2013 has begun

2012 is gone and just a memory of the past. 2013 is here and already flying by. I am not sure where January went but February is in full swing. Our family has enjod some snowmobiling excursions to Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Adams. The boys are wrestling in a beginner league and Kenny loves it, while Kale isn't sure its his thing. Ken is acing as one of the assistant coaches and really seems to love spending the time with all the kids and teaching them new moves and sharing his love for wrestling with them. We are in the process of becoming licensed to be foster parens and so the house is somewhat of a distaster as we move the boys to a room together and prepare their rooms for foster kids. We hope to have 3 or 4 more running around in the next 60 days. I hope to have pictures and scrapbook pages posting soon. I am going to try to arrange my schedule so that I have time to preserve a memorey or two each week. I plan to post those memories, as well as a few fun family videos each week. Check back soon.

Columbia Heights Primary Temple Trip

The Primary planned a temple trip for the kids.  I was a bit spectacle that 50+ primary kids, their parents and siblings could not be on the temple grounds without causing a ruckus.  But I was pleasantly surprise and the reverence that was displayed.  They had stations set up all around the ground and small groups moved from station to station learning things about the temple, its purposes, the symbols on the outside, family history work, what it meant to be an eternal family, history about the building of the Portland temple and the dedication…

Kale was amazed at the angel Moroni.  I am not sure why now as he has seen the angel on many temples as we have visited them in Utah, Arizona, Washington and Oregon, but he wanted a picture and he wanted to know if he could go up the spire to see the angel up close and he wanted to know what it was made out of and how big it was…  I was impressed that at six, he wanted to know so much.

I learned a couple neat things I didn’t know and the kids learned many things that kept them talking about the experience for days.  It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t hot either and the sun was out up until the time we left and then it started raining.  I know that the Lord blessed us to have good weather so his children could learn about the sacredness of his temple and feel the spirit there.

It was an enjoyable day, one they won’t soon forget.

Some Amazing Photos of the Columbia River Shoreline…

     

I love the beauty that I am surrounded by here in Vancouver.  It is by far the best thing about out move back up to the Northwest.  Not a day goes by that I am not reminded that there is a God and that he loves us.  He has given us beautiful scenes to look at and I am convinced that they are here to remind us of what we are missing being away from him.

We Are Truly Blessed!!  Thank You Lord for all my blessings and for all the beauty that surrounds me and overshadows all the ugly that is in this world.

Some New Scrapbook Pages…

I haven’t had much time lately to scrapbook but I found a few minutes on Sunday afternoon and here are the results:

I hope to get more done before the year is over and will post them as I finish them.

Meredith’s Boots

So for my birthday, my sister, Meredith and her family, Jon and Steven and the dogs, Mom and Dad and Megan through me a surprise party.  It was great and I was really touched that they came all the way to Portland for my special day.  After the party, Meredith, Mom and I went shopping, something I haven’t done in quite some time, as I haven’t had any girls to shop with and no money to spend.

Meredith needed boots for her Halloween costume, so off we went.  We started at Burlington Coat Factory, where I found a cute pair but nothing for her.  We then ventured into Payless and once again, came up short.  So we decided to go to Ross.  She hit the JACKPOT.  She found boot that went to her knee, black with buckles, exactly what she wanted.  And the best part – they were only $18.00.  What a deal.  And they are cute enough she can wear them for more then just a costume.

Trunk-or-Treat 2011

This year for Halloween, Kale dressed up like Ironman and Kenny was a Purple Phantom.  We went to the Trunk-or-Treat for our ward and the other two (2) wards in our building.  The boys were in the Parade of Costumes and then it was off to see how much candy they could get – and it wasn’t even Halloween yet.

They each came home with half of a grocery bag full.  They dumped it out on the table and started sorting it into piles and trading what they didn’t like for what they did.  And of course, Dad took his “taxes” in licorice and Kit Kats and mom in Butterfinger and Baby Ruth.  This brought back memories of my youth, sorting and trading and counting, trying to see who had the most, the best and the biggest variety…

Goofing Off with Pumpkins–The Candy

No explanation needed… Just know that we literally “LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF”!!

Our Pumpkins

We carved three of the four big ones and decorated our front walkway for Halloween.  The kids really enjoyed carving them and I think they turned out great.

Ken carved a spider, Kenny carved the face of Jack from the nightmare before Christmas and Kale carved a Cyclopes face.  I thought they did a great job.

Kenny and the Flag

For Pack meeting this month, Kenny was asked to participate in the flag ceremony.  He eagerly and excitedly agreed and ran over to get the flag and get to his place. 

He is a Bear now and is excited to be working on his new badge.  The stake is transitioning from having den meetings on a ward basis to having them on a "building” basis and so they are off to a slow start.  He wants to do so many neat things that are in his book.

Luckily for him, he has a mom and dad that believe in the Scouting program and are just as excited to help him and he is to learn and grow.  He has decided he wants to earn the Conservation Patch and the Leave-no-trace Patch, besides his Bear, arrows and belt-loops.  He will definitely be busy, but I am happy that he is enthusiastic towards scouts. 

