At Hop and Nana's

Cooling off on a HOT day

Striking a pose

Dirty, but oh so happy!

Giving Dad his first ride on the three-wheeler

Just one of Mom's beautiful flowers - what an Idaho sunset does to a red poppy!

Convention

Emma with her "Convention best friend" Ember

Washing dishes...gotta get him doing this at home!

Goofy kids!

Some of Ryan's Idaho friends - Boston and Seth

Hop and Nana with the kids on Sunday morning

Fishing in Eastern Oregon

The guys (minus Rick) getting ready to head to the ponds,

The girls (minus Ann) anxious for the boys to head to the ponds.

"Come on, fishy-fishy. Come on, fishy-fishy." Five seconds later, "You fish, Daddy. I'm

going to go throw rocks!"

Cousins....Friends

Happy ninth birthday, Jordan!

The girls are allowed up at the ponds on Saturday just to bring cupcakes.

Back home and back in touch

We're back from Idaho and back in touch...our Internet connection has been off and on for the past couple of weeks. Tonight we're finally up and running again. We had a great trip to Eastern Oregon and to Idaho. We spend a few days first with Bob's family for the annual fishing weekend in Eastern Oregon. The boys from Boise weren't able to come and were missed. Ryan and Jordan still managed to have fun. The weather was very cool. After we left and headed to Idaho, they had snow in town! Strange for the middle of June.

The girls stayed back at the house and relaxed. We still had Emma, so we didn't truely get to relax, but it was a lot quieter without the boys.

Bob went back to Portland with Greg and Holli on Sunday and the kids and I headed to Idaho. We had a wonderful convention...what we heard was definately bread for the soul. The kids enjoyed so much seeing their Idaho friends. We usually head back home after convention, but stayed another week this time. Ryan went on the truck with Dad and had a playdate with Boston. Emma hung out with me during the day, and we were able to have a playdate with Ember and Dawson. Near the end of the week, Bob flew over and we had a family reunion with Dad's side of the family. It had been five years since the last time we were all together; it was great to see everyone. The kids got to spend some time time with Grandma, Uncle Jon, Uncle Max and Aunt Amanda and Adam, Jamee and Clara.

While we were there, we had our family photos done by Kyla. Some of them are on her blog.

http://photography-by-kyla.blogspot.com/

We had fun during the photo shoot and love the results.

We headed back to Portland on Monday, minus one kid. Ryan and Dad had not had enough time to do all of the fun stuff they had planned, so Ryan stayed a few more days. Dad brought him up in the truck. Ryan had been gone from home a total of 21 days. Before they came back, he called to see if he could spend time in Idaho again just after the fourth of July. I think that any separation anxiety that Ryan may have had is gone...I kinda miss it, just a little.

So, we're back home and getting into a little of a routine. Going to bed later, sleeping in a little, trips to the zoo, the park and whereever else we can go to get out of the heat.

We hope that all of you are having a great summer...it's hard to believe that it's almost the Fourth of July. Have a safe one! We're thinking of all of you, wherever you may be.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers today.

Bob made lunch and dinner tonight...Ryan made me a "pinch-pot" and school

and wrote me two poems. Emma game me lots of sweet smiles, even though

she doesn't feel well. We ended the day with a walk

through the neighborhood and a lost tooth. :)

Spring time

At the zoo

Emma discovered how to make the

wirly-bird move

Trying to stay warm at our first spring soccer game

Wrestle time with Daddy

Ryan lost his first top tooth today!

Spring Break in I-D-A-H-O

Dad bought this 3-wheeler. Ryan had so much fun it!

That's one big tractor!
Giving Nana a ride.
Uncle Jon and Rowdy

Uncle Max and Aunt Amanda on Max's 30th birthday

The kids and I headed to Idaho for Spring Break. We had a great time! Dad had a new three-wheeler for Ryan to use. He put 11 miles on it just around the road and up the ditch bank! Ryan also got to go trucking with Dad, drive the John Deere tractor, spend the night with Uncle Max a couple of times, played with Uncle Jon and Rowdy, and spent lots of time with Hop and Nana. Emma had a great time playing outside. She's old enough to go out and run around with Ryan, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She also had a great time playing with Uncle Max, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jon. Of course, lots of books ready Nana and stories told by Hop.

Portland Japanese Garden with Nana

Emma was looking for Monsters

Mom flew to Portland on March 20th. We had a semi-nice day on Friday, so we went to the Portland Japanese Garden. The last time we were there, I was pregnant with Ryan! It's been awhile. You gotta check this place out...no matter what the season, it's beautiful!

Clara came to visit!

Hop, Nana, Adam, Jamee and Clara all came to visit this weekend. Mom had a Stampin' Up party at my friend's house. Adam had business in town, so Jamee and Clara came along. We last saw Clara at Thanksgiving, so she's changed quite a bit. She's now 6 months old and as cute as can be. Emmalee had a lot of fun playing with her, once Emma learned to keep her voice below a roar and stay out of Clara's face.

While the girls were at the stamping party, Hop, Adam, Ryan, Emma and Clara tried to go to OMSI. Sadly, Clara wasn't allowed on the submarine, so they went to icecream and to a park instead. It was a fun day all around.