Fathers

Grateful today for the many fathers who are and have been a part of my life...for their example, their compassion, their devotion to family, their faith, their laughter and so very much more.

And, so, wishing a Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father in law:

(taken less than a week ago when we were in Yakima)...thank you for raising your son to know what it is to be a good husband and father and continuing to model that to your grandsons...

...to my dear dad:

(taken January 2007...the last time I saw him in person before he died in August of that year...he and mom were out here in Colorado visiting)...thank you for being you (more reasons here)...

...to my spectacular husband:

(taken a couple hours ago, as I decided we should have dad pictures to go along with the mom pictures we took on Mother's Day...Micah's wearing sunglasses he found; he didn't just get glasses, lol)...thank you for, well, everything. ;) 

...to my brothers and brothers-in-law...thank you for raising my nieces and nephews in this crazy world...

...and to all the other fathers in our personal community (I'm especially thinking about archery and karate coaches/instructors)...thank you for shaping my boys' lives through example and just plain being there.

Happy Father's Day!

Denver Comic Con

Yesterday, I took Asher and Micah to the Denver Comic Con. This was our third year attending, and we still love it. :) We headed down after lunch and got in just dandy (getting the badges in advance via the mail is awesome). Micah went as the Joker (from The Dark Knight, he'll point out) and Asher was Batman:

One of our first stops was a presentation on the sounds of Star Wars, where a sound guy talked about what was used for a number of the different sound effects. It was pretty fascinating and we definitely enjoyed it and were thankful that we made it into the room (we were some of the last ones who managed to get seats). 

After that, we wandered a bit downstairs and saw these unique costumes:

No idea what's going on with the first two on the left but the boys loved the T-Rex and I thought Cinderella's step sisters were awesome.

Eventually we made it upstairs to the main exhibition area, whereupon boys decided it was really too warm to be wearing costumes, lol. Having anticipated this, I had brought an extra bag...which we stuffed all their costumey things in. ;) We decided we need to plan better/cooler costumes for future years.

Btw, we didn't take nearly as many pictures this year. Sorry. I was a bit pictured out after our Washington trip, lol. I was, though, impressed enough by this costume to take a picture:

For those familiar with Harry Potter, it's Moaning Myrtle!

And the boys thought it was both hilarious and amazing that this guy was sitting drawing this picture of Darth Vader sitting on the toilet reading the paper:

After more wandering and shopping and eating, we eventually got in line:

This was after the mayhem, when we'd finally gotten organized, lol. This is the line to get your picture taken with Stan Lee. (For those who live under a rock, or don't have three boys who love super heroes, Stan Lee IS Marvel Comics. It's a pretty big deal.)

Asher had decided that he wanted to pay for this with his own money, so we bought our tickets in advance and waited with the many. Once things got going, it was actually rather efficient and quick. While we waited for things to get going:

Micah was not as amused. ;) But. The folks in front of us were playing this guessing game on their phone (Head's Up). It was highly entertaining and they invited Micah to play with them at one point. (Okay, they invited us all but Micah was the only one who piped up, lol.) Great way to pass the time!! Thanks, stranger!

And then Asher got to have his picture taken:

And everyone was happy. ;)

(Given his age (93) and the need for efficiency, people were asked not to touch Mr. Lee...which was understandable.)

Seriously, though, the smiles on all the people after we were through the photo part was amazing. We had to stand in line again (not nearly as long) to pick up our print of the photos (I also had pre-ordered to have a digital file emailed to me...totally worth the extra $10) and people were high-fiving and laughing and congratulating each other. Happy. :)

And then we made another couple quick stops to shop before heading out for the night. Whew. 

Yakima

And now a few pictures from our time in Yakima...Sunday night, we headed back from Prosser to do dinner with Nathan's parents then have a gathering of family and friends there. I didn't take pictures, but did remember to get a shot of my boys with Nathan's grandma:

And then had Nancy get in the picture also, to get three of the four generations (too bad Nathan wasn't there):

The next day, Nancy, the boys and I enjoyed some quiet time playing card games then tried out the Meadowbrook Family Fun Center. We played some miniature golf:

and the boys and I blasted each other on bumper boats with water cannons:

We also rode go karts then headed inside to the arcade, where Asher and Micah rode a roller coaster simulator thing, boys played games and Micah and I played air hockey:

After all that, we got some popcorn and then later some frozen yogurt then rested a bit (and I started packing things up) while we waited for John to get home from work so we could take him out to dinner for an early Father's Day celebration.

And. I remembered to get a group picture:

After dinner, we played some more card games then got to bed early(ish)...so as to get up early the next morning to catch the shuttle to the Seattle airport. We got through security pretty well, grabbed a table and some food, and wandered aimlessly to kill some time. :) Our flight ended up delayed about 90 minutes but we finally made it home, where Nathan was anxiously waiting for us.

Home. :)

Last Sunday (part 2)...

And here are (some of the many) shots of the rest of the day...

Bekah holding baby Case...

I remembered to take a picture of Gram with my boys this time!

And then we got a shot of the oldest in the family (Gram, who will be 95 next month) and the youngest in the family (so far)(Case, who's 7 months):

I love this shot because Cassy was playing peek-a-boo to get Case to smile and Gram thought it was hilarious, too. :) 

And then I started trying to make sure I got groups of cousins by age. You've seen the baby boys, who are 6 weeks apart. Next up is Blaze and Alice, who are about 6 months apart (yes, really...he's on the larger side; she's tiny, lol). This was the best I managed since 2 year olds aren't keen on sitting for pictures. But it was sweet...they were hugging/kissing, but it was quick:

Then there's Cade, Micah and Aidan. Cade and Aidan turned 11 today, making them about 6 weeks older than Micah. I should have also grabbed Makenna (but I think she was gone just then). She's also 10, but 5 months younger than Micah (and taller than all three of these boys, lol):

And Asher and Alexis, both 13 right now...Asher's about 3 months older:

And then Quinn and Noah, who are both 15. Noah's 3 weeks older:

Other pictures for the day...Cas and mom playing ping pong:

Cas was victorious for the weekend, as no one was able to beat her. We'll leave it at that, so as not to hurt Zach or Joe's feelings, lol.

Another story of the weekend was Blaze's obsession with the wind machine in the orchard. He SO VERY BADLY wanted someone to turn it on. ;) We took turns walking him out there and trying to explain that we couldn't turn it on:

And here's another pic of Evan, just because:

And one last pic from Prosser...

 
Though we spent most of the time outdoors, this is what you might find if you ventured inside. ;)

And that, along with plenty of other pictures and stories that I couldn't fit here, was our visit in Prosser. Whew. 

Last Sunday...

First off, since today's June 17, allow me to take a moment to send my mom some extra special thoughts and prayers, as today is the 44th anniversary of her wedding. My dad only got to celebrate 35 of them with her but, together, they created some pretty darn good roots...

Relatedly...Sunday morning, even though Zach thought we were joking, we took some group pictures of us siblings with my mom. Here's the best of the group (click for larger):

  

And then mom wanted individual pics with each of us. (We tried this once before at Cassy's wedding six years ago, but didn't manage to get everyone, lol.)

I'll go in order by age...which makes me first, as I'm the oldest:

Then Zach:

Then Bekah:

Then Joe:

 
And, finally, Cassy:

 
Next up will be more candid shots... :)