Sorry it’s been a while since my last post!  We’ve been busy with our summer activities… ballet lessons, beach days, zoo trips, and even a weekend out of town for the grown-ups…

Last week we went blueberry picking at a friend’s ranch, and came home with about 5 pounds of blueberries!  Not bad considering I was picking one-handed, holding Ben in one arm (he was having a rough morning).  Natalie was a great little helper until she decided to dump her bucket out on the ground and start over… AHHH!!  But she had a ton of fun with her BFF Bekah, and other friends from church.

Ben was only happy when there was a steady stream of blueberries from the bush to his mouth!  I had to work hard to replace the berries he was taking from my bag.  He was covered in dirt by the end, but that’s pretty much the way it goes around here.

That’s what my 5 pounds of blueberries looked like… I froze 1/3, gave 1/3 to my mom, and the last 1/3 was eaten fresh within a week.  I didn’t even have a chance to make some kind of special dessert!

I think it’s awesome that a group of my childhood friends stayed close through the years and we still get together often.  Maybe not everyone can make it every single time since we are all busy gals and spread out over California, but a small group makes for a great dinner party.

I got to play hostess this time around– summer dining on the patio!

The beautiful ladies… so glad to have them in my life!  There is never enough time to say everything that needs to be said!  Thanks for being so funny, informative, and honest, girls. 🙂

Made-from-scratch chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting… rich and perfect, thanks Hannah!

Last week Natalie and I got to see a real ballet!  This was not Natalie’s first trip to the theater– we also saw Beauty and The Beast here back in March.  Never too early to appreciate the arts!   This ballet was a a brand new show, a retelling of Noah’s Ark.  I didn’t know what to expect, but blown away by how amazing it was.  The story was beautifully told through the dance, and even quite moving at times.  I was telling Andy that there was “like, a hundred” people in the cast and he didn’t believe me, so I looked it up online and the newspaper said it had a cast of 150, and 80 of them were the animals.

Natalie sure enjoyed it.  Despite the lack of dialogue, she followed the story very well (with a little explanation from me along the way) and didn’t get restless until near the end of the 90 minute show, when she wanted to get up and dance herself!  I was very proud of her for sitting still and paying attention.  She loved the dancers in animal costumes… the bumblebees in the picture below (children who could not have been more than 7 years old) were her favorites.  Perhaps Natalie will want to dance on stage some day?  She told me she did, after this!

Here are some of the sweet little friends we went with… looking a little tired after the show but all the girls did SO well! I think they were all inspired!