New Years Eve Auction

Trey & Susie Dallon, Zachary & Quince Suzanna, Scott & Tage Tage & Bekah Brian & Tiffany Izabel, Tim & Priscilla Todd & Stefanie

Matt& Sandy Jason (yes ladies, he's single) Mona, me & Topher Jessica, Elliot, Ryeleigh, Asha & Koy Shaleigh & Christopher

This was just as much fun as we remembered it. The auction was great, and we got some great stuff. Chad's brother Trey bid on a brand new Johnny Miller fly fishing pole and reel and then gave it to Chad. Chad is very excited to get out there and learn how to use it! We also got a bunch of toothpaste and toothbrushes, which sounds boring, but we won't have to buy these things for over a year now! Great emergency preparedness stuff! The kids all got some fun toys too. The best though was just seeing everyone again and feeling like it was just like we never left. (There were lots more pics of all the cousins, and our whole trip, if you want to see them all, let me know, I will email them to you. A special thanks to Todd & Stef, Brian & Tiffany & Scott & Suzanna for your hospitality while we were there! We love you all!

 

In a Galaxy Far Far Away. OMSI Star Wars Exhibit

How cool is this?!? This was soooo fun! OMSI was having a Star Wars exhibit, and because we bought the membership we got tickets for $3 a piece, instead of the $15 they usually cost. They had props and costumes from all 6 movies, we took tons of pictures, this is just a few of the highlights. There was a fun Hover car that you got to drive, the kids loved it, especially Bekah. There was a little movie/show kind of thing with a C3PO talking to a real robot engineer about the differences between robots of our time and droids from the movies. They had all these real robots there to see, and there was an exhibit to build your own mini R2D2 and then program him to move around little obstacle courses,( I will be adding a video to our video site, click on the videos to see if it is there yet). There was an exhibit to make floating cars and so much more. We all had a blast. We went with the Carters, all of my family, my mom and Jim, Ty, Tab & Trae. So once again it was a very large crowd and we had a ball! We went out to dinner at La Costita afterwards, a favorite of our little group around here. They have this dish called Fundido Especial, and yummmmm! Basically it's a cream cheese, cheese & chicken chimichanga-it is divine, a must try for any mexican food lover! It was such a fun night, but we are getting a little run down, as you can see we haven't had a moments rest around here the past week or so. It's not going to get slower yet either, in 2 days we leave for Utah!

Yippee, It's Christmas!

I think I was as excited as the kids this year! For Christmas Eve I made the kids all matching pajamas, and they looked so cute! On Christmas morning everyone was very pleased with what Santa had left them, I won't list everything we got, it would go on for miles, but I will list the main highlights-Topher got a Little People's Train, Bekah got a wagon and a Tickle Me Elmo, Ryeleigh got a bike, Zachary got some cool cars, one of them even goes up the wall, Chad got a couple of AirSoft guns and I of course got scrapbooking goodies. After we filled the apartment with torn wrapping paper and empty toy boxes to the ceiling, we headed over to my moms for round 2. We got just as spoiled there if not more than we did at home! Topher got a Little People's Bus, Bekah got a cute little snap on dress doll, Ryeleigh got a Cabbage Patch Baby, Zachary got a RoboSapien, (they all got way more toys than that too, I'm talkin stacks! Plus they all got like 10 new outfits each! Yikes!) Chad got a rolling tool box, stuffed with fun treats, movies, gift cards and other goodies, and I got rolling scrapbook tote filled with more scrapbooking stuff, sheets, and earphones for the gym. We got a few family games and movies of course, (those of you who know of Chad's DVD buying addiction know what I mean). We ate lots of yummy food and just lounged all day. It was such a magical day, the kids were all wired and exhausted yet happy at the same time, even Topher could not get in a good nap. He thought it was the greatest. I thought so too, hope your Holidays were as great as ours! Merry Christmas!

Park Pics

We were getting very claustrophobic in our little apartment this day. We had to get out! We went to the library for awhile and then headed over to Fairview Park. The kids got to run off some steam, and I didn't have to get after them for fighting or screaming for a few minutes. It wasn't that bad of a day out either, but still cold enough for their little noses to get red!

