Wallowa Lake

We had a fun weekend camping at Wallowa Lake.  We headed out after Nate got off work Friday and got a little worried when we ran into this storm.

The hail was hitting the van so hard that we thought it was going to crack the windshield.  We pulled over for a few minutes until it passed. What is funny is the Johnson Family was about 10 minutes in front of us and they missed it!  They had about four raindrops is all.  :) We saw many elk, deer and buffalo on the way.  

 

 By the time we got to Wallowa Lake, it was dark.  We set up camp and then had a campfire.  Our kids have never slept so well or and gone to bed as well as they did on this camping trip.  The down side was Nate and I never slept so bad.  It was so hard and uncomfortable.  We are getting too old for this tent camping stuff. :)  

 Ayva and Emma.  Check out the crossed legs. :)

It has been seven years since our last camping trip together!

The next morning was a nice relaxed breakfast and then we went to the Lake for the day.  The kids had a blast playing in the streams, lake, making boats out of wood and much more.  We finished the evening off by going into Joseph.  Nate wanted to tour Stein Distillary.  So yes, we took all six kids to the distillery for tasting. :) And we got compliments on how good our children were. We then went out to dinner with a bunch of bikers.  :) There was some motorcycle thing going on this weekend.

Charlie decided to put his head down for the photo because he wanted a picture of his helmet.  Coop didn't want in the photo.

 This one was in the campsite next to us.

 Check out that look!

 Morning snuggles.

We finished our camping trip with some miniature golfing.

 Thanks for a fun weekend Johnson Family.  And a big thanks to Carly for watching Yeags for us and Becky for dropping off our Bountiful Basket. 

Now our last week of nothing before Megan starts back at school a week from tomorrow. 

Where has Summer gone?

It seems as though Summer just started and now we are seeing all the posts of friends children starting school.  We had a fun filled summer!  All three kids went to VBS this year and Megan taught the 3-5 year olds.  The boys went with Nate to Cub Scout camp. Charlie auditioned for "Annie" and made the cast!  He went to six weeks of rehearsals and then performed in nine shows!  He played "Sandy" and did a great job!  Nate and I had tears at almost every performance when he sang the tomorrow song with Annie.  Megan took a Lifespan Psychology class and got a 99.1% in the class.  LOL!  Nate helped out on the tests and proofread my papers. Mom did a little proofreading as well.  We rocked them! Thanks Mom and Nate!   The boys spent a weekend at Lutherhaven all by themselves.  Coop spent a week in Boise with Nanni and Boppi's.  We got a quick visit in as well when we went to pick him up.  We said good byes to our first friends we met when moving to Genesee.  Good byes are so hard and we are going to miss Dave, Tamra, Walt and Everett.  We wish them the best!  :(  And our Pastor retired.  But, we have a wonderful new Pastor!

Nate and I celebrated 12 years of marriage by going to see Josh Turner.  It was a fun evening!  Nate started a new job a few weeks ago.  He will be doing mobile development for WSU.  He is pretty excited about it! 

Today we picked apples with our friends and went to buy all the boys soccer gear.  The boys are ready!  They have been outside practicing with their new gear.

We are excited for our first (and last) camping trip of the summer this weekend.  We are headed to Wallowa Lake with the Johnson family.  Hope you all have had a wonderful summer!

Enjoy pictures from our summer! Be prepared, there are a lot!

 Charlie turned 6!

Mom and dad have made a couple of trips here and we did a lot of projects!  

 Cooper learned a lot this year is Cal Ripken. 

 Charlie did very well and played pitching machine this year.

 VBS! 

 Auditions for "Annie."  Charlie looks so little.

 Necklace made for Nate for Father's Day!

Fun day at Hell Gate for Father's Day.

 Celebrating our 12 year anniversary!  Thanks O' Loughlin's for watching our kiddos.

 Getting ready for Pastor's Retirement Party!

Charlie wanted a picture too! :)

 Saying goodbye to Pastor Dudley and Beth.

 Together again after a week of being apart.

Watching Uncle Greg play some softball.

 Trying to stay cool while Charlie is at rehersal.

 Lemonade stand!

Swimming with friends.

The Annie cast performing at Alive after Five.

 They made the paper!

 Our friend made Cookies for a benefit one night! Thanks Carly!

Here is Part one of "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love Ya........"

And part 2.  It is kind of hard to see, but we did the best we could.  It's so much better in real life.  This clip is a couple of minutes of a two hour show.  It was fantastic!

 At each show, after intermission, the director brings out a few of the cast members to tell the audience about them.

 Working concessions!  Coop loved it!

Sandy and Annie!  The kids did awesome!

 

 Feeding the ducks.

 After five hours of helping with field fires.

 Weeeee.....

 Harvest started early this year.

 Tractor rides!

 Field fire

DQ after Charlie's performance at the theatre.  

 Watching the King Pins before fireworks. 

 Pedicure and manicure with Nanni and Mom.

 She peeled off all her finger nails by the end of day.

 Dad and Charlie is the wavepool.

 The Dirty Dash!  All three kids did it as well.  Tamra and Dave on the right are our friends who just moved back to Nebraska.  :( 

 These two are trouble!

 Lutherhaven!

Hung out by Lake Coeur d' Alene after we picked up the boys from Lutherhaven.

 Hanging out with friends at the new Lewiston Library!

 Emma's first horsey ride!

 Emma's new backpack for preschool next month! 

 Last play date before Putensen's move. All the girls are off playing. 

 Look at all those apples!  We are going to busy!

 Waylon is up on the ladder!

We tried to get a picture of all the kids, but it didn't work.  Cooper and Jackson were good apple picker helpers.