Cooler Mornings.

It felt like fall this morning when I walked out the door at 5:30 for a run, the air was cool and it was a perfect morning to be up early before anyone else to get my workout in. I have been spending a couple hours a day in my classroom the last couple weeks but I decided this morning to take the kids to the park before going to school. I was hopeful that I could wear them out a bit and they would be content coloring and eating lunch in my classroom while I worked. It was a fun morning and we played for over 2 hours, I'm going to miss the lazy mornings once I start back to work next Monday.

Grandma Milly's 80th birthday celebration

We took a quick weekend trip to Grants Pass Oregon to celebrate my grandma Milly's 80th birthday. Lots of my aunts, uncles, cousins and all of my sisters and families came to celebrate with my grandma. It was so fun to be back on the farm and to see my boys enjoy it so much. All the kids had a blast seeing the cows, picking blackberries, running around the fields and playing in the water trough. It was great to catch up with some of my cousins and aunts & uncles as well as some of my parents good friends.

Jax, Di Di and my grandma Milly.

My sisters loving on their newest nephew, Case.

Lots of kids playing, blowing bubbles and running around having FUN!

My niece's Reese and Perry (they are twins and are just a couple months older than Colt.).

Aunt Ann and Case.

Great Grandma Milly with Case, her youngest great grandson.

Papa got some fish while he was in Grants Pass. The boys were so excited.

My grandma with her daughters. My mom (Diane), Donna and Debbie.

Dad and Amy. I love this picture.

My grandma with her four children. 

Dennis, Donna, Debbie and Diane.

The kids playing again, Colt and Jax had so much fun. There were kids every where and they all just ran around playing like they had known each other forever. It was pretty cute.

Jax and his cousin Perry playing in the water.

Colt and my cousin Kristy's boy Jacob.

Jax getting some snuggles with daddy, he was a tired boy by the end of the night.

Elena and Reese loving on their Papa. 

What a fun time and my grandma was so happy and excited we were all there for her. I have so many great memories of the farm growing up. We spent every Christmas there until I was a senior in high school. My Papa John and Grandma Milly were very involved with Marni and I growing up and they often came and visited us and watched me play sports. When we were younger they would meet us in Bend, Oregon for a weekend and take us school shopping. That was always a highlight for Marni and I! Papa John passed away when I was a senior and I still think about him and miss him a lot. I can't hear the song "Amazing Grace" without thinking of him and crying. Great memories were made on their farm and it was so fun to go back and watch my kids love it as much as I did when I was younger.

Multnomah Falls

On our way to my Grandma's 80th birthday celebration in Grants Pass Oregon we stopped to have lunch at Multnomah Falls. I had never been to the falls before and it was right off the highway so easy to pull off, have a picnic lunch, let the kids run around and then get back in the car for another 8 hours of driving (the entire drive took us 14 hours). The kids had so much fun running around and it was really fun to see them so happy and having so much fun.

Summer!

 After coming home from the beach it has taken all of us some time to get back into our routine. We were all really tired and I was not feeling that great. It took me almost a week to start feeling somewhat like myself again. The weather was HOT here when we returned and maybe that had something to do with it. It's not even fun to be playing outside during the day without a pool so we have been waiting till evening and using the backyard to let the boys run around before bed.

I took Jax's diaper off so he could pee in the grass and apparently he enjoyed it because he ran around the yard naked the rest of the evening.

We planted a garden this year, its a small one and some of the stuff we planted didn't make it but we have tons of tomatoes, jalapenos and green peppers that are delicious! I am loving the tomatoes plain or in salads and am planning to make a bunch of spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes and peppers and freeze it for the year.

The naked gardener.

Both the boys love coming out here in the evenings and picking vegetables (even though they won't eat any of them!). School starts in less than 2 weeks, hard to believe but I am looking forward to fall! I have been working in my classroom all week and taking all 3 kiddos with me. I pack the older boys a lunch and they think its so fun to sit at the desks and eat there lunch.

Oregon Coast 2011: Gleneden Beach

This was the view out of our bedroom in the condo. Absolutely beautiful. Our condo was on the third floor and we would sleep with the door open every night and listen to the ocean.

They had a basketball court and its tradition for the boys to always play a basketball game while we are on vacation. It was only Andy and Dave this year since Trav was not here and Taylor had to leave early for school.

Camryn LOVES Case, she probably would have sat and held him all day if she could. She kept saying "He's so cute Care, I love him so much Care."

The boys eating some lunch. They had a lot of meals sitting on the chairs at the island in our condo.

Poppi, Colt and Cam watching a movie in Mike and Julie's bedroom. Colt and Cam were inseparable much of the week, they wanted to be together ALL the time. For the most part they did great, not a lot of fighting but we did have to separate them because they always want to wrestle! Poor Cam being the only girl right now she is going to have to become "one of the boys" and so far she's doing a great job of it!

I told Julie to take a picture of this because this is so Andy. He is constantly hungry (but yet is so skinny), we eat a huge dinner and an hour later he's looking for another snack. He went to the fridge and grabbed the pie plate and proceeded to eat the rest of the pie (it was a much bigger piece when he started).

It was my idea to have all the kids sit on the couch in order according to their age so we could get a picture. I love this first one because you can really see each of the kids personalities in this photo.

Randee, Taylor, Katie, Kenzie, Dave (yep there's 5 of them!!)

There was a small playground at the condo right next to the basketball courts. It was usually empty which was nice to let the kids get out of the condo and run around a bit.

My sweet boys. The only time the entire trip where they were all sleeping at the same time during the day. This was towards the end of the trip and we were all exhausted. It took all of us about 5 days to start to feel normal again after getting home. It was a great vacation and so much fun to spend it with family.