Week 30

30 weeks, 3 days - 7/29/10

Gotta love lake days!!

Nothing quite brings the kids out like a lake day! We seem to have our highest attendance during the summers when we meet out at the lake! And who can blame them... water, boats, friends, hot dogs, s'mores... what's not to love!!

Wow! I still have a hard time believing my own profile sometimes!

Week 29

29 weeks, 2 days - 7/21/10

My Surprise Birthday Adventure

For my birthday, I came out of the bathroom to find a hand-picked bouquet from our own yard, a card and a pack of peanut M'n'M's... this man truly loves me!! After church, we enjoyed a yummy lunch with Jack & Barbara, as well as June, another friend from church. After lunch, Chris and I got home and he told me to get comfy, but still look nice... and that's all I got for clues! We changed, grabbed Gracie, jumped in the car and headed west. Our first stop was the Hoh Rain Forest... which I had never been to! It was a beautiful, scenic drive... perfect for a Sunday afternoon! We got out at a few places and walked around... but in the midst of a perfect day, our car window decided to drop, never to return to the closed position. It wasn't bad, since it was a nice day... but it did make for a cold drive home once the sun went down and we were on the highway! Birthday gift 2010... new window motor, yippee!! BUT... we didn't let it ruin our day!! After the rain forest, he took me to Kalaloch beach... the clouds were heavy, but it was still a gorgeous beach!!! We took a nice walk along the beach... it was a perfect date!!! We headed home and once we rolled into town, we stopped by our friends, the Coles, house to see their new baby!! She was a week old... and so tiny!! I can't believe that we will have one of those for our very own... very soon!!! :-)

He may be goofy... but I wouldn't change a thing. He's the love of my life!!!

Apparently, it's Gracie's turn to stick out her tongue. She really does admire her daddy!!

Again with the tongue... what is she doing?

Hurricane Hill

On this particular Wednesday, we had a beautiful day, so Chris decided to take the kids out on a hike! I have to admit I wasn't too excited... I don't consider myself in shape anymore, and pregnancy tends to knock the wind out of me these days... so the idea of an estimated round trip, 4 mile hike... wasn't my favorite idea. But the kids were patient with the slow preggo, and it was definitely a beautiful hike! We saw SO many deer... I would say atleast 40 or so. It was amazing!!!

Hint: never tell Chris NOT to take your picture... he WILL find a way!! :-)

2 babies!! I have never seen them so little before!!

A Marmot! They're like big gophers, but this pic makes it appear MUCH bigger than it really is!

I heart this boy! Even tho he takes me on crazy hikes when I'm 28 weeks pregnant!! :-)

They would get SO close to us... they must really be used to people!!

We also ran into Chris's old boy scout leader, who mentioned him and his wife had seen a couple bears. Chris was behind me telling him to be quiet... but it was too late, the damage was done. I was terrified!!! And we were close to the top, which meant, we had to head back down as it was getting darker... great. Chris got a picture of Brian trying to convince me that black bears were harmless (below). HeG gave me a whole schpeel as to why they are safer, and not aggressive like Grizzlies. But even with my curiousity tempting me, I was ready to be in the car at that point.

Absolutely breathtaking... God is an amazing artist!!

It's almost impossibleto tell from the pic... but Garrett is pointing to the black bear! We saw one in the valley on our way back down the mountain. I saw it once with Chris a little higher up, but I was afraid to ask him, and he wasn't about to point it out! Ha! But as we got down a little farther, the kids had spotted it and were going crazy... there was no denying it at that point! Haha!! It was so far away, it wasn't bad... but if one were to cross the path I was hiking on, Chris would never get me out on the trails again!!!