Hiking Mt. Rainier

Mike and Chad do an annual hiking trip to Mt. Rainier. This year the two of them set out on a hike they'd never done before. 36 miles in 3 days. Sounds awful to me.



They, however, insist that they enjoy it.



These are some of the photos Mike took this year- I left out the ones that are PG-13. What is it with guys in the wilderness! (uh-oh, that doesn't quiet sound right, but you know what I mean!)



I love the fact that these two guys enjoy each other so much and make this yearly trek together. It's amazing to me that my husband and brother-in-law are best friends, and that my brother-in-law is one of the greatest people on the planet. I am a lucky girl to love the guy my sister married.



I sometimes get dissatisfied with my life, grumpy about where I live, selfish about being on a budget, self-obsessed with my wants and downright greedy about just wanting more.



Then I remember my great fortune of living 5 blocks from my sweet sister and Chad, their lovely 5 kids, and all the chances our kids get to grow up together, just being kids. Not many folks get that kind of goodness in life.

Toothless Wonder!

Chloe lost her two front teeth! I have to admit this is one my favorite times of my kids lives so far, when they have both their two front teeth gone. I love the quintessential "chilhood-ness" of it.

Do you remember loosing your two front teeth? I can't recall anything about losing my teeth except the feel of the empty place where the tooth used to be. Yucky!

The tooth fairy is a regular visitor at our house. Sadly, we've been assigned a somewhat air-headed tooth fairy: She often forgets to come the first day a tooth is placed under the pillow. Lucky for us, however, she makes up for it by being generous with the pocket change.