Mt St Helens

 My parents came out last weekend, we had a lot of fun!  We volunteered at the school, went to super craft night at the church, saw a movie, talked and we drove up to the Mt St Helens visitor's center one day.

 We walked along the trail to get a good view of the mountain...do you see it?  I didn't either, but the visitors center was nice.

 

On the drive back home we found out that my Great Grandma Lowry had passed away that morning.  We stopped for dinner along the Columbia River.  My favorite part of the trip was listening to my Mom reminisce about the good ole days with Grandma Lowry.  

It was a perfect day to sit outside for dinner.

Thanks for coming out to visit Ma and Pa, we had a great time.  

You're the best Grandparents EVER! 

(Said in Logan talk, haha)

Before And After

I was really tired of the girls' side table, the writing on top wasn't my favorite. Glued some paper on the top and voilà, all better.

He Rolled Up. Can He Roll Down?

StOmP RoCkeT

My kids have always been "binkie babies", they love them!  Logan has been no exception to the binkie baby rule.  Tuesday I'd had enough, what was supposed to be "just for sleeping" kept turning into an all day event.  All day long I kept asking him to put his binkie away, after about the 10th time of asking him I got the scissors out and cut a little piece off the tip.  A little bit later he came up and said, "Mom, my binkies broken!  Can you fix it?" with the biggest, saddest, tear filled puppy dog eyes ever!  My heart broke and I had to tell him that he'd been using it too long and it was broken now.

That night I was at the church with the Y Dubs so BR was home to put the kids to bed. I came home and was worried about how bedtime had gone, to my surprise it had gone well since Logan hadn't had a nap and fell asleep quickly.

All was well until he woke up at his usual "10pm I want my binkie back in my mouth" time...he was sad, wanting his old friend!  He decided he wanted to cry and put up a fuss until 1:30 am!  It was a long night.

The next night I told Logan if he'd go to bed without crying and stay asleep and in his bed ALL night long I'd get him a RoCkeT.  He was all for it and didn't cry, he slept all night long too!

So long binkies!

Goofy Girls At The Bus Stop

The girls wanted to wait at the bus stop instead of at home this morning. Silly faces and all!

This week the girls started school, Jaida 3rd grade and Jenna Kindergarten.  Jaida started Monday and it was a breeze, she's an old pro by now.  Jenna started today and I was a little nervous she wouldn't do so great when she was crying this morning and not eating anything.  She calmed down and she ate some banana, she was great the rest of the morning.  She sat in the back of the bus with big sister.  I met them at school and got them settled in.  No tears=good day for everyone!  Happy back to school everyone!

Friends

We were invited to our friends pool for dinner and swimming, such a beautiful day and a gorgeous night!  This is the shot I took from my phone as we were leaving.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how lucky we've been with having such great friends.  Not just "hey, how ya doin'" friends, but friends that are like family, friends that I could call and they'd be here just like family.  We've lived away from our families for 10.5 years now...sometimes it's hard not being there for all the fun and even not so fun moments when I want to show support.  What a blessing to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, no matter where we move in the WORLD we have a built in family.  I hope that I can be that person who is like family when no family is around.  

We have also been lucky to have incredible neighbors who have been so much fun, so kind and generous...what a huge blessing!  Thank you!

Art Class

Yesterday the girls said they wanted to draw a temple and paint it in, I was all for it and we started. I didn't help them with any of it, I just gave suggestions as they asked for them. I was really impressed with their tenacity to finish, only a couple breaks and then back to work. They worked on them for a couple hours! So proud.

Wall

I painted this on my friends daughter's wall yesterday. It felt good to get all artsy. Let's just say she owes me many, many hours of babysitting.

Mwahahahahaha!!

Friday Night Ice Cream

Cool Moon Creamery

Newport

We had the best weekend with Christy, Kirt, Kylie and Stephen!  I don't think it could have been any better.

We drove to Florence to ride the dunes which was SO much fun, even the kids had a blast on their ride.

Russ and me having some down time at the condo.

We had to get a shot of everyone on the beach, love these guys!

This is true love, Bubby loving his cousin Kylie!

The family in downtown Newport.

All of us.

These sea lions were very loud, and fun to watch.  ha!

We had perfect weather while we were out there!

The view from the condo, it really only took 2 minutes to get to the beach...so nice!

Still trying to get all the sand out...hehe!

Sunday night on the beach, it was gorgeous.

Me, trying to make it back to the group with the timer...didn't make it!

The sand dunes in Florence.

Running on the beach.

On Sunday Kylie, Kirt and I walked to the lighthouse and down to the beach.  Saw tons of sea stars and sea life, beautiful morning!

the lighthouse looked so awesome in the fog that morning.

the lighthouse in Newport.

Sand Rails

A break during our ride, another buggy drove by, Stephen and Russ talking about the sand in their face.  Fun ride!

Dunes

Today we went to Florence and rode on the dunes. It was the craziest ride I've been on! It was so much fun riding all over the sand dunes!  We pretty much drove at a 45 degree angle at 50 miles per hour, so much fun!  Incredible.  I was grateful for Kylie's hat to cover my ears so sand wouldn't get in them, the seat belt harness and the goggles!

Russ, Stephen and I went on the fast ride while christy, kirt, Kylie and the little kids went on the slower ride. While we were out riding we saw the slower buggy and ZoOmEd past it! So much fun!