HE'S SIXTEEN!

It's a wonderful day to celebrate Laird

Laird is

kind and thoughtful

a mama's boy and proud of it

honorable

a hard worker

has a heart of gold

loves his family

intelligent and spiritual

funny and has a great sense of humor

is interesting and interested

loving and lovable

an awesome brother and son

We love you and are very proud of you Laird!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

THE ANNUAL YOUNG CAMPOUT

was at Cascadia State Park this year and wow, did we ever love it there!

We went on a hike that took us to petrglyphs - we were told they are thought to be the oldest in the NW.
Unfortunately, people have tried to carve their initials and other things in the rock and many are gone due to vandalism.
It's a really amazing wonder tucked into the forest.

The water was super duper cold, but of course it didn't stop us from having shenanigans and loads of fun.

We also hiked up to Soda Creek Falls.  It's a really pretty, 3/4 mile STEEP hike.  We had so much fun.

This is an ancient Indian burial site.  It is so quiet and peaceful in this area - and would you believe it, it's the pet exercise area.
Luckily for us, we were the only ones there so we could feel it's reverence.

The weekend ended with a dead battery, car sickness and a dead van.  Other that those minor setbacks, the weekend was a smashing success.
We're already looking forward to the 2014 campout!

IT'S OFFICIAL - HE'S SIX!

Lach makes us laugh everyday.  

He thoroughly loves being inappropriate and the reactions he gets.  

He is a riot and you never know what he is going to do or say.  

We are SO happy he was born.

He is a joy to our family and he is the perfect caboose to our clan.  

That face melts our hearts.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LACH!

WE LOVE YOU!!

LAURA RAE DESIGNS

I'm really excited - we've decided to sell the wood letters and symbols again.    

42 inches - $75
Custom fonts and colors available.
And, of course, smaller custom sizes are an option.  $2 an inch.

Happy, happy!

SNEAK PEEK - LONGBOARDLARRY BENCH

This is the COOLEST bench.  It's coming soon to the LongBoardLarry website.  AND, the best part is that Larry will be doing custom colors.

EXPLOSION CAKE

Lach is turning six and we celebrated his birthday early with a family party.  We had a pasta potluck because this boy loves his macaroni and cheese.  Then, of course, it was presents and cake.

Lach's cake was a hot mess.  Thankfully, this happy go lucky boy of ours turned it to a positive and saved his mama lots of tears.

I put blue cake balls in it as a surprise for him and as I was icing it, the cake was peeling away in front of our eyes.  No amount of icing could save it.  The weight of the icing would actually make it peel away even more.  Lach decided that the blue cake balls were lava bombs and made the cake explode.  So this was named the year of the explosion cake.

He was spoiled with presents and it was a pure joy watching him unwrap them.  He is a little ball of excitement.  Only six more days until he's officially six!

HOT DOG BAR

My aunt and uncle are visiting from Utah, so we had a family bbq - a hot dog bar, to celebrate.

On the menu:

Polynesian dog - hoisin sauce, pineapple, scallions
American dog - ketchup, mustard, relish
MacDaddy dog - mac and cheese, salsa
Thai dog - cilantro, peanut sauce, carrots
Chili dog - chili, cheese, sour cream

Everyone brought a side dish to share and their favorite drink and voila, we had a feast to go along with the laughter and chitchat.

I am one lucky gal.  I seriously have the BEST relatives and John and Ann are two of my favorite.

And for those of you wondering about the hot dog bar.  All of the dogs got rave reviews but there was a clear favorite - the Polynesian dog.

SWIMMING PARTY

The older boys were out for the evening having teenager fun.  Our parent's ward was having a swim party and they invited us to bring the wee ones.

I have titled this photo as Farmer Tans and Loosing Britches

The lovebirds on the left are celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary on Tuesday.
The lovebirds on the right just celebrated their 45th.
Our parents rock and I'm so glad they are best friends!

It was a fun summer evening and a super fun ward activity.  Hopefully we'll get an invite next year! (hint, hint)