On our anniversary we......

....were going to do this (hike to High Rock Lookout), but
there were at least 10 cars at the trail head.

So instead we hiked through this,

and this,

and this,

to get to this (Cora Lake, Gifford Pinchot Nat'l Forest)

For our Anniversary we decided to go on a day hike, so we packed up the kids and took them over to my dad's place (thanks dad)! Then we headed up towards Mt. Rainier where we planed on hiking to High Rock Lookout (one of our favorite day hikes). It was TOO crowded though, probably 20 plus people up on the top of the rock didn't sound like fun! So we turned around and drove just a few miles down the road and decided to hike into Cora Lake. The hike was beautiful and we only ran into a few people on the trail. Once we got there we explored the woods around the lake, had a snack and decided to head back(I had to work that night so we didn't have tons of time). Just for fun we did some trail running and ran most of the way back to the car. We stopped at a little cafe in Ashford, got yummy lattes and scones and headed to pick up the kids. It was a such a nice way to spend our 6th wedding anniversary!

Happy 6 years !

Today me and my hubby have been married for 6 fun, happy, fabulous and loving years! I am so lucky to be married to my best friend, a great daddy, a hard worker and the absolute love of my life. Here's to many, many more happy anniversaries together. I love you babe!

Sunland Fun !

So we tried, I don't think we'll ever get a family picture with both the kids looking at the camera!

I love this guy ;-)

I still haven't got all the sand off of them.

My dirty boy!

This is Sunland. and what an appropriate name it has! We had beautiful weather, especially yesterday. Sundland is right on the Columbia river and right by the Gorge. One of Casey's old bosses has a vacation home there and he let us use it for the weekend. Casey and I packed up the kids and my sister came along and we headed there Friday night. We spent Saturday relaxing, playing at the park and watching and listening to a wind storm outside. After the kids went to bed we enjoyed some beer, wine, movies and board games. Sunday we had amazing weather hitting about 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky! We played on the beech for a few hours, came back had lunch and the kids napped while we picked up the place and enjoyed a little more relaxation time in the sun.

Some of my favorites......

.... my favorite people, flowers and pictures!

Tuesday evening Casey and I took the kids to a local dahlia farm for a little running around and some picture taking! I love all the beautiful pictures my talented husband got. I also love these flowers! This was the same place we got all of our wedding flowers from, so I'm a bit sentimental about it. The kids had a great time running through rows upon rows of flowers, and Casey and I were in awe of all the different shapes, sizes and colors. It was a fun way to spend a beautiful late summer evening.

Yay for Preschool !!!!

Norah on her first day of preschool

Art time is her favorite!

Playin outside in the sun

She absolutely loves her teacher Ms. Virginia
and sits by her every chance she gets.

Today Norah started preschool. She went last year too, and it's the same teacher and a lot of the same friends, and she was so excited! She has literally been asking me for a full month now when school will start. It is a co-op preschool meaning that a few times a month I get to go and work in the classroom, and that's lots of fun for me. She will go 3 mornings a week for a couple of hours and I am going to enjoy the time I get to spend with her in the class as well as the time I get to spend alone with Nolan while she's at school. Speaking of Nolan, this is what he has been up to......

Climbing anything and everything is sight!

Playing with sissy's baby dolls, a lot!

And giving coloring a whirl!