It's been forever...

Ok, ok, I know I am SO behind on this blog and I'm not even sure where to start! I think I need to look back at my pictures and see what we've been up to:) You might want to sit down...this is going to be a long one!! We had a fun mother's day dinner at Jeff's parents place back in May!! All the men contributed to the meal and we got to sit back and enjoy it. We had a little photoshoot with the mom's and the kiddos!

Over the long weekend in May, our family took a little road trip down to Portland to visit Eric, Traci and sweet baby cousin Arthur! It was a long 10 hour drive, but the kids did pretty well(considering the DVD player only worked for about 2 of the 10 hours of driving!) We had a great visit with them! We were there for almost a week and it was so good to spend time with baby Arthur...he is getting so big! The kids absolutely adore him.

We went to the Oregon Museum of Science on the Saturday and the kids loved it! We also got to see an IMAX show about monkeys. We did lots of shopping...shopping in the states is the best!! We even went out to an outlet mall and Jeff was in heaven when he found a cycling shop there:)

A little family photo...I loved the brick wall!

June brought about Megan's 7th birthday!! I still can't believe she is 7 years old and going into grade 2...crazy!! She is growing up to be such a beautiful young girl. She is so kind and caring and helpful. I am loving having her home for the summer. She did awesome on her last grade 1 report card. She got 3 exceeding expectations marks for grade 1...we couldn't be more proud of her:) Her teacher told me that if she could clone Megan she would!

Beautiful sisters...

She had a "tea" party for her birthday theme this year. She had invited all the girls in her class and a few others. I think we had about 14 seven year old girls over that day. It was a beautiful warm day and we spent the whole party in the backyard and on the deck. The girls were all so good! They drank "tea" and had scones and then made necklaces. Then it was play time and finished off with lunch and cake!! The table set for a tea party...

All the party guests..

Birthday girl...

1

Later that day, Megan and I went on a little mommy-daughter date! I took Megan to get her ears pierced. That was her gift from us for her birthday. She was so excited! She was such a trooper and didn't cry or anything when they pierced her ears. She chose little pink studs for her first earrings. .

The following weekend I did my very first 5km race! It was an all women's run and it especially designed for beginner runners. I hadn't run for the week and a half before the race because I had had a cold:( I was hoping to do it in a half hour and I did it in 30:59...so I was happy with that. I have realized that I don't enjoy running. I prefer to do a sport and I think I will stick with soccer, which I love:)

At the finish line...

After the women's race, there was a kids race. We hadn't planned on the kids doing it so they didn't even have runners on. But, at the last minute, Gabby wanted to do it. She ran in her shoes without socks and a dress and she came in 3rd place in a 1km race!! She is definitely a runner...just like her daddy:) The age group was under 7 years old and she is only 5. She did so well!! Jeff ran along side of her, it was so sweet to watch them. She won a water bottle for coming in 3rd place and she was beyond excited about that:):) !

At the finish line..

:)

And this past Sunday, Jeff rode in the GranFondo cycling race in Penticton. It's a 160km bike ride from Penticton to Summerland and down to Oliver and back to Penticton. Jeff only started cycling about a year and a half ago, so this was a huge accomplishment for him!! We are so proud of him!! It took him 5 hours and 19 minutes. Oh, and I forgot to mention it was 38 degrees out that day. Jeff's parents and the kids and I went down to Penticton to watch them coming through the finish line. It was such an exciting event and so fun to be a part of! We hung out at the park afterwards for a few hours. Jeff is already talking about doing another...maybe in a few years! It was quite a big time commitment with training. All ready for the race...bright and early!

Some of the first riders coming through the finish line...

Jeff (in black) at the finish line... !!

With the kiddos... .

Jeff and Vik...

The last day of school was June 28th and Megan went to Gardom Lake Bible Camp for a 24 hour camp. She had never been away by herself before, but she did great! She absolutely loved camp and can't wait to go back next year. She told me she wants to go for a week...I'm not sure I can handle that yet. I went to that very same camp when I was Megan's age, so it brought back so many great memories for me! And now we are enjoying this amazing beautiful warm summer weather!! We are loving it. We have been swimming at my parents pool quite a bit. The girls are like fish in the water this year. Although, Gabby has an ear infection, so we are trying to keep her from going under the water(that is no easy task!). I hope you made it this far. Thanks for reading!!

