Grandparents Love

So, you know your grandmadaddy (as Allie calls it) loves you when he is willing to help teach you to jump rope. I am not sure how long it has been since he has done this... but when asked by Allie, he cannot say no. So he did.



And then, a true lesson on jump roping by Grandma and Grandmadaddy followed.



Notice, Allie has her tongue out. Always.



There was also fun time in the tent. The girls love it when they come in the tent to play!


This is one of the reasons we moved back to the NW.. our girls need and love their grandparents!!! and I think it goes both ways!!! What a blessing.

We love berry season!!!

So, one of the greatest things about Oregon in the summer is BERRIES!! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and of course Marionberries (an oregon specialty)!!

We have all of these planted in our garden/orchard... though since most of the plants are not very mature (only 2 years old), 0ur crops were not as big as they will be next year. Our strawberries and marionberries were the exception!! We had tons of them.... we are finally done picking strawberries, and are finishing up with our marionberries... since our blueberry plants are not that big yet, we did go to Farmer Johns a couple times and picked over 20 pounds.... our freezer is officially full of berries!!






Allie loves picking berries.. and she LOVES eating them. She has clearly passed on this love to her little sister who loves to go berry picking.. and you can see why!!

Allie meets Ace

On Monday, we began a new adventure... Horse riding lessons!!! Allie did so well!! She rode Ace, an Arabian, he is a retired show horse of some kind.. and was super gentle. After a nice ride, Allie fed Ace watermelon. Apparently he loves watermelon. I dont blame him, cold watermelon on a hot day is nice.


Allie could not quite reach the stirrups, but looked so darn cute up there. Notice her nice riding boots!! She will switch over to an English saddle soon, which will allow her to reach the stirrups! Ride 'em girl!!

Detroit Lake Camp Out

This past weekend we went to Detroit Lake camping with our Church. We had a great time! We spent a lot of time fishing, and Allie was able to reel in her first ever catch!! She caught some great little rainbow trout that we promptly cooked up for dinner and enjoyed.

Happy 10 Months Shannon

Our little munchkin is 10 months and growing fast. She is cruising around, and wants so badly to be walking. She prefers to crawl on her hands and feet instead of knees. While she only has 2 teeth, she is eating almost anything and everything. Blueberries, peas and black beans are some of her favs as of right now. This is such a fun age for us!!! She loves playing peak a boo... and we even have that on video.. see bottom of post!

Soccer Camp for Allie

Allie took a 4 day soccer camp this week and enjoyed being out of the field with her friend Lauren. She liked scoring goals, and thought the game was much more fun if her and Lauren were holding hands. Silly girls. It was brutally hot outside, but she did well!!




Shannon was there to cheer her sister on...

A dance with Grandmadaddy

At the wedding, Kyle got this footage of Allie and her grandmadaddy..... it brought tears to my eyes. Thank you grandmadaddy for being such a wonderful presence in her life!! This video will always be special to us and to her!!

The Wedding...

We were blessed to be a part of the wedding bringing Kris Votaw into the Shaver family. (Peace be with you, Kris... :) ).

Allie was a flower girl and loved her role. She had so much fun in her "spins around" and thought she was a princess. She danced the night away... with her friends, her daddy and her grandmadaddy.... All in all, it was a wonderful time. I am bummed I did not bring my rebel camera, because our little point and click did not get great pics... hopefully i will get some from the photographer and other fam members. :)


In addition to attending the wedding and ice skating (see previous post), we also spent a lot of time swimming in the hotel pool!!! Allie is such a water bug, and Shannon is fast catching up. We had so much fun relaxing with the girls, and with their extended family!!!

Ice Skating in California

So, we spent the weekend in California... Bakersfield to be exact. We were there to celebrate Ross and Kris's wedding... and right next to our hotel was an Ice Arena. Since it was hot outside, and we had already spent 50 thousand hours in the pool, we decided Allie was ready to try out her skating legs. (she had already tried out roller skating a few weeks bag). We went with Aunt Kim and Uncle Mark and all had fun!! Allie did pretty well, considering. She might even have been a tad faster than uncle Mark. :)