12th Wedding Anniversary

We had great plans for celebrating our 12th Anniversary!  My sister was going to come up for the weekend to watch the kids while Josh and I went to a football game Friday night, then zip lining Saturday morning up near Leavenworth ~ dessert and coffee and maybe a nice walk mixed into all of that.  Then Tuesday the 6th happened.  Jared got sick, followed by me getting sick Thursday around 5pm, then Vivian Thursday around 11pm, then Shelby on Friday around 5am.  It ended up being a rough few days of not straying far from a bowl and lots of laundry.  No football game and no zip lines.  Instead we had: the flu, the store was out of the ice cream we had planned to have, and the power went out for 2 hours Saturday from 6:15 to 8:15pm.  Through all this, we laughed and made the best of it.  The amazing part is that Josh never got sick!  :)

Vivian by her bowl.  

Since they didn't have our ice cream we made pumpkin bars Saturday afternoon.  Then the power went out before we made the frosting, so Josh whipped it up by hand by the light of a lantern.  

By Sunday morning we were all feeling much better!  We took the day to hike up Icicle Creek outside of Leavenworth.  It was a beautiful drive up there with the Fall colors and it was a wonderful hike!  

Here's how we started the hike (and I'm just carrying a backpack)

 Snack time!

The river was so pretty and we loved listening to it rush by. 

At our turn around point (about 2 miles) ~ Jared was very happy to get out and walk around a bit.

 And here's how we ended the hike!  Josh carried Vivian and I carried Jared and the backpack.  

After carrying Jared out I had an even bigger respect for Josh and how hard he works every time we go on a hike.  :)  Love that man!

We ended the day in Leavenworth eating dinner and some ice cream.  The girls had a blast rolling down the hill over and over again.

Blessed with 12 years of marriage and looking forward to many, many more!

What we've been up to

We've had some fun times lately and I have taken a few pictures.  In no particular order ~ here you go!

 There's something special about those grandparents!!!  (Vivian sharing Grandpa's ice cream.)  My mom and dad flew up to Richland to see Kim and Adam's new house and we met them there for the weekend.  We had a great time of hanging out in their beautiful backyard, grilling, visiting a local farm, celebrating with Reliance Fellowship and so much more.  Thank you, Mom and Dad for coming to see us!!!  We all love you so much!!!!

Movie time!

...and that's all the pictures I took of our time in Richland.  :)

here are the rest of the pictures: GGG in Richland

Jared still fits in a diaper box.  Those silly kiddos.

Handsome boy ready for church, with his hands in his (newly found) pockets.

Sometimes we call him Linus!

He loved this!

The girls are doing AWANA for the first time this year and they are loving it!  Well, Shelby loves it.  Vivian is a little scared of the "loud" game-time leader; but, she does enjoy the rest of the Cubbies.  Last week was Crazy Hat Night.  

Jared can swing a bit on his own swing, but he loves to spider-swing with Shelby!  We all get some good laughs in as he lets go with one hand often and scares us all.  He hasn't fallen off yet!

Kiddos sharing some oatmeal for breakfast.

Shelby is doing very well at reading and we decided it was time for her to have her very own Bible!  There were lots to choose from, but we settled on this one and had her name put on it.  She is very glad to have her own Bible.  She has read the story of David and Goliath, and she is underlining the Bible verses she has memorized.  {Makes our hearts so happy that she loves Jesus!}

Happy Fall y'all!

More bike riding

Today we were able to take an evening bike ride.  Had a great time again and remembered to take a few pictures.  :)  We rode on the East Wenatchee side this time which has a few more hilly sections - Shelby didn't care for the uphill but she did great anyway.

Synchronized Cheerio eating going on in the bike trailer.

Shelby leading the way back.

Another beautiful, cooler day!  

Celebrating 36!

We've started celebrating my 36th birthday!  Today we went for a bike ride ~ Vivian and Jared in a bike trailer (thanks Johnston's!) attached to Josh's bike, Shelby and I rode our bikes.  It was a perfect day for a bike ride with cool temperatures, cloud cover and a slight breeze.  Wish we had taken some pictures. 

Tonight we had fun at Brian's in Cashmere with pizza (YUM!!!) and bowling.

Vivian sure loves her sister!!!  They had so much fun bowling ~ we all did!

Bowlers list:
Vivian

Shelby

Sharon

Josh

...yes, I (Sharon) won!!!   Happy Birthday to me!  hehe

Bonus fun!

We got to have the Bonus kids from Monday to Wednesday and we had so much fun!

 Fun at the dam!

 Emily and Nathan could both light up the lights!

We did string art and some other art projects.

Played around with handcuffs.  :)  

And played on the swingset a lot!  It was a great three days!!

The Wigle Family in town!

We had such a fun time with Uncle Vern, Auntie Joy and Luke Wigle in town!!!  All day Saturday was a long wait as the girls asked about every hour when "our friends" would be arriving.  :)  We enjoyed spending the evening with them here at our house.  Then today we hung out in Leavenworth ~ walking around the stores, listening to music and enjoying the food.  It was a blast to reconnect and chat with these people we love dearly.

The girls did a great job showing them how they ride their bikes.  Notice the smoke!  :(

Up in Leavenworth ~ usually a beautiful view, but there's so much smoke.  Please be praying with us for rain!!!

Sampling yummy apple cider sauerkraut! 

Although Jared has had a fever since Saturday morning, he was a pretty happy guy this morning.  He was happy to have Auntie Joy hold him.  :)

There's Uncle Vern!  We lost him amongst all the shopping and were glad to be reunited.  

Awww, sweet couple!

The girls sure love Luke!

We all enjoyed the fun music!

Apples to applesauce

Yesterday we got to go pick apples for free!  We had a great time with our friends, the Pugmires.  (Thanks Julia!!) We got lots of apples and could have plucked more, but what do you do with all those apples?  

Eole and Shelby behind the ladder, Davyn, Vivian and Jared on the ladder rung.

I had always wanted to try making applesauce so today we did it!  I used about 15 or 16 apples and used this recipe "Easy, No-Peel Applesauce" from my sweet sister-in-law, Kelly.

Shelby colored while I sliced and cored the apples.  (Jared was napping and Vivian was...supposed to be napping.)  Then, easy-peasy ~ boil and blend!

It was super yummy warm with some cinnamon!  I have about 1/3 in the fridge and the other 2/3s in the freezer.  I'm excited to try it once it's cold.  So far I'm very impressed at how easy it was and how good it tastes.  

I'm planning a taste test for all of us: store bought vs. homemade.  :)