Ben Thomas's Funeral...

Ben Thomas has been a family friend since he was born. He is my Lyndsey's little brother, he's the same age as my Robb. He was diagnosed with ALS and it took his life slowly (and way to quickly) away over four years. I was really desperate to be with the Thomases at his funeral but how can you travel last minute during school Christmas break...that is the highest possible season. My friend Cindy offered me some buddy passes to make the trip possible, it hardly cost me anything. It was such a relief to be there and not break the bank.

The funeral was beautiful and well planned and heart felt and everything a celebration of a life should be. It was also heartbreaking and hard.

Ben had a six month old baby when he was diagnosed, she was four when he passed away.

Deb and Eric with their boy.

Lynz and her cute family with Ben.

Jena and Emmy, Ben's wife and daughter.

Matt and Charlie, Lyndsey's brothers on either side in the front.

Lyndsey is an occupational therapist and as such was able to move to Saint George and practice there with a week on and a week off schedule so she could be a huge support to Ben and his family. Her husband Brian was also very close to Ben and Ben's Emmy is like a sibling to Lynz's kids.

Lyndsey's Lily and Emmy.

Deb with three of her grandkids.

Lynz, Layne, Matt, Charlie and Katelyn. Ben is the fourth of six kids.

One of the days I was there we went walking around at a pretty place that I have no memory of what it was called, but Saint George is a gorgeous area with beautiful places like this.

Ben will be sorely missed all the days of life left to anyone who loves him.

A Bavarian Baby Shower...

Had a great, way too short, but great weekend with the girls in Leavenworth for Jenn's baby shower. We really should have gone for more nights because it was so nice to be together away from all our people. It was amazing seeing Jenn so pregnant with her first little one and finally being able to "shower" her with a fun time and some things for her little babe. We stayed at a cabin/chalet thing that is owned by the Enzian. It is a separate two story house that is super cozy and was perfect for our gathering.

Ede and I met in Snoqualmie and drove over together and we all arrived remarkably at the same time ready to eat. It was a sunny, beautiful weekend and we sat on the upper deck at Gustav's and had a fun lunch together. Then Sandy and Kel went back to prep the room with showery decorations, drinks and appetizers.

We went to lay out at the pool, swim, chat, snooze and read magazines for the rest of the sunny afternoon and it was bliss.

Before we left for dinner we had Jenn open her presents, a bunch of baby essentials wrapped up in a baby tub with a quilt top (soon to be quilt) that I made but we all went in on.

She loved it.

We went to eat at Visconti's and enjoyed a really nice meal and a few hours of good gab.

Jenn was a few weeks ahead of Leisha here...don't they both look amazing?

Jenn, Eden, Sandy and Kel with our snack spread...

Eden.

Jenn with her tub.

Before we went to dinner at Visconti's, we took some pics. I love these girls. Apparently my shirt is see through and I had the wrong color bra on. Mmmmmkay.

Jenn gave birth to a sweet baby boy, Owen Roy Anderson on September 18, 2014.

McCall with Sommer...and eight other little people...

I have wanted to take Sommer to McCall for EONS. This year, I just decided we'd have to go in June when the cabin is in low demand because in July and August it will likely never happen. We went as soon as her kids got out of school, arriving in McCall on June 20th. We crammed a TON of stuff into the van with four bikes hanging off the back and a car topper on top.

I can't make a drive for eight hours because I get too sleepy at the wheel, so we left the 19th and stopped in Colfax, WA which is about half way to stay the night. We went to a really cool park in Colfax.

I love Betsey's eye color. A lot. She is so lucky! (random pic I took...)

