Thursday, September 10, 2015

August 2015


These photos are completely out of chronological order.  I did not do a great job taking pictures this month - especially with our nice camera but it made updating the blog a whole lot faster!

My favorite mission companion (Shasta Cornett Baisden) was an hour south of us on the coast for a family reunion so we had to catch up.  It's been since the mission - 14 years ago! I am OLD! - since we have seen each other.  We were companions for about 6 months which is pretty long for mission time but not really long in real time.  Yet she has made a huge impact on my life!  I love this girl.


FHE at the park with pizza



Maybe I will pay the price for taking these pictures someday when they're all older but they were being so funny & silly.


Lots of deer have been walking through our side yard lately.  Dare we plant a garden next spring??


A week after our official anniversary Jeremy & I were able to celebrate with a trip into Portland for dinner & WICKED!  I have heard so much about this play/musical for years & every single person I know who has seen it doesn't just like it they love it.  So Jeremy had the greatest idea to take ourselves to see it.  All the hype -it's completely true it really is one of the best musicals I've seen!  The singing/music/costumes/scenery was top notch.

 

 

Nana & Poppie came to visit.  We were able to celebrate Poppie's birthday which was fun.  He stayed for 3 days & Nana stayed for 9.  Here are some of the kids trying on Nana's wig - haha they laughed so hard!  She took each kid on an individual date & they all had so much fun!  I love that she does that with them.  They did lots of parks & other things. I wasn't feeling good so I'm not sure all that Jeremy took them to do but they had a blast.  It's always sad to see her go.

 






We hired a friend in our ward to build a covering for our back basement stairs & he left his wheelbarrow here for a couple weeks.  It immediately became the new favorite outdoor toy.  They spent a lot of time with that thing.


Dallen drew Yoda & a penguin one day - so cute!




Brigg lent us their DVDs of all 6 Star Wars movies & we have been watching them with the kids in the evenings.  We are halfway through the 6th one!  Oh man they loved Star Wars before just through books etc. but NOW it's non-stop Star Wars headquarters around here.  Constant humming the tunes & saber dueling.


Hyrum's art teacher gave him a 3-D puzzle of the Chrysler building in NYC & he & Jeremy put it together one afternoon.

 

Not feeling good = lots of snuggle time with this kid!  So I really shouldn't post this picture or story but I have to.  Haha I want Dallen to see/read about it when he's older.  He went pee one day & as usual I reminded him to put his pants back on & I went back to what I was doing assuming that's what he did.  But then a minute later he was coming in through the garage door in the buff & I didn't even know he had gone outside.  He said 'Mommy I went poop in the grass!' saying it like he was so proud of himself.  I didn't believe him but then I went out there & sure enough he had.  I don't know what possessed him to do that when the toilet was right there but it was really funny :)

 

Not feeling good also = Hyrum making me scrambled eggs without even asking him to.  How sweet!  There's Justy reading a good book close by.





More quality snuggle time with my baby

We spent the majority of August at our house.  At first I was worried the kids would get bored but it was quite the opposite.  They would get up, get themselves breakfast & then proceed to play Lego's together without hardly a fight & running around in our yard dueling.  They never asked to play computer games or watch shows/movies so we pretty much had a screen free month.  It was magical.  I highly recommend having 5 kids in 6 years - they will be good pals :)

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

July 2015


One of my best friends Liz & her family of 8 came to visit us for a day & night on the coast.  It was wonderful as always to visit & catch up.  And we all got horribly sunburnt at the beach!






The fourth of July was a big hit as usual.  Pa, Darlin', Brigg, Hava & their 3 kids joined in.  At our church breakfast we met a Mormon actor who has been several movies - Corbin Allred.  He is friends with a family in our ward so they were visiting - he was super nice.


Following the breakfast we decorated for & participated in Gearhart's parade complete with face painting, mask making & hot dogs at the end!



 



 

Hyrum's art teacher submitted a sketch of his for an art competition at the art gallery in Gearhart & he won first place!

 

Fireworks on the beach are the best


 

           



 
  





Later in July we took a trip to MacKerricher State Park in California for a Wilson Family reunion.  I haven't seen a lot of these guys for about 7 years - it was so much fun!  I forgot how awesome my extended family is :)  We took some walks & went to the beach but we mostly talked & let our kids play.  I realized when it was over that I don't think I saw one cell phone during the actual reunion - I love that.  My parents, Brigg & his family & our family shared a house for the reunion.  On the way we stopped in Keizer to see our old house we lived in before moving to Washington.  It wasn't quite as big as I remember it!!!  The current owners let us go around the back to see our hand prints in the basketball court we poured.  We stopped at a favorite diner in Rice Hill for ice cream & burgers.  We also spent a few hours admiring Crater Lake on the way down & the Redwood Forest on the way back up.  It's so good to be closer to family!



  
 












 
 
 
 









 
  

 
 







 
  

 

Other random happenings around here - lots of Ninja fighting



How many kids can sleep on a futon at once?


 
 

Awwww...


We had a birthday party to go to & Justy wanted to ride his red bike all the way there & back again!  I was so proud of him!  It has taken a while but he finally likes his big bike.




More Ninja warrior stuff

 
 


We hiked our longest family hike ever - about 5 miles round trip to do Cape Falcon!  The kids were awesome




 
  
 
 

 
   

Yogurt face


One day we went to Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington.  It was not a disappointment - haha.  We saw two light houses & went for some walks & found an awesome secluded-ish beach that we will be visiting again.  I noticed there was a beach called Waikiki around the corner that we will have to visit next time.  I'm sure it's nothing like the Waikiki in Hawaii :)

 
 

 
 

 

 






We found a cool fort by the estuary in Gearhart that is definitely worthy of several re-visits



 

There has been non-stop Lego action this summer.  It's the main thing all 5 of my kids love to do & they can spend the entire day playing together & they rarely fight.  It's amazing!  I love Lego's!  And I love to see their creativity come out.



I started braiding Em's hair again.  I haven't tried since she was 2 or 3 because it would never stay but it's working better now.

 
 

On Monday July 27th Hunter had tonsil & adenoid surgery.  He & I spent the night at Brigg & Havalah's the night before because we had to be at the hospital the next morning by 7am.  He was really nervous & anxious about the whole thing.  We decided to give him some happy juice before going back for the surgery & that helped a lot.  It went by so fast & everything went perfectly.  We spent a few hours waking up in the hospital & checking that his vitals stayed normal & then we were able to drive home.  My Mom stayed with the other kids so Jeremy could still go to work which was awesome.  I kept Hunter on Tylenol & Advil every 3 hours even through the night & he wasn't really in any pain.  He was mainly just sad he couldn't eat what everyone else was eating :) AND the best part is that when he sleeps there is no snoring or heavy breathing - hooray!
    
 
 

 

Right after the surgery a few us had a bout of fever so we spent a lot of time hanging out on my bed recovering.


At the end of July our great friends the Blauer's came to town to visit.  We miss them a ton around here & were so glad they could stay with us for several days.  We had playdates, a bon fire, girls nights & Dallen & Jaron played together non-stop.  They even had some sleep overs.  We hope they come back soon!




 


  



Vivian, Kable, Hunter, Dallen, Jaron, Emma, Justy & Hyrum