N8, Brooke, Taylor, Jade and Reese Rasmussen

We're Back!

2011-08-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile, ok, almost 2 years is more than awhile, but I'm ready to get back into the blogging habit as so many of you have inspired me. We have had a crazy year in 2010 but we have landed on our feet and are enjoying our new adventures. In a nut shell, over the past 18 months we....

Sold our beloved Molalla home that we built/slaved over the past 3 years...

There are things I miss and don't miss about this home, the one thing I do miss is my beloved kitchen. The one I have now is maybe half the size or less. We have some fond memories here we'll cherish forever. After our exhausting move of which we never could have done without our extremely generous family and friends who not only pitched in to help us move but also helped a great deal with the finishing projects. We never could have got it done without them. Thanks again!! Since we weren't sure where to go from there but wanted to stay in the area we opted to move in with our wonderful friends the Vests.

We took a great trip to Mexico with fabulous friends...

Enjoyed a trip to the zoo with a rare appearance from dad which was fun! Not long after this we found out we were pregnant!

Taylor gave her sister a hair cut because she "wanted to look like her daddy". It sounds cutter then it looks. I cried.

Well we have much more to share but baby #3 is calling my name. To be continued...

2010 Update

2010-12-23T11:16:00.000-08:00

Due to the hustle and bustle of the holidays we were unable to post a 2010 update. Please check back after the new year to see and hear about what and where we've been in 2010 and what we're looking forward to in the new year.

Happy Holidays and lots of love,

Nate, Brooke, Taylor and Jade

Grandma's Zoo trip

2009-11-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back we were blessed with a visit from Nate's mom Carla for an entire week. The girls were extremely excited and had a whole list of things they wanted to do with Grandma. Although we didn't get to cross everything off, we did have a lot of fun and as usual she was a great help to us around the house. One of the main attractions was a trip to the zoo. I hadn't been to the Portland zoo in over 10 years and the girls are old enough now to really enjoy it so off we went. We were fortunate that the weather was great, you never know what you are going to get in the fall here in Oregon but it was sunny and warm and the animals seemed to appreciate it too because almost everyone was out enjoying themselves in the sun which to us meant perfect viewing. Even better we went on a week day so there were no lines at all and the kids got to get up close and personal, more often then they liked. This mountain goat had no problem with an audience while he ate his lunch.

We of coarse had to stop and get an elephant ear. Taylor especially liked that.

Jade and this orangutan had a staring contest. I'm pretty sure the monkey won because Jade was a little uneasy about the whole thing.

This was her stiff competition.

The girls loved watching the penguins swim and had to preform their happy feet dance.

The sea lions put on quite a show swimming circles.

This leopard is highly endangered which was sad to read about.

The crocodile was very friendly, a little too much for the kids taste. They wouldn't get near him for the picture.

The zebras were my favorite!

And you have to love the hippos doing what they do best!

The most favorite attraction was the elephants. They really are enormous.

Just outside the elephants there was a little park of animal statues. This was Jade's favorite.

But the hippo had room for two! This is the zoo's latest baby elephant who is a right around a year old now, I think.

All in all we couldn't have asked for a better day at the zoo!

Taylor's Birthday

2009-10-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little late but I had to post a few pics of Taylor's birthday. We had a party for her at our house and had our family and some of her friends and their families over for a Italian potluck. The place looked like a mad house with what seemed like a hundred kids running around in every age group but I think everyone, especially the birthday girl had a good time so we consider it a success.

My friend Connor and I made the cake and we were a little impatient with the icing, I don't think it was quite cool when we put it on so it moved a little on us but it was sooo good. Chocolate cake with butter cream almond frosting and we swirled homemade triple berry jam in between the layers. It was our own little invention but I have to say it turned out great.

With all of the celebrating of Taylor's birthday Jade decided she need to have a party of her own that week. Her sister ratted her out that she was playing in mom's make up.

Sometimes those big sister's can be such a pain. She was having a pretty good time.

Fruits of our Labors

2009-09-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to dive right on into gardening. I took a small class with my mom and Aunt Vicki and it gave me a good enough starting point. So with some additional pointers from friends off we went. We put in a large raised bed area along the side of our house which turned out to be a great spot because we are in the middle of the harvest right now. This is Taylor with a zucchini we let go a little too long. She thought it was the coolest thing. This is from our first harvest of green beans. The girls are having so much fun picking what they helped plant and yes, they do eat some of it, but we still have some work to do in that department.

This is from just a few nights ago. We got to pick our first corn and Taylor asked to have it for her birthday dinner. It had good flavor but wasn't as crisp as we would have preferred so we are giving it a little more time. When I asked Taylor what else she wanted for dinner she said rice and fish. Nate got to go salmon fishing a couple times this year so we have some salmon in the freezer and a great recipe we got from our friends the Vests. Taylor likes to eat the fish plain with her fingers. Who would have thought! We also have tons of roma tomatoes which is great. I have gotten the canning bug this summer and so I maybe adding diced tomatoes to my pantry soon. I did a bunch of jam with my friend Laura and mom, my other friend Cheri and I picked and canned 200+ pounds of peaches which was quite the adventure and then Laura also taught me how to do dill pickles so I'm excited and on my way!

These two are pretty excited too! And if you have any gardening pointers I'm definitely open to them. We are also having a fruit fly problem right now so any pointers on how to get rid of these darn things would be appreciated as well.

Fun at the Beach!

2009-08-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

This past week some of our friends who had moved to Utah came into town for a quick visit and so we headed to meet them at the beach and have a fun afternoon. Despite living so close we don't get over there often enough and the girls LOVE it! This is Jade's latest lovely habit when you say smile, she gets that closed eyes, wrinkled face, forced smile. Lovely. I guess that is what I get for interrupting their intense sand castle building. This picture just cracked me up. I swear she was carrying more then her own body weight in those two buckets.