A few firsts

Soooo much to catch up on!!! Where does the time go?!?!

I can't believe Megan only has 2 and a half months of school left...and next year we will have both girls in school full time!! I'm not quite ready for all these changes. Although, Gabby is so ready for school, she is going to love it.

About a month ago, Gabby had her very first ballet recital. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever!!! She was so serious and nervous being in front of a crowd. She did great and now she wants to be a ballet teacher when she grows up:)

Her ballet class...



The Recital...my friend took better pictures, I just haven't gotten them from her yet!



I have all 3 kids in swimming lessons right now. The girls love it and are doing awesome in the water...Marty on the other hand is not loving it so much. He cries when the teacher holds him and just calls out mommy, mommy, mommy!! He likes the water when we take him to the pool or in our hottub or the bathtub, so I'm wondering if he just doesn't like his teacher or it he wants me to be in the water with him. Anyways, I'm sure he will get better over the next month or so(hopefully!). On the way to swimming lessons, he says "I don't want to go on my back, I don't want to got under water!!" It was like he was preparing himself, poor little guy!

We had some wonderful house guests come for a visit a few weeks ago! It was so great to have Malcolm and Kirsten come up for the weekend. Although, the time always goes far too quickly. I love that we can just hang out and there is no pressure with them. We are so blessed to have them in our lives. Thank you for making the effort to come see us. We love you guys!!

While Kirsten and Malcom were here, Jeff ran his very first 1/2 marathon. This was the same event that got him hooked on running three years ago! He came in 8th place overall and 3rd place in his age category. We were so proud of him!! We got to see him at the start line, at about 16 km mark and again at the finish line. He was hoping to do it in about one hour and 28 minutes and he did it in one hour 23 minutes!! Pretty amazing if you ask me:). Lately he has been talking about qualifying for the Boston Marathon...so we will see where that goes!

Almost at the finish line...

So proud of him...

Getting his medal...


I started running as well, just over a month ago. I need to get in shape for my upcoming soccer season! I have been running with my friend at the indoor track and then also doing P90X about 3 days a week. I feel a lot better and my body, especially my legs, feel stronger. I am planning to do an all womens 5km run this summer. It should be fun!! We had our first soccer game of the season last night. It felt great to get out again. We are now in Division 2 and last year we were in Div 3...so I wasn't too excited about moving up. But, we only lost 2-1 last night, so maybe it won't be too bad.

Pirate day at school...

This past weekend, we had a great Easter! So thankful for the hope we have in a living God!! We were expecting my brother and sister in law for the weekend, but they were last minute unable to come up. My sister in law just got a new job and we are so excited for her!!

We walked up to a great park near our house on the weekend and did an Easter egg hunt up there for the kids. They had so much fun!! Then the kids played at the park and my mom and I played some tennis. I am really enjoying tennis...I really suck at it...but, I love it:)





We had dinner at our place that evening and then the next morning we went to the Easter service at church. That in the afternoon, we went to my parents for Easter dinner!! So yummy!!

Easter Sunday...

Oh, also all weekend long we worked on our front yard landscaping!! It is almost complete. We have been wanting to change up the landscaping since we moved here...but everything is a process in an older home. We finally decided to do it this year. We are really happy with it!

Before, I don't have a great before picture of all the weeds and ugly bushes, but here is the front of the house...

During...


Oh and we also painted the front of the house this past weekend. It rained a bit during the day, but we got it done. We are really happy with color. Now we need to paint the staircase and do some trim around the door and windows. We had a front loader bring a few huge rocks for the landscape over the weekend. Most of the neighbours came over to watch the rocks being placed! We put the house number on the large rock and Jeff put in spot lights for the number that shine up from the ground.


The house projects continue...

This is what the house looked like when we moved in over 9 years ago...

Here is it today...

Today is my dad's birthday and I want to wish him a very happy birthday!! Thank you for being such a wonderful father to us and an awesome grandpa to our kids. We all love you so much!!

That's it for today! Thanks for reading.