I feel ducky!

Uh Oh...More Kids in the Tub!

Summer continues to be very busy and as a result our blog gets a little forgotten as we are out having too much fun! I think blogging is a good wintertime activity...but it's actually not to bad an activity for a 99F day like...TODAY! We've been going outside periodically trying to keep cool by hosing our heads off with the garden hose. Mmmm I'm about ready to go out again. Anyway...we were very glad to have the Dufresne's FINALLY come for a visit. Very fun to hang out with them all. I'm not sure that three children get wombs a fluttering the same way babies do...but they sure do make life exciting! If you think your life is dull invite a couple of kids over and the action doesn't stop! They too are especially cute in the tub. Apparently
Rylan isn't into soaking as much as his sisters Cherish and Olivia are. Typical boy:)



For those of you who haven't seen Alita in awhile...she remains her beautiful self. It is so fun to see her as a such a caring and loving mom, just like her mom was. It makes me sad that Rhonda isn't around to enjoy it all. Speaking of moms, the Dufrense's trip to Seattle was a pit stop on the way to Vancouver to celebrate the birth of Alita's nephew born at home on the fourth of July. Tenaisa I think that makes you a full blooded American now! Congratulations!



Olivia looking especially cute...



Rylan enjoying the patio door;)



The kids even enjoyed the back yard...the had lots of fun doing somersaults and rolling down the hill. I thought our yard was kind of lame for kids but I was glad when I saw that they found lots of ways to enjoy it. Oh to be like a child again and see the good side of everything...I guess that is in some way why Jesus yearns for us to be like children.



This last shot is of our good friend Charles. He owns Ace Window Cleaning and did a SPECTACULAR job cleaning our windows before our company arrived. They look great and we highly recommend him. Thanks Charles!

The people across the table

That's the theme for this post. Last weekend, Ruth and I went home to Salmon Arm for the weekend and as is with most of life, the trip was punctuated by meals with some of our favorite people. It started before we even got home. David and Kathryn Fields are living in Kamloops (Ruth's old college town). We stopped and spent the night with them and had lunch at Boston Pizza the next day. David and Ruth and I grew up together in Salmon Arm. David was my best man at our wedding and I was his two weeks later.



Thanks for hosting us with your busy schedule guys! Please come visit soon.



From Boston Pizza we drove downtown to meet Tanya and Dan. Tanya was an old classmate of Ruth's in Kamloops. They both graduated from the Nursing program at the same time. Tanya was also a guest at our wedding where she rededicated her life to Jesus. What an awesome thing! That was all I really wanted for our wedding (besides taking Ruth home) was to be an example and hopefully have our love for each other point back to God. That may or may not have been the reason that Tanya decided to turn towards Christ that day, but I'll praise God regardless. Dan and Tanya married last summer and Ruth and I were there.



It was great to see you guys! We're praying for you both!



Later that night we had dinner at my parents place with Uncle Rick and Aunty Anita and my parents. Rick and Anita are involved in WEC International which is an organization that sends out missionaries and church planting teams around the world. They currently reside in Manitoba so I don't get to see them often.



Now there's a pair of opposite expressions! Good to see you guys!



Ah yes..one final meal on Sunday at Minos Greek restaurant. Likely one of the best places to eat in Salmon Arm. And with who else but our parents. Unfortunately you can't see my Mom sitting to my right. But then again the theme is 'across the table', not 'to your right'. But I'm about to break that rule in a minute anyway. Yum good food! I consider souvlaki and a garlic potato to be calories well spent. Not that I care about calories.



"I'm sorry what was that?"

Until next time, here are a few random pictures from the weekend, including a carriage ride with my Aunty Loise and Uncle Tim's tourist service. Thanks!

Time

There are few things nicer than watching a sunset with people you like. We recently went down to Edmonds beach with Mark and Jen and Josh and Brenda to watch one of God's silent symphony for the eyes. It was beautiful.



I haven't posted in a while. These pictures are from the fourth of July parade in Bothell and recent baseball game at Safeco field. I've been really busy lately and it's wearing me out a little. I feel like my list of things to do is getting longer and longer every week. I've felt like the days have been short before, I mean, everyone feels like that sometimes. But it really honestly seems like they're getting shorter and shorter. There's not enough hours in the day to get everything done.



And yet at times like these the sun seems to sink so slowly behind the olympics. Why is it that if I decided to stare down the sun from the minute it rose to the minute it set it would be the longest day of my life, but if I disregard it and carry on it sets behind my back.



I've always held the theory that the day you are born is the longest day of your life because you have nothing to compare it to. It is the longest unit of measurement. Each day that passes speeds up like your rolling downhill. 40 isn't really 'over the hill'. All of life is downhill.



It's good to use the brakes when you can.


Ok, the Bothell parade. I want to write about it and compare and contrast it to Canadian parades and events, but I'm too sleepy. So here...



