just a bunch of love and a little craziness: January 2016

This past week Riley had a school project that required some info about his life and things he has done. I couldn't remember a few things so we headed to our blog. That's when I realized that an update was needed. These are our memories and our family history and I need to keep going. Besides my kiddos love to look through all the old post and I must admit I got sucked into reading a bunch of old post while I was helping Riley. So here we go -a catch up post. I'm decided to go back to when we moved into the new house and with looking through old photos - I don't want to leave a big gap in our memories.
Summer 2014- We moved into the new house and 10 days later headed off to the Allen reunion in Oregon. We started off with a trip to Voodoo Donuts in Portland- yum! Who doesn't love Froot Loop donuts?!?!

We stopped at the forest center and walked through the museum, learned about forest fires, and climbed the tower.

Then we were off to the Tillamook Cheese factory- a must for our family! We love Tillamook Cheese! We met up with Dan and Sara and their girls- Mercer and Maden.

We had to sample a lot of cheese and then Tillamook ice cream of course!

We love Aunt Sara!

After the factory it all went down hill. Lets just say we each took our turn with a violent stomach bug that required a car detailing, a bathroom quarentined for our family, lots of blessings and Ben setting foot on the beach the last day we were there. Just when we thought everyone was well and I was relieved to be going home the next day with no one sick- Ethan decided to not be left out! Poor thing, he had to ride home while sick! Nothings worse than throwing up in a gas station garbage can- oh wait- all over the steering wheel beats that! It was a rough vacation. But for those who were not sick we do have a few pictures of some fun.

Kite Flying

We were able to go to the tide pools

Cousin time- Gavan as a mermaid- Ahh cute!

We couldn't get home fast enough! Still to this day the kids claim that Oregon makes them sick! Ha Ha!

Our summer was filled with all the normal, parades, slip-n-slides, splash pads, cousins, parties, s'mores, hiking, campouts, swimming and working on the house.

Candy!

A really nice and REALLY old man offered to take a picture of us all with my phone. I have about 6 of these all without Ethan and Jakes heads! HA! HA!

Fourth of July

Camping in Heber with the Leatham family was a great memory! We had a ton of fun eating, playing games, hiking, and canoeing or paddle boating. The kids want to go back for sure. We bunked with Laura's family- a blast for sure.

We got serious about the backyard and removing the waterfall. We do not need a waterfall! It would be beautiful but just not practical for our family of six kiddos.

Ben could only be serious for so long!

Pioneer Day! We spent it with our friends- the Hills. I don't have much to say about Aaron and Ben's trip to Wyoming earlier in the week, but lets say that it was a very loud and fun night!

We also can't have Pioneer day with out our visit to see and vote on our favorite floats.

Love Will's look on his face- He loves Jakers!

Foam Day with Cousins. The kids loved foam day! Helen and her kiddos -Zoe, Sascha, Paolo and

Cole joined us for the day.

Sascha and Zoe

Cole

Paolo

Owen


Will

Riley

Jocelyn

Wow! They haven't changed! Ethan and Jake

Watermelon after getting cleaned up

This is pretty much how our summers role- lots of fun. Whew! So much more to get caught up on! Looking back though- we have come a long way on the house and the kiddos have grown so much! Such good memories that overshadow the struggles we have had in the past year. I'm just so grateful for my wonderful kids and husband and also for our extended family and friends that care so much for us and are there when we need them!