We started the month of August with a wedding reception for my high school best friend, Terri's daughter.  I love that we have kept in touch through the years.  

 I always think it is hilarious how even birds know about personal space.  They space themselves out so perfectly with only gaps left by one who flew off.

There has been a wasp nest forming high in one of the trees by the sand pit where the kids play at the park. I have been watching it get bigger and bigger.  Unless it is a hazard, they leave nature to itself there at Blue Lake.  I like that.  

About 3 weeks ago, we had a wind storm and it broke off another tree's top in another area in the park.  When I walked through the park, there in the remaining branches of that broken tree was this huge huge swam of honey bees.  The inside of the broken part of the tree, that was laying on the ground was full of honeycomb, layers and layers of it all stacked up.  It ended up that the park had the whole tree removed because the core was full of bees and honeycomb.  With it broken like that and really close to some picnic tables it was not safe to be around it.  The park had an official bee keeper come and remove the bees.  I wish the photo showed how big it really was.  The bottom photo of the hole in the tree is another tree that they call the 'honey bee tree'  It is a huge old tree that they have built a little wooden fence around to keep people from it, but it allows the bees to carry on. Double click on the photo and you can see those bees a lot better.

 Josiah and Arianna are pretty excited that my little goose family has now begun to eat from their hands too!  

 Our Christmas gift last year from my parents was a family trip to the Alison Spa.  We enjoyed our time together as always, first with an awesome massage finished off with an amazing dinner.  It is the best of gifts to get time together.

 Emily and Joshua came for a couple of days for the annual school shopping trip. This year it turned out to be more of a shopping spree than the usual new school outfit.  So much fun to spoil them! One of the nights they were here we rounded up Josiah and Arianna and went to the old Hood Theater in Gresham and saw the movie 'Pixels'.  It is nice to be able to take the kids and not spend a fortune on tickets and popcorn.  A ticket is only $4 for adults and $3 for kids.  A huge popcorn is only $5. Sometimes you even get a double feature for that!

Gabe and Daniel are doing great with their brotherly bonding.  Abby sent me this one to my cell phone. What an age we live in! To be able to see photos in just minutes after they were taken.

John and Joshua were all signed up to do a run in Ashland.  The Mt. Ashland Hill Climb.  John has done it before, it is brutal.  13.5 straight up!  I don't know why they call it 'hill'.  Anyway, their whole family was down there for the run and a couple nights before John got painfully sick. He ended up in the hospital emergency room.  So the big decision...go home or let Joshua run alone.    I am so proud of him!  He finished the run straight up Mt. Ashland in good time.  He sent me this text when he was done.  Here is a photo of the final stretch with him almost crawling it was so steep.  Rachel took these three shots.

It blows me away to even think about how old she has become. Emily went on her first college tour!  I know she still has her junior and senior year to finish, but they are rolling around so fast!

We ended the month of August celebrating Arianna's 

 3rd birthday!  

 She did it in style with her favorite character, Minnie Mouse.  I have never seen a kid enjoy opening her gifts as much as she did.  Each gift, no matter how big or small, set off sequels of excitement. After looking it over, she stood up and walked it up to each person sitting in the room to take a closer look at what she had just received.