Now It's Time to Visit Heather's Farm...

We are definitely working with a theme for the weekend...lots of bbq's, celebrations, and oddly enough, farm visits.

Recently, Heather moved into an "annex house" adjoining a very gorgeous home purchased by the Darland family.  The Darlands attend our church, have four amazing kids, and have adopted Heather as a virtual member of their family.  Her living situation is just about as perfect as it gets - having access to this BEAUTIFUL farm property that is only a mile from where we live (suggesting how close it is to everything), but feels like its own country sanctuary.  Apparently, Hillary (the mom) has had her eye on just this home forever...and finally got to jump at the chance to purchase this 102 year old historic house/property.  Incredible.

So, as a joint birthday celebration and open house, Heather had folks join her Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately, the rain had decided to stick around (insert negative emotions about this that I'm choosing to withhold) - but no one seemed to mind as dozens of folks showed up to grill their own meat, share side dishes, and take in the farm ambiance.

Of course, our family immediately beelined to where the baby goats were.  "Lola" and "Rose" are the names of these sweet little girls...

The hardest part of our visit to the goats was walking away from them and hearing them cry pitifully missing their company.  I think if I lived there, they'd be inside pets...

Next stop on our tour was the rope swing.  Note to self: kids give perfect gleeful smiles when playing on a rope swing for future family photography reference...

 

A few shots of the house and property - I had a lens on the camera that wasn't able to capture much of a wide image, but it really is just as amazing as what you are able to see.

This is Heather's little building/carport.  Her apartment is adorable - so cozy, homey, and perfectly sized for her.  While she loves her tiny home, she often spends a lot of her time in the main house with the rest of the family.

Kenjon showed up as well - of course, he wasn't willing to actually hold the goat himself...such a tough guy, but not at all comfortable around farm animals!!!

This is Josiah, the Darlands third child in succession - who is a year older than Brayden and a buddy of his.  Tucker is the youngest of the crew, forefront in the picture and five years old.  He thought Brayden was pretty cool, but was awestruck by the arrival of "Mr. Barner".

Showing just how incorporated the Darland family is with so many of our social groups, we were surprised to see Solomon show up, who came to hang out with Josiah.  Nice timing to see one of Brayden's best friends spontaneously arrive.  Scott and Liz Coleman also showed up with her three boys as they were preparing to have dinner with Hillary and John (the Darland parents).  Lots of overlaps, it made my head spin figuring out who knew who and why.

More girls I know and treasure....Elaina and Amanda (Thursday Night Ladies), Ashley (Kaela's housemate), and, of course, the ever-upbeat Abby.

We didn't stick around all that long as our family was TUCKERED out.  But, it was great to participate in the festivities surrounding Heather - proof of just how loved that girl is.

Heather's Birthday Boat Bash

Happy, happy birthday Heather Spinney!  Over a month ago, we discussed what she had in mind for her birthday, and her desire was to take some of her BFF's out on the boat with her.  What a plan - if only Oregon weather had gotten on board!  We fretted all week looking at the upcoming forecast - it sure wasn't looking great, but we were all gung ho as long as it stayed dry.  I guess you could say it was just dry enough so that we committed to the adventure, but we did end up getting hit with some raindrops while we were out there.

Here's the crew getting set to leave.  Kenjon was sure to point out that he WAS on time today, while Heather showed up a little late.  If there's a competition to be had, those two are sure to go at it!  Also, worth noting in this picture is the behavior going on in the garage with the kids, Kenjon, and Michael.  It takes NOTHING to wind them up when those two (adults?) are around.

Nice looking skyline there, huh?  Waiting to load on the boat.

Kelli, Heather, and Kaela

 Kenjon, Brian (Kelli's fiancee') and Michael

One of many, many battles that took place throughout the day.  In almost every circumstance, Kenjon won - as if there'd be any question. 

 

The courage involved in being in the water (which wasn't AS BAD as it could have been temp wise), was way beyond me.  I'm with Kenjon in his assessment that we really need to invest in a dry suit for the boat!

Now, it's one thing to have Kenjon take on Heather, but really, picking on little Mikayla?!?  If you think this is bad, you should have seen the actual toss of her whole body in the lake that we just missed (but begged Mikayla to repeat) with the camera. 

Consequently, Mikayla is giving Kenjon "the business" in that he will NOT be assisting her into the tube, she was anxious to get in by herself, thank you very much!

That "thumbs up" signal...well it had a bit to do with the colorful vocabulary used when these girls were out on the tube.  Hence, the sheepish expressions from Heather and Kelli.  =)

 

So, yes, we got Kenjon out in the water.  The next set of pictures will not be displayed on Facebook, at least not by my doing.  For good reason - I'm not so sure Chip Kelly would be thrilled that his most notable returning football player of the season is putting himself in such precarious situations.  He was all good with it though...  Heather was also concerned with being on the "cautious side" as she's running better than ever - and is healthy and wants to keep it that way for upcoming races.  As you'll see, sometimes the waves and the tilt of the tube have something all-together different in mind.

Since Kelli's neither professionally running, or playing top-ten NCAA football, it was okay if she got thrown off the tube.....ha!!!  Just kidding Kelli - showing up for your July wedding in a cast would not be cool either....excellent hanging on!!!

Brian and Kelli - sharing a moment when they didn't know the camera was on them.

Our kids took a turn together.  Honestly, this was the happiest I caught them on camera....too tame of a ride mixed with way too cold equals less than enthusiastic expressions. 

 

Heaven only knows what this look was about....they didn't know I was catching them on camera either... 

Since he was already in the water, Brayden was first to board.  No surprise, he popped right up...what a stud.

Brian was the one guy we knew would be braving the water to get a chance at his first ever turn wakeboarding.  He's a very skilled snowboarder, so as soon as he got the hang of getting up (he popped right up once we put him on the correct board), he was super aggressive in trying the hard stuff right away.  It was impressive, but kind of crazy too.  He was working with a "squirrely" board, so he ended up on the edge often or nearly flipping directions.  We were impressed with his skills that improved on every run.

If you know you'll be using the camera to take pictures - particularly during the tubing portion, Kaela and I have learned that Dramamine is a must.  However, Dramamine (mixed with lots of activities, late nights, and social obligations) can lead to a very sleepy Kaela....

Because he wasn't smiling enough during his first run, Heather (who was manning the camera at this point) challenged him to act like he was enjoying it more.  I think he met the challenge!

When we spoke with Kenjon later this evening at Heather's bbq, he was concerned about who had the pictures and if they'd be appearing on Facebook.  I thought he was worried for his coach's sake - you know, athletic liability sort of stuff.  But, know, THIS is what he was worried about being exposed - the fact that without knowing what they were up to, he ended up getting wrapped up in a Hannah Montana towel.  The poor guy was SOOOOO, so cold that he didn't even notice it was pink with a life size pic of Miley Cyrus...  I will keep this off of Facebook, but can't guarantee it won't make it there by someone else's efforts.  =)

We already knew just by who would be participating that this day would be a lot of fun, but given the weather, there were some doubts on just how successful it would turn out.  Honestly, I think it only added to the adventure.  And, after having just seen the sunburn photo Heather texted me, it's probably better that it stayed overcast, I can't imagine what she would have looked like if it had actually been sunny.

We feel so honored that Heather would choose to spend her 25th birthday celebrating with us....