Zoo Lights

Way more fun then we could have ever hoped for! We weren't looking forward to going to the zoo in the middle of winter at night time and walk around freezing looking at some more Christmas Lights, but we are glad we did! We went with the Carters, so we were a very large group. My mom bought us a membership, because we do like the zoo here an awful lot and it wasn't much more once we paid for everyone anyway, so Thanks to you mom-love ya!
It was really cool, the lights were great, so many animated displays and fun things to see. Christopher loved the lights and was happy the entire time we were there. Most of the animals were sleeping and out of sight, but we did get to see the elephants, tiger and the awesome animals and fish in the Stellar Cove exhibit. We went for a ride on the zoo train and saw more great lights. Bekah and Ryeleigh had a blast on that. You would not believe how crowded it was though! Seriously wall to wall people, all parking lots and overflows were filled, you had to get on a shuttle to get to the line. The line was unreal! I cannot believe how many people wanted to do this! We understood though once we left, we may have just started a new family tradition.

Christmas Ships

Just one more of our little Christmas activities this week. This was Wednesday night. We went with my mom, Tab and Trae(who just got home from their cruise in Mexico) and our friend David Carter.

We went down to the river in Milwaukie and sat at the dock for over an hour waiting for the ships to come in. This was the last night they were doing it, I guess they are all just volunteers with boats who decorate them and float down the river during Christmas time. It was fun, once they actually came, but we got a little bored sitting in the car waiting for them to come. We had to entertain ourselves by blinding the kids with the cameras flash, which is what this picture of Zachary is. The boats were cool, Chad's favorite was the Santa in the canoe, the kids favorite was the fire engine, that even had a siren and the guy driving had a megaphone and got the crowd all screaming and honking. It was a memorable experience! After this, we all went out to dinner at Chang's Mongolian Grill, Yum!

OMSI

So we bought a membership to OMSI, and are we glad we did! This was the first time we had been there, and there is so much to do! Bekah and Topher loved playing in the sand in the Discovery Playground which is just for kids under 6. The older kids loved all the hands on science stuff, Chad loved all the Brain Teaser puzzles and I loved taking pictures and watching everyone have fun. We took along Tab, Ty and our friend David Carter who is visiting for the Holidays. We had so much fun, and we didn't even see half of the things to see there. Luckily we did buy the membership, so we can come back all year or we would have never been able to get Bekah out of the sandbox!

Ward Christmas Party

We went to our ward Christmas Party on the 15th. Although a little lame, we still had fun seeing friends and watching Bekah think she was one of the big kids singing Christmas carols with them. Then of course there was Santa-in the words of Chad, "I reckon that's the real one, right there!" Bekah would not go anywhere near him without me holding her, and Christopher, well since he couldn't run away, you can see his reaction here... You might want to click on the picture to make it larger...What a mean mom, all for the sake of a picture!

Happy Christmas Photos

We took the kids into Picture People to get their photos done. Here are the results! I'm really happy with them, Christopher wouldn't smile, but at least none of the kids are making goofy faces!

Discovering Peacock Lane

This was last night, and it was really cool. It's a fun old street in Portland that all the houses go way overboard decorating. Everyone gets out and walks down both sides of the street ooohing and aaaahing at all the lights. It was freezing, so we got bundled up good. All the kids loved it, especially Christopher. We went with my mom and because we didn't know we were going to do this, until we were there, we had to borrow some bundling from her, so that's why Ryeleigh has on gloves about 5 times her size! We had just come from shopping at the mall and getting portraits taken. It was a full day, that's for sure, but the kids slept great!

They're Back!

Zachary & Ryeleigh got in tonight, much to Bekah's delight. She has not settled down since they got here. We hadn't told them about the dog, so when we got home we opened the door to their room and Bauer came bounding up. Ryeleigh squealed "A PUPPYYYYYYYYYYY!" It was quite cute. We have them for the next 2 crazy, fun and I'm afraid very loud weeks. We are glad that they are here though!

Discovering Vista House

This last week we braved the freezing cold wind and drove down the Columbia River Historic Highway. This is such a beautiful highway, with stunning views of the gorge along the way, it also goes right past Multnomah Falls. We didn't go all the way to the falls though. We stopped at the Vista House. I had seen this before on a drive down the highway, but never stopped there. It is this gorgeous building at the highest point of the winding road. It has view points to look out at the river. As the supervisor for the building of the highway and the Vista House Samuel Lancaster put it, it is "an observatory from which the view both up and down the Columbia could be viewed in silent communion with the infinite." The view was fantastic. We went inside, it is this big open room with pillars and an incredible ceiling and floor. You can go downstairs and see some of the history from the building and the building of the highway, there is also a cafe and gift shop which were closed for the season. The lady who worked there was very nice and gave the kids some souvenier pins which Bekah displays proudly on her coat for everyone to see, (she tells people all about it whenever she has her coat on). We didn't take too many photos because it was FREEZING, so we'll have to go back when it is warmer, but wow, it really was gorgeous. If you want to see some more pictures of the building or highway and find out more of it's history you can go the website. http://www.vistahouse.com