Winter

 So in the same fashion as years past, I had to pick  a cool Christmas card location. This year I chose to do a local bridge that goes over the freeway. As you can  imagine, it was FREEZING cold with large gusts of wind whipping us around. But the view was cool, it had some nice trees, it was a long bridge so had tons of potential for awesome portraits. I was envisioning kids climbing up the cage, rusty gates to pose in front of... But I barely got a decent picture for our card. You know that feeling when it's so cold and windy your eyes start to water...I got a lot of those pictures. So needless to say, we will be recreating this scene in the summer. I have intentions of dressing all of us in the same digs and getting fabulous pictures to update my 16x20  photo wall.

 I love the look in Chastins eyes. And the sun on our faces.

 This picture describes our family perfectly! I think one day, and our kids will be sitting around talking about us &  they will say "remember all those times mom and dad threw their heads back and laughed at how goofy we were?!" True kept spinning in circles with his arms out, so all the kids copied him and you couldn't help but crack up! He then stood there looking at them like they had lost there mind!
Thanks to Monica for braving the chilly weather to snap a few shots for us.

 Speaking of Monica... 10 years ago I bought a house next door to a photographer and musician. I thought they would be so cool and creative.  Couldn't  wait to meet them! I remember when we first moved in and the power went out, I snuck over to the side window to peek at the neighbors..What were the couple with no kids doing? I peeked out the window to see a young married couple who had moved their dining room table to the big window in the living room, sitting with tall pillar candles lit and dinner on the table.. I knew then that they were my kind of people. Before I knew them too well they were remodeling their kitchen and I would peek out the side window to see what these two artsy people would choose to do in their kitchen. Soon I couldn't stand it any more and marched my self right over to see the cool kitchen in  the making. Needless to say, put two creative people in a room that's a blank canvas and your bound to see something great come out of it. They chose blue walls and green tile flooring, maple cabinets, metal lights and white counter tops. All things I like on there own, but would never have thought to put together.

 10 years later this woman and I are inseparable. We work out together every night. We text and talk all day long. She is the first person to know everything, and I am her go to woman for all things kids and cats. We balance each other nicely. We do photo shoots together, we eat together, our family even has game night once or twice a month together. We are different too~when I vacation I prefer to leave the state {or the country } when she travels she likes to go camping on the Oregon coast. She has one kid, I have multiple, we both drive suv's and like to keep it that way. She prefers fb, I only blog. We spend endless hours swimming at her parents house {where she swims and I dip my feet} and hours and hours at the beach.{taking countless pictures of each others kids} So different yet so similar at the same time. I count my blessings every time I drive by another house in the neighborhood that we looked at buying,  and am eternally grateful that we chose this one.

She will never know how lucky I feel to be her friend. 

Fall

 A rare picture of four generations

Shilo 8, Torrie 31, Margaret 93, Jan 57

 I took some of the daycare kids into the studio for some cute Halloween shots.

It is sooo hard to get 2 one years olds, 2 two year olds and 1 four year old to all smile and look at the camera at the same time!

French Maid and Rich guy for the Lee's Halloween Party! Always such a kick!

 I would just like to add that I MADE that skirt!! { I DO NOT SEW}

And we won for Hottest costumes! Whoot whoot!

 True thought he could move this cart of pumpkins at the Pumpkin farm. It was so fun to watch the kids run around and search for the 'perfect' pumpkin. 

 John used to say "if you can pick it up, you can have it"

i just tell John to pick up whichever pumpkin the kids pick :)

 It was a fun outing and I think we will definitely do it again next year.

 What are we going to do with all those pumpkins you ask?

We carved them and made a pathway to our front door.

14 in all

 Someone had a silly laugh attack like her mother on the way home.

And it lasted the WHOLE way home from Mt. Vernon. We were all laughing so hard just because she was cracking up!

 Time to start the carving!

4 hours later we had them all carved and ready to be lit for Halloween night!

After all that work &  having full sized candy bars to hand out plus tons of fun decorations -we only got 

NINE trick or treaters!

 Cat and a spider by John {he's so creative}

Shilo is 8!

It is Birthday season around here, starting with Shilo!

 Grandma got Shilo the chocolate overload cake at costco that we all love!

We went to lunch at a little hole in the wall in Sequim, it was really tasty.

 We took a freezing cold, windy ferry ride to Kingston. {regular fall weather around here}

 Fed all the animals bread till they were sick and we were all slobbery.  We got surrounded by buffalo, I was a little nervous as they started to smack the car with their giant heads, but the kids and John thought it was a hoot!

