oregon

Rob and I flew to Portland, Oregon on Thursday morning.  This was the first time we have ever "farmed" our kids out to friends.  Burke and Hewitt stayed with the Warners, Tosh stayed with the Dommers, and Liv stayed with the Lundells.  It has been almost seven years since I have been to Portland (Rob's been there for work) and it was great to be back.  When we got to the car rental place, we had everything set for our 'economy' car.  The rental place offered to upgrade us to a Camaro for $90 more and we declined.  Then the next lady came in and they told her that they were out of cars and would give her the Camaro at no extra charge.  She did not want it (funny) and asked if we would trade cars with her.  "Hmmm.  Okay!"  We found the entire thing to be quite hilarious...especially because we were going to Rob's 20th High School reunion.  We had a lot of fun mocking ourselves and kinda felt ten years older by the way :).  Don't get me wrong though, it was a very fun thing to drive around in.  Great memory. 

Our first stop was--you got it, Burgerville! 

Everything was just as good as we remember--the fresh raspberry shake and onion rings were my favorite.  So good!

From there we headed to Multnomah Falls and hiked to the very top.  This has always been one of my favorite places.  We've been there several times (once with my sister and also with Burke and Hewitt on our last trip).  This photo is from the bridge:

This is a shot of the Gorge from one lookout point.  We had no problem spotting our canary yellow car in the parking lot:

A view from the bottom after our hike:

We sure timed things right this weekend and were able to join the families of JaneAnne and John in celebrating Leif's 7th birthday.   The party was in John's backyard and we had jerk pork and chicken and rice and peas, and an amazing fruit salad with fresh berries.  Delish! 

Cute shot of Rob and his niece Anna:

The birthday boy:

We played games and visited with John, Julie and Joseph that night. The next morning I was able to go for a run with Julie, and we had a great breakfast (thanks, John!) before we headed for the Oregon coast.  We stopped at a lookout point and used the timer setting on the camera to get some cheesy photos. 

We went to Astoria first and did some shopping downtown.  We read wonderful reviews about the "Bowpicker" and decided to eat lunch there.  Rob claims it was the best fish and chips he has ever had (fresh tuna).  I visited with some locals that told me it was the best in the area. 

We spent quite a bit of time at Cannon Beach.  It was so great to take as much time as we wanted just walking or sitting or eating...so relaxing!

Showing off my goofier (and rarely seen) side:

 Happy to be away with my sweetie.  Can you tell?

 I loved the beautiful hydrangeas we saw everywhere:

 We had dinner in Cannon Beach as well.  We looked at lots of reviews and decided on Castaway's Tiki Bar and Restaurant.  It was excellent.  We loved everything, and it was fun to be watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies while we were eating.   

We actually stayed in Seaside on Friday night and walked along the boardwalk and got some ice cream.  On Saturday morning we got up and walked along the beach before checking out.  

We drove to Salem (Rob's home town) and had a late lunch at Straight from New York Pizza.  I think it was fun for Rob to go somewhere nostalgic (I had a slice of the veggie and it was really good).  While we were downtown, we grabbed some gelato and enjoyed some fresh marionberries that we grabbed at a local fruit stand. 

We spent the afternoon at Silver Falls State Park.  Do I need to mention the perfect 70-80 degree weather, and how beautiful all of the trees were everywhere we went? 

Rob's cousin Venn and his family drove down from Washington to join us.  We hiked around the falls and had a fun time visiting. 

 

Rob and Venn making us laugh as usual:

 We returned to Salem in time to drive around a bit and make it to the reunion.  We drove by the schools Rob attended and to the house on Mulberry Drive.  It's been 12 years since we have been there!  The new owners have done some cool things (unfortunately they weren't home as Rob was hoping to go inside):

The reunion was at a golf club.  I hope Rob had an enjoyable time. I will admit that we were a little disappointed that Rob's closest friends didn't make it and that the $100 we paid was for appetizers and drinks instead of dinner...  Rob was featured quite a bit in the video they showed, and they had all sorts of photos up around the room.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of my cute hubby back in the day:

We stayed at John's house in Portland that night.  We got a little over four hours of sleep thanks to a very early flight.  I think because we were tired, we didn't even think about needing to check our bags on the way home.  We had all of the fresh berry jam we bought (for the families that watched our kids) confiscated at the security check.  Bummer! 

