Glenn Family Reunion at Fort Stevens

One of our favorite times of year that we all look forward to is our annual Glenn Family Reunion at Fort Steven's is Astoria, OR. We look forward to it all year! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa for all the work and effort you put into making this such a fun time for everyone!

Emma and Luke were the best of buds this time around. There wasn't much time that these two weren't side by side.

 

The three brothers shooting the breeze

Ellie wasn't quite sure what to think. That wind was not much fun!

We got to meet Rebecca for the first time this trip. She is definitely a Glenn! So cute!

Florence has grown up so much!

Kiera warming up after a long swim at the Lake

Ellie with her new prize from the Treasure Chest.

All the girls got Disney princess dolls as part of Grandma's "The royalty within" Theme this year. They were also given a lesson on modesty and how a TRUE princess acts and dresses. Thanks Grandma!

This one is going to require shower time! The kids had a ball rolling down the sandy hill and then going and rinsing off in the surf over and over. We love the beach!

Maybe you should think twice about picking on your Nieces and Nephews Dan. They'll get you back :)

Mary and Florence out for a walk on the trail

Ethan and Tim were so happy to see each other again! Nothing like having another boy your age to play with! Cousins are the best!

And they go marching two by two. Love the strolls through the forest!

And here's the whole gang. We were missing one this year though. Kaleb was away working at scout camp.

No trip to Fort Steven's is complete without a sunset picture. Didn't quite make it to the beach for an ocean shot but This one turned out pretty cool too.

More July Fun, Emma tries Gymnastics, and my photographyI

The two children's picnic tables we built got a paint job. What else besides Star Wars and Clone Wars symbols?! We ended up gifting the one with the black rebels symbol to a family in our stake whose twins are named "Luke" and "Leah." They host a backyard FHE once a month with donuts, ice cream, popcorn, and cotton candy and open it up to the community so we thought they could use some extra seating. They were pretty happy with the surprise!

 

Emma had a preschool field trip at Shining Stars Gymnastics. She was introduced to stretching, tumbling, balancing and jumping. She had a great time. I just wish we had the funds to let her participate in it more. She would love it!

July was a time of LOTS and LOTS of picture taking. I even got asked to shoot a wedding for Ethan's Kindergarten teacher. That was huge! But even with all the picture taking I did for other people, I still took pics of my own kids and was sure to get at least one pic of all my kiddos together too.

I truly have the cutest kids EVER!

 Shooting my first ever wedding for pay made me nervous. I took pictures at my sisters wedding but had never done it for pay before. Having to do a wedding gave me the excuse to go clothes shopping for a new outfit! That is something I rarely EVER do anymore. I picked out a white and black top and some black capris. I ended up not getting the pants. And boy am I glad I went with the capris! It was a HOT day for a afternoon wedding!

I had lots of fun photographing the wedding but I also learned some very important lessons. One being to ALWAYS check my camera settings, especially when going back and forth between taking indoor shots and outdoor shots. I forgot to change  my settings when going back outdoors for all the family photos and so ALL of them turned out BLUE and highly washed out. Luckily I was able to salvage them and learned quite a bit with my photo shop program. I hope to never make that mistake again! The bride and groom were very happy with their pictures so that's good! It was nice knowing the bride for my first time around too. I warned her that I was not a pro and knowing that she knew that and still trusted me to take good pictures made it less stressful.

Here are some shots of her pre-wedding shots and a few of my favs from the actual wedding day.

More July Blueberries and Building Projects

Lots to catch up on! It is currently Jan 2016 and I am finally recovering from the holidays and getting back into our normal routines. I have some time (which is rare) to sit down and blog a little and catch up on all that has happened since July! Where to begin...?

 After the fourth of July celebrations the kids and I went blueberry picking. Fresh picked blueberries are AMAZING! I will NEVER buy them from the store again.

I love our local blueberry farm. There is lots of things to keep the kids busy while you pick and the kids can go back and forth between picking and playing. It makes for a very relaxing and fun outing. We always bring the berries home and make smoothies to cool down with.


We also stayed busy with lots of building projects. It seems like our household is always humming with the sounds of saws, hammers, and sanders. We build some toy boats for everyone at our Glenn Family reunion. They were fun to make and I enjoyed personalizing them so that each one was a bit different. They were a hit at the reunion too!

Dan and I tried our hand at selling some more outdoor furniture and made two child sized picnic tables. If anything else they will come in handy for our own family gatherings :)

We have been building a water storage shed to store our three 30 gallon water barrels. It has come a long ways and just needs the finishing touches on it. It is fully insulated and is full of water. It feels good to have the peace of mind that we'll have water in case of an emergency. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

 We got the kids involved with our building schemes too. Dan made some quick birdhouse kits one night and we had the kids put them together for a fun and different FHE. The kids really enjoyed it and the next day while Dan was at work the kids painted them. 

From left to right: Ethan's, Kiera's and Emma's