Enumclaw

The boys and I came up to Enumclaw for a week so that we could be up here for the events of 2 weekends in a row. A family service project, and Natalie's Bride's day. This just happens to coincide with a week of weather in the 80's, family being in from out of town, and Dad's new awesome boat. So between Uncle Tom's pool, 5 acres of freedom, and Lake Tapps, we have been living it up!

Uncle Keith hung this rope swing in the back 40 of the property. It was super long so he made 2 loops, which was the best idea ever! Asher played on that thing for probably an hour!

The rope has a few knots in it pretty far up, so Keith and Will have races to the top. It's pretty fascinating watching them climb that thing, both using their legs, and not!

Dad, William, Scott, Landon (their friend) and I all went wakeboarding Saturday morning. We were up wakeboarding before 9am. We were the only ones on the lake, and it was so calm and crisp! And because of the weather, the water was so nice! William donned his wetsuit, but ended his run early so that he could strip it off. He had never sweat while wakeboarding before. The water was amazing!

For those that don't know, I am *terrified* of water. I love being on the water (boat, tube, etc), but anything that requires my face getting wet, I stay far away from. I admit that I keep a towel close at hand while showering...that is how much I don't like it.

However, Wakeboarding looks SO fun, and I couldn't have these prime opportunities to go and not take advantage. So, I faced my fear, and after a few panicky moments over the past few days, I can say that I've never been MORE excited to get in the water! I still am not a strong swimmer, and I still don't prefer water in my face, but 80% of the time that I crash (which is 100% of the time), I get my hand to my nose, and all is well. I didn't realize that I was riding goofy (right foot forward) until we were watching videos at home later, so I'm anxious to get up left foot first. I also want to try waterskiing! We'll see how these attempts go. Hopefully I can go one more time while I'm here this week!

The Captain. He is the best person to be driving this boat while learning (and otherwise. Just ask William), and it helps that he's my father and understands my fears. He can get the rope to me every single time and knows how to drive to give me the best chance of staying up. And probably the most important thing? He is patient with me while I crash time and time and time again. The funny part is, getting up is the easy part. It's the staying up that I struggle with!

This picture makes me laugh. I'm not sure why, but I love it!

Wakeboarding Day 2. For FHE, we invited Uncle Tom and Aunt Vera, Jennifer and Isaias, and Ali and Shawn and their kids to the lake for a BBQ and boating fun. We were at the lake for 6 hours, and again, the weather was amazing! The kids had a blast, and everyone had so much fun on the row boats, paddle boats, boogie boards, big boat, tube, wakeboard and waterskiis!

This picture is kind of dark, but Asher is on the left and Brayden is on the right, with me in the middle. The entire time we were on the tube, Asher was jumping up and down on his knees yelling "Faster!". I was impressed with how fast Brayden let it be but once it got to that speed, he was not wanting it to go any faster.

My FAVORITE thing about Lake Tapps? Mt. Rainier in the background. There isn't a prettier sight in the world, in my opinion!

William is the property manager at PSE Park on Lake Tapps. He schedules cabins, keeps the camp clean, and is an onsite figure for anyone that has questions or problems. This means he gets to spend a lot of time on the water, and he has gotten amazingly good at wakeboarding in the past few months!

Isn't this picture amazing!? The sunset, the water, his sweet jump... haha, I loved photographing him out there!

Mt. Rainier!

He is teaching himself how to flip on the wakeboard. Although he hasn't done it successfully yet, he isn't deterred and continues to attempt it.

My brothers love being on the tube alone, since it means they get to "fly" across the water. They have mastered the art of catching air and keeping the tube up and gliding across the water for quite along time!

Backyard Fun

We are so blessed to have a backyard!! Although it isn't attached to our house, I am so grateful for the space for the boys (and adults) to run around and have some fun. Last week we had a pizza picnic, that included baseball, climbing trees, Duck Duck Goose, and picking fruit out of our garden.

I made Raspberry Rhubarb crisp with both the rhubarb and raspberries coming from our garden. It was by far the best crisp I have ever made. It was so good in fact, that I made another one the next day. SO GOOD!

I couldn't not post this picture. How adorable is this?

We are so blessed and so lucky to have the extra space. I really cannot imagine what we'd do without it!

Fourth of July

Fourth of July this year was, in my world, a perfect Independence Day. The day started off with a 5k with my nephew. He is 9 and got 1st in his division (out of 18), 50th out of 642 overall runners, and ran the entire 3.1 miles in just over 25 minutes. He was incredible! I came in 7 minutes after him, but it felt so good to get out!

After the race we, along with Ryan and Heidi and fam stayed for the parade, then played at the park and ate lunch.

After the park, Ryan wanted to go get the jetskis in the water to make sure they worked before she had his entire family in tow. So Ryan, Michael and I took them out to Hagg Lake. Good thing we did! Only 10 seconds after the jetski I was on got in the water, it died. After towing it back to dock, all 3 of us hopped on Ryan's jetski, and went over to a cove where we all jumped in. It was such a beautiful day! It was so nice to get in the water. We raced back to their house in Banks where we had a delicious barbecue and cake (Costco made the cake, I decorated it). We did fireworks in the driveway before heading to the neighborhood park to check out the larger show.

All in all, it was so perfect! I am so grateful that we live so close to family, and that our kids have the opportunity to be best friends with their cousins. Such a blessing!