Air Force

So this post is not really about us, but we were there and this family is TRULY part of our family. Our friends son, Dale invited us to attend his local swearing in to the Air Force. It was held at Bergstrom Air Field (it's a company that has small planes to rent and you can take pilot lessons there - it's on one side of the Pasco airport) Anyways, we got to look at 2 F-16 fighter planes! They were really cool. Thanks Dale for inviting us to go - it was an honor and a great experience. Thanks for choosing to serve our country!!

Monte & the kids plus Dale's sister, Jessica.The boys checking out the underside of the F -16.

Andrew thought it was so cool that the pilot of one of the F-16's name was Andrew. We had to get his picture by "his" name. Maybe someday his real name will be on an F-16!

Andrew just adores Dale!



Here is the Petty family picture from that day - Jess, Coren, Dale & John!

Mini-Family Reunion

My brother and his family decided to up and move themselves to Nevada :( We are so sad that we won't get to see them as often as we like. Before they left, they threw a great shindig BBQ at their house, and I'll call it our mini reunion! We were missing 1 brother and his wife + 2 kids, 1 nephew and 2 husbands. Not too bad for a family of 23! Here's our great big group shot: (from left back row) Me, my Mom, Keaton, Craig, Andrew, Brady, Cheri, Jonathan, Sarah, & Koby. (Front row) Kaylee, Kristin, Natalie, Jackson, Ethan & Colten. Here is me with 3 of my siblings (Scott couldn't make it - we missed you!)

Me, Craig, Sarah, & Cheri
The ride home was pretty boring, so Natalie took pictures of . . . well just about everything inside and outside the car! These are the better ones ;)
Mt. Rainier just as you are dropping into Yakima.

Self portrait . . I think that's some laffy taffy hanging out of her mouth.

And me. Don't Pringles make great duck lips?

Mariners Game 2

The M's won the game on Sunday against the Texas Rangers as well! 3-5!! Way to go Mariners!

The coolest part (according to my kids) about Sunday's game was that after the game all kids got to run the bases! We got in a HUGE line during the 9th inning and waited our turn to go on the field.

Here is a picture (not of us) as we are coming out from under the seats in right field. Hello!! How cool was that!!!! I'm not sure who was having more fun - me or the kids! The kiddoes waiting in line for their turn (again with the freaky finger signs):

A picture of them rounding 2nd! I should have cropped this a bit, but Andrew is the 2nd kid from the left with Kaylee, Colten and Natalie behind him.


Ahhhhh home plate - Colten was a bit disappointed that they were not allowed to slide :(
And finally a picture of me with the kids.
Moms know that this is a difficult thing to get since we are usually the ones behind the camera

We had sooo much fun. We have a lot of good memories and can't wait to plan another trip for next year.

Mariner's Game 1

This past weekend Monte and I took the kids to a couple of Mariners games! We have been to quite a few games, but the kids had never been. Taking a kid to a baseball stadium like SafeCo field for the first time is so much fun. To see them truly enjoying the game and the perma-grins on their faces is priceless! The Mariner's won the first game (# 3 out of 4 in the series) 1 -4!! I only got a few pics at the first game, but we have the memories of it to last a long time!

Monte & the kids: The kids are in their "I-have-to-make-funny-faces-and-signs-with-my-fingers-in-every-picture-Mom-takes" phase.
Natalie & Me. I've really missed this girl!! She had been at Grandma's house for the 10 days prior to the games. She really makes this house full of energy and life - it was dull around here without her!

Are you ready for some T-Ball?

Oh wait . . . that's the theme song for Monday Night Football isn't it? Oh well!! Colten played t-Ball for the first time this year and we loved watching him play. We also loved getting to know the parents of the other players. Colten's team was sponsored by Davey's Burger Ranch. We bought matching t-shirts, but remembered last night that we totally forgot to wear them to even one game! How lame are we?? Don't answer that.

Here's a quick picture re-cap of Colten's first t-ball season!

Colten is the pitcher and ohh wait Colten (Ripplinger) is also the runner on 2nd!

Playing 3rd base.

Up to bat . . .



With a few of his teammates eating their snacks after the game.
This is K.J.( or Riley - I'm not sure!), Ryan, Colten and (the token girl), Taylor.





Now I know this picture is really blurry but it was tooooo funny not to post. Andrew (the bat boy) is hiding out behind the ball bucket. He loved helping Coach Will. I'm not sure why he was hiding but it was super cute!




Special thanks to Will Beightol and his wife Amy for their awesomeness as coaches! We're signing you up to be Andrews coach next year!!

Happy 4th o' July

The boys and I had a fun 4th this year! Monte had to work and the girls were both at separate Grandma's houses so we were on our own. Our good friends The Clifford's invited us to walk in the parade with them. So we decked out Colten's bike and Andrew's scooter and were on our way!

We also went to the Prosser fireworks display at night. We brought a big blanket to share and watched from the lawn behind church. It was totally amazing. They always seem to do a great job here. It lasted a wee bit too long for the boys though as they were both asleep 15 minutes into the 30 minute display. Thank goodness I was able to wake them up when it was over - I know I couldn't have packed them both to the car!