A day with the Attalah's

We just had a great day watching my oldest nephew Michael, 11, play baseball at a local park in Tacoma. He played great and their team won 7-1. Jacob got to play with Angelique and Matthew, his other cousins, during the game while Mike and I got to enjoy time with Theresa, Mike's sister, and her husband, Samir. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Chevy's restaurant. Mmmmmm tex mex! We had a great time guys and loved hanging out. We'll see you soon!

Here's the brood: from left to right - Angelique, Matthew, and Michael

Happy Fathers Day Mike!

You are a wonderful father and I am so blessed to be able to share with you the joys and struggles of raising our children together. I love you so much!

Graduation!

My little sister Dasha is graduating high school this summer and is a couple quarters from getting her Assosiate degree from the local community college. We are so proud of her and know that she will accomplish great things. Dasha you are such a blessing to our family and I'm so excited to see what God will do with your life. I love you!

Camping at Scenic Beach State Park

What a wonderful weekend...despite the rain. Our little family heading out Friday after Mike got off work and drove the 45 minutes to Scenic Beach State Park on the Hood Canal. The whole way there we were crossing our fingers for the rain to stay away and about 15 minutes from the campground it started pouring down. Remaining optimistic I looked up in the sky to see a small patch of blue amidst all the gray and just hoped that it would be positioned above our campsite so we could get the tent up without much difficulty. We pulled in and to our delight, my wish came true. We were able to set up all the tents and organize our campsite and even enjoy a fire with s'mores before it began to rain again. The next morning we awoke to sun streaming in through the trees surrounding us. We had a beautiful Saturday and hiked down to the beach to throw rocks and discover little sea creatures that Jacob got a kick out of. My amazing husband willingly carried our big guy all around on his back. We laid out in the warm sun and soaked up all the smells and sounds of sleeping in the great outdoors. It seemed to only rain at night, which I find incredibly peaceful. There is not anything like the soft pitter patter of rain drops falling on a tent while you are all cozy in a warm sleeping bag inside. However, wet gear makes clean up more difficult but we managed to get it all packed up and then un-packed it in our garage at home to dry out for the night. Basically, Mike and I are getting really good at putting together and tearing apart our tent. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful to live in such an amazingly beautiful place. Thank you Lord for the amazing weekend!

Playing peekaboo while Daddy puts the tent stakes in

Jacob loving his first s'more

This was after our first night...Jacob had some trouble sleeping in a tent and ended up waking up a little cranky. He needed a serious pick-me-up.

There were pink rhododendrons everywhere throughout the forest

Jacob is always hanging out in the kitchen with us wherever we are

The boy and his stick

What a beautiful place we live in

What a trooper...that's a whole lot of boy on his back

Checking out the little crabs on the beach

Throwing rocks with Daddy

Our big boy helper...he wanted to get into the action by helping mommy and daddy fold the tarps up.