Abbreviated

I heard it said once that you can judge a woman’s current level of chaos by the status of how cluttered her purse is. I don’t know how accurate that statement is, but I do know that mine is so crazy-messy currently that I’m thinking of just starting over with a new one.

We’ve had the most fun this month. We’ve been crazy road trippers, and it’s been one adventure after another. It's been awesome, and I’m eager to update this blog with pictures and stories, but just haven't  had made the time to do so yet.

But I want to.

I love that this blog updates our extended families as to what we’re up to. I love that it documents memories for us. I love that it serves as a journal for me. And I love the blogging community.

I don’t want my blogging to cease.

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined Facebook last year. It’s fun, but, I often find myself being drawn to posting just a quick picture or snippet on there, and then calling it good. I’m not on Instagram or Twitter, but I can see the allure of ease on those sites as well. It’s not that blogging is hard, it’s that it is more time consuming. But I want that. I want to spend the time writing out my thoughts and telling our family’s story. I don’t want to get sucked into just the abbreviated version of our days. In 10 years when the twins are entering high school (gulp), I want this blog to serve as our memory book. I want to be able to look back on our days and see what the summer of two 3year olds looked like.

Hope to make time this weekend...in the mean time, good night all.



We are Fam-i-ly...I've got all my sisters with me...

That's right.

A few days ago all FIVE of my sisters and I were reunited! We rented a beach house and spent 3 days hanging out and playing together, it was so much fun.

This trip was special for many reasons...the first being that it's been 2+ years since the five of us have all been together. The second being our littlest sister, Emily, is leaving soon to travel to Zambia for a year.

Yes. Zambia. For a year.

She is amazing and brave and faithful, and we are crazy proud of her.

Amanda and her two kiddo's and I packed up and headed over to Lincoln City on Monday. We arrived at the house and settled in. 

Abbey read Keegan a book, and Luke relished the fact that he could hide under the bed =)

 (You'll notice in the above picture that I made Luke and Abbey a comfy floor bed. Turns out it was in vain. They both ended up in bed with me both nights. Queen sized bed, with pillows wedged on either side of them so they wouldn't fall out. Cozy.)

 After settling in to the house, we made our way to go play on the Beach!

Luke was SO HAPPY to be back at the Beach!

Cousin Cadence quickly joined him in some celebratory bench jumping =)

 

The big kids had so much fun digging in the sand...

 

...while the baby had so much fun eating it!

 

 

 Me and my sweet babies!

 

 

Cutest Photo Bomber ever =)

 

The kids played and played until we finally said it was time to pack up...at which point they all realized they were cold, wet, and sandy. Funny how they were oblivious to that while having fun =).

 

We made an obstacle course for our trucks...

 

And flew a kite!

 

That night after the kiddos were asleep, Auntie Natalie arrived! The kids were SO HAPPY to find her in the living room when they woke up!

 

That morning we hung around the house...reading, playing and flying like an airplane...

 

Later we packed up and headed to what I have deemed the Coolest Park Ever. It was epic! The kids had a blast exploring this place...

 

 Abbey and Luke really enjoyed walking this "tight rope". I love how Luke puts his tongue out while concentrating =)

After lunch and a failed attempt at nap time, Auntie Natalie graciously watched the big kids for Amanda and I so we could run to the Outlet Malls in search of matching outfits for the kids for our photo session the next day. Thanks again Natalie!!

Once we returned, we all bundled up and headed out for some more beach fun. The weather was cloudy and really windy, but we managed to have a great time anyways =)

 

 Our sweet, silly girl...

These 3 had so much fun together!

 

Auntie Natalie getting some Keegan love...

 

The 3 Amigos and I dug a giant hole while searching for buried treasure...

 

And this Momma enjoyed some Baby smiles...

 

Luke's favorite part of the entire trip was flying a kite. He just beamed with pride as he ran around in the sand with the kite flying overhead!

 

We had a family friend come over to the Coast to capture some pictures of the five of us (and our kids). I'll post those here as soon as I get my hands on them!

We were blessed with a really great trip. Auntie Emily and Auntie Vanessa weren't able to join us until day 2 of our trip, but we were still so blessed to get 24 hours together. Tuesday night, after the kids were down, the 5 of us stayed up in our pj's drinking root beer floats and wine, and laughing until tears were streaming down our faces. It was a special time. 

 I always loved growing up in a big family, and I love it even more now that we are all adults together.

Wedding Weekend!

This weekend we traveled about 3 hours East so we could attend Dave's cousin's wedding. 

It was such a beautiful wedding and we had an absolute blast!

It was an outdoor wedding. We got there early and wandered a bit...

My children dancing in the bridal walkway...(AFTER the wedding =) )...

 Abbey and Luke had so much fun exploring this space. The climbed all over these trees.

There was also a craft table - such a neat idea- and Gaga sat down to do some crafts for a bit =)

Once the DJ started in, Luke and Abbey made a mad dash for the dance floor. They were crazy excited to bust a move!

There was a photo booth there, and Luke kept randomly appearing with a stolen prop costume item...

You can see where they get their sweet moves...

We took a family turn in the photo booth...

As I mentioned above, Luke kept running over to the photo booth and switching out his props. At  one point, it'd been a few minutes that I hadn't seen him, so I went to check the photo booth. I asked a lady right outside it "have you seen a little 3 year old boy out here?" and she says "I think so...there's some little kid in there by himself right now..."

That would be my son.

I grabbed him outta there and we went to look at the pictures he had taken...

 (that's the only one of the 4 series that you can actually see his face in. Two others are blank, one has the top of a Viking Horn in it)

Dave and I laughed SO HARD, because that is just SO Luke. He's so curious and adventurous. I know exactly what happened here. After casing the joint for a bit, and running some recon to find out how things worked, Luke waited until the photo booth was empty, grabbed a prop hat, and went inside and pressed the button. That look on his face is pride. He did it. Exactly what he set out to do. Just like he knew he could.

Love that boy.

We had to buy a new tire before we headed back home (long story. Short version is blessedly Dave's Dad noticed our tire was about to pop AFTER we had just driven for 3+hours in the heat with not a single car trouble). This meant a long wait for our little family, so we walked over to a restaurant to grab some lunch. Abbey and I split a vanilla milkshake.

Dave and Luke split a chocolate one...

Lovin' our summer adventures!!