portland in the fall

 we decided to take a quick trip to portland.  the girls had a couple days off of school and jason happened to get the same week off at work, i can't believe how well it worked out.

we haven't ever gone over in the fall, the weather was perfect!

krista drove up thursday with the kids. we got to babysit jessy, kami, and bode while kris and tim worked friday.  it was fun haning out with their kids, the girls loved being with their cousins.

the girls got to decorate sugar cookies with their cousins.

we played a ton of games of freeze tag at the park.

krista took me out for my first spiced pumpkin latte, it was so good i got another one for the drive back home.

we saw jason's grandma 3 times while we were there, it was so nice.

abigail and jess asked grandpa if he would pay them for picking apples off his apple trees, he agreed. they ended up picking 400 apples and each made 10 dollars.

everyone came to portland on saturday and we all went to the roloff farm!
i was so excited.  we've watched all their episodes.  it was great to see it all in person and meet them!  we talked with amy and zach and saw matt riding around.
can you believe we stood in a face painting line for an hour, but the kids sure did look cute.
we took the 30min tour of their property, their farm is huge and absolutely amazing!
i can't wait to see their new episodes, they're going to start shooting soon.

 it sure is great to have such a wonderful family.  we love you guys and the time we get to spend together!

 

Insta-Friday of Portland

Highlights from our Portland trip

Finally making it to IKEA, the traffic was horrible.

Portland zoo.

Ca-caw, ca-caw, ca-caw!

Saturday Market and running into Ashy's Kindergarten teacher.

Going to church as a family.

Family dinners.

Kieth's pancakes.

Celebrating Bode's 6 birthday.

Seeing Jason's grandma, Violet.

Looking through pictures and heirlooms.

Building and playing in forts.

Cousins together at all times.

Stay up late and waking up early.

Watching the girls dance performance.

Going out for lunch at a cute little cafe, shopping with Krista.

Walking down the bike paths of Jason's old subdivision.

 Enjoying the sunshine.

Oregon 2011

What another fun trip to OR, this year 

the girls got to meet and get to know their cousins Ollie and Liam

go to VBS with their cousins

Dave, Tim and Jason built an amazing fort out in the woods

our girls, Jessy, Kami and Bode even got to sleep out in it one night with Uncle Tim (it was pouring down rain all night but they stayed out there, we didn't see them until 7:30 the next morning, I was surprised)

We got in a couple of nice days down at the river and then the weather changed and it started raining.

We meet Beverly and Amy in Salem for lunch.

To help entertain the kids (due to the rain) and get rid of some of their energy we were invited to Bill and Jill's to let the kids swim in their indoor pool and one night Rick and Julia brought over a big blow up bounce house.

There were many cousin sleepovers. 

Jessy and Abigail were joined at the hip, it was a lot of fun to watch those two together (I hope they end up as college roommates).

Ash feel in love with horses.  She'd hang out with Auntie Krista and Emily while they took care of the horses.

The cousins did some rock painting in their new cool fort.

Of course there were zip line rides, mornings spent in the hot tube and motorcycle rides.

We took the kids bowling.

We celebrated Tim, Amy and Jason's birthdays.

Abigail got water balloons from us for reading an entire book on the way to OR.  So, Abigail and Jes spent all day filling them up for the cousin water balloon fight.  (note to self, don't forget ... the bucket full of river water)

I loved playing basketball with Bode.  One morning when the sun finally decided to come out, Bode asked me to move the hoop to the shade.  I was like what you want it in the shade and Bode said, "yes, I don't like the sun."  Well, he's perfect for OR. 

It was really hard saying goodbye.  Every year it is.  We can't wait to see everyone again in 2012!

*so I have more photos from our trip but I still haven't downloaded them. we got back home and are now enjoying our last week with J at home.  we only have 7 more days of his 26 day vacation left.  i had to get this post done so that I can share all the other things we've been doing.  maybe i'll get back and add those pictures later.  hopefully.*

Family Reunion

This year we had the pleasure of taking Michayla with us on our annual trip to Sweet Home. Every year we go to the river and I think, the kids (clay and sis) sure would love it here. I'm so glad it worked out to have her come along.


