Tillamook!

They actually made me take a picture of each of them in the driver's seat.  I'm only posting this one.

I've been wanting to go to Tillamook for a long time and finally we did it!  Of course we went to the cheese factory because that is really why we wanted to go there to begin with.  Tillamook is our favorite cheese.  It was our favorite ice cream until Roy started making his own.  True story: When we first got there a girl was passing out free samples of strawberry ice cream.  K started eating hers and said, "This is so yummy.  It's even better than daddy's!"  Sshhh, don't tell Roy.
So we did the free factory tour.  Which is self guided.  Which is really just looking through a few windows and reading some posters.  It was fun; I'm glad we went.  Truth is the hype over the free tour is really so you walk in the door and then somehow before you walk back out you've spent $100 on lunch, cheese, ice cream and fudge.  Or grandpa and grandma have if you're lucky enough to have them with you!
The kids thought it was pretty cool though.  I'd go back again but I want to do it in the winter.  The factory was crazy packed!  When I asked a worker if this was a normal crowds she said everyday is like that in the summer.  So next time, we go in the winter and maybe we'll actually be able to hear some of the videos explaining how they make cheese and ice cream.
After the factory we went looking for jerky because my favorite jerky also comes from Tillamook area.  Turns out Werner's doesn't have an outlet store so we settled for something 2nd best.
We decided to drive up the coast a bit before heading home.  We ended up stopping in Cannon Beach.  It was such a gorgeous day!  Much better than when we actually planned a trip to the coast last week.  The kids didn't have swim suits or towels or anything to play in the sand with.  But as you can see, that didn't stop them at all!

A is afraid of the ocean.  Luckily there was this water pooled on the beach for her to play in.

K is running into the ocean.  D is the small speck of a person you can barely make out in the distance.  Don't know who the third person (on the right side) is.

Even grandma finally gave into the temptation and took her shoes off to walk in the water and sand.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day?  Probably the best weather day I've ever seen on the Oregon coast.

K spent most of the time running - she'd run from water to sand and back again just for the sheer joy of being alive!

Grandpa took a walk down the beach.  I walked out into the water a ways.  It was warm enough to not make your feet hurt until after you'd been in for about a minute!  Poor daddy missed out.  He stayed home to work today.

Beach at Fort Stevens

 It was a cold and cloudy day on the Oregon Coast.  Much like you'd expect!  Not that the cold stopped the kids.

We spent the day in Astoria before driving on to Fort Stevens.  We had a pleasant day riding the trolley and learning about Astoria.  It really was interesting and I'd definitely recommend riding the trolley if you are ever in Astoria.

Cub Scout Camp 2013

Tonight was the final night of Cub Scout camp for D.  This was his first year and it was awesome!  He had a great time and brought home all sorts of little doodads from the trading post.  Good thing he has his own money to spend!  It was just a day camp so he came home every night dust and dirty but excited to go back.

Tonight the families were invited to come up and the packs all put on skits.  D's pack chose his skit to be the one they performed.  It was awesome in the way only a cub skit can be awesome.  I'm proud that his peers picked his skit to be the one they performed though.

D's Little Johnny Skit (adapted from a joke he heard at school)

Narrator: One day little Johnny was at school and his teacher asked him…

Teacher: “Johnny, please come to school tomorrow prepared to tell us the first 6 letters of the alphabet.”

Narrator: So little Johnny went home and asked his mom who was talking on the phone.

Johnny: “What’s the first letter of the alphabet?”

Mom: “Shush-up I’m on the phone!”

Narrator: Next Little Johnny went to ask his older brother who was talking on the phone with his girlfriend. 

Johnny: “What’s the 2^nd letter of the alphabet?”

Older Brother: “Hey Baby.”

Narrator: Next Little Johnny found his dad who was watching football.

Johnny: “Dad, what’s the 3^rd letter of the alphabet?”

Dad: “49, hit ‘em hard!”

Narrator: After that Little Johnny went outside to the garbage can on the curb and asked,

Johnny: “What’s the 4^th letter of the alphabet?”

Garbage Can: “Garbage. . . . Garbage. . . .”

