Out of town guests

We were so blessed this month to have many out of town guests come to see us! Love, love, love seeing these amazing people!

Susan and her kids were out visiting from Ohio and came to spend one night with us. We met junior year of college when we were in the same study abroad program in Melbourne. G'day Mate!

Hunter and Iyer kiddos

Our friends Alison, Bill and Rowan were out visiting from Brooklyn and came over for dinner.  Mesh and I went to college with Alison. I will need to see if she got any better pictures-these were all I got and it was a bit dark! 

Noni came to town to visit and hang with the kids since I always return to work 2 weeks before the kids start school. Love you Noni - thank you so much for all the help, laughs, hugs, and love!

The Ludlows moved to San Diego in January and were back up visiting so we had a party with the Gig Harbor Girls. Above: Jen, Kara, Talli / Meg, Joelle Below: All the kids!

Nate and Matt

Grace and Riley

Cameron and Ben  - still looking like twins!

Andy, Val, and Sadie joined us for Noni's last weekend here.  The kids had so much fun with cousin Sadie!

Mr. Tall and Mr. Small

My mom orchestrated an early birthday celebration for me. I had a great vision for this photo of me taking a picture of the cake with my loved ones gathered around it singing. Well nobody was listening to me when I tried to direct them to stand together at the end of the table so I had to stand back to fit them all in and this is what I got. Hahaha! Happy birthday to me?! ;) (Full disclosure-I may have had a few glasses of wine that impacted my ability to give clear directions….or so I'm told.)

Andy and Mesh on the new paddle boards

My favorite picture of the summer. 

Soccer Tournaments

Nate and Riley are both playing on year round soccer teams and this month they both had their first soccer tournaments. Brings back memories - yes it does! We went to Bend, Oregon for Nate's tournament and then Riley's was about an hour north of Seattle.

Unbelievable that at Nate's very first soccer tournament he ends up playing my friend Cressa's son! Cressa and her family live in Oregon now and we didn't know we'd both be there. Cressa and I played together on a club soccer team growing up - she was the goalie and I was a defender. Go Lester's Lightning!

Nate and Cressa's son Luey marking each other. Could not believe it!

Bend Premier Cup Aug 7th-9th

Riley's soccer tournament was the day after Steph's funeral. We stopped to get food on the way up and were given #14 - Steph's favorite number. Love you Steph!

Skagit Cup Aug. 15th-16th

One of the dad's on the team shared some great pictures.

#8

And I had to throw in a couple pictures of Riley at Girl Scout day camp - she had a fun week!

Steph

My dear friend Steph passed away this month. We played soccer together in high school, visited each other in college and the years after, were in each other's weddings, and then ended up settling down and raising our families about 20 minutes from each other, and her son Kelby and Ben are buddies. Steph was diagnosed with stomach cancer in May 2014 and bravely battled it with chemo and surgeries. She is in heaven now and no longer in pain. We will be comforted in this time of great loss by all the wonderful memories she left behind.  Nate counts Steph and her husband Chris as his very first friends. She would always play board games and spend good qualify time with him and the kids.  Steph was so sweet and always listened and gave great advice. She loved to garden and the outdoors and had a beautiful smile. The last time I saw her, on July 29th, she told me she was dreaming about having bubble gum ice cream - the good old fashinoned blue kind with the actual gumballs in it that came w/ a small paper cup to spit the gumballs in.  She wasn't able to eat or drink anything at the time. I vow to always eat bubblegum ice cream when I come across it and to think of Steph. Her brother-in-law made sure that it was served at the lunch after her funeral.    Please pray for her husband Chris, her son Kelby, her parents, her sister, her in-laws, and all of her family and friends.  We love you Steph-always.

Riley, Ben, Steph and Kelby in 2011. I love this photo of her big smile.

Steph, Kara and I at Ben's 4th birthday party in May 2014. She was diagnosed with cancer the next day.

Gig Harbor girls - May 2015

With Kelby at Steph's funeral - the kids found an angel.

Note-I'm posting this on 8/31 and back dating it. It has been hard to even think about writing this post. I miss Steph very much and my heart is broken for her family. I make a blog book at the end of each year and it was important for me to include this post in it.