OK, This really was fun!

Sunday afternoon we drove down to Indian Mary (the countries smallest Indian reservation, now made into a campsite) down by the Rogue River. Monday we followed( holding on for dear life) Darilyn and her family down the river in rafts. It was super fun, except Chris kept calling me a wimp because apparently my paddling did not meet his expectations! My kids had a blast, Sid was a little nervous. A little bird named Heidi told her she could die in the rapids. I guess technically it's true. It just made me laugh and Sid DUCK whenever she saw white water. The boys had there standard roller coaster pose the entire time. I paddled the entire 7 miles or so and I'm not all THAT sore. It's just a little hard to use my back is all.

A couple of hours after we got off the River we went on the most amazing hike. Thanks to Chris May and Scott! They led Boston, Emma, and me along the 2 foot wide ledge they called a path! It was really a slice of very rocky dangerousness! One edge mountain, the other edge very steep cliff!! Did I mention that the path was completely surrounded with poison oak? But, it was so worth all the risk. It was gorgeous!!! We hiked 2 miles into the canyon to Rainie Falls ( and 2 miles back). A class five rapid that took my breath away. I've never seen water run so fast! And for some reason this did not stop Boston from wanting to get as close as possible.( to his death!) We had a very strict no tripping rule, Boston tripped 12 times, and my heart stopped each and every time. Luckily we made it back to the truck where we had a lot of water waiting for us. Hiking and hearing rapids at the same time makes you very thirsty. As soon as I got back to camp I crashed. My air bed has never felt so dreamy!

Today we packed up early and drove home. For those of you who know my husband well, this needs no explanation. For those of you who don't, lets just say he's not really the camping kind. ( he wears gloves the whole time to keep his hands from getting dirt on them).

I was too chicken to bring my camera on all our adventures, but here are a few pics I took from our safe little camp site.

Fu-u-un

Today was fun. We called Plumber to fix leak in ceiling. Plumber came.
Boston face planted at bike track. Went to emergency room. Thank heavens! Nothing Serious. Very swollen nose, tooth through lip, no stitches.
Fun Day!!

Sheri tagged me

This is the first time I have been blog tagged. It was really kind of fun to think about all this stuff.


1. 4 jobs I've had
Litlle ceaser's Pizza(Sheri got me that job)
Subway sandwich artist
Nanny
AZ Republic errand girl

2. 4 movies I can watch any time
Pride & Prejudice(6 hour)
James and the Giant Peach
Moulin Rouge
Babe( Christmas means Carnage!!!!) Who could not love that?


3. 4 places I have lived
Chandler, AZ
Mesa, AZ
Beaverton, OR
Aloha, OR

4. 4 TV shows I love
Hannity & Colmbs
Project Runway
Country videos
Design to Sell


5. 4 foods I love
grapefruit
popcorn
homegrown tomatoes
burritos ( any kind, taco bell, breakfast, Elmers....)

6. 4 websites I visit daily
dierks.com (maybe not everyday)
all sites listed on my bog
craigslist.com
oup.com(dictionary)

7. 4 places I'd rather be
touring down the East Coast
smalltown France
Mary Janes Farm (check it out, it looks so fun. maryjanesfarm.com)
Chandler, AZ

8. 4 people to tag
Boston
Mason
Lauren F
Monique

Lemonade, lemonade, just like Grandma made!

Today the kids had a lemonade stand out at our neighborhood park. They made a whopping $14.00. Not too bad for some Country Time lemonade and a few rice krispy treats. It was actually pretty warm today (84 degrees) so they all came in with little red faces. It was very cute. Although really their faces aren't so little anymore. They had a good time and it killed a few hours of our lazy summer day.

10 things I've learned from being a total Geek!

1. Not getting involved is retarded, not cool.

2. Accentuate your own good qualities, don't try to imitate someone else.

3. Moms rule

4. Sisters rule

5. A pity dance is way worse than sitting out.

6. Live in reality (still working on that one)

7. The more you know about something or someone, the more you love it.

8. Mean people are mean to everybody, nice people are nice to everybody.

9. A testimony of The Gospel is a must!

10. In the end it doesn't really matter how geeky you are.

Ramblings

I'm starting my rambling for two reasons tonight. 1) A lack of anything particularly interesting to say. 2) so you have plenty of time to listen to this awesome song(there are actually two if you are a slow reader).
My kids had a very interesting evening. I stumbled onto some new blogs so they had a couple hours on their own. They filled their time by making a fabulous new soda pop. I made them create it out in the alley so that nothing too close to the house would get sticky! Believe me the alley is very sticky!! Their new soda is made from mushed watermelon, one melted( in the microwave) red otter pop, water, and of course lots of sugar. They even created a new soda can, but as soon as I realized they were spray painting in the garage the new can design was done. Even though this entertainment was very messy and they used my new china tea set to serve it (along with the can), they always amaze me with their curiosity and creativity, and it actually didn't taste too bad!