She was headed down to the shore to see Taylor, her bestest ever friend Riley, and Riley's cousin Brody.

Once I got close enough the conversation was fabulous. Apparently they were baking something with their sand and they could remember which bucket of sand was the sugar and which was the flour.

This picture was originally just Taylor and Riley but Jade came running down when she saw the girls posing.

And this is the lovely view Lindsey myself and Kacey got all afternoon. Sorry Taylor but you have the "no butt" curse, passed on from the women in my side. Thanks mom!

We had a wonderful afternoon at the beach and visiting with friends. Thanks Bluths and Sheffields. We miss you guys!!!

Summer catch up

2009-07-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Well this summer is flying for us as I'm sure it is for many of you. We have been busy trying to balance work with play and I have once again neglected our blog. I'll do my best to give a summary of the fun things we've been up to.
Mid June we had a joint birthday party for Jade and Nate. Jade's birthday was May 31st and Nate's was June 10th. We had a bunch of friends and family over and had a great time. Thanks to all of those who joined us and made this such a memorable birthday for both Jade and Nate. The pic below is Jade trying to blow her candles out. She get the blowing part, but she kept blowing the air up which wasn't helping out with the candles much.

Despite her trouble blowing the candles out, she had no problem eating the delicious cake Little Linda made for her. She also didn't waste any time putting on the fuzzy jacket Grandma Kelli made for her. Thanks again Kelli for all of the adorable clothes and the time and effort that went into them.

We did have some guests/gifts of honor from our friends Ezra and Tracy, chickens. Apparently they decided since we live in the country, our place just couldn't be complete without a pair of chickens. Meet Henrietta and Rochelle. I just figured Henrietta was a must if you are going to have chickens and Taylor named the other after herself, how original.

The next morning we were greeted with a surprise. This is now one of Taylor's favorite daily chores, collecting the eggs. We typically get 2 eggs per day.

While most of the guests were outside, a few lounged indoors and enjoyed the first Transformers movie. There is Sebastian, the Sprague's exchange student, Connor Vest, Lance Gunter, Michael Gunter, and Jade and her boyfriend Justin Vest. Justin is the son of a family we are great friends with and Jade has taken quite a liking to him. We all call Justin her boyfriend. Where ever he is she climbs up in his lap and snuggles right in. Luckily Justin doesn't mind.This is what happens at our house during summer when the girls play outside all morning and I can't get their lunch ready fast enough before they fall asleep.

For a weekend in June we went camping at Fort Stevens up in Astoria with a bunch of families. One of the days the boys headed out to the dock to fish while us girls played games on the shore. This is Mark Vest and his son Hayden with Nate and the girls.

With much help Taylor did actually catch a fish. I think once Nate got it on he let her real it in. It was quite the highlight for her.

I love this picture because he had her hold up her princess pole like she used it to catch the fish. That pole has never even had a hook on it. I guess she won't have to know that years later when she sees these pictures.

We took a short bus tour around Fort Stevens the last day we were there. This is right before we loaded on the truck.

After we got situated we took this last picture before setting out. The girls only lasted about 10 minutes later when they passed out after 3 days of camping and bike riding.

Although the quality of this picture didn't turn out so well I had to include it. As Jade got more tired she of coarse wanted to sit with Justin. He put his hat on her to help her fall asleep and when he tried to take it off she pulled it right back on. So this is how they sat for the entire hour long ride.

We went to a rodeo that had a fireworks show that Jade wasn't so fond of. She snuggled in close to me until she realized who was standing behind us.

Our friends the Vern and Nicole Peterson came down and spent the 4th of July weekend with us which was a blast. We went to a rodeo which wasn't the the highlight of their weekend because their 3 year old twins weren't as interested in the rodeo as they had hoped so they ended up spending the evening with two dead weights on their laps. We did have a good time at the Molalla 4th of July parade the next morning. This is Vern with his three boys, Chase and Joseph and Nicholas.

We were smart enough to bring some shade since that is the first to go on the parade route. There happened to be a couple of guys sitting in their car keeping cool behind us so they joined our shady spot.

Here is our little family waiting for things to get started.

After the parade and a quick bite to eat we headed over to the train rides. We all had a good time but Vern and Nicole's twins love trains so they especially loved it, so much we had to go twice. And no, we didn't leave Vern with all those kids on one car.

This last picture was a quick shot after one of Alex and I's soccer games. I have played on an outdoor team in between pregnancy's the last few years and now that Alex is done with high school and club ball she got on my team this summer. It's been really fun playing with her. For those of you who don't know my family, from left to right is my mom holding Taylor, me holding Jade, my brother Cody and my sister Alex.

Memorial Day weekend

2009-06-02T08:45:00.001-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend this year we got to take a road trip back over to Idaho to visit Nate's family and our friends and to celebrate birthdays. Since we only all see each other a few times a year we celebrated Jade's, Gabe's, Wanda's, Nate's, Nalene's and I even got my gift from Nalene (thanks again!) This is when it was Jade's turn to blow out the candles. She did a very good job.Nate's mom, Grandma Carla got all of the kids some small gifts and these were part of that. I'm not sure who enjoyed them more, the girls ......

or Nate!!

This is the precake and gifts photo, about the only time they were all paying attention. Scott and Nicole had previous holiday plans so Cooper and Brody weren't able to join in the fun.

