I know I'm slow, but . . .

Trying to keep up with my blog posts is almost more than I can handle right now. But since I'm planning on turning my 2008 posts into a book, and since blogger lets you change the date on when posts are published, I'm going to try to place posts in the correct chronological order, as opposed to the dates that I actually type them up. So please forgive me for the craziness that will be reigning here, as I change things around.

Rain keeps falling on my head

Call me weird, but this is one reason why I miss Washington so much. . .






See all the pretty pictures of wet stuff I could take there? :)

Sprinkler Fun!

What do we do in Washington when it's not quite warm enough to go swimming, but we really want to play in the water? We play in the sprinkler. . . with all our clothes on! :)






Yup, that's what we do. :)

Picnic and swimming at Lake Washington

(Looking towards Mercer Island, and south to Renton.)

Julie Highfield, one of my bestest WA friends is planning on moving to Utah at the end of this month. Since it will be a long time before we see each other again, we decided to get together one last time before she left, and so headed up to Coulon Beach on the east side of Lake Washington for a bbq and some fun. Our other friends, Jen Smith, and Sunny Twiddy, joined us as well.

It was a beautiful day, and the kids had lots of fun playing at the playground, and on the dock.




And of course, we can't forget the sand and water!






Here are most of the kidlets. Nicholas Smith, Jessa Highfield, William Smith, Teya (Jessa's friend), Brooklyn, Noah and Zach Highfield.


And here we are. . . Jen, Julie, Sunny and Me


I'm going to miss you, Julie! :)

Party time at the Tiltons!

My friend Kelly Tilton decided to throw a BBQ party for her anniversary, and I was fortunate enough to be invited. :) We all had a great time gabbing with each other as our kids played together. There was lots of yummy food, and of course, delicious Costco cake.

Here's Kelly, one half of the guests of honor. Isn't it sad that I didn't even get a picture of them both together? Oppsies!


The beautiful Adrianne Bird, Audrey Stokes, Tiffany Roderick, and . . . Dacia, do you have to ruin every picture?! :) heehee


Here's Rock Star Miriam Webb, playing her famous tune, "Cranky Girl".


And I can't forget my favorite BFF, Allen Roderick! (See, I told you I'd put you on the blog. Don't you feel special now? :))


And Brooklyn had so much fun playing and goofing around with her best WA friend, Madeline Stokes.




And no party would be complete without a little Guitar Hero!


(Kelly's husband Dan is the one in the orange visor. See, at least I got one picture of him! :)

More Swimming Fun!

On a previous occasion, a friend of my sister Kara had offered to let us use her pool. Since we never say no to swimming, today we jumped at the opportunity! She had all sorts of fun pool floaties, and even a diving board, which the kids had a blast jumping off of.






After swimming our fill, the kids decided play a smashing game of croquet.



Jolly good times, I dare say! :)

Overheard

Whilst browsing the merchandise at the local Wal-Mart, I heard a gentleman exclaim. . .

"Hey Dude, them squirrels is good eatin'."

I patiently waited for the laughter to follow, and was quite dismayed to not hear it.

But at least now I know what to eat when food prices get too high to afford. :)

Craig's birthday dinner at The Melting Pot

Craig, my oldest brother, celebrated his birthday while I was visiting Tacoma this summer. As he's not big on birthday parties, his wife Bonnie decided to just invite a few friends and family out to his favorite restaurant The Melting Pot. I was kind of excited to go as I had never been before and had heard that the food was excellent. Oh my, was it ever!

Each group of 2 ordered what they wanted to eat and then we sampled each others. Kara and I ordered the Cheddar Cheese and the Milk Chocolate fondues, but sampled the Swiss Cheese, and the Dark and White Chocolates.

I've decided that when I die, I'd like to be embalmed with milk chocolate. :)


Left to right: Bonnie, Craig, Jared and Sara Leavitt, Leanna and Kara (sisters). Craig and Jared were being goofy, trying not to be in the picture. Clearly, I got them eventually.



Here's Kara with hubby John. He showed up a bit late for the food, but not for the pictures! :)

This next picture I had to add because while I was uploading all the pictures to my computer, my mom walked by, saw this one and exclaimed, "Who is that? He looks ugly!" I burst out laughing and then replied, "That'd be your firstborn." Without even cracking a smile she says, "Well, he still looks ugly."


(Craig, rest assured, she only meant the picture. Not you personally. We think you're cute! :) )

Swimming at the Fircrest kiddie pool & playing with friends

While visiting Washington during the summers, one place you'll be sure to find us regularly is at the Fircrest Rec Center's kiddie pool. It's the best place to go when the temp is rising, and you've just got to get cool somehow. Although we usually go with Auntie Kara and her boys, this one afternoon, it was just me and the kids. And as it was atypically not packed with a billion kids, I decided to take some pictures, which turned out super cute, if I do say so myself. :)






As we were playing, I saw my friend Adrianne swimming in the big pool with her boys, Riley and Kael. Even though Adrianne and I had both arrived home earlier this day from our scrapbooking retreat weekend, we didn't really get a chance to talk much, so since it was dinnertime, I suggested going out together for pizza, so that the kids could play, and we could hang for a bit.

We met up at Round Table Pizza, and as we were waiting for our food, the kids had a blast playing with the arcade games.



After we finished our food, I followed Adrianne to the grocery store, so that she could run in for a few things while I watched her kids in my car. It made me laugh that four kids could have so much fun, in such a small space, with only a stuffed elephant to play with.



This evening really made me miss the fun times Adrianne and I used to have together. Numerous pages in my scrapbooks are devoted to chronicling the adventures we shared when Brooklyn and Riley were toddlers. And although I'm sad we're not still living in that era of our lives, I'm glad I had such good friends to create those memories with in the first place.

Thanks for the fun evening, Adrianne! I still miss ya! :)