Narrator: Not to be discouraged, Little Johnny tracked down his big sister who was talking on her phone with her friend. 

Johnny: “What’s the 5^th letter of the alphabet?”

Sister: “What? that jerk?!”

Narrator: Finally little Johnny found his little brother watching Elmo.

Johnny: “What’s the 6^th letter of the alphabet?”

Little Brother: “La la la la, la la la la, Elmo’s World.”

Narrator: The next day at school the teacher asked little Johnny what the first 6 letters of the alphabet are.

Johnny: “Shush-up! I’m on the phone!”

Teacher: “What did you just say?!”

Johnny: “Hey baby.”

Teacher: “How many spankings do you think you need?!”

Johnny: “49, hit ‘em hard!”

Teacher: “What do you think this school is?!”

Johnny: “Garbage. . . . Garbage. . .”

Teacher: “Do you need to go to the principal’s office?!”

Johnny: “What? That jerk?!”

Teacher: “What planet are you from?!”

Johnny: “La la la la, la la la la, Elmo’s World.”

Summer back-log

I've been busy living life this summer and now I'm busy trying to catch up on recording that life we've lived!  Here's the summer so far in case you missed it:

The girls' birthday party
Post party tea-party
Traveling on vacation
Partying in St. George
Baby C: 4 Month update
Independence Day
A's birthday cake
Bloody Foot

And here's an oldie that I've been meaning to post for nearly a year now.  I want it on our family record.  It is a letter that Roy wrote to D's primary teacher after a particularly sweet experience.
Letter to a primary teacher

And just 'cause I can't have a post without a little sweetness:

Blood, Sweat and Tears. But mostly blood.

Today I actually did mommy summer school with the kids like I've been planning. Drops of Awesome people, drops of awesome. Then we headed out for day one of swimming lessons. The girls haven't had lessons since last summer. Their teachers both remembered them though. I just have to say that A did astoundingly great! She tends more to the fearful side of things and I have a hard time getting her to do stuff in the water. Allison, her swim teacher, was able to get A to float on her back (with help) and kick her legs. In fact, I think A did pretty much everything her teacher asked. This is a HUGE leap from last year where grandma had to get in with her just to keep her in the water!
K has become something of a water bug so she did fine. The only reason she isn't in level 3 is because she needs more practice to be able to float and swim longer distances. D is also pretty good and in level 4. However, today they were learning to dive and D refused to do it. "I don't want to learn to dive." Very frustrating.
The rest of the day progressed very normally - playing, eating, playing and playing. This afternoon my mom got my little brother's missionary email of the week. In it, he told them he would be coming home August 13. This is 6 weeks earlier than they expected him. It's all honorable, there's just been some changes in the way they do the transfers and this is how it worked out for him. So now we're looking down the barrel at him being home and thinking about summer plans accordingly.
D and I were looking at the calendar on the wall discussing plans for the summer. Grandma walked over with a knife in her hand. She was trying to be safe with it and carried it down by her side - pointing at the floor. As we talked, D kicked his foot up behind him - directly on the point of the knife. It was a good clean cut that immediately started bleeding which caused D to immediately start freaking. I believe we can rule out "Doctor" as a future career choice. He really hates to see blood, especially his! He is fine but it is sore. We debated taking him in to the doctor but decided not to. As far as we can estimate the blade went in pretty far - perhaps 3/4 of an inch. But like I said, it is a clean smooth cut that bled immediately but stopped after we applied pressure.
While grandma was trying to calm D down (honestly, shock was becoming a bigger concern than the cut), I went back to the stove because we had some food cooking for dinner. I looked out the back window over the sink to see A sitting on the trampoline crying. I figured it had to do with the puppy in the backyard that A is afraid to get near. However, when I hollered out the window to see what was wrong she held up her hand that was bleeding. What?! Turns out she had stuck her finger in the pop can she was holding and cut down between her fingers. People, could we just stop with the injuries?
So tonight everyone is well and sleeping peacefully. I’m glad none of the injuries were worse than they were. It was a bit of tearful chaos around here for a while though!

A little more birthday...

