Summer wrap up

 We had anther fun family and friends filled 4th of July! We love this day and go all out! We often have our cousins with us that weekend because it is also their parents anniversary and they usually get there just in time for the parade! This year we even tie dyed shirts. I had never done it before so some of them got A LOT more dye than others.... but they were fun. (Even with a dead dryer for weeks this summer! I had to hang dry everything for over a month while waiting on parts for the dryer. Thankfully it was hot and dry and we had clean clothes.)

 Not long after the 4th we went to one of our favorite places Prineville Reservoir for our family vacation. We were so lucky to have many of our family come up for part of the time and friends too! We swam a lot, loved the kiaks a lot, had lots of water fights and Ruth learned to water ski!

 Brock and Macquarie did their usual and build massive mud castles and lakes.

 Ruth was amazing! She totally water skiied on her very first try and had no fear. She can stear really well too. It's amazing what this kid can do! Some of the pictures look foggy but we had some smoke issues due to wild fires. It was also my 20th class reunion while we were there. I didn't take any pictures while I was there. It was a lot of fun to go see everyone who came. I am glad I went.

 Amelia and I got to go to girls camp together again this year. This was her 2nd year. She has such a great group of friends, and had a great time getting to hang out with her friends.

 We took a day trip to the beach late July with a few cousins. The weather was AMAZING!

 I even had Brock drive! He hadn't done much other then around town so this was a big deal. We weren't in a hurry so it was good practice. (AND SLOW!)

 We also attempted a new thing for our family. We not only went on a hike which we have done several times but we went on on over night backpacking trip. It was so much fun! Everyone carried their own pack, no one was packed, and it was awesome!

 The lake we camped by was beautiful! The kids loved the food and the experience of really being in nature not just in a camp site.

 The girls all shared a tent and snuggled in tight.  It was pretty cute.

 See look at that lake! AMAZING!

 Late summer we said good bye to both of the Spanish Elders that were serving here. They closed the Spanish area here. So Elder Elias (above) and Elder Kehl (below) Moved on to other areas. We miss them. We held Hayden's picture because she was in Sunriver with Uncle Sunny when they came to say goodbye.

 We made one last trip to the beach with Aunt Emily, Grandma, and Myka the end of August. It was NOT as nice of weather as we had in July. But they still had lots of fun

 Something super cool that happened August 21st was we had a total solar eclipse and we happen to be in the path of totallity. By camera didn't get great pictures and there aren't really good words to describe what it was like. But it was incredible. We watched at the park a few blocks from our house and it was amazing to see the light get dimmer and dimmer yet you could litterally still see the sun was there. Then all of a sudden it wasn't! It was gone and it felt like night. It got cold and everything. Then like a flash the sun was back but still dim as it slowly came back. God is amazing at the things he does.

This is Elder Pinkston. He was hurt doing service in our area and tried really hard to heal his broken wrist and serve the Lord but he ended up needing to go home to have surgery and physical therapy. We sure loved having him here.

April birthday party with the Workman's

I have 4 nieces with April  birthdays! 2 of them share the 6th, one the 7th,and one the 12th. In fact I'm the only one of my siblings with out a kid born in April! We had a big party at Pietro's in Beaverton. The kids all had a blast! It was the first time all the grandkids had been together since Christmas. Larry didn't get to go because he had the flu.

Dilly bars and cousins

Now that cousins live closer we get to have cousins over for the weekend more often. This weekend their mom and dad is in Canada so we are having a sleep over. Grandma provided some dilly bars from Dairy Queen. They are all having fun!

Busy Summer stuff catch up!!!

