Rachel is 11

Rachel had the best possible present for her birthday: The Deans came to visit.  We had so much fun playing with them. We had a pool party with the Deans and the Gunnells to celebrate.

What makes you happy:  doing activities with friends and family

Favorite food: pizza
Favorite thing to do:  spend time with friends and family
Favorite TV show: none
What are you really good at: arts

Favorite Movie: The Hunger Games

Favorite color: cyan blue
Favorite song:  I am a Child of God

Best friend: Savannah Dean, Mckayla Gunnel, Jaclyn Salmon, Eva Spaugh

What do you and your mom do together: Excercize

What do you and your dad do together: Get stuff to eat together and talk

Favorite sport: Volleyball

Favorite place to go:  Out of the country

Favorite animal: Anything that's cute

Favorite Book: all of 'em

What do you want me to be when you grow up: a mom

 They poked holes in the plastic to smell the cake on their way home from Costco.

Family Pictures

Our family pictures worked out so well.  We were nervous because it was raining as we got ready and drove to the spot.  But it was our last night there, so we just really hoped it would work out.  It stopped raining about 5-10 minutes after we got to the spot and the sun came out and the light was beautiful.  Amanda did a great job getting us into poses and looking at the camera.  Ruby was not super excited about smiling at the camera and liked to make crazy faces. But we got a great pictures to choose from with the 700+ she took! It worked out great because in our final family picture Aaron and Seth weren't looking at the camera so I photoshopped them over from another picture and I took out the towel we were sitting on because the ground was so wet.

Lake Tahoe

 We had another fabulous vacation to Lake Tahoe this year.  The Smiths are always such wonderful hosts. We were a little worried because there was rain forecast all week, but it turned out great and only rained a couple times.  Amanda had a great matrix set up for us.  We went on a hike, to the bmx track, had a fun day of jet skis and kayaks at Sand Harbour, had a carnival, had a picnic and played at Donnor beach, and Amanda borrowed bikes for the adults and Danny and Rachel babysat while the adults went mountain biking. The Clarks went home on Sunday and we stayed 2 more days.  We went to the bmx track again and went to Sand Harbour again with just our family and rented a stand up paddle board and did lots more crawdad fishing and Amanda took our family pictures at a great spot she knows.

 Ruby and Aaron made a boundary all around the area we claimed on the beach.

 Danny's method of catching crawdads was to get them on the shovel and fling them to the sand.  I caught one mid-flight in this shot of cute kids on a rock.

 Such a fun group!

 The kids brought back their crawdads and Amanda cooked them up for the kids. Danny and Rachel loved it!

 Amanda set up a super fun carnival where the kids earned dollars for playing fun games.

Visalia

We went to Visalia in July this year so we could spend our annual week with Grandma Zonda.  We had a great time.  We did the usual stuff like we went in the hot tub, fed the turtles a lot, swam at the neighbors, went to the park. We also went bowling and went to Hanford to Superior Dairy.

  Bubble mode was their favorite in the hot tub.

Grandma told Ruby she could pee in the grass.  She though that was the greatest thing and has carried it over to our house. Every time we go swimming she pees in the rocks several times because it's so fun.

 Before and after:

We left Danny in Visalia to have a week by himself with Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandma is going to host each kid like that when they turn 12.  Danny had a great time.  He did jobs for Grandma and her friends because he was trying to earn money to buy a phone.  They also went shopping for clothes, played basketball with anyone Grandma could set it up with, and went fishing with Grandpa.

Vancouver and Seattle

We left Oregon and drove up to Vancouver, British Columbia.  We went to sacrament meeting there.  We were disappointed we didn't get to hear any strong Canadian accents during testimony meeting.  Then we went to a little hike that crosses a wobble suspension bridge.  It was so pretty, but raining, so the ground was all muddy. Ruby loved it and even stepped in the glacial river and didn't mind the wet feet the rest of the way.  But Danny was worried about his nice white tennis shoes getting ruined. From there we drove over to Kitsilano Beach.  It had a fun playground and a volleyball tournament going on.  By then the sun was out.  The kids loved the playground and throwing rocks in the ocean.  Ruby loved to get dirty again and rolled around in the wet, rocky sand.

The second day in Canada we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and then the bus to Butchart Gardens.  It was sunny again and a little warm. The gardens were gorgeous.  I was so glad we made the trip out there to see it.  The kids got a little whiney after walking around for too long. But we got ice cream cones and that helped. Ruby walked almost the entire time.  It's awesome to not have to travel with a stroller. Then we went to the Butterfly Garden nearby.  The kids liked that more.  We had a really great Butterfly garden near us in Georgia that we loved to go to with Danny and Rachel, but this one was pretty good too.  Then we caught the bus back to the ferry.

 

 

Next we went to Seattle to stay with Grandma Monte and Grandpa Gene.  They were so nice to let us take over their apartment.  We went to see the Locks and the fish ladder. There were scientists there that day catching the salmon and putting trackers in them.  It was fun to watch. We ate fish and chips nearby and then went to Pike Street Market.  It was a little too crowded for the kids to like it much.  But they got to see some fish thrown and we checked out a few shops. That day was Grandpa Gene's actual birthday and they took us out to their favorite local pizza place. The next day we went to the Seattle aquarium.  And then over to a fun park near Renton.  And then to Ikea where we met some of Bob's mission companions and had dinner.  We loved getting to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. And the kids loved using their pool and gym and basketball court.

 Pike street market

 One of the highlights was when Grandma bought everyone a treat at the market next to her apartment.

Ruby sat on Grandaddy's lap and did his hair.  I don't think she's ever watched anyone else do that.  His hair is just irresistible to little girls.

 at the locks

 Seattle Aquarium by the seals outside

Ikea