Start of summer...

This is our first official week of summer vacation...

Jeff recently found a new job (yes, here in town) and his last day of his previous job was Friday.

He decided to take a week off between his old job and new job.

We are getting some projects out of the way and spending some quality family time together.

We went yesterday to pick strawberries.

Just look at this gorgeous backdrop.  Spokane really has some beautiful landscapes.

My trio..

They are all about the same size, which makes laundry sorting difficult, especially when it comes to black athletic shorts.   :)

Olivia was the least excited about waking up early and picking strawberries, then she was the one saying we had to stay and pick more.  It's hard for me to believe she will be a senior in the fall.

So, I've posted before about how handy Jeff is.... 

He can seriously do or fix anything.

We have been creating an outdoor oasis for the past few months.

We LOVE our gorgeous/private yard and we enjoy the summer months relaxing and eating outside.

We have an outdoor dining table that seats 6.

We have found it difficult to have room for both our plates and food dishes.

We decided it would be good to have an outdoor buffet table to set food and drinks on.

I found some plans on Pinterest and Jeff went to work...

This is before I stained it...

Here it is stained and in it's spot on the deck.

We used it last night for dinner and it was great! I absolutely love it!

Now Jeff is ready to make an outdoor coffee table for our lower deck.

Freshman!

It's official... this boy is now a high school freshman!

Jack had his 8th grade "stepping up" yesterday.

He picked out the pink bow tie and blue suede shoes.

I love his sense of style... 

he knows what he likes.  :)

I have to admit, this boy has some big changes ahead and I am both nervous and excited. 

Jack and I will be traveling to Los Angeles for the months of August and September. 

Jack will be auditioning for new upcoming TV pilots.

He will be busy working with an acting coach via Skype to prepare.

Thankfully, I have a friend in LA who is willing to let Jack and I stay with her.

This is going to bring some added stress to our family, but this is a once in lifetime opportunity and we feel that if Jack really wants this, then we have to pursue it. 

To be honest, I'm more afraid of him making it, than not.

We are opening doors that could be life changing...

We are going to buckle up and enjoy the ride.  :)

Hollywood!

We took Jack to Seattle last month for a big audition,

There were 100's of kids there.

Jack did great, Jeff and I were really impressed.

For the past 4 weeks we having been waiting (not so patiently) to hear if Jack made it.

Well, we got the call back yesterday!

Tears of joy in our house. It's so fun to see your kid shoot for big dreams. 

This boy is headed to Hollywood!

Details soon.... 

Prom

Last Saturday was Prom.

I had big ideas for taking photos this year again on the school campus, but we were unable to do so.  We ended up taking photos here in the backyard.  

This was Jennifer's (our exchange student) first prom, she loved it, everything from dress shopping, getting ready and the main event. 

Olivia and I waited until the last minute to find a dress...

Prom was less than 2 weeks away and we were at the dress shop.

Olivia had gone into the dressing room with approximately 10 dresses.

I see a girl a few rooms down, wearing a gorgeous pale pink dress.

I asked our attendant if they had another dress like that one for Olivia to try on, she said, no it's the only one.

A few minutes later the attendant brings us the dress and tells us the girl left and did not purchase the dress.

I think "great"  :)  Olivia tries it on and it's amazing.. it's THE dress.

Long story short, Olivia is in the dressing room taking the dress off, when the girl comes back to the shop to purchase the dress.  

The attendant asks us if we are wanting the dress...???

I told her yes, but I wanted to purchase it and walk out the back door.  LOL

We ended up at the counter with the girl and her mother as they are trying to figure out how to order this girl another dress and ringing up ours.  Awkward to say the least... 

I felt awful, but they could have placed a 2 hour hold and they did not.

I guess you can say lessons were learned that day. 

Who knew prom dress shopping could be so crazy?

April 365

Whew... I still going strong on my 365 project.

Here's a look at April...

My new macro lens arrived the 2nd week of April and it's really helped with my creative rut.