Erika & Jon's Wedding

What a fun evening celebrating Erika & Jon's wedding!  Jaelyn loved being a flower girl and Ben thought he was a stud wearing his tux (which he was!).

 Love these two!

 All the kiddos looking their best!

"Yep, I'm a stud!"

Love the converse shoes!!

 Lookin' good even with the freshly made egg on his forehead!

It's hard to get a picture with Brooke - she's always on the go.  Here is my best attempt (& she's a little blurry!)

MOB & FOB and the kids - - we LOVE Auntie Nancy & Uncle Gale!!  :)

Practice Time!

 Practicing what they have to do on Erika's special day!  So fun!

 So cute holding hands!!  Precious!

 The girls trying to figure out the ribbon bouquet!

Hamming it up for the camera!  She was running all over the sanctuary...hoping that won't translate on the wedding day!  :)

last day of swimming

We are so very sad - the place we do swimming lessons is shutting down after 33 years of giving swimming lessons.  We've been going since Jaelyn was 3 1/2 years old!  Ms. Angela is the sweetest teacher around and has such a great relationship with the kids.  We will miss her SO much!  However, we are hopeful that she will find another pool to give us lessons!

The kids before their last lesson

Play time is such fun.  Jaelyn is either doing hand stands or diving for rings...while Ben loves the boat and motors around the whole pool.

We love you, Ms. Angela! 

putt-putt golf

We headed to Rainbow Run putt-putt golf for Oma's birthday!  This was Jaelyn & Ben's first crack at putt-putt golfing...it was fun to watch them try to get the ball in the hole!  :)

 Pink ball/pink golf club

Silly shot of the kiddos - hijacking a golf cart!

Yay for cousins - wished they lived closer to have more play time together.

C is for cousins!

Alexis and Jakob are visiting from MI this week...so neat to get to play together!  On Wednesday morning the cousins headed to Woodland Park Zoo.  Fun morning together looking at all the different kinds of animals!

Checkin' out the flamingos...boy it stunk at that exhibit!

 

The kids got to ride the carousal!

Then on Saturday morning the kids headed to the movie theater to watch Planes together! Uncle Brad got a HUGE bucket of popcorn that came with unlimited refills (yay!) and we brought in candy from the grocery store (yes, I'm dutch!).  Also, a big thanks to Auntie Karen for watching Brooke so that I could take the big kids to the movie.  One other cute side note:  halfway through the movie Ben leans over and asks me, "do you think Brooke is doing ok?  what do you think she is doing?"  What a cute little brother - worried for his little sister left at home.  He didn't like leaving her when she was crying!  :)

Elisabeth, Alexis, Jakob, Benjamin, Jaelyn, & Emily

Cove Palisades State Park

The annual Byeman Family camping trip was to Cove Palisades State Park in Oregon.  You would never know Billy Chinook Lake was here - - pretty neat rock formations!

Our home for 1.5 weeks!

 

Within in the first 30 minutes of being at the campsite, this is what Brooke looked like!!  I decided to *embrace* the dirt and roll with the mess it created!  Thank goodness for our trailer and a full hook-up site...sometimes Brooke required 2 baths a day!  :)

Life is good!

Yep...her clothes are completely and utterly dirty - but oh the joys of being a kid!  (they are still soaking in oxi clean as I type this!)

Ben's turn at making mud pies!

Boat Rides

There was supposed to be good fishing in this lake (land locked Salmon), however it didn't pan out that way.  So, the fishing boats were used for boat rides!  It was fun to get out on the water!

Ellie, Ben, Elisabeth, Jaelyn, Alyssa, Mya

Sleep Over!

Oma & Opa had a sleepover in their trailer one night.  The kids were pumped and excited to stay up until 10pm (although they made it to 9pm!).  I'm impressed they all stayed asleep....but supposedly Oma woke the kids up with her snoring!  :)

 All cleaned up and ready for the movie/popcorn!

 Brooke couldn't be left out of the photo op - - although she slept in our trailer.  Maybe in a year or two she'll get to partake in the sleepover!

The Beach!

Sometimes Daddy would bike the kids to the beach  -- it was a work out for him (all up hill on the way home!)

Aren't they good lookin' guys?!

Brooke checking out the water - I love her ruffled buns!

Hanging out on the "dock".  It was nice that Jaelyn could touch all the way out to it.

Ben & his floatie.  He loves that thing & his $.99 goggles!

 Emily & Ben playing in the sand together

Cousins doing their thing together