Cooper and Nikki

In mid August, my cousin Lisa called and wanted to know if we would be interested in taking her two little dogs. They felt like they weren't home enough to take care of them and had brought them to Yakima, hoping to leave them with her parents but that didn't work out. We decided to do it and on August 17th we brought these cute little 3 year old dogs home. The kids loved them so much right away! The first few days were spent just playing with Nikki and Cooper.  The dogs adjusted quickly and it wasn't long before it seemed like they were always part of the family.

Here's just a little bonus picture of Jared in his tool belt since I love watching him work!

Jared turns 37

We loved having the chance to celebrate Jared's birthday.  After church we had a little party and finished it off with some delicious lemon cake.

This picture is from a few days later at Heather's 40th birthday. Scott and Jared are always the ice cream servers.

Jared is the best of the best! He works so hard but always comes home happy and ready to play. He's so full of energy and life, you'd think he was still in his twenties! That is not the case though, as he's quickly sneaking up on "middle-aged." Happy Birthday Jared! We love you!

Jacob turns 7

Jacob wanted a Mario party this year. He loved the fun cake that Jared and I made for him.

The day before his actual birthday, we had a party with his cousins. We had a fun time putting together a Mario world. Everyone got a turn to run through the course, collecting coins, dodging fireballs, and fighting Bowser at the end.

Time for presents and cake.

The next day, for his birthday, we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Then had a doughnut birthday cake at Grandma's house.

Jacob is such a happy, joyful boy. He's been keeping us laughing for 7 years now. He loves playing with his brother and sisters. He's become quite the swimmer this summer. He loves talking to everyone and making friends. He's excited for first grade. He's such a sweet boy. This spring when we were deciding if we wanted to move the boys to another school so that Bradley could be in the PAL program, Jacob heard us talking over our concerns about making them start over at a new school and Jacob said, "I'll go to a new school and make new friends if it will help make Bradley happy." That pretty much sums up this incredible guy of ours! We're so grateful to have this LOUD and loving boy! We love you!

Summer Time!

We had a wonderful summer! It started out with Grandpa and Grandma spontaneously buying a new big house. We were busy helping them move in at the beginning of July and helping them get settled. We had a nice, quiet 4th of July and were able to spend lots of time swimming in the new pool. Also, we loved getting to pick blueberries as usual!

Mackayla got her ears pierced! Jared had been trying to talk her into it for awhile and she finally decided she wanted to do it. She was nervous, but very brave!

Derek's and Danielle's family made the long drive across the country and spent a couple weeks in Yakima. We had a great time with them and the kids really loved their time with cousins! We had family pictures taken at the new house.

Mackayla loved making banana bread for us by herself. Yummy!

It didn't take us long to get use to the pool life. We spent the summer playing like crazy. The kids swam like little fish!

Mackayla got her own strawberry plant this year and loved taking care of it and enjoying the berries.

Jacob lost his first tooth!

A few pictures are out of order but the kids all loved doing perler beads all summer in G&G's laundry room. 

The summer Olympics were on this summer and the kids had fun doing all their own races of the different strokes in the pool.

I finally got a new phone and am now able to take pictures whenever I want. This lovely picture of Jared is one of my first ones.

This is how we spent our time during the last few weeks of Jared getting the house finished for the tour. Just sitting on buckets, watching a movie in an unfinished house. He's been spending about 16 hours a day between job sites and then comes home to spend a couple of hours at his desk. We've spent the last two evening there with him just so that we could see him.

You gotta love the "bring your own container" day at 7-11