June 12, 2011: June Birthday Mahem

June is a CRAZY busy month in our family for birthdays and, with three of them being Miyazaki birthdays, Laura hosted the June birthdays at their place in Richmond for the second year in a row.



Jasper got some sweet presents for his 2nd birthday, including an awesome Lightning McQueen fold out bed/chair and a 'Bee' Backpack - both of which he's enjoying in these pics.



Ben's pretty into 'Cars' as well so he had to take his turn too.



A few family pics of the Miyazaki's :)



Laura had the little pool out for the boys and, of course, I forgot Ben's swimming stuff, so he took on a fair amount of water in his diaper :)



Jasper sporting his new backpack. Ben has an Owl one just like it so we had to get a pic of the two of them together with their backpacks after.





The Powells and my handsome nephews :) Jaydon has just a bit of his Uncle Josh in him, I would say and thankfully his father hasn't poisoned him against my camera yet as that's as close as I could get to a normal 'John' smile in the middle picture.

Aunty Laura and Jacob :)



Shelby loves to hold Jacob, as do all of the older cousins and they're all so good with him. Gotta love built in babysitting at family events ;)



Jacob getting a little 'Nana' Time!



After supper and presents we herded all the kids out to the greenbelt behind their house for some football and the moments that followed were hilarious! Ben was so riled up, the way he gets after he hasn't had a nap all day and has been going, going,going, and was running around like a crazy person tackling Jon every chance he got. It was so cute!



I love these ones of Jaydon and Eathan. They've grown up so much and, it's so hard to believe that they're the same little babies I held when they were just days old. Crazy how time flies!



Our little football boys! I am so thankful that John and Tina decided to have a third little one mostly because then Ben has some cousins near his age and Declan is just a year older. I miss Josh so much and am often aware of the fact that Ben will never have any 'true' first cousins on my side but am thankful for Jaydon,Eathan,Declan, Shelby & Jasper. They all love him so much and are so good with him!

On another note, isn't the pic of Declan blocking Ben absolutely adorable? They're so serious that it makes it all the more cute, I think!



Having fun - and check out my cousin's 'normal' smile! Haha, John - I caught it on camera :)

Could it be? Another normal smile from John Powell? Take that cuz! I will just try to take pictures when you're not looking from now on :)



The football crew :)

Thanks Miyazaki's for an awesome birthday BBQ. We will miss you guys so much hope that Colorado knows what an awesome family they're inheriting.

June 11, 2011: Happy 30th to a Great Friend!

If you know Sandy Colero then it doesn't surprise you at all to know that, for his 30th birthday, he wanted us all to learn how to play Cricket. Sandy has an amazingly fun outlook on life and I love how much he loves to 'play' no matter how old he gets. It truly is a blessing to be around him and we had a great time in the beautiful sunshine with he and Brita and a number of other people who have had the pleasure of realizing how awesome he is. Here are some of my faves and you'll have to pardon the large number of action shots but there were too many to choose from!



Some of the kids/mamas/honorary aunties from the 'kids corner' section of the grass.



Ben wasn't really able to play cricket but, at one point, he did help run the ball out to Brentie. He was having fun doing it until people started clapping for him and then he suddenly got shy. Such a funny little man! I also love how Jon just laughs it off. Ben should be pretty good at laughing at himself after growing up in our home ;)



Some more of the younger generation playing on the sidelines.



My handsome hubby. It's been such a long time since I have watched him play something except the occasional tennis match between he and I and I miss it. I loved watching him play football and looking at these photos gives me a similar sense of pride. I love the big, strong, man that I married :)



My little strong man learning to play cricket!



A few more of the kids



Great friends



So, how could I not get a pic of the VT's in their co-ordinating Addidas track suits?  It was obviously a must!



The lovely Coleros. 30 Looks good on both of them :)



After Cricket, we all headed back to Chris and Larry's for a fantastic spread of food and fellowship. They had these two boats in their backyard and Sofia and Ben were thoroughly amused. It was an added bonus that they matched the boats they sat in ;)







The Streubel's



While Brenty gave a birthday toast to Sandy, he dawned the diaper and Ben brought out the birthday hat. Considering he's slightly more clothed here than he was at his stag, I'd say he's grown older and wiser while retaining an awesome hint of child-like wonder and fun.



