Photogenic

My sister in law from California came up to visit her sister who had recently moved to the area. We were able to see her for a quick Sunday dinner.

This girl is one of the most photogenic ladies I know. Maybe it's her kindness that shines through....seriously, she is one of the kindest I know too.... Lucky Rug.

I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner

Not everyday you see a hot dog car!

They then got little hot dog whistles from the driver.... whistles really???!?!?! Who ever thought that would be a good idea as a toy for children.

I want a Boat

This was at the end of our night....but it summed up our boat trip on the Willamette nicely.
We went with some friends to downtown Portland and had dinner on the water.

Me flashing gang signs or something?

Yes, we even swam. I think I was the only one who needed a life jacket. :) I'm such a sucky swimmer. And I needed to be pretty agile to look for sharks anyway.

I will talk Brian into getting another boat someday. Mark my words!

One of my Favorite Quotes from this Summer:

"I don't even want to want to garden" - Hillary Hansen

I, however, have gotten so much happiness from this little garden of mine....

Grace helped me plant this before school was out and the kids have gotten so much enjoyment from picking the peas, tomatoes, radishes, and strawberries. You should have heard the yelling when we found our first (one of only two) cucumbers. You would have thought we had found 100$ .... kinda funny.

Very few vegetables taste as good as a home grown tomato! 1000 times better than the store!

This is the basil I planted from seed. I'm shocked it has grown. All the basil plants I have ever planted have turned black and withered away.... The seeds look about like a poppy seeds when they went in the ground. Crazy.

Look What I did

I found this dress for 65 cents at our local thrift store!!!!

I loved the pattern and the pleated skirt. However the sleeves were just a little off.... Soooooo I cut them and used no sew tape on them.

Before:

After:

I think I love it!

I should have got a picture of a twirl, because that is how I felt all day!

A Day at the Beach

I love all of these kids, I love this beach. Dare I say, it really was one of those perfect days.

I hope my kids look back on their summer and think of all the laughter and fun we had (most of the time).

4 things

4 things I wanted to do this summer:


Teach the kids to Double Dutch.
Go to Fort Vancouver
Hike Munson Falls
Go Berry Picking.


Check (well single rope-check), Check, Check, and Check!!!

My favorite Boys:

Fort Vancouver with Nell's kids:

Munson Falls is actually only a 1/2 mile hike at most.... I could have done it in flip flops.

Token picture of the parents:

Berry Picking

15 pounds of Raspberries!

Mary Poppins

I feel as if I have so much to catch up on and blog about from our Summer. So many pictures to go through.

This was one of the highlights for Avery and me. We attended the Mary Poppins Musical with our friends. I'm not a huge musical fan, but this was absolutely amazing. The scenery and props, with smoke, lighting that made it look like stars were coming out into the audience, and people 'flying' in the air. It was all so breath-taking. Avery was in heaven.

Avery and friend Grace.

After the play we went across the street to the fountain. It was so warm still at 10 o'clock at night, we couldn't resist.

Before the play, we took the girls to Cara Amicos. You can't tell by the picture, but it has a great view of downtown Portland.

Me and Emily. She is one of the best! Fun, positive, smart, and likes good music (my kind of good music) to boot. I love to hang out with her, whether it's riding in her Tahoe listening to our music loud, going to lunch or anthro together or playing dance party wii. She's one of those people that I am grateful to count as my friend. Enough corny things said!

Be Prepared

Could you name the 12 principles of Boy Scouts? I couldn't either, but I do have to admit, Scout Camp is FUN.

Archery, BB-guns, bottle rockets, obstacle courses (that are timed) and tons of other things that are in the wilderness. This camp was a ten! and I had very low expectations, after all, it is the key to happiness. I volunteered on the first day never looked at my watch once.

If you had one of these at home, it would be hours of entertainment!!! The ladies I was with were seriously trying to figure out how to build one.

Jake won the obstacle course for his group with a 1min 7sec time. The kid is so competitive.

I'd say this was a hit. At 70$ for five days, I'd say it was darn near the best money I ever spent!