Back To School!

It's hard to believe that summer is over and that we are already back to school!

Taylor is in the 4th grade this year! She has had a great start to her school year and is enjoying her teacher, Ms. Watson. She is loving being with all her friends each day and has started playing the cello at school.





Maddie is in 2nd grade this year! She too has had a great start to her school year. She loves Mrs. Hooper and as she claimed at dinner one night : "I think I'm a role model. Mrs. Hooper ALWAYS tells me that". I think life is good
for her :)

SO glad Dave was able to sneak away from work for a little bit to take the girls to school!

Dave has had a busy start to his school year; Leading LID days, staff meetings, hiring and supervising football games. Although he is doing it all with a smile as his Cougars are currently on a 2 game winning streak!

Me? I've had the smoothest start I can remember having in a really long time. I've got nice kids in my class and I am already really enjoying them. I'm a happy girl!

A Biking Girl!

Maddie girl is a two wheeling bike riding machine! In true Madison fashion, she had to take her own sweet time to learn this new skill. She rode for MONTHS without any pedals at all; just practicing her balance with the bike. She was content. Until one day, she got on Taylor's old bike and said: "I think I'm going to ride this bike now" and she literally took off. Such a fun thing to watch! I absolutely love watching her ride; she has to pedal ten times harder than Taylor and I to stay up but she's determined!

 

It's definitely the summer of bike riding for our family. Both Taylor and Maddie ride around the neighborhood constantly day in and day out. And they've been very into riding on the Western Chehalis Trail. They ride up to 10 miles on the trail and it doesn't even seem to phase them. This mama isn't complaining! I'm actually getting a workout in! It's a win, win.

Crescent Bar and Chelan!

I always grew up going to Crescent Bar every summer with my family. When I say my family, I mean ALL of us; my mom, dad, sister, aunt, uncle and 3 cousins. And we all stayed in one tiny trailer together for weeks at a time. My favorite memories are from these summers and so I'm excited that Dave and I are slowly easing our way back into these favorite memories of mine. I see through Taylor and Maddie's faces and body language what my parents must have seen when I was their age; the excitement of staying up late, swimming for hours, hot sun beating on them, boat rides, board games and lots of people- all of them friends, connected by this one place.

The fourth of July is my absolute favorite time of the summer to be at C.B. and this year was no exception.

Its hard to describe how happy this place makes me feel. And I think it makes my family happy, too. These kids are doing what I did 25 (+) years ago- making friends they see summer after summer and bonding with their cousins and other family members.
 Being carefree with not a worry in the world.
 No hurrying....
 Just laughter, squeals of excitement and good old fashioned fun.
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After fun times at Crescent Bar we packed up the motor home and drove to Chelan to be with Dave's Dad and family. What I love about my Myers family is this; we don't see each other as often as I'd like BUT when we do see one another we literally pick up as if we had just seen each other the night before at dinner. I love this. I also love that my girls and their cousins, Drew and Luke, pick up right where they left off as well. We had an amazing time with them!

Hiking

Usually over the summer I go crazy with a list of things we are going to do while off for 2 months. I make charts, write up on our chalk board, do incentive reading, etc. and you know what? It usually always fizzles out within 3 weeks or so (and I'm being generous here). This summer, I decided not to do any of that but instead just focus on getting the kids out and about and doing and seeing things we don't normally have time for during the school year.

So far, our summer adventures have led us to local parks for letterboxing. You can find more information for letterboxing at www.atlasquest.com The girls and I have been on two letterboxing hikes so far this summer; both to local parks that are close to our house. It is so fun to watch them try to find and figure out the given clues for each stamp- and it has also been a challenge at times as some of the clues were written many years ago. A "small tree" is now not so small!

At Burfoot Park

At Burfoot Park

At Priest Point Park

 And can I tell you that I saw a whole new side of my mom when we took her for a letterboxing hike? We couldn't find a couple of the clues and she was bound and determined to find them. Climbing through bushes, up trees. Oh my! I've never laughed so hard! 

I also sent an all call out on FB at the beginning of summer for must do hikes with the kids. We tackled our first one, McLane Nature Trail with my sister and her kids. Can I tell you how much I love my sister? Its true! We giggled throughout the entire hike as we encountered grumpy kids, a SNAKE (I hate snakes) , a wrong trail that led us to someone's property and no beavers (they promised we'd see beavers!). After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived back to the car and while turning around discovered the ACTUAL trail that we were supposed to hike on. Re-do Darci? Soon!?!

McClane Nature Trail....or rather, by it.



Don't let these cute smiles fool you. They all had a melt down at one point on the trail.

Father's Day!

This Father's Day the Myers family was feeling the need to get out of town for the day. When we feel that need, we usually always end up in one of our favorite spots; Ocean Shores. We got up early, made Dave breakfast and opened gifts.

 Taylor made Dave an acrostic poem to hang on the wall and Maddie made him a back scratcher.

We had really wanted to take the motorhome with us to the ocean but a furry friend had another idea for us.....
 We didn't find this little guy until a week later and let me tell you, I wasn't a happy camper with him. At. All. Gross, gross, gross.....and who knew mice pooped so much? ICK!! After about 8 hours of scrubbing and cleaning, the motorhome is now back to normal.

So, we loaded up in the car and headed out! What a perfect day it was. The girls love to rock climb and Dave was a trooper (having just had ankle surgery, these rocks were pretty challenging!).

 

 

 

 

For all that know Dave they are fully aware of the love that he possesses for his girls. He loves us unconditionally and with his whole heart. We are blessed to be able to call him Dad and Husband. Happy Father's Day Dave! We love you!

BBQ Themed Wedding Shower

Brent and Taryn are officially married but I wanted to share with you the adorable BBQ themed couples wedding shower we threw for them in early June. It was simple and sweet!

 I loved how the mantle turned out. Especially because this is what my sister does for her kids birthdays each year. It was fun to look back at pictures of the couple to remember some of the fun things they've already done together.




The favors were my absolute favorite! We thought that BBQ sauce as a parting gift to guests was the perfect thing to give.




Besides cupcakes we served BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, lots of salads and potato chips. Easy was our goal.....and delicious of course!

Table décor was meant to be kept simple. We had over 50 people out in the backyard and so we simply gathered all our tables from each of our houses, added random chairs and then laid kraft butcher paper over the table top, added gingham checked fabric as a table runner and then put sunflowers on each table.  

 These were some of my favorite guests at the party. How cute are they? All squished together, enjoying one another's company.

To Taryn and Brent; we wish you the happiest of marriages! Xoxo