A day of firsts…

Almost daily during the month of October, Ken would ask if we could go to the pumpkin patch.  I was reluctant to go and spend $8.00 per person to go to a field and pick out a pumpkin.  It seemed like a lot of money to spend and I had gone to pumpkin patches in the past and had not been real impressed.  But on Saturday, October 22nd, I had heard enough asking and was tired of saying no, so I gave it and we loaded up the van and headed out to the Bi Zi Farm.

It took us a while to find them because Ken thought he knew where he was going, but after driving for a bit, confessed that he wasn’t sure where they were located.  Luckily, I had my phone (and it was charged) ^{{1st first}.}   I looked up the address and we were back on our way. 

We arrived, found parking and headed to the ticket booth to pay our fare and go “pumpkin patching”.  The first thing we came across as we entered was a hay bale pyramid that the kids could climb on.  Kenny and Kale had a race to the top and, as it was a close tie, they both won. 

Next we hit the “Corn Box” ^{{2nd first}}.   This has to be the coolest thing I have seen in a long time, even I got in.  So, since most of you have no idea what I am talking about, let me explain.   All of you know what a sand box is… well this is a corn box.  It is a big area that, instead of sand, corn kernels fill the area and the kids, both old and young, can get in a dig and play.  We buried Kenny and Kale so that all that you could see was their heads.

Yes – those are corn kernels.  Ken even said that if he could come up with a way to keep the corn from going bad, he would put one in at his house.  I had to admit, it was pretty cool and I even got in a played for a bit.

Next, we headed off to a hay bale maze.  It was just right for the boys; a bit easy for Kenny but he and Kale seemed to enjoy it anyway^{{3rd first}}.

Then we headed to the petting zoo (or so it was called).  Of all we experienced at Bi Zi’s, this was the least exciting.  The animals were not to active and the boys “had seen them all before” so they went through it pretty fast.

There was this spotted pig that Ken thought was really cute.  He was after something in the dirt and although we weren’t sure what it was, it was something pretty interesting.  As you can see from the picture below, he had his snout half-buried.

Kenny liked the donkey.  He kept calling it a ‘Burro’.

The turkey was pretty cool.  He was trying to eat a little girl’s hand and the boys thought that was neat.  They even tried, but were more chicken then turkey.

After the petting zoo, it was off to the Corn Maze^{{4th first}}.  I haven’t done a corn maze since before Ken and I were married and about 3 minutes into the maze, I remembered why?  Luckily for us, they gave us a  sky view of the maze and Ken was able to keep us on track, or we would have spent half the day trying to find our way out.

The boys loved it!!!

After leaving the maze, we headed off to catch a ride out to the pumpkin patch^{{5th first}}.  The boys were excited they were going to get to ride on a trailer pulled by a John Deer Tractor.  They laughed the whole ride.  When we got to the patch, they bee-lined for the furthest side of the patch and started looking for the perfect pumpkin.  Ken got a wheelbarrow and off we went.

We ended up with 4 big ones and 4 small ones.  The four big ones were included in the cost of the admission and the other ones totaled a whooping $3.50 – Quite a deal for a wheelbarrow full. 

 

Kale had a hard time finding the perfect one.  He was up on row and down the next, over two and back up three more rows until he found the perfect one.  Then it was back on the tractor-trailer ride and off to the farm.  While riding back, we saw a sheriff walking up the rode and all the adults began to speculate: perhaps there was a drug deal in the pumpkin patch, maybe immigration was coming to bust a worker, maybe someone was trying to steal pumpkins… We never found out why, but it was quite the discussion on the way back.

Once we returned to the farm and off-loaded our pumpkins, we got to scrub them down and clean them up so they wouldn’t dirty the van^{{6th first}}.  I think the pictures speak for themselves:

 

While Ken took the pumpkins to the van, I took the boys over to the duck races^{{7th first}}.  Picture two (2) rubber ducks, four (4)hand-pumps and four (4) rain gutters, two (2) laughing children and you have about 30 minutes of entertainment and fun.  This had to be another one of my favorites.  It was truly ingenious and the kids loved it.  Simple, easy, and totally enjoyable; what novel concepts.

After Ken got back, we walked over to the pumpkin sling-shot area ^{{8th first}}.  There was a long line, but I think this allowed them to watch and build up anticipation to what it would be like to launch a pumpkin into the sky, using a man-made slingshot.

     

Here are the boys picking out their small pumpkins.  The slingshot was huge and the boys could only pull it back a little ways.  I grabbed the belt loop on their jeans and pulled them back further and they aimed and let go.  We toppled to the ground, laughing and watched their pumpkin soar through the air, hoping it would land in the bucket.  None of us were luck enough, so no prize, but we did witness one person get their pumpkin into the bucket.  I was quite impressed.  It was not as easy as it looked and even harder to aim then I would have thought.  But it sure was fun.

Overall – it was a wonderful family outing and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, got a little muddy and experienced a lot of new things.  I loved watching the boys explore and create memories that will stay with them through the years; memories they will share with their kids and grandkids.