Okay, technically A's birthday is tomorrow but her daddy is leaving for home tomorrow before she wakes up.  I gave A the option to have her cake on her actual birthday or today with her daddy.  She opted for today.  So for all intents and purposes, A's birthday is today because I'm about birthdayed out!
Since I asked K what cake she wanted for her birthday I did the same for A.  A wanted a princess cake.  This is a pretty open category so I went to the best resource on the web, Pinterest.  After much research, this is what we came up with:

Now, I know it isn't much to look at.  There's no fear of me showing up on Cake Boss or quiting my day job as a mom to become a cake decorator.  However, this was what A thought of it:

 So really, that's all that mattered.  She got her princess cake.

 She got dressed this morning in a different shirt.  After a bit I noticed that she had changed so I asked her why.  She replied because it was her birthday!  She obviously knows what that shirt means.

It is really hard to blow candles out with a turret in the way!  She managed and we all enjoyed a piece of A's chocolate birthday cake.  She's a big four year old now!

Happy Independence Day!

We love to be in Delta for the Independence Day celebrations.  There's something special about being in a small town for the holiday.  It is a big deal.  Whereas, when we've stayed in the city for the festivities, it feels more like just an extra day off work.  Here the whole town comes together for a parade and fun in the park. Roy likes the jet fly-over we usually get.  It didn't happen this year because of budget costs and such but we did have a fun fly over by a few locals in their small planes!  The kids like the parade - and the candy that gets thrown.  I like being where I know people.  I like being able to look around and see many familiar faces in the crowd as well as catch up with people I haven't seen all year or longer.

 After the parade there is a community party in the park.  Grandpa bought wrist bands for the kids so they could play in the bouncy houses set up around the park.  He also gave in to buying them snow cones.  Those kids sure know how to work their grandpa!

A probably had the most fun playing on the bouncy houses.  Unfortunately, K was too hot and tired.  She decided she just wanted to go back to the house.  It was time to take the baby home anyway so Roy and I headed out leaving Grandpa and Grandma to watch D and A.
Tonight, D went to the derby with Uncle Justin and Aunt Jessica.  He loves to go watch the cars smash into each other.  Then they watch the city fireworks before coming home for the night.
I hope you all had a happy, patriotic and family filled day too!

Baby C: 4 Months

•  Started going back to the gym this month.  He's a big hit with the gym girls.  They love to see him come in.
• Made his first big road trip to Utah this month.  He made it about 10-11 hours before deciding he's had enough!
• Weight: 12 lbs 5 oz  (5th percentile)
• Height: 2' 1.75" (85th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16.14" (41st percentile)
• Still one of the most smiley babies I've ever seen -- he has a good laugh now too.
• Despite being small, he has a hearty appetite! 
• Met all the Pyatt cousins, Great-Grandpa and Grandma Jones, Uncle Justin and Aunt Jessica this month.
• Momma still can't get enough baby!

St. George

So here we are in St. George at the end of a fabulous long weekend with family.  Ready for a recap?
Friday, June 28
We rolled into St. George around 5 in the evening.  We got here in time for a family dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's clubhouse.  Nine out of 10 sibling families were there, we were just missing Ryan's family coming from Wisconsin.  It was pretty awesome.  Many of the family we hadn't seen for five or so years - that means K was a baby!  The kids took a few minutes to warm up to cousins but once they did it was awesome.  D is fortunate to have 4 cousins about his age - three of them are boys!  This is nothing short of remarkable when you consider that out of 33 grandkids only 9 of them are boys.  The odds were not in his favor but there was a rash of baby boys when D was born.  Yea!  K and A aren't so lucky.  Most of the cousins are older by 6-8 years.  K has one cousin her age and he's a boy!  So those two mostly played with each other except when they would tag along with the boys.
Anyway, back to the story.  We ate dinner and swam in the pool Friday night.  There was much talking and catching up.

I was trying to get a shot of Roy talking with his brothers (minus Ryan) and dad. There's not a real good way to take a picture of a circle!

Here's the cutest little helper I could ask for!  She loved the baby.