One thing that made this trip so great was my dad and step mom Kelli purchased a nice motor home about 2 months prior. My dad kept offering it to us for our Idaho trips which we haven't been able to take as often as we wanted, but we happened to have already been planning this one and they were generous enough to loan it to us even before they were able to take a trip in it. It worked out so great. Although the gas isn't great (avg. about 8 miles to the gallon and never went above 65 mph to keep the cost down) we really enjoyed moving from house to house and being able to make sandwiches, changed our clothes and just really not worry about getting somewhere by a certain time because the girls could just sleep when needed, although they of coarse didn't sleep enough. Jade was very sick the whole way home Wednesday with a cold and temperature and just wanted to sleep and be held the whole time so I'm not sure what we would have done in a car. Nate has it now and we are going to the Dr. today because Jade still hasn't gotten much better. This is her taking a nap on the couch.

Thanks again Grandpa Dutch and Grandma Kelli for your generosity.

Well of coarse no trip to Idaho would be complete if there wasn't some horseback riding included. Nate has been telling Taylor for weeks she was going to get to ride Grandpa David's pony so the first thing she packed was her cowgirl boots. Grandpa couldn't find his pony saddle so the kids went bareback. Gabe was a trooper despite getting bucked off at least 3 times, once he even landed on his feet, he kept jumping right back on. After seeing the second time Gabe was bucked off Taylor was done with the horse. She went a few times with Gabe but the horse isn't completely broke in and was skittish so it Taylor got a little too scared. Grandpa promised her next time we come she'll be ready to go, and he found his saddle!

All in all is was really a great trip and we all had a great time. We loved seeing family and friends that we don't get to see often enough. Really guys, we aren't kidding when we say come and visit. We'd love to have you! So thanks everyone for the fun and memories and we hope to see you all soon.

Good bye Uncle Brian

2009-05-07T12:05:00.001-07:00

My brother Brian is deploying on his second tour in Iraq so the girls and I went over to his house two Fridays ago for a BBQ. We got to visit with him and the girls had a blast getting into trouble with his other sister's boys all afternoon. We don't see him or his wife Val as often as we wish but it was fun to see him before he leaves for just over a year and a half.

You can't tell these two are related at all can you?! I had been looking at the two of them for 3 hours, but when they stood side by side and smiled it was like looking at twins, only instead of being separated by minutes it was by many years. This picture may not do it justice but really I was surprised. We hope Brian has a safe and enjoyable time. We are so grateful for his sacrifice and will be keeping him in our prayers. This is a picture he sent my dad just yesterday with him in his new body armor after he had been walking for over 3 miles. Definitly not your everyday stroll in the park. Looks like pretty tough work to me!

April Fun

2009-04-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

The Easter weekend was an eventful one for us. We got to go to a friends giant Easter egg hunt lunch which the kids absolutely loved. Here are the girls in the garage waiting for the eggs to be hidden.
Many of the eggs were just sitting in the grass (this is the 5 and under hunt) so I held onto the girls and waited for the ready, set, GO!Taylor had no problems taking off. Jade was a little bit slower.
Needless to say we went home with plenty of goodies. This Easter egg hunt puts our Easter bunny to shame. :)

Although this wasn't the same night it could have been everyone was so tired after that fun weekend. We had a great dinner at my aunt Vicki's on Easter Sunday. The girls love sunglasses and I couldn't resist snapping this pic of Jade asleep with some on upside down.

Thank you Riley!!

2009-04-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

A while back Mimi and Papa, Taylor's best friend Riley's grandparents came back to Molalla for a visit after their family had all moved to Utah. We were delighted to get to chat with them at church and Taylor was especially excited because they brought with them a special bracelet Riley had made for Taylor. She has been enjoying it very much and wanted to send Riley a special message:

ttt uhj hgghhvcb,jbbvm,k///l.gxhm,,m,.l.;/?/nbv ,gujhjklp[]\\qwerrrtytytuyyuyiyuiuoiopo[p]\

Translation: Riley, I really like my bracelet. Thank you for making it for me. I miss you and I want you to come visit me. I love you.

This is just a picture of the true binky addict Jade is!!

At last!!

2009-03-09T12:28:00.001-07:00

I've been talking about it since before we even moved in and I finally accomplished it (with A LOT of help). When we designed this house I wanted a bench seat in the nook. I had always wanted one and thought it would be a great sewing project for me to make a cushion. After almost two years and a wonderful step mom who did 70% of the work, my vision has come to life.I am in no way a seamstress. I want to learn to sew but it hasn't quite made it high enough on my priority list. This project was a great way to force me to make the time. Kelli helped me figure out how much fabric I needed and then I went and got everything. Of coarse I just had to have the cording all the way around everything so that just made it that much more difficult and pretty much left it in Kelli's hands for much of the complicated areas (the whole cushion). Actually, we had started this project last winter because I wanted it to be done for a big Christmas party we were hosting. Well it took much longer to get the last few items on our list and cut everything out then I expected so I left that day knowing we had at least two more Saturdays and probably more at the rate I sew. Well a week or so later was when I got really sick and so Kelli, being the wonderful person that she is slaved away trying to get the cushion finished since she knew I wouldn't be able to make it over there much before the party. Turned out the party got relocated due to my illness, which was largely caused by stress so this was a good thing, so... long story short when I arrived this Saturday the large cushion was pretty much done and we just worked on pillows all day. I am so very happy with the final product and want to say thank you! thank you! thank you! to Kelli for all of her time, work and love she put into this project for me. I can't wait to start another!!

When I am taking pictures of something else, Jade has to run over and be in the photo. But...

when I ask Jade to stand by her sister in the pretty pink hat Kelli's mom great grandma Irene got them for Christmas that we just brought home and opened up, this is the reaction that I get.

