sport! :) we spent 2 days just enjoying being together, having some alone time. we spent a good part of one afternoon on the rooftop deck. i wish i would have taken better/more pictures but i didn't so these will have to do. thanks babe for a great birthday!! this one's going to be hard to top! :)

my favorite birthday gift...my 4 boys all around me!!

we just returned today from a wonderful, whirlwind weekend with our dear friends, dale and kathy (and kiddos). i still have a few more pictures that i need to retrieve from my (and kathy's) camera so i'll post them tomorrow. we spent 2 days up in canada at caltus lake. all day yesterday was spent at the water slides there. we had such a great time!!! :)

sam and hailey...sitting front row...thinking the towels are going to keep them dry! :)

summer is in full swing and what fun it's been! our company is all gone after having a house full for close to 5 weeks. uncle dave and aunt mike (marilyn) just left after being here for 3 weeks. we were especially honored to have them since it was not so many months ago that we almost lost aunt mike to a very seriously infection. she is a walking miracle....our kids saw first hand how God answers prayer!! we loved having them here. we were even able to celebrate uncle dave's birthday!
since the weather has FINALLY decided to shape up, we have taken full advantage of it and spend most of our waking moments, enjoying it. the boys finished up their yearly swimming lessons. the older boys did great and jack actually went down the slide!!! a big feat for him since he told me early on, that he WOULD NOT be doing THAT!! rye was able to stop by and see the last lesson, so jack felt like he needed to show daddy how brave he was! :)
our new trees are in the ground so sam and jack work tirelessly, to keep them growing! it's the one chore that they actually don't mind doing!
uncle tim brought over his 'souped up' golf cart. hours of fun yet to be had!!! even the little boys can drive it. (after we add oil....tim!!!! :) )
so the fun continues.......

misc. summertime fun.....