{Soaked to the Bone}

***This post was supposed to publish on Friday, not today. Blogger just didn't feel like publishing anything that day. The berry picking events actually took place on Thursday. Confused? Me too. Over and out.***

Yesterday evening after dinner Cory and I decided to go raspberry picking at his family's farm. I had tried earlier in the day to find berries on the farm (and drug my poor friend all over God's creation trying to find the berries) but we had no luck. Cory was sure he knew where some were growing, so off we went. We dropped Dixon off with Cory's mom and headed into the woods. Cory was right - there were black raspberries galore! We had to blaze a few trails into the thick woods to get to some of them, but it was fun.

And then it happened. Just as we were deep in the woods, thoroughly immersed in gathering juicy berries, the skies opened and turned our northern woods into a rainforest. I'm not talking about a nice summer shower, folks. I'm talking a full-blown, straight down hard downpour. We tried to take refuge under trees until an ear-splitting crack of thunder convinced us that the dirt path might be a tad bit safer place to stand. So we grabbed some giant leaves and made makeshift umbrellas and waited it out. We waited a loooong time. Just when the sun would start to shine and the rain would let up a little bit, another round would start. The girls actually did pretty well under the circumstances. They definitely wanted to leave and complained a bit, but overall they took it well. By the time the rain stopped we were all literally soaked to the bone. Our feet squished in our sneakers, our clothes stuck to our skin, and forget about any kind of hairstyle other than "drowned rat".

We managed to pick four containers of raspberries despite being sopping wet. And there are plenty left so we'll definitely go back. Now I need to decide what to do with them! Do we just eat them fresh? Do I freeze them? Do I make some cobbler, jam, or other recipes? Hmmmm . . .

Here's a photo Cory took on his iPhone. It's really small because I lifted it from Facebook but that's ok. You can't quite make out just how horrible we all look this way! ;)

{Babies}

Last weekend was a celebration of babies. It began with a birthday party for my niece, Emme. My sister and mother went ALL OUT for this party: hand sewn utensil and napkin holders, handmande cupcake liner streamers, a dessert table overflowing with cake pops, cupcakes, chocolate dipped rice treats, and other goodies, delicious food, balloons, and photos of Emme from her first year hung with mini clothespins strung throughout the house. It was quite the party! Lots and lots of people - both family and friends - came to enjoy the day with our favorite little cupcake.

Becky made Emme a cupcake smash cake. She actually made three of these giant cupcakes but the first two attempts ended up as cake pops. The end result? Perfect! Who wouldn't love a cupcake bigger than their head?

It really does seem like Emme was just born. I still remember her all wrapped up in her light blanket to ward off the jaundice that was threatening her when she was just born. She looked like a little glow worm! Now she is an adorable one-year-old who is almost walking and who has a sweet little personality. Amazing.

My other sister, Jen, and her family were here for the weekend to celebrate Emme's birthday AND to have their newest family member, Jayce, baptized on Sunday. Both Jayce and Emme were baptized during a beautiful service. How wonderful to welcome them both to the family of God!

While relaxing at Emme's party, Adam got Jayce hollering and laughing. It was ridiculously adorable to see this big 4 month-old boy (lovingly referred to as "Moose") vibrating with laughter.

Seriously, does it get any cuter than this? Ugh. Makes my uterus ache.

I love how our family keeps growing. It seems that every year or two we add another baby to the mix, and it's awesome! Babies keep us humble, grounded, and selfless. They bring laughter and immense joy to our lives. Thank you, Becky and Jen, for sharing your babies with me this weekend!