Gardner Village 2005

 Look what I found in my e-mail account.  Sadly I have no idea why my kids were in Utah in 2005 without me, but my awesome sisters took them to Gardner Village and had some fun with them.  They were all so tiny, look at Sam!  Just a baby.

 Emma is so cute.

 We think this witches sign says "Does this hat make my nose look big?"  They all thought that was funny.

 So let's see Hope would have been 14,  Jackie would be 12,  Tayler 10 and Emma 8.  Little Sam would be 18 months.  Wow, so cute.  I love coming across old photo's.

Seaside

My Parents came to visit June 4th through the 12th.  Since Jaxon was out of school for summer they brought him with them.  My kids weren't out yet, but since Emma is doing online schooling she got to come with me and Tayler and George stayed home.

 The first night at seaside was very rainy and blustery, but we woke to sunshine.  The tide was super low and  lots of people were clamming.  We found tons of sand dollars and picked up all that we could carry.  We even got a little picky and threw some back just because they weren't just right :)  I was impressed with the amount of sand dollars, I'm assuming we found so many because of the low tide.

 Since Emma was in school still she was supposed to do something educational everyday.  Hope came over on Tuesday and we went to Fort Clatsop, and Fort Stevens to learn a few things.  These pictures are at Fort Clatsop, it is a replica of the fort Lewis and Clark lived in when they got to the western coast.  Sounds like they had a really miserable time,and after looking through the fort and picturing a really rainy winter I don't blame them.  I would have got out of there as fast as I could too.

 Near the resort we were staying at there is a salt work.  They had to get salt out of the ocean and boil the water away to get salt for all the preserving and things needed on their trips, it looked like a bottle of sand to me :)

 In between the forts we went to Astoria, and climbed the Astoria Column.  It is 164 steps up and kind of cool if the view is available.  We were lucky and could see the ocean and the Columbia and I think the Lewis River.   Then the rains came, it was pretty wet the rest of the time, we would go out when we could, we went swimming and hot tubing.  Played lots of canasta, and other things.  Watched lots of movies.  George and Tayler came over for the weekend.

 Monday was really pretty and we decided to go for one last hurrah before the time was up.  We went to Cannon Beach to see the tide pools, while we were there we rented these fun bikes.  Kind of fun, when you want to go a different way you lean, interesting and fun to ride.

 My Mom is so awesome, out riding a bike on the beach.  I tried to race Jaxon and about tipped over.  When he caught up to me he was laughing and said he had already tipped over so he knew not to race :)  Live and learn huh.

 At Seaside in the Carousel mall we love to go to the hat store and try on hats, a good ending to a great trip.

I just love my family, we have so much fun together.  Looking forward to our family reunion in July!

Sister Quilt

While I was in Utah I made a quilt.  It was fun and was made even better because my sister's helped me.  Heidi quilted it on my Mom's quilt machine and stitched the word sisters into it.  I love the idea and I love the quilt.  I got the material at Gardner's village.  I love that place, cute shops with cute ideas.  The store I got the material at is Pine Needles.  Their blog is kind of fun too, www.pineneedlesatgardnervillage.blogspot.com.

Momaaa oooh

 Thursday Hope, Emma and I hiked Saddle Mountain

 Hope has never hiked it before and really wanted to.  It was Ryley's favorite hike.

 It is a doozy of a hike but very pretty.  I hiked it a couple years ago for my birthday.  It was much nicer this time around, partly because everyone wanted to hike it and when we got to the top we could see the ocean instead of the top's of clouds.

(Emma, queen of the mountain)

 The Picture below is the "saddle part described blow.

Hike Description

Mountaintop views that reach from the Pacific Ocean to Mt Hood await you on this steep climb to the top of a doublepeaked summit of basalt. The upper part of the mountain is decorated with vast steep wildflower meadows in summer.

From the parking area, the trail begins in the campsite area. Get on the paved trail, and for left, passing several walk-in campites. The pavement soon ends, and you will enter a lush forest of red alder, with salmonberry lining the path. At a quarter mile, the trail flattens amidst a carpet of oxalis. You have an option to take a short spur trail to the right for the Humbug Mountain viewpoint, but it is not necessary, you will see it from the summit as well.

Soon the alders will be replaced with Douglas-firs and spruces as you switchback up the hillside. The trail skirts around sedum-covered house sized boulders, a preview for the upper portion of the hike. Nearing the one mile mark the woods are periodically opened for steep meadows-which are in bloom from May through July. The top 500 feet of the mountain is made up of huge basalt dikes. There is very little topsoil. The trail is loose gravel, and recently the tread has been completely covered with a chain link fence material to aid in traction. By a mile and half, you will be traveling mostly through the steep rocky meadows that make this hike famous. Admire the flora and the expansive views, but please watch your step. After a short descent through the saddle area, you will make the final steep climb up to the summit- a triangular cement pad that is the former site of a lookout tower.

 Hope almost victorious. 

 At the end as we were hiking the last part and we were all really tired, I got a burst of energy and passed Emma for a space.  I had gone around a switch back and couldn't see her and I guess she was saying Mommy (she wanted me to pull her to the top).  I couldn't hear her or Hope for a second and then the words from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody "Momaaaaa  ooohhh" came floating through the tree's.  Something I  will never forget, so funny and so like her.

The picture above and the one above that are the view from the top.  The second one up you can see the ocean (white line, upper left side).  Nice view, worth all the pain from sore muscle's the next day :)  I promise.

