july...in pictures

the first week of july, we trekked up to washington for ainsley's birthday and baptism. grandma connie drove back with us and stayed for a week. how did we get so lucky?! too bad we couldn't use the ac through idaho's 106degree+ heatwave; the poor subey kept wanting to overheat in the middle of nowhere. i almost died of heatstroke. i kid. but not really.

he wasn't afraid of the sparklers this year...success!

coop, sawyer, uncle matty, beckett, ains and emerson

thatcher and uncle jason

grandma connie and all her grandkids : em with thatch, ains, grady, beckett, coop and finn, sawyer and grandma holding baby quinn

aunt erica and uncle matty bought this for beckett, and we could hardly keep the little boys out of it!

in olympic national park

mor, finn, ains, sawyer, coop, grady, em, beckett and uncle matty; before em fell off and into stinging nettles

not even close to one of the biggest trees in the forest

all the myers (hawley/shank/slopsema/wall) girls : me, mom, em, meg and quinny, e and ains

checking the current; yep, freezing!

our two skinny long-legged beauties

tender family moment...aww!

@ tolmie state park, very low tide (we went here last year, too, when we were in wa for coop's baptism)

finn was terrified of these teeny crabs and refused to walk in the sand; the crabs are a little smaller than a silver dollar, legs included

the mountains to the south

the mountains to the north (please excuse our expressions, yikes)

em and ains put on a dance show in the backyard, and of course finn and grady had to get in on it too

ahahaha! this is SO ainsley

and the reason for being in wa, ainsley's baptism; all the family that was able to make it : all my family (minus grandpa dave), dave and gavin, ben and blake, gary and ellie

that's all she wrote for wa, because finn decided to come down with bronchiolitis and had to be taken to the er for breathing treatments, an antibiotic and chest xray. (if you're keeping track, this means EVERY time we have travelled to wa, finn has managed to get sick. something to do with all that evergreen-scented air, i guess.)

finn couldn't get enough of grandma reading to him, esp from the dinosaur book she got him

penny couldn't get enough of grandma and finn taking her for walks up and down the street; i love how he's looking at her while she explains something to him

we HAD to take grandma fishing, and she caught one! (obviously i'm terrible at taking pictures, so it looks as though my mom wore the same outfit every day she was here visiting; she didn't, i promise.)

spending some extremely precious time with great grandpa gb and great grandma tootsie

got his stunner shades on

finn got to be a shark in the basket; he wasn't too impressed

probably hiding from ruby, the little girl in his class who "took care of him" she was actually very sweet, and her little brother was in a different class, so she couldn't mother him!