Keara and Jeff get hitched

Friday, June 26th was the wedding day of my baby sister Keara and her fiance Jeff. All of our preparations paid off. Everything went smoothly. The day started bright and early with Bree and I doing Kee's hair. We were worried about it working out. That's a lot of pressure for wedding hair. Thankfully it was beautiful. Then we set to work getting ourselves ready and the kids.

Then it was off to the temple for the sealing. It was a pretty hot day so everyone was trying to stay shaded as much as possible. We were dying in our boots. 

Then it was home to change before we all went to Copper River for the luncheon. The food was tasty and it was nice to have a real meal before the reception began. We all headed over to Julie Knudsen's house for last minute decorating before the fun began.

The reception was a blast. We cleared the tables on the deck and danced. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

We had a great time decorating the car. It was much different than the decor on our car when Chris and I got married. Pretty fun!!

Congrats Jeff and Kee! Wishing you both a lifetime of happiness. We love you and we were so glad to be a part of your special day! xoxoxx

Oregon or Bust

We made it to Oregon on June 20th very late at night after an interesting flight out of Dulles. The airport was particularly crazy that day and even though we gave ourselves tons of extra time, we just barely made it to the plane. Once we were boarded we pushed back and headed towards the runway. Unfortunately, a severe thunderstorm approached and the airport was shut down. We were not allowed to take off. We had to sit on the plane for 3 hours just waiting to take off. The kids blew through all of their activities before we had even made it into the air. Thankfully we were eventually allowed to take off and they provided the inflight tv for everyone free of charge for the inconvenience.

It was pretty late when we got into PDX. Neil had fallen asleep on the plane. I realized too late that I hadn't thought to put a pull up on him. Oops! The chair was soaked. To make it worse, we got off the plane to see a very busy waiting area full of people waiting to get on the plane. Sorry!

The week before the wedding was pretty busy. Lots of errands to run, decorations to make, and family activities. One of the days we headed to the beach. We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then headed up to Cannon Beach for playtime and Mo's. That clam chowder is always the best.

On another day we headed to the library to feed the ducks. The kids liked that a bunch until we ran out of bread and the geese started getting aggressive.

Good times hanging with the fam pre wedding. 

Goodbye Virginia

We had such a great time in Virginia. It was really hard to say goodbye. On our last night we decided to drive into DC for one last hurrah and see the monuments at night. It was gorgeous. About halfway through our walk it started raining, but in the heat it felt pretty good.

The Lincoln. One of our favorite spots.

The World War II Memorial fountain. Very impressive at night.

On our last day we spent the morning saying goodbye to our friends. We played on our tot lot one last time with the neighbors, and then went to lunch with friends.

When we first arrived in Virginia, I experienced some severe culture shock. I wasn't sure if I'd be ok. Leaving behind so many good friends and all of our family was really difficult. It took several months for me to acclimate and find my groove. Once I did though it was fantastic. I really loved the people there. It was also really great to be able to see and do so much. I love Washington DC! The history alone is so interesting, but to actually live close by was great. We were so fortunate to be able to see and do all of the things that we did. Moving across the country was a really difficult experience, but I am forever grateful that we did it. I learned so much. Someone once told me that it was good to miss the people and places you leave behind because if you didn't, then your time had been wasted. We definitely didn't waste any time there. It was hard to say goodbye. 

Champions!

So, after Claire's party on Friday night at around 10pm I got an email saying that her softball team had advanced in the playoffs and would be playing a double header on Saturday. It said to be at the field by 8am. I was freaking out just a little bit. I had to get us all ready for 2 softball games back to back followed by Grace's last soccer game. It was going to be a long, hot day outside for all of us.

I have to admit that I didn't have very high expectations for the team in the tournament. We were the 6th seed overall out of 8 teams. We luckily made it into the final four. In the first game on Saturday against the Gazelles, Claire got a hit. She made it to second base and was able to get 2 runners home. It was great! She was so excited. We pulled off a narrow victory. It was a real nail biter to the end.

The girls warming up for the day.

Since we won our first game, we were playing for first or second place in the second game. We played the Bombers. They were a really good team and could hit! In the very first two innings we were pretty discouraged. The score was 7-0 them. It was looking as though we were going to get killed. 

The girls decided they needed to sing happy birthday to one of their teammates for good luck. Boy did it work. We came roaring back in the third inning with the max 4 runs. It was pandemonium as we held them off, and then scored another 3. We had it all tied up. It was nuts! And, it only got crazier. Miraculously we held them for the rest of the game. The final score was 10-7 us. It was amazing! The girls all did so well. In this game Claire had a nice defensive stop at shortstop and got the batter out at first.

