Bailee's Birthday Weekend

Happy 15th, Bailee
Bailee's birthday was Saturday this year and we had a full weekend planned.

To kick the weekend off, Bailee invited some friends up to stay Friday night.
Melanie, Sarah, and Ashley stayed and I believe they had a great time.

This is Saturday morning. Bailee was not willing to have her picture taken first thing.

Dannon, this is Bailee talking with you on the phone.

Finally, she came out of the covers and let me take her picture.

She had decided that she wanted Chinese for dinner, so I did not have to make her crepes for breakfast.

This is her good friend, Melanie. As you can imagine, she is quite the character.

Then Saturday night, we had the family party. This is Bailee and Jeremy before the family arrived.

Bailee opening gifts. She was very blessed. Thank you everyone.

You cannot tell in these pictures, but our gift to her was another set of piercings in her ears.

I always mean to take a picture of the kids with Jeremy and me on their birthdays and I always forget. I might just decided to take day after pictures, since that is when I usually remember.

Bailee had a great weekend and I can barely believe she is 15. We watched some video of when she was 11 last night and the difference is incredible. They change so much in the first 15 years of life.

Portraits

I decided to try my hand at taking the kids' portraits. I think they turned out okay. I definitely will keep practicing.

Bailee and Luken were my challenges. Bailee because she is a teenager and Luken because he is a toddler.

What do you think?

Happy 18th Birthday, Marvin

Marvin has turned 18, crazy. For a long time, he was the baby of the family and it is hard to imagine him moving on and starting his own life.

Here are some pictures from the party we had for him.

Yes, there are 18 candles on the little bit of sugary goodness.

And oh my, they relit. I had forgotten that I had bought Bailee trick candles last year for her birthday. I chose these because they were so skinny. The funny thing is they did not work last year for Bailee, but they sure worked good for Marvin.

Anjahli was the hit of the night. She got passed around. Everyone got their chance to hold her.

Anjahli and Becca sitting on Bill's lap getting to know each other.

Makayla thought Luken needed to be in on the fun.

I think Luken is shocked by the fact that Becca can read so much better than he can.

It was a good party, but there were many people missing. Dad, Mom, Troy, Dannon, Josh, Rachel, Tekoa, Eliza, Jake, Randi, Caedmon, and Addi, you were all very much missed.

Nine Years

Yep, crazy to think, but it has been nine years. This is what I have digitally. I was just not up to scanning today. The above picture was taken in January 2006.

August 2006

April 2007

September 2007

April 2008

November 2008

August 2009

August 2010

I won't say we have changed all that much. Jeremy's facial hair and head hair seem to be the big changes. I think we have definitely grown as individuals and as a team.

I love being married to this man, who challenges me to view things from God's perspective and not my own. I am looking forward to many, many more years.

Red Barn Fall Festival

This last weekend the Red Barn held their annual Fall Festival. The Red Barn is located on the northern eastern side of Colton, WA. It is a great place that is rented for weddings and large gatherings. Each fall they do this Fall Festival. They have lots of fun "farm" things for kids and great craft vendors.

They had a hay bale maze the kids loved, especially Luken.

Here is Jeremy helping Luken through.

Jeremy playing in the lentils with the kids.

Smiley Bailee - the other picture was very grumpy looking.

We happened up cousins Katie, Payton, and Elias. Their parents were with them of course.

This is the view from the hayride we took. I remember doing this as a kid when we would go caroling around the small town we lived in.

Jeremy as a scarecrow with an added attachment.

We had a great time. We are trying hard to get one monthly family fun day in. This definitely qualified.