As I've said many times before these girls love dress up so these hats have been a hit. Thanks Grandma Irene!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

2009-02-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!! We celebrated last night by going to a church potluck and dance. We were a little skeptical about the dance, since we are a bit on the shy side when it comes to dancing, but we knew there would be good food so the girls and I put on our pink and headed into Oregon City to meet dad. They were so excited I couldn't get them to stand still for the picture.
As we expected the food was good, so good Nate was a little too late and didn't get much. And the dance turned out to be a hit as well. We had a blast dancing, Nate even got up and shook it a few times with the girls and I. Afterwards we went over to another families house and played Rock Band on the Wii. We had a great time listening to Que Ball (aka Mark Vest) bring down the house singing, literally, pictures were falling off the walls. It was a fun way to celebrate and even better when we all got to sleep in today. We topped off the holiday with a special breakfast that I was rather proud of and the girls loved. Pink heart shaped pancakes and a breakfast sandwich for dad. And yes, you'd better believe that the egg is a heart too!!

Holiday update Part 3: The Big Day!!

2009-02-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Nate's mom rented a cabin in Idaho near McCall. Nate's sister's families, us and his parents got to spend the holidays there which was a blast. This is Christmas morning. Gotta love that just woke up shot. Can you say HOT!!
Taylor wasted no time digging into her stocking. She loved her princess doll Santa brought her.

Jade really wasn't too sure about what was going on but she had no problem tearing into her gifts and especially loved this doll from Little Einstein cartoons that sings classical songs.
I'm not sure how but dad somehow kept himself off Santa's naughty list and got a Wii with all the fixings for Christmas. Although he was happy and surprised (for once), there was one gift that he liked quite a bit too.....
I'm not sure who this shirt was really for, Taylor or Nate. :)

Here is most of the crew. Myself and Taylor of coarse to the left. Nicole sitting in the middle with Jade on her lap and her two boys Cooper and Brody nearby. Her husband Scott sitting right behind them and Nalene and her son Gabe on the right. From the looks of things I think everyone had a great Christmas

Now of coarse being in Idaho we had to have some more fun in the snow. Snowmobiles were out of every one's budget so we went to the next best thing, sledding. At least Nate and I got to put our snowmobile gear to use this year after a long spell in the closet. This sledding hill we went to was a blast. The best part about it was you didn't have to walk up the hill. There was a rope tow they hooked a line to attached to your tube and all we did was sit and enjoy the view. Taylor, Cooper and Gabe were able to do it all by themselves.
This is Scott, Nicole and Nalene getting ready to go down the hill in what we thought was the most fun position.

Taylor getting bundled up.

And I had to include this self portrait of the photographer, Nate's wonderful mom. Thanks again Carla for the wonderful Christmas present. We all made great memories we soon won't forget!

Holiday update Part 2

2009-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Yes I'm like over a month past due but I had to finish up our holiday update because we really had so much fun this year. As I think I said before Nate talked me into going sledding on my birthday which we all greatly enjoyed.We met up with the Vest family in Colton and went sledding at the high school. Mark who dressed up like Santa, beard and all (although not in this pic) had Taylor convinced. Even later in the day after we went back to their house for hot chocolate and the suit was off she called him Santa. Nate's favorite thing to do was make huge chains with as many people as possible. Once we were all set a few of the kids would jump on top and down the hill we would go.

Taylor loves to sled, but each time we got to the bottom of the hill she jumped up and ran over to a fresh spot in the snow and made a snow angel. She loved it. Now although I sometimes complain about living out here in the boonies, there are benefits to it. I shot these photos before we left town on our way to Idaho for the holidays. These two are from our backyard.

This is from a bridge down the road from us.

And home sweet home. I just loved the trees in the background.

Holiday update Part 1

2009-01-09T22:49:00.001-08:00

This holiday season was quite a ride for our family and especially for me. Ups and downs, fun and tears but I guess that is the Christmas season for you. We have managed to make it through and really have had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. The tough part for me was loosing my wonderful Grandma Gladys. She was a loving and caring woman who I admired and will greatly miss. Of coarse I was on the way to the grocery store when I found out she had passed away and was sitting in the parking lot trying to compose myself when Taylor, knowing what had happened said to me "why are you crying mom, Grandma is with Jesus now". I am so grateful for her simple understanding. Sometimes I wish I could just look at things from her perspective, they really aren't as complicated as we make them.

On a good note we did have lots of fun over the last month. It will take me more then one posting to share it all but hopefully you enjoy it.

It started off great with a fun Thanksgiving dinner at my mom and Rick's house. We also squeezed in a mini photo shoot.

I can't tell you how many photos we took and none of them was good of all of us. We were lucky if both girls were looking at the camera.Of coarse dad and Taylor had to get their own shot.We got a current snap shot of all of my mom's side of us kid's which was her Christmas present after some editing. We took the trip to see Santa which I really thought would be fun for all but I should have known. We stood in line for about 20 minutes (it was free) and the entire time Jade was saying ho ho ho and pointing at Santa with the rest of the kids. When the time came to sit on his lap herself, her ho ho ho turned into no no no, literaly. Definitely a photo we won't soon forget.We took time to do a gingerbread house this year which actually didn't take much time at all. Dad agreed after a hard days work to be the site supervisor and Taylor and Jade had a blast decorating. Jade had to of coarse taste everything before it went on the house.And apparently she just couldn't make up her mind which candy she liked better because she kept taking them back off the house and sucking on them again, only to put them back a few sucks later.For those of you who don't know, we got a fair amount of snow this year which of coarse caused havoc all over the Portland area since we aren't used to that sort of thing. Taylor and Nate loved it, Nate especially since he got two unexpected days off work.
He of coarse put them to good use making a snowman with the girls and taking me sledding for my birthday (photos to follow next posting) Jade lasted about ten minutes out in the snow but found walking in cold stuff up to your knees isn't really that fun. Taylor on the other hand would stay outside all day if we let her.I guess dad took his snowMAN job seriously. He and Taylor went out the following afternoon to take this picture worried that he was going to melt . . .

little did we know what was coming. We peaked at about 8 inches which is the most I can remember ever seeing here in the valley.This is where Jade preferred to be and who can blame her. Nice and warm watching.

