It's Great to Be Eight!

The real reason that everyone decided to visit us this weekend? Adelaide turned 8 and decided to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! We are so proud of her decision and the choices she's making.

Her dad baptized her and confirmed her a member of the church. Addie put the program together herself and was able to involve most of the family that came to see her. It was such a wonderful day and everything went really well. Even though the water was very hot, and we forgot to bring towels and change of underwear (oops!).

I love this picture so much. I love that all of these cousins are so close in age and that this summer they are all very close in size as well. They've had a lot of fun and hopefully the closeness will continue throughout the years.

Both of these pictures were taken outside the church before the baptism. Jason is not present because he was changing, I was taking the picture and Dexter refused to be in the picture (and the one above with the cousins).

And we did manage to get a picture of the whole group while everyone was here (moments afterward, my dad had to fly off on his next mandatory adventure). And since we got a good one the first time, we had to get a goofy one too. Some were more into the goof part than others.

MACKINAC

Please excuse the following picture overload, but this day was so full of stories which were captured in pictures.

The first story was probably the kids' favorite: The Ferry

The girl of the day, or month.

We basically took over the ferry on this side...

and that.

We even kind of made up our own seats at the front.

The next story is that of Attitude:

I loved this story in pictures. It was a short one, but I absolutely loved how much Addie wanted to go and explore the beautiful grounds of the Grand Hotel.

If it had been just the girls, we probably would have paid the extra money to go inside the hotel and onto the grounds. But none of the boys were interested at all.

Story Number 4 - Walking

Grandpa and Eliana. Nuff said.

All of these pictures may seem the same, but look at the faces! Addie's posing, the obvious joke between Grandpa and Taylor, Andres' bored out of his mind stance...

The Last Story is that of Posing:

Adelaide is 8!

Adelaide's birthday way the first day of a super fun weekend with some of our favorite people. Both Grandparents were able to come, the Whitakers drove from North Carolina, and Allen and Taylor were both able to come as well. We all drove up north to a cabin in the middle of the woods and that is where we celebrated Addie's birthday.

Uncle Allen is definitely a favorite, especially with his nephews.

It was fun trying to make an Addie-worthy cake with the equipment that we found at the cabin. I also forgot the cake toppers that I had bought weeks before...ugh. But she approved.

She got lots of fun presents and she was surrounded by her cousins and family - pretty good day!
Here's a bit about Addie at 8:
She loves My Little Pony.
She loves all things nature, especially Wolves, Bats and Deer and anything published by National Geographic.
She loves reading and writing stories.
She loves to put outfits together, and generally make everything look nice.
She loves music and dancing, particularly to Taylor Swift.
Happy, happy birthday Adelaide! We love you bunches!

Mowing the Lawn

One thing we have loved about living in Michigan is all the green and especially having a yard with grass. It might not be Jason's favorite thing, with all the work it takes. But this Saturday he had a very willing helper. My favorite part was that Dexter, who always chooses his own attire, chose longer Batman socks with his tennis shoes and shorts. Just like his Dad.

Soccer

This spring Adelaide and Andres have been participating in a neighborhood soccer league. It was a lot of fun and the best parts were that it was very convenient and cheap. All of the age groups met in one big field that had been separated into smaller fields and everyone practiced for half an hour and then played against each other for half an hour. So we would set up chairs in the middle and turn from one field to another. One hour a week and we got it all out of the way!

Andres likes to look cool on the field.

Dad and Eliana know how to hang out on the soccer field. That's a giant umbrella that Jason is holding.

Addie was a little timid at the beginning of the season, but ended up getting into pretty good towards the end. She did us all a favor and usually wore the pink head band so that we could spot her quickly.

I love this picture. I mean, he's totally into the game!