Stop your whining, I'm starting to catch up

You thought it would never happen. You thought I didn't care. You thought I had abandoned blogging. Well none of the above are true! I am back to blogging, but to read what is going on in the life of the Arend clan, you'll now have to find me at my new blog site: http://www.runningarends.wordpress.com/

The format for organizing things is a little more what I want, so off I go to wordpress. Please come find me there!

v-a-c-a-tion (boom boom boom boom) in the summer time!

Warning: This post has a lot of pictures. The reason is this: I don't want to write out every thing! (ie: I'm a lazy blogger) As I looked over the pictures I had from this great week at Lake Entiat with our dear friends, the Carlsons, I decided that the time in Eastern Washington really boiled down to two things. 1) Fun 2) Food



Enjoy the pictures and tell me if there is anything wrong with a vacation revolving around fun and food!

Emily, Amanda and Thomas eating dessert! (food)

Emily and Thomas on the shore of the lake, waiting for a ride on the WaveRider (fun!)

Watching fireworks while eating homemade ice-cream (food and fun)



Putting a brownie on top of the homemade ice-cream (again, food and fun)

Sleeping in and having a late breakfast of clam fritters and

polishing off the ice-cream (hmmmm, food, but fun too)

Amanda on the WaveRunner with Brad (fun)

Beth making a deluxe drip castle (fun)

Preparing marshmallows for s'mores! (food)

Beth and Thomas (such a fun friendship!)

Eating the homemade ice-cream on the 4th of July (food)

Mighty women cleaning power (fun)

Soft taco night (food)

Tromping home from a day at the pool (exhausted fun)

Synchronized pool jumping (fun)

Eating waffles at Blueberry Hill (food AND fun!)

Cute sorbet for dessert (food)

A water-fight to cool off sweaty boys (fun)

Even though a single picture may represent a thousand words, I don't have enough
pictures here to tell the full story. You can go to Leanne's blog here to see
more!

Walking on Sunshine

Okay, well, it was really "walking IN sunshine". The afternoon was beautiful and I got done at work early so it was off to Tolmie State Park with the kids and dog for a couple of hours.

Thomas's sandy feet

Can you see Mount rainier?

Using huckleberries to play with the macro setting on my camera


Now I'm messing with the monochrome setting. Hmm...

Emily loves to pick the huckleberries...

She didn't realize how sour they are!

Thomas had to get his turn in!

Thomas's turn to walk Annie on the leash

First harvest

Earlier in the week, we ate the first catches from the garden! Admittedly, what came from the garden was small compared to what came from the store, but I was so excited to be able to harvest a little something from the beds. Carrots, zucchini and snow peas were the parts I grew. I mixed them in with some kielbassa, peppers, onions and broccoli from the store. Served on rice. Doesn't it look yummy?

progress!

This year, progress is measured in yards of dirt/bark/wood chips moved, inches the beans have grown, and number of weeds pulled. No kidding, I bet you I have pulled over 2,000 weeds. People admire my tan and ask, "You sure have a lot of color, where have you been?" I'd like to say Hawaii. Or Mexico. Or anything that sounds exotic. "In my yard, pulling weeds," is my usual reply.

So here is the story on the garden: Remember this picture? That was taken April 19th. There I am, poking sunflower seeds into the soil.

In late May, my parents came for a visit and we wrangled Dad into helping us figure out how to augment our sprinkler system to bring water to the garden. As all good home projects go, it took not 1, not 2, but 3 trips to Hope Depot. Glad it's literally 5 minutes down the road! Here is Amanda laying the pipe as Dad and Jack "supervise".

Look at the garden now! Just 10 weeks after the planting! Amazing what a little water will do for a plant isn't it?

We've got wood chips down around the garden beds now! Hope they keep some weeds away.

corn, sunflowers and beans tomato blossoms

squash


pea blossoms

the sunflowers are getting ready to shine

the first, of I'm sure what will be many, zucchini


I love the little curly things pumpkin vines get on them

Aside from the garden, we've also been working on getting a pool up for the summer. Amanda and I worked for 4 days to get an area leveled. We hauled load after load of soil and used a 2x6 and a level to get it as level as possible. You can see the end result behind Emily here... These pools are the cheapest "vacation" around!

Emily... adorable!

Operation: Cousin Swap

5 - 1 + 2 = 6

Yes, 6. That's how many live here, lately that is. Amanda's at the cousins' home in Bellingham, and I have 2 of the Bellingham cousins here!

The highlights have included:

A morning at the park...


Lazy mornings full of snuggling the kitties

And snuggling your cousin!

Alissa had the opportunity to get a great lesson in with Mr. Carlson (thanks Brad!). He worked with her on her flip-turns. He said, "Wow, she is a natural! The way she moves through the water is so excellent and she knows how to handle the water. I can't believe she has only been swimming since December. She has HUGE potential!" WAY TO GO LISSY! She gets to meet with him again tonight for another hour of work in the water. (I discovered how hard it is to get a picture of someone swimming... duh, they're under the water!)

They say it's your birthday...

Well, Happy Birthday to ya!

This could quite possibly be the cutest picture I've seen, EVER!

Today is a great day because it is Jack's birthday! Many of you probably know that he is a great guy, full of fun, but here are a few things you may not have known about him:


He was a fine scholar in the early years...(first grade report card from the adored Mrs. Swett) ... in case you can't read the fine print, it says "Jack has outstanding ability and is very conscientious about everything that he does." Awww.....




We all know what having outstanding ability and being conscientious will do for you years down the road! (receiving his Masters of Music in Choral Conducting, 1993)




He's an accomplished artist (undated Jack Arend original, crayola crayon from the box of 16)



He's a fantastic Dad (sharing pancakes with Amanda who looks to be about 3 here)



He's always fun at a party! (his first birthday) Notice the self-discipline in the older brothers as they DON'T blow out Jack's sole candle. Good job, boys.




He's always been interested in literature. (sitting on Scott's lap, being read to. Probably about 6 months old here)




Happy birthday, Sweetheart! You ROCK!

xoxo