School Begins and a Visit from the Gowens!

 The start of school came around way too quickly this summer! We were so busy the summer just flew by. But come it did, and so I reluctantly sent my kids on their first day.

Can't believe this big guy is in 5th grade this year! Next year he's off to middle school. Scary!!

And Miss Katelyn is a 1st grader this year! It'll be nice to have all the kids in the same school.

My big 3rd grader!

Weston's getting big too!

And don't forget Mr. Dylan! He's so excited to be in a preschool co-op this year!

Here's Katleyn sitting at her new desk on the first day of school. Looks like she ready to take on the world!

Here's my stealth picture of Brandon in his classroom. He's too cool to be taking pictures on the first day in front of his friends.

And here's Lindsey at her new desk at the front of the class. She looks a little nervous on the first day. But she came home smiling!

A few days later, we had a great visit from Erin and Sean! This was Sean's first time at our house, and the last time Erin was here was 4 1/2 years ago and she was moving boxes in. Needless to say, things look a ton different now.

We started things off with a cookout in the back yard. Yum!

The next day we pulled the kids out of school and Justin took the day off so we could hike Mt. Rainier! It was beyond gorgeous! It was a perfect day to be on the mountain.

We kept singing...."Climb Every Mountain....."

This snow is left from last winter. It will be covered up with more snow soon.

This tree is just Dylan's size!

Weston's sock must have fallen off about 20 times on the trail. 

Here is almost the complete water cycle in one picture. Mountain snow, melting into streams and rivers, that join with a larger body of water. Now we just need a rain cloud to make this full circle!

Take a closer look: snow to runoff to mountain lakes

We went to 3 doughnut places while they were here visiting, we went shopping at the outlets, we went to Charming Charlie's, we played games and ate yummy food, we ran the kids to their various activities and to and from school, we went to the new musical "Second Hand Lions" which was awesome, and lots of other fun stuff! 

Here we are at Pike Place Market, because you just have to when you're in Seattle!

Erin made a new friend while she was here. Do I see a new member of the family some time in the future???

And we joined a crowd of 55,000 people at a Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake soccer game. It was loud and crazy, and we had to stand up the whole game! 

We wore red and blue in a sea of Seattle green to support Real Salt Lake. We got lots of comments, but people were very nice. Too bad we lost! It was a fun night!

Thanks for visiting us Erin and Sean! We loved it! Come back soon! :)