The other Dad and Mom visit

John took some time off of work last week to spend with his folks.  One day it was just too nice to stay home so John gave his Dad a choice - mountains or ocean.  He picked ocean.
Good choice Dad.

My father-in-law loves to look for cool rocks.

Here I am trying to convince mom that I found an ancient Indian arrowhead and she is saying something like, "Oh Dee, you are so full of beans." Except she doesn't use the word beans.  Everyone who knows my mother-in-law knows what she actually said but this is a family friendly blog and even though my mother-in-law says that it is not a swear word, I probably shouldn't print it here.

We ended up in Mount Vernon where we had a nice lunch in a cute café. 
Now John and I firmly believe in equality so we made sure that we had a project for this mom and dad to help with too. 

 It took us most of the day to get everything taped off so John could spray it.

After much discussion and purchasing of paint samples, we ended up with yellow again.  Just a little brighter than what we had before. 

John's dad is a great supervisor.

It looks so nice!  We just have to get the trim painted (maybe when my mom and dad come in November???) and I want to paint the doors something fun.  Any suggestions?

The kids love having Grandpa and Grandma here. 
Grandpa helping Sam with his remote control car.

Grandma eating lunch with Katie at school.

Real quick

Dad and Ma Hiemstra are here and they're keeping me busy.  Thought I'd better get a quick blog post done before they come in for breakfast!
Holly had her first concert of the year.  It's a fun one, instead of the classical stuff they play songs from movies and they get to dress up.  Holly's section dressed up as the characters from Wizard of Oz. 

My fair-haired Dorothy.

She had her own fan club in the audience.

I am so thankful for my family and how they take such good care of my girl for me!

I cannot believe how big Chase has gotten.  Wowza.
I love it that she's at Dordt with her cousins too.  They have become such good friends. Thanks for sending me the video Rachel!

Holly and her roommates.

I love this one!

Meanwhile, this has been going on in Washington.

Soccer season for both my kiddos is in full swing.  Sam had his first game last Monday.  I didn't get to go (had to wait for the Comcast technician because our internet was out #ihatecomcast) but John was there.  Of course he neglected to take any pics but they won.  Yeah Lyncs!
Katie is an Orange Tiger this year and she is fierce!

Did you catch how she totally over-took that pink shirt girl?!

 She's come along way since she played soccer just so she could get a snack afterwards!

This is what happens when you play soccer in Washington.

And just in case you're wondering how the beds me and Dad planted under the trees are doing...

They like the rain and I like that I don't have to water all the time.

I'll be back tomorrow with pics of Dad and Mom.  Don't worry Hiemstra kids...they are here.

Company from Iowa and a few other stuff

Last week John's "adoptive parents" from Iowa came to visit us!  These two and their kids are pretty special to us.

We are telling Sam and Katie one night that when John and I were at Dordt, Brad and Helen's kids were about their age.  John would go to their house and wrestle with the boys and get them all wound up before bed.  I'm sure Helen really appreciated that.  Now those kids are all married and some have kids of their own.  Funny how everyone gets older except for me.
We didn't have the greatest weather while they were here but we still managed to show them some sights.  Mark and Edie told us they had seen whales at Rosario Beach so we checked it out.  No whales of course.  If you ever want to see whales, don't take John and I along.  We never see whales.  I'm beginning to think they don't exist.  Neat tide pools though.  We made Brad and Helen put their fingers in sea anemones.   They are good sports.

If you look close, there's a jellyfish.

There is a big wood carving of the Maiden of Deception Pass there.  We discovered Brad is very good at pronouncing Samish Indian names.

He read us all about Ko-kwal-alwoot and how she saved her tribe from starvation by agreeing to marry a merman she met while gathering seaweed.

He's no merman but I'm glad I agreed to marry him.

We then headed to Deception Pass.

We had a picnic lunch at the beach.  Look at what I saw carved into some driftwood!

While eating I discovered that Brad loves making up stories about stranger's lives just as much as I do. 

Back at home we stayed up way too late playing Wizard, Settler's of Catan and Ticket to Ride (Brad and Helen bought us this one, lots of fun).

John and Brad stacked wood.

John had these boards milled form trees we had taken down.  Don't ask me why.

Of course we introduced them to Edaleen.

Thanks for visiting guys!  See you in October!

And for some other stuff.

Went to the first LC home football game the other night.  I'm glad I was sitting with my girlfriends because let's just say the game was not that exciting.

My mom set the kid's a package.  This was in there.

My mom is awesome.

Sam has to do a plot study for school.  They need to observe a spot outdoors that has water and is relatively untouched by humans. Lucky for him, he doesn't have to go far.

Him and John are camping down by the creek this weekend.  That should be fun...not.

John's niece, hubby and new baby came to visit us.  Maddie is so beautiful and such a miracle.  Her adoption story is amazing.  I had already met her at Emily's shower but Uncle John hadn't. She liked him. 

Holly can now add "pin up girl" to her list of accomplishments.  She made the Dordt calendar.  She is Miss August 2017.  I'm sure she's open to autographs.

Speaking of my college girl.  She's doing great.  Having a good year so far.  She sends me pictures once in a while and once in a while I steal some off of Facebook.

SO THANKFUL she's found some good friends.

I think this is all the girls on her wing at West Hall.

And since it's Thursday, here's a little throw-back from ten years ago today.

Oh man, sometimes I want those babies back.

Ones that will not be on the Christmas card

This blog post is dedicated to my sister-in-law Sue.  She texted me a couple of days ago and said, "Yesterday when I came home I needed a pick me up so I went to your blog..." 
Wow.  That is like one of the nicest compliments I could get.  No wonder she's my favorite (don't worry, I tell all my sister-in-laws they are my favorite). 
So, Susan Bernice, this ones for you.
We had family pictures taken while my folks were here.  These pictures, although they show my family in the truest light, will not be used in our Christmas card.
Oh Katie. I tell her all the time not to cross her eyes or they'll stay that way.  I think she actually wants her eyes to stay that way.

I think it's pretty clear who she gets her goofiness from.

Thankfully the photographer took like 1,000 pictures of Katie so I did have some where she looks normal.

This would be really cute if it didn't make my butt and thighs look like they were going to come busting out of my jeans and kill everyone within a ten mile radius.

And this one's my favorite....Sam wanted a picture of us all doing "the dab".  Apparently John has no clue how to dab.  We laughed so hard when we saw this one!

Oh my.  Sometimes you just have to laugh...even at yourself.    Life is an adventure.  Remember that Sue when that next preschooler asks you when his mom is coming.  And just think - in just a couple months I'll be there and we'll drink brandy slush and eat Texas caviar together!