that’s what finley said about our little day trip to our favorite local beach. we found a little stream {estuary?} that was so much fun we never actually made our way to the ocean. days like this make me love living in the northwest. days like today, not so much…

This weekend brian’s brother got married. It was such a joyful celebration, and something that his friends and family have been waiting a LONG time for. And let me tell you, his wife was well worth the wait. Their wedding happened to be our 5th anniversary too, so it was fun/special to be back where we got married. Finley and Adalaide were in the wedding with their cousins, and it’s a real bummer i don’t have any pictures because those kids were a-dorable! Their pastor did a great job with the ceremony. He spoke really genuinely about marriage and i left feeling really encouraged. do you get tired of hearing the same lovey dovey, not so realistic talks at weddings like i do? Anywho, we had the BEST night. Our girls seriously danced for hours. We’d arranged for my mom to bring them home and put them to bed, but they were having so much fun we kept them up until 11:00! At one point Finley was in the house playing and she heard one of her favorite songs start playing. She ran across the property to the dance floor, and kept asking them to start the song over. Ha! I took lots of pictures, but unfortunately hardly any of the bride and groom since i was mostly with the kiddos. Check out the album for more…

rehearsal. when i saw this picture i thought whoa. i’m a mom! funny how you sometimes can’t believe it.

does your 89-year-old grandma look this hot? and does she also get out on the dance floor? good genes in this family…

waiting for the wedding to start

the best we could get.

adalaide and her cousin jonny {12 days apart}

are you dying?

cousins

finley was laying down in the grass pouting because she didn’t want to share the veil. she looked so cute i had to snap a few photos. that sends a good message, right?

adalaide with the bride’s sister {who is the most stunning, poised child ever}

my s-i-l and a sleepy lyla

:: i got these shoes for the girls and they are pretty much the cutest shoes of all time. finley calls them her “tom toms” which makes them even cuter.

:: we’ve been listening to seeds family worship cds. i think we have just about every kid praise cd that exists and this is one of my favorites. the songs are taken from scripture and are really, really catchy and fun to sing along to.

:: this weekend brian went on a guys weekend to huntington beach. my wonderful mother came over to keep me company and we worked on this sewing project. we finished finley’s and it is quite cute. but it was my first time using bias tape, and lets just say there is a lot of room for improvement.

:: one of my best/oldest friend’s husband started an online Christian radio station, proclaim radio. amongst other things, the site has two playlists with TONS of songs so that you don’t have to listen to the same 10 songs over and over and over.

:: since the bachelorette has really let us down this season, we’ve really thrown ourselves into our other favorite summer show-so you think you can dance. as you probably know, finley is really into dancing so we dvr it and let her watch it with us. this is our all time favorite routine. i think brian and i even tried to learn it a couple years ago-ha!

:: i got this swimsuit from modcloth and wore it this weekend. before you go knocking it, you should know that it is seriously a miracle swimsuit. i know my husband is definitely a two-piece kinda guy, but there was just no way that was happening this summer. as far as one pieces go, this is actually pretty cute on…more retro than matronly.

:: one more reference to brian cause he brought this home from the beach for the girls and i’m so impressed with his taste.

:: we’ve been eating basil like it’s going out of style. i think this looks tasty and i would make it tonight if only we had peaches.

:: in the last 5 years we’ve only seen one movie in the theater {bridesmaids}. we saw the preview for this movie and can’t wait for it to come out. two movies in one year, hot dog! warning: you might find the trailer slightly offensive. did i ever mention that while changing lyla she shot poop right in my eye? it really happens…

Boy oh boy did we have a fun filled week {with lots of photos to show for it}!

