1st Family Camping trip of the year!

Yes, 3 collages! I know it's a lot for 1 post, but when you take close to 400 pictures in 2 days it's the easiest way to share them on here with out making my post gigantic! Last weekend we headed to Lake Wenatchee State Park Campground with the Newgard Family :) We stayed 2 nights and enjoyed the sunshine and company!

This collage is of pictures from around our campsite

Saturday was spent mostly at the lake, the weather was perfect and the kids LOVED it!

I had to make Avery & Nolan their own separate collage, they were just so dang cute together! Sometimes they fight a bit, kinda like brother and sister but they had a great time and played together so well the whole weekend.

Heading Here.....

Wenatchee Lake State Park!
*****
Tomorrow afternoon we are heading to this beautiful lake near Leavenworth with some of our besties, The Newgard Family for a weekend of camping! We are looking forward to some fun times for us and the kiddos, as well as some relaxation and some much needed SUNSHINE! The weather report says we are looking at sunny skies and temps in the low to mid 80's! I cannot wait for that. I'm excited, but have a lot of packing and preparing to do before tomorrow afternoon. I'll post pictures when we get back, there are sure to be lots taken, hopefully none of me in the new bikini I bought. I haven't bought a bikini since before Norah was born almost 5 years ago! We'll see if I'm brave enough to actually wear it ;)

Mt. Adams!

Last weekend Casey and I along with some of best friends Tiffany and Kory had aspirations of summiting WA's 2nd highest peak, Mt. Adams. While we didn't summit we still had a great trip and are planning to attempt it again sometime in August. I will post some of our trip pictures below, but please go to Tiffany's blog for an amazing detailed report of our entire trip and also enjoy her great photographs!

Group photo just before starting out on our journey

Me and Tiff, with all our gear and heavy packs
Ready to go!

Me on the way up, a few layers had come off at this point and the weather was pretty decent!

Kory, Tiffany and myself on the way up to camp

Our snowy, cozy little camp
My first experience setting up camp in the snow!

View of Mt. St Helens from our camp

View of Mt. Hood from our camp

Mine and Casey's tent at sunset

Sunrise at 8700 ft. on Mt. Adams

Absolutely gorgeous!

So Very Proud of My Little Sis!

Dr. Sarah Martin :)

Norah and her Auntie Sarah after the "hooding" ceremony on graduation morning.

On Saturday we had a graduation party for my little sis and her bf Brandon. They are both graduates of UPS, from the DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) program! Great job both of you! Saturday was fun, laid back, and we had perfect weather for our backyard BBQ. Family and close friends joined us in helping celebrate their accomplishments.

Most of Sunday was spent on the beautiful campus of UPS. First we had a family brunch provided by the PT program graduates. Then we attended the "hooding" ceremony for the DPT class. It was really cool, each graduate had prepared a statement that was read while they were being hooded. It was a nice personal touch! Next we had a short break before the University graduation took place. Casey's mom came and picked up Norah, she did great in the morning but I knew we were in for a long afternoon with the presentation of diplomas to 700 + graduates. During our little break Casey and I went in search of coffee, I trekked about a mile in high heels on concrete for an iced vanilla latte, but it was worth it. The graduation ceremony was long, but I am so glad to have been there in support of my sister, she is amazing and I am beyond proud of her! She is going to be a fantastic physical therapist and I can't wait to see her grow into her new role. Love ya sis, way to go!!!

Ferry ride field trip

Last Friday the sun was shining and I bravely took both the kids by myself on a ferry ride field trip with Norah's preschool class. It went well, but I had some reservations. I was envisioning having to dive overboard to rescue Nolan. Casey and I even joked the night before that we should get him one of those leash things for kids(something we have always said we would never own). Anyways, he was well behaved and they didn't let us on the deck of the ferry while we were sailing so we avoided disaster ;) After the ferry ride we went to Owen beach at Pt. Defiance, had a yummy picnic lunch, soaked up some rays and played in the water a bit. It was the perfect day for a spring trip to the beach!

Here are the kids patiently awaiting they ferry's arrival

The Hiyu, from Pt. Defiance to Vashon
(we never actually got off at Vashon)

Playin in the sand after the ferry ride

"Star fish, mommy"
love this picture!

At the end of the trip it was time to do a little wading. She actually ended up soaked to her waist, but she loved it and didn't care one bit that she had to ride home without panties or pants! Good thing I had an extra blanket in the car.

T-Ball

♥My little ball player ♥

The baseball stance, I love it

Goin for the ball, and she got it !

Up to bat, the swing....

....and the hit (I adore the look on her face in this one)

Happy @ 3rd base

"Go Purple Pirates!"

Good sportsmanship

*****
Saturday I got to watch Norah play in her 2nd T-ball game, man and I thought soccer was cute it doesn't even compare. I loved everything about it and every minute of it! You can see by the look on her face in several pictures that she does too! The games are 2 innings long and consist of each player going up to bat once per inning, they don't keep score and they let all the kids take turns fielding the ball. She has the cutest little ready stance in the field and she takes it pretty seriously, she also has developed a little routine when she goes up to bat(I don't know where she got it from?) She hits her bat in the dirt a few times and gets ready, sometimes she swings so hard the momentum spins her in a circle! She has practice once a week and games every Saturday. I can't wait to see her play again, it's so dang cute. Nolan wishes he was bigger and could play too, Norah has been so cute trying to "coach" him in the back yard. He can actually hit the ball off the T, I think he's a natural....only a couple more years buddy and you can play too!

These 2 make me smile.....

.... a lot!!!

I've been having a great day with my kiddos and just had to share it! I seriously love my days off with them. We had a nice relaxing morning including a long bath for them, a much needed hair cut for Nolan and 3 pee-pee's in the potty for him too! Then we headed to the gym so mommy could get in a bike workout(I'm training for my 2nd triathlon) and it was a bike day on the schedule. So I had a great workout and picked the kids up from the nursery and headed for a quick trip to the grocery store. While there the kids got a treat, they had chocolate frappuccinos (minus the coffee, of course) from Starbucks! While we were shopping Norah said to me out of the blue that she was in love with a little boy from the gym and she was going to marry him. I asked her what little boy and she said the one in the superman costume(he was leaving at the same time as them) so I got a peak at her crush. I asked her if she told him and she said "no mom, it's a secret and only my friends can know!" Oh how cute she considers me her friend! I had a big smile on my face the rest of the shopping trip! We went home, had some backyard playtime, ate lunch and they went down for their naps. So that's been my day up until now, nothing special just time spent with my loves! I feel so blessed to have these 2 great kids, and it's so much fun seeing them grow, I LOVE it!