Appledays

Every year we try to make it to Appledays. Some years we've gone with family, some years with friends. This year we went with our friends the Carvers. Erin and Scott have three wonderful boys that Steve and I adore.






Brandon is Keith's very dear friend





Ryan and Kelly are future husband and wife, (If Erin and I have any say in it) :)






Aidan their four year old is just loved by everyone.





The event really started on Thursday night when we went to the Carvers to make apple pies for the apple pie contest.















The only year Steve has gotten a higher award than me was the year he entered into the contest as a man and he was the only man in the contest. Every other year I have placed higher than him. (For the record!) This year Scott and Steve entered a pie together, and Erin and I entered a pie together.

Carver's couldn't join us until Saturday afternoon, so we went up Friday so we could enter the pies Saturday morning. Now, there is a small question as to whether or not Steve switched the pies, but he's not fessing up to it, so I guess we have to take him at his word. Next year (even if it's raining) I'm walking the girl pie up to the judging table myself. I do have to give the guys credit though, they did win third place in the woman's division as Stephanie Carver, Erin and I did not place.

Carver's joined us around 1:00, we headed to Country Boy BBQ. It lived up to it's name, and had a very entertaining pig we all had to climb on, and the food was really yummy.


Then we headed to Leavenworth. Erin and I walked around a bit with Ryan, Kelly and Aidan, while the Dads and Keith and Brandon handed out tracks and tried to witness to drunk people. :) (It was the first weekend of Oktoberfest) Even Ryan and Kelly got into handing out Million Dollar Bills. One guy just would not take one from Ryan, but Ryan was persistent. Finally the guys girlfriend said "Just take it from the kid!", so he took it. As they were walking away, the girlfriend said to the guy, "Anytime a kid tries to give you something that's not covered in snot, you always take it and say thank you!" Maybe they'll read the back and remember that cute kid that was insistent that they look at the Million dollar question on the back.

The rest of the weekend was spent at the cabin with a quick trip to Tall Timber Ranch (the church camp I went to growing up). We visited the ropes course at the camp and the adults sucked at balancing on the log. The kids did great.




Of course every night we were up late playing cards and laughing. One game Steve, Erin and I totally cheated while Scott was distracted with kids because Scott was beating us horribly, but Erin I and did beat the guys at Rook. Fair and Square. :) (By the way Scott and Erin did you know it's easier to set someone if they bid 85 instead of 80?)

We had a wonderful campfire where we found out Scott has named himself "The fire master" Steve messed with him by giving him wet logs which Scott did not appreciate. Poor Scott, I think he got picked on that weekend. :) But we wound up with a beautiful warm fire, roasted marshmallows, and ate smores.




The last day there we took a walk along the river. Ryan and Kelly wanted to climb a big rock surrounded by water. Neither one ended up in the river. Which was impressive.


Thanks for the wonderful weekend Carvers! We are so truly blessed to have you all in our life. We look forward to many more times spent with you and eventually for the girls to beat the guys in pie baking. :)

Priceless

Today I was again reminded of the wonderful girlfriends I have been blessed with in my life.
Erin, you calmed me down when I was freaking out, and I know your prayers helped get me through the day. I knew you'd be there in an instant if I really needed you.
Heather, what can I say? Not a lot of friends would be willing to sit in on the appointment you sat in on with me today. Thank you for your support, laughter, and calming effect. (And really good Dr. referal)
And Taunya, not a lot of friends would witness in the bathroom what you witnessed! :) You did it without a second of hesitation. You were willing to drop everything to make sure I was OK and taken care of.
Thank you ladies for your friendship. What would I do without you. I hope I never have to return the favor, because that would mean one of you is worried about your health, but know that I will be there for you the way you were there for me. Your friendship?....Priceless.

Little Nuggets

I have two little nuggets of great insight that I have gained from BSF this week, and I thought you might enjoy these:

*In the midst of the worst adversity, in the most barren of the desert seasons, God moves and the showers of blessings fall.

This is so true, and how often do we fail to see Gods blessings in the midst of adversity. If we are children of God and we look we will find them. So if times are hard, look up to your father above and know he loves you and can turn even the worst of situations into His glory!

*Ours may be a day of small things, but none of us knows the outcome when we start to serve God in some area. Who can tell what God will do? Who can tell what things He may accomplish from your small beginning?

It doesn't matter how small you feel your service to God is, do it because we don't know the impact it may have on generations to come. What may seem small to us, could be something big to God. Obey Him and you will be blessed.

Parade

Kelly has started cheerleading again, and yesterday she was in a parade. I thought you might enjoy a few pictures. It was so much fun. By the time we made it to our spot in the parade, it was dark. It had such a nice small town feel to it and it was in the upper 70's even after it got dark! It couldn't have been a more perfect night. She did really well remembering her cheers even though she only went to one practice prior to the parade. Heidi and I ended up having to hold the sign for their cheer squad so I didn't get pictures during the parade. But it was adorable.

Happy Birthday Kelly

I can't believe my baby is eight years old today! Where does the time go? I love you Kelly.

1st day of school

The first day of school. Can't believe it is here. Keith off to his first day of middle school, Kelly into 2nd grade. Hard to believe. Keith only got lost once. :) Kelly got into the swing of things pretty easily. I'll have to have Keith write a post about how he's liking middle school! My kiddos are growing up to quickly!

Spirit Lake Weekend

We have have been busy! But now it's all coming to an end. School is back in and so we will settle down and get back into the routine of school and activities. Not that everything comes to a halt, but we do get a schedule back. Which I enjoy. I didn't get a chance to do a post on our Seattle trip. We had a lot of fun. Kelly walked over 17,000 steps at the Pacific Science Center. We enjoyed Underground Seattle and Pike Place Market with my sister. And then had a great dinner at Kathy and Gregs house. We celebrated Gregs 60th birthday. My how time flies. We got to go to church with Uncle Kit, Aunt Jan, and Adam. And they took us to Red Robin for lunch afterwards before we headed out of town. Thanks to everyone who helped make the trip to Seattle so much fun. I love catching up with each other. We don't do it often enough.

Last weekend we spent time with Mom, Dad and Kristin at Spirit Lake. Grandpa and Grandma Fowler joined us one day and we celebrated Dad's 60th birthday and Moms 57th birthday.
Keith and Kelly enjoyed fishing. They didn't catch any huge fish, but caught a lot of them.




We celebrated Dad and Mom's birthday. All of Mom's pictures are on her camera, so I don't have any to put on this post, but I got some great ones of Dad!


The dock at the cabin had this great springy diving board. It was so cold all weekend we didn't really use it except to escape Maddy and fish off of.

I love this picture of my Grandma and Dad. They were having a nice chat on the dock together. We really enjoyed our visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Thank for coming up guys.

The boat rides were cold. One time it even rained, but they were still fun.



Mom and Dad always impress us all with their water skiing abilities. This weekend was no exception. Of course Steve was giving Dad a hard time, trying to get him to start off the diving board! Thank goodness Dad did not give into the pressure!




Most of the weekend was spent just relaxing, laughing (till we almost wet our pants!), fishing, driving the remote control boat Dad and Mom bought, and the kids swimming. I think Kristin swam for two minutes. :) It was a really fun weekend. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great memories. We love you guys.