Lyla and I went to a ladies only birthday celebration for my s-i-l. As much as we love our husband’s company, it was so much fun to get together without them and the distraction of the older kids. In true girly spirit we ended up doing our nails and makeup.

lyla and her cousin Peter-who is one month older

my last manicure was for our wedding. 5 YEARS AGO!!!

do you have any idea how hard it is for me not to gobble her chubby cheeks up? Seriously, I have an obsession with kissing them.

we went for a hike

lots for baby girl to take in

there’s a wheelchair accessible trail which was perfect for our double jogger

a flower for lyla

FREEDOM!

i made pioneer woman’s cinnamon rolls for a friend’s birthday brunch and our fathers day breakfast. holy mother of goodness! brian had 6 in one sitting. i’m glad i only made half the recipe {30 rolls} because they are dangerously good.

some special artwork for daddy

this is the card from finley. i wrote exactly what she said without adding or omitting anything. i’m so proud that she came up with all these thoughtful things on her own. a keepsake for sure!

bocce ball cheerleaders

first ice-cream cone

lunch at the zoo

trying to kiss the alpaca

palomino. mmmmmmm.

and just for kicks, here we are at the same restaurant 5 years ago.

thanks for sharing your special no-kid, anniversary night with us!

p.s. my fake n’ bake tan is hilarious. and by hilarious, i mean embarrassing. someone should have intervened.

p.p.s. just noticed brian has food in his teeth

p.p.s.s. my lumberjack husband is growing out that beard for another month! whats the deal with bachelor parties and weird facial hair? i don’t get it. i guess i’m lucky he’s not doing a mustache.

p.p.p.s.s. he’ll probably suprise me with a mustache based on that last statement.

…about our trip to kelsey creek park today.

1. this was the first time we’ve done an activity like this where adalaide was able to get out of the stroller and walk. i wish i’d had my video camera, because she was so proud of herself and just kept squealing.   

2. two boys were being really nasty to finley at the playground. i kept waiting for one of their oblivious dads to say something, and just when i was about to intervene i heard finley say, “don’t talk to me like that. it’s mean!” i was so proud of her for standing up for herself, especially knowing how shy she is around new people.

3. someone thought i was a nanny. again. i’m sure in twenty years looking young will be a compliment, but i’m ready to stop looking sixteen. maybe i need some new clothes? more makeup? hmmm.

4. on the way home we chatted about the boys at the park who were unkind. finley asked, “why can’t jesus come down from the sky and talk to those boys?” moments like that melt my heart.

This is the last year my wife can say she’s in her twenties and I feel it necessary to reciprocate words of praise on her special day (which was yesterday). First off, what a wonderful mom for sharing her birthday with her beloved daughter. Doesn’t get much more selfless then that. And for all of you who know Meghan, you know that the birthday is possibly the most important day of celebration in ones life. This is obviously reflected in how much time and effort she puts into giving me and her daughters the best birthdays ever. If only I had a cloning machine to make another Meghan to throw herself a party. One can dream! She really knows how to go the extra mile to make us feel loved and important and we are so blessed. Plus she is an awesome party thrower; And Pregnant! Anyway…for all you people who enjoy this thing called the blogosphere, I just wanted you to know how much I do appreciate and love my wife. She is the BEST. So happy birthday honey. May it be our best year yet!

brian and i went on a little date. we ate yummy food. slowly. and actually conversed with one another. it was quite lovely, and i feel motivated to make it happen more than, oh twice a year. also, someone may have needed to loosen their belt on the ride home. and it wasn’t brian. 

we baked treats for vday

and put together special goodies for our friends. cute cards from here.

we made a special valentine for brian

which was fun for a while…

until it wasn’t anymore.

good weekend, for sure.

on my old blog i had a tracking thingy installed that told me where my visitors came from and how they got to my blog. one day i saw that someone {from germany} had gotten to our page from google by typing in some crass pedophile search. since then i’ve been much more mindful about the content i post on our blog, and the words that i use in a given post. WordPress offers a different, far less informative, tracking thing that is built into my blog. it doesn’t tell me much, but it does keep track of visitors who come via a search engine {google} and what words they searched for. luckily the person who came by our site this week, didn’t find what they were looking for, but it’s still disturbing nonetheless. and since most of the people who check our blog have family blogs themselves, i felt the need to share a bit of advice. be careful what photos you post. be mindful of your words. even if you aren’t writing about something inappropriate, a google search pulls words out of various sentences. ok, that’s all.

have a good day