Wine, Praying Mantises and Cousins

Sunday we did some wine tasting with friends from church. Lately we've been invited to hang out with this group of young, married couples and it makes us feel old. Anthony (in the orange shirt on my left) is turning 26 this week... But apparently, they think we are cool enough to hang out with them : )

When I watering my herb garden I noticed a couple baby praying mantises walking on the oregano. We bought an egg sac earlier this spring, so I'm guessing these guys came from that. They are growing and are now green (when they first emerge from the sac they are brown). I got my macro lens out and took about 50 pictures of them.

Last week my cousin Shelle and her family flew in from Kansas City. Her brother Matt and his family live in central Oregon and they were coming out to visit. I hadn't seen Shelle in 8 years - had never met her husband or her kids - so it was great to see her. We hung out for a couple hours, then they left for central Oregon to spend the week there.

Last night they came back! This time they brought Matt, so I got to see him, too. Matt's wife, Lana, is tall and she was standing on a bit of a hill when she took this picture so we all look short and squished.

And here we are with our kids. Bailey, Matt's daughter, didn't fit in the car so they had to leave her at Grandma's in central Oregon. She got to come up the week before and their little guy had to stay back.

Yes....Sydney is wearing long sleeves and jeans while everyone else is wearing shorts and summer clothes. We aren't sure why, but she chooses to dress like it's 50 out instead of 80 or 90.

Our neighbors invited us over to sit around their fire pit. Earlier in the day we had gone over to pick blueberries so the girls helped themselves to more berries and then proceeded to roast them. I tasted one and they were surprisingly good!

My girls had a blast with the kids. All week they were looking forward to their return. They were especially excited for their first sleep over!

Shelle getting a photo...