This Momma's Day...

What a treat to get Joshua home from college the day before Mother's Day! It was so nice to have all my children together to worship at church, then spend a quality day together.  First came a wonderful lunch at one of my all time favorite bakeries, Calico Cupboard.

Aren't these gifts the girls painted adorable?  I am so impressed my husband organized this gift AND everyone kept it secret!

Lunch was followed by our annual tradition of a Mother's Day hike. Fortunately for us, the weather was in full cooperation. Mike chose a new destination for us, the Anacortes Community Forest Lands.  There seemed to be a maze of endless trails, connecting ponds created by beaver dams.  Most of the hike was shadowed by the forest, so the photos do not do justice to the beautiful backdrop.

Bridge to nowhere...

One of several large ponds full of lily pads.

One highlight was this old copper mine on one of the hillsides. I won't reveal which ones of us braved the pitch dark 50-ft. cave, but three of the six of us ventured in! Let's just say it was wet above and below us (okay, I have to admit, I was one of the three).

This ole' mom outlasted the kids, as here is what they looked like on the drive home...

And a shout out to our Moms, not only on Mother's Day, but every day! THANKS to them, I think we turned out alright;)

Oops, Missed This...

I downloaded some photos from my camera the other day, and realized I forgot to post these photos after Easter. Oops! So here they are...

Missed Josh when we decorated the eggs, as it was something he always loved to do! He would've loved the eggs his sisters created this year!

I feel like the above picture should be in one of those I Spy books... Do you see a Golden Egg? Fireworks? Mr. Bill? Jesus?

Even 22 year olds get happy about a $1 bill in their Easter card!

 The rain held off and the day turned out to be quite nice,  so outdoor egg hunting was a go.

This last photo was the lone egg to be found. It took the girls so long to find it, because it blended in with Kellen's car so well. We were cracking up as we gave the "hotter, colder" clues, only to have them walk by the yellow egg multiple times.

Like the new egg baskets?  I bought a "Yoda" one for Josh. I filled it and left it in a bag when I visited for Mom's weekend, so he had a little piece of home for Easter.

Hunk of Burning Love...

No, not the Elvis Presley song! I mean my hunk of burning love who has been working hard around the house these past few weeks!  Remember when I mentioned the remodeling he was doing over spring break?

They started by replacing all the molding around our atrium windows...

As they moved into the living room to replace the baseboard molding, it led to my suggestion of doing something with this ugly beast...

In the 20+ years we have lived in this house, we have never had a fire in this fireplace! We use to have a free standing stove in our family room that we had fires in, but never in this homely thing. It was time for a change.  I was thinking of mantle, Mike was thinking fire place insert. So we compromised with this...

Short of tearing out all the stone, I think this was a simple yet much improved change. Thanks to my hunk of burning love for his hard work!  Of course, now it's an excuse to do some new decorating for the mantle. So far it is adorned by the Crebbin Family established 1988 sign my parents gave us for our 25th, but I am currently evaluating what to do. The large antique watercolor we had hanging above no longer fits. I am thinking possibly a mirror, then a variety of items for the mantle. Any suggestions???