Saturday, June 29
We slept at Tara's house last night.  Tara's been generous enough to open Hotel Hadley for several of us to stay.  It's fun to be able to stay with family and be in the center of the action.  Today we headed back over to the clubhouse for more swimming action.

Baby C and Uncle O

 Funny story from last night, K was standing near the door with Uncle O walked in.  He used to play professional basketball in Portugal, I believe.  He's something like 6'7" (family check that fact for me will ya?).  So when O walked in she started about knee level and just kept sliding her eyes up until she was nearly tipping over!

How does a WA girl survive the St. George heat wave? Tank tops and lots of swimming!

This evening was the big party -- the reason we all got together.  My in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year.  Roy's oldest sister put together an event in their honor.  We are so glad she did!  It was at the Dixie Center.  We started with family pictures.  Hopefully I'll have some to post on here soon.  Then had appetizers in the ballroom with visiting and celebrating.  The evening concluded with a great photo slideshow put together by my brother-in-law.  It was a lovely evening.  Roy was the impromptu MC.  There was time for several members of the family to get up and share thoughts, stories and feelings.  There were grandkids running wild in the halls.  All in all, a very successful event.

Sunday, June 30

This is how the young ones slept at Hotel Hadley.

Today was a nice casual Sunday.  We went to church and had another family dinner with everyone.  Many of the family were leaving today so it was a day of good-byes.  We're sticking around for a few more days.  Apparently the heat (113F!!) hasn't killed our spirit yet!

Monday, July 1

We went out to Sand Hollow Reservoir today.  Really it was fun but it was desperately hot.  Fortunately Tara had a canopy we could at least get some shade under.  The water was really fun.  The kids played and played!  D even tried his hand at rock jumping but found he really didn't care for it too much.  The older cousins did though.  We hardly saw them until it was time to go.  A had a life jacket on and swam all over the area we were at.  K also got a lot of swimming in with her arm floaties.  There were a couple of small inflatables that D enjoyed rowing around.  As for baby C, he did his best to stay cool.  I took him to put his feet in the water and he napped like a baby.
Today was K's actual birthday.  After the reservoir, we went back to Tara's house and made the cake K wanted, a flag cake.

 We sang happy birthday to K (and A since her birthday is so close).  This was pretty cool for her because by now there are 25 people staying at Hotel Hadley!  The girls got presents and even a few fireworks thanks to Uncle Chris.  "Best birthday ever!"

Tuesday, July 2
For some crazy and possessed reason we decided yesterday wasn't hot enough so we packed everyone up and headed off to Zion's National Park.  I really love Zion's and was looking forward to going on an easy hike since I would have the baby and younger girls.  Roy took D and headed off to Angel's Landing with the older crowd.  The not Angel's Landing group headed to the river walk where we could hike up the end of the Zion Narrows and play in the river.  Hiking was hot and unpleasant even though it is just an easy walk.  It was worth it though when we found a shady bend in the river to play in the water.  The girls were so excited when I said they could go all the way in the water with their clothes on.

I love these two characters!

Even baby C got some water action thanks to Uncle Chris!

It was absolutely beautiful where we stopped!

 After playing for a while we knew we needed to hike back out and meet up with the other group.  There was only one kid who made it to the top of Angel's Landing.  It was D's cousin who is less than a year older than he is.  All the other kids turned back.  It was way too hot to hike on those rocks but Mason is a trooper!
After Zion's, we took just our immediate family and went to visit Grandpa and Grandma Jones.  It was the first time they've met baby C and I have kicked myself repeatedly that I didn't get any pictures of C with his great-grandparents.  I'm blaming sun, hunger and sleepiness for the omission!  We had a nice visit though.  The kids played while we got to talk to grandma and grandpa.  They fed us dinner which was great since we hadn't eaten lunch.  It is always so pleasant to connect with family.
There was a movie night playing when we got back to Tara's house.

They are watching Despicable Me in preparation to see Despicable Me 2 tomorrow.  D will go with them but the girls, Roy and I will go visit with Grandma P.  We've had all the fun we can handle so we'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon.  Time to go to Delta for some quiet rest and relaxation!