I did get to do some fun baking over the month which I am rather proud of. I was taught by the wonderful Kris Estheimer how to make homemade cinnamon rolls which are now our families favorite. My mom made them as well and they were a hit with Casey and Alex,and Alex doesn't even like cinnamon rolls ( I didn't know such a person existed)

I also learned how to make homemade turkey soup. Nate and I cooked up a turkey for the first time and I do mean Nate and I. New Year's night after going to my dad's birthday party, Happy Birthday again dad!!, and a fun New Year's Eve get together I wanted to make this turkey recipe I had but it had to marinade overnight. Nate stayed up until 2 am helping me get it ready, cleaning the turkey of coarse and hand juicing 10 lemons. Everyone said it was worth it. It and the soup turned out great. I was just so excited to use my new cast iron Martha Stewart pot my mom and Rick got me for my birthday and thanks mom for teaching me how to make the soup. It's almost as good as yours.

Movie time!

2008-12-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Nate and I went to see a movie which is a big deal in our household. I can count on one hand the number of movies we've seen in theaters since Taylor's been born. My friend forwarded me this site and I checked out it. It's a powerful date night movie that can enhance your marriage. I'm not sure where it's playing still but if you can it's worth seeing on the big screen. Less distractions. Although it is a serious flick, it also had both Nate and I dieing of laughter. I attached the link to the website where you can see the trailer. And yes girls, Nate liked it too!

http://www.fireproofyourmarriage.com/

Mexico Finally!!

2008-11-26T12:35:00.001-08:00

Well I am finally getting around to posting some of our fun pics from Mexico. I can't begin to tell you how much fun we had getting away. We had no idea what to expect being that we bought the trip from an auction but turns out we were in an amazing hotel and had great company, that was the one thing that we could count on. :) This is my favorite picture. We just stopped quickly on our way back from shopping and had someone take this photo on a pedestrian bridge headed back to town.

One of the things that made this trip so fun was we did little shopping and invested instead in activities which were amazing. This dolphine experience was unbelievable. The guys almost passed on it and sent Shannon and I but we were ALL very glad we went.

We got to feed them and learn signals.

They took us on a ride around their pool, you would jump on them like you were getting on a horse, it was crazy!

This is Nate's favorite picture.

Our last night we went on a dinner cruise where you take a cruise along the bay to a secluded area all lit by candles, watch an amazing live and authentic Aztec show and then have the best food we had eaten the whole trip, and we ate a lot of great food.

This is what happens if you bring up the name Mickey in Trevor's presence.

This was our last day. Nate and I had a few hours before our flight took of so we wondered around downtown.

We were on the boardwalk here. Most of the streets are paved this way so it made for some bumpy rides.

This was the zip line adventure we took. It was a ton of fun and like nothing else we had ever done. It was well worth the hiking involved.

As you can see we had a wonderful trip! Our hotel was amazing. Thanks to Shannon and her wheeling and dealing upon arrival we learned we had side by side separate suites with hot tub sized private pools on our balcony's. We spent most of our time just relaxing and enjoying the great company. We look forward to taking another trip with the crazy Thompsons!!

Halloween!!

2008-11-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

We had a great time this year for Halloween. It was the first year that Taylor really understood what was going on and was truly excited about her Halloween costume. She had been wearing it for weeks in advance and I think I'm going to have to at least leave the dress out because she continues to parade around in it. Surprisingly her blue Cinderella dress has taken the back seat. Obviously she was ready for a change just as much as I was.

We weren't quite sure what Jade was going to be until about 4:00 Halloween day when I finally woke her from her nap. We have accumulated a few toddler costumes, this adorable bumble bee was courtesy of my sister Michelle, (thanks again Michelle). Taylor had it narrowed down to the lady bug or the bumble bee and Jade made the final decision. Despite the fact every door we went to told Taylor she had a cute brother, which she didn't catch onto or understand, we thought she looked adorable and they both had a great time scurrying from door to door. Thanks also to Grandpa Dutch and Grandma Kelli for the Halloween treats!

One of Taylor's requests that we ALL dress up which at first I was against. She brought in a pair of little wings that she wanted me to wear to be a butterfly. I fortunately remembered that I did have a pair of adult sized wings left from college so she was pleased that I was participating. I tried very hard to get Taylor to bring this little pink poodle costume consisting of just a head piece with furry pink ears and a pink tail for her dad, she's the only one who could have gotten him into it but she was certain it was too small. We brought him his Denver poncho he bought on our trip to Mexico, (yes I will be posting about our trip soon) and his broncos hat and that was good enough for her. We met in Keizer and ate at out favorite Mexican restaurant La Hacienda with our fabulous friends Ross and Debbie and then went back to their house and our old neighborhood for trick or treating followed by Wii golf and darts. Of coarse a Wii is now on Nate's Christmas wish list. All in all we had a great night and look forward to hanging out with Deb and Ross again soon. Love you guys!!

2008-10-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that Nate had gone on a hunting trip previously. Well here you have the actual man camp. He went out in the woods in an area called Murders Creek, very fitting, archary hunting for elk. Luckily they had bought a few extra tags because that was not all they found.
Here you have the elk Wayne shot. Nate was calling it in and I guess the plan worked out perfectly because we have a freezer full of elk burger.
I believe this is the second bear they shot. They shot it late afternoon and couldn't find it. When they went back the next day a mountain lion had found it first and had it buried up to it's neck in pine needles and leaves.
This is the bear Ezra shot down in a creek bottom.
Here they are hauling it back to camp.

