start of summer

figured it was about time i posted what we've been up to this summer so far...

aside from posing in stand-in cutouts...

 we put on our farmin' overalls and picked some berries!

 this guy's method was to pick some...stare at them...and then smash them to a pulp.

which is exactly what he did after this picture was taken.

 man, I love harrison's face in this picture

and the fact that he snuck his harmonica into his overalls front pocket.

little hobo in the making...

once our buckets were full...

 we headed over to the raspberry fields.

 it was a much faster process with the raspberries,

 as they were much more abundant and less picked over than the strawberries.

it was fun watching the boys get so excited.

spencer kept saying "this is much funner than i thought!"

 so what does one do with so many berries

 when your husband refuses to eat all forms of fruit

 you ask?

you make homemade ice-cream and cobbler...

and raspberry tartlets!

brace yourself...there's more!

 we also rode polar bears...

 got accosted by giant she-spiderthings...

(don't make eye contact boys...maybe she won't see you)

 pretended to be super heros at dad's awesome work party...

 played on freaky blow-up slides...

 and took a turn on the swings!

 we have also had the pleasure of visiting the PSC this summer for the spy exhibit!

the boys climbed through air vents, evaded detection through laser fields,

 and got to see real-life spy gadgets.

they were in heaven.

they also didn't mind the dinosaurs...

 and space stuff.

 this last week the boys finished swimming lessons.

they both passed to the next level!

 

i must say that i was more than a tad apprehensive letting nate back into a pool after the teeth incident (he knocked out both bottom permanent teeth in a pool during memorial day),

but he did great and no more teeth were knocked out!

 here is spence attacking his teacher...

so proud of spence!

he got over so many fears in the water this year!

we love summer in washington!

the fourth

this year we hunted for a 4th of july parade and found one in issaquah.

i'm not much for parades,

but i still thought i should let my kids come to their own conclusions

of how lame they are.

just kidding. no i'm not.

my inner-child is dead. (it was killed by a parade clown)

 this is pretty much the seen for most of the parade.

lots of waiting...and stuffing candy in to pants.

contrary to the dazed condition these children depict,
i believe they enjoyed it...
if not just for the parade candy and the sugar coma it produced.

 i spy a spencer!

we spent the rest of the day chillaxin', eating bbq,

and blowing stuff up.

here is the mild version...

when the celebrating got a little more intense, harrison

did not approve.

we decided to avoid the crazy crowds and watched the "real" fireworks from our window.
(and take pics with my crappy phone)

nate stayed up as long as his little eyes would let him...

which is a good thing because the fireworks lasted a couple more days around here!

Eight is great

 this kid lucked out this year as his birthday fell on a friday.

which we all know means weekend-long birthday!

woot woot!

his one request was to go to "Bullwinkles."

so we let him invite two friends to go with him on his actual birthday.

yeeeah, i know.

spence had a friend show up too!

 this place is a mini version of heaven for these boys.

 i would rather gouge my eyes out with a red hot poker

 with his baptism on saturday, we did a mini photo shoot beforehand...

aaaand the big day!

the theme was "come unto christ"...

if you can have a baptism theme, that is.

some family that came up for the special day...

then we fed them because baptisms make you hungry.

i don't know if flowers are too girly for a boy baptism,

but i don't care. i do what i want.

they were white.

after all the food prep, i realized i could never be a caterer...

that, and i had no steam left to make a cake.

enter costco.

he requested chocolate, and this is what they had.

(note to self: never get a costco cake again unless feeding 500 people.)

those balloon blobs of frosting were seriously as big as his head.

sugar comas are awesome.

a Thompson/Godard tradition is to gift the baptized child an embossed set of scriptures.

he was so thrilled to get these.

(he has been using my old seminary ones for over a year)

sunday, he impressed me by putting them to use with grandpa.

he was asking all kinds of questions about them and the stories inside.

such a special memory.

thanks for trekking out here for the baptism grandma and grandpa!

and thanks to all the family and friends that came

to be a part of this special memory for this eight year-old!

it was such a magical day!

 

 oh, and here is the video i put together and we shared at the baptism!
Come Unto Christ!