Fireworks and Young's

The whole gang at the fireworks, minutes before the HUGE thunderstorm. They started the fireworks early so they could get them done on time. (Christian was there too, but he took this picture for us)

Even Seth liked the fireworks.

Elli liked this baby cow. She was licking Elli's leg:)

Look at this goat's tongue. He was rerady to lick the food right out of her hands.

Seth was very curious about the goats. Elli was showing him how to pet and feed them. She gets so excited when we get to go to Young's.

Ground Breaking

Our church is going to build onto our existing building. We had a ground breaking ceremony on Sunday right in the parking lot where the new building will be. So excited to see what God is going to do over these next months.

Playing

Elli loves to play with her babies still. I found these bunk beds at Once Upon a Child and couldn't pass them up. She loves to put her babies to bed and cover them up in these adorable beds. Elli's new found most fun game. She LOVES to hold Fergi. She pretends Fergi is her daughter. She also pretends that lighthouse is her daughter too:)

Father's Day June 20, 2010

Elli loves to have her feet massaged and dad doesn't mind doing it. He might have tickled those feet a little too:)

Elli likes to get these glasses out and play with them when we go to my parent's house. She wanted Brent to put them on too:)

Showing off in "Gonga's" glasses. Crazy girl.

Family picture. Elli loves it when we use the timer. After this picture she ran over to stand behind the camera to make us smile for more pictures. She even got one with Fergi and told her to smile.

Elli and I made a flower garden with her hand and foot prints. She was very proud of it and had a lot of fun doing it.

We got Brent a golf glove, and ABC's of golf book, and some golf balls. The surprise gift was that Elli and I went to have our pictures made, just the two of us. He liked the pictures and we cannot wait to hang them up. It was a good Father's Day.

Elli's First Ballet Recital, June 19, 2010

Elli is on the left hand turn. She was very serious during her performance and sang the whole song:)

After her dance, we stayed at the rehearsal to watchmany other dances. Elli was very intent on watching. Leah, mom and Grandma all came to the rehearsal.

Elli was in class with her friend Lily. They loved being able to do this together. As you can see, we got some cute pictures of them.

Heather and Gary hurried home from the lake in order to be there for the first peformance of the recital. It lasted 2 min and 30 seconds, but was the sweetest 2 mintues. They got Elli some ballet slipper socks that she wore to bed that night:) (Elli calls it her recycle.)

Our picture with the cutest ballerina we know. We are very proud of her for working hard, performing well, and making new friends. We love you, Ellianna.

High Seas VBS, June 13-17

The kids were very serious about dancing:)

Elli doing the motions. She likes to pretend she is a "cabin girl."

Daddy giving Elli some water before the game time.

Elli's little crew. They won the crew of the night on Tuesday. She was so proud! Her friend Emily's crew won the first night and Emily's cousin's crew won on Wed night. We have some very obedient kids:)

Brent and I ran preschool games for VBS again this year. It was a fun week, but of course, very tiring. Elli loved it as always. She looked forward to it for many weeks and had all the songs memorized the first day I had the CD! I love that the kids can come to have fun and learn so many wonderful stories. Elli plays VBS every day where she teaches me one of the stories, usually about Peter and John, then gives me a chance to be the teacher or game leader again. So fun.

Random Fun Times

Dressing up her daughter. (aka snowman)

Poor Fergi. She has recently decided that Elli can hold her, but often reluctantly. Here she is trying to get me to rescue her from shopping with Elli:)

Please rub my belly, I have had a rough day.

The last post of vacation pictures

One last run on the beach. We walked on the beach one night with flash lights looking for crabs, but this last night we just walked for fun at sun set. Elli was racing Brent. Such a cute picture.

Good night Fort Walton Beach.

One thirsty girl. She wouldn't drink from her cup but Leah's water bottle was so fun to drink from:) Her hat was fun to wear too.

Finally a beach picture. We went almost all week and almost forgot to get one of our family on the beach. We really love the water! This is my idea for all vacations.

Our name and footprints in the sand has become a tradition. Look how much bigger Elli's feet are! Just a reminder that she is growing. What a great week!

Still on vacation pictures:)

We went to the Track which is a recreation spot for kids, and adults:) We rode go-carts as you can see. Elli was so cute pretending to drive and laughing as we passed each other. She also picked three other rides. A Carousel, spinning seats, and the train. She was so serious the whole time. No smiles while riding those rides:)

We wanted pictures on the dunes. Pretty couple.

Sun was in our eyes, but not too bad.

Elli pretending to be liike uncle Matt.

That crazy uncle Matt!

More vacation fun

Matt asked Elli if she wanted him to lift her over all the waves. That ended up being the secret to getting her in the ocean:)

Matt and Brent took a kayak out one day. I went out a little too. It was pretty rough that day which made the kayak fun. They did tip over right at the beach with a big wave. Hehehe.

My feet were buried and Elli thought it was fun that she looked so tall next to me:)

Working on a sand castle.

A favorite snack at the pool was watermelon. Here Elli is helping her Aunt Leah eat it.

Fort Walton Beach June 4-11, 2010

Beach Diva.

We held these birds for a pictures and the white one kept squawking(sp?) in my ear. Elli however was having no part in the holding of these guys.

Walking on the beach. Elli wasn't so fond of the beach this year. She really wanted to be in the pool all the time, but we did get to walk everyday. She played in the sand a couple of times too, but not much. The water was covered in june grass though which is like very clingy algae, so we didn't get much swimming time in the ocean.

This was what most of our day was like. By the end of the week, Elli as swimming by herself from one end of the pool to the other. She also started swimming the breast stroke, jumping in on her own, and treading water, briefly. Amazing. She loves to swim!

Look at that adorable face! Love her goggles. She wouldn't let me fix them around her ears, so you can see how they are bent down:)

Second Day of Strawberry Picking

We were happy it worked to go with Aunt Heather. We already made jelly but neither of us had any strawberries left for eating and freezing. So we went again. This time the berries were much bigger and more planitful. So strange that in two days, there was that much difference.

We met up with some friends from church there. This is Elli's friend Annika. It was nice that they had each other, it kept them busy so we could pick more:)

Heather and Elli. She got herself dressed for the occasion. (Well I assume both did, but Elli was the one I was referring to.) She thought this dress was perfect for getting strawberries.

Elli's first taste of strawberry shortcake. She kept making sounds like, "Ummm, Oooo." Then she said, "This is so good." I looked over and all she had eaten was the cool whip! I thought all of it was delicious, but Elli really enjoyed eating the cool whip.

1st Round of Strawberry picking

"Which one should I eat I mean pick?"

The girls eating their pickins.

All three looking for bright red strawberries.

Serious about her job of finding great strawberries.

We knew we wouldn't have much time to pick strawberries and make jelly this year because of our trip to the lake and Florida. So we met up with Sherry, Caleb, and Madilynn for some picking. Elli ate her share and I hope we have enough for jelly:)