A trip up to see the Cassadas!

This is Bailey (almost 3) - every picture I tried to take of her, she was turned around for some reason!! She was so cute though - glued to Callie most of the time. She said to me several times "She doesn't have much hair? She doesn't have much teeth?" SUCH a cutie!
Joshua (4 1/2 )in front, then Rebekah (almost 7), Josiah, and Jacob. We were going on a walk to the playground, and Rekebah made us a list of things to look for along the way!
Callie and Rebekah rode in the double jogger. Callie thought it was great fun to sit NEXT to someone...although later she pulled Bailey's hair and that was the end of the fun!
Here's all 7 of our kids (I can't believe that all these years later, we have 7 kids between the two of us Courtney!!!)
Joshua and Jacob - the strong, silent types...Well, not really silent...but our easy-going boys!
Rebekah and Callie dancing the afternoon away!

We made homemade ice cream! (It was one of the things left on the summer list!)
and here's the handsome boy, Sawyer!! He was SUCH a cutie pie - I couldn't get enough of him. He's just perfect! How did I not get a picture of me holding him? I must not have held him enough I guess!!!
Joshua banging on the chocolate chips for the ice cream.
Stirring up the ice cream...they were VERY patient!
Me and my sweet friend Courtney

I've blogged about Courtney before. Several of you probably feel like you know her through her blog too! She is a dear friend from high school, and we've continued to "do life" together. I drove up on Monday night to be able to spend the day with her family on Tuesday. She had her 4th baby, Sawyer, 3 weeks ago, and it dawned on me that with school getting ready to start in 2 weeks, I'd better take advantage of my free days while I can!! Pretty soon, my life will be following a school calendar and I won't have the freedom to just pop up to DC and visit in the middle of the week! I was going with the intent of spending time with her and trying to help her for the day. I feel like I wasn't much help to her, but boy did I enjoy my time!! My favorite part was sitting out on her screened porch while all 7 of our kids slept. We had our drinks and just talked and caught up on life. What our struggles are with each of our kids, the funny things they do, what our fall is going to look like - all those things. Though we've always lived in different cities since we've been married, these days are such a blessing - we are able to catch up with each other, I could love on her kids for a while and see what their life is like for a day. I LOVED it! Thanks Courtney - you are such an encouragement to me and I had SUCH a great day! (Even if we did have jackhammers as backround music!)