No time for blogg'in!!

O.K.....well now that the rather BIG adventures in our life are more "official" I feel like I can do a sort of "press release"! There has been so much going on!!! Usually, I reckon, these things don't happen all at once, but in our case thats the way it worked out!
So, as most know, we sold our restaurant, The Loft, in May. Our intentions were to start a new restaurant as soon as possible. Well it didn't necessarily go as we had anticipated....it never does. We went through some bumps in the road from financing, to lease agreements, but kept our faith and by the grace of God the construction for our new restaurant started on Monday!! It has been a challenging 4 months, but we are excited for this opportunity.....God has truly been good to us, we are so grateful for the plan He has for us, and can appreciate the bumps along the way that got us to this point, because it hasn't come without learning a whole lot. So the estimated completion is in December. The restaurant will be a family style restaurant with a touch of western for decor,it will have a full service small bar, and we will be serving the typical all American food... steaks, ribs, salads, a couple wraps, fried green tomatoe's, among other items and maybe a couple other surprises! Oh yea....and the name is.....JAKE'S. Brian has always wanted to name a restaurant after his son, so together we thought it was a great idea for this one!
Alright, so for the next big thing.....we signed papers today and closed on the purchase of our first HOME!! YES! We are so excited, this too wasn't without challenge, but it all worked out and we are now proud owners of a home and a big payment, well that goes without saying! AND....we finally have a yard, YES our kids don't have to be cooped up inside anymore, they will have room to roam! This house needed and still needs a little work. It is older, we have or I should say Brian and my mom have spent time this week painting nearly 1/2 of the inside of the house. It is in a wonderful neighborhood. In fact as a little girl growing up I always wanted to live in this development that we are moving to(it was the first "housing development" in Lynden) So my dream came true....hehe!! We will be moving over the course of the next couple of days, thats not very fun...but I sure am looking forward to a fresh start! I will post pictures as time permits. Or stop by and see us...we would love visitors!
Needless to say, I am behind on my postings! I will also clarify that it does take things becoming official before I really open up about big stuff like this. It just makes it easier if things don't work out and having to explain dissapointment over again. So it's fun to share my family's news....hope all is well with everyone, looking forward to getting back to a normal pace and finding a new normal for my life!

The last of the fair memories...

Just a posting with the left over fair pictures that didn't fall into any particular category but are fun to see!

Along with the fun fair time comes fun family time....seeing grandma and papa every day(we had a little mini photo shoot with grandma), making visits to the lost and found to see great grandma, and riding around on the "fair mobile" with who ever would take them!!

Clay's girls....our girls

So Kelsey and Madison ended the fair in style this year....they got escorted through the carnival by a Lynden Police officer and a security guard! They happened to be at the right place at the right time, and enjoyed some time with Clay Walker's daughters, MaClay and Skylor! The girls came off the bus and had some time before their dad went on stage so they were headed out to go on some rides. They were being escorted by a girl named Jessica, whom I realize now is Clay's girlfriend(I had to do some research on the internet to put all the pieces together). My dad offered for Kelsey and Madison to go with them and the Walker girls were very excited to have some company! So after a bit, I caught up with them and got a couple of pictures and joined them on the bumper cars. It was a lot of fun and added some short lived excitement to our day.

Fun Fair!

We had so much fun at the fair! Really glad it is over....but I am thankful for the memories and fun with the kids!! So you see, with my dad being the fair manager we get very spoiled, and not only that, this year Brian catered for the entertainers so we had the fun of being back stage among the frenzy of the entertainers coming and going. There was a large motor home for us to use as well, which made it nice to stop and take a break. We had some fun highlights throughout the week which I will share throughout the blog. But to start with, here are the girlies enjoying their first day of rides....







So for my father in law's sake and Brian's, the kids and I got really excited for the Charlie Daniels Band Concert! O.K. "really excited" might be an overstatement, but we were supportive and went along to the meet and greet to meet Charlie Daniels , got his autograph and took pictures. Then we went to the show! We had a lot of fun watching Brian get so psyched up about it....he even got the production managers phone number to set up for his dad and them to go fishing sometime...Ha ha, it'd be cool if it happened, but unlikely!

More to come....

I finally did it...

I was so attached to this chunk of long hair on Daisy's head that I found it difficult to bring her in for her first hair cut.....but I finally did it! She was such a good girl and I must say she looks pretty cute! I brought all 3 girls in on Tuesday to have a little pampering done. So this being Daisy's first haircut I took a bunch of pictures.....thanks Brandi for "doing up" the girls!

Miss Madie went first...just a trim, but they get to have their hair curled and done up after the cut!

Before...



During...



After...



TA DA! What'cha think everyone?

Princess Kelsey takes a turn...

Church & Grass

How goes it everyone? It's hard to believe we are only weeks away from the beginning of the new school year! It feels good to say that I managed to get the school shopping accomplished in the last two days....the rest of this month could possibly be the craziest month ever! Almost two weeks ago, Jake and Kelsey attended, for the first time....Church Camp! They were gone for three days....they had a lot of fun! On the second day they went to the water slides and my sis and law and I joined them! Now that was fun....so fun Brian and I took the three older kids there this past Friday! So from camp they learned some songs with motions that they performed for the congregation at church the Sunday following their return. Jake ended up at a different service, so I did not get pictures of him. However, I did get pictures of him helping dad mow the yard yesterday! It was quite the chore for the young lad, but he persevered and got 'er done! We have had a busy but nice weekend with the kids....there aren't many left before they are back to it! Hope all is well with everyone!

The girl in all the pictures with Kelsey is one of her girlfriends, Caitlyn, from school who happens to go to the same church and they got to bunk together at camp.




It's pretty fun to have figured out where Kelsey's comfort zone is.....on stage....performing in front of an audience!

Push it Jake...

You can do it....

Just a little further...

Ha...Ha...he made it...barely!

good thing his sisters were standing by to wipe the grass off his back!!

Pink Balloons...a white dove...we hope you were smiling Abbey Mae!

As we all enjoyed a sunny warm July 27th, we were reminded of the same kind of day 4 years ago when Abbey Mae was taken to live in Heaven with Jesus. It is hard to believe that 4 years has passed since we said good bye to her....her memory still holds as strong as ever! We took some time on Friday night with our families to meet at the cemetary and reflect on Abbey's life here with us. Amy and Shane got 35 pink balloons and we each left a message on a balloon for Abbey. Together we spoke of our memories of Abbey and what she meant and still means to us. Brian then opened with prayer and anyone that wanted to lift up a prayer to Jesus had the opportunity to do so, and Amy ended with a closing prayer. We sang Jesus Loves Me, and released the balloons at the start of the chorus. The kids then released a white dove. We enjoyed a nice get together at Shane and Amy's afterwards. The whole evening was a very special time....we all know we would do anything to have her back , but are so thankful for what she has taught us, and how powerful her love was and continues to be in our lives!
So enjoy some pictures from our evening....always remembering life is short, and how powerful the words, I LOVE YOU really are! Blessings..