gulf shores night one

basic young family gulf shores reunion agenda as follows:

wake up! eat! beach! pool! eat! games! eat! games! beach! fight about the american revolution! eat! games! sleep! 

rinse! and repeat!

a few pics from our first evening tour de la plage:

gulf shores day one

sandy. salty. sunscreened. and wet.

a week at the beach

smile and we'll give you candy!

bene, eli, dallin, afton, derek, danton, caleb, wesley, luke, soren, and summer holding samuel.

the girls.

part of the bru cru.

more gulf shores shenanigans to come.

is a berry berry berry fine house

you know, it's probably time for me to quit schlepping my giant camera out to the fields to snap pics of the fam picking raspberries. it's not new. it's not exciting. it's never really much different each year than it was the year before.

but it's just one of those things. 

it's one of those touchstones. 

it's one of those photographic gauges of the relentless marching on of time. 

of our time.

the raspberries stay the same. the dry dirt and the bushes and the crates and the boxes and the buckets. even the pnw sky is usually its cloudy, shady, angry, stormy summer self.

but the kids, man, those kids just won't stop changing.

summer girl, pictured here finally as tall as her mother.

(not pictured here: me giving her bunny ears. which immature shenanigans she did not care for at all.)

the first trip with all four kids here.

to the temple

on tuesday in the last week of july, afton was able to attend the seattle washington temple for her very first time to perform baptisms for members of our friend christina's family. she wanted to be with just mom and dad for her inaugural session but has since gone a few more times with her sister and friends. 

afton loves the temple for its quiet, for its clean and beautiful interior, and for its peace and calm. 

pierced hearts

notice anything different about my two girls?!

back in mid-july, summer and afton (and lydia!) finally fulfilled a life-long dream of getting their ears pierced. 

they had a great experience at pierced hearts tattoo parlor in downtown seattle: picked out their handmade implant grade titanium crystal studs (pink for summer! iridescent lavender for afton! silver for lydia!), went back and sat in the big purple piercing chair, and then had giant sterilized needles poked all the way through their earlobes. 

summer had a slight panic when she saw the needles (she REALLY hates needles), but decided ear piercing was something she wanted and pushed through like a champ. 

ta-da!

happy belated birthday to me

 

i spent my birthday hosting a pretty raging* pool party for middle school girls.

so yeah, i'd say i'm thirty-eight now.

*raging except for the fact that i served sparkling water instead of soda, from which middle school girl pool party faux pas my reputation may never recover.

the kids are all right

this.

is going to be a great year.

to the kids! who continue to show up and show off the best of what we can do and the best of who we can be.

and to all of the grown-ups out there taking care of the kids:

thank you. 

and good luck.

eighth grade!

seventh grade!

fourth grade!

second grade!

turning twelve

our artist in residence, our chief of creative play, our tender heart with those most sparkly brown eyes, is growing up. 

afton started talking when she was ten months old. she could perfectly mimic words and sounds, inflections and intonations. she has the best voices. the best facial expressions. the best handstands and roundoffs and fashion sense. she is an amazing public speaker (though she hates it so). a burgeoning violinist. a straight-a student. the quietest, most hilarious girl you'll ever meet. 

she loves scavenging and animals and shiny things and bold colors and quiet time. 

and CANDY! most of all. 

she's just starting out. just dipping her toes in the water. twelve is a tricky and exciting place to be. wading out into the water of the big, wide world. hoping it has room for the special magic you bring. 

and afton is full of a really special magic that this big, wide world is lucky to have.

happy birthday, beauty! wade into the water. jump into the water. take it slow. or dive right in. just be sure to bring your magic with you. 

bryan's birthday boating

it was bryan's birthday back in april on the big island. and because he loves watercraft of all kinds, to celebrate, he treated everyone to a day out on the pacific ocean and snorkeling at two step and captain cook where we enjoyed fishes and dolphins and splashing and swimming and pool noodles and double-fisting hawaiian sodas.

bryan loves adventure and hard work and jumping in cold water, and he brings that "get up and get out and go do and can do" attitude to our tiny crew. (i just bring the snacks.)

he's maddeningly optimistic. a careful planner. a whip smart communicator. quite possibly the world's best problem solver. and definitely, definitely someone you want around in a crisis. 

bryan! here's to YOU! to forty-one years of launching off into the unknown and getting all wet and loving every moment. to all the adventure. to the sand and the dirt and the sweat and the snow.

and most especially here's to taking the rest of us along for the ride. 

xo

beating heart

mom, you are the best mom i could ever have! i like your cooking. you make me healthy. and you give me stuff! mom, i love you. mom, you are sweet. 

(insert world's best alligator drawing) 

(insert world's best snake drawing)

to my kids, who are stuck with me and all my (many) idiosyncrasies and who seem to like me anyway. whose souls existed long before they got to me and will continue on long after they leave, but this time--this time we get to grow together--it is the best time because of you. 

i'll eat you up i love you so. 

and to my mom, who taught me that the beating heart of motherhood is being the safest and surest place in the world. no matter what; no matter when. forever and always, amen.