Landon and Makenna

Landon and Makenna on the cover of the school newspaper....kinda fun.... :) They are enjoying their fame... :)

Happy Birthday Landon and Michael!!

It is sooo fun to have Landon and Michael's birthdays on the same day.....

This year was especially great....Their birthdays were on a Sunday this year and Landon turned 12..... so he was ordained a deacon on his birthday pretty special...he also had fun doing fast offerings with Braxton.....

Oregon Coast part 2 return to Cape Lookout :)

We all love camping soooo much that a few weeks ago we went again before school was to start....We got bit by mosquitos, rained on.....and had a super time.....

We love getting away, looking at the stars, playing games, talking, riding bikes, all sleeping in the tent together and talking and laughing.....the kids did some skits which were great....Michael made a digital scavanger hunt for the kids....they would find the item and take a picture of it...very fun...we had fun watching a Golden Eagle....Madison loved to feed the Sea birds....Michael made some Lawn darts out of sticks for Landon he had a great time with them....and of course the kids love to be on the beach.....playing in the sand, water and finding sea shells....

I added a picture of a squirrel that came in the fire pit.....I was riding bikes with Landon and Madi and when we came back Michael said that he had a picture of our dinner....silly squirrel...glad there was no fire....

And They're off.....

Time for a new School year.....School started Tuesday September 2nd.....and officially for Makenna on Thursday September 4th.....

Braxton's nervous and excited about being a Freshman this year, he has some pretty hard classes, we got his books early, about 2 weeks before school, and he read them all through before school had even started.....crazy wouldn't have caught me doing that... :) but I guess his favorite books to read when he was really little was the dictionary and encyclopedias....

Landon is in 6th grade, his last year at the Elementary.....he is liking his teacher which is great.....and he is a super big help to make sure that Makenna gets to her class okay....he is a great big brother...Makenna loves to ride the bus with him she thinks that is pretty great.....

Madison is in 3rd grade and is very excited about being back at school, mostly to play with her friends, she is our social butterfly....She has a fun teacher...Mr. Mooyman, she thinks his name is pretty great....He is originally from Europe and speaks Dutch, he taught them already to count to 3 in Dutch....She also thinks it is great that he was a Soccer player, Madison loves Soccer....

Makenna is in Kindergarten and has the same teacher that Landon and Madison had....She is having a great time....it is extremely quiet around here for 3 hours.....

all in all I think we are going to have a great year...fingers crossed....

The Great Wolf Lodge

There is a new water park about 2 hours from us in Washington. We all packed up on Monday and surprised the kids, they had no idea where we were going. Their faces were priceless when we arrived at the Lodge.... Landon and Madison always want to go swimming so this was extra fun.....We all had a great time Monday and Tuesday playing in the water.....Madison was the only one that would dare go down the Howlin' Tornado with Michael and Me.....So fun!! The boys went down the huge water slides on tubes with me and that was also really fun.... Makenna is our most daring child but she was still a little too short for the big rides....We had a hard time keeping her, Madison, Landon, and Braxton out of the Wave pool.....We had a lot of fun....We may have to go back next summer...I took some pictures, but quickly put away the camera so that I could play instead of taking pics....much more fun playing.... :)

Camping at Cape Lookout....

Our favorite place to go camping is Cape Lookout on the coast....it is only 1 hour and 45 minutes from home....fabulous....especially with gas prices...:)
We have so much fun there...the campsites are very nice and the beach is only a hop, skip and a jump....we have so much fun playing in the sand and getting up early to go search for sand dollars....We got a new trailer so that we can take all of the camping gear and all of our bikes....
The kids had so much fun riding their bikes around and Michael and I got some books read and some biking in too.....it was a very relaxing week....it was hard to come back to reality.....The kids love roasting hot dogs and sitting around the campfire.....only 3 of us got some mosquito bites...but the weather was so nice low 70's and overcast that I forgot to put on the sunscreen before it was too late....we all came home looking a little red....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Wipe out

Our family likes to watch the new TV show called Wipe out....we think it is very funny....the things that people will do for money....the boys think it looks fun.....lol

The kids all around the computer watching it....and laughing....

In the good ole Summertime....

Makenna having fun relaxing watching "Toy Story 2" and eating some yummy baked bread....

First Monday of Summer break....Playing Settler's of Catan......Marshmellows.....what more could you want.... :) we have lots of fun together playing games....

Vampire Makenna

One day Makenna had been watching the "Littlest Vampire" and she put on her cape and cut herself some paper vampire teeth.....we thought it was very cute....Maybe she could be in the Twilight movie..... :)

The Planes....The Planes....

There were more Planes at the airport this weekend.....we went to check them out....

Happy Father's Day!!

The kids decorated some ties for Michael to wear to church today.....They were pretty fashionable has Makenna says.....He even wore them to church....

So long 8th grade...Hello High School.....

It just seems like yesterday that I was going to be a Freshman entering High School and now Braxton is.....Last night was the 8th grade completion ceremony.....458 kids.....the most ever to go through Brown Middle School.....We are very proud of Braxton he was one of only 24 kids that got 4.0 both years of Middle School.....Way to go!!

Rose Parade

Braxton very excited to be at the parade...lol....:) Thank goodness for books and snacks....
Madison(pink and blue shirt) front and center with her friend Veronica, all ready to see the horses.....

Makenna loved waving at everyone....she loved in when they would wave back...and she didn't like it too much when they didn't wave.... :) She really liked the princesses...

Landon taking a rest...a little after the parade started a float I guess ran out of gas or broke down or something so there was quite awhile with no parade activity....

Another thing that we like to do is go to the Portland Rose Parade.....This year was cold...mid 50's....and just a few light sprinkles....last year we got really wet... :) but the canopy keeps us nice and dry.....As you can see Makenna is showing us her back side...she didn't want her pic taken....and then when I'm putting them on the blog she wonders where the pics of her are....lol..go figure...

Another wild animal in the backyard

This morning I was looking outside and I saw something furry playing with the soccer ball....upon closer examination and from the safety of the window.....I saw that it was the mysterious raccoon that has been hanging around the neighborhood.....about a few months ago Landon told me that he thought a raccoon was destroying the pad on our trampoline of course i thought he was being silly why would a raccoon be on the trampoline....well, in May we all saw the raccoon in the backyard......we think that it has been eating the dog food that the neighbors behind us leave out for their dog....The raccoon was not even scared with me and Makenna looking out the window at it...I called some people that live trap wild animals, she told me that more than likely it has parvo and would have to be euthanized and that is probably why it is getting days and nights mixed up and getting more daring...... Kind of sad that it is probably sick, but scary for all of the animals and kids in the neighborhood. Well, that is the latest on the raccoon....we may be going around the neighborhood taking up collections to pay for the live trap....By the way, it totally had fun destroying the ball, we need to get another one but not leave it outside....you never know who or what might be outside playing soccer :)

Rose Festival Fireworks

One of our traditions is to go to the river front in Portland every May and watch the fireworks which are the start of the Portland Rose Festival.....Last Friday evening was no exception, come rain or shine we always head down to the river on the lawn with our blankets, chairs, snacks, glowsticks(that is part of the fun the kids think it is great), and camera. We have been doing this ever since we moved here, this was our 12th year....where has time gone?...

Annual trip to the Rose Festival Fireworks....the video was fun but of course they are much more impressive in person....