Summer This and That

 Oh summer, how I love thee!

Time to relax.

Watching fireworks!

Winnie, our new bunny

Working outside

Summer's bounty

Pool time

Gorgeous hair-do and gorgeous hair.

Visit from Papu and Yaya.  Here we have two peas in a pod.

Another gorgeous hair-do!

Butterfly House

 I took Eden and her friend Alice to the Butterfly House.  Beautiful butterflies and beautiful girls!

Cousin Time!

 Christie brought her girls for a visit because Charis was doing a volleyball camp at USF, so we got some good cousin time!  Eden, Faith, and Katy had a great time going to Amah's and playing dress up:

They helped me put up the swing I got for Christmas and Katy enjoyed it very much!

And Eden got her face painted!

And Eden and Faith worked on their special handshake.  There are two versions of it.

 

Sweet 16

 Z turned 16 years old!!  I can hardly believe he's gone from this:

To this:

Christie and her girls were in Sioux Falls for the birthday, so we had lots of fun celebrating.  We did a compare and contrast with the food -- pizza from two different places, doughnuts from two different places, that sort of thing.  Then we had games related to the number 16 -- first person to get 16 rubber bands in a cup and putting 16 clothes pins on poor Z's face!  What a good sport he is!

We love you Z!  What an amazing 16 years it's been!!

For a bonus, check out one of my absolute favorite videos of Z:

20 Years

 On April 12 we had our 20th anniversary!  To celebrate, we spent a few days and nights in Denver and had a wonderful time!   The weather was amazing (high 70s and low 80s).  We went to the botanical gardens which we could tell would be be beautiful in a few weeks, but there were still some lovely plants to enjoy.

Orchids

We ate LOTS of good food!

And had fun walking around downtown Denver.

Easter

 Easter Preparations:

Eden made this Easter cake all by herself.

Everyone joined in the egg dying.

Easter Morning:

Full Easter baskets!

FIFA 23!

Easter Fun:

Eden's 12th Birthday

 Eden turned 12!  We had a great time celebrating.  She had a tropical themed party and invited friends over, so even though it was cold outside, it was warm and fun inside!

Nathan making yummy tropical drinks.

All the girls enjoying yummy tropical drinks!