After my Grandpa’s memorial service, we drove to Olympia to stay with Todd’s family for two nights. His grandma, aunt and cousin took the train from Michigan and we had planned to spend some time with them too. We had a nice time relaxing at the house, exploring the creek, and sitting by the fire. Their creek was so warm this year, it was a lot of fun walking/swimming through it to find clams and crayfish.
Grandpa’s Memorial
My grandpa, John Friesen, went to be with Jesus on July 2nd of this year. He was 93 and ready to go home. It’s difficult to express how I feel, but I miss him and the history we shared. I have known his love for Jesus (he too was a preacher) my entire life, so with hope and joy I know I will see him again. We had a memorial service for him towards the end of July in Canby, OR and it was so good to see my family. It was a short two days visiting with family, but encouraging to be together remembering Grandpa.
Faithlife Picnic
Todd’s summer work picnics are always a lot of fun. It’s hard to chose what our favorite part is between the petting zoo, sampling all the food trucks, face painting, games, rock wall and bouncy houses. The kids really look forward to it every year for all of the above reasons 🙂
River Play
We have a favorite spot along the Nooksack River we like to visit when it warms up. The girls always enjoy playing in the sand and water and it’s only 2 minutes from our house 🙂
4th of July
This year we had a fun full day celebrating the 4th. We spent the morning in Bellingham at Ada’s swim lesson then back home for a bbq with our friends/neighbors. After dinner we set off some cheap fireworks for the kids (smoke bombs, spinning flowers and sparklers.) We then drove back downtown to Todd’s office (with our friends) to watch the big fireworks show.
Horseshoe Bend
I am so behind on summer pictures. I will try my best to catch up 🙂
For the last couple of years it has been tradition to hike along this river trail near or on the 4th of July. We usually find a dry, sandy spot close to the water for a picnic and to let the girls play. Ruby loves to throw rocks and Ada loves to build sand/rock sculptures.
Bubbles!
Todd wanted to do something fun with the girls one evening so he found a way to make a simple bubble wand with yarn and sticks. The bubbles created were huge! The girls had lots of fun trying to pop them before they popped on their own 🙂
Ruby Turns 2!
Ruby’s birthday was shared with Easter Sunday this year. We looked it up and she will only have three birthdays on Easter in her lifetime, so we had to celebrate it that evening even though it already was a busy day. I quickly decorated an Elmo cake (which was also dinner ;)) to celebrate with just the four of us. Ruby enjoyed opening her pop-up tent present along with all the Easter candy she collected that afternoon 🙂
Snow Days
About a month ago it dumped snow in our little town. We averaged about 10-12 inches (I think) and we stayed put. The snow was beautiful and the ice that covered everything was gorgeous too.
Todd built a little sledding hill for all the neighborhood kids (and us grown-ups too) to enjoy in front of our house. Then he helped build an igloo in our neighbor’s yard. It was a fun week snowed in!
Snow
We have had so much snow over the last few months. The first time it snowed I was searching for warm clothes to layer on Ruby. Then I realized I still had Ada’s old fluffy pink coat. There is a picture of Ada to compare 🙂
These were taken before Christmas! I will have the last big snow storm up soon.
La Casa Blanca 