She's 10

My baby is ten today. Well, maybe by the time you read this it will actually be tomorrow, but right now it's still technically her birthday, especially since technically she joined the world at 7:58 pm on this day ten years ago.

We had her party on Saturday, which I'll post about later since I am oh so behind on this here bloggin' anyway. Although if you're around here much you're probably figured out I was behind since I'm still throwing in posts from our vacation at the beginning of July. Ah well, only so much time to give to bloggin'.

She had to have a picture with the pup who soon won't really be able to be called a pup anymore either. They grow so fast these kiddos and puppies. :)

Cupcakes in classroom. It might be the last year for it since she is in fifth grade and next year might not want us to pop in with treats for friends. You just never know though. At this point Elisha is insisting we will still come for his birthday in February.

(oh and I'll be posting first day of school/back to school photos too soon I hope. You didn't miss it, I promise)

She chose dinner at Chik Fil A this year. Of all the choices... ah well, she is only a child once and will probably look back on this fondly.

We played her new Simon game right there in the restaurant!

Elisha's gift to her. It was too big to take inside with us, LOL!

Birthday money from her party well spent at Toys R Us.

My Beautiful Child,

I can't believe how fast the past ten years have flown by! You've looked forward to being ten for some time now as you watched your brother gain some independence with the maturity being ten brings. Although I will caution you not to wish it away. Some day you'll realize just how quickly time flies, and how much easier it was to be this young. 

It is our prayer that you keep your eyes focused on the Lord and always be you. I know you have already ran into a few people who have tried to convince you to be something that you are not and have boldly resisted. I pray you will always find the courage to stand up for what is right, even when everyone around you is not. "...seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God..." Micah 6:8 (and a favorite verse from the song Courageous). 

You are such a wonderful part of our lives and I am so thankful to be your mom. Your dad and I couldn't be prouder of you! 

WE LOVE YOU!

Mom and Dad

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

A Fishy Story

Awww... He has my heart.

And she doesn't even work out!

Okay, so I promised you a silly story. Are you sure you can handle it? ;0)

Despite these pictures of smiling faces holding a fish, my children did not catch it. 

Nope, it was given to them.

And not by a fisherman. You see, there were these snorkelers, with real snorkels and not dollar store ones. They even had the flippers. Apparently it's really fun to swim at the surface and look at things under the water. I really don't like my face in the water much, so I wouldn't know. But my kiddos, they would ask them questions and such as they passed us by. And they passed us by at least three times. 

On one such pass by, they found this lovely dead fish and tossed it on shore for my children to look at. I'm sure they had no clue that they just gave my kiddos a wonderful new toy. 

Especially Bethany. That kid cracks me up.

I'm not kidding when I say she played with it for at least an hour. Maybe longer.

Doesn't it look like so much fun? Don't you wish your kids had a dead fish to play with too?

Then on a whim she threw it at her brother, who had been her audience for quite a bit while she entertained us with her fish antics. It stuck on his shorts when he stood up. See it there? Which brought about many giggles from all of us. Hmmm... giggles maybe be an understatement. Bethany was in hysterics!

I don't remember what she was doing in these photos but her facial expressions just crack me up!

Yes, now she's actually poking at its eyes. She wanted to poke them out but decided she liked him to still be able to "see".

I hope they remember this day and fun they had and the silly ways they played.

Oh, That Day

This was one of my favorite days at Wallowa Lake. There was a lot of funny stories from this day.

As you can see it was back to the lake for us. But we had to check out of our little "home" first and would you believe for only staying there two nights it certainly felt like it took forever to get all packed and cleaned up. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sunshine.

Bethany was back at it with the logs, this time choosing one she had her eye on the day before. It was stuck in some reeds but she decided today that she would go and get it.

After Daddy helped her move it to the area she wanted to play in she and Elisha floated on it like a boat. This went on for a long time. On again and off again as the log tipped and shifted with their weight. At one point Elisha ran off to chase the geese in the background of this picture and Bethany ended with some teenage copy cats trying to ride another log next to her.

They were having a great time until the teenagers had to leave.

Then Bethany had two logs and she and Elisha played "boat races" with them. I don't think they got too far.

Glasses that Bethany found at the bottom of the lake with her snorkel & goggles.

Peek a boo!

Skipping rocks! I learned to skip rocks at Elisha's age and every time we're near the water the two of us usually end up skipping rocks together for a bit.

Awww.... I love these guys!

Funny stories to come I promise, I just didn't want this post to get overly long. Up next is A Fishy Story and then Screamin' on a Paddleboat. 

I know, you can hardly contain your excitement! :)

Joseph

Joseph, Oregon is a small town right next to Wallowa Lake. In fact the "cabin" that we stayed in had a physical address of Joseph, Oregon. Joseph is named after Chief Joseph, and has a little cemetery/memorial dedicated to him.

After we visited the lake that day we went for a drive into town to see the memorial and some of the little shops.

The only problem with our plan is that in a small town, everything closes down at 6:00 pm.

Guess what time it was when we strolled on in?

We did find the Ten Commandments though!

And they had a lot of bronze statues to look at.

And cute wooden creatures. The window shopping was fun too, but it would have been nicer if we could have gone inside.

And taking pictures with Chief Joseph was a must.

But Bethany's favorite was this horse statue with her foal.

Gotta love the timer on the camera!

It was kind of funny to walk around the town during that time of the day. I believe that most visitors probably stick to the Wallowa Lake area since the restaurants and shops are open later. We got some interesting looks posing with the statues!