June, beautiful June! Oh how I love the beginning of summer!! June began with a bit of drama around the flying of pride flags in downtown Poulsbo. The city of Poulsbo decided to buy and fly about 50 pride flags in downtown Poulsbo where Olivia works. It was really discouraging and we went to meet with the mayor with some friends. She was less than understanding of our position of wanting the city to stay neutral and not push an agenda like this, but they did not. It really bothered Olivia and she was upset when a couple of women came in pushing the agenda and an informational pamphlet. They must have been able to tell she was uncomfortable because they asked her and she said she was so they left. But then we found out that they had called out her shop on facebook on a post. Olivia wrote a few emails to the mayor about it, with no response. This situation was discouraging and just shows where the sin of this world is headed. We live in a dark time, but we must continue to seek God's truth and stand for that and what the Bible says. It is not the easy road, but it is the road we must take as Christians. It was a good learning experience for Olivia and I was proud of how she handled herself.
The beginning of June is always the daddy daughter ball. A labor of love for me for the girls and daughters of our church. It is a really loved tradition!! This year turned out really great and always and was a fun night. Here are some pictures of the set up!
The girls did their hair so nice and they all looked so beautiful!! Olivia did not actually attend this year, she came as my helper and was very helpful! I was glad she was willing to at least be there even if she wasn't attending. Here are a few pictures of the girls at home before we left for the night.
These are the pictures I got of the girls when they arrived. Olivia did not officially attend, but she let me get a few pictures of her with all her sisters and dad.
.JPG)
.JPG)
And here are a few of the pictures from the night. The girls had a great time! I was hosting so I didn't get a ton of pictures during the first part, but got quite a few of the dance portion.
Spring flowers! Always so pretty!
On Sunday was Hannah's bridal shower. A fun and beautiful day to celebrate Hannah and her coming wedding!! There was some yummy food, some fun games...one was dress the bride, a beautiful devotion from Hannah's grandma and of course presents. Here are some pictures from the day in no particular order.
The next day (a Monday) we headed to Montana to spend some time at the cabin! Probably our last time there so it was a hard but needed trip. We wish we could have been there more and gotten there more. Life gets crazy and it gets hard to travel it seems. We were thankful to have 4 days to spend at the cabin enjoying God's beautiful creation, spending time with family, and riding the horses.
Tuesday was a pretty nice day so we started the day down by the lake for some canoeing, paddle boarding and relaxing.
In the afternoon, we got the horses out and the girls did some riding and we used the razor too. The girls had a great time riding the horses. Here are some pictures in no particular order...
The next day, Wednesday, was the nicest day we were there so we decided to do a boat trip and picnic. It was a nice day for a boat ride and the beach we found was great for a picnic and a few brave swimmers. But then a storm started rolling in so we decided to head back to the cabin. So here are some pictures from our time....in no particular order.
That afternoon Hans and I took the younger 3 in to West Yellowstone to see the Grizzly Bear preserve. It had been awhile since we had been in there and the girls didn't remember it much. It was a fun outing for a cooler afternoon. We saw bears, wolves, prairie dogs, owls, and eagles and the new otter exhibit was super fun!! The creature God made for us to enjoy are so amazing! It was fun to spend time together and enjoy the beautiful animals. Pictures are posted in no particular order...
This is the upstairs game room. As I look at this picture it makes me sad that we may never see this room again. I needed to take pictures so I could remember. The girls loved playing air hockey up here!
On Thursday, we decided to head into Yellowstone for the day. We had the best surprise and amazing sighting. A sighting that doesn't happen all the time of a mama grizzly and her 2 cubs bounding across the street and then through a near by meadow as we were parked and able to watch. It was absolutely awesome!! We were so close and everyone could see them so well. It was really fun!
The first stop was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and hiking down to the top of the waterfall. I had done this hike a while ago with Mary and the girls. I think Raelyn was still on my back maybe, but Hans had never done it with us. So we did the short hike down to see the amazing waterfall flowing. God's creation is so amazing! I often wonder how these natural features were created whether God created them at creation or if they were made from a catastrophic event like the flood. I would guess that this one was made by the flood. The water is so powerful going over that fall. It is really breath taking and awe inspiring and I was a little fearful keeping my kids and phone close. You don't want to lose anything!!
Then we drove over to the upper fall to check that one out and eat our lunch we had packed.
Next we drove a way we hadn't gone in a long time (possibly ever) down around the loop and past Yellowstone Lake on our way to Old Faithful and the part of the road we had been on many times. We some buffalo and the drive was beautiful and a bit rainy.
Unfortunately, we got stuck in construction traffic and just barely missed Old Faithful going off. We pulled up as it was just finishing and it was 90 minutes or more before the next time it would blow so we decided to not wait. I was super bummed, because I don't think Raelyn and maybe even Aubrey really remember they last time they saw it blow, but what do you do. I did want to stop at the the Grand Prismatic because we hadn't stopped there for years because it is always and I mean always so packed! This time was no different but we did find a spot off the road a ways down and were able to walk and see it. The girls were kind of annoyed, and we really needed sunglasses for all of us... but it was worth it in my opinion to see this amazing feature that God created for us. I do think it would be easier to see from the trail above, but maybe if there is a next time we will do that.
Back at the cabin the dogs had done ok together all day. Lulu did chew on 3 or 4 of our good life jackets which was a bummer for sure. They sure are cute though!
The next day was our last day so we had to make the most of it and I was taking pictures of different things so we can remember this special cabin and all the things we love(d) about it!! Here are a few pictures I took...
 |
| The girls room...but when they were younger we all slept in there. |
We decided to go into West Yellowstone for a bit to do some shopping for Yellowstone gear. Here is a picture we took with a bear. We did find some great items and Hans found a Hebgen Lake hat! It was a fun trip!