We were all shocked! It was the best ending ever! The girls were screaming, parents were jumping around. We looked like quite the crowd. After high fives the team went out for pictures and then the league presented them with giant 1st place trophies. 

The look on their faces when they saw the trophies was so cute!

So proud of Claire!

I'm so proud of Claire for sticking with it even though it was so hard at the beginning. She was so happy! It was great to be part of a team and to contribute to the victory. She is already missing it, and says she wants to play again next year. Good job Power!! Vienna Softball 10u Champions 2015.

Busy Party Day

Today was a little bit crazy. One of those days where I just wanted to crawl into a hole and be alone. Why does being an adult have to be so hard sometimes? I had a giant list of stuff to get done as I'm sure you can relate to at one time or another.

One of the big contributors to my stress was signing all of the closing paperwork for our home in California. Yep, we bought a house there! Although super exciting and scary at the same time, the process has been a real headache. Getting all of the information has been like pulling teeth. I'm so excited to finally have it all behind us. Today was my turn. A notary showed up at my house, and for two hours I signed papers. Phew!

When that was over, I had to go back into super mom mode and pull of a birthday party for Claire. Since we will be gone on her birthday in a couple of weeks, we planned an early party so that she could celebrate with her friends. 

First we made monster cupcakes. I actually let my kids decorate them. It was hard to give up the control over decorating. My perfectionist side was itching to do it myself. They turned out cute though. 

We had 6 girls show up for the party. Along with my 3, I had my hands full! Chris is still in California, so I was supervising on my own. Luckily the girls are all really great, but boy did they get loud!!

For the party we had fun decorating masks with feathers, sequins, and glitter. Then we played a fun dress up game followed by cupcakes and ice cream. Afterwards, we got to the main event: makeovers. Boy am I glad that I bought them a bunch of dollar store eye shadow and lipstick. They destroyed it. The girls did makeup on themselves and each other as well as manicures. We also had the curling iron going and plenty of hair ties and headbands. They had a great time getting all fancy!

Claire got some really great gifts from her friends. One of her friends got her a stuffed cat with a matching kitten. If you know Claire, you know how ecstatic she was about this. There were great books, gift cards, friendship bracelets, hair chalk, and play doh. She loved it all!

Phew!! Done again for another year. Claire had a great time and that is what matters most. I'm glad that we got to party with her friends one last time. She will really miss everyone here. 

Dirty but Happy

These last couple of weeks have flown by for us. With soccer and softball almost every single night, we are starting to feel a bit worn out. Thankfully Chris has been here to help. He even suffered through a case of strep throat for most of his time here. He was still a big help. I'm not sure how I would have managed all of the chaos alone.

Neil had his last day of preschool this last week. It was bittersweet for me. As I walked down the hallway that was decorated with all kinds of adorable preschool art, I got a little bit teary eyed. This is it. My last baby is done with preschool forever. How did this come so fast?

We had a farewell picnic lunch out on the playground and enjoyed popsicles. We will really miss this great school and all of his friends. He really enjoyed his time here and it was so good for him!

The rest of our time was spent out on the fields. Claire has really started to enjoy softball. She has built up her confidence and is starting to do really well. She's had a couple RBI's and today she had a nice single. Most of the weeknight games don't end until 9pm, so everyone gets home dirty and exhausted. It's been really hot and humid here, so the kids are usually dripping with sweat and dirt. You can tell that Neil loves it though. At least they are all getting some great exercise. 

Yay! Claire is safe on first!!

The Power

My cute but very dirty little boy.

Grace has also been doing really great with her soccer skills. She's improved a bunch over the season. Today she scored a goal that she kicked from mid field. She was pretty excited about that. I think she's done the best on defense though. She is a fabulous sweeper. Go Orange Tigers!

The regular season of softball has now ended. We just have one tournament left to go. Soccer has a party and one more game next weekend. Hopefully it will all go smoothly. Chris flies back to CA tomorrow. All I have to do now is: end of school stuff/parties, teacher presents, a birthday party for Claire, close on a house, pack for our trip to OR, get the house ready to move, ship off my van, relocate the kids and me to a hotel, and lots of little stuff in between. That's all before Chris comes back. Oy. These next 20 days are going to be INSANE! Please forgive me for the hiatus in posts that I know will be coming.