My niece Asha, who lives in Mapleton Utah is in the 2nd grade and is learning about geography. They read a book called Flat Stanley, about a boy who was smashed by a bulletin board or something-I know it sounds gruesome, but apparently other than him being smashed flat, he was otherwise unharmed-you can let out your sigh of relief now. Anywho-what the class then did is made themselves flat-not by smashing themselves with bulletin boards, but just by drawing a picture of themselves. Then they were supposed to send their flattened selves to some exotic or far off locale where a friend or family lives to have a little visit and see what that part of the world is like. (You may remember us doing this a couple of years ago for her older brother). Well as you may have guessed sweet little Asha chose us as Flat Asha's host family and we got to take her around and show her the sites, and even dress her in our authentic cultural clothing...ie. raincoat, rainboots, and of course to complete the outfit-matching umbrella.
On Sunday we took Flat Asha to Bonneville Dam to see the big sturgeon and other fish, she was a little disappointed that the salmon weren't climbing the ladders to get back to the ocean at this time of year, but she still signed the guest register and had her picture taken by the fake salmon and pretended to look terrified that she was about to be eaten-that Flat Asha, such a crack up!These are the adventures we took her on, this last weekend...
First we stopped off in Depoe Bay-Whale Watching Capital and also the home of the Worlds Smallest Harbor. We took Flat Asha's pictures in front of the signs, in front of the whale statue and in front of the boats in the harbor. She loved it , even when she got splashed a little from the huge waves crashing against the wall while she was looking for whales.
Next we took Flat Asha to the beach, it was a little chilly but that didn't seem to bother her, she still convinced us to bury her in the sand and help her write her name in the mountain with a stick, she loved playing with her not so flat cousins and watched with sheer delight as they ran from the waves and built mini sand castles.
First we stopped off in Depoe Bay-Whale Watching Capital and also the home of the Worlds Smallest Harbor. We took Flat Asha's pictures in front of the signs, in front of the whale statue and in front of the boats in the harbor. She loved it , even when she got splashed a little from the huge waves crashing against the wall while she was looking for whales.Next we took Flat Asha to the beach, it was a little chilly but that didn't seem to bother her, she still convinced us to bury her in the sand and help her write her name in the mountain with a stick, she loved playing with her not so flat cousins and watched with sheer delight as they ran from the waves and built mini sand castles.
After the Dam we stopped at Multnomah Falls and took her picture in front of the sign and the falls, Flat Asha at that point was getting a little upset by all the cold and rain, so we didn't stay long.
At the end of our weekend we went to the End of the Oregon Trail site, if you look closely you can see Flat Asha on the sign waving to you all. She had so much fun in Oregon, and we were all sad to see her go this afternoon back to Utah.
Flat Asha-you can come back and visit your host family anytime! We would love to see the 3 dimensional you here in Oregon, but understand that your mom and dad are big poo's for not bringing you out-we love em anyway! Love ya!
The kids with Flick at California Adventure-The kids LOVED this part of the park, they both hated to leave it.
Hangin with the Pooh.
The fam and my mom and my niece Mckayla at California Adventure.
Playing at the 7 dwarves cottage.
Me and the kids outside of Soarin over California in California Adventure.
A really bad pic of Cinderella in her carriage at the parade-it was the only picture I took of the parade, so I thought I'd throw it in!
Getting Princess Jasmine's autograph.
My fine catches! They're keepers!
The family by the Grizzly River Run-this ride gets you SOAKED-not recommended on a somewhat chilly day! Super fun, except for the after chills! 
The kids LOVED T-i-g-g-e-r the mostest-they were so excited he was there.
Meeting Mulan in the Princess room.
After the teacup ride for like the 3rd or 4th time-the kids loved these, which surprised me, as much as Bekah HATED the tilt-o-whirl at Lagoon this last summer.
Dancing with Nigel the Penguin and Bert from Mary Poppins.
What 2 kids look like after so much fun and excitement packed into 2 very full days, and it's only like 9 o'clock! (That's EARLY for these 2 if you know them and their sleep patterns at all).
It was a good thing then that while Chad was at the show-I took the kids on a short little road trip to Corvallis to visit the Youngs-and she got to go to soccer with Taylor! She loved it, and she was good at it too! I wish I could have gotten some cute pics-but I went to a younger class with Topher aka "no attention span boy". We then went to the Youngs house for some play time and then over to see the new clinic and "help" do some finishing touches (we were more trouble than help-and left not too long after we go there). I would have taken some cuter and better pics of them all, but we planned on going back on Saturday-but when we got to the exit-not only were the kids asleep but so was Chad-so I kept driving :(. 
For her birthday dinner we went to her choice-Red Robin ate some yum food and they came and sang to her. It was an unorthodox birthday-but she had fun-especially since she got to play with her friends again-she misses them lots (as do we all!).
We celebrated Bekah's birthday on Friday at Chuck E Cheese. She wanted a "girls only-princess party", she did let Dad, Topher, Papa and Jordan's daddy come-but that's it-no boys! It was just a small party since we are going to Disneyland in a week. She had her 3 friends come-Jordan, Jaycie and her bestest friend from school Alexi, (we invited the Young girls and another little friend, but they weren't able to make it). We had more adults there than kids! It was great! The kids actually got to play together, and there weren't so many to keep track of!
Cute girls eating pizza
The "beautiful princess cake"
Kids enjoying the beautiful princess cake
Thanks for the Princess Dress-ups Jordan-So much fun!
Thanks Grandma for Horton and the book that "matches him", and also my "magic" markers!
Getting sung to by Chuck E Cheese himself and dancing along-You're a Birthday Star!
Then last night at girls night-one of my new favorite girls in the world, (and this was even before this surprise that I loved her guts), 
Does anyone here