Although Nate didn't shoot anything I know he had a wonderful time out tromping around in the woods. And I think you all know that I don't mind not having to find a place to hang another one of his "trophies". We missed him but we know there are few places he'd rather be than in the woods.

Birthday Bash

2008-10-03T15:42:00.001-07:00

Taylor had a birthday last week and I'm pretty sure she is completely confused as to how birthdays work. She had been asking for months when her birthday was so it was highly anticipated. Nate still thinks I had a choice as to when I had her and complains every year that her birthday is during the best week of archery hunting. Well this year he took off for the week and hunted while we postponed Taylor's birthday party, kind of. The girls and I took off to stay at my mom and step dads for a while including the actual day, September 23 as Taylor will tell you. So pretty much every fun thing we did that week was for Taylor's birthday. We went to the beach which has been highly anticipated all summer. I wish I had pictures to post but I am having trouble getting them off my parents camera. This trip included shopping, beach frolicking and an ice cream stop on the way home. Tuesday, the actual day Taylor woke up and my mom told her that today was her actual birthday. Taylor's response was "well you had better make me a birthday hat then". Later that day grandma did bring her a purple tiara and balloons which continue to be a hit around our house, and Taylor got to choose where we ate, so off to McDonalds we went. We then went to Auntie Alex's soccer game vs the dreaded South Salem rivals and although they lost we all went to ice cream afterward. We came home the next day, Wednesday and daddy returned home very late Friday night. Sunday we had the closing ceremony as I like to call it. The cake was the end of the birthday week. Everyday, 6 times a day all I heard was "when are we having my cake?".

I'm really not sure who enjoyed the cake more. Below you can see Taylor's favorite present.

Being the daddy's girl that she is dad had her convinced that getting a bow and arrow for your birthday would be the best. So the last present of all was her very own bow and arrow, as you can see she was thrilled. It matched nicely with the great camo sweatshirt grandma Kelli made her. This was even more supported by the conversations that took place while Nate was packing to leave for his trip prior, but that's a whole other entry. The scary part is Nate bought this little set up last year for her and I convinced him she was too young. The box says for ages 8 and up, I guess 3 is better then 2. He was just too excited to wait any longer.

This is the outfit Great Grandpa Chuck and Bobbi got Taylor for her birthday. She calls it her birthday dress and I'm sure that everyone at church will be seeing it quite often. I have to admit she looks pretty darn cute in it so I can handle her wearing it often. Thanks Great Grandpa and Bobbi!!!

What do you think?

2008-10-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Well, nearly three undistirbed hours later I have composed something I am satisfied with. I love viewing everyone else's blog and was finally tired of being the boring blog on the block. Although I have a dozen things I should have been doing with my 3 hours of childless time, I throughly enjoyed dabbling in the world of blog design. I'm loving it, so what do you think?

Divas

2008-09-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

Jade has taken after her big sister and loves dress up. She and Taylor tear through the drawers of dresses and love modeling them with their plastic high heels. Taylor almost always chooses the blue Cinderella dress and Jade has just recently realized that we actully have one that is her size. She loves parading around after her sister.

If the dresses weren't enough, she also loves shoes. Whether it's Taylor's flip flops, my slippers or our favorite, dad's shoes, Jade has to try them all on and clunk around the house.

And of coarse what divas would be complete without their STAR sunglasses. We keep these in the car at all times and the girls wear them almost everyday.

Off to the fair!!

2008-09-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well I have to admit I got a bit distracted the last bit from just about everything, including blogging. I finally got tired of listening to everyone rave about these darn Twilight books that I borrowed them, yes all four and I am in big trouble!! I read the first one in a week which I thought was pretty speedy considering the amount of time I usually dedicate to reading for pleasure. The second one, all 563 pages I read in 2 and a half days. Can you say obsessed, because I totally am!! I have forced myself to take a week off before I start the third because my house is a total wreck, I have laundry up to my eye balls and Nate is going to kill me if I continue to have my nose stuck in these books 24/7. Needless to say the books are excellent and I am looking forward to the remaining 2.

So other then that we did get to have an evening of fun at the Oregon State Fair last month. Last year we had a blast with the Bluths but since they have moved away to Utah I ended up being the lucky winner to go on the rides with Taylor, at least the ones that Jade couldn't. Technically Jade couldn't go on anything but of coarse Nate did some talking and got her on a few.

Here are the girls on their first ride, the canoes which was one of the only two rides Taylor was able to go on last year.

I totally remember loving this contraption when I was a kid so I had to take Taylor on it. Somehow it just wasn't as fun as I remember. Surprisingly Taylor did great on it, I thought she might get a little scared but she thought it was great.

This is the other ride Nate managed to get Jade on. He belted her in tight and at first she wasn't so sure about it but after the initial shock wore off she enjoyed herself quite a bit.

This was the dreaded balloon ride. If I had known how small the little basket was I would have steered her to something else. Definitely meant for kids but Taylor had a good time.

So this is Nate and I with our good friends Ross and Debbie. They were our neighbors in our first house in Keizer. They have pretty much become part of our family and we love hanging out with them. This is a picture taken at the Tracy Lawrence/Chris Keagle concert Nate won tickets to on the radio. When Nate called the radio station to verify the specifics they told him we had 4 tickets so we invited Ross and Debbie. Well... unknowingly we pretty much snuck them into this concert. We never read but the first ticket in the envelope and it turned out that two of the tickets were for the fair entrance. We told the fair entrance people the radio station forgot to give us the entrance tickets and when we got to the concert entrance and they wouldn't let us in with fair tickets we started to figure out what had happened. As we were discussing this one of the admission people came up and said we were good to go so without hesitation in we went and we all enjoyed the show. There were plenty of open seats so I think the radio station just said go ahead. Anyhow, we all enjoyed the concert, (Chris was better then Tracy in my opinion) and had more fair food then anyone should eat in one evening. It's a good thing we only go once a year!