I want to to write about the fireworks at the Kirkland waterfront for the fourth, and how the city of Kirkland royaly screwd it up but I'm too sleepy. So here...



Better than the fireworks. Trust me.

Finally..baseball. Thanks for the tickets Stuart!




Crack!




Oh ya... Baseball is the other thing that makes time pass slowly. I want to write about that but I'm too sleepy.

My Talented Dad: The Story of Downstairs Before and After

Here are the long awaited photos of our crazy downstairs project. My crazy (and very awesome) dad offered to take his summer vacation and spend it with us. This was no holiday. He worked five weeks straight on our home improvement project and never complained. He loaned us the $ for supplies and gave us the labor for free. He must love us or something. Or maybe he's nuts. The pictures hardly represent the change we have seen downstairs. Unfortunately we really did not take enough before pictures which we hear is a common lament among remodelers. So here is our meager offering...sorry it took so long dad.

Hallway Before
View from rumpus room into hallway-door on right is door into office/to be bedroom.



Hallway After
Dad ripped out the freezer that was walled in at the end of this hall and put in a regular entry door. He also took out the french doors on the right and framed in a wall. He also ripped out the closet inside of the office. He then built a new doorway from the bedroom into the suite and built a new improved closet.



Bathroom Before



Bathroom After
Dad changed the swing of the door from out to in and moved a wall to do so which is not so apparent in these pics -but if you stand in the bathroom and look up right now you can see the big hole that is still there from the old wall:). We have a tad bit of drywalling to do yet. Of course we also painted and Amy, Royden, Dad and I worked hard at scraping that sticky linoglue crap off of the stubborn floor. ARG! Glad that's over:)





Office/To be Bedroom Before



Inside of bedroom looking out...unfortunatly taken after most of the work was done...that's the inside of the room that used to have the french doors where now there are boards framed in on the left.



Bedroom After
That's a new entry into the suite and a nice spiffy new closet that dad built. Looks nice huh?



Kitchen Before
Okay, during...there was a washer and dryer stuck in the left side of the room and that wall was all jimmied before-it was an uneven wall that dad moved part of to make the bathroom bigger and he removed the pocket door that was in the middle of it.



Kitchen After
Note the nice pony wall.




Living Room Before
Here you can see that jimmied wall behind the piano. That's the wall that contained our upright freezer, washing machine and crazy pocket door. Dad ripped all that out and created an entryway into the suite and an angled doorway for the bedroom.



Living Room After



Here are those hardworking boys. I liked the picture better where they're smiling, Royden liked this one better. There were some smiley moments and some not so smiley moments during this reno project.



So that's my amazing dad's handiwork. I knew he was a talented hardworking guy, but I had no idea he had so many skills. He tore it all down...and built it all back up. He's a framer, drywaller, plumer, electrition, cabinet installer (and sometimes maker), countertop installer, carpet and lino layer and painter. He even installed the baseboard heater and wired it for it's own thermostat. Amazing! I heard heard he's pretty good at baseboards too:). So, thanks dad! We really don't know how to thank you but we want you to know that you're the best and we're both very grateful for you and the ways that you demonstrate your love for us. We're also VERY grateful to mom for letting us have dad for five weeks. I'm not sure I'd let Royden leave me to work for our kids for that long. We hope you'll both come back to visit sometime soon...and we promise we'll try our best not to put you to work ;).

Hello summer!

We had record breaking heat in Seattle this week. It was a clear sign that summer is here. What a lot of Californians are figuring out is that Seattle has gorgeous hot summers. When they put that together with the affordable housing ( under half a million ) they move up. I can't complain I suppose. I'm sure they're helping drive up the value of our house. Welcome California!

This is another sure sign that it's summer...



We enjoyed a BBQ at Bothell Landing this past Thursday. Adam brought his croquet set and very serious game of croquet ensued. I had no idea that game could get so intense!



Good times.

This Saturday was a first for me. I cleaned the gutters for the first time on my first house. It was liberating experience (this time). I sat up on my roof and thanked God for the ability to buy this house. I kinda felt like a little king. An undeserved little king, but a little king nonetheless.

I also cleaned the bathroom skylight...



This Saturday..the first of July...is another important day. It's CANADA DAY!
There's only one way to celebrate Canada Day...



More BBQing!

Amy and Abraham came over tonight to help us celebrate the day that Queen Victoria gave us our independence on July 1st, 1867. There's a little Canadian history for you Americans.



Alright, one more thing...

I remember having one particularly strong desire as a young kid. Dad will remember this; I wanted so badly to see a spider spin his web. It seemed like I always saw finished webs when I walked around the farm, but I never saw a spider in the middle of spinning. My Dad said that they probably spun their webs in the early morning, so if I wanted to see it, I should get up early and go for a walk in the woods. I never did. I still don't get up early.

But today, 20-some years later, I saw a spider spinning a web in the front yard. It was as incredible as I had imagined as a kid.



Alright, I can check that off my childhood list.



More pictures coming after the fourth I'm sure.