Happy [belated] Father's Day!

I didn't do a great job taking photos so this is as good as it gets.

Emma may have been ready for a nap....

Bry is truly a great dad and I am so grateful to have him as my partner in parenthood. Emma loves him so dearly, as evident in the enthusiastic way she often exclaims "da-DEEEE!"

We're lucky to have him.

I'm also grateful for my own father who I have always known to be devoted to his family and to God.

Thank you to all the great dads out there. Keep doing your best. You are so loved.

June family visit

I spent last week in California and it was so great to have that time with family. It ended up being probably the worst week for Bry at work in terms of how many hours he worked - he worked about 75-80 hours fit in Monday-Friday. He took out a couple hours on Monday to get Emma and I to the airport and through security (I didn't count those in the total hours worked). So...I was glad to be away visiting family since I hardly would have seen him anyway.

Enjoying some ice cream sandwich shared by Ah-me. 

Crazy hair, blue eyes. That's my girl.

Sophie's inconspicuous "I notice you have a camera, I'll just lie down riiiiight here."

She does not love swings.

Swings are a little better if you're sitting on someone else and have cute cousins swinging next to you.

She DOES love slides.

We took a trip to the Ice Creamery. Yum.

Aiden. Too bad this is the only picture I got of him. Ha.

Great-grandma shared this empty cup and Emma loved it.

Grandpa helped Landon with his milkshake. I'd say he liked it.

A car show happened to be going on that day and this parked right next to the Creamery. Pretty spiffy.

Playing at great-grandma's house.

We made a trip down to Happy Hollow in San Jose where Aiden had been for a field trip with his kindergarten class. It was a new experience for all of us. Emma tried the carousel a couple times, once on a bench (photographed below) and a second time on a moving animal. The first time she seemed to enjoy mostly, the second time she went between this-is-cool-I-can-do-this and mom-GET-ME-OFF!-SAVE-ME! So... better than her first ride on a carousel back in March, anyway.

Emma seemed to get a bit more nervous as it went on, whereas Landon clearly loved it.

Happy Hollow is part amusement park with kids' rides and part zoo with animals!

Emma and Charlotte on a Dragon ride.

Memorial Day in Portland, OR

Bry, Emma and I drove down to Portland Saturday morning and stayed with the Plasters. Emma was a good passenger and only started fussing much about the last half hour. We enjoyed a good couple days there.

We went to the park Saturday afternoon and Emma mostly enjoyed running along the paths.

She had a couple attempts at the slide. Allison held her going down the first time and she pretty much had no reaction and just walked off afterwards.

Gotta love that hair.

 The second time down the slide her daddy took her and she decided she liked it after all.

Look at those smiles. 

On Monday we went down to Salem to visit the Corkrans.

The girls. Emma - ever distracted by a cat.

Diana wanted to join Emma.

Cute girls!

It was determined on this trip that Emma LOVES cats.

I think she's trying to eat the couch.... She was having fun.