Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

We celebrated little Mikey's birthday...








He loves to have his picture taken. I don't know if it's the sound effects or what, but it makes him smile.



...then Jon's birthday...


Reason #4 (yep, it's pretty high on the list) of "why I love this guy:" He thinks he can do anything (and I think he can too). He recently built a computer (an HTPC). It was a first for him, but it's up and running.







...then my birthday.








My Dad was in town for my birthday--yay!

Beach Fun

Another favorite thing of ours to do is take day trips--sometimes long trips.

Last month we went to Lake Tahoe. It was so pretty, and the weather was great.

Look, I caught a smile on camera!

The kids couldn't wait to play in the sand when we went to Santa Cruz.

Some Watsons Visit

We had so much fun when Gary & Lindsey came for a visit. It was crazy/hectic with 6 little kids, but we're so glad they came.

The girlies--Emma & Raegan

Aiden, Derick & Mathew, obviously enjoying their treats.

Root Beer Tasting

One of our favorite cheap thrills this summer is root beer.


On Fourth of July, when we went to the grocery store we picked up 4 new kinds of root beer to try. Here they are from our favorite to the not-so-good (L-R).

We started the holiday with star shaped french toast, then later had aunt, uncle & cousins over for BBQ.

Jon's backpacking trip

Jon went backpacking in Yosemite with the Scouts. They wanted to hike Half Dome, so they made it a 4 day trip. This was his first actual backpacking trip, so I'm so glad he had a good time, (especially considering all the gear he got).

He didn't want to sleep in a bivi, so we made a tent. We invested so much time making it, I was sooo glad when we were finally finished. Even though I did all of the sewing, Jon helped me the whole time. He thinks this tent is great because it sleeps 2 and weighs just 2 lbs.