Our good friends, Nathan and Kerri organized a Summer Hiking series. where they plan and host a hike each month. We were able to go in June and very few people were able to attend this one and it was pouring rain so we opted for a closer location than the scheduled hike and ended up at Forest Park. This is a huge local trail that we've wanted to explore but hadn't made the time. When we arrived it was pouring rain and Charlie had forgotten his coat...of course he claims that he never gets cold. Shortly after we started the hike, the rain stopped. the trails were still pretty muddy. The boys still loved it!
I'm a fan of his beanie/headband combo.
We found lots of snails and slugs on the trail
We hiked to Witch's Castle. it is an old stone structure. I had no idea what it was so I just did some research. There are all these stories about it going back to 1850 and how it is haunted by 2 feuding families who owned land nearby. But then after all these stories, it was said that it was really just a stone bathroom/ranger station built in the 1950s, then abandoned. And I didn't even take a full picture so here's one from the internet.
It was mostly creepy and stinky and covered in graffiti, but still kinda cool.
My boys love their Nathan and Kerri!
So many photos of Charlie's back, running through the forest...I should put together some sort of collage someday!
Part of the hike went through the city. Nathan got this photo of our family!
The hike then looped back through the forest and up up up the hill to our car. The sun had come out about halfway into the hike which made it much more enjoyable than the pouring rain.
And there you have it...our family being all adventurous!
So, I can't remember what Edwin was doing at 4 months, which is a shame because that is the whole point of these posts! I do remember that is was around this time that he started really holding and playing with toys and getting some good laughs out! Seriously! he is the best baby! Anyway, for his 4 month photos, I wanted to go to an overgrown field, at sunset on our street but I also wanted to take some photos for Father's day to give Max. I'm not great at surprises so Max came to help me and got the good smiles out of our children.
Ok, so this post may be picture overkill but these 3 photos happened in a pretty quick sequence...haha
It's a tradition!
The little boy in this photo is Max's dad who turned 85 last month. The man is Max's grandfather, Gorden Baertlein, doing the same balancing trick.
So then we got to some photos of our boys to give Max for Father's day. I didn't try to coordinate their outfits or anything, it's just what they were wearing on a Sunday evening. And we took a lot because they were having fun!
So..I'm here thinking my boys are all happy and having a special moment...then the next day I look through my photos and see this...Since when is it ok to lick your brother??
Silly faces were encouraged in the end!
Then just a bit of tree climbing before heading back to the house for bedtime!
May kept the excitement coming. I found out that our wonderful friends Richard and Marissa were coming into town through Marissa's mom who asked me if I wanted to do a photo shoot while their whole family was in town. haha! I of course said yes. Their time was short but we got to do 1 park play date and then my whole family went to her parents house when we did the photo shoot. Even though their time was brief, it was so good to spend time with them, and get our kids together! And Max loved his tiny bit of Richard time.
Lacey with her aunt Anna who just left on her mission to Guatamala
A family we've known since we were little kids!
Ok, usually I don't put my photo shoots on my blog but I'm sharing a couple anyway.
Lacey and William
And as if May couldn't even get any better. We had another visit from some amazing friends, Anna and Buck. Anna was asked to be the photographer for her cousin's wedding who was getting married in Portland. So of course we planned out an exciting weekend around the wedding. And I also got to "shadow" her and help with wedding photos. I was awful at taking photos for most of the weekend so I just stole a bunch from Anna. They came in on a Friday night, Max picked them up from the airport. Their baby Clementine Rose came with them but their big girls (June and Hazel) stayed home with family. Saturday morning was the temple wedding so I went with Anna and Buck to the temple and I stayed with baby Rose while they attended the temple sealing. I was able to walk around the beautiful temple grounds and meet up with my sister in law Elizabeth. It wasn't long before Anna and Buck came out. Rose was fed then passed off to Buck and Grandma Pew while Anna and I attempted to figure out the photo situation. The sunlight was harsh and the temple grounds crowded. I ended up mostly observing as Anna took the family photos but I learned a lot.
