The Hermiston Family Aquatic Center

The Water park on the 4th of July needed it's own post:)

Jodee loved the water the most out of my girls, here she is with cousin Kendall playing in one of the fountains.
Me & my little sister Kyra, with all the kiddos (thanks for taking the picture Leslie:)


Jodee was my brave little girl, she went down the little yellow slide by herself, and then wanted to go with me on the bigger slide. (Jayda and Rhenley went down the yellow slide, but cried, and Rhen eventually went down the bigger slide with Uncle Jake, but I don't know that she "liked" it:)


(Someone pooped in the pool, these were the lucky guys who got to clean it up... Nasty! This event ended our time at the pool an hour early, we were sad, but had a few hours of swimming before it happened... just a side note, we all had just gotten out minutes before the incident occured, so we hadn't actually been swimming "in" the poop:)


The crew, Good Times at the water park!:)

Family+Friends+Food+Fireworks=Fun!

I've been delayed in posting our fun times on the 4th, we've had the flu in our house for over a week now... everyone got it, it's been very tiring. I actually cried last night from aches, and feeling frustrated with being sick. I'm so thankful that "this too shall pass", I can't imagine having a serious sickness or chronic pain, I feel blessed for just having the flu:)


(cute picts of me and my girls before going to Hermiston:)

The last few years we've gone to Hermiston, OR for their fireworks show at the fairgrounds. Our friends Beau & Hollie Putnam moved from Richland to Hermiston a few years ago... it's the one time a year that we for sure get together:)

The day began by going to The Hermiston Family Aquatic Center (my brother, and sisters, and their families went), then we had a BBQ at Beau & Hollie's (all of my siblings, my parents, some of Hollie's family, and Luke's parents and sister Tessa were there too), after we were stuffed, we went to the fairgrounds for the fireworks show... I was so into the fireworks this year that I didn't take any pictures... I even missed the atomic explosion at the end... man you could feel the heat:) Thanks to the Putnams for the memories, we'll see ya next year:) (If you're interested in seeing pictures, my sister took great pictures and a video, thanks Leslie:) http://www.thegosfam.blogspot.com

--My uncle Jack died 7 years ago, we send him a balloon on his birthday, July 4th. We also send a balloon to Grandma Manis who passed away 2 years ago, and now to Grandma T. who passed away in March.

Rhenley's July Interview

What color of hair do you have? Brown
What color are your eyes? Brown
Who are your favorite friends to play with? Carys, Kiley, Kendall (when she is in town:)
What makes you happy? Going out to dinner
What makes you sad? When someone hits me
What is your favorite word? Piggy
What is your favorite book? OLIVIA (all the Olivia books, ya know, all the books we have:)
What time is your bedtime? 10:00:)

Cherries, Cherries, and more Cherries...

My mom came over last week and helped the girls and I dry cherries. Everyone was involved, I washed, took off the stems, and supervised Rhen/the pit remover.
Rhenley was such a pro, and got a kick out of using the cherry pitter.


Jodee & Jayda helped Grandma Nea cut the cherries in half, and put them on the dryer racks. (More cherries were put in their mouths than on the racks, but it was fun for them to help:)

After almost 8 hours of drying, the cherries were done... 6lbs of fresh cherries=2 ziploc sandwich bags of dried cherries. It was quite the chore, for so little reward, but the cherries were sooooo yummy, and were eatin in just a few days. (I probably ate more than anyone:)

Mary, I don't think we're in Washington anymore...

My friend Mary (been friends since Junior High) & I went to visit our friend Teresa last weekend. (Teresa and I have been friends since High School, & were roommates at Rick's College). Mary & I went all by ourselves... 5 hour road trip there, and 5 hours back, almost 2 full days with no kids, and no hubbys to worry about... it was very... strange, yet blissful:)
This is just a peek into Eugene's Saturday Market...
Teresa and her family live in EUGENE, OREGON... it was like we had entered the twilight zone...:) The people there were stuck in the 60's, (I'm not talking about Teresa or Dave)... Observe...this is Saturday Market in downtown Eugene... if you look close you'll see dreadlocks, bongs, and lots of tie-dye:) It was the coolest and craziest place I've ever been too. Oh, and the smell... ain't nothin like urine and body odor...:) Cough, cough, gag:) The Saturday Market is a craft fair, booths of homemade jewelry, purses, tie-dye shirts (I bought one for Rhen:), hemp decor & accessories... it was quite the day:) (Probably one of my favorite pieces of jewelry was a silver ring that was 2 interlocking rings, that looked like two people spooning, it was creative and I probably would have bought it if it weren't $40:)

We ate at The Original Pancake House, I had Pigs in a Blanket (buttermilk pancakes wrapped around sausage links) they were soooo yummy:) We also ate at Sweet Life, a Patisserie, the place was full of desserts... I tried a pistachio cannoli... it was so sweet, but very tasty.

This is sweet little Bella & Bono (Bella is the baby, Bono is the dog:)... the pride & joy of The Stockdale brood. Bono loved me, & always wanted me to play with him. He even wanted to come with us back to Washington:) Bella was such a sweet little girl, and it was so fun to see Teresa with her, she's such a good mommy:)

Our trip was short, but so worth it:) I miss having Teresa around, and was so glad that we got to go visit:)
Thanks so much Teresa & Dave for your hospitality, we'll definitely come again... Next time we'll bring the whole crew with us:)