Jackie and Tyler's Day

 What a wonderful day!!  After all the worry about weather and all the other things that cause stress on a wedding day it all turned out so great.

 We were blessed to be surrounded by family.

 I just loved this picture.

 Jordan River Temple, they look so happy together.

 In the temple George told me that he had seen Faith Steven's outside.  I couldn't believe it.  I haven't seen her for years, like 23+ years, so I really hoped I would get a chance to say hi.  We were outside taking pictures and there she was!  Not only did I see Faith but as I was walking to the sealing room there was a couple walking toward me and I was thinking she looked really really familiar, and then I realized it was my primary secretary from 5 or so years ago!  She lives in Montana, I live in Oregon and we were in Utah in the Jordan River temple on the same day at the same time.  I thought that was two extra bonuses to a already fabulous day.

 My family put sooo much work into the reception.  Jenni made the cake for us, it was carrot cake.  So so yummy and so sweet of her to offer.  Marc the awesome photographer, he was and is so patient, something that I will always greatly appreciate him for.  My parents and sisters and brothers  for hosting and serving and cleaning and decorating and........ the list goes on and on.  Without them it just wouldn't have been possible for everything to go off without a hitch.

 The church was full of cousins, it was hard to stop visiting to take pictures. 

 Halley made it to the reception, it was great seeing her again.

 Judy and Verl (aka whirl) Tolbert  made it to the reception, we were so touched that they would come, all the family and friends from all over Utah.  It was so wonderful to see everyone.  Richard and Cheryl, Paul McCollaum, Michelle and her husband, Bonnie McCollaum.  People we haven't seen for such a long long time.

Just married, that says it all :)

Projects

 It has been really rainy so to keep my sanity I decided to start a big project.  A lady in YW is going to have a baby girl so I crocheted this for her.  It turned out super cute.  I made another one for my friends daughter that is having a baby girl also.  It is called the princess stitch and was more fun than I thought it would be, but after two blankets and two burp clothes I am taking a break :)

 My good friend Julie, decided she wanted to do a big service project.  100 dresses to send to Africa and India.  I have now sewed 10 dresses!  They are so cute, some little girls will be so happy when they get them.

Then and Now

I just realized we have now officially been in Oregon for nine years.  Wow!

I remember our very first day here, very confusing.  We were all really nervous about this huge thing we had decided to do.  

Lots of tears and craziness later what has changed?

Lets see we will start with George.  First day officially "pushing" dents out of cars, he hated it then and he hates it now :(   He is so good at his job though, it really is an art and he has the magic touch. Still loves a good movie though :)   He has changed in many ways and I think he is glad he has moved here, some days I think he really misses riding in a tractor though.

I remember being terrified of everything, I didn't realize how much I used the mountains in Utah as reference points.  Every time I left the house I had to really memorize every street name and hope I could find my way back home (no gps back then).  I was terrified to send my kids to school, because what if they needed me and I couldn't find them, yeah not a happy time for sure.  Now, there are still certain areas I hate to drive to,  mostly in Portland but I am not as scared as I used to be.  I gleefully send Tayler off to school everyday. I have made some really great friends that I can't imagine my life without.  I have learned so much about myself and others here, I kind of feel like my life in Utah my brain was in a fog so I'm thankful I have woke up.

Hope:  My goodness when we moved here she was 11.  She of course turned 12 shortly after.  I remember her birthday party, all these strange kids coming over :)  She has grown, moved back to Utah. Became a dental assistant. Worked for a year, lived in a trailer :)  Fell head over hills in love.  She got married!  Has been widowed........She has moved back to Forest Grove and I pray for her constantly.  She is tough, she is strong and she has taught me so much.

Jackie:  Was 9 and had a tough time with the move.  Who am I kidding all of the kids had a tough time.  She made some fun friends pretty quickly and some of them she is still friends with today.  She likes to hold on to her friends.  She is grown, moved out of the house.  Went to BYU-I.  Fell in love, is living in Utah and will be married before I know it.  Wow, time flies.

Tayler: Was 6.  I sometime think that we really needed to move here for him.  He always struggled with reading and well pretty much all school.  It was horrible and I questioned myself and him and everyone all the time.  Well in our ward we had some great optometry students and we were blessed to have one as our home teacher.  One of the times that he was visiting us I mentioned that Tayler had a hard time reading.  He told us to bring him to the school because the students always needed  new eyes to look at.  I thought it would be a waste of my time because I had already had his eyes looked at in Utah and he had 20/20 vision so what was the point.  I did it anyway and found out he had  really weak eye muscle, good vision but he couldn't focus fast enough.  So for three years every Tuesday or Wednesday he had vision therapy and tons of vision therapy homework.  I think we have done well.  He still likes to read even though we had years of tears  and frustration. He is a Sophmore and is looking in to going to PCC ( a community college) next year. He loves a good movie and has a group of great friends.

Emma: Was 5 when we moved here, what was I thinking.  She was soooo small, so sweet.  I feel bad sometimes because she was always quiet and didn't cause any problems so she kind of just shuffled along with all the kids.  Eighth grade was an eye opener for me, I found out that I need to keep her a little closer.  I  pulled her out of school and she is doing her school work online.  Connection Academy.  She hates it, I love it!  It has been a huge adjustment for both of us.  We are working on things and hopefully the future holds great wonderful things for her.  She is such a sweet person with some much to offer the world.

I often wonder where we would be if we had stayed in Utah?  Where would my kids be?  What would be different?  I know it doesn't matter, we are here and this is our life!