Lake House Vacation

 For the past three weeks we got to house sit for a family in our ward. They have a beautiful house on Lake Meridian and it turned out wonderful that we could "help" them out by enjoying their house and the beautiful view.

While we were there we celebrated Nate's 30th birthday. We had a fun day and had family over for ice cream cake in the evening.

 Paige didn't swim very many times in the 3 weeks that we were there. We enjoyed a few swims together as a family but mostly we enjoyed just putting our feet in the water and soaking up the view.

 Paige loved being at the house. There was lots of fun things to do.

 We got to watch the dragon boat racers practice and one night we even watched swimmers practice for the Lake Meridian Triathlon.

 Almost everyday a mama duck with her three babies would come and visit us. We fed them some bread every time they came so that they would keep coming back. It was fun to see them change in the three weeks and they always brought a smile to my face. The babies are so cute and I just wanted to hold one.

 We even did some fishing even though we didn't catch anything. Paige is a natural. :)

The second week we were there my mom came to visit for four days. I was sick so that wasn't fun but we had fun visiting and just enjoying each other's company.

My mom even got to enjoy our cute little duck family.

Paige husked corn for the first time and loved helping.

The last night my mom, Paige, and I went for a kayak ride. We went at dusk and it was beautiful and someone fell asleep half way through the ride.

 We even had a little play date one day. Paige and Wyatt enjoyed picking the raspberries and blueberries and this is something we did everyday. I love being able to go out and pick some delicious berries.

 

 Paige spent quite a bit of time in this sandbox. It was awesome that it right by the garden so that Paige could just sit there and play while Nate and I watered plants and the garden and did some outside things.

 We enjoyed doing some crafts while Nate was at work. Here Paige is working on her Father's Day gift for Nate.

 And I took some cute Father's Day photos of the cute little one.

 She loved playing with the trains. We all loved staying at the house and enjoyed our time there. Paige even wanted to go back after we moved back home. I will miss the sun going down on the lake and the beautiful view. It was a wonderful three weeks!

BBQ with Friends

 Quite a few weeks ago we had a bbq with Adam, Chelsea, and Addison. It was a lot of fun and the girls had so much fun playing together. It is funny that Nate and Adam were constantly playing together when they were younger and now their own children are doing the same.

Look at those two cuties!

 It was so cute watching Paige help Addison down the slide even though she didn't need help. Addison even insisted on having Paige help her.

 They think they are cool. :)

 This picture makes me laugh. Chelsea had the idea and it turned out perfect. Nate's post of facebook about it made me laugh. He said "I hate it when they copy us."

It was such a fun night! We are definitely going to have to do it again!

Derek and Amy Visit: Part 2

 Wednesday was our Seattle day that was packed full of tourist things. It was a very busy and fun day!

Getting to experience some Seattle traffic.

First stop was Bruce Lee's grave. Charlotte was the only willing one to show off her moves.

 And of course Derek had some moves to show off too.

 Then to Pike's Place. We got to walk around a bit and watched them throw the fish quite a few times.

 Right around the corner from where they throw the fish is this little doughnut shop that was delicious. The cinnamon ones were the best!

 Then of course we had to show our tourists the gum wall. The girls thought it was disgusting.

 Then we went to the Seattle Aquarium. It was my first time going too so it was a fun adventure for all of us.

 The "petting" area.

 Of course Juliette was fine from the get-go touching all the sea creatures. It took a bit of convincing to get Charlotte to do it but once she did she loved it too.

 We were under the water.

 Watching a sea otter go back and forth.

 Waving to a sea otter.

 The girls were all excited to find Nemo.

 And back again.

 We tried everything to convince Paige to touch the starfish. Charlotte even tried but to no avail.

 We got to see the octopus feeding. Octopus are nocturnal so most the time we were there he was sleeping but once he decided to eat it was cool to see one of his long legs reach out and grab the food.

 Our next stop was a ferry ride.

 It is always so amazing to see the skyline of Seattle.

 Our last stop of the day was the ferris wheel. It was so much fun. I loved it! It was everyone's first time going on it so another experience for us all to enjoy together.

 Thursday was kind of a lazy day after our busy Seattle day. Nate was sick so we had a relaxing morning and then after lunch Derek stayed home with Emily so she could take a nap and the rest of the girls all went to the beach- Lake Meridian. It was a hot day which was perfect for playing in the water.

 They were having fun burying their feet in the sand and then running to the water to wash the dirt off.

 Juliette and Charlotte spent most of their time in the water and Paige spent most of her time on the sand.

 Then after we were done at the lake we headed back to the house and they played in the sprinkles for awhile

 Friday after breakfast we went to a beautiful garden so that Nate could take Derek and Amy's family pictures. I will have to post those a little later but here are some of the cute girls because Paige wanted a part of the action too.

 That evening after dinner we headed to the lake to go in the kayaks.

 And of course the girls got to play in the water again.

 Emily even got to enjoy the water this time.

 None of the girls were big fans of the kayaks but they did enjoy playing in the water. At first the girls were careful not to get their clothes wet and then by the end they were all soaking wet. Once the sun got down far enough the girls were pretty cold so Derek and Nate went on a little brother date kayaking while the rest of us headed home to get cleaned up.

Then Saturday they all headed home. It was sad to see them go but it was such an awesome week full of lots of fun! Amy texted me after a while and said that Charlotte said that she wished they lived in Washington so they could play with Paige every day. I am so glad that they had so much fun together! And one day they will get to play again.