The older I get, the more I value the friends I have. Because at 28 years old, having been married for 9 and a half years and a mother for 7, it is HARD to make new friends. Not the casual acquaintance kind-the kind that you can call late at night, vent all your problems to, celebrate your successes with and best of all live in a beautiful, real, honest place with. The kind of grown up friends that knows the way you are and loves you anyways, the kind that you don’t have to explain yourself to and the kind that even when you go weeks or even months without talking, you pick up where you left off. I am so fortunate to have several of these types in my life, one of them is Brittany.

I could literally go on and on and on about all the ways this woman is amazing, fun, down to earth, patient, honest, kind and selfless and most of all, the best listener I have even known….but I won’t..I wouldn’t want you all to be jealous of the amazing friend I have had the pleasure of knowing since I moved to Louisiana during high school. 🙂 But honestly, having Brittany as my friend has made me a better person and I am so thankful to all that she has loved me through.

A few weeks ago Brittany flew into Seattle for a visit and we had a blast whale watching, stand up paddle (SUP) boarding, exploring and spending time together. It was so enjoyable to have her here, and I was super sad to take her back to the airport when it was time.  Here are some pictures from our time together and some head shots I took of her for her website. (BTW, Britt is a serious AMAZING pianist, who teaches children and an author of a book and this week on FB posted a photo of her and her brothers with an alligator they hunted on their family property! Seriously, she is just the coolest person ever!)

We went on a whale watching tour with Island Adventures. Their blog post here about the afternoon trip has more details and photos from our specific tour.

SUP boarding on Lake Padden together!

I took this on the way to take Brittany back to the airport. This park has amazing views!

And lastly, some random cell phone pictures-because well, I treat my blog like my personal journal and I want to store these here. 🙂 Whatcom Falls park, an owl in a tree, board games, and more!

My oldest baby, Josiah turned 7 this past week. It’s almost midnight and he’s asleep amongst Pokemon figure and the same green blanket he has slept with since he was more downstair in he and Autumn’s room and I am sitting up here in tears, not knowing how 7 years has gone by so fast. Of course some of that time went slow, and some though I try I can’t even remember. My little baby is now a big brother to a sister and a brother, he is starting second grade on Tuesday, and he is brilliant and gentle and rational and so much more. I love this kid and he challenges me as a person more than I could have ever imagined. Here is a timeline of his growing so far and pictures from his Pokemon party. He is totally into Pokemon right now-an obsession fed by his dad and his little sister. The three of them talk, play and watch Pokemon..alot. And while I wish I could relate more, I am happy to see them all enjoying a common thing.

Autumn also wants a Pokemon party for her (6th) birth in October so I went a little overboard on the Pintrest party stuff, and have already packed all the crafts and things away from October when I will get to use it all again! barely any of this was my idea, and most of the ideas came from this awesome blog post, including instructions for the piñata I made and the printable face. I learned many things planning this party, here are a few of them:

• There are 719 known Pokemon
• Pokemon is a video game, TV show, a trading card game and it has made movies
• Pokemon is published by Nintendo
• Pokemon are divided into generations, such as Ruby & Sapphire, X & Y, Black & White, and Diamond & Pearl (Diamond and Pearl is Josiah’s favorite, thus the costume I made him is the outfit, the main character, Ash Ketchum, wears in the Pokemon Diamon & Pearl series.
• And that’s about it. Enjoy! 🙂

Josiah at 1 week old, 1 year, 2 years. 3 years, 4 years, 5 years & 6 years
Josiah at age 7, as Ash Ketchum from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

The Pokemon party spread

Candles lit and sillies singing :) 

My first homemade birthday cake for Josiah (and second total; Silas’ from the week before with the first) ..I know, I know, but in my defense, my mother in law is a freaking amazing cake artist who usually makes their cakes, but we don’t live close enough to make that a reality anymore. :*(

Pokeball favor bags, personalized Pokecards for each guest with this photo and Ash hats from varies regions for each guest (they got to pick their favorite).

I tried to make all the food fit the theme….

“Create Your Own Pokeball” station. I bought brown cardboard ornament balls at a craft store and spray painted them all white and the kids decorated their own. 

And then proceeded to command Silas back into their Pokeballs. :) 

My homemade Meowth pull string piñata filled with Pokemon cards and candy. 

Cake and snack eating out on the deck

Personalized Pokemon cards for all

Pokeballs made from posterboard and a print we made of this artist’s poster of hand drawings of all the Pokemon-ever. He was so awesome to share a digital file for us to print his work with! We used it to play a search and find game to win gym badges and toy Pokemon.

Candy dipped Oreos with sixlet candies in the middle

Trampoline bouncing in the backyard-to shake up all that cake…

Search and find game in progress

A few weeks ago Brian and I score this binder full of Pokemon cards at a thrift store that sells stuff by weight…so we bought this for like $2. Yes it was amazing!

And then the night before his birthday, Brian score a new Pokemon DS came at a pawn shop for near nothing. Thrifting for the win! As you can tell Josiah is pretty excited.

Brian in his Pokemon shirt…he was so glad to have me tell him to go buy one for the party.