Mt. Rainier

What's summer without a trip to the mountains? We took our girls (and nieces Juliana and Mikayla) on 3 separate hikes around Mt. Rainier. They were excellent hikers and we had wonderful weather. There was not a cloud in the sky, the temperature was in the 80's, and the company was pretty darn good too! :) We spent the whole day up there hiking around, eating a picnic lunch and evening barbecuing at Lake Tipsoo at the end of the day!

Best Cousins!

This picture cracks me up. Juliana and Mikayla were doing some crazy gangsta' moves and my princess Jocelyn stood perfectly, her hands folded in her lap, and showing her beautiful smile!

A view at lake Tipsoo

Mt. Rainier in all it's glory! Oh yeah, and there is my amazing family also! :)

Juliana and I got in a huge snowball fight. Needless to say, she went home soaked to the bone. And I went home dry. :) She now knows not to mess with me when it comes to snowball fights.

Fortunately for her, even though she got thoroughly beaten at the game, it was still warm enough that the snow felt good. In fact, I secretly wish she would have gotten me a little more to cool me off.

Surprise!

My mom turned 60 this week! What better way to celebrate than to shock the living daylights out of her! :)

We decided to do a surprise party for her last minute. We had about 6 days to plan and execute it. And luckily, we didn't allow anymore time, because it was incredibly hard to keep a secret for the woman I either talk to or physically see EVERY DAY! Not only does she live 4 blocks away, but she also babysits my children quite frequently (don't be jealous!). I didn't actually tell my girls about the party, but they knew what was going on since they overheard phone calls regarding the party. They also came with me as I took party supplies, tables, chairs, food, etc to our hosts, the Kupenoffs.

There were a few times that I was sweating bullets, hoping that the secret wasn't going to be revealed. For instance, the day before the party when the girls went with me to deliver all of the above mentioned to the Kupenoffs house. Luckily, I took them swimming afterwards because that evening my mom came to our house and asked the girls what they did today. I quickly answered for them, "We went to Franklin Pool, huh girls?"

Or the day of the party when my kitchen is torn apart and I have 50 loaded potatoes skins laying out, my oven baking at 450*, and my mom calls asking if she can come over. Her freezer went out and she needed to bring her freezer stuff over to put in ours. There was no way I could lie about what I was cooking for so many people for. So, I quickly offered to come get it myself. As if I was doing nothing else, I had to go unload her entire freezer and hall it back to my house. All to keep her out of my house.

Or the night of the party as the entire group of people are quietly waiting in anticipation her arrival and she calls my cell phone. I had no choice but to ignore it. 5 seconds later, she calls Sam's cell phone!

But, the plan worked. Her and my dad were planning on having dinner with the Kupenoff's. We all stood on top of the balcony looking over. After she entered, Debbie told her that she wanted to show her something upstairs. She glanced upstairs and we all yelled "Surprise!" It worked. From what I hear, she jumped 6 feet. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and was using someone elses and I wasn't totally comfortable with it, so I was focused on getting her reaction. What I ended up getting was a blurry mess. Oh well.

1/2 of the group waiting for her arrival

My mom grabbing Debbie after the shock
Debbie Kupenoff (our hostess with the mostest!) and my mom

The food table

We were also celebrating John and Debbie Kupenoff's birthdays! They share a birthday 2 days after my mom, and they were still willing to host a surprise party! We love them!

It seemed as if the drink area took more room than the food. Interesting how that works out!

The Bartender himself, mingling with the other guests

Mom, Marley, and Jeneane

Yakima Youth Track

Well, if mommy and daddy can run, why can't the kiddos?

The girls participated in track this summer and loved it! They got to do running events: 50 and 100 Meters, with and without hurdles, and field events: Long jump and Softball throw. Both girls have potential when it comes to running. Throwing a ball and jumping however, well that quite frankly, is a whole other story! :)

Losing Teeth

If Blogger was a little more video friendly, I would have posted the video of Genevieve's 6 year old cousin Mikayla pulling out Genevieve's first tooth. It was pretty funny to watch her try to yank it out with floss. She got it out about 90% and then I had to finish it off with a good yank with my fingers.
Needless to say, Jenna's fear of the tooth fairy "bumping her pillow and waking her up" was put to rest when she came during the night as quietly as can be, taking the little stub of a tooth and leaving behind a dollar bill and 2 shiny quarters.

And kuddos to Mikayla because Genevieve only wants her to pull out the rest of her teeth!