Coast Fun

Here's a few shots from the fun we had last weekend. We got to see some of our long lost family from the North. We're so lucky they made a band trip to Oregon and we got to see them at the beach! It was sooooo much fun. We love having big cousins around for our kids and they love it too. We went to a few different beaches, a couple state parks (our pass earlier this year we were unsure about buying, paid off - YES!), Fort Stevens, Tillamook and everywhere in between.

We learned that Jack loves to fly kites and run in the waves but hates getting cold. Kate loves collecting shells but hates having to leave the beach. Lily loves to eat sand but hates being dipped in the ocean to clean off before the ride home!

Our little man......

This is the face of a boy who cried this week when I told him his worms couldn't live in the house, a boy who says with a big grin "mom that was a GOOD ONE" after last night's bed time story, a boy that eats a banana, 2 waffles, toast, and eggs all for one breakfast, a boy who throws the picture perfect tantrum with fists banging and feet flailing then looks up after a few seconds with a smile to say he's all done and ready to play, a boy that invents games involving bowls for helmets for the family to play, a boy who wakes up in the morning saying "Let's go on an adventure" and finally a boy that stops and says "Mom that makes me feel happy" after I tell him I love him. We just love him to pieces.

Silver Falls

This past weekend we had these cabins reserved at Silver Falls State Park with a bunch of my family. But, we ended up all being sick, except Ray, on the day we were supposed to go. Kate ended up feeling well enough the next day and I wanted her and Ray to have this experience together so we packed them up in the morning and off they went. Kate was so excited because she had seen pictures on the internet of the park and it's 10 waterfalls. She was most excited to walk behind the waterfalls. She loved playing with her cousins and I'm so glad she got to see almost all of her Seattle cousins.They had such a great time we will definitely go back there again but hopefully we will all be able to go.

Can you spot Kate in this picture?

They had to hike down all these stairs to get to one of the waterfalls.

Kate loved all the moss that grows all over everything there.

Us lately

Swimming, haircuts, standing-up, teeth, Wicked.

Big Sky!!

What a great weekend. We got to catch up with friends from Ohio, ski, play games, and relax in the hot tub. We hope we can do it again next year and maybe then we will get to see the rest of the mountain (this resort is huge).

We can't believe she's 6!

Running, jumping, bouncing, swinging, cake, balloons and friends...what a party!

Skiing

Thanks to the cousins equipment and free ski passes we spent the day skiing and sledding yesterday. The snow was really sticky which made it perfect for Jack's first time. He went down a few runs but those little 3 yr old legs get tired so fast. He'd be content if we just let him drink hot chocolate and play on the arcade games in the lodge all day. And what a difference a year makes, Kate was quite the skier. She wasn't nervous at all and even went on the "big" chair lift. She didn't want to take the skis off at the end of the day. I'd be happy to ski on the bunny slope all day with them it's so nice to see them enjoy it. We even got our niece Chey to try skiing, she did great.

Go Panthers!

Kate did a cheer camp with the high school a few weeks ago. This is with Rachel who just happens to also be their primary teacher at church. It's hard to really see Kate since the video is so small but you'll get the idea, those girls were dang cute.

She's on the move...

We just loved her expression near the end where she sits up. She keeps us smilin'.

Catch up

Here are some of the highlights from our holidays. The kids had a good time opening a door each day of Dec. One of the days we made mallow-men...

We got to decorate gingerbread houses this year with one of our favorite families! These weren't just any ordinary houses, they withstood lots of moving and playing around with for weeks after. They even had little garages with cars and every fun candy you can think of.

And we were lucky enough to have x-mas eve at our house. Everyone did something for our program and it was so fun. Time will tell if we jumpstarted a tradition. I didn't get pictures of everyone but here is Trisch playing the flute, G&G singing to us - this was a major highlight for the kids, and we even had rudolph visit and sing to us. Ray put together a fun game of guessing what x-mas movie different audio clips were from. I attempted to play the guitar while the kids shook bells and everyone sang Joy to the world, it's just a good thing for me we're all family and there was no judges panel!

Santa's note, he got eggnog this year - yum!

The traditional Christmas morning picture on the stairs.
I think they all had a good Christmas morning...

And lucky for us we got to see Grandma Great the next week. She's an amazing woman who always brings the best spirit with her. We have fabulous memories of Grandma and it's so heart warming to see Kate love and adore her as much as I do. She is 92 and loved carrying Lily around, always gets down on the floor to play games with the kids and never misses out on the card games, it was a great way to spend New Years Eve.

And with all this snow we had we did manage to get in some sledding, I should say "they" managed to get in sledding, Lily and I snuggled on the couch for 2 hours while I finished a book for the first time in months!

Makenna and Jack waiting to be pulled behind the 4-wheeler