30!

today is adam's birthday. his 30th to be exact:) we had a fun day.

here is eli eagerly waiting to give adam his present, then the opening.

a family shot...eli looks so happy:)

wrestling on the bed...one of my favorite family activities. even lyla participated today...however her version of wrestling is basically crawling around on the bed...but she's very excited about it.

adam and i went out to dinner at happy fish sushi (which seems like a strange name for a sushi place...happy? i doubt it) and then out for ice cream. my parents watched the kids, and when we got home we sang and had cupcakes. eli was so excited about the cupcakes...can you tell?

good times

happy birthday baby!!!

swinging

just like her big brother, lyla loves to swing. eli asks almost every day to ride his bike to the little park in our neighborhood. overall, the park is lame. but the swings are the old school type with really long chains so you can go really high, which makes underdogs really fun.

just some notes

lyla is beginning to figure out the way things "are" in the world. she just started to wipe things down, like i do when i'm cleaning up. she gets a wipe and and rubs away. tonight after dinner she wanted to wipe my face, then daddy's face, then her tray and her hands. does she have any clue what she's doing or is she just copying me?



she also is beginning to "dress" herself. she has been able to put on a necklace for a while now. but today she started trying to put on her shoes and socks. this entails setting the sock/shoe on the top of her foot and balancing it there...it's really cute to watch.



facial geography is oh so fun...when i ask her "where's my nose?" she points correctly:) why is this stuff so exciting? my guess is it's the progression from helpless blob of skin to functioning member of society. it all starts here...learning where a nose is, "putting on" shoes and cleaning lessons. this is it. this is learning to live life.



i think this excitement must be how God feels while watching us grow in faith. each little step closer to Him is greeted with a cheer and excitement. why else, as parents, would we feel the way we do? why? because we were created in His image. He's excited about His kids. and i'm excited about mine:)

hiking on the oregon coast

well...not really, but it felt like it. we went up to mores mountain for a father's day hike. it was cold, foggy, green and lush. it had amazing views, even with the clouds. it reminded me so much of our vacations as a kid on the californian/oregon coast. adam carved eli a walking stick, which quickly became a sword...followed by much fighting.

sweet baby

she LOVED the moss on the trees. as we walked by it she would get all excited, bounce up and down and reach out and try to "pet" it. i think she thought it was some kind of animal...it was really funny.

daddy and eli climbing the rocks

there were so many really stunning views, wild flowers, rock formations and trees.

thanks so much for suggesting this suzanne, it is such a great spot!

lyla's new favorite place

the neihgborhood H20 fight

it was finally (almost) warm enough for a water balloon fight a few days ago. our neighbors had all the kids in the hood over to pelt each other. after the balloons were thrown, they turned to the hoses. i think eli liked this even more than the balloons.

liven' in the clouds

the other day we were driving and saw some beautiful clouds in the sunset.

i said - eli, isn't it amazing that God created that?
he said - yeah, i think i see His house!!!
i said - you did! where?
he said - oh no, i don't think that's it.

i'll definitely miss these conversations some day.

playgroup

we went to the water park for playgroup today. here are some shots of the boys...they were all trying to eat the water (i know, yuck). i particularly love this one of trevor.

a cute one of the lasater boys

here is eli showing off his cool tattoo. when he got it out of the machine he yelled, "i got a seagull!!!" what an insult to our national symbol. but, wow, does he look fierce or what?:)

on a different note, adam went backpacking this weekend. it rained most of the time but he said they still had fun. lyla got really sick (of course it was on the weekend while her pedictrican is closed AND adam is gone). she has another double ear infection, but this was a bad one. she has had a fever for 6 days now and at one point it got up to 104.8. just this evening we saw a little improvement, so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

daddy in training

yesterday lyla was fussing while i was trying get her dressed. eli came over very calmly and said in a soft voice, "lyla, apologize to mama." i guess he didn't like her giving me any guff.

stuff

the kids have been so fun lately. lyla is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up on anything and everything. she is such a sweetheart. she gives hugs and kisses (just a side note, being hugged by a ten month old...wow). she even hugs her stuffed horse and makes an "mmmmmm" noise, like i do when i hug her.

eli cracks us up on a regular basis. he is so good to lyla. he loves to make her laugh. he loves to wrestle, fight, shoot (fake guns, of course), and ride his bike. just such a typical little boy...but at the same time, he's just so one of a kind:)

lyla is a funny girl:)

Sunday School

we have found a new church that we like...or more importantly, that eli likes:) our friends, the drakes, took over leadership of Calvary Chapel Middleton just a few months ago. it is a bit of a drive, but well worth the effort. a few other families that we know also go there. it was so amazing last week (our first week) eli stayed in Sunday school the whole time and when we came to get him he said, "i don't wanna go!" many of his friends are also in the class, so that makes it much more comfortable for him.
it is soooo nice to be going to church again:)

yesterday i asked eli if they talked about God or Jesus in his class. he said, "yeah, but He wasn't there." as if he expected Jesus to be physically there in his class with him. i told him that Jesus is always "there," but i think that concept is to be grasped another day...or year?

"best friends"

my mom has asked eli a few times who his best friend is, he has always said it's mary. i don't think mary knows this, but they do have fun together:)

mary and eli enjoying some watermelon.

lyla loved the water features at the park. she got so cold her little chin was chattering. but after getting dried off she was right back in there splashin' her heart out.

the view is beautiful from up here...

i specifically remember when eli climbed on top of something for the first time. it was his lego table and was soooo proud of himself. today, lyla had her moment of glory. she climbed on top of my sewing machine box, got on her knees and did a little dance.

dinner conversations

me - eli, what do you want to be when you grow up?
eli - um, a ...tiger...?
me - hum, what else would you want to be?
eli - maybe...a......pronghorn...?