We're having a heat wave!

2008-08-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who live in the NW, I'm sure you are well aware of the HOT weather we are having, for those of you who don't we are in the midst of a spell of hot hot days. Today is supposed to be the hottest I believe at 104 degrees. Yesterday is was cooler, if you can call it that at 103 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be somewhere in the hundreds as well. We do get hot here in Oregon, however it's not typically for multiple days straight. Needless to say we stayed inside most of the week.

I was busy cleaning up in the kitchen and had let the girls watch their current favorite movie Cinderella. When I peaked in to see what they were actually doing because they were so quite I found them snuggled in their chair together actually watching the show. Taylor was mad because I was trying to get her to look at me instead of the movie she was engrossed in so her expression didn't turn out so well.Later in the afternoon I was trying to kill some time so that we could actually sit down and eat a meal with dad so I took the girls on a wagon ride down the street and back. They LOVE riding in the wagon.Today we did some bargain shopping at the local garage sales before going to the grocery store and managed to find a slip n slide. We already had plans to hang out at the neighborhood pool, (The Rae's kiddie pool) So we brought the slip and slide along and had a great time beating the heat.
Taylor wasn't a huge fan of slipping on the slip n slide but she did like walking on it and trying to drink the water. We did convince her to go down once with the two girls but as you can see she was still thirsty.

Enjoying the river

2008-08-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Most of you know we live on the Molalla River. Although we have been here for well over a year yesterday was the first time that I took the girls down to the river for fun throwing rocks. Thanks to my wonderful neighbor Rhonda who I would go insane without out here, we all headed down to the river for an eventful morning of rock throwing. It's a rare occasion with all the maintenance and work on our house that I take time out to do things like this and just let the girls have fun and relax for a half hour so I was grateful when Rhonda called with such a fun idea.

The kids sitting at the waters edge throwing rocks. Holly and Hunter are two of Rhonda's kids.

The crew snacking on cereal thanks to Rhonda. Taylor and Jade were so mesmerized by the river I had a tough time getting them to look at the camera.

Taylor and Holly hand and hand headed back to the house. Taylor of coarse couldn't stay out of the water so she is in her frilly undies.

Bunco anyone?

2008-08-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

So some of my long time soccer buddies and I had been having a hard time staying in contact so we came up with the marvelous idea of starting a bunco group. There are 12 of us in the group and it consists of half of us girls and the other half our moms. What a great time we all have bouncing around to each other's homes eating great food, visiting and of coarse playing bunco. There are some of us who are more competitive then others. Joene, who brings lots of excitement to the group not only when she is winning but when anyone around her gets a bunco we all know it. We all have a great time.

So this month I hosted and I had had a dessert recipe for literallyyears that I thought was so fun but I never really had the right opportunity to try it out. I figured bunco would be great since I knew exactly how many people were coming and had help from others (thank you mom and Melanie) who brought some of the food. So I did finally create my little Martha Stewart desserts and if I don't say so myself they turned out great. I have to admit I hated eating them because they were so cute and most of the gals thought they were just little plants set up for decoration. My friend Melanie talked me into taking these pics so I figured I'd throw them up here for all of you to see. They really weren't that tough so if anyone is interested in the recipe let me know.

Finally starting to get the hang of this.

2008-07-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

All of you long time bloggers are going to laugh but I was so frustrated with the whole blog deal because I couldn't figure out how to move my pictures. You will notice on my first few posted the pictures are just at the top where they are automatically place when you insert them. I couldn't figure out how to fix that so I just wasn't posting. It was driving me nuts!! Well, I finally figured out it's just like other programs and I can just drag the photo. Figures. So I will now be posting more often and maybe even trying to figure out some of the cool stuff you guys all have on yours. For now I'll just try to keep it current.

Well I couldn't help but put these photos of Jade up. She is really beginning to get an attitude, especially if she is dealing with food. I call her Miss Jade. However, the no fail remedy to turning her frown upside down is good old Cheerios. She absolutely loves them. The girls love getting up in the morning, having a cup of milk, sometimes chocolate, of coarse, and small bowls of cereal they eat with their hands while watching Sesame Street. As I was cleaning up the kitchen Jade came toddling over and had apparently spilled her bowl of cereal and then somehow rolled around in it.

I still don't understand how she got the one stuck to her forehead!

Markers Strike again!!

2008-07-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

I know you are all thinking how could she keep any markers in the house after what happened last time. Well Nate decided Taylor just had to have these special markers that smelled so good. I remember playing with them when I was a kid. They are pretty big around and have the little grape picture on them the purple and so on. Anyhow, I had put them on the counter, completly out of reach and out of sight but of coarse Taylor found them while I was busy chatting on the phone in the office. This is what I found...

The funny thing is Nate gave her the markers when they were watching one of my soccer games and thought it would be so funny to draw a mustache on her face. He also drew a smiley face on her hand. After looking at these pictures I realized she was trying to copy what he did. The mustache didn't quite look like the one Taylor drew on herself but she did a pretty good job at the green smiley face on her hand. And no, I am not keeping these markers. They are permanent but on skin I can scrub it off pretty well. I don't want to wait and see if it comes out of anything else.

