Wedding

As many of you know this last Saturday August 4th was my 18th birthday, but it also happened to be the day that Jonathan and Chelsea Berkompas picked for their wedding.

Daniel was doing the filming so he insisted we needed to be there at about 8:30 and as it is a 2 hour drive, meant we would have to be up at 4:30 and leave by 6:30, thankfully as it turned out we didn't need to be there till about 10:00 so I had a little extra time to get breakfast done and everyone ready.
When we arrived they were taking pictures, and everything and everyone looked beautiful especially the bride.

For the prelude and ceremony they had a stringed quartet and the four members (brothers and sisters of course) played incredibly.

From the look on Jonathans face when Chelsea floated down the isle, you could tell that he had been waiting for this moment his entire life, and you could tell it was their first kiss, they sure made it count!

After the ceremony while the bridal party took more pictures,everyone else stood in the foyer and watched a few slideshows of Chelsea and Jonathan growing up.After that we all headed off to the reception which was held in one of their friends backyard, we took a little while longer to get there because of a few wrong turns and such, but arrived in our usual Bittner fashion- Late.

The wedding feast was a true feast, on the tables there were bowls of grapes (representing the fruitful vine) and then there was Ham, three different types of chicken and Salad, Watermelon, and two different kind of dinner rolls.

For dessert instead of having one big wedding cake there was a little one and lots of different cakes that others had made, Sill and I got to help serve it.




After all the feasting and toasting was over, there was formal dancing, Chelsea and her father, Jonathan and his mother, then other parents joined in, and finally we all got to do some Virginia Reel.

When it was time for them to leave some of the Berkompas boys, their dad, and their friends shot off a 21 gun salute, which I thought was one of the best parts.

After the rice throwing, Jonathan sped off, and the rest of us were left to talk about the events of the day, after a BBQ dinner the rest of us were sitting around talking and having a great time when Tait called and Daniel and Christpher ran off to talk to him, when they came back and announced that Lauren had said yes, and she and Tait will be married next spring, everyone let out a loud cheer.
It was a very exciting and memorable day and we are all very happy for all of them.We had such a wonderful time and our family didn't end up leaving till 9:30, but with Daniels driving we arrived safely home at 11:30.

Yard Work

Last week the day after we arrived home from our family camping trip, Daniel and Stephen went on a three day backpacking adventure to the Olympic Mountains with the Berkompas boys.

On the second day I observed that the lawn was starting to look a little shabby and that something needed to be done, the boys have always been the ones to mow the lawn and when I asked Kenneth-Lee to get the mower out of the shed the twins were wondering why. When I told them that I intended to mow the lawn their mouths dropped open, " thats the boys job"was all they could say.

I practiced on the back yard so the front wouldn't look too bad, and after that the children all helped rake, weed, sweep, and plant flowers. After everything was finished we were all quite pleased with the work we had accomplished.(there are no pictures of Mom, Sill, or Isaac as they were out grocery shopping)

Adventurous Campers

Camp Dwight 07

Last Friday morning found us packing, cleaning and loading the van getting ready for what was supposed to be only a five hour journey to Camp Dwight, after bringing way too much Stuff last year, we all decided that we would "pack light," apparently some peoples ideas of packing light is a lot different than others, and we still ended up bringing quite a few unnecessary items.
We started out at 10:30 in the morning and after only 30 minutes on the road, mom decided we should stop at Costco for some pizza. As we exited the van and entered the building, the younger children were all asking if we were almost there since we had obviously been driving for "such a long time," after getting back on course, missing a few exits, stopping for 4 half hour rest room breaks, and listening to a lot of "are we there yet?" 8 hours later we finally arrived, after a few minutes of squabbling over the best place to put the tent, we sent mom and the children to dinner.


Saturday night was Talent night and with the number of families there, went on till about 11:30pm, one of our favorites was the Voetburg family's 7 year old on his fiddle, and the Booher Brothers twisted version of a fiddle tune.
Sunday after Breakfast we had Church meeting, and for the rest of the afternoon, there was Volleyball, pond swimming, zipline rides, and a lot of fellowship with new friends, we had intended to leave at 4:oo but it took a while to say good-by to everyone then of course we had to have dinner, and do more talking, so we finally left at 7:00, and after only two 10 minute stops, we arrived home at 12:30 , it only took us 5 1/2 hours, we were quite impressed with our record!

Tea Party

Last night since mom was out to dinner with a friend, and we had already cleaned the house from top to bottom, we decided that a tea party was in order, especially because as the children put it we have'nt had one in a long time, ( 2 or 3 weeks being a long time)

Everyone got all dressed up while I prepared the food and tea, and after the twins and Kenneth-Lee set the table we were ready.

Of course you have to finish up every tea party, with a little dancing.

Daniel was'nt able to join us, as he was at Fort Lewis finishing up his last college courses of the year.

Independence Day

One of the best holidays of the summer, besides my birthday August 4th,
is July 4th Independence Day.On the actual day we went to our previous music teachers house, where we swam talked and ate, afterwards we went to our friends the Youngs house for church prayer meeting, fun, and fellowship, and to properly finish off the day, we went to Fort Lewis where we sat in the doorway of our very patriotic colored van and watched the grand firework show.
Saturday, we went to our friends the Bradricks Celebration of the fourth on their farm, where we ate, played: Volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, had Three legged races , sack races, tug o' war, and baloon toss, talked to old aquantainces, and made new ones, and best of all, at the end of the day we sang Hymns arround the bonfire, before heading home.

All in all we had a great holiday, and the only thing that could have been better would have been to have Dad here to celebrate with us. me and Stephen in the three legged race

Sack race

Tug o' war

Thanks to my dear brother our water balloon popped in my face.

watching the water balloon fight, from a safe distance.

not so safe.
and all wet.

Jam Making

The next best thing to picking strawberries, and eating them, is making jam.
This is something that all the children like to help with, especially the taste-testing part.
Last Saturday all my little helpers each had their own important jobs,
Isaac, Josephine, and Gabriella, helped hull the strawberries while Kenneth- Lee smashed them, and I read the directions while Abigail stirred the bubbling sugar, pectin, mixture.
After it was put into the jars, Isaac was in charge of putting the seals and lids on, and finally when all was finished, Stephen came in to help taste-test.

The result was two empty jars, and a lot of sticky faces, but also a lot of happy smiles,since then they have wanted to have jam with every meal, and if allowed we would be out by the end of the week.