Multnomah Falls

We love Multnomah Falls! The boys had a fun time on Friday running up the trail to the big bridge below the falls. I loved the green, green, green...everywhere! Two trains passed by while we were there. Big fun! Travis and Justin got to run underneath the train bridge while the train cars were still crossing over. What a fun day trip!

About Me

1) What I was doing ten years ago, September 1997

I was getting ready to enter the MTC to serve in the Massachusetts Boston Mission with Dale Murphy as my mission president. I had just gone through the temple for the first time at the Provo Temple. I had also just quit my job as a marketing assistant at Novell.

2) What I was doing five years ago, September 2002

I had traveled to Utah with my 4-month-old baby Justin. My sister Tawnya was getting ready to leave on her mission to Uruguay. We stayed in Provo for a couple of weeks so we could spend time with her before she left. Back in Oregon, my friend, Jeri, took the most adorable black and white pictures of Justin. I still have them up on the wall. :)

3) One year ago, September 2006

Justin was starting his 2nd year of mom's co-op preschool. I was serving as Relief Society Secretary. Travis had transfered to a new position at Intel as a Technical Marketing Engineer. He was getting ready to travel overseas to Turkey and Israel. My sister, Tawnya, came to stay with us for a weekend and we went on a shopping spree for new clothes.

4) Yesterday, September 14, 2007

Travis is on sabbatical from Intel for two months and has two weeks left. We have been going on day trips around Oregon. Yesterday it was a trip to Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. For dinner Travis took us to a nice Indian restaurant. I loved the food!

5) Five snacks I enjoy: Popcorn, squeaky cheese(cheese curd), granola w/yogurt, chips & salsa, and trail mix.

6) Five things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million: Fall over with shock!, Pay a healthy tithing check :), help family/friends, travel, buy a new house.

7) Five locations I would like to run away to: Hawaii, Caribbean Islands, England, Canary Islands, and Boston.

8) Five bad habits I have: Always running late, I'm a night hawk, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, I like to sleep in, I often leave the last bite of food on my plate.

9) Five things I like doing: Spending time with my friends, visiting family, dancing, discovering something new and different, and date nights.

10) Five TV shows I like: 24, Everyday With Rachel Ray, Dancing with the Stars, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and Man vs. Wild.

11) Five things I hate doing: Cleaning the toilet, taking out the garbage, trying to make an insurance claim, causing someone pain, and getting lost.

12) Five biggest joys at this moment: Having Travis home every day because of sabbattical, giggling boys, a happy home, a healthy family, and my testimony.

I'll tag Jeri, Jennie, and Kim.

Oregon Coast

On Monday, we spent the day at Cannon Beach. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the 80 degree sunny day.




We took a bunch of cars, trucks and sand toys for the boys to play with.





I bought two dollar store kites (50 cents each) and they were the BEST kites! The boys had a great time flying kites for the first time! These kites were so easy for the boys to fly...Justin would just start running while dragging his kite and it would just pop right up in the air...I even flew one for over 10 minutes while sitting on our beach blanket.



We will have to do this again soon! We ate at the famous Mo's Restaurant for lunch and then drove to Tillamook for dinner, ice cream and squeaky cheese.



We had a fabulous day!

Seven

My good friend Jeri tagged me to play this game of sevens:

A. List 7 habits/quirks/facts about yourself.

B. Tag 7 people to do the same.

C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag whoever wants to do it.

Here I go...

1. I LOVE POPCORN! (with orange juice and a movie) My boys are hooked on it too. All three of them. Last night we were all lined up on the floor munching away and watching 'Extreme Makeover Home Edition.'

2. I curl my big toe. That's right. When I'm sitting with my bare feet flat on the floor, that big toe is folded right under. Don't ask me why.

3. I love to play the guitar but haven't picked it up for a year or so. That's crazy...I'll go get it out right now.

4. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream. But I never pick it out at an ice cream shop. Today at the Tillamook Cheese Factory I choose Marionberry Pie and Blueberry Cheesecake. I liked those flavors a lot but ended up wishing I had picked the minty one.

5. I love to go clothes shopping with Tawnya. We have very similar taste in clothes and have MANY twinners outfits. We have to call each other ahead of time so we don't show up wearing the same clothes (which we have done MANY times!).

