Memorial Day weekend

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

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

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!!

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!