So the other night Chris and I( mostly I ) were talking about things that we live our lives by. You know, things that you believe so much that you just can't deny it, or try to live any differently. I actually asked Chris this in question form because sometimes I can't figure him out( please tell me I'm not the only one ). So, we came up with the obvious like the gospel and all the many things that entails like, families are forever, and tithing is the hugest blessing ever, and obedience.... We also had, If you give kids too much they will never appreciate anything, and you can do anything you want if you really decide you want too. Well Chris fell asleep after that, but I was wondering what all of you guys thought. What are some other things you really live by?

I think that with all the AZ kids going back to school, and now that everyone in OR has planted their pumpkins, I feel Fall coming on and it is way too soon. I love Fall. It is probably my favorite season but, I am not ready for my Summer to end. It feels like it just barely started. I am certainly not complaining. August and september are awesome up here, I'm just afraid they will go by too fast. So watch your Fallish talk people! I don't want to hear anything about pumpkins or school supplies for at least another month.

The other blogger sites I landed on tonight were from people I grew up with. People I went to school with all the way from Kindy to senior year. We are more aquaintences than anything else at this point, but knowing their families while growing up feels like such a blessing. It was such a blast to be able to see what they are all up to these days. (sneaky spy goggles for sure!) Hope they don't mind.

Has anyone else ever gone to the store to return something because you really didn't need it, and then find you have returned from the same store with more stuff than before, and you don't need that either? I seem to be caught in this constant struggle of wanting new things and getting rid of crap! What is up with me?

This ended on a weird note. Sorry. That is the end of my Wednesday ramble. (it is Wednesday, right?)

Awesome day!

I took the kids to the bike track again today. The boys rode and jumped. sid and I played catch, kind of( Sid's still learning, but is very determined).







Then we went swimming with the Mays. Thanks Jen!

Dinner's ready!

Thanks to Sid for helping me with dinner. She snapped green beans, cleaned the table, and of course stared strangely at the zucchini.

Finished!

I finished the high chair today and delivered it to it's new home! I'm pretty happy with the results, hope Joyce and Licoln like it.

Careful what you wish for

After worrying about my talents wearing thin, I am getting lots of chances to work on them. It always seems to come in waves. Here are a few of the things I've been doing. First I've started refinishing a high chair for my adorable nephew. It is taking quite awhile because it has been so humid here the paint is not drying very fast. I have sanded, primed. painted, and painted again. I just need to finish up with the sanding. Lincoln Rosco Ryan
Before
During
Second, I am still searching for a pot for my living room branch. I havn't found the right one yet( I'm being very picky ).

Third, I have an old metal pale I'm painting for Joyce ( Chris's sister ). I'll post when done.

And last, I ended up making some baby shower invitations last night. I was working with mass quantities(100 ) so I tried to keep them simple. I love doing all of these things, I just need to learn to space them all out a little!

Happy Birthday Breck!!

A seed was planted

It looks much larger in my living room!

This past Sunday I taught the 9 year olds about talents( you know the parable ). Well I have been feeling a little guilty about burying a few of mine. So, I figured I should get to work on digging them back up. One of them is decorating, I am still very much in the learning stage of this talent, but since Chris and I have completely different taste I had kind of given up. Well not anymore. Sorry Chris!! Today I brought home a branch. Chris was very helpful loading it in the truck although he had no idea what is was for ( because I wouldn't tell him ). Then, while he was out, I brought it into our living room to stay. I never said I had good taste, but I like it! It still needs a pot( french urn style) and moss, and I'm going to hang things on it, but I am well on my way to reclaiming at least one buried talent.

(insert Urkle voice here)

" we're cool, we're hip, we want to eat your chips!"


I think my boys had sniffed a few too many berries at the patch! This was the spectacle that me and anyone else within a few hundred yards got to witness today as we were leaving the raspberry farm. I was truly surprised we did not get kicked off the property!

Oregon

Boston in Astoria, OR.
Every Winter I spend a lot of time wondering why the heck I live here. Now, during summer, I can really appreciate what makes Oregon so great.