When we pulled in on Friday, the cousin were so excited to see each other and immediately everyone was in their suits and headed down to the river. With Emily soon joining them, the kids walked even further up river than last year, they past the 'drops' and this year went to the 'bush'.

Saturday - was the luau, complete with an in-ground cooked pig and tiki bar.



Sunday - was family picture day


Monday - was a little field trip to Uncle Tim's work, he gave all the kids a fun ride around the block in his fire truck.




and then we all walked over to the tasty freeze for an ice cream cone, papa's treat.



Tuesday - the kids got their very first fort in the woods.
(these trees were just asking to be made into a little persons fort)



Wednesday - Krista took Amy and I to a junk yard. The sweetest old man owned it. I wish I had brought my camera so you could see just how much 'junk' he had, everything and anything you could imagine. We spent a few hours there walking around, digging through the piles.

Here's what I came home with

(the blanket was purchased at another little store in Sweet Home, I thought it'd make a cute picnic blanket)

Krista bought a few old windows, I can't wait to see how she uses them,

and Amy found some things for her 'farm house'.

Wednesday was also the day, of the first ride down the zip line! And then, many, many, many more rides followed.

Thursday - we finally canoed down the river. Tim, Krista and Jessie, Keith, Amy and Emily, & Jason, me, Michayla and Abigail went. We stopped and dropped off the girls at the bush and then picked up the little kids for a short canoe ride back to grandma and papa's bank. It worked out perfectly.

Of course the rest of Thursday was filled with more zip line rides and this time I had my fully charged camera out.

(here's Anna yelling, "can I get a count down!")



The fun never ended, we were busy from morning to night and we even had to stay an extra day to fit it all in.

We sure do love the river, thanks Dave and Mary for having us.

Tea for Ten

Isn't that the perfect tea setting!

Jessie (Abigail and Ashlynn's cousin), Grandma and Papa had a big surprise for all the cousins, they were invited to a tea party in the woods.

The kids had so much fun helping Jessie decorate the table and the woods for the party. Jessie was the coordinator of it all, she had a picture in her head of how everything should look. You could tell she had given this day a lot of thought. Julia made the cutest food. (I wish I had a good picture of it.) Every item of food was cut out in a shape, heart shaped peanut butter sandwiches and flower shaped chicken salad sandwiches. Plus there were veggie and cheese kabobs, which even had cut outs.

This is my favorite picture. They are all holding hands for prayer. Abigail prayed and it was so sweet. That little girls heart felt prayers can sure bring this momma to tears.

After lunch, Grandma read them the book, Tea for Ruby. It was a cute book about a little girl being invited to have tea with the queen. At the end of the story she finds out the queen is her grandmother. The kids all sat so still and quiet while Mary read, almost unbelievable.

The whole party was perfect.

Thanks Jessie, Papa, Grandma and Julia for a wonderful tea party! I know the cousins will remember it always.

Happy Birthday

Jason!

We love you!

While we were in OR we celebrated Tim, Amy and Jason's birthday. It was a great party, full of laughs and good food.

Krista and I took all the kids to the dollar store. They each picked out a present for Tim, Amy and Jason and let me tell you, some of the things they came up with were ... priceless.

Don't kids just make birthdays so much fun!

Even though we're not together today for Jason's birthday, we're looking forward to celebrating with him tomorrow.

Grandma and Papa's River

Our week in OR was during a heat wave. With temps reaching in the 100's everyday and no A/C, the only way to stay cool was to be down at the river, plus it was so much fun.

The kids were able to venture further up and down river. The older kids loved going to the drops, a place where they would jump off a rock and then float down the river with just their life jackets. They also enjoyed taking rafts or intertubes up river and floating down. The little kids stayed close to the beach, throwing rocks, building sandcastles and playing together. One day they filled a raft with water and had their own little swimming pool.

There was also periwinkle, clam and crawdad hunting. Those kids aren't afraid to pick up anything. I think one day they found at least a hundred periwinkles and one night ate one of the crawdads.

This year was the first time we took Abigail down the river in a canoe and the first year that while on our trip down we stopped to get out and swim. That tells you right there, it was hot!

We even had to move the shade tent down into the river so we could put our lounge chairs in the water and sit under the shade.

Oh the life at the river, it was sure nice.

I have more to share and more pictures to post from our family reunion. Check back!