6. I love to dance with my boys in the kitchen...or in the yard...or in the car.

7. I have the loudest hick-ups ever. They never end and I know when they are coming before they have even begun.

Now for the tagging part: I'll tag Kristen, Kim, Tawnya, Jared, Shannon, Natalie and E.J. You're it! (on your own blog or email)

10 Flowers

Me: "Hey Justin, how do you like my new haircut?"
Justin: "It looks pretty good, Mom"
...he's in deep thought for three seconds...
Me: "Thanks!"
Justin: "You know it looks so pretty that after I'm done riding my bike, I'm going to pick 10 flowers just for you. You know I love you a lot if I pick the prettiest flowers for you, right?"
Me: "Yup, I love you too buddy."
(I'm still waiting for my 10 flowers...it must have been an exciting bike ride!)

First Day

Today is Justin's first full day of kindergarten. He has been looking forward to this day since before preschool ended in June. He woke up at 6:30 this morning and came in to ask me if he could please get ready for kindergarten now. I said "sure" and off we went. All four of us went out front across the street from our house to meet his bus at 7:30. Here are some pictures of Justin and his friend, Shawn, who lives two houses down from us:





Justin was so excited to ride the bus and to wear his bus wrist band with all his route info on it for the bus driver. Tyler cried when we walked back to the house and the bus drove off in the opposite direction. Lucky for him we were already planning to follow the bus to see Justin to his classroom. Tyler was happy to count the buses when we got to the school.



Justin's teacher is Mrs. Delenikos. There are two kindergarten classes in a connected classroom with a commons area in between the two classrooms. During their free time they can play (painting, dress-ups, etc.) at the stations in that big area.



Showing off his cubby after he signed-in for the day.


The bus drops the kids off right in our front yard. Justin had a great day at school! This picture will always make me feel so happy! I'll always remember that right after I took this picture I was just about plowed over with the biggest, longest, happiest hug Justin has ever given me. I'm getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. And to think I made it through the whole day without crying...it just took some pictures for me to realize that Justin is on his way to a happy life.

Sabbatical

Travis works for Intel and we are in the middle of his sabbatical. After 7 years of work with the company, he gets a 2-month paid vacation along with his regular vacation for the year. So he has been off for 6 weeks now and we are LOVING it!!! Three more weeks to go...

We have been busy visiting Utah, Hawaii, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. I'll be posting details and pictures from our fun adventures! We just arrived home after being gone for 5 weeks. We have been having a great time doing fun things together as a family! I could get used to this!

We came back home so Justin could start school. Travis and I have made up a long list of projects we are all motiviated to finish around the house over the next few weeks. (Travis is out in the garage right now...) Justin has school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and every other Monday. We are planning to take some long weekend trips to the coast, crater lake, and other Oregon spots.

Kindergarten

Justin is so EXCITED for kindergarten! On Tuesday, the kids had "appointments" with their teacher in groups of 6 for a one-hour orientation. I went along for the first 20 minutes or so. When I came to pick him up afterwards, he told me "Mom, that was fun!" Here are some pictures of the happy guy:



He is just bursting with joy! I love it! (even if the pictures turned out a bit blurry!)


"Mom, you sneaked me!" (He told me later when I showed him this picture.)

Montana

Here are some highlights from our fun visit to Montana:

Visit with Great-Grandma Guptill in Billings




Montana Rail Link Train Ride
Grandpa works as a foreman with Montana Rail Link. He scheduled a ride for us with one of his engineer buddies. We met the train at a crossing and hopped on for a fun trip. The boys got to sit on the engineer's lap and pull the horn. They LOVED it!



Gunner- Grandpa Guptill's big black lab
Justin and Tyler loved throwing Gunnar's dog toys into the river and the lake. That dog loved those boys and they loved him. Justin planned to buy Gunnar some dog treats for Christmas and made Grandma promise not to tell him about it ahead of time. :) (Jumping ahead to Christmas 2007: While they were visiting us in Oregon for Christmas, Grandpa took Tyler and Justin to the pet store to pick out treats and a dog toy for Gunnar.)