Jon and the kidlets.

One last shot of me and the birthday boy.



Sandy, you are a treasured friend and, when I first met you and your crazy hair back at Delta Secondary School, I had no idea that our paths would cross again in University and that you would become part of our 'SFU family' that we hold so dear and thank God for daily. You and Brita are an absolute delight to be around and we wish you all the best in your 30th year as you grow in your roles as father, husband, friend, son & brother. Just know that you have blessed us greatly in your role as friend. Happy 30th!

June 10, 2011: Hanging out with the Tops

I have known Rachel since our missions trip with Campus Crusade to Japan in 2001 and I have been blessed by her friendship ever since. Sometimes we go awhile without seeing each other but we seem to always pick up where we left off.

Since 2001, we've both got married and now have two kids each. Crazy! Her second, Samuel, was still a newborn at this point so we got together for some supper and Ben and Addison had some fun playing together too.



Rachel's beautiful little girl!



Our little future football player :)



Can't believe what a crew we have now between the two of us!

Rachel, thanks for having us over and making us dinner while just having a newborn. You're amazing and I always love hanging out. Once we get these new little babes of ours depending on some food other than the kind we provide let's have a girls night. I would love that :)

June 5, 2011: Matt & Megan

Jon, Ben, Jacob and I headed out this past Sunday to our old church in Coquitlam, Blue Mountain, to hang out with our second church family and spend some QT with Matt & Megan! As much as we love Jericho Ridge, we really grew connected to the people at Blue Mountain and love going back to visit. They are such amazingly welcoming and down to earth people and our hearts are still very much with the youth there that we used to work with and went to New Orleans with. Matt & Megan went on that trip with us and, along with so many of the other awesome youth (who are now young adults) at Blue Mountain, we consider them great friends.

The day started out fairly well, except for the fact that we were late as usual, when I dropped Ben off at the Sunday school, fully thinking that he wouldn't stay without me, and he did! Megan's mom and Cheryl Waine were teaching the class and they got Ben involved with some cool crafts/puzzles so that I could escape and it was a success!

Being that it was Grad Sunday we were treated to a yummy hot dog lunch after church and then we headed over to Blue Mountain Park with Matt & Megan for some playground time with Ben and just general relaxing in the shade with Jacob!



Ever since Ben was little he's had a special connection with Matt so we often joke that Matt needs to stay away from Jacob so Matt can have Ben and Jacob can be Megan's!



Matt & Ben goofing around...typical :)



More of Matt & Ben.....4th cousins, I think ;)

Loaning Ben out to fun 'Aunty Megan and Uncle Matt!' for a quick pic :)



I couldn't resist :)

It seems that the best way to get Ben to want to be in a photo is to say I"m going to take a picture of Jacob and then he's all over it..... I also love how Jacob could just sleep in the middle of the craziness. Seriously a blessing of a baby :)

Me & my boys - thanks Megan for taking these pics!



A few family shots while we had someone else to take the photos. Jon is literally pinning Ben upright so that he doesn't flop over. Later on Jon grabbed one of the little buttercups and taught Ben the 'momma had a baby and its' head popped off' rhyme and the laughs he got were over the top - if only we'd known that during these photos I think we could have had some huge smiles but we'll settle for half looking at the camera :)

Me and my Megan :) Love you so much Megan! You're an amazingly beautiful woman inside and out and I have been privileged to know you over the years and spend time with you. You have such a wonderful heart for God and I can't wait to see what your future holds as we continue to spend time together and share great days like this one!



A few of Ben and Jon goofing off!



I'm not going to lie but I kind of like the first shot because it shows off Jon's muscles a bit - I think it's ok to say that about my husband ;)



Our skinny little Ben is constantly pulling up his pants but, at least now he can do it on his own!



Thanks so much, Matt & Megan, for sharing this day with us. Thank you for being such great people and such great friends and for loving our boys. We appreciate you more than you can know and are blessed by your friendship! Here's to more awesome days together.