In the hours before the wedding last Saturday, I was watching my daughter sleep in our hotel room and reflecting on the Lord’s mercies towards us in so many little and not-so-little ways.  Firstly, that he brought Kathy and John together…the love and joy shines so brightly between them!

Secondly, that our hotel room somehow turned out to be a room with 2 double beds instead of the 1 king bed that they originally told us was the only one left — 2 beds is MUCH better for a family of 5!

Thirdly, that the hotel let us check-in early, making it possible for Chloe and Darius to have naps before the wedding….small things, but they make such a difference sometimes!

And last, but not least:  that Peter is such a loving and fun Daddy!

Here’s some more pictures from our trip:

Stopping for dinner at a taco stand in Othello, Friday night.  MMmmmmm….surprisingly(to me!) the “lengua” ones were the best! 

Josiah enjoying a “reprieve” from his carseat…I put that in quotes because it was around 100 degrees!

So nice to come across fellow believers!  (this was on the window of the taco stand)

Cuteness condensed.

(we couldn’t get Josiah to put his hand down for any length of time…the sun was pretty bright)

“Can you make it a square?”  …that’s what Chloe says whenever she needs help aligning her blankie…Darius on the other hand couldn’t care less - as long as he has something soft to hold and his thumb, he’s happy!

Crazy Hair Boy sitting on Daddy’s lap while we were stuck in traffic on the way home.

We had a fun get-together to celebrate “Granny’s” 80th birthday on July 26th.  Grandma C. put on an amazing spread of food and we all hung out in the backyard which was gorgeous with all her carefully-tended gardens.  It was a nice chance to see extended family that we don’t see very often!

We got to meet Melissa for the first time.  She is my cousin Marty & Joanne Anstey’s daughter.

Chloe and Hannah being giggly girls.

“Mommy, can you see me?”

Granny and Miriam.

Here’s a very poor quality video of (left to right) Peter, Marty, Andrew, David, Daniel, and Jamie making music together.  I was holding Brianna while trying to take this video, so that’s my excuse. :)  Notice the cool green instrument Daniel is playing…I believe it’s called a “melodica”.

Tuesday night we headed to Yakima for Grandpa Emmans’ funeral. You can view his obituary here. Unfortunately, Josiah was very sick for the trip and up until about 2 hours ago. He is now up and walking around for the first time in days. Because of this, I didn’t get very many pictures of our trip. Peter snapped these when Uncle Paul was having a look at him on the steps of the Presbyterian church where the funeral was held.

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“I don’t want any shots!” (I must have actually taken this one)

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A “Norman Rockwell”-ish scene.

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I like Chloe’s concerned look from the background.