Modes of transportation

Jared is now totally mobile!!!  It's official!  Jared's preferred mode of transportation is now walking!!!  He still crawls a bit, but mostly gets up by himself and walks around.  This is a long video, but he's so cute!  He makes laps around the kitchen several times every day.  We are all having fun with this walking boy!



Today Shelby got on her bike and took off!  She must have grown 2 inches since her birthday because the bike fits her very well now.  She can get on, start, ride, stop and get off all on her own. We are so proud of her!!!  Vivian is doing great on her balance bike also. Check it out ~

Watch Vivian coasting at the end of the video - love it!

Getting tossed...

Shelby:


Vivian:

Hot, hot summer!

We are having a hot, hot summer up here!  You'd think we were still in West Texas!!!  Yikes!  But we have had a lot of fun!  We went to the wedding of Luke and Toscia up in the Twisp/Winthrop area.  It was a beautiful wedding and reception.  We really enjoyed hanging out with Walter, Janet and their family.

The following Monday Isaac, Trisha and Emily flew in to visit for a week!  The girls had so much fun with their little 10-month-old cousin, Emily.  Emily had three mommies for the week and I think she liked it too, for the most part.  ;)

I started this post the end of July and now it is August 15th!  Our computer wasn't working well for a while, but now we seem to be back up and running.

I can't seem to get the pictures from Isaac and Trisha's trip to load, so I am sorry.  But we had a blast with them!!!  Rocky Reach Dam, Leavenworth, playing outside, the guys went fishing and shooting, we played games and talked and had a wonderful time together!

Now we are back to a somewhat normal routine and with school starting next week (we are going to do lots of review to bring Shelby up to speed again) we are enjoying our weekend.  Hope you've had a nice summer!!

Sheet rides from Shelby, Vivian and Daddy

He got into the butter while I was brushing my teeth ~ he pushed the stool over, grabbed the butter and enjoyed wiping it all over the counter.

Love this one!

Jared kept hugging Shelby ~ so sweet!

We got a little pool and the kids have really enjoyed it on these hot days!  We've had fun with our new neighbor friends over, too.

Playing in the tote

 The girls love getting tossed up into the air by daddy!

These silly girls and their swinging.  :)

Aren't they sweet sleepers!?!?!

Swim lessons at Kyra's!!!  

Can it be true?

Tuesday we had visitors that we'd never guessed would visit us in Washington state!!!  Yes, our friends Walter and Janet came to see us!  Well, they are here for Walter's son's wedding, but hey! we are in the same state and only 2 hours from where the wedding will be this weekend.  SO!  We very much enjoyed having them visit us on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Our time was spent talking, eating, talking, checking out the Rocky Reach Dam, and talking some more.  Such a wonderful time!

Jared warmed right up to Mrs. Janet!  Here she is giving him a ride and singing "This is the way the lady rides..." in German!  :)

 Rocky Reach Dam fun!

 The fish ladder and the museum were both great!  Walter's daughter and her family joined us for the Dam - we all really enjoyed it.

Gosh we love these friends!!!  

Mr. Walter and Mrs. Janet ~ thanks for coming all the way to Washington to see your sunshine!

Up on the roof (you know you want to sing it!)

Listen to song here: https://youtu.be/7F_opWg9_qI  I have to include the link because Josh has never heard that song, sadly.  And incase YOU haven't...well, listen to it and now you have!  :)  Although, I will say, I cannot agree with the lyrics...it was not peaceful or relaxing.  

Ummm, yeah, I was pretty freaked out the whole time.

Alternate post title: Terrified on the Roof (instead of Fiddler on the Roof)

So, I had this wonderful idea that we should watch the fireworks tonight from our roof.  Vivian didn't take a nap this afternoon, so she had to go to bed early...that was providential as it probably wouldn't have worked with her.  Shelby, however, did nap and so Josh, Shelby and I climbed up onto the roof at 10:10pm to watch the show.  It was a good view and we couldn't have seen it from the ground at our house.  BUT - it was scary!!!

