Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Thanksgiving Tradition

We thought we'd have to give up our Mt. Hood sledding tradition on Thanksgiving this year (due to my husband's work schedule and my inability to drive in the snow!) but a last minute change allowed the tradition to stay alive.










It's one of the many things I was grateful for this Thanksgiving - that we could add another year of fun, on the mountain, to our memories.

Now, if we could only get a little bit of that white stuff here where we live...

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

In A Frosty World

I wish we could return to the cold, yet stunning weather of this past weekend. (Today's wet and blustery storm just makes me feel like crawling in bed!) Maybe a visual reminder of God's beautiful handiwork will get me up and going for today...that and a second cup of coffee!!!







And may we all have a wonderful, gratitude-filled Thanksgiving!



Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween

From Luigi and the friendly little lady bug :)




There was plenty of trick-or-treating, yummy food (thanks, Mom!), fallen autumn leaves to crunch through, and family to share the memories with. All that and dry weather to boot! Satisfied sleepy heads didn't utter one complaint when they lay down to bed tonight. I'd say it was a successful Halloween.



*yawn* I think I'll join them...
Goodnight all!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Feeling Fruit-Loopy!

I sure do have a nice husband.

After I mentioned that I'd really like to make a trip out to Hood River, OR to enjoy the autumn bounty, he said, "Ok...let's make it happen." And today everything lined up for us to go: beautiful fall weather, early release for the kids, and an unscheduled afternoon.

We loaded in the car for a wonderful, whirl-wind trip up the gorge!

We visited Rasmussen Farms, where we ventured through the fairy tale corn maze, pumpkin bowled, smiled over all the 'people' in pumpkin land, and bought some lovely red pears.









Then we continued on to Cody Orchard's Farm Stand. We played a little more, and the kids were treated to a free apple each from the very kind woman who worked there. (Oh...and we added some honey crisp apples to our pears to take home!)


 (Emily took this photo, which is why she is missing. Too bad it wasn't a whole family shot!)


From there it was down the road to Packer Orchards & Cookie Stop Bakery. Again, the ladies there were so kind, and there were delicious samples of apples, pears, and cookies - yum! Ben picked his favorite fruit to add to our growing stock, and of course we couldn't leave without a couple small sweet treats, too!



Let's see...then it was Draper Girl's for a quart of apple cider, and on to Kiyokawa's Family Orchards for a little more play - and just a few more apples! (Fuji this time)






Our last stop of the day was sampling some delicious jams and jellies from the Apple Valley Country Store, where we couldn't help but bring home just one jar of peach pepper jelly :) Then it was one last romp on the tire swing outside...


...before we headed home with our yummy treats and the beautiful scenery fresh in our minds.

What a fine, fine autumn day.




Sunday, October 16, 2011

boy + liquid soap + jetted tub

"Save me! I'm drowning in a sea of bubbles!"


Wednesday, August 31, 2011

First Day

I can't believe how quickly this day came! My kids are getting far too old, far too fast!

First day of the 2011-2012 school year...

Second Grade

Third Grade

 Seventh Grade

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Warm Weather Fun Continued...









Yeah...we don't let pesky details (like not having swim suits) keep us from having some fun now that the summer weather has finally arrived!