Ken's Other Love...who knew?

Because we never ventured to any Native American villages in our first ten years of marriage, I was unaware that Ken had an uncanny infatuation with Totem Poles...

...I guess that's why our marriage stays fresh and young. There are always new things to learn. And now I think I know what I should get Ken for his birthday...he'll be thrilled!

Missing...

When something is lost at our house, it's serious business. So when Levi recently couldn't find his beloved black hooded sweatshirt signs were hung in the livingroom... In the kitchen...

And in bedrooms...

The school lost-n-found, the van, grandma's house, backpacks, etc. were searched high and low. Then mom decided to do some laundry one afternoon a few days into the search. Lo and behold, the sweatshirt appeared all snuggly in the laundry basket.

And it was then returned to its rightful owner. Mom collected the reward of one giant smile!

Orange Crush!

Levi had his first soccer game this Saturday with his team - AKA Orange Crush. This is the first time Levi's played so he's still working on well, most parts of the game. lol! But he sure is enthusiastic and a blast to watch.
Here he's being "crowned" the goalie for the first quarter:When the ball's away, the goalie will play:

Go get 'em tiger!

Levi's best cheerleader:

Whew, soccer is tiring!

Our big kids...

Started yet another school year. Levi is in first grade and Leah third...that's why I called them "big" kids because that's what they are these days. Enjoy the annual first day pics:

Ten Years of Cuteness...

Yep, I'm talking about us...



We're cute when we go to Alaska: Cute when we hike to Lake 22:

And even cute when we row on Crescent Lake:

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!

Grandpa Walter

Since I'm way behind in my blogging, I never posted about the trip that followed Alaska. We went to Oregon to see my grandpa Walter who is nearly 90. He'd been sick and was spending some time in a care center to regain his strength. I wanted to blog about this visit because I always want to remember the way grandpa was. He was an absolute character with that mischievous twinkle in his eye that's always made me smile.

I'm not sure exactly what was being said in this picture but it could have been him talking about racing his wheel chair down the hall or teasing the nurses about helping himself into bed:Perhaps in this picture he's telling about how the other 70 year olds in the care center can't seem to use their utensils and how he can still use a knife and fork just fine - being nearly 20 years their elder. Or maybe he's sharing about the races he "runs" on the treadmill:He really got a kick out of the kids being in the bed instead of him. Whenever we'd ask him if he wanted to lie back down he'd say, "oh no, I'm fine!" (He even bragged about how he can get himself into bed instead of calling a nurse to help him.)

He had many chuckles over the kids arguing about who gets to use his wheelchair. He kept telling them they could race it down the hall if they wanted:

Since this visit in late July, my spry grandpa has been released back to his home on Bear Creek Ranch. We will celebrate his 90th birthday with him over Labor Day weekend! Love you Grandpa!

Alaska #3 - A Small-town 4th!

We've been home from Alaska so long I'm afraid the memories are starting to fade. This may be my final Alaska post since so many other wonderful things have happened this summer. I don't want to get too far behind. But I couldn't leave my Alaska posts without writing about Petersburg's small-town 4th of July. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

Like all good celebrations, there was food. LOTS of food! Here's Ken eating some sort of fried pastry: I've never had funnel cake before...it was heavenly:

Then there were the games...FUN! Here's Levi participating in the herring toss. The goal is to get the herring into the ring. If you look closely, Levi's herring is pretty close:

My cousin Juliet as the Herring-Holder. I too, had this role of holding herring while waiting for Levi to toss:

After tossing herring Levi had to try watermelon spitting. He spit 4.7 feet:

After the herring toss and watermelon seed contest we found Ken back at the food. Yes the sign in the background does say "Deep fried oreos and candybars". I said "ewww..." but Ken still raves about them:

Then the kids had to lick some candy out of some real Alaskan shells:

I think I already mentioned the Bringhursts participated in a parade. We even won 3rd place in the neighborhood category:

More festivities - fishing for prizes:

Leah and Cousin Jeff shooting balloons:

Leah won 3rd place in a foot race and won $3:

Beckett and Levi were partners for the water balloon toss:

Then there was the money pile, where our children wildly dug for monetary treasures:

Grand total: Around $8 - not bad!

Many of my cousins participated in the log-roll contest. This is Tierney and Cami:

Our final adventure for the 4th was hiking through the muskeg to find the fireworks. Something about hiking in the dark in Alaska felt very adventurous (this is Ken and the kids with Preston and Autumn):

As we arrived at the fireworks, they were releasing the coolest paper lanterns. This picture doesn't do them justice.

The small-town 4th of July was super fun. A great way to gather us all together and to bring out our competitive nature - all in fun of course!