A Puppy Post!

I don't remember if I've posted pictures of our puppies so I'll introduce these canine creators and mostly mention Kate since she is now a year old and looking so much more like a dog than a puppy.  

She is so pretty!  Oh, in case you didn't know, Kate is a Greater Swiss Mountain dog breed for pulling carts and loads.  For Gracie's birthday (and Kate's) we got them a pulling harness!  Gracie is soooo happy!

 This is Charlie one of our 2 English Cream Golden Retrievers.  He is so sweet and loves to be loved on.

 Bonnie on the other hand is quite the wild thing!  She loves to play with and terrorize Kate.  But she is really sweet too and loves people.  

 Lydia is the last of the pack, oh, not of the pack but of the four-some!  She loves the dogs and does really well with them.  

 Smile Charlie!  

 Aw!  There we go! 

It's funny to see Kate larger than Lydia and Kate's not even full grown yet.   

 Play time!!!!!

 Then Lucy the cat got too close to the festivities...  Notice Bonnie's grip on the cats tail? 

She still has a grip on the tail!  Kate wants to play and Lucy kept growling the whole time.  I think it made the dogs all the more eager to rough house with her.  She finally had enough and rushed to safety with the dogs hot on her heels.  They never bother her but for some reason they were really excited to play with a growling cat!  I can't believe she put up with it as long as she did. 

Family Camp 2013

July heralds our favorite family camp!  Once again this year we braved the desert heat and enjoyed special times with old friends and made many new ones.  They estimated that there were at least 850 people at this event!  It was absolutely amazing singing along with that many voices of God's people!  Wow!  Here are a few pictures:

Let the slip-n-slide begin!

 Lydia's in the middle!  I love the smiles on all the faces as they race down the slide.

 A beautiful view with the mountain in the background.

 Happy kids!

 Good talks.

 Time in the shade with friends.

 Oh yeah!  I'll leave the owner of the feet anonymous to protect the guilty!

 Supper soapy!

Way to go Ben!

 Lydia!!!!

 Pile-up at the end

 Sarah going down the zip-line.

King of the boat!

 Lydia really enjoyed rowing her boat!

That is all till next year!  

  

Ca Trip 2013

Mom, Heather and I  had been thoroughly looking forward to our trip to CA for Jenny L's wedding.  She graciously asked me to be in her wedding so the 3 of us girls made a trip of it together.  Here are some pictures from our adventures! (Forgive some of the bad quality pictures that were taken on our phone.  I just couldn't pass them up and they help tell the story!)

  

On the way down we stopped at a rest stop to freshen up a bit but when we got outside we changed our minds!  It was REALLY hot!  

After stopping at the San Francisco airport to pick up Michelle and Lauren Hope (our hotel-mates for the weekend who were dear ladies that we became fast friends with right off) we headed for Santa Cruz and a 4th of July party.  We had a lovely view of the ocean from the road.

The next day we made a much needed stop, Starbucks!!!  We sat outside for a bit soaking up the cool coastal sun.

Heather graciously steamed my dress and a couple of the other girls' dresses along with some of Jenny's clothing. 

The rehearsal dinner was at P.F. Chang's!  It was a lovely meal and we had so much fun chatting with the Hope ladies.

The next morning we toured Monterey and found it really relaxing before the busy afternoon of the wedding.

Yep, another Starbucks stop!

Heading toward Old Fisherman's Wharf

An amazing pink building

I love this picture!

Mom and I on the wharf

Lauren taking pictures!

Just a lovely old building

Heading to the wedding!  

This is a bad picture but it shows my dress and the ballroom where the reception was held.  The chandeliers look small in this picture but they were HUGE and lovely!  The wedding went very well and the weather was perfect, not too cold, which we were worried about since we about froze at the rehearsal.   I'll be posting more pictures from the wedding when I get them, but since I was so busy I didn't get out my camera.  

The next day we headed out with the Hope ladies to tour San Francisco but on the way we stopped at the beach to get some pictures.  The Hope's are from Florida and have never been to the Pacific coast before.  Isn't Lauren darling?

The 3 of us having so much fun!!!  YAY!

Sisters!

San Fran here we come!  Prepare for the invasion of the country girls! 

We loved the interesting old buildings all over the place.  The colors and detail were charming!

The huge buildings were....umm...HUGE!!!!

WOW!

:gulp:

This certainly is the big city!

 We headed to Pier 39 to get a glimpse of Alcatraz.  I can't believe the buses that maneuver the streets packed with people and cars!  It was hard enough in our Excursion....

I liked the vintage tram.

Fancy McDonalds!

These looked like so much fun, much easier to get around in than in our big rig....

Having fun but a little overwhelmed with so many people!

In-n-Out!!!!

We found a quiet balcony to eat our hamburgers.  It was so restful after the crazy streets.

Oh yeah!

Huge Applebee's!

Alcatraz!  

These guys were amazing!

Pier 39

The city from the pier.

Heather and Lauren.

Since we couldn't find a place to park we ended up paying for parking.  Those guys know how to park a car!  The put our excursion about 2 inches from the wall!

No, the street doesn't stop there, it does continue!  Yikes!

Weeeeee!!!!  Hang on tight girls!

We headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge and saw the city from afar with the sun shining on it.  

There it is!

Heading away from the bridge in Sausalito we found this little out of the way seafood restaurant with a charm of it's own since it was right on a wharf.

Yummy chowder

Amazing tuna sandwich!

Our next stop was our hotel in Oakland.  I know... but it was the cheapest and cleanest we could find but we survived the city!  Yikes!  It was certainly rougher.

The hotel was very nice and clean!  From here we said sad good byes to the Hope ladies.  We had such a lovely time with them and we really miss them.  

We really wanted to stop at a Chick-fil-a while in CA so we looked it up on the way home and 27 miles north there was one right off the freeway!!!!  Just in time for lunch!  Yippy!

This was the best chicken sandwich I've ever had...it was AMAZING!!!!  Wow!

It was a lovely ending for a lovely weekend.  We survived the long drive home and enjoyed seeing the family again.  We came home to sick kids so jumped right in taking care of them.  

This certainly was a trip we'll never forget!