Darion's Photo Shoot

This is what happened when Darion got ahold of my laptop. He left me with some surprises. The pictures speak for themselves.

Oregon Zoo

We all had the day of on Monday for Martin Luther King day. The Oregon Zoo was having a free day so we decided that we would venture up to Portland to spend the day. The weather was great (sunny and fifty degrees) so we didn't care that it was so crowded that there was no parking and we had to take a shuttle to get us there. The kids loved riding the school bus shuttle. We met our friend Trista and her kids there. She recently moved to Portland and her husband was in school that day. It was fun to see her and the boys loved seeing their friend Karston. We had a lot of fun!

Our self-portrait on the bus. (Joel was obviously not happy about getting his picture taken)

Darion, Joel, and Karston

Darion

Joel

The Great Northwest. (We're so lucky to live up here- it's GORGEOUS)

My little primates

BFFs

Santa and a Pony Ride

Santa

This is what anticipation of a pony ride looks like.

Joel

Darion

Joel's Birthday

Yesterday was Joel's birthday. How can you not love this boy? He is so sweet and makes sure that we never take life too seriously. What would we ever do without this adorable little red-head?

He made sure to get up nice and early so he could open his presents

He was very excited and surprised about getting a new train set.

His nursery teacher made his Halloween costume for him (prince philip), because he wants to marry Sleeping Beauty. Now he's ready to kiss the girl and propose.

His "Bolt" cake.

This was today; I had to put it on here because he is so cute.

Darion

I hope you had a great birthday Joel! We all love you so much. Thank you for being part of our lives.

Field Trip

Darion's Head Start class went on a Field Trip to Rivers Turn Farm. Joel and I were able to go with his class. The kids were all so cute and we had so much fun. We learned and got to experience all sorts of fun things.

The kids got to feed bamboo to the horses.
They had a HUGE gravel pit that Farmer John let us play in.

Darion took such great care of Joel. He made sure he felt included.

We got to pick and eat all the raspberries we wanted. It was hard to leave this part of the tour. This is Darion and his friend Minh.

We picked apples and ate them right of the trees. They were delicious.

Farmer John let all of the kids each take one pumpkin home. Darion and Minh were very proud of theirs.

Joel was also proud of his. He wanted a little one.

Farmer John let all of the kids pick flowers.

There were dogs that followed the kids around. Joel is our little animal lover. He was more than happy to help take care of the dogs.

Thank you, Darion, for letting us in on the fun! We love you!

Summer Days

It's been a while since our last post, and we've done a lot since. I'm too lazy to try and catch up on everything, so here is the fast version:

A trip to Utah for Garred and Jessica's wedding

The Eugene parade (it was filled with all sorts of crazies)

Family visits and trips to the coast

and having fun with daddy around

PORTLAND

My parents came up for the weekend. Yesterday we drove up to Portland and did some fun things. We rode the tram, visited a Chinese garden, and ate some delicious food. We all had fun.

At the Chinese Garden

Waiting to get on the tram