Fall activities...

Our friend Erin turned the big 3-0 and her hubby Ty threw her a swanky suprise party at Grand Central in downtown Portland, complete with dinner, cake and fireside lounging. Such a fun time to celebrate with friends and leave the little ones with the grandparents! Happy B-day my friend!





Girls night out was a long overdue treat! We went to Rose's for dessert and took ridiculous pictures of ourselves with brownies in our teeth. Well, a certain best pal of mine who shall remain nameless did that. But we won't embarrass her with a picture here. Instead I am showing you what civilized ladies we all are :)

We went to this awesome new trout farm in North Plains, which is way closer the other one we visited in Sandy. What a gem to find so close to home! Kyle and Marin love to fish together, and Maddie and I... we we love to clap and take pictures... We caught "the big one", according to the owner! That guy's been escaping hooks for a long time, but he was a sucker for Kyle's super wicked awesome bait.

We had the true pleasure of having our girls dedicated at our church in the presence of many friends and family members. It was our chance to publicly declare our commitment to raise our girls to love the Lord and teach them about God's ways. We are blessed beyond measure to have this privilege. As God has touched our lives, so we pass this along to M & M. We hope and pray that they will realize the Father's love for them, and desire a relationship with Him as they see this in our lives.

After the dedication, we had a little lunch party at our house. M & M received a very cute pumpkin book as a little gift from their cousin Joshua, and Marin is... well... obsessed ~ EVERY nap and bedtime must involve ready this and ONLY this book. She loves it! She requested that we get our own pumpkin and carve the same face as the book pumpkin has. So here you go, the proud artist with her creation!

We had a fun, cold, morning outing to the zoo last week with my pals to see the new baby elephant. I wish I had an actual picture of the little squirt, but unfortunately there were a zillion people crowded in front of us and I couldn't get a shot! Trust me though, there are fewer things as cute in this world. We did also enjoy the lorakeets, Connor's bear hugs, and other zoo-ish encounters.

Phantom, Sunriver and the Cozies

We've really been taking advantage of the last few days of summer. Kyle and I went to Phantom of the Opera at the end of August, and it was magnificent. The Phantom character especially was good - super scary and just perfect. I loved it. Hmmm, I wonder how I can convince Kyle to get us season tix to Portland's Broadway series?? Love it, love it, love it!!!

Over Labor Day, we did our annual trek to Sunriver with Kyle's family. There are 20 of us in all, staying in two houses for 6 days. Luckily our early wakers ( M & M ) were separated from the other young kids. The idea is the older kids could hear the early morning belly-aching, and roll over and go back to sleep. Actually, it worked out perfect. I think on THIS trip, the earliest waking happened at 5:00am... HEY, at least it was not 4:30am like when we went to the beach. But enough about our sleep issues, the trip to SR was awesome... We had pony rides, bike rides, swam in the pools, and had a magical treasure hunt to Pirate Island (courtesy of Poppy the Great Master Pirate). Also, a family birthday party to celebrate Maddie's 1st, Joshua's 4th and John's... (well, no need to bring up that number). Just kidding BIL, you know we love you and are only a sliver behind you in years. I can't even believe how much fun those little cousins are having together. What awesome memories to be giving them!!!

Now for normal life... One of the things I love the MOST about being a SAHM is the cozy mornings that are not rushed. This particular morning, the matching jammy girls (I swear I don't always have them matching) were having their own little hoot nanny on the family room floor with Ivy. The joy and giggles that filled the room made me sigh and say THANK YOU LORD (and Kyle) that I can be here for this and not have to be anywhere else. I just love my job!!

Madeline turns 1

Yikes, how did my baby turn 1 already? I have taken a majorly scientific poll among my friends. The universal sign of having more than one child is that everything goes by faster. I am sad and happy all at the same time. I am so blessed to have a husband and two children who have expanded my heart bigger than I ever imagined. They fill me with warmth and purpose. Thank you Lord for letting me be their family.

So Maddie LOVED the sandcastle cake I made for her. I think she would have eaten the ENTIRE thing had I not stopped her about a third of the way through. Very satisfying (to both of us!)



We had a party in our backyard, and it was only 102 degrees that day... Luckily we had the kiddie pools out and lots of shade. But we were all super sweaty anyway! I swear we never sweat THIS much in California. Nice. But I love having a summer birthday in our family now ~ finally we can do a sunny birthday party :)

Enjoy the pics!

My REAL first blog

Ok, so supposedly my first blog was in January. That was just practice - this is for reals. It's been since March since I last updated our website - how embarrassing!! Too long, too long... So instead of trying to catch up on 5 months of pictures, I will just hop to the present :) Hop, hop!

We just returned from a super beach trip to Manzanita with Kyle's brother and family (John, Stephanie, Joshua and a new babykins on the way!) Our families have so much fun together. The kids were rowdy and we get no sleep, but hey - when have I EVER gotten sleep on vacation with my children?!?!??! One morning, Marin woke up at 430am. Super.

Anyway, super fun time was had by all :)

I just said "super" 3 times. Wonderful.