Yes, this was how I was feeling.  Shelby kept telling me to "be brave" and she was right!  I tell you what, as soon as my feet hit the ladder to get down I felt SO MUCH BETTER!  Goodness, ok, enough of that.

The fireworks show was neat!  We took some pictures and a time lapse video for Vivian and Jared so they can watch it tomorrow.  :)

Goodnight!

Awesome time with those sweet Bonus kids!!!

Wow, we sure have been busy!  Our lives are generally not that full of activities (and we are totally ok with that), but this summer finds us on the go.  We have enjoyed it and want to share some of it with you!

While Jared and I were in New Mexico celebrating the life of my wonderful Grandmother, Josh took the girls to Curlew for the weekend to see our friends there.  They had such a wonderful time!!!  Thank you to the Owen family for hosting them!!!  Once they were back home from Curlew, Josh took them up camping for a night where they canoed, too.  Oh my ~ they had such a great time with their wonderful Daddy!!

 Horse riding, gathering eggs, jumping on a trampoline, cookies, and much more fun!

The girls had fun with David and Lindy where they got to ride horses again!

The day after I returned from New Mexico Josh left for Minnesota to help care for his mother who underwent surgery.  While he was gone we played some catch up on life, but mostly cared for Jared who was sick with a high fever and runny nose.  He did enjoy playing in the box from his new carseat!

Poor kid - the girls gave him a princess book to look at.  Oh well.  

Then the day after Josh returned from MN the Bonus cousins came to spend five days with us!  It was awesome!!!  Emily, Nathan and Abby are such a great help with our kids.  I really enjoy having them stay with us! Pictures is no particular order ~

They played so well together!  At one point I am pretty sure they had every toy out!  hehe  But they also cleaned it all up.

We had fun doing face masks!

The boys went shooting.  :)

Here's what three tired kids look like after a super fun day at Slide Waters!  I, Sharon, have never really been a lover of water parks, but Josh and I took the six kids to Chelan on Sunday and had an absolute blast!!!!!!  Then we came home and crashed.  (We slept while the fires in Wenatchee burned.)

One night we stayed up late to play yard bowling with glow sticks in water bottles...but it was still too light out so we played in the garage.  It was very hot but we had fun.

Someone gave the Bonus family this awesome thing so they brought it with them and we had fun in it.

Sweet Emily.  She made zucchini bread - yum!!!  She also made chocolate chip cookies!  She also watched the five kids while Josh and I went to dinner with our small group.  Jared was without us for four hours and he did great!  He loved playing with Emily, Nathan, Abby, Shelby and Vivian ~ and he loved watching movies.  :)  Emily made dinner and took care of them all very well.

Forts in the office/play room.  

After taking the Bonus kids 1/2 way to Richland (met Kim 1/2 way) we came home and have had a nice time catching up again.  These next two weeks hold even more fun!!!  Visitors from Texas and Minnesota ~ will share more later.  Today we celebrated our country's independence with some yummy food and water guns in the back yard and some face painting at the park!  

Frozen sisters!  The gal did such a good job and the girls LOVED it!

Now Jared and Vivian are sleeping and we are headed up to the roof to watch the fireworks!

Happy 4th of July!

Time marches on

Just found this - back from 2012 ~ thought I'd post it anyway.  :)  Shelby playing outside in Sanderson and sweet pictures of Vivian as a baby.  Time does march on!




My Grandma Griffin did pass away on March 7th. The whole Griffin clan was able to be there for the funeral, except me. I was so glad that they were all together. Grandma Griffin had been suffering for a while, so we are all glad that she is whole and new in Heaven with Jesus, our Lord and Savior! Praise God for his kindness in calling her home.

We are doing well down here in Sanderson. Thankful for the cooler evenings and nights (60's) since the days are already around the 80's.