Weekend at the Beach

It’s not very often that you get three whole days of blue skies and sun at the Oregon coast, but that’s what we had when we spent a weekend in Lincoln City with the Palmer’s.  It was gorgeous!

Of course it was a little windy which made it chilly, but we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather overall.  Isaac and Grace were beside themselves with excitement to go to the beach.  They don’t remember the last time we were there, so they couldn’t wait.  We spent as much time as we could actually on the beach. 

I was a little worried about how Isaac and Grace would do with the sand.  I didn’t have any reason to worry though, they loved it right from the beginning and got right to work in the sand.

From the minute Isaac found out we were going to the beach he wanted an excavator to play with in the sand.  A bulldozer was the best I could do.  He was thrilled and hardly put the thing down!

Grace and Emma helped bury Arianna in the sand.

Emma went right for the water, which doesn’t surprise me.  She’s always been oblivious to the cold Pacific Ocean.  She, Dallin and Grant had fun in the water.

Isaac and Grace on the other hand, would have nothing to do with the water.  They both thought it was too cold and scary.  That’s fine, the sand kept them plenty occupied.

The wind was perfect for kite flying. 

It was a great day on the beach.

When we weren’t at the beach, we had lots to do at the awesome beach house we stayed at.  It was plenty big for all of us (Reed & Sandy and Reed’s mom were there, as well as Anne, Arianna and Canaan).  The hot tub and game room were huge hits with the big kids.

The outdoor fireplace was perfect for s’mores.

And we had great views of the beautiful sunsets.

The kids played and were goofy.  The adults stayed up late talking.

Dallin was so nice to play with both Isaac and Grace.

We at lots of good food, including Chuck’s huge Juicy Lucy burgers.

We celebrated Dallin’s 12th birthday (still trying to figure out how he can be 12!!).

And we hit the beach some more!

Lee and Chuck took the kids on a walk, but the little girls just couldn’t make it all the way.  Chuck came back with both Ava and Gracie.  Grace was all wrapped up in his jacket. 

Of course, a trip to the coast wouldn’t be complete without some salt water taffy. Or toffee if your name is Lonna….=-)

We had such a great weekend, and it went by way too fast.  Can’t wait to do it again!

Isaac was completely tuckered out on the way home.  He fell asleep with his sandwich in his hand and the bulldozer not too far away!

Visitors From Minnesota

Our favorite Minnesotans, the Palmer’s (who should still be Oregonians), came to stay with us for a week.  It was great!  We haven’t been all together with them for a long time.  It’s been so fun to see our friendship that started early in our marriages last over the years.  We love the Palmer’s and we loved having them stay with us. 

We spent time watching the big kids get to know each other again and watching the little kids play and bond over marbles and goldfish crackers.

Spent even more time wondering how these little kids…

Dallin & Emma--4th of July 2001

…turned into these big kids.  It seems like just yesterday we were pushing them in their strollers as tiny babies.

We played Face the Cookie.  Emma was the only one to get that cookie into her mouth! 

We spent a day at the zoo.  We were happy to see Arianna a lot while the Palmer’s were here, we especially had fun with her at the zoo.

Dallin was sick that day.  =-(

Isaac and Grace loved the zoo.  We will definitely be visiting again this summer (while they’re still free to get in!).

The petting zoo was a hit.

The polar bear put on an awesome show for us and it was fun to see the kids’ reaction to it.  They loved it!

The lorikeets are always fun.

The best part of the day was just being with our friends at the zoo.

Reed’s sunblock.  Reed and Sandy are always fun to be around and we appreciated them letting us tag along on their family outings.

Cute girls!

Lanna and I continued our never-ending quest of getting a good picture together.   We also tried to get back to the good ‘ol days by crafting a little.  We started making a pretty necklace, but that’s as far as mine got...started.

Unfortunately the Palmer’s were plagued with sickness while they were here.  That was sad, but we still managed to have a good time. 

The highlight of their visit was the weekend we spent at the coast (that will be another post).

It was just so nice to spend time with our good friends and to get to know their kids better. 

We love you Chuck, Lanna, Dallin, Grant, Callie & Ava!  Move back soon.

Father’s Day 2011

Here are three kids who absolutely adore their

Their mom adores their father as well.  He’s a pretty darn good one!  Good enough to get breakfast in bed, complete with the lyrics of his all-time favorite Primary song, not to mention the Danishes he begs asks for every year.

The kids were so excited to gather around him on the bed as he opened his presents.

He got new DAD pictures to replace the ones from last year on his desk at work.

And new running duds for his new hobby.

How thankful we are for the kind of dad Lee is.  He takes his role as a father seriously and leads our home with love.  I can’t believe how lucky and blessed we are to have him.

Later that evening we went to Grandma Dorothy’s house to celebrate my awesome dad.   These grandkids also love their Grandpa Mike!

He was proud to show off his “many names of Grandpa” shirt that we made him.  I think he looks pretty cute!  We love you Dad!

Father’s Day was a good day to remember all the wonderful dads and grandpas in our lives.  We love you all!  It was also a good day to eat yummy food, including dessert that was, of course, chocolate!

Worth the Work

Our garage sale was worth the blood, sweat and tears (yes tears.  I wanted to cry several times as I saw baby clothes, shoes and gear leave my garage…).  I am not a fan of having garage sales.  But, we had a lot of baby stuff and we need a dishwasher.   Thankfully the first day was beautiful and we stayed busy all day.  One woman was about to get boy/girl twin grandchildren and she wanted to stock her own house with baby supplies.  She alone bought a large amount of our double items.  Unfortunately, it poured the second day.  We were only able to stay open for a couple hours and we pulled in a measly $40.  We made plenty the first day to make up for the bad second day and we far exceeded our goal. 

The outside pictures were taken after most everything had been cleared out-it went fast!

So, as soon as we get some time to go shopping, all that hard work will hopefully translate into something like this:

Huge thanks to Kaitlin and Tenley who spent the weekend with us and helped with the kids.  They took Isaac and Grace to the park and to the library during the worst of the craziness.