Ok so I am way behind but we have been so busy having fun I haven't had time to post... not that anyone cares because I am certain no one but myself reads this. So anyway here is a wrap up! of the last 2+ weeks. The cousins came we went to the beach... then we decided to swap kids and sent Brock to Prineville with his cousins and we kept Johnnie. We had lots of fun going to the pool, going to the $1 movie in Salem, got school shoes for Ethan, and for theme day while Johnnie was here we had Art day!
On art day I made pancakes and the kids decorated them into really cool art... this one I think was Johnnie's flower! We used sprinkles, fruits, jams, M&M's, Peanut Butter....
For our field trip day we went to the Gilbert House. It was lots of fun too. They have a new exhibit. An animal hospital the kids all had a great time!
Friday night we packed up the car and drove to Prineville to switch back kids and take the cousins boating in Prineville. We try to go once every summer to take the kids boating and they all had a great time (well all but Angela who gets motion sick!)
Here is Ethan showing his cousins Brigham and Hyrum how to water ski (always willing to show off!)
After Brock showed off his knee boarding skills Brigham tried it! He did a great job and got up first time out!!! Way to go!
Here are the girls (minus Reagan) Johnnie tried water skiing and is getting really close she is getting up but still working on getting control of the skis I was so impressed with how hard she tried and didn't want to give up! After her brother knee boarded so easily she thought she would give that a go too! She did a great job at that too! She loved the tube! (who doesn't!) We had a great week with Johnnie!
At the end of our day we were boating across the lake and we saw this! He was eating something dead and let us get really close. We were still on the boat but we could have thrown a rock at him we were so close!
The week after all this the batteries in my camera were dead and I kept forgot to get new ones. For theme day we did Dino Day and I make dinosaur shaped pancakes, the kids played with dinosaurs (Brock's) and played with dinos in the play dough. I made dino poop cookies for snacks too. (They were those chocolate no bake cookies!) For dinner we ate like pterodactyls. (fish and vegetables) While they were busy doing some dino stuff I have spent my entire week painting and rearranging their bed rooms. The boys moved to the girls room and all 3 girls moved the the boys old room and the nursery will be my new craft room... I am still not done. I am very tired and it has taken me ALL week! I am sure it will take a full week still to get everything done! I will post pictures of the rooms when they are done. The girls are almost done I just have one decor thing I want to make and the boys just need a tiny bit of paint... (which I forgot to buy while I was at Walmart today so I will have to go back tomorrow!!!) The craft room needs all my craft stuff taken upstairs and organized but I still have to get all the baby stuff out of their. I will be doing a garage sale this weekend to get rid of it all so that hopefully I will have the money I want to get the stuff I want to organize the new closet down stairs (it won't have craft stuff in it anymore so it will become the "mud room") All exciting stuff! It will feel like a whole new house and I only had to move... everything. But it will be fun when it is done. I have also started painting a few of my crafts for the Gentle House Bazaar! I am getting very excited for it but feeling like I better get a move on I have lots to do and am running out of time!!!! Better run and get more done! There is still laundry to do, house to keep up, a triathlon to train for, rooms to finish paining, crafts to make, dinner to make.... oh and Ethan is gone to scout camp this week so my muscle help is gone getting things up and down the stairs will be much harder!!!!

Trip to Prineville

The last night we were there the kids got to roast marshmallows on the fire. It they all had a great time being together! It is fun to have all 12 grand kids together and all the mom's and dad's together. We took Family pictures but I don't have a copy yet I will post those when I get them! Also while we were there my dad had surgery and the kids had a rough house free weekend. It was funny to see them play with grandpa and NOT get to play rough but they enjoyed being with him and I hope he got enough rest while we were there!


While in Prineville we went to the Parade for the Rodeo. The kids came home with a haul of candy!!!


Beautiful view from my parents house! The sun was setting on the other side!
Both the boys water skied like pros (got up first try!) and Amelia rode on the tube with her cousin Lia. They all had a great time on the lake!


Ruth went on her first boat trip. She tolerated it well. She liked it best when the boat was moving and had a nice nap!

More Spring Break

During Spring break my sister in law came and spent the night with us then we went to OMSI the next day.

 

This is Hyrum my nephew and Johnnie my niece. We sure had fun!

 

The new exhibit is about space and the kids thought it was pretty cool. It was getting a little bit crowded by that point so we kind of sped through that part. Ethan wanted to look at some of the stuff that had long lines but I was getting tired as were some of the kids getting hungry so we kind of went through that part fast.

 

 

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Needless to say we had a very busy spring break and jam packed it with fun. I knew that was the only way I wasn't going to go crazy by the end of it. Although Thursday and Friday we spent at home and I scrapbooked all day, the kids played with friends here at home. It worked out nicely. I got some stuff I got some old stuff done that I needed to do, but still have much to catch up on! Now I still have to catch up on the house work!