4th of July {I know I know...I'm so behind!}

Gordon was only a few days from getting home and I remember thinking "its so close!" but we had to celebrate without him. RATS. We still had fun though! Gordon's sister Tamara and her family were in town, so that was lots of fun!

I started the day off by doing a 7.4 mile run from Odell into Hood River right before the 4th of July parade. I guess it's a tradition and lots of people run it. So, I ran it with my sister in law Emily and her brother in law, Jason. A few other ladies who did the relay with me were also running. Overall it was a decent run except for the breathing problem/stabbing lung pain I get. All you runners out there: why do some of us get these stabbing pains in our lungs feeling like it's impossible to breathe? Anyways, it definitely wasn't my best time, but I was just happy to finish. And I wasn't the last one in our group, so that made me feel good!

Then after that, we had a potluck dinner with family and friends. It was a laid back day and we had lots of fun! My Grilled Corn Salsa was a hit, too! :)

This was the first year Brooke stayed up to watch the fireworks. After the first 5 minutes though, she was so bored! She wanted to walk around and talk and eat more marshmallows. So I was with her away from everyone else for the last half. Overall, a super great day!

This last photo we texted to Gordon trying to include him in the festivities!

Forgot to post this...oops.

On Gordon's birthday, we went to the Hood River County Fair! Holy smokes, was it fun! It was really hot that day, but besides the heat, we had a blast! We left after Brooke's nap and arrived a little after 3 pm. Then we did a few kiddie rides and checked out the animals and got dinner. {$4 for a corn dog is LAME!} Then, Gordon's parents came and got Brooke & Keira {her cousin who is the same age} so the adults could have some fun times riding the bigger rides! {I forgot to mention we just happened to be there the same day the rest of Gordon's family was there, so we had so much fun hanging out with them, eating tacos and taking turns riding the different roller coasters together!} 

I could not stop smiling the entire time. And Brooke LOVED it too! Beyond loved it! Hooray for the fair! Here are the few photos I took...before the camera ran out of memory. Oops.

On the ladybug ride with some of her cousins. Brooke LOVED this ride. 

 On the carousel--> she didn't want to ride a horse, so we settled for a seat. 

Drinking an orange flavored sno-cone. She picked it all out herself! 

This was probably Brooke's favorite 'ride' of them all. Gordon took her down this huge slide 3 times!

She's giving me 'what for' for taking pictures 

Checking out some animals...

She thought the baby ducks were "so cute!" 

Last photo of the night taken at the top of the ferris wheel! Seriously FUN day! :) 

Confession:

We got iPhones and are addicted.

A favorite date night.

Our last date night last Thursday consisted of the following:

1. A cool evening

2. a warm fire in the fire pit in the backyard

3. testing these bad boys {see below} for my blog! 

Behold! 

The Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Filled S'more. 

They were pretty stellar if I do say so myself.

I could sit by a campfire every night. It's so calming and relaxing. And I LOVE that campfire smell!

Overall, a wonderful quiet evening spent 'out' with my sweet husband! Love it.

Happy Birfday!

Happy Birthday Gordon! He turned 26 on the 28th! 

He requested a chocolate cake with maple frosting, so that's what I made him!

Brooke was pretty thrilled with the dessert!

{I tried to center this photo, but stupid blogger won't let me!}

I love this photo

This photo was taken with Gordon's camera phone at a frozen yogurt place in town. I love my Brookie Cookie! 

And then he came home!

Ok, so Gordon has been home over 3 weeks now, but the time has flown by! Funny that it's flown by since he's been home, but was going so slow while he was gone! Haha.

We picked him up at the airport on Saturday, July 9th at around 11 am. It was so good to see him! He looked tired, tanned and very happy. Brooke was really shy and recognized him as "Daddy" but she took a few days to be 'back to normal' and treat him just as she did before he left. On the car ride home, she was already starting to warm up. It was a pretty quick process.

He hadn't slept for 36 hours or so, but stayed awake until that night because we were so excited to see him/he was so happy & relieved to be home. 

These photos were all taken by Gordon's parents when they visited him for the graduation. Below is a photo of Gordon and one of the two guys he baptized while he was there. {Isn't it cool that he baptized two people being there?! Who would have thought?!}

It felt like a long time coming, but we feel blessed and lucky to have him home! {Until January when he leaves again....}

{I like the top photo and uniform the best!}