Last Weekend

Last weekend was great! Friday night the girls and I walked to drop off a birthday invitation to one of Charlotte's friends, which happened to be the same house where Milo stayed last November with two other Golden Retrievers, Charly and Leia. Milo had no problems warming up to them again. I don't know if he remembered them or if it's just the nature of all 3 of them being Golden Retrievers. They had so much fun running around and playing in the backyard. The girls also played with their friend, Emery. She's actually two years older than Charlotte but they don't mind that. 

He's finally their size.

After letting them play for a while we had to say goodbye to go deliver another invitation. We walked back to our house first and got in the van since it was a little farther away. We drove over to the McShane's where Charlotte gave Ashlee her invite and then we visited out front. We were able to get Milo to jump into the back of their truck. He had to get a running start to be able to do it at first but by the end of the night he could just jump right up. Milo kept jumping in and out of the truck as the girls would too. While visiting with ShaRae, we made plans to get together again the next day so we could take the girls to the park to skate. They have an outdoor cement skating rink that they use for hockey also. 

The McShane's had a funeral to attend Saturday morning and the girls, and I drove out to Richland to watch a musical choir that a bunch of kids from our ward are a part of. We didn't even realize Charlotte's friend Jane was in it until we got there. Jack's friend Cam was in it too and Jack would have come to watch him, but he went to Lewiston with Curtis to visit with Stillman's family and so Curtis could help Stillman with electrical groundwork on their new shop. Originally, Curtis and Jack were going to go on a campout with the young men, but that got cancelled. So, this was a good alternative activity. Garrett stayed home with us girls. 

Anyway, the singing group is called The Tri-City Choral Fusion and they have different age groups that perform. The younger groups just sang a few songs. The teenagers did most of the singing and dancing.

It was at an old movie theater that has been converted to a performing arts theater.

The middle school aged kids.

The middle school and younger groups singing together.

The teenager group. 

After we got back from the show, I called ShaRae and they invited us to have pizza for dinner with them also. Garrett, the girls, Milo and I all drove over there. (They said it was okay to bring Milo.) Curtis and Jack joined us a little later after they got back in town and cleaned themselves up (and rested a bit). When Brother McShane went to pick up the pizzas, the girls (us moms too) and Milo all walked to the park (which is basically in the McShane's backyard, right over the fence). The girls skated for a little bit. I would have let Milo in with them but there were a few other kids in there also. Then the girls played on the playground for a bit. We walked back and ate dinner. Curtis and Jack showed up a bit later. After eating a visiting for a while, Curtis drove Jack over to the stake dance in Pasco. When he came back, the 4 adults played Rumikub while their boys and Garrett played videogames. The girls were in and out of the house going from the playset to the trampoline to playing with playdoh and playing in their room. We played a few rounds of Rumikub. The first one took a long time because Jason (Brother McShane) couldn't play any tiles to just get the 30 points he needed to start, until the very last round, after we had drawn every single tile that was available. He could finally go and then he went out and won the round! It was crazy!

I love that they have this outdoor skating rink and that it's so close to us!

I think the McShane's are quickly becoming some of our favorite friends over here. Their girls are friends with our girls. Their oldest son Dallin is friends with both Garrett and Jack. They have two other sons as well, but they don't really hang out with our boys. And we get along great with Jason and ShaRae. Their girls are just like our girls. Ashlee, who is a year older than Charlotte, is a lot like Charlotte in that she doesn't really like pink and she likes to wear t-shirts. She's not a girlie girl. Then the two younger girls, Alice and Laila, are a lot alike and that they are girlie girls and like pink. Laila is a year younger than Alice. I swear, I think our families were meant to be friends!

Garrett having a great time playing games with Dallin. He needed this because he was starting to feel depressed again.

Milo chilling out on the back deck.

Milo loves to pick up two toys at a time. He's so cute.

We stayed until 10:00pm and when we got home and checked the mail, a birthday card had come for Charlotte from Grandma Vernie and Grandpa Tony. 

The next day we also fed the missionaries. We have been feeding the missionaries more than we ever have the past couple of years because our boys are getting close to that age. Garrett told me a couple of days ago that he's still planning on going on a mission. That makes me happy. 

On Tuesday Curtis went out of town to Kent for a business trip with Stillman. That day I was also putting some food in our Crockpot to cook for dinner when it fried and tripped our breaker. I'm so thankful it didn't start a fire! I didn't even realize anything had happened until I noticed the fridge wasn't on. Fortunately, it wasn't off for very long. It wasn't until after I moved the crockpot to a different outlet that I realized the cord was the problem. It left some black marks on the counter and the cord separated from the pot. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a crockpot from a sister in our ward who lives down the street. I was able to just put my pot in her base and it worked. Thank goodness, because it was very full and layered.

The black marks on the counter from the crockpot.

I wasn't using my brain when I took this picture. That wire was live because it was plugged in! But hey, you can see that it disconnected from the crockpot. 😂

But our meal survived thanks to Sister Zimmerman! And it was delicious. Ravioli with layers of sauce, sausage and mozzarella cheese. 

Since Curtis drove to Kent I told both him and Nikki that they're only half an hour away from each other and that they should get together, so they did. Curtis and Stillman drove down to Tacoma and they went to Applebee's with her and her friend Cyrus. I think she needed that too. I'm glad they were able to meet up.