It's been a few weeks!

Sorry for the delay in posting. it's been a very busy past few weeks. A lot of visiting, traveling, cleaning and having fun. I'm not sure where to even begin because it's been one after the other and I probably won't even remember everything. I'll try to keep it short and simple either way.

We've had family visiting. Cassie's sister Mandy and her husband Ernesto and son Lorenzo we're on their way to Spokane when they had an unplanned layover in Seattle. They had standby tickets and unfortunately for them all the planes were filling up to max capacity, and fortunately for us they came and stayed with us for that evening!

We had a wonderful evening catching up and letting the babies talk to each other.
The next day they easily made it onto a flight.

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Then Cassie and I and little Harlow drove to Spokane! Yup, the whole family was meeting up in Spokane for a couple of great events;
1) an engagement party for Jeanette and her fiance Mike
2) for the annual Bloomsday Fun Run! The largest fun run in the world:-)

It was a great party, and Jeannette and Mike felt the love as everyone there made a toast. Lots of laughs, drinks and even a little crying. We're all so happy for both of them.

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The next day we got our game faces on and got ready for the Bloomsday Run! As you can see, we're very serious..... well maybe Steve and I are. I already started running in this picture.

Bloomsday is a 12k run/walk event. Here's a picture of Doomsday Hill, a fantastic hill with a steep grade. It looks like a lot of people are walking up to it in this picture. Maybe they're saving their energy to run up it:-) Steve, Mike, Jeannette, Cassie and I met up at the bottom of this hill and ran up! It's a long hill, but really fun to weave through the crowd while running up. We met up with the rest of the family and friends who decided to forgo the 12k torture and instead make a wonderful picinic!




Needless to say, it was a beeline to the hot tub when we got back to the house. We turned down the heat so the babies could join in on the fun too! They both really seemed to love the water.







The next day, we flew the coop and left the parents and drove back west to Seattle. We drove through some of the windiest weather and amazing white out sand storms I've ever seen. It was scary at times but it kept the drive interesting for all of us.

Mandy, Ernesto and Lorenzo stayed with Jeannette and Mike in Seattle for a few days. Cassie, Harlow and I drove up everyday and had a wonderful time catching up and making amazing dinners together.

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Later in the week Cassie, Harlow & I drove to Portland to visit some family. My aunt and uncle live out on this beautiful farm. We got there early, watched my cousin Kara's fast pitch softball game, did some four wheeling on the property and went out for Mexican in the evening.

My grandma was visiting them so we figured we'd
visit at the same time so they could meet Harlow.

We drove back home to Tacoma early the next day, and I went to work. It was a long day but if there's time to fit in some fun and family, it's all well worth the effort. You only live once you know.

Anyways, that evening we were expecting our next set of guests, Cassie's cousin Melinda, her baby Mackenzie and her mom Linda! Here are the new mommies and babies!


The following day we had Cassie's parents come over as well. They were over to look at some property as well as visit with all the girls. They stayed the night at our house too. It was a full house but we love having guests at our house, it makes for great memories. We had beautiful weather during there visit...

...so we went on a picnic at Point Defiance Park.

We played some frisbee and some botchiball.

...walked through the rose garden...

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...took a little nap...

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...then we went back to our place to relax and have a little wine. But first, I couldn't help but do a little pruning of some dead branches in our tree out front. It was becoming a hazard.

There's no telling how many lives I've saved.

In the garden culture of Tacoma, I'm what is referred to as a "bad ass". I take no guff and I take gigantic branches down with no helmet.... or forethought. Oh, and a special thanks to Cindy who helped break up tons of these branches into mini fire pit sizes!

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It was an empty house once again after everyone left Sunday afternoon. With no one to entertain and a beautiful sun shining outside, I decided to organize my shed.

Can you believe all this was in that little shed? If you look carefully, you'll see Jimmy Hoffa in the back of the shed. Do I have to tell you this was an all day event? I would've taken an after shot but I'm not sure it was worthy of a before after thing. It was only worth it to me because now I can actually step inside of the shed.

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Cassie and I did a little project this past weekend to perk up our porch a little. Click here to read more about that, if you can stand anymore.

Now you're pretty much all caught up.
Phew!