Family Reunion

We've been back about 2 days now from the big family reunion.  We drove to Puyallup, WA on Friday and as soon as we got there we were asked by Snoh if it was time "to go to brother's house."  He spent the entire weekend asking what day of the week it was because on Monday we got to go "to brother's house for a long long day."  We spent the weekend with the family and even spent Sunday afternoon at Wild Waves, which was a big hit with the many children we had with us. 

Since pictures always tell the story better than my words, here they are!

Brothers enjoying Horton Hears A Who, the night Snoh was up later than all the adults
(I can't figure out the new image uploader, but this should actually be at the end of the pictures with us all in green shirts)

Lunch time at the kids table

Brothers enjoying the slides

Snoh and his cousin Marcus, who I played a lot of games with

MB + MB

3 very excited kids to be "drinking soda" and plotting their next plan

Cousin Maya, who pretended to be shy to not play with me the whole day.
Eventually she couldn't keep up the act any longer and we were best buds again.

Marcel and Aunt Nichole

Snoh in brothers shoes and on the wrong feet

We got to Wild Waves before the car that had our tickets, so Snoh was "driving" until it was time to go in

First ride of the day, "Octopus" and the smile you get when you tell a 5 year old to "say cheese"

Getting ready for the frog ride

Snoh and mom on the ferris wheel, which MaryBeth discovered makes her stomach turn when a 5 year old starts rocking the chair at the top because he needs to make a bathroom stop

Overall, we had a great vacation and are loving having Snoh with us.  Pictures to come soon, because I won't be able to do a recap post because an one month visit would make for too long of a post.

Pictureless Post

Updates on The Bailey's

• MaryBeth LOVES spending her days with Lilli, who can finally army crawl good enough to get wherever she wants. If you hold her fingers to support her, she's an excellent walker.
• Marcel LOVES working at the Boys & Girls Club in Kuna. It's a lot different than the other 4 summers he has worked at a club, but he's still enjoying spending time with the kids.
• MaryBeth is just about finished with her first official week of training for a half-marathon. The training schedule will have her ready to race on or after September 4th, just in time for her 25th birthday, which is what motivated her to run a half-marathon in the first place
• Marcel is just about finished with his first year of graduate school. He is currently taking 3 classes (2 online only, and 1 on the Thursday night class session) so that they have the month of August off. When they start up again in September it's just 2 months before starting student teaching
• MaryBeth is still spending her free time couponing! She is loving how far she can stretch her small budget by matching sale prices with coupons.
• Marcel is still spending his free time at church. He recently auditioned to play drums and guitar on the worship team. He played drums in the Wednesday night service, which they use as practice before playing on a Sunday service. He'll slowly start playing the guitar, but the more he plays on the worship team, the fewer Sundays he has to run the sound board, which he has been doing great on. What it must be like to be so talented that people fight over where to use you!
• They are both getting very excited for th Bailey Reunion in Puyallup, Washington in July. It's just a weekend trip, but we're staying an extra day to make it down to Oregon to see some old friends. After the reunion, Snoh is coming to spend about 3 weeks with them. They plan to spend a day at the water park (because Snoh tells them everytime they talk that he's finally tall enough for the big rides), swim in Wende Lady's pool, play in the big sandbox, and other fun things to be determined!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was once again very busy for us. We didn't head to Washington until late Wednesday night because Marcel was at worship practice for the weekend services which he led (the services turned out great--he was beyond amazing, I was so proud!). We spent Wednesday night at his dad's and then had breakfast there Thanksgiving morning, before heading up to his mom's house for the traditional Thanksgiving meal. The food was delicious, although I ate too much breakfast (it's my absolute favorite meal of all!) so I didn't eat much that day. Coco sent us home with plenty of leftovers, so I've now had my share! On our way back to Oregon, we stopped at Jill's house, Marcel's good friend and best woman in our wedding, for a short visit turned long, which was wonderful. Home before midnight so I could be up at 4am to work Black Friday @ Banana...

Like always when I get out my camera, Snoh thinks it is the most fascinating thing in the world so he served as our photographer. Most of them are blurry, but I think these ones turned out well...

The 3 of us... and once Marcel got to push the button Snoh had to...see next picture Marcel had to stabilize the camera, but it was Snoh to take the picture

Snoh was directing us... "Brother you have silly face and MaryBeth you have happy face." This was the result.

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Christmas is right around the corner and I'm starting to get into the spirit and really want to decorate our place and a tree, but to be moving in less than 3 weeks makes it a bit impractical, and we won't be in Idaho until 5 days before Christmas, so I'm not sure how much decorating will happen for our first Christmas as husband & wife...

Labor Day 2008

Marcel and I took advantage of the long weekend and headed back up to Olympia. I left work early Friday to try to beat the Portland traffic, which we did! I don't think 3 days is enough to warrant a trip, even going only to Washington but Marcel's dad got married, so we had the perfect excuse for the traveling. The ceremony was beautiful and marked the 4th one I attended this summer (#3 with Marcel)--let's just say I'm learning lots about weddings :) It was also Harbor Day (or weekend, I'm not exactly sure) in Olympia and Snoh (Marcel's little brother) was very excited to go and see the pirate boats. We were even able to tour one of the boats from "Pirates of the Caribbean". It's fun to do activities with little kids; they make it so much fun! Now it's back to my last week of work in my summer job and I have yet to find something else. I'm working on it and have applications turned in like crazy but nothings happened yet. Only time will tell I guess :)

These are just a few of the best pictures. I have 250+ from the weekend because that's what happens when I let Marcel be the photographer :)

Me and Marcel at his dad's wedding.








Enjoying a Labor Day date at Priest Point park. What a beautiful place Olympia is!






Still at the park; isn't he so handsome? I had to include a picture of just Marcel :)








Little brother, big brother with "Say Cheese" Faces








Me and my other family with some pirates on the pirate ship! Snoh was a little distracted with the little boy it looks like. He had a great time.





Snoh with all the pirate accessories







Marcel set Snoh on the trunk to open the door and without missing a beat he decided the roof of my car looked more fun.

4th of July in Olympia

With an extra long weekend I headed up to Olympia to see Marcel. It had been a long time since I'd been up to see him and his family so this visit was long overdue. I'm not a particularly big fan of the 4th of July but it was a great excuse to make the trip! My trip included a long walk around Capitol Lake in Olympia that ended with us at the Capitol Building in a downpour, which was surprisingly beautiful. The weather was still warm so it was nice to get a little wet :) Throughout our walk we were amazed by God's beautiful creation and that we didn't have to travel anywhere exotic to see such beauty. We also headed up north to the local water park, Wild Waves. We weren't there long but we got there when it opened so we did each ride a few times before enjoying a great lunch date at Applebee's. I also enjoyed 2 church services at the church Marcel is completing a summer internship at. I've been there before but whenever I get the chance to see Marcel involved in worship, I realize how lucky I am to have found such a servant of God to love and to be loved by!

Out on a dock we found while on our beautiful walk. Obviously this was before the downpour when the weather was nice and sunny!

Another picture from our walk. I made us stop here to have a pretty background.

After a day at Wild Waves, looking just gorgeous! We didn't care because we had a blast and were finally together again ;)

Marcel insisted on making the ducks fly away

A beautiful group of lily pads out on a beautiful lake

The view of the Capitol Building at the beginning of our walk