When we got back to the cabin we had to have one more horse afternoon. These horses are so loved and we will be really sad and miss them so much when they are no longer at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I really can't say how much we love these beautiful animals and how fortunate we are to have grandparents that have them so the girls have gotten to do some riding and petting and feeding of these really amazing animals. It was a great afternoon and we pretty nice out fortunately too!
Here are the pictures in no particular order because it would take me too long to put them back in the right order....
And these are some pictures that Hans took of the girls as he was out on rides with them.
It was a glorious afternoon and the girls rode and rode till they were done.
Then a little storm blew in and we got a rainbow!
Every night most of us would get into the sauna to enjoy sweating out all those toxins. We really liked it!! Here are some pictures from the last night of sauna sitting.
The view when we were taking a break from the sauna! Just GORGEOUS!!
Raelyn was always brave and did the cold hose shower outside.
The last night sleeping in the bunkroom...it feels so sad!! It is just so sad to think we will never be there again. (sniff, sniff)
The next day we didn't race out. We had a little time for a little more air hockey, some pictures in front of the cabin and a last goodbye of the horses and feeding them some treats.
As we drove away we were all crying! Well minus Hans. The thought of never seeing this cabin again is really heartbreaking. We will see what happens. The cabin was up for sale most of the summer, but then they pulled it off, planning to keep it. It is now back on the market and we don't know what will happen. Time will tell....
After we returned from the cabin we found this baby bunny one day in front of our garage. We are pretty sure our little Oliver had found the next and tried to kill him and dropped him there. This baby was so so so cute and sooooo tiny!! We tried to find it's home, but that is impossible. Who knows where the cat found him so we took him to a animal rescue place on Bainbridge Island. We don't know if this baby survived but we sure hope it did. Sadly many other baby bunnies did not survive our evil little kitty! He was quite the killer this last summer.
During the week we had a really fun field day at the Anunson's house. There were lots of fun events including bows and arrows, sack races, ring throws and tug of war, among other things. The girls had a great time and the weather was gorgeous!
A few days later was Jada's graduation and graduation party. I helped Jodie with some planning for the party and the day turned out really nice. Olivia was able to go to the graduation as well as Jodie had an extra ticket. It was kind of a bummer because there was shipyard day that day as well and we had to leave early from the Shipyard so that Olivia could make it to the graduation on time. But I was glad that she was able to go. I have no pictures from the shipyard because you can't take phones or cameras on the shipyard. We did have a fun morning there seeing a bit of what it is like when Hans' goes to work.
The party was a big success!! Congratulations JADA!!
The next day was Sunday and Father's day and we headed out on our annual camping trip to the ocean with the Mills.
The first night after we get there set up and have dinner we always have to go to the beach for a fire and sunset! It was chilly but sunny!! These are in random order. But we had fun playing on the beach and roasting marshmallows on the fire. And the sunset was beautiful!
And then we played some games back at camp! And had some yummy cupcakes! I was practicing for Hannah's wedding!!
The next day was cooler in the morning if I remember right. We had breakfast and then finally got going to the beach. They really love to be at the beach. It was windy, but the sun came out some. We played and relaxed and chatted and flew kites most of the afternoon I believe. And they played a fun game of ultimate frisbee.
The next day the weather wasn't quite as nice so we decided to first head into town for a little bit of exploring, ice cream, and this year we discovered poutine.
It was windy!!!
Ice cream time!! Yummy!!
And we had our second year of eating oysters! It was an interesting and funny experiment!! Most of our kids do not like oysters!
That night we were back to the beach for some sun, sand, sunsets, and more games and fire! It was a our last night so we had to do it up! It was a beautiful evening to be on the beach!!
Had to take some family pictures on the beach!
They loved the ultimate frisbee game the day before and decided to play again!
Then we had s'mores by the fire!
And a sunset family picture!
And the annual kids being crazy jumping picture!
Another fun ocean trip!!
The night we got back from our camping trip we had our first summer BBQ, put on by our small group so we had to be there to help. It turned out great though and was a fun time!
Found this little frog on my door when I moved my spring wreath, it was under it.
My crossfit group was going to be coming to an end the end of summer so I started taking pictures of workouts that I liked so that I could do them on my own someday...at least that was the thought. I have been doing ok at that, but I do really miss my workout group and the accountability and the harder workouts than I make myself do.
I got these beautiful strawberries from my garden! YUM!!!
My dad send me these pictures from when the traveling Vietnam Wall was in Kalispell.
Beautiful flowers and sayings!!
This is Raelyn with her free National Park Pass we got at Yellowstone.
We had the Griesemer girls over one day and they put together a whole little video complete with costumes and everything. It was super cute!!
Another workout pic! This time with the 3 of us and Mandy.
June 29th Olivia and Aubrey went to summer camp with our church and 2 other churches at Dunes Camp. They had a really fun time and learned a lot. Claire decided not to go and Raelyn was so too young.
These pictures I got after camp of the girls while there.
On July 29th, I gave Raelyn her birthday gifts. She got a phone case, a necklace and a camera.
While the girls were away I worked on cleaning up the boat and getting it ready to go to Banks lake. We ended up having to take our boat over early because we didn't have 2 rigs to tow with. The new boat weighs too much for our van to tow. So Hans did a lot of driving! I felt bad that is the way we had to do it, but it worked. Stella liked sitting in her stroller watching me work.
And Claire did Raelyn's hair in these cute braids!!
June was sooooo fun!! Next up JULY!! Another busy summer month!!
