It's just not a birthday without a pinata........

Cassidy and all her sweet, little girlfriends opening her gifts.

June 12th was the most beautiful day of the year.........we partied in the park and the kids played for hours! Wonderful day!!!

A Birthday Princess Cake.........Life is Good!

Cassidy plants her garden...........We made flowers for her 5th Birthday Luau.

There is such a powerful draw of our souls to God when we witness the majesty of His creation.

If it's there, it must want to be climbed upon.......

Hiking buddies forever!

Cassidy and I took Don to see Sol Duc Falls and the rainbows..........gorgeous as ever!

It's impossible to pick a favorite rhodie......they are all stunning.

On the journey home we decided to check out the rhododendron's at Whitney Gardens.......they were gorgeous and in full bloom.

Poppy and Cassidy looking for wildflowers.

Some gorgeous lower falls.

No one does art like God.....

The hiking Bankerts visit Murhut Falls for our annual Mother's Day hike! What a beautiful hike this was with a great waterfall payoff! WOW!

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island.........Happy Mother's Day to me and to all of you!!!!

We even saw foxes at Friday Harbor.....so much wildlife!!!! (I think he is taking a pee, though......hahaha)

Little barrel of beauty.......This one is for you Marla!!!!!

Gotta love getting the face shot with wildlife.........We stood looking into the sea for orcas for the longest time when Don spotted this guy on the rock nearby.......haha!

Searching for orcas on San Juan Island..........we saw some serious fins but no breeching.........gorgeous place, though, with or without the orcas!!!!

At the whale museum in Friday Harbor.......

When it is beautiful, it is REALLY beautiful!!!

Joy captured on film!!! Don took us to Friday Harbor for Mother's Day and it was FUN!!!!!

Don wanted the Vegas Aunties to know that he loves them and wears their farmer hat.......xoxoxoox

Cassidy in her first ever parade! The historic Sequim Irrigation Festival has been going strong for 115 years! She rode with her girlfriends in the caboose for Eastern Hills Church......too cool!

Picnic in the Pacific Northwest..........gotta love it!!!!

Spring is here!!! Yahoo!!!!!

These are some of Cassidy's first girlfriends..........Ava and Jenna. We know them from church and this photo is from the last night of AWANA. Awana is a wonderful program for kids that teaches them about Jesus and the Bible in a girlscout/boyscout kinda way. Cassidy loved it! We went for about 8 months and this was taken at their awards ceremony.

Auntie Bea........this one's for YOU!!!!! God bless your soul!...........(Don asked me to take this photo for you........haha)

We had a picnic at Crescent Lake and Cassidy so freely shed her clothes..........It made my heart so glad to see her freedom, joy and abandon!!! How I don't want her to lose that! I thought of all my wonderful girlfriends as I pondered the difficulty of being a woman........I pray you are all "naked and unembarrassed" and I love you all!

Little Bean already has the outstretched-thankful hands to her Creator for His amazing creation!!!

We took a little hike today on the Railroad Trail of Crescent Lake.............This is our view of gorgeous Crescent Lodge. What a beautiful day!

My friend, Joanne, from Kol Simcha Farm. I met her at Care Net. I LOVE hearing this woman pray and talk about Jesus! What a true lover of God!!!! We loved visiting her farm; feeding the lambs and meeting her very cool hubby!!!

Lamb of God........You take away the sins of the world............have mercy on us............

Cassidy, Nonny and I went to a friend's farm and fed her lambs...........(Kol Simcha Farm, which is Hebrew for the sound of JOY) It was wonderful and really made us feel as if spring is REALLY here!!! And there is just that cool connection you feel to the earth when you visit a farm! It was also wonderful for Cassidy to see where food really comes from.........that information is unknown to our young for the most part. It was also fun to find that they use my cousins seeds from Territorialseed.com.........the most amazing pacific-northwest connection company!

Almost too cute to eat!

Nonny and Cassidy bake a super cute bunny cake for Easter.

You are all invited to Cassidy's party.........what a spread she lays out!!!

Happy Easter to everyone! We got up SUPER early on Easter morning to attend a sunrise service at the beach..........It was a very wonderful experience but Cassidy froze her little booty off!

We had our first ever garage sale Easter weekend.........Cassidy sold brownies, cookies and pink lemonaide and made $16.47........Wow!! It was fun & we did well and had nothing but sweet people but I'm thinking it's just way TOO much work!!!!

I just loved seeing this gorgeous rainbow from God over our church the other night! Thank you Jesus!

Cassidy's sweet friend, Amberwhite.

Amberwhite and Cassidy climbing, hiking, running, giggling and playing all afternoon.......too cute!

Girlfriends Rule!!! Cassidy & her girlfriend, Amberwhite, hit the Farmer's Market in Port Angeles.

Don and I visited the Pittock Mansion in Portland recently..........very cool and highly recommended......

Hello Bandit! We were out taking a winter hike at the beach and Cassidy spied three coons up in the tree......

Cassidy with her organic carrots from Nash's Organic Farm. (She doesn't want those icky old regular carrots now......) We bought a winter share in the farm so we pick up a box of veggies every week at the Farmer's Market. It has been wonderful learning more about winter veggies........I used to avoid them! You just can't beat locally grown and organic for flavor! We're hooked and now going to the Farmer's Market is habit........Our planet sure needs it so it feels and tastes darn good!

Cassidy playing and munching Cheerios with her girlfriends Maddy & Ava at Eastern Hills Church.

Cassidy playing with her friends at Eastern Hills Church. She said a prayer the other day asking Jesus into her heart-----amazing that a 4 1/2 year old gets it about Jesus and it took me 31 years!!! Gotta love it!