How to make your mom cry

In a good way that is. I showed this to my mom and she laughed till she cried. Then I showed it to my dad and she cried again. She must have liked it . :) Hopefully I'm able to remember Scripture verses better than Barney memorizes the preamble!



Barney is just great isn't he?

Photoshoot

I did a photoshoot for some friends with 4 beautiful daughters. I had a wonderful time, though I was absolutely freezing. You can't tell (I hope) but it was really cold that afternoon.

This patch of sunlight was perfectly enchanting.

A highly edited photo :)

Hannah (thank you wind:p)

And sweet Julia

Evangeline's Bridal Shower

Earlier this month ago we hosted a bridal shower for our dear friend Evangeline.  We framed the invitation on the front door encircled by a pink blossom wreath to greet guests as they arrived.

The wedding invitation.

Party favors for everyone which we had fun assembling, complete with a little pearl.

Red velvet cupcakes. We made sure Evangeline got the one with the R on top.

There's just something about sunlight on rose petals.  Exquisite.

The bride-to-be listening to some words of exhortation.

friends

Mrs. B gave a quick little devotion about the rooms in a house and what they signify in a Christian family.

She was very excited about her apron with her new name on it which we gave her. :)

Reading many sweet notes from friends

Evangeline and my mom

More friends (a lot of them too)

Evangeline's sweet mother

Beach Triathlon

Two weeks ago Carter and my dad did a triathlon. They swam almost a mile, biked 12 miles, and then ran 3.1 miles. Both did well!

Afterwards

Carter's number on his bike

The transition from bike to run

Lots of bikes

There were 1300 participants, that means a lot of bikes!

The bike route passed right by our neighborhood, where this picture of Carter riding by was taken

Dad

Because of traffic our usual less than ten minute drive to the beach took an hour. So unfortunately we missed Carter and Dad crossing the finish line. But did watch our pastor cross it!

And here he is afterwards. lol

Carter won 2nd prize in his age group! His time was 1:28.  Way to go Carter!

That night we had an amazing meal cooked by our friends. We had a roast leg of lamb stuffed with herbs, garlic, and goat cheese; roast potatoes, asparagus, and roast tomatoes with onions. We ate really well!


Then for dessert we had two waffle cookies with chocolate and whipped cream between them, topped with more whipped cream, raspberries, and an amazing raspberry sauce. It was reeeeally good.  And pretty too.

Lake Naivasha

The last weekend in Africa we took a day trip to a "country club" called Lake Naivasha. We had a wonderful lunch under acacia trees and then took a boat ride over to an island to do a walking safari.

Some gorgeous yellow flowers

One of many family portraits (if you're on our Christmas card list, you'll probably see this one again).

Charlotte tramping about in Africa in her bloomers

Dad and a quick lesson in anatomy from some giraffe bones

Mom and Emily by the baby giraffes, they were so cute. This picture gives you a good idea of how close we got to them

Before going on the boat we had a lovely lunch on the country club lawn. It was so green and so "african" to have big old acacia trees over you. One of my favorite parts.

Fig Tree Camp

More Africa shots, hope you're not tired of it yet. :)

The entrance to the game park, Masai Maara. Outside the gate here are Masai women trying to sell  their wares (cloth, beads, jewelry)

Family picture in the tree. This was right in the middle of the camp overlooking everything and had a great view of the surrounding game park

We had amazing meals while we were there. Every meal we had a huge buffet with delicious food. It was fairly western food to us with an African twist. For instance, they served a pineapple streudel/crisp; doesn't sound appetizing to me but it sure tasted good!

This was taken from our tent. What nice hotel can you go to in the states and see cattle (of the Massai) grazing outside your door? :)

In the morning outside our tent there were about 30 baboons hanging out eating fruit from the trees and playing around. They were so much fun to watch. There were two very young ones too that were super cute

These are the insides of the tents we stayed in. While they were actual canvas tents they were under a wood shelter, had comfortable beds, electricity, and a bathroom attached. Just my type of camping! But they didn't have alarm clocks, so your "alarm" was a man outside the tent telling you to wake up. lol

While we were there they had the first rain since June, and afterwards there was a lot of mud. Made for some exciting spins though!

This is the van we traveled in for our game park ventures, my parents were not convinced it was very safe, which it probably wasn't...but it held up through rocky rivers and hills!

This is our wonderful driver, Benson, who stayed with us the whole time and kept us safe.  His driving abilities should win him awards.  We couldn't believe what he could get this vehicle through!