THE SEQUOIAS

SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK
I have always been one to enjoy nature, and I am glad to have this beautiful world to share with my children. As a child I spent my summers here in Washington with my grandparents and they took me to all sorts of beautiful national monuments, deserts, and parks up and down Washington, Oregon and California. This was a park I had yet to see, so I was glad John and I got to experience it together.
I grew to have a great appreciation for the beauty that man cannot make. I hope to teach my kids the importance of taking care of this world and taking pride in what has been created for us to enjoy.
If you ever get a chance to see the Sequoia's for yourself, I would strongly suggest to spend the day in their beauty. And if you have already seen them, you know the feeling you get when you stand in their presents.


My kiddos on a fallen SEQUOIA, these trees are amazing!











A giant pine cone we found at the park. I think it is just beautiful, where else are you going to see such a wonderful piece of nature...


The view from the forest floor, the trees remind me that I am just a small being in this world.

The Mohlman Clan

Well today after church I had the privilege of heading down to the Edmonds Marina and sharing an afternoon of fun with the Mohlman Family. I grew up with the Mohlman's kids, and in a weird twist of fate my husband went to school with Shawn and Teri, the two oldest of Marian & Dave's five. Anyway, it was a total hoot! I left feeling like they had the coolest family ever! Just like I felt when I was a kid!

What I remember about Lane- who spent a lot of time with Denae and me, playing really what ever we wanted to, he would play school with us and be the teacher, or help us build a fort out of free doors from North City lumber,{ I wonder what my grandpa ever did with all those doors we brought home?} he would even play dress up with us in my grandparents old clothes.
I remember when Shawn and his wife met and were married, I remember thinking how neat it was that his wife's name is Shawna. Now they are Shawn & Shawna..

I can remember when Teri met her husband in Australia, and he courted her even after she came home, with the sending of many long stem red roses.

Denae and I spent long lazy summers together as kids, I remember buying bathing suits for a few cents at Saint Vincent De Pauls, where my grandmother worked, so we wouldn't have to wait for our used ones to dry before we could run through the sprinkler again, and I remember us making mini pizzas out of english muffins and serving them to each other like we worked in a restaurant.

I can recall JoLynn going out to eat on a Friday night with her girlfriends at Red Robbin, and eating her leftovers in the morning at he breakfast table. I remember thinking how cool of a restaurant she was telling Denae and me about, and that "no, we couldn't eat her fries" haha.

I remember, Marian & Dave dancing in the living room to slow songs when he would come home from work, and oh I wanted to be like that one day, and them taking weekend getaways- just the two of them. {smart people they are}. I was grateful for the always warm welcome I received as a little girl in their homes and their lives. It was my pleasure to take their family photos for them, and I hope they are pleased with the outcome. Thank you Mohlmans for showing me a great example of family and love to live by, when I was a little girl to again today.

The Camping Mom

Every year for our kids Birthdays they get to choose an experience. In years past it has been a new zoo, or riding the ducks in downtown, going to Champs racing or seeing an Imax. It just has to be something we haven't done before that we can all enjoy to some extent. Of course we don't always dig some of the things that the other ones choose, but then again, it's not our Birthday! This year Jordan wanted to go camping with her friends, so long story short, it was going to be me and the girls in a K.O.A kamping kabin. Well I couldn't find one that would sleep 6 so we went with plan B- the woods. Which meant that now John was roped into going with us, because somebody had to set up the tent, cook and tear down camp; and it wasn't going to be ME! O.K it wasn't nearly as bad as drop camping, because it was a State park, but it wasn't comfy camping, where you have a pool and showers and you can stay up latter and be noisy. The park rangers came by to tell us that our whispers were carrying through the woods and we needed to let the animals sleep. Now you can just imagine telling this little 'sleepy animals' story to a bunch of 12 year olds, so when they mentioned that most forest animals don't sleep at night and that there weren't any other campers staying near us, the ranger didn't really have a leg to stand on.
So our adventure was a lesson in patience, and that if I was ever to have twin girls my life would NEVER be quite again. The girls sang, danced, called boys to yell at them about how stupid they are, ran around on the ferry like crazy people, and did a whole lot of giggling!
Something I was really excited about was using "The Malocm Van" as it's referred among our friends. It seats 15, so the girls sat in the WAY back and I could hardly hear them squealing. I was so glad that they had a good time! She wants to do this again next year, (but in a K.O.A) and we look forward to spending time with her and her friends and watching them all grow up and form life long bonds.

jordan, kenedee, hanna & chelsey on the ferry

hanna & chelsea roll to get the air out of the mattress

I'm glad Jordan enjoys spending time with me, I feel like we are more friends than mother daughter sometimes. And for that I am grateful.