While swimming in the hotel pool, Betsey was testing how far she could go. I was sitting fully clothed poolside reading a book, but thankfully she wanted me to see how far she could go, so I was all eyes on her while she gradually got deeper and deeper. Then all of the sudden the pool did a dramatic increase in depth and she was flapping around getting deeper by the centimeter. Quickly I realized she was worked up and getting deeper, so I ran into the water and saved my girl. Phew! It was such a quick thing but could have been scary. I got to her before she breathed any water, thankfully. With all the hotel pool swimming we've been doing (by this time we'd been at the hotel for six weeks in Puyallup) I was pretty laid back, but I realized she usually has a floatie or life preserver on so I don't have to worry. This was not the case this time because all that stuff was buried in the car.

My loves in the morning cuddling. Sigh. This pic is so yummy.

I have a passionate love for the Palouse. That are of WA is just so beautiful, the rolling hills with green or gold color that sways in the breeze. The blue skies and clouds. I just love it. No picture I take does it justice...especially with an iphone. Never fails though that I can't stop gawking at that part of the state.

Arrived at the cabin and the table was not where it normally is. Threw me for a loop!

Bets and Leo in the bathroom. 

Leo getting into the only drawer he can get into.

Our first jump into my favorite body of water. It was June, so it was COLD.

Talmage, Eden, Wyatt and Ruby on the dock and Kesley and Alice in the boat. The kids had a great time playing in the boat, sand, and on the dock and a little bit in the freezing water. They also went down a ways to a stream that enters the lake and has a lot of little fish that they like to try and catch.

The weather was nice and warm most of the time and we had the kids eat outside when it worked.

Leo in the tubby.

Betsey and Leo actually played cards. It was to die for!

We taught the kids how to play speed and they really got obsessed, just like I was as a kid. Some kids were more natural at it than others. 

Leo was the last person I wanted to take to the beach, and it was amazing because I would wheel him down and he literally sat there, strapped in the stroller for like an hour almost every day. Just sat there watching things. It was so nice. He turned out not to be too bad, tough crawling, at the beach. He wasn't trying to eat sand and he was relatively happy down there.

I was surprised he liked the freezing water.

One day, like fifty yards from where we sat at the neighboring dock, we saw this boat totally submerged in the water. they were trying to pull it to shallow water but it eventually was beached. I don't know how the emergency people did it, but the fireman boat pulled up and got the boat back on the surface of the lake within an hour or so.

Betsey rediscovered sand castle building.

Didn't bring a bike for Betsey so she had fun riding with Leo.

Had to take our friends to the famous Ice Cream Alley!

I can just tell this is early morning...nothing like a six am wake up on "vacation"!

The kids had so much fun on the rope swing in the backyard. It seems like they literally spent hours out there daily and it never got old. 

Bike riders!

We went to Brown's Park on a bike ride and Leo and I played in the grass and practiced walking. He took some of his first steps there, I didn't get pics because I decided to facetime with Chris instead so he didn't miss out.

So pretty.

At the park they ahve these netted areas where they are growing fish I guess to release into the lake eventually. The kids had fun watching them because there were so many.

The big kids did a lot of impressive sand castle building too.

Leo decided to give me snuggles.

Here you can see that there are these logs that are standing up by the fence, buried solidly in the ground so that they are super sturdy and the log steps raise the kids up to the level that they can mount the rope swing on their own and launch themselves. Major adult favorite because it spares being out there constantly helping kids on and pushing them.

Ice Cream Alley swing.

My bestie cousin joined us by staying next door at the Anderson Cabin for most of the week. Sommer and Trina got along great, they are both teachers and we just had fun hanging out all of us. It made me so happy, I don't get to see Trina enough and she is my McCall staple and I'm just glad that it worked to mix company. 

Bets, Wyatt, Talmage, Alice, Leo and Kesley.

More swinging.

It was a great week. The only thing that would make it better is if we had perfect weather the whole time and if we fast forwarded two years to when Leo is more self sufficient. Otherwise, Sommer and I had fun talking, sitting on the beach, playing cards and being with our kiddos. We left McCall the 27th and picked Chris up in Boise on our way to Colorado...stay tuned.