Ore-gone too soon

Dear State of Oregon:

I have been looking forward to seeing you for a long time. I find it very upsetting that our first meeting went by so very quickly. I thank you profoundly for your good weather, great company, and fun memories. However, I do not think that you should have placed yourself quite so far away from Utah, and request that you somehow situate yourself into a shorter drive for next time. I am willing to overlook this shortcoming due to the fact that you have beautiful views and beaches and most especially, that you are home to some of our very awesome family members. We hope that you give them back to Utah eventually, but in the meantime, meeting you was a wonderful experience. Maybe once our minivan recharges and I learn how to pack suitcases like Mary Poppins (and as cheerfully as her) we will come and see you again. I hope so.

Sincerely,
Someone who is trying to get back to the real world after being on a stellar vacation for a week.

PS Jef is sorry he ignored you so much by bringing his Droid on the trip. Ha ha, just kidding, Jef. It sure was nice to have GPS, but next time I will not give in to the temptation to check my emails while on vacation. That just defeats the purpose. We have way to much technology these days. I am almost proud of the fact that we made the entire drive without a DVD player in the car. (With special emphasis on the almost.) Go books on tape!

Now, this will seem like a lot of pictures, but I'll have you know, it is only a fraction of what we took...

We enjoyed getting to see the Columbia River and the State of Washington on the other side of it. On the drive home we stopped to drive across a bridge and then turn around and drive right back across again. We couldn't be that close to a new state without saying we'd set foot (or tire) in it.

For days before we left, Jonathan grew upset if we called this our trip to Portland or our trip to Oregon - we were only allowed to call it our trip to "the beach." We were not exactly sure if he even understood what a beach was, but he was so excited to go there. So I had the camera ready when he got his first view of it - this is how he looked.

Random Ring-around-the-rosies in a parking lot by Seaside beach.

Brotherly Bonding

Are you sure I'm really allowed to be playing in this?

Baby legs in the sand

Completely soaked and freezing and asking for a popsicle. He always demands popsicles whenever he gets wet - it's like his after-swimming tradition.

The crew at the first beach we stopped at - Seaside beach, where Jef's Grandma lived while his Grandpa was in the Navy during WWII. We also drove passed Cannon beach right after this in honor of the Goonies being filmed there. (Don't worry, I didn't do the truffle shuffle.)

So happy to be in Oregon

Logan stayed in this backpack most of the time. We were okay with the fact that he wasn't crazy about the cold water since that meant one less kid to chase. But he did get out and "run away" from the waves a few times with the rest of them.

Jane and Bo-daner at Pacific Beach where we stayed

Cousins, water, and sand. A recipe for fun.

Taylor just chilling in the frigid water like it's no big deal.

Favorite place to play in the townhome - the closet. There's no explaining little kids.

Little Buddies. After they spent hours building in the sand, we decided that everyone should have a sandbox for a front yard.

Shots by the Cape Meares lighthouse
Jane enjoying the sunny day - we felt lucky we got to see some

Logan at the lookout by the lighthouse.

Waiting for our food at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was followed by a taste of delicious ice cream.

So much fun + so little time = pure blissful exhaustion

Showers - both Rain and Meteor

Sorry to keep blogging all day, but I just want to share this information with the world because it is so cool -

First of all, I think that seeing my kids and their neighborhood friends dancing in the huge rainstorm we just had was the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Who says rainy days are gloomy?

Second of all, if you go outside about 9:30 tonight and look in the western sky, you can see 3 planets at once all right by each other. We did this last night and it was awesome. They are supposed to be closest this weekend. They are Venus, Mars, and Saturn.

Then, next week there is a meteor shower that will reach it's peak on the 12th. We are planning on viewing it and would highly recommend it as super summer fun.

Time Flies When You're Having Sun

All year-round, our family talks and plans for all the fun things we're going to do over the summer, and then all of the sudden it's almost over already! How does this happen? Okay, I admit I have secretly wished for school to be back in session a time or two, and with 6 of us home all day and toys scattered everywhere I have really been feeling the need to get the basement finished, but overall we've just enjoyed the sweet freedom. It has been especially nice to have Jef out of school for the last few weeks. We have loved all of the time we've spent with both of our families. We have tried to keep busy with some projects around the house and yard but mostly we've ended up just hanging out and never seem to get too bored. Funny how that usually happens. Now that there are only 3 weeks left I feel a little panicky about all of the we didn't get around to. Luckily we have some of the funnest stuff saved for last. And our house and yard projects will still be there waiting for us when it's all over.

Anyway, here's some things we've done this summer since last I posted:

Jono gets a summer buzz. He was so excited and kept rubbing his head saying "Dad shaved me!" A couple of days later he changed his mind and wanted us to put his hair back on.

The annual Pony Express parade. It's still just as fun our third year as it was the first.

Jef runs in the RAGNAR and also in two 5ks. And he loved it so much he wants to do it again next year. He inspires me enough that I've stared running one lap around the park once in a while. Almost the same thing.
He also replaced his old truck with a bigger, newer one. Now he's been called as the Young Men's President. Coincidence? We are curious if we will ever see him once school starts again, but he will do a GREAT job and hopefully have some fun too. Our bishop told me that I would be blessed with energy here at home while Jef is gone more often, so I am excited for him to get started because I could sure use it!

A happy end to a fun baseball season. Go Twins.

Fun times lighting off fireworks with my WHOLE family. Every single one of us.

Fun times in Park city with Jef's WHOLE family. Every single one of us. My kids saw every cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent and great-grandparent they have in the same week. How cool is that?