All in all it was such a great weekend!  The kids all did really well (the older kids didn't act too happy we were back actually), and it was nice to all be back together again.  Tosh and Liv seemed a little clingy to us in church and very glad to have us home.  The kids were happy with the little things we brought back for them.  Now back to reality and normal life! 

Thanks for a wonderful weekend away together, Rob.  I love you! 

first day of school

School started on Monday!  Per tradition, I had to take some photos of the kids before we left the house.  This first one of Tosh was my favorite (too bad it is a touch blurry):

It seems like Hewitt was just starting kindergarten!  So interesting that he is starting second grade and that was what Burke was in when we moved to AZ (three years ago this week)!

 
I LOVE this photo of Hewitt:

Burke was more excited than he looked in the photos.  It was his idea to write "Hi, I'm Burke" on this shirt.  Burke got the teacher we requested (a man again).  I know that that fifth grade is going to be awesome and plenty challenging for him. 

This one of Liv "hiding" cracks me up!  I love the face she is making--we call it "platypus" lips.

This next photo of the three boys was taken outside of Tosh's school.  The older boys catch a bus from there to head north to their school.  The timing works quite well so that is a blessing for me. 

I accompanied Tosh inside for his first day.  He and his buddy Tripp are in the same class!  After a couple of minutes Tosh said, "Mom, what are you still doing here?!"  It makes me happy that Tosh is such a happy and confident kid. 

It's been seven and a half years since I've had only one child at home during the day.  It's kind of fun and exciting I must admit, especially since Liv is so willing to run errands and do whatever activity I suggest.  I'm looking forward to a fun year hanging with my best girl!  I'm so excited for the boys and know that they will learn and grow so much.  Here's to a great school year! 

final days of summer

This was the last week of summer break before school starts.  Honestly, it was a fairly lazy week (thank heaven).  We slept in, hung out in jammies most mornings, played some games, and swam for the most part.  Burke and Hewitt had their "Meet the Teacher" and curriculum night at school on Thursday and Tosh's "Meet the Teacher" was on Saturday morning.  We are looking forward to a great year!

I got some cute action shots when Rob threw the boys into the air.  This one of Hewitt was my favorite photo of the week: 

I took some video of the kids swimming as well.  I couldn't believe how well Liv was swimming!  She is pretty fearless and such a little fish (see previous post as well).  Here are some short clips:

I've asked Hewitt NOT to flip off of our high wall, but Rob gave him permission, so here you go:

All five (Rob, Burke, Hewitt, Tosh and Liv) jumped off the wall (at the same time) for the first time ever, and Burke's diving is looking really nice!  Sorry, no video on either of those today...

Liv was so wiped out after swimming that evening that we found her sound asleep in the playroom at about 6:45pm (she had been listening to music with Rob):

This is a random photo I took of the kids on my phone while they were eating lunch on Friday... I emailed it to Rob at work and we both think it is funny.  I love Liv's face eating that hot dog (she had actually just stripped off her suit, but shhhh don't tell):

Intel bought a ton of tickets for the Diamondbacks game on Saturday night.  It was fun to go to downtown Phoenix with the kids.  This was their first professional baseball game, and the first 20,000 people got free ball caps!  Score! 

I had an usher take this photo with my phone:

 This one is pretty blurry too, but thought it was cute that the boys were pretending to play ball:

We saw the D-backs score three home runs and some other exciting stuff.  We even ate hot dogs, popcorn and nachos.  We left after the 5th inning (actually stayed longer than we thought we'd be able to).   Chase Field is a closed arena with A/C, and it was raining and quite stormy on our way out.  It was a fun night! 

the littlest fish

Look what Liv can do!

