Farewell my son.

Sunday, Sept 21st was Daniel's farewell. He spoke in church and then we partied! We had friends and family come from all over the great state of Washington.

Uncle Matt tried to cut his middle finger off with a circular saw and Aunt Jenna was showing her moral support. Don't they make a darling couple? I think they are the best. I am so happy they drove over to take part in the festivities.

This sweet lady is Grandma Brown. Don't be fooled by the smile, right before I snapped the picture she was informing me why I should always listen to her and do everything she tells me to because she knows everything. It turns out, she is right. :)

Jakey showing off the spread of food. We did eggrolls, spring rolls, gyozas, crab rangoons, and three different kinds of sushi. For dessert we had cookie platters

Ben worked the fryers and the grill keeping the crowd fed. We have a pretty sweet set up on the patio that really helped keep our kitchen cool during the summer.

This nice gentleman is Bishop Green. He is our ward's bishop. 

Daniel had lots and lots of friends and family show up to wish him well.

This is Linda's littlest dude, Harley, snoozing on Bumpki's lap.

Daniel with his BFF, Jake Forbush. Jake just turned in his mission papers.

In this picture he is now officially Elder Brown

Daniel headed off to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) 6 am Monday morning. There are no pictures I am willing to post because I was a mess that morning and pretty much all day long.

Saying Goodbyes

I took the kids over to the Brown's this past Sunday so Papa could have his goodbyes and well wishes with Daniel before he leaves for two years on his mission. I also thought it would be a good time to get some looong over due pictures. 

Daniel and Ike. (No, your eyes do not deceive you, Isaac is taller than Daniel)

 This is their smiles when they don't know a picture is being taken.

This is their smiles when they do know a picture is being taken.  It amused me.

Grandma has the cutest smile ever when she is around her grandchildren.

Papa and Grandma with the two oldest of their grandchildren.

Grandma with her sweet little Daniel. Well, I guess not so little anymore.

Comments anyone??

I have turned back on the ability for people to share the opinions in the comment section. I am sorry I had to close it down for so long. I was tired of getting filthy spam comments from European countries. I do look forward to hearing from anyone that enjoys my blog though.

Introducing the newest member of the family!!

Introducing Skittles!!

She is eight week old wired haired pointer griffon. She is classified as a sporting/ gun dog. We chose Skittles because the breed is very loyal and loves to please. They are hypo-allergenic and very low shedding. 

She has everyone in the house wrapped around her little paws. 

Daniel is getting a much quality time with Skittles before he leaves. He is super bummed that she will be two when he gets back and will not know who he is. We will have him mail down a smelly sock once a week and have her chew it. (jk)(not really)

Her AKC name must start with Sweet Thunder. Ben suggested Thighs so she could be Sweet Thunder Thighs. That got canned pretty quickly. I think we are in agreement for the name Frumdoenunder. Sweet Thunder Frumdoeunder. LOL

Sometimes in life you just get pooped on.

Sometimes as you are driving down the road of life you get pooped on. 

Usually these are just small poops and you are bummed a bit but figure you can just wash it off in a few days or hope for a good rainy day.

Sometimes as you are driving along the road of life you get hit by such a big piece of poo you actually poo yourself a little bit when it hits your car.

Not sure what kinda bird dropped this load but it made Daniel and Ike just about drop a load as well as they were driving back from Target.

It started on the hood of the car, hit the windshield wiper and then traveled up the windshield to the roof. That was one very irregular bird.

Jakey admiring the poop windfall.

Updating Family Pictures

Four years later........

I finally got around to updating the kids pictures. I don't like to rush things.

Daniel, age 18

Anna, age 9

Jacob, age 11

Maria, age 9

Isaac, age 15

Jacob, Daniel, Anna, and Maria

Anna and Maria

I think I waited so long because I was in denial that the kids are growing up. The pictures really brought how much they are changing and growing. They are no longer "little kids", they just act like it.

Our version of The Last Supper

Tuesday was the last day of summer for us and the first school night of the year. Needless to say we were all quite depressed. Ben and I decided to make dinner extra fun for everyone so we made sushi and Spam musubi.

Here is Ben cutting up the sushi rolls.

This is one of the four trays we made. I did California rolls, salmon, tuna, and surimi rolls.

It looked so pretty on the plate I had to take a picture. It all tasted delish as well. We are lucky because all the kiddos are sushi fans so this is one of the few dinners we serve that does not come with a side of whine.

And now we are off to another year of school. Summer was fun while it lasted, now back to our regularly scheduled craziness.