A trip to my old hometown in Idaho for my Grandpa's funeral. (Also the same week -yes, it was a busy one!) It was, of course, very hard to say goodbye to Grandpa, but is always a neat experience to show the kids where I grew up. I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in ages - both family and old primary teachers and such. I am glad that Grandpa is with Grandma and can't wait to see them both again someday.
One of Jef's good friends also passed away that week. We were sorry to miss his funeral and hope his family knows that they are very much in our thoughts and prayers.

Me and mom at the cow mailbox. Memories like this aren't easy to top.

Logan enjoying Fine Cuisine

Taylor at our Cub Scout Day Camp.

Jane, just being silly. She starts on her soccer team this month.

Hannah losing her first tooth and getting super excited for Kindergarten

Summer is especially good for just hanging out...

and relaxing.

Armpit Accent

Okay, so I haven't posted in about a decade. And for once, we actually have some fun things to blog about, so here goes. Please prepare yourself for a lot of words and a lot of pictures.

First off,
Taylor is nine. He (and I) have moved up to the Bear Den in scouts and the whole family got to enjoy our first ever pinewood derby last month. Our ward had 32 scouts entered, which is really quite a lot. It was a fun (but extremely long) night, and Taylor and Jef are proud to report that their car, Certain Death, placed 4th overall. Also, Tay is playing on a baseball team for the Twins this summer and is enjoying it much.
Taylor is very much like how I would picture Jef as a nine-year-old. Of course, I have no idea what Jef was like as a nine-year-old, but I do know him now, and Taylor acts like he does, so there you go.
Here is an example of the sense of humor that they share and which we all get to enjoy so often: Taylor was talking about a girl who had an armpit accent. Naturally, I was curious to know exactly what constitutes an armpit accent, so I asked. According to my firstborn son, an armpit accent occurs when everything someone says sounds like the noises made when you put your hand in your armpit and flap your arm up and down. Come on, you know which one I mean. So, now just picture a girl talking like that and there you go - armpit accent.
Anyway, to celebrate the big oh-nine, a few Saturdays ago, Taylor got two awesome parties with doughnuts, cupcakes, granparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nice weather, a team baseball game, and a cousin baseball game. On his real birthday, we went shopping for a wii game and picked up Little Ceasar's hot n readys. They are Taylor's favorite pizza and he begged for them, so who were we to deny him such an extravagance? The real fun began when everyone got to eat them in the living room. The difference between this and every other meal is that this time they actually had permission to do so. My kids seem to have an aversion to sitting and eating at the table, especially Jono. I find his food in some of the most unusual places you can imagine.

Second of all, school got out. You might have noticed all of the mothers at Walmart with tired looks on their faces and a long line of kids behind them. It has been a blast so far in a completely exhausting kind of way. We took an overnight trip to the metropolis of Torrey, UT and spent some time in Capitol Reef National Park. It was beautiful and really great to go somewhere awesome so that we can put pictures on our blog and feel like we actually do get to do fun stuff once in a while. Jef's parents were kind enough to come with us and we were grateful for the company and the extra helping hands. Living close to Grandparents is a blessing.

That's enough blabbering, now here's all the pictures.
Hannah and Jane wore matching skirts the other day, so we took a bunch of pictures. I know the skirts aren't actually in this picture, but lets face it - even if they dressed identically, they look nothing alike. And yet still, they act much alike.
Won't sleep in a bed, but will sleep in a high chair. He looks the way I feel.

Taylor a little ticked off at his trick candle. I guess a doughnut that good is just not safe to eat without a helmet on.

The cousin baseball game. But who are all those old men playing with them?

Don't worry, the person taking the picture is not the same person who is going to catch him on the way down.
Jane and Katie didn't want to play baseball because they just wanted me to take their pictures. I guess it must be nice to be so dang cute.

Pizza, pizza and wii, wii.

Group shots at Capitol Reef. If we look so tired in the second picture it is because we all completed a nice long hike and are pooped. We did not leave Hannah home alone, she just was too tired to get in the picture.
And here's a shot for those who say that Logan looks exactly like his Dad. I agree that they share the same rugged good looks, but I do believe those are Bauer eyebrows. Anyway, he's saying, "Summer is AWESOME!"

One is NOT the Lonliest Number

Logan, is one. One year old. One awesome kid.

This kind of occasion calls for a party!
Well, two parties, actually because that's just the way we like things around here.
(Note to unnamed cousin - you will see that Logan has taken to wearing clothes again while spending time in his "special place" - we hope you choose to go this route as well.)


Jono played the part of the typical jealous older brother very convincingly.
Here is Logan on the new Buzz Lightyear couch.

Here is Logan off the new Buzz Lightyear couch.

Here is Logan surrounded by adoring fans. He should definitely feel loved.

Here's the happy kid with frosting on his face. He also ate a big chunk out of his candle before we noticed. Guess he can't tell the difference between my frosting and a giant piece of wax. Hm.


Working away to assemble the new picnic table.

Testing out it's durability by sitting on top of it. Yep, it's satisfactory.

Out of the infant stage and into the toddler. Fun times behind, fun times ahead.

On a more serious note, we spent the days before and after Logan's birthday at the dr. He was having a cough with breathing issues (in that he couldn't very well.) We've been giving him steroids and breathing treatments and the consensus is that he has a little bit of an asthma problem. He is also not gaining weight very well (oh, that I could say the same!), and the two issues together caused enough concern for the dr. to recommend he be tested for cystic fibrosis, just to be safe. He tested negative (phew!) but the one sleepless night I spent thinking of how different things would be if we found out he did have it gave me only the smallest taste of what some parents must go through. To the friends we have who deal with these kind of medical issues all of the time, thank you for all you do, and you are awesome.