 

action-packed adventures in utah

After Rob's reunion in Antimony, Utah (see previous post) we headed north.  Rob and the kids were able to meet Helen right when we arrived at my dad's place on the first of July, and Liv took to her immediately.  Helen was so sweet to play Play-Doh and do flannel board stories with her.  Cute story (I'm jumping ahead here):  About 12 days into our trip, the boys asked Liv who her best friend is and she said, "Grandma Helen."  She certainly won everyone over with her warmth and kindness, but it didn't hurt that she ran to the store to buy all of the kids' favorite treats! :)

We had a busy 4th of July.  I went to the Provo City parade with my nieces and their husbands in the morning while Rob went golfing (with his folks, aunt, uncle, cousin, and bro-in-law).  Here is a cute (phone) picture of Melanie and Amanda with the kids waiting for the parade to start:

Mel snapped this darling one of her and Liv:

It got pretty warm and sunny, but a great way to remember why we celebrate the holiday:

That evening we headed to Rob's parents' for a BBQ with three of Rob's sisters and their families.  As usual, Rob's sister took some great photos:

I love this candid shot of Hewitt and his cousin, Leif:

Sweet Hewitt:

Rob continued working while we were in Utah, so the kids and I stayed busy visiting with friends and hanging out with grandparents and cousins.  We were able to go to my friend Heather's for lunch one day.  Heather and Kristin and I were roommates at BYU 15 years ago.  I sure love these girls!

The kids playing on the slip and slide at my Dad's house:

My brother Mark and his family were in town for a couple of days before they headed over to California.  ALL of the kids got a kick out of Helen's Play-Doh and my nieces helped create some great scenes from some movies (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, Despicable Me, etc.).  Both Taylor and McKaylynn (better known by us as 'Tay Tay' and 'Kay Kay') are very creative and so much fun. 

I don't have photos of this, but Mark, McKaylynn and Burke created a Frisbee golf course (complete with fliers with a place to record scores for each hole) in the green space behind my dad's house.  My sister's kids joined us all for a BBQ on the 5th and pretty much everyone played at least one round of Frisbee.   

We headed up American Fork canyon as a family on Saturday since Rob had the day off work.  It was so nice and cool (even rained on us some).  We did a little hike and then went down to the lake to let the kids play and explore there.  I was able to set the timer on my camera to get this one: 

 (Liv closes her eyes on purpose.  Can you tell?)

On Sunday the 8th, we headed back to Provo to stay with Rob's folks for a few days.  We were able to spend some time with his sisters and I was able to go to lunch one day with two of my good friends from my freshman year of college.  Michelle, Marla and I were in "Showtime Company" together and we have been able to meet about once a year to have lunch and catch up.  We are making plans to have a 20th reunion next summer.  Crazy! 

Two of the highlights from our week in Provo include all of the adults going out to dinner to celebrate my father-in-law's 73rd birthday (so quiet and wonderful!), and a fun trip to Bridal Veil Falls.  Again, Rob's sister brought her camera along and took tons of great shots.  To see more of her photos (and recap of the week), please go here. 

Burke with his cousin, Delaney:

Burke and (cutie pie) Merit:

Burke, Delaney, Merit and Davis:

 I love this one of Livvy!

 I followed Tosh up and down, up and down.  He must have climbed up the falls seven or eight times. 

 Liv and Me:

That brings us to one of the main purposes of our trip:  Dad and Helen's big day.  If you haven't yet read their story, please get caught up here.  My Dad's lucky number is 13, and it was very fitting that he would choose to get married on Friday the 13th.  The ceremony was short and simple.  They were married by a friend of my father's (Herschel Pedersen--in the same ward) and he was very personal and quite hilarious to be honest.  I don't know if he felt prompted to keep it light or what, but there was so much laughter that I hardly had time to think too much about my mom or get sad at all (honestly, I had no idea what to expect).  It was neat for me to sit right next to my sister and hold on to her during the ceremony.  My cousin Bob asked me what I thought of the ceremony (we joked that it almost felt like we were listening to a dry stand-up comic!) and I told him that I thought it was perfect for the couple. 

My dad and Helen leaving the temple:

Best wishes to you both!  We love you. 

Big Group Shot:

Helen's side (they are all very nice.  I'm looking forward to getting to know them better):

My dad's side (unfortunately Melanie and Kevin are missing from the photo--they were sent off to find a key, but they really were there).   Also I should note that the wind was picking up and it was starting to rain at this point:

Our little family:

Rob and I were married at the exact same place 13 years ago!  The trees and flowers looked so pretty and bright on the overcast day. 

 It was a good two and a half weeks away, and now it's so great to be home!  Phew!