Family Pictures

We finally completed the Berens' Family pictures (after two years of trying)!! They turned out great! Valerie Dietsche was our photographer and she did a wonderful job. Click here if you want to check them out. http://www.valeriedietsche.com/?page_id=2959 I think my favorite is of Jayden and Miya holding Melanie while she's crying. I love that big lip!!

Time with Family

We were blessed to be able to spend some time visiting Jeff's family in Iowa this past week. The long weekend away seemed to go way too quickly. It was a busy weekend even though there weren't a lot of things planned. The guys enjoyed golfing, some fishing, and even playing some baseball. The ladies were able to have a couple hours away from the kids to enjoy a trip to the bakery and some shopping at Maurices. And the kids...play, play, play. Miya and Jayden had sooo much fun playing with all of their cousins. The played outside on the bikes, mini pool, and slip-n-slide. Inside they made necklaces and birthday cakes. Played pretend babies and house and of course thought it was great playing in Aunt Janelle's room with all of her "very cool" stuff (sorry Janelle). Even Melanie and baby Whitney enjoyed playing with each other. Being around a large family is so much fun. There's always food to prepare and kids to re-direct, but the memories made are priceless. Thanks to our Iowa family for taking the time away from you're busy lives to make some family memories. We love you all and miss you already.

Enjoying our time in Iowa with family :)

Turned out pretty well for 8 grandkids 5 and under.

4th of July Weekend

Aaah, the 4th of July weekend has come and gone. We had an enjoyable weekend starting Saturday afternoon when Jeff got home from work. After the girls' much needed naps, we headed out to the beach to enjoy G and G's last day of camping. It was fun having Jeff there too. The girls rode their bikes to the General Store and the huge sand dune that takes over 200 steps to climb(yes Jayden is riding her bike now- yeah!!!).
Miya climbed it with no problem. Uncle Dan however had trouble with-in the first 4 steps....he blames it on his sandals :)
The reward for climbing the sand dune? ? A work-out for the adults and candy from the general store for the girls. Then it was back to the camp ground to ride bikes. The girls decided it was TONS of fun to ride back and forth between G n G's camper and my aunt and uncle's camper.
So they spent some time doing that while we had a little baggo tournament!

We stayed for the fireworks (BIG MISTAKE). The girls enjoyed it. Miya let all the adults have a turn holding her baby during the fireworks and Jayden couldn't decide who to sit by.
The fireworks were not great...not many are after you've seen Lyle's fireworks. Miya was sleeping before we even left the parking lot and Jaydes eventually fell asleep too.

Monday we had a group of friends over to our house for supper and then we all headed to the Oversiel fireworks. WOW!!
Once again, Lyle Brokehuis outdid himself. The fireworks were phenomenal!! Next year our family will be going early for the kids games. They LOVE the glow necklaces the best. So does mom since it's very hard for a 4 and 2 year old to sit and watch an hour's worth of fireworks (after 2 cans of POP...thanks Brenda ;) ), the glow necklaces gave them something to occupy themselves with. We had tons of fun, just wish I took my camera out more often.