Weeds

I am sure that Lara has told many, if not all of you, about all these lame flowers that were planted in our yard and how she wants to rip them up. Well we have had some of them bloom recently and I wanted to show you what they looked like.






















The white ones are Cala Lily's and yellow are Tiger Lily's













These are called Peonies. We're glad we didn't rip them out.

July 4th Weekend

This was a busy and fun Independence Day weekend. The 4th of July is huge for the pyro's in the McMullin household. Attached are some photos and videos of the days events and a typical 4th of July BLAST (pun intented). Now remember, don't try any of the following activities at home. These were done by trained professionals and should not be attempted except in a safe and controlled environment.

That is the joy of dry ice. No wonder it is not recommended to put in mailboxes.

This is a very simple yet effective way to have fun. Please do not try this in mailboxes or at school. Yes we know someone that did and this individual is no longer allowed on school grounds.

The picture below is an example of what it does to the container it is put in.One of our favorite fireworks are called mortar shells. They are like the ones you see in real shows but at a smaller level. Here is a video of one of them going off.

Here are a few great photos that Lara took during the show.

Notice the smiley face on this one

We had a good time on Saturday. We had planned to have a party with some friends in the evening so we came home early and finished getting the house prepared for the festivities. It was a cloudy day, as others have been recently, but it had not really rained and we maintained hope that it would not. Well the party was supposed to start at 5:00 and it started to rain at exactly 4:30. It wasn't a heavy rain but we had planned to have everything out side because our house is too small to have so many people (kids) inside. We kept praying and our faith never waivered and sure enough, right at 5:00 the rain stopped and it was nice the rest of the evening and had even cleared up by the time it was over. It was a great blessing. We had decided to have Shish-ka-bobs for the main course since we figured everyone had hamburgers the night before. They turned out great but take a long time to cook. We also played volleyball and kickball with a beach ball.

Raccoons

Well I made it back safe from Girl's Camp. One night I thought I might be eaten by raccoons, but apparently they only like chocolate marshmellows. Wow, camp was really hard and a ton of fun this year. This is my 4th year going as a leader in two seperate states and I must say that I love the way they do camp in Federal Way. The leaders actually get free time each morning while YCL's take the girls to their different certification classes. One of the highlights was teaching the girls the proper way to play Big Booty. They didn't know about the cool dance moves that can be added for everyone's viewing pleasure. Camp was a lot harder this year mainly because there was only one other leader for our ward and because the girls were all 12 and 13 years old and a few of them were used to someone else doing everything for them. The weather was perfect for camp. It was even warm enough on Friday to swim in the lake and go canoing. I prayed very hard that there would be no rain, since June can be a very rainy month in the Seattle area.

Twilight Book Club

So all of you Twi-hards will appreciate this. For my book club we read Twilight. It was my month to host, so I was in charge of the discussion, treats, and having the meeting at my house. There is a lot of pressure on the treats because everyone tries to make food that was mentioned in the book or have the food mean something in relation to the book. All in all the evening went well. I was worried about cramming 12 ladies into my small living room, but it was fine. I was surprised because a few ladies didn't like the book for various reasons. It was my first time hearing anyone badmouth the book. I admit it was a little hard to hear, but I still love the book just as much as ever.


I tried to have everything be red and black. I served pizza with 1 bite taken out, mini cheesecakes with cherry topping, red apples and caramel dip, and just 'cause I love it spinach and artichoke dip with chips.



I had to take a closeup of the bite taken out. I joked about me taking a bite, but I used a measuring spoon to make the perfect bite.

Here are some of the ladies from my book club. In yellow is my friend Jeanne (you say it the french way Janae). She is the president and is a ton of fun to be around.

Turner's Annual Dinner

Here are some pictures from our photo shoot right before our company party at the Marriot in Seattle. When we really get dressed up we have to take a ton of photos. It was a fun evening. Who doesn't like a party where the drinks are free and long boring speeches are made! There was dancing there as well. So between dancing and dinner we did find something to enjoy as well.

The best part of the day was that I had my makeup done at the Clinique counter and then I bought this awesome necklace. I have to say that Kaila inspired me to buy the necklace because I knew it was something she would wear and she always looks fashionable.

Skye's Wedding

OK, so as you all know I am way overdue on updating my blog. Here are some photos that have to be posted from my fun trip to Utah at the first of May for my cousin Skye's wedding.

This is my sister-in-law Kaila. I stayed with her and my brother Mike for the weekend. We had so much fun. This picture is taken as we are leaving Target after a successful shopping trip for all between the sealing and reception. Kaila was a great chauffeur!

What great smiles! This is my younger sis Jessica (in pink) with baby Elle and my cousins Gracie and Lindy and her baby at Skye's reception.


Here is Elle again with her adoring dad Zach. I can't get enough pictures of Elle so I am posting them for all who enter my blog.

Busy Week

This has been a really busy week. As you know we have been working on the house so I (Jeremy) had a goal to paint the laundry room on Saturday so that meant that there was a lot to do to be ready for that. Well we were sitting down for dinner looking at the living room discussing how to stop the paint line between the 2 rooms, as they are open to each other with no break as you can see in the picture.

Well we finally decided that we wanted to add an archway in between to break up the monotony of it. Then of course I had to add one between the kitchen and dining room to match. This is what it looks like now between dining and living rooms.

With all this fun work we were able to paint the laundry room yesterday. Now I need to get the cabinet doors back on and we will be good in there until we do the flooring. This week our goal is to get the dining room and the new part of the living room painted, as Lara set up a game night on Saturday.

Friday night was exciting as well. We got tickets to go see a Mariners game. The young mens president in the ward is a season ticket holder and he was going to be out of town this weekend so he gave us his tickets. These were GREAT tickets. We were in the 36th row right behind home plate. I have never been to a major event like that where the people still actually looked like people. It was an exciting game and the Mariners won 8-5 against the Angels. Here is us at the game.

Lara's favorite part about the game was during the 3rd inning stretch the grounds crew came out to rake the dirt and make it pretty again. They got in a nice line and raked until they got to 2nd base and then they dropped their rakes and started to dance to "I'm Bad" by Michael Jackson. It was very entertaining. After seeing that Lara is considering a career change.

I also wanted to show all those who have not experienced the pride and joy of the northwest what a rhodadendron bush looks like. They bloom only around this time of year and are spectacular.