Photo by Anna...and it may look like a photo of me, but it is really a photo of a 30 foot veil...it just kept coming out of the temple.
Photo by anna...at least from her camera!
Shortly thereafter I went home and Buck and Anna went to brave the Rose gardens. My mom had picked up Miles and Charlie while I was gone and took them to a play, then she was going to keep them for the weekend. I pumped some milk and got ready to go to the wedding reception. Buck and Anna tried to stop by the Rose Gardens with her parents but it was a madhouse and Buck just dropped her off so she could briefly walk through the gardens. It was especially crazy since it was Memorial weekend. Once Buck and Anna came back from the gardens (we would have met them there but it was too crazy) we made our way down to the wedding reception in Salem Oregon, where I ended up taking more photos. It was the most beautiful reception of someone that we didn't know that we had ever been too! haha! After a long night. We were about to leave when we heard Max's brother was in the neighborhood. Anna and Buck went home to our house while we waited a bit to meet up with Max's brother, Brent. When we met him, we found out that he had just been in a really scary motorcycle accident and was so lucky to escape with only some scratches on his body and bike. He was still pretty shaken up about it so we stayed and visited with him, (plus he met Edwin for the first time) We got home late. In the morning we got ready to head to the beach. It was a nice and slow morning so the babies could play together a bit!
Photo by Anna
Anna's mom had found a fun little condo for us to stay in at Rockaway
beach during the weekend that Rockaway was hosting a Kite festival. On the way, we
stopped by a packed Tillamook cheese factory, and didn't even wait in
the huge line for samples.
Edwin stretched his legs a bit after the cheese factory
We then found the Condo and after unloading our stuff quickly we went down to walk on the cloudy beach.
Photo by Anna
Photo by Anna
After a little walk, we made our way to "downtown" and ate some dinner. We found a restaurant that had pretty much every kind of food! After dinner, Anna and Buck put Rose to bed and Anna's dad stayed with the baby while we all went down to build a fire on the beach! Max held Edwin in the Moby wrap who slept the whole time. I loved this part because it's always thrilling to be up passed your kids bedtime, talking to other adults.
Photo by Anna
Photo by Anna
Photo by Anna
Photo by Anna...Foot model...ME..haha!
We stayed out by the campfir for awhile then called it a night as it neared midnight. The next morning we packed everything up. Anna's parents made us a delicious breakfast then we made our way to the Kite Festival. (A little drive up the coast)
Photo by Anna...awkwardly posed by US
Photo by Anna...or Buck?
I tried to take a selfie of Max braiding my hair and this is what happened...and I liked it!
Max borrowed a Pew kite and practiced his skills...
He got pretty good...all while wearing Edwin.
Anna's cute parents
Photo by Anna
we then went out to lunch, right after lunch we left to go pick up our boys and Anna and Buck stayed and checked out the shops with her parents. Both Buck and Max felt like it was the first time they really got to spend quality time with their babies, un-distracted by the older siblings. (3rd child probs) Anyway, We planned to meet up at the Rhododendron gardens after, but we didn't get back from picking up our boys in time. Anna and Buck went and took some amazing pictures. We will hopefully be visiting soon. They then made their way to Voodoo doughnuts and we were just getting back into town so we met them there. All our boys were asleep in the car so I jumped out and stood in the line with them and picked out doughnuts.
Photo by Anna
Photo by Anna
Photo by Anna
We then made our way home and called it a night.
The next morning, Buck and Anna had to pack up so we took more photos of the babies so we are fully prepared for their wedding slideshow.
So this photo is Anna's 3 girls and my 3 boys all around 6 months. We have been lucky enough to get together regularly with them.
Anyway, we are so glad we got the chance to get together with our amazing friends, enjoy a beach trip, learn more about photographing a wedding and so much more fun!
The hike then looped back through the forest and up up up the hill to our car. The sun had come out about halfway into the hike which made it much more enjoyable than the pouring rain. 
