Bocce

One of our favorite activities with friends is Bocce!  We had a really fun group and the girls were victorious yet again.  The problem is that it is a pretty short evening and there's not much time to sober up.  I had 3 glasses of wine and it crushed me.  I got sick and was out of commission the entire next day.  Never have I been so affected by alcohol...I guess I'm getting wimpy as I age.

Clearly too much wine!

Yard project

One section of our backyard has always been a bit of a disaster.  We partially fixed it two years ago, but our path was cracking and the slate rocks were broken so dad cleared it all out in March and there was nothing but dirt left.  Under the trampoline and by the tree was looking pretty miserable as well because the bark was no longer covering the ripped weed barrier, so when I looked out my kitchen window, all I saw was weeds, dirt and ripped black paper.  So, after all the sports stopped, we had a few weekends at home and it was time to take care of the mess.  We decided to do artificial grass since its forgiving and pretty easy to work with but we had one problem...the trampoline was too big to move anywhere, so it was tricky.  The trampoline took all 4 of us to lift and even then it barely came off the ground.  We somehow made it work and I can't tell you how much nicer it is!!!

 The neighbors tree is a little bit of a problem, dropping stuff all over the place.  We never used to see it since it was bark and dirt, so now we have a little maintenance, but I don't mind blowing.

Christian Alliance for Orphans

My church asked if I wanted to go to the CAFO conference this year in Louisville, KY and it took me a whole 2 seconds to decide to go!  Although I did have second thoughts when I found out it was on our 20th anniversary, but Ryan insisted, so I went.  I left very early Tuesday morning and came back very late Friday night.  The sessions were so powerful and it was just what I needed to be refreshed and give me some hope.  Tim Tebow made an appearance and we were the live audience for a radio show that was interviewing the governor of Kentucky...wow...is he sure amazing (and his wife too).  I hope he runs for president some day!  It was inspiring to hear the stories of how these speakers overcame their circumstances....terrible, unimaginable circumstances.  God is amazing!  He can turn ashes into beauty :).

Maui

Ryan and I had our annual trip to Maui in early March and it never disappoints.  We go to the beach almost everyday, but try to do one new thing each time.  Ziplining was it this year and although it was a long day, the last zipline was amazing!

We had another first this year...we met a couple from Oregon on the beach and struck up a friendship.  We even went out to dinner with them.  There's a pizza place that was on Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives that we went to and none of us would go back (I think it was the gluten free crust).  We usually just keep to ourselves, but our paths were meant to cross....they sure had a lot of fun stories!
Ryan out looking for his Apple Watch.  Oops.  He was lucky enough to retrieve it from the lake but not the ocean!  It's been a very good thing for him to have a regular old watch :).

Lots of whales this year:

Mom and dad were having lots of fun with the kids while we were gone!  Reggie had a swim meet and Ainsley had a trampoline competition.  Thankfully, no volleyball tournament because that would've been a little much!  The weather was terrible again but Khalif and Ainsley put on a jumping show for grandma.  The trampoline we got off Craigslist is super bouncy.

 Uncle Yu's for my birthday dinner :).  It's amazing how many people fit around a round table.

Dad and Ainsley play these funny games (rock, paper, scissors too) and she just laughs and laughs.

Grandma came back in May when Ryan was in Asia and I remembered to take a few pictures (I'm not as on top of it as I used to be).
Enjoying the 1st market of the year.  It was pretty quiet but very lovely.

 Grandma got to play Bocce!

Driving range

We tested out our golfing skills and we still have a very long way to go!  Ryan should've been there as I know nothing about how a golf swing should look but he was in Asia so we did the best we could and at least by the end were making contact with the ball some of the time!  Khalif was visiting his aunt so he wasn't there to experience our amazingness.  It seems important to say, "keep your eye on the ball."  We had lots of laughs :).

There's some potential

Reggie:

After practice

And me: