Beach, Open House, Fair, 4-Wheeler.....

Another big post....
These are some pictures Marcie took at Rockaway Beach in OR since our camera batteries died. Thank you Marcie!

 These are a few pictures from Steven & Micaela's open house at my parent's the weekend after their wedding. Steph did all the decorations. It was so pretty and so fun to see old neighbors from when we were younger.

 I spent most the night keeping Grant away from the food! He loves grapes and watermelon a little too much.

 We were able to meet Micaela's family a few weeks before the wedding and Tyson latched onto her little brother Preston. Thankfully Preston was super cute with him and they had a lot of fun together in Portland and here.

 These are all the innocent by-standers in front of the hairspray/flour/orea/whip cream decorated car :)

 Aug. 29th was the kids' first day of school. Hallie- 5th, Janessa- 3rd, and Tyson- afternoon Kindergarten. They all have great teachers and are loving school.

 My friend's mom made Grant & Chloe Pebbles & Bam Bam costumes for Halloween. They got to go model them for her ward talent show. So cute.

 This was a frame we used at the open house so I took some pics of the kids in it. This one is priceless to me :)

 And a couple more while we were at it...Hallie doing a back flip...

 ...and Ty doing a trick. The only 2 that like their picture taken :)

 We went to the fair on Labor Day with some friends. We went early before the crowds, which we will do every year now! It was tons of fun.

 Since we have horses in our backyard now, the kids were way braver around the animals and really really wanted to take this one home.

One Saturday a few weeks ago we borrowed a couple 4-wheelers and went on a ride with some friends. Hallie did awesome on her dirt bike going up and down moutains. It was a great time. Janessa and I were laughing so hard our cheeks were hurting because I was such a horrible driver.

Afterwards we went fishing. Tyson has been with Andrew on scout camp outs but this was the girls' first time (and mine). They each caught a fish but this is the only pic of Janessa because she wouldn't go near it (my kind of girl)!

Well that leaves us caught up at least for a little while!

Portland

This post is going to be huge! I think I uploaded 40+ pictures but I didn't want to skip anything. Steven & Micaela were married on Thurs. Aug. 18th in the Portland temple. We were able to go Tues. night through Sun., spending a night in Boise on the way there and back. We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time and it was so worth the wait! 

The kids were so good in the car. I was really not looking forward to all the driving with Grant but as long as he had a bink and his blankie he was pretty good. 

 The drive from Boise to Portland was so pretty. The highway follows a river part of the way. We got a new camera before we left so some of these pictures are amazing to me because I wouldn't have gotten them with our other camera, especially out a moving car window :) I have also taken 2 photography classes so hopefully I can keep getting better at using it.

 We took a little scenic detour that went past these 2 waterfalls. They were so beautiful and it was perfect to get out of the car for a little while.

 Thurs. at noon was the wedding. It was a perfect day. Steven & Micaela were so cute and we're so happy for them. We took a lot of pictures on the temple grounds and tried really hard to get a new family picture :)

 Thurs. evening we drove across town to a children's science center/museum called OMSI. The kids had a lot of fun there and the drive was really cool especially over the river.

 Fri. morning we got up early so we could go to the coast before the reception. We stopped at Cannon Beach but it was so early and cold that we just kept driving and went to Tillamook first. We loved the cheese factory. It was awesome to see all they did to make cheese and of course have ice cream!

 Afterwards, we stopped at Rockaway Beach and walked to the water. It was 50 something degrees and windy but we couldn't resist. This is where our camera battery ran out...so sad, I wanted a million more pictures...!

 We enjoyed the evening at the reception. They had a movie on in the nursery, bubbles, and lots of yummy food. Grant probably ate a hundred grapes that night.

 We left Sat. morning so we could spend the evening with Andrew's family, then left for home Sun..

Here's Grant's final thoughts of being in the car so much......(with his scab from falling out of the stroller at the temple) ...time to go home!! -He was the only one who wanted to though :)