5 Things I love

1.  I love a party with a theme.  Of course I love a party in general but when there's a theme it makes it that much more fun to plan and put together.  I also love my sister Megan and last weekend we got to celebrate her 30th birthday with a surprise party.  Can you guess what the theme was?

Sunflowers!

Surprise!!!  She didn't suspect a thing.

Meg and Isabelle

2.  I love county fairs.  I grew up going to a county fair.  The kind where the cattle women served bbq beef sandwiches and I came home with ribbons for vegetables and crafts and the chances were good that  we knew the person who entered the grand champion pumpkin.   Since adulthood I've only been to the Puyallup State Fair so when Kyle's parents took us to the Thurston County Fair this week I realized that while I missed the free chocolate milk, I did not miss the crowds, the acres of cement, the lines of traffic and the steep prices.  We got the kids corn dogs for $1 each after all.  Here's some of the highlights:

Piggies!

Hat shopping

Watching the big girls show their horses

"Wow mom, I want to do that someday!"

Enjoying Shave Ice

We settled down in a nice grassy area in the shade to eat our shave ice and pretty soon a group of young people pulled out a microphone and gathered up the kids to play games... Red Light, Green Light, Sack races, complete with prizes.  The boys had a ball.

Neck and neck in the sack races

The icing on the cake for all the kids was their pony rides.  They were in hog heaven.  So, so fun to watch them all.

3.  I love pasta salad on a warm summer day.  I made this pasta salad this weekend.  The recipe was courtesy of my dear dear friend the Pioneer woman.  It was summery and yummy.
Spicy Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Tomatoes and Basil

4.  I love date night with my hubby.  This week the kids spent the night at Nana'a and Papa's and we grabbed some yummy dinner at Masa and watched Soul Surfer.  The next morning we got up, made coffee and hiked up Little Si, then breakfasted in North Bend.  When we got to the top of our climb we were rewarded with this:

Wow!  Look at that view!

Not exactly the most clear of mornings... but the mist in the trees was kind of cool and we enjoyed getting out of town and being together.

photos from Kyle's phone

5.  I love that Lukey caught a fish 3 seconds after his first cast.

That's what I call immediate gratification!  Unfortunately that was where the luck ended.  No one caught anything after that.  But we did enjoy a wonderful Grunenfelder family reunion and the boys are pumped to fish some more soon.  This is someones backyard by the way... someone with the last name Grunenfelder.  I'm still figuring out all the names. :)

Lizzy and Brooklyn

Looking forward to more things I love with people I love this week!