* being able to spend all afternoon outside playing soccer with the kids, in July!
* Having the beach an hour and a half away.
*Having the mountains an hour and a half away.
*having everything an hour and a half away!!
* getting to pick any kind of berry imaginable for .99 a lb.
*getting to know lots of awesome people.
* today was 75 degrees with light showers.
* No school until September.
* getting to experience river rafting, snowcaving, horseback riding on the beach, swimming in crystal clear lakes, skiing in April, bike trails that take your breath away, watching fireworks from a sandpit, eating fresh crab, and much more...
*finding the latest, greatest restauraunt in downtown Portland.
* Having Joyce and fam so close.
*having Aunt Sharon so close.
*having Chris B so close.
*being able to actually grow flowers in my yard.
*and really, really appreciating all of you I don't get to see so often!!!

Hee! Hee! Hee! Huh! Huh! Huh!

My two favorite pictures of me ever!

It's party time!

"Why do grown ups have parties like that?" asks Mason as we are driving home from party #2. Our family got to go to three really fun parties today, but the kids don't quite grasp parties without an entertainment hour! I guess good food and great company isn't enough for them yet. I had a great time at all of them.
Party #1 we went to Aunt Sharon's surprise birthday brunch. It was beautiful. There was obviously alot of time and talent spent to make this a fabulous party. It was held in an amazing backyard. Full of the most beautiful plants ever, and decorated so cute. We had a wonderful brunch and got to meet and visit with Sharon's friends that we hear so much about. We also got hang out with alot of Fam. It was great.


Party #2 was Boston's end-of-season baseball party held at The Spaghetti Factory. Again, very fun to just sit and visit with everyone from the team, and of course good food. ( well, food anyway). I think this was a big adjustment for the kids, there were no flashing lights, tickets, or plastic kazoos and tootsie rolls to bring home. There were spit wads, ice cream and trophies though, I mean what more could a boy want?


Party#3, The kids got out of this one. Good for them, good for us!! Chris and I went up to ChrisB and Katie's place for ChrisB's birthday shindig. Very laid back, very cool people( way cooler than Chris and I) and awesome food.

Someday( sooner than I would really like ) Mason will get it!

There's no place like home

My Mom in the first puddle. Kas, Mason, and Ian in the second, Back home after a monsoon. 2003


Today was a bit insane. I was at scout camp with Mason all day, ran home, made some cookies really fast to take to Mason's Baseball end-of-season party, and then ran to the party. We arrived home around 9:30pm. We heard there was supposed to be a lightning storm tonight, so we(me) decided to sit outside for awhile. Well I waited, and waited, and we( Boston and I) eventually saw a few strikes, but I am dying for a real monsoon storm. You know where you can actually SEE LIGHTNING and HEAR THUNDER!! I'm not complaining though. It was very relaxing to just sit and watch the cloudy sky. I also got to hang out with Boston for a bit. There just really is no place like home.

Crazy July

Happy Birthday ChrisB. Love ya! So glad you live up here by me. It makes everything better!

rollin' on my old banjo (or bike, Whatever)

Today I feel like a 3rd grader! Boston, Sid, and I rode our bikes to the library and to Kinnamin (for the school lunch program). It was so much fun. Plus I just love my bike! I searched everywhere for this bike and feel like a total rock star riding it. The trees flying by. Racing the cars as they try to pass me. The wind blowing through my hair.... Oh sorry! Anyway it was a fun ride.

Happy Birthday!

July is CRAZY BIRTHDAY MONTH, so today I send out happy birthday wishes to Ty and Natalie! Hope you guys have an awesome day. For those of you who don't know them,the pictures are the ghosts of my awesome sister-in-law Natalie and her son Brecken( the only pic of Nat I could find), and my little brother Ty and his fiance Shanda.

Norman Rockwell

I don't know how I ended up with Rockwell's poster child, but somehow Mason is a perfect fit, with his big ears, freckles sprinkled across his nose, and a smile big enough to hide the mischief in his eyes.
We got this picture last night and I could not stop looking and laughing at it, so I thought I'd share. Love ya Mas!

Big kids

I know, I know, little kids are all cute and everything, but today I was grateful for having big kids. I took Boston and his friend to this little homemade bmx trail today. We havn't been in awhile because it is such a pain loading up and unloading all the gear. Well Bos had some sweet jumps today. ( Boston doesn't care that he has no head, he loves the air shot)





And when they were done they loaded everything themselves. I hopped in the truck and took off. So nice!

Happy Birthday Reu!

Happy Birthday Reuben. Thanks for bringing the Fam up. Hope you guys got home safe.

Slideshow

Starting new after this, but here are a few pictures from the last year and a half.

First Timer

Wow, we will see if this works. I am a total computer retard.

Megan and Reuben just came to visit and it was so awesome, so my first blog is about them. I love loved having them here for the week of 4th of July . My favorite holiday(probably cause it's a warm one). We did lots of fun stuff. Here's some pics of a trip to Multnomah Falls.

This is the grossest slug I have ever seen! That's not my hand!