Summer 2011

I took an unplanned break from blogging for the summer, as life just got very busy.  But, now I am back and here are the highlights of our summer:

The summer started off with Joelle's second birthday on June 1!  Hard to believe two years have gone by already!  To celebrate on the actual day I made banana muffins and then we bought her a tricycle, complete with a handle that we can use to push her and steer until she learns to go on her own.  She enjoyed "helping" Daddy with the process of putting it together, and then going for a little ride outside.

We also had a big party that weekend with lots of family and friends.  It was fun to get a bunch of people together to celebrate.  Joelle got a very special gift from her Papa!  He made her a play kitchen set!  It turned out so cute!  She spends hours playing in her kitchen!

Shortly after Joelle's birthday, we got a big answer to prayer in receiving a three bedroom house to rent for what we were actually able to afford.  Huge blessings!  Suddenly, we moved out of our tiny duplex and into a house!  It is more than we could ever have imagined for ourselves, but it has shown us just how big our God is and how much he cares for the desires of our hearts!





Here we are standing in front of our duplex for the last time, all ready to move!



Little Miss vacuuming in our new house!

We got to move into our new house the last week in June!  It was so exciting and all-consuming!  It seems that moving and getting resettled has been a huge part of our summer!  We still found plenty to do on the weekends, besides unpacking!  Fourth of July we spent time with Chad's parents, watching the parade in Redmond together.  Joelle really enjoyed this!  Though it was very hot that day! 

We also went camping at Walton Lake, where Joelle did some fishing for the first time!  Papa and Grandma bought her a pink barbie fishing pole!

We enjoyed an afternoon with my parents at their campsite one weekend also.  Joelle seemed to really appreciate all the pine cones, collecting them in her little bucket!

Our last adventure of the summer was a trip to Spokane to Silver Lake Camp for a retreat where my sister was attending with her group from Teen Challenge (where she has been away at in Montana since January).  It was nice to have a mini vacation, see relatives, and show my husband the camp that I grew up going to every year.  It was a fun time together as a family!

After the weekend at the camp, we took our time going home and spent a long afternoon in Spokane.  We went to a children's museum and a very unique playground!  Joelle had a blast, and so did we!



I think her favorite thing about the kids museum was being able to dress up as Elmo!



The giant chair at Discovery Playground!



They even had a trampoline built into the ground at this playground!



And a giant Zylophone!

Well, I suppose that is enough for now.  I will be posting again soon about Preschool that I am doing with Little Miss at home.  We are having lots of fun!