summer has begun!

summer is the BEST.

and this week has definitely been summery.

we spent wednesday, thursday, friday, aaand saturday playing at a lake.

sometimes it was just me and the boys, sometimes we went with cousins, once we preluded our lake trip with a backyard pool party, once we followed it up with a hotdog roast, and *every time* it was awesome!

matt has been gone on a business trip to chicago since wednesday morning, so it couldn't have been more perfect timing for a gorgeous week to bless us with its' presence.

the hot weather was the perfect distraction for me - the boys were happy all day and totally pooped, come bedtime.

friday was holden's official 3rd birthday.

i debated whether or not i should even tell him (since he had already gotten all the fuss/gifts/cake/etc. at his party last weekend) but i went ahead and told him because *I* wanted to.

we spent 6 solid hours playing at sikome lake that day and grabbed a happy meal on the way home.

he was one very happy birthday boy.

oh my word, being a mom is so much fun (and easy) in the summer.

anyone who disagrees is a nut!

holden's 3rd party.

{sidenote: i am laying on the couch with my laptop on my belly as i write this post, and our baby is kicking so much he is making the screen wobble around!

sometimes (actually, most of the time) i have a hard time believing we are really going to have another little person in our family.

but right now, when he is doing karate moves on my laptop, it's hard to deny.

16 weeks to go.}

holden has been asking when his birthday party would be since chet has his back in march.

and he has known he has wanted a penguin-themed party since then, too.

to say he has been excited for his birthday this year is an understatement!

his real birthday is tomorrow. june 26.

my mom just sent me a text that said: "3 years ago tonight... i know what you were doing!"

to which i responded: "panicking!"

oh my goodness, we were so not ready for holden to arrive.

but life has been undeniably sweeter since the second he did.

he is such a sweet, handsome, happy boy.

and we LOVE him.

matt is away in chicago this weekend {sidenote #2: i miss him} so we decided to do holden's party last weekend.

we invited all his cousins to the lake for the shindig.

we kept it simple.

i found these super cute penguin beachballs online and ordered them a couple weeks back.

those beachballs were our decorations, our activities, and our treat bags!

(for that, i give myself a pat on the back.)

plus, we combined father's day with holden's birthday, so that meant everyone pitched in with the meal.

(double pat on the back.)

perhaps i should plan all our birthday parties around other important celebrations?

anyways..

we had a father's day lunch, then hopped straight to opening birthday presents (because holden couldn't wait one more second to do that!), sang happy birthday, dug into holden's donut birthday cake, raced the beachballs down the waterfall, and then down the hill a few times, and then the kids and dads went for a dip in the lake.

it was a perfect little party for our favorite 3 year old on the planet.

holden felt so special and slept like a log that night.

could this possibly be the cutest birthday boy ever?

it was pretty windy during cake time, so i'm pretty sure the candles were never actually lit. but holden still tried to blow them out!

at the start of the waterfall race:

almost at the end:

and racing down the hill:

happy birthday holden!

aka. ho-bear, ho-man, ho-ee, ho-en, ho-bag, ho-bo.

waterton.

this is waterton.

we ventured down to that adorable town of waterton this weekend.

it is seriously the cutest mountain town i know.

i have been wanting to go back there for years, but it has just never worked out.

luckily, this weekend, it did!

matt's sister, rebecca, was camping 1 night in the waterton townsite and invited us to join.

so we decided, 'what the heck! let's go!'

we booked the campsite right next to theirs, borrowed all sorts of camp gear (because we own none), and headed out first thing saturday morning for a 1 night stay in waterton.

considering we were only there for about 40 hours, we did a ton of fun things!

what we did in waterton:

- played by the lake

- rented a surrey bike

- hiked bear's hump

- ate hotdogs from 'weiners of waterton'

- checked out main street

- sat around the fire and visited

- had our own makeshift church by the lake

- hiked up to bertha falls

- had a picnic by the lake

- and we even saw 2 bears!

matt's other sister, sara, her family, and his parents, were staying not too far from waterton so they met up with us during the days too.

we loved spending the weekend in waterton, even though we woke up to freezing cold temperatures and rain on sunday morning!

(and even though i am so not a camper.)

i would love to some more time down there this summer.

our favorite parts of the trip are:

chet: all of it! it was so fun.

holden: sleeping in a tent.

pam: our hikes. especially the view from the top of bear's hump.

matt: just being in the mountains.

what exactly is going on here?!

waterton is known for having lots of wild animals roaming about.

so we told our boys that we would probably see some cool animals while we were there.. maybe even a bear.

they were very excited at the thought of seeing a bear, and were always on the lookout for one.

but it wasn't until we were heading out of town that we finally spotted a bear. actually, 2 bears!

it couldn't have been a better way to end their weekend.

lake days.

considering we don't even live in a lake neighborhood, we have been spending a whole lot of days at lakes lately.

it sure is nice having friends and family to get us in!

i look forward to mooching our way into a lot of lakes this summer!

chet and holden love playing at the lakes.

and i love watching them.

they get to be total boys - digging in the sand, exploring in the trees, playing in the water.

and they can do that for hours. and HOURS!

and to make it even better, i get to sit in the sun while they do :)

and this is just a cute picture of mr. holden (not at a lake).

full time.

last week i worked FULL time.
what?!
lots of people do it, but not me.
i am spoiled with a 2 day work week.
and i love working part time.

last week, when i worked full time, it was such a good reminder of how lucky i am!
i feel so blessed to have the option to stay home with our boys as much as i want.
i don't need to work... but i do get to!
i am grateful to have a job that i love going to, a husband that supports me in going, and a family member who is willing to watch our boys when i do.
on days that i work, matt drops the boys off at his sister's house so that their schedule isn't destroyed with a super early morning.
we feel blessed that his job is flexible enough that he can do that.
and i feel blessed to be married to such a nice boy.

i missed my boys when i was away from them every day last week.
and they even admitted that they missed me too!
even if they drive me nuts sometimes, i sure love being with them.