And I ran my car through the car wash and the buffalo snot still won't come off!!:)

Anyhow we were all cracking up and I think Shilo, True and my favorite part was feeding the horses that they have now. They were so sweet and put their whole head right in the car, so you got a really up close and personal view {and smell} of horses!

 True was pretty brave AND he got to feed a zebra! How often do you get to say that?

We had a blast and were so lucky to get to spend a beautiful day together.

Shilo's laugh is contagious and she has a wonderful strong personality. I am so glad that we get to spend our lives with her in it.

And then there was Shilo's baptism.

Chastin and Jordan both gave talks about how they felt when they were baptized. It was a beautiful moment.

Rob Lee baptized her and Dave Geddes confirmed her.We have had quite the birthday week around here, filled with fun! And I haven't even posted about her birthday party!

Fun all summer long

We hit low tide at Edmonds beach

 One of our favorite places to be

 Dug for sea creatures and the kids caught fish with their bare hands!

 Used our groupon for Cold stone creamery

 Visited the troll

 Went to the zoo {a couple of times} True is making some kind of funny face here...

 Played in the neighbors pool for hours on end

 Emp for a few min. till we realized it wasn't free in the summer..opps.

 Seattle fountain and a laser show

 bowling at spin alley

 sounders game with our neighbors, second year running

 met casey keller

 and freddy montaro

 got ready for Trek!

 painted bird houses for our back yard

 enjoyed menchies with some of my bffs

 berry picked in our own back yard

was black bucks #1 groupie

I would say so far we have had lots of fun! And we still have a few more weeks of summer to go!

Morris Management Picnic

We went to John's office picnic this year. It was so much fun! I honestly don't know why we haven't gone before. There was tons of great food, wonderful people, and a vicious game of volleyball!

The boss, provided hula hoops for all the kids, a squirt gun fight, a raffle and croquet.  

 Shilo is the hula master and won  a beach set, coloered bubbles and stickers in the raffle.

 These two are best friends!

 John trying not to be competitive. Haha.

 True found out there was an endless box of dumdums and couldn't help but have a few!

{he too, won colored bubbles!}

 Jordan was the smallest "grownup" playing volleyball. She won an itunes gift card and new ear buds.

 Such a poser...

 I love Chastins face! He's not competitive at all...cough cough! 

{nothing like his father}

Chastin won a foam plane that True promptly broke.. Poor older brother.

John and I won a cheesecake factory gift card and a croquet set. Bruce is always so thoughtful and generous.

It was a fun filled day, and we were blessed with beautiful weather. And that John works for a company that cares so much for it's employees. Lucky us!

Dinner Date

We won El Goucho gift cards at John's office party for the last few years running. I had to save them up so we could actually EAT there, otherwise we could have ordered water and salad.

It was amazing! The building is somewhat unassuming, and I never would have noticed it had John not been there before. {for business, none the less. {my business never takes me out to fancy food... :) }

When I had to use the restroom, a waiter came over and walked me there! The food was divine, and although I may never eat there again, I think everyone should have the experience at least once. First they bring out home cooked bread with whipped butter, then your dinner, which you have to order a la cart, but anyhow, my steak was giant and tender. I got the mac n cheese as one of my sides, split a wedge with john, had asparagus and John got a baked potato. Now normally I would make fun of him for choosing something so plain at such a fancy place, but this time, it came prepared table side with fresh chives, a cheese sauce {not just shredded cheese} and more whipped butter! I stole that right from him! By the time all the food was there I had it placed in a semi circle around my steak plate...sorry John. I was also pretty sure that I was going to need a change of clothes for the ride home because there was no way I was leaving in the fitted clothes I came in. {some of which I borrowed from Jordan}The waiter brought a dessert menu, not quite sure where I was supposed to fit that, so I passed. Sadly. Because dessert at an upscale restaurant is never disappointing.

So at the end of this divine meal the waiter delivers a cake platter stuffed with nuts and a nut cracker, purple grapes, 2 whole apples of varying kinds, 2 whole oranges of different varieties, and a beautiful bright green pear right smack in the middle! Along side the fruit platter comes a silver platter with some strong type of bleu cheese, homemade slices of toasted bread, and dates!! My oh my! At the end of the night we rolled out the doors to our valet and requested they drive us home...

The night was wonderful!