Kitchen Remodel!

Oh, how I love the sound and smell of construction in the morning! Ever since we moved into our house in 2004, I've wanted to remove the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Today it came down!

We also opened up the wall between the dining room and the living room! Open, airy, light. Love it. Can't wait to do more!

Gabe's Eagle Project

We're so proud of Gabe -- he's completed his Eagle project! He organized his team and built 24 sawhorses for our local Playground by the Sound building project.
After building the sawhorses, they delivered them to the playground construction site (Doesn't Sam look excited to be involved?). After they were used there, they were donated to Habitat for Humanity. Go, Gabe!

Sam's 50-mile Bike Ride

Sam's Boy Scout group has been building up to this big bike ride for months now, and finally it's here. They met very early at 5a, and as you can see are raring to go! (Ha!)
The boys and their leaders rode from Snoqualmie pass to the town of Carnation, all on bike trails. The ride included a 2-mile ride through a dark tunnel, and they were gone for most of the day. Sam was tired when he got home, and didn't give much details (he's not very talkative when it comes to non-video game conversations). But, he completed it! We're very proud of him.

Chambers Bay

University Place, WA. I'm often quick to criticize because of the lack of sunshine, but it can be breathtakingly beautiful here.

Gabe, Carly and I went for a short outing this weekend at Chambers Bay (our local golf course that has serene views of the Puget Sound and will be home to the 2015 US Open). The Central Meadow is a big park with lots of paths and beach access. The kids had a great time riding their bikes in the warm summer air:

We need to do this more often. Next time I hope there will be a picnic basket involved...

HOT Lake Mead

We met about 30 of our Vogt (Mack) relatives in Las Vegas this year. It was quite a drive to get there, but so nice to be in the Utah and Nevada sunshine.
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We stayed at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas for a few days. The kids enjoyed the pool and the view. We had to drag them out of the hotel to see a few sites. My favorite event was the Celine Dion concert. I happily went by myself while the rest of the family hung out at the hotel. It was an awesome concert!

Next we moved to Henderson NV to stay at the Fiesta and enjoy the lake. The heat started early in the morning, which meant more lake time for us. The afternoons got to 115 degrees! There were three boats, four jetskis, and a huge lake to swim in.

Here's a short video of Carly being towed on a tube. We were just starting out here, so just relaxing and slow...


We stopped in Salt Lake City on the way back home and enjoyed touring Temple Square.