On a more serious note

Ryan's younger (and only) brother enters the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT today. He will be there about two months, learning Spanish, before he heads off to Texas in the Houston East Mission. The past two days, his Mom and Dad have been getting him ready while the rest of us watched and helped when we could.

We were lucky to get to see him before he left. We were even more lucky to be able to spend some great time with him and for the chance for the kids to get to know him. He was kind enough to let us use his room, which was kind of sad...since we kicked him out on his last few weeks at home. But he was a great sport and even came with us to the rain forest, which made it much more fun.

Brothers

Erik and I tossing stones by the Hoh River

Being goofy

I know he can't read this, but good luck Elder! Go get them Texans!!

Vampires and Stuff

Yes, I went to Forks, Washington. It was not planned or the destination, but a stop along the way to the Olympic National Rain Forest. We had a family reunion up in Washington, on the Puget Sound. We spent three days doing everything. It was not in the plans to see the rain forest, but we were so close (2 hours away) and I really wanted to see it, as did Ryan. So my sweet father-in-law drove our little family and Ryan's brother joined us on a quick trip to the forest.

So where does Forks come in? And if you don't know why I keep talking about Forks, well then you haven't read the Twilight series. The book takes place in Forks and in the Olympic Rain Forest. That is NOT why I wanted to go there, but I have wanted to see the rain forest for a while now and Ryan had never been either. So, we went and Forks is on the way.

So being the nerd that I am, I had to take pictures there. I would probably never be there again, so I had to.

This is my vampire picture, I was running to get down the path for a shot and I came out as a blur.

I know, I know...but we had to

Moss hall

The pictures don't do it justice, it was so amazing.

I want to post more, but we're going to go watch some old family videos of Ryan being a weirdo. I figured that after 8 years of marriage, I can handle anything.

Berry Fun

While most Oregonians have had the experience of berry picking, I had never been. Nor have the kids. We went last week to a u-pick farm. After a couple of hours, we had pounds and pounds of amazing raspberries, blueberries, and boysenberries. The kids had a great time, as did I, I might add. I loved eating the warm berries right off the bush. I wish we had something comparable to this in Illinois. Though there is a u-pick farm near where we live, it can't compare with the huge numbers of berry farms or the quality of the berries.

We have enjoyed the berries in every way this past week.

Those berries from the grocery store will never taste the same after this. Oh well, until our next trip to Oregon.

Only in East Texas...

Mom rounding up a rogue calf.

Once again, here are some pictures from our recent trip to Texas. We had such a great time and have so many pictures. We had one week between our trips and it was spend getting our yard under control, so I haven't taken many pictures. Now that we're in Oregon, we're getting a bunch of new pictures. At one point, my schedule will settle down and I'll be able to get some projects done. In the mean time, here are some more photos of our trip...

Only in East Texas do you clean your car out with a leaf blower.

Working on the farm

The truck still lives, but with a lot of exhaust going on

William hard at work - raking up grass clippings

Sweet boy!

A rare family picture

I have a goal of keeping track of my blog while I'm away - let's hope it works.

Another Williamism

That boy says the funniest things. I was sitting at the computer when I heard what sounded like a knock on the front door.

"Was that a knock on the door?"

Claire - "I don't think so.."

William, "Mom, that was a squirrel throwing coconuts at the front door."

Oh, of course.

Howdy Ya'll - Part One

The cousins (all but one - my sister's youngest was missing)

I have had requests to put the cakes from our contest on my blog - but I'm still having problems uploading one of the cakes. So I'll have to try again later. In the mean time, here are some more pictures of the fun. This time, the cousins.

The big girls

Two brothers and William - out for a ride on the pond

My brother Scott and Ryan making a landing for the boats.
My parents had the pond dug out, so there was a lot of mud.

The three oldest - one from each family.

Rose and a cousin.

More to come! For those of you who hate other peoples' vacation pictures - tough! I've got the cutest kids, nieces and nephews ever, I have to show them off!

Picture Perfect...or a giant rip off

So I went to buy my kids a swimming pool today. We picked out a pool that has a slide and a water-shooting giraffe. On the box, there were like five kids playing happily in the pool with room to spare. Awesome, should be perfect for my two kids and the occasional friend. I looked at the measurements, but the numbers did't make a lot of sense without a tape measure to visualize it. So I bought it. I took it home, pulled out the pump and as the pool starts to take shape, I realized I have been totally ripped off! Claire's comment was, "this is a really little pool. What happened to the one on the box?" What indeed. There is barely enough room for both of my kids, let alone their friend. And the slide? Tiny and it doesn't hold their weight but falls over when they get on it.

So here is my thought. Either the pool-box-making people have a giant prop/photo pool they use just for the box that actually will hold a bunch of kids, or there was some serious photo-shopping going on. I'm guessing the second. They took pictures of kids playing in some regular sized pool, shrunk them down and photo-shopped them into my pool. So buyers beware; when you see that tiny blow-up pool for your baby that even looks small on the box, it will probably only hold a Barbie or your baby's feet.

After this one is popped (and I'm sure it will be by the end of the summer), next year I bring my tape measure with me to the store.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig!

The hayride on Grandad's tractor.

We're back from our trip to Texas. We had a great time, but as always, it's good to be home. I have tons of pictures and many funny things to share, but seeing as how my yard is a jungle after being neglected for a week, I'll have to do it later. But for now, here are a few pictures from our trip.

One of the terrifying things we found at First Monday

Kitty litter cake - no, this was not my idea.

Even Barbie drives a John Deere