Nature Park Fun

One of the many things I love about living in our fine city is our amazing Parks and Rec services. They really are great, for many reasons. One reason is the Nature Park that is a 5 minute drive from our house! It has a slew of trails, trees, ponds and wildlife for the kids to explore and get some wiggles out. We had a (much needed) sunny spell this week so we headed there to run around.

Ready to go on in!

My pretty girl....

A rare decent photo of them together!

They usually turn out like this.. HA!

We had to stop and read the signs along the path we were on!

They both were so excited to go over a bridge and see a small waterfall.

Watching intently...

Mr. Serious!

Such a pretty place!

#2 running to catch #1

But don't worry, he got to be the leader soon enough!! :)

I love these two...

So as we were walking back the kids found a huge log that they didn't notice on the first time by. They both enjoyed climbing and jumping on it!

What a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon!!

A Surprise for 40 Years

My Aunt Bobbie is my dad's baby sister. She was the apple of his eye; he was her hero. I love my aunt for many reasons, but mostly for the never ending love and encouragement she bestows upon me and my sisters. She is so much like my dad in that way. I see so much of him in her, and it always is special to spend time with her.

She and my Uncle Dave (who, FYI, is equally as awesome!) celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this week. My cousins Elaina and Heather pulled off the most amazing surprise party for them yesterday, a gathering in Tacoma, Wa. that brought pretty much the ENTIRE Tierney clan together as well as many of their friends. It was such a great day celebrating God's faithfulness and blessing in my aunt and uncle's life together.

The reaction from these two when they saw everyone was priceless!!

Bobbie and Makayla (Elaina's daughter, who is SO sweet and so awesome and entertained my kids quite a bit!)

A not-so-good self portrait of my great Uncle Herb and me. I love him like a Grandpa.. he and his wife Judy are wonderful!

My Aunt and her nieces. We love her!

My family and Bobbie and Dave. So fun to get together!

I can't remember when the Tierney cousins were all together... at least ten years. It was fun reconnecting with them and catching up in person instead of on Facebook!

The cousins with their significant others!

I just have to say.. my kids are such great travelers! They did so great in the car, and were behaved well and had fun at the party. More than one adult guest asked, "are they always this well behaved?". Made this momma proud!

Reading books with daddy and cousin Curtis (who was actually playing Angry Birds! haha)

Love this picture of them enjoying their snacks! They really do love each other.. most of the time!

So.. my niece Abby kept telling me she had a surprise for me when I saw her. I totally didn't expect it, but wasn't surprised when I saw her fabulous new haircut. She is a big Harry Potter fan, and a big Emma Watson fan. Well.. Emma has this short pixie cut, and now Abbers does too! It totally fits her face and her personality. Loved seeing her and my kids did too, as told by the sweet look on Matthew's face!

Cheese-y boy and his daddy!

Cake cutting!

I wish I would have gotten more pictures.. but I was having way too much fun catching up with everyone!

Happy 40th, Bobbie and Dave. We love you so much!

Shell, Mo, Trains, and Voodoo

My sister and Chris came over from Idaho New Year's weekend to hang with us and watch the Rose Bowl. One of the fun things we did was head downtown on MAX to Voodoo Doughnut. For those of you not familiar, its a very funky shop that has crazy flavors of treats. It was Matthew's first ride on the train, which made it even more exciting!

Daddy and the kids heading down to the platform!

Love my big sis!

Chris (Mo) trying to calm Matthew's fears of the noisy incoming train! Poor thing was pretty scared!

Evelyn LOVED the ride.. can ya tell?

Me and my sweet boy!

Poor buddy was truly so scared in the tunnel! He clung to daddy and cried a few times. Hopefully next time it will be more fun for him! :(

Evelyn thought the tunnel was cool.. as was sitting with her cool aunt Michelle and "Mr. Chris".

Taking it all in!

The whole reason for the trip!! Voodoo!

As always, there was a line. We had to wait about 40 minutes (no kidding!) in line but made the best of it!

Group shot!

Evie and Chris.. one of my favorite pics of the day!

Me and the kids trying to decide what kind to get!

The choices were endless!!

Aunt "Shhhhell" loving on her nephew!

A feeble attempt to get a family shot (can you find the 2 year old who was having a meltdown? haha)

In the end, it was SO worth the wait!!

A fun morning indeed!

Natural

It can be super difficult to get a picture of Evelyn showing her true, beautiful smile. She is just at an age where she does the "cheese-o" grin, as I call it, when I want to take a picture. The best way to get that pretty smile of hers on film is to not have her pose, but just try to capture it when I can. I happen to get several of these "natural" shots recently.

My pretty girl... naturally!






And then.. there's this!


Gosh I love this silly, pretty girl!!

The Carousel

My mom and her husband found this Christmas carousel on sale before Christmas. It lights up and plays a fun melody. I don't think they had ANY idea what a hit it would be with both my kids, especially the boy! It kept him occupied for at least an hour when we were over there on New Years day. I'll just let the pics do the talking!



And my two favorites...



I am sure he will be equally excited when it comes out again next Christmas!!