Emma's pinecone soup

Sometime last week, Emma woke up and decided she wanted to make pinecone soup (where she got this idea I have no clue :) Well, we finally got a free afternoon to make her "soup" while ben was sleeping, and she is quite the gourmet chef :) She taught me how to make it, and had a very detailed list of ingredients...here is her recipe for pinecone soup, if anyone wants to try it!

about a dozen pinecones
about 6 rocks
1 branch from a tree cut up
a few leaves
4 flowers
2 coffee cups of water
handful of brown sugar
lots of sprinkles

You mix it all up together and then put flowers on top and then put it in the fridge so that daddy can eat it when he gets home :-) (Good luck Dave!)
Here she is with her creation.....

We love you guys!

The Winters family has taken a step of faith and moved to Lincoln City, OR! My little sis, JD and the kids took off on Sunday for their new "adventure" at the beach! Just wanted to tell you guys we love you, and JD, congrats on the new job! We can't wait to come see your new house! Here's a few pictures I took of the kids while we were helping them get packed up..

Our family beach trip- Enjoy the pictures! Oh, and turn up the volume on your speakers, there's music with it :)

A much needed vacation!

We are off on vacation today, and we're excited to get away for a few days. Dave has 9 days off, and after the last few weeks we've had, its going to be a nice distraction. Dave, the kids and I are heading to Cannon Beach for a few days , and then we're just going to be doing some fun stuff around here with Emma and Ben. Pictures will follow when we get back!! Its been hot here and that has been great, the kids love to be outside and Emma especially loves to swim.
Also, I wanted to just give a quick update for those of you who have been praying for us. I did have to go to the hospital on Thursday and have the D&C procedure done. I was hoping to avoid it, but things were just happening to slow and the doctor thought it would be best to come in so they could test the tissue to make sure it is/was not a molar or partial molar pregnancy. The surgery went fine, I think I was there for 6 hours and then I got to come home. Still recovering a little, but I should be back to normal in another couple days. So thanks again for all your prayers, we appreciate them. Anyway, hope you're all having a good summer, and I'll have some fun beach pictures to post when we get back!!

Happy Fourth of July!!

Hope you all had a great fourth of july! Dave was a little bummed because he had to work the whole holiday weekend, but we tried to make it fun anyway. The kids and I went with my mom and sister down to Fort Vancouver in the afternoon. They had a carnival there, lots of live music, and good food. I think Ben and Emma's favorite part though were the old airplanes. We were right next to Pearson Air Museum and they were giving bi-plane rides all afternoon...they were really cool to watch. Then we headed to get fireworks (thanks to Jay and Sue Kitchen!! :)) and settled in to watch our neighborhood light up! All the neighborhood kids had a blast, and I think the dads did too :)

Me and the kiddos at Fort Vancouver

Benjamin and my mom at the carnival

me and emma

Emma with her big hammer she won :)

Ben fishing at the carnival

Alicia and Me

Time for fireworks!

A face only a mother could love :)

Double trouble.... Just like Dave, Ben is fearless when its comes to fireworks-he loved them all, and loved to try to stand by daddy while he was setting them up

Benny enjoying the show from his elmo chair

Emma had to wear Dave's soundproof gun Ear protector's to enjoy the show :)

Emma's Bunny

Meet our new family member! Dave and Emma have been wanting to get a bunny for a long time, and I put them off as long as I could :) Emma has promised she will take care of it, we'll see :) But it is very cute, and seems to love to be held and even puts up with Rosco... it's name is Thumper...

My nephews

My sister and her boys got to spend the day with us on Tuesday, and Emma and Ben love playing with their cousins... they're growing up so fast! Pretty soon we will be going to see them at the beach- they're moving to Lincoln City, OR!!!

Fun Boat ride

Our neighbors took us out on their boat Sunday afternoon, and we all had a great time. Emma and Ben loved how fast the boat went, and they even got to swim a little. We had to cut the trip short though because a thunderstorm rolled in... it was relaxing time though...

Dave and Benjamin enjoying the fast boat ride

Emma and Presley

Dave and all the kids

Emma and Presley swimming

Emma and Paige