Colorado

Our final stop was in Colorado to visit Jason's sister. She just had a baby a few months before. Here is Josiah with his new cousin Logan.

We went on an easy hike one day. Here we are playing in the creek toward the end of the hike.

The family.

There was an outdoor water park near Pam's house, so we had to go visit. The boys love to swim.

Jason has a camera that takes underwater pictures. Here is Josiah swimming.

Josiah diving for the car.

Wyoming Trip: Worland

After a week in Lander we headed up to Worland for a week with Jason's family. It was relaxing My favorite part was Chuck and Debbie gave me money for my birthday to go on a date with Jason. We went to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and head a great reconnecting time.

Everyday Josiah went out with Grandma Debbie to pick raspberries. Here is Josiah cleaning his bucket before picking that day.

The boys got to help Grandpa Chuck mow the lawn.

One of the days we went to the fair. The boys like looking at the animals.

They also got to play in the bouncy house.

Josiah has wanted to go fishing for a long time so Grandpa Chuck promised to take Josiah fishing. Josiah loved it. The reason why he wanted to go fishing is because he wanted to eat the fish because dragons eat fish. (He likes to pretend he is Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon")

Wyoming Trip: Lander

The first part of vacation was with my parents. We stayed with them for a week. Considering it had only reached 80 about 4 times the entire year here in Oregon, the Wyoming 90+ temperatures were rough on us. Even though it is dry heat, it was still hot. To stay cool the kids played in the swimming pool a lot.

I thought this was a cute picture of the boys reading together. Papa Darrell and Grandma Nancy like to buy books and boys definitely like reading them.

We went to City Park and played a couple of times. The park has a nice play structure. They even have a toddler play area. Here is Jaron going down the slide.

Josiah and Papa Darrell playing in the creek.

Earlier this year, my high school friend Sarah almost died due to an appendix rupturing. By God's grace, I was able to get together and talk with her. We met at the park and the boys played with her daughter Katie.

Auntie Kate came up from Laramie to visit for a few days. Here is Jaron stealing ice cream from Katie.

This is what sugar does to Josiah. :)

Toward the end of the week, we hiked to the Sinks Canyon falls. We found a little pool that was safe for the boys to play in.

Josiah and I hanging out on the log.

The family at the falls. Josiah once again was a real trooper. It is a 3 mile round trip hike. He ran a lot of it because we had 2 little dogs with us and Josiah liked to run up with them. The last hundred yards he was really tired and hot, so I carried him.

I realized after going through my pictures that I didn't take any pictures of the kids with my parents. Sorry mom and dad. I think it was because when the boys were with my parents, I was off enjoying my free time. :) The next post will be on our time in Worland with Jason's parents.

Wyoming Trip 2011: Part 1

Every year we make our annual trip to Wyoming to visit family. This year we left on a Saturday and drove to Boise and stayed with the campus minister for Boise State. We went to church with him on Sunday and drove a short 4 hours to Idaho Falls and stayed at a KOA campground.

The next morning we got up and drove to Jackson Hole, WY. Below is a picture of Jason and the boys with the Tetons in the background.

We stopped at the visitors center and Jason asked about a hike we could do. I was thinking a short 1/2 mile hike and then get back into the van to head to Lander. Jason was thinking he wanted to see something cool. Against my better judgment we hiked the Hidden Falls Creek trail. It is a 3 mile hike in, making it 6 miles round trip with two kids and one pack. Jason reassured me it would be okay and we headed down the trail.

Here are the boys about 2 miles into the hike. The lake is Jenny Lake.

At the falls. Josiah walked/ran the whole 3 miles and it was not a leisurely stroll. There were some rocky parts and the end was a steep uphill. Josiah did run a lot of it. We kept getting weird looks from other hikers heading back from the parking lot. I know what they were thinking, "Your taking your 4 year old on this hike!" I was thinking we were crazy, too, but we made.

While I was glad to see the falls, I was grumpy because we had an exhausted 4 year old and 3 miles back to the van. That was when Jason decided to tell me we were 200 yards from a boat that would take us across the lake back to the van. I was relieved and Josiah was so excited. Josiah's smile tells it all.

Here is Josiah at the trail head before we got in the van. We had to document Josiah's first 3 mile hike at 6,000 feet elevation.

That night we made it to Lander and spent a week there. Pictures of our time in Lander will be in the next post.

Celebrating Josiah

This year Josiah turned 4 years old. We have never done anything big for his birthday. We are usually traveling to Wyoming and Josiah doesn't have any friends his age so I feel kind of weird inviting a bunch of boys that are 4 and 5 year older to his birthday party. But this year, he really understands his birthday and I wanted to do something special. After much thinking I decided we would do a day dedicated to him. Everything we did would be show him we love and him and that we are so grateful that God gave him to us.

So on July 9th we got up in the morning and had donuts (something we rarely do) and headed out for a day of fun. First we went miniature golfing. The picture below shows that Josiah actually parred a hole. He got the ball in the hole with 2 shots. Watch out Grandpa Chuck in a few years he might be beating you on the golf course!:)

Then we drove up to Salem. He chose to have pizza for lunch. We order some and headed to a park to play. We also took time at lunch to share why we loved him. He would just smile and give us hugs saying, "I love you, too."

For his birthday present we took Josiah to Toys R Us and he got to pick out a new bike. Jason laid out a few options for him and without much thought he knew he wanted the Lightning McQueen bike.

Here he is enjoying his new bike. We go for bike rides all the time.

We love you Josiah and we are truly blessed that God has given us 4 wonderful years with you!

Auntie Kate's Visit

Auntie Kate came to help me out this week. It was a good thing she did, because I ended up helping some friends and had 5 boys in my 1,000 square foot house. The boys ranged from 9 years old to 10 months old. It went okay. Nobody got hurt and nothing was broken, but it was tiring. I am really glad Katie was here to help.

On Monday we went to the aquarium in Newport. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Auntie Kate and the boys.

Josiah and Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a boy I watch 3 days a week. This was his first time to the aquarium.

Me and the boys.

Jaron playing on a turtle.

We went to the beach, briefly, after the aquarium. Katie had never been, but it was cold and raining so we didn't stay very long.

This is Jaron's "I am smiling for the camera" smile.

Cute Pics

The boys reading at the table.

The boys were playing very well together on the ottoman. I decided to take a picture because they looked so cute. They both decided to give me silly smiles. Jaron especially likes to be a ham for the camera.

Jaron likes to climb into chairs and read.

This is for mom and dad. Here is grandma's Iris that bloomed this year. It had 3 more blooms after this one.