An Orchard Dinner, A Puppy, & A Rainbow, Oh my!

Our neighbors recently hosted a beautiful spring dinner in the orchard. They have such great taste in many things, and what a delicious dinner they served! Oh my, every single thing was incredible.

Josh was delighted to see that one of the other guests was his high school wresting coach. Isn't that fun? It was a lovely evening. Great music, great company, perfect temperature, and of course we loved the setting! :)

Torri & Tammy have been best friends since high school and they know how to throw a dinner! Thank you ladies (& your husbands!) for hosting such a nice evening!

Josh and I headed up to Portland for an evening recently to attend a wonderful dinner with Josh's college buddy who is a chaplain for the Navy Seals. He was here in town for a couple days. They served the yummiest slow cooked pork, salad and rolls, complete with strawberry shortcake. Mmmm!

I always love seeing the city in the evening light.

Grandma & Grandpa Mike got a puppy recently and she's so cute! Grandma Chris brought Abby the puppy to visit for an hour on Selah's birthday. She was in puppy heaven! :)

This gorgeous view never gets old! I love it so very much.

And I love how often rainbows appear, too

For Mother's Day the kids gave me these two little hydrangea bushes. I planted them there, near the peony, by the patio. It will be fun to watch them grow and fill the space.

I read a blog post recently that I saw on Pinterest. It was about how a generation or two ago the norm among American families was dinner at the table every night, enforced bedtimes, chores, limited tv, etc. and how those things seem to rarely be the norm any more. American culture is now more driven by entertainment (our iphones, netflix, ipads, etc.) and living life at such a busy pace (several extracurriculars, etc.) that people are too tired to cook and sit down to dinner at the table, or get to bed at a reasonable hour, etc. Families don't experience these basics anymore, and the majority of our culture no longer puts a high priority on family life, parenting, and order within the home. 

That was great for me to read, because I often feel like Josh and I try to model these things taught by our parents, but it's easy to just be too tired to care sometimes, you know?! ;) We eat dinner at the dinner table most nights of the week, but it's easy for us to be in the rut of just letting kids say, "May I please be excused" ten mins after we sit down and let them head off to Lego building, or using their allotted ipad time. I had forgotten that we kids set the table when I was growing up, and even though my kids know how, I have never asked them to routinely do it. I found out that they love doing it! I was inspired enough by this blog post to step up our dinnertime routine, to make a commitment to put more focus on dinnertime conversation (having the kids ask Dad about his work day and what he does, asking the kids more thoughtful questions), lighting some candles or picking a couple flowers from the yard to just make it feel a little more special. Because these precious years with the kids around our table are special!! And these little moment are impacting when you add them all up together over the years.

I'm thankful for the much needed inspiration that blog post I stumbled upon was.

What a gift this bunch is! :)