Brandon's "Big 5 Year Old" Pictures

We headed out to the river this afternoon in our narrow window of sunshine to take Brandon's birthday pictures.  His birthday is next week but I have a certain set of parents who are heading out across the ocean pretty soon again and I wanted to make sure they had updated pictures of both boys before they left.

Brandon was very much involved in his pictures--he chose his cowboy outfit!  I took along the shorts outfit because I wanted something I knew he would be a little more active in, since that is one of his biggest traits.  He also chose a couple of the poses and really didn't want to stop taking pictures.

Bryan and I had a hard time choosing our favorites so you get to choose!  ;)



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And then it was time to throw sticks and rocks in to the river to make BIG splashes!

It was a fun afternoon. 
Blessings

*Grandparents, I'd like to order pictures next week before we leave.  Please let me know which numbers, sizes and how many soon.  Thanks!

Artist Point

At the end of July we headed up to Artist Point one Sunday afternoon with some friends.  It was gorgeous, it was freeing, it was FUN!!

We climbed up quite a ways simply by going to the next hill and saying, "Let's go up there now."
Can you see the parking lot?

Tailgate party for snack time after a long hike.

And then it was time for some sledding.  July is THE. BEST. TIME to go sledding.  I hate snow, but this was fun--warm sunshine and fast snow.

Blessings

Water Fun

There are about 10 different files of pictures all at various levels of editing, so I might be working backwards on the blog for a while.

Last week we had our "hot" week of the summer--usually about one week a year.  It was delightful and we were outside as much as possible!

This picture is such a perfect representation of the boys' personalities. 
Brandon is active, running, simply focused on MOVING!
Micah, on the other hand, found the mud puddle the sprinkler made and was experimenting with how high it would splash with various foot pressures.

Brandon--so full of life and color!  I'm having a hard time with his turning FIVE next week...
where did my 4lb 5.1oz baby go?

Blessings on your Wednesday.

The 102nd NW Fair

Not that we've been 102 times, but Brandon would sure love to go on the rides that many times!!  Micah and Grandma even got in to the rides this year.  It was a blast.  The boys are so blessed to have a Grandma who enjoys going to the fair with them.  It's a great day together.

(Warning: Heavy picture post!)

Micah was quite fascinated with the animals.

A calf born 30 minutes earlier.

Grandma and Brandon on the farris wheel. 

Brandon is just THRILLED with the rides and would do nothing else all day long if the rest of us didn't want to see other parts of the fair as well.

We met up with Elliot and his friend and the three boys went on a couple rides together.  Brandon really enjoyed that.

All I had to say to Brandon before they got on this ride is if he turned the wheel they would go FASTER! 
They really got that thing spinning.  I was pretty impressed.

Micah's favorite was the "ide" and he would have done that all day long as well.

It was a HOT day!  Perfect fair weather. ;)

 After lunch we took a break from the heat and sat in the shaded bleachers to watch a whole variety of horse presentations.

This family was pretty incredible.  They do stunts on horses and just travel from fair to fair.

The horse is chased...

The horse chases...(not really)

eventually they did come together and perform.

The abdominal muscles on these guys must be amazing.  I can see Brandon doing this some day...

Mutton Bustin' is HI-LARIOUS!  Most of the kids end up on the ground but a couple made it all the way across.

Auntie Lis came up for the week to ride.

The Sardis Wildlife was there this year.  It brought back memories from teaching days when we took our kids to see the birds.

And then it was back to rides for Brandon and I and Grandma took Micah for a walk--or a nap in Micah's case.

We went to go see Auntie Lis for hugs of course--always good for my soul.

Again, Micah was fascinated with the horses.

The boys soon fell apart after that and so we decided it was time to head home.  "On the way out" we happened to bump in to the tractors and the boys got to sit on them for a couple minutes.  It was the perfect way to end a spectacularly fun day.

Here's to next year!