Belated Mother's Day update

2008-05-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

So I really wanted to share my mother's day with everyone because despite my expectations it turned out to be the best one yet. I wasn't too excited about the weekend in general because my dad had unknowingly scheduled a weekend bike ride and campout that weekend which left me sitting at open houses all weekend. It wouldn't be so bad if there were actully people coming to them, but things are so dog gone slow that I just sat there and got caught up on my magazine reading. Anyways, I had told Nate that I didn't want any gift, just a card since I had finally gone out and bought blinds for our house, which are fabulous I must say. I don't know how we have gotten along so long without them. So Saturday afternoon after I got home from my lively afternoon of work Nate and I did a few things around here and then headed into town to grab some dinner and pick up a few last minute groceries aka. Mother's Day cards. Yes I can admit it, I was a bit behind too. So I had never actully seen Nate pick a card out for anyone. If you recieve a card from "us", you can assume it was picked out by me. So I preceeded to pick out my multiple cards while Nate went on the search for the perfect card for me. I have to say I was quite impressed with the time and effort he put into it. You would think he would pick up 5 cards max, pick the best of the group and be on his way. But oh no, he took just as long as I did. So of coarse the pressure was building the next day. I was so curious to see this fantastic card he had spent so much time searching for. So Sunday came around, we went to church but the plan was Nate was going to stay at church and I would head off to my open house. As sacrament meeting was coming to an end Nate asked me if I minded if he and the girls join me, since it was mother's day and all. I told him this was no exciting afternoon, sitting in a completely empty house for 3 hours doing absolutely nothing, and then to add two tired little girls to the mix did not sound like fun. We'll he still persisted that if it was alright with me they would come along and keep me company. I have to say I was pretty excited. Yes, he got to skip out on some of church but he also missed his Sunday afternoon nap. We had a fun time hanging out and my step mom Kelli stopped by to say hello so we got to visit with her as well. Afterward we came home, Nate made dinner (frozen pizza) and he and the girls all worked together and even made brownies. It was quite fun to watch. After our wonderful desert I finally got to open my cards. Yes I said cardssss. So Nate bought me a mother's day card that was his style, I'm sure you can all envision that, and one that was my style, you know all the mushy stuff. It was truly just a great day for everyone.

PS. Yes, I hate my photo lay out but I"m too tired to try to fix it now. It's driving me crazy! Any assistance is appreciated.

Back by popular demand

2008-05-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I sent out these pictures of Taylor and her free for all with the red marker. As the story goes... this was the beginning to potty training in our home. The only thing that seemed to work was being naked so she was supposed to be innocently sitting at the table coloring awaiting the "sensation". I was busy in the office down the hall. This is a typical morning in our house. I try to get caught up with any real estate stuff, emails, bills etc. while the girls monkey around in the living room watching Sesame Street. Apparently I had been busy that morning because I didn't notice Taylor go upstairs at some point, come back down and then proceed to color on anything the marker would work on. I really believe her little experiment was just that, let's see what this thing can do! As I sat at the computer, I faintly heard some sort of rubbing or scratching sound. I stopped, listened and heard it again. At this point I got up and proceeded down the hall where I realized Taylor was no longer sitting at the table. Upon rounding the corner, to what did my wondering eyes did appear. . . Taylor frantically trying to clean the marker off the couch with a baby wipe. I seriously almost lost it. I immediately took the wipes from her as she had a pile she had used up. She then preceded to notify me that she needed a wipe to wipe her bottom. When I asked why she informed me she had used the potty upstairs. Having to see this to believe it I headed upstairs and sure enough, for the first time she had gone to the bathroom in the big girl potty! So now what?! She has made this horrific mess but has also accomplished something that we have been working on for for some time. So I opted for the split decision, I praised her for using the potty, we headed back downstairs and promptly threw the markers away, and then she got to go to the toy closet and pick out a new toy. I of coarse spent the rest of the day scrubbing the entire living room. We found marker on the couch, walls, fireplace hearth, fireplace rock, clean folded laundry on the couch, white blanket draping the couch, windowsills, throw rug, wood floor and on just about every inch of Taylor's body with including of coarse all of her finger and toe nails. She even managed a few spots on Jade. So since then we have pretty much mastered the potty training thing, without the assistance of markers. I said that last week and we had a relapse but I think she is doing quite well now. Taylor's best buddy Riley came over last week and used the really big girl potty, (big toilet with little toilet seat) and now she insists on that method, which of coarse is fine with me. So now all of you who saw the pics but never got to hear the story behind them, there you go. All I can say is thank goodness they were washable!

Where are the directions to this thing!!

2008-05-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well we have finally caught up with the times and joined the world of blogging. Due to the great example of friends (Angie Daw and Lindsey Bluth) and of coarse sister in laws (thanks Nicole & Nalene) I have felt compelled to share our lives with you all. Maybe it's because I don't have time to keep up with everyone, maybe it's because I feel like our lives are going at lightning speed and if I don't document it somehow, before I know it my kids will be in high school. Ok, so high school is a little far off but I still look around me and think wow, I'm getting OLD!! I"m sure that is funny to many, but really, I thought I was going to be like 23 forever! Depending on how long you've known me, you may know I've always been a bit fixated on getting old. Anyhow, life is just flying by our little family. We are now a family of four, five according to Nate, Deja is one of his girls. Jade's 1st birthday is coming up and so I've been getting "the question". The answer is No. . . we are not evening thinking about getting pregnant right now. I know I said the same thing during Taylor's first birthday and then broke the news one week later that we were pregnant, but really, this time we are holding off a bit. My first excuse was that I refused to have any more kids in diapers. Well, now that Taylor is doing pretty well in that category, I have a new excuse. For our 5th wedding anniversary, coming up July 5, we are finally taking a vacation. In October we are going to Mexico so I can't get pregnant before that. Whoh, I'm off the hook for a little longer.

Well we hope everyone will find this enjoyable, educational and most of all entertaining. We will do our best to keep it up to date with the daily occurances of our lives, not matter how boring, embarrassing, halarious etc. Now I just have to figure out how it all works. I'm sure for you long timers it's a no brainer but neither one of us have a myspace account or facebook so we are a little new to the whole deal. Let me know how we're doing. Until next time, peace out.