Tom the Builder
Grandma and Grandpa have been doing a big remodeling project on their entire house. While we were in Montana, they were working on the exterior and the whole yard was filled with "construction heaven" for the boys! We have been watching "Extreme Makeover" Home Edition on t.v. with the boys this year. The boys started calling the main guy, Ty, "Ty the Builder". So, naturally, they called Grandma and Grandpa's construction worker friend, "Tom the Builder". Justin even got to be his helper. Bless you Tom!

Museum of the Rockies


Church in Big Sky

Travis' parents have a "calling" to attend a small branch in Big Sky, Montana. It is about 45 minutes away from their house. Dave is in the branch presidency and Bev is the primary "presidency". It was nice to go to church with them and see how the church is still "true" no matter how many come to church on Sunday.

Camping at Canyon Ferry




Fishing at Canyon Ferry and Three Forks







Golfing
Justin got to go golfing with Grandpa, Dad and my cousin Greg Lundell. He was so excited and provided some good entertainment. They drove a golf cart. He got to drive the cart and told me,
"You know, kids aren's allowed to drive the cart when you get close to the club."
"But, Grandpa drove over the bridges so I wouldn't crash on that part."
"And in golf, it's finders keepers, losers weepers. If you find a ball, you can keep it." And then he was really feeling like a pro. At one point Justin was riding in the passengers seat when the cart was coming to a stop. As it was still going along slowly, he thought he could just step off and get started on the next hole. He told me that he rolled down the hill like a bowling ball! Good times!

Utah's Top 10

Our four weeks in Utah this summer were packed with lot of fun things. In no particular order, here is our Utah's Top 10:

1. Jolley Family Reunion (My mom's side of the family).
2. Jared & Shannon's Wedding
3. Grandma & Grandpa Davis' backyard:


The boys spent countless hours in this HUGE sand pile. The picture only shows half of it. Here is a view of Justin and Tyler's river. Heaven for little boys! :)

We played games on the sport court, rode tricycles and wiggle cars on the winding sidewalk pathway, filled the birdfeeder for the quail family and enjoyed backyard birthday parties and picnics with all the family.

4. Day Trips: Cascade Springs,


We went back to visit the place where Travis proposed!

Bridal Veil Falls,


We went on an adventure to see the waterfall with Elana (Heidi & Joe's daughter). These little cousins had a fun time together running down the trails and then discovering all the animals at The Bean Museum.

BYU Bowling,


The boys loved these nifty ramps for the bowling balls. Even tiny guys can enjoy bumper bowling this way!

and shopping with my sisters.Maybe this one should be #1 :)

5. Playing with Grandma & Grandpa Davis, Great-Grandpa Jolley and cousins. While Travis and I were in Hawaii, Justin and Tyler had a great week with Grandma and Grandpa and all their cousins. Justin wasn't ready for us to come back yet.

Grandpa Jolley was staying with my parents in Provo while we were visiting. It was fun for the boys to get to know him better. We took walks with Grandpa in the morning and helped him with his projects around the house. He even joined us on a few adventures. The kids LOVED playing with their cousins. We took lots of walks over to play with the Wright kids. The boys liked going over to Elana & Josh's house to look for deer in the backyard. They also wanted to go "help" at Jared & Shannon's new house.

6. Game nights with family and get-togethers with good friends. It was fun to go to lunch and go visit with my friends and Travis went golfing with his buddies. Settler's of Cataan is aways fun!

7. Date nights to the movie theatre: The Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potter.

8. Visits to Thanksgiving Point:

a. Dinosaur Museum - two times!

The boys had a great time digging for dinosaurs with Chandler, my good friend Jennie's son.
There were so many hands-on activities for the kids. They even learned how to make a ceramic fossil to take home.


b. Children's Garden and Botanical Gardens with G & G Davis, Great-Grandpa Jolley and Aunt Tawnya. Then lunch at Cabella's.






Justin loved being our photographer! We even caught some master hoola-hoopers in action:






c. Farm with Grandma Davis and the Wright kids.





9. Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo,Signing Time Concert and lunch with Great-Grandpa Jolley.

10. Travis' mission reunion We were lucky to be in town for this get-together. It was fun to see Amber & Jeff there, too! Travis and my sister both served as missionaries in the Spain Las Palmas mission (The Canary Islands).