Visits

October was a busy month for us... we had LOTS of visitors and we loved it. Our first arrival was Sid and Katie.

We took them to Columbia River Gorge to see lots of beautiful waterfalls.
Our kids love Sid (they love Katie too). He taught Jacob and Claire lots of important things.
He taught them about exploring caves.
We threw an Oktoberfest in their honor... complete with Leiderhosen, homemade rootbeer, hotdogs with sourkraut, make your own big soft pretzel, and polka music.
Then our friends Matt and Rachel got here. Then Mama Streeter got here. The girls shopped, the boys explored. We ate, we played, and we made yummy calzones.
Sid and Katie got engaged! They were really happy.
We all tried out several types of donuts from Portland's famous Voodoo donuts. They have CRAZY donuts. The bacon maple bar was really good (real slices of bacon on top) but to my surprise I really loved the grape donut too. I think the one covered in cocoa puffs was my least favorite.
Claire loved her M&M covered donut.
We also went to the rose garden and although the roses were past their prime, there were still a lot in bloom. On top of all of those things we enjoyed funny games (including a human mop race) staying up late, lots of laughing and I enjoyed my own cheering squad at my soccer game. Thanks for coming everyone. It was fun (stay tuned, this is just the beginning of the visitors).

A New Name for Motherhood

I was helping Jacob get dressed and he was keeping his balance by putting his hands on my head... this must have reminded him of blessings because he told me when he gets older he gets the priesthood. I told him he was right. Claire then chimed in "when I am bigger I will get the priesthood." I told her, "No, remember, the priesthood is only for boys." To which she replied "no the pink priesthood is for girls." It is amazing the power that the color pink holds.

Happy Halloween

We had so much company in October and I need to post those pictures, but I wanted to post Halloween before we are too far removed. We had great fall weather for Halloween, nice enough that we could be comfortable trick-or-treating in short sleeves! Jared and our friend Chris did most of the trick-or-treating supervising and I joined the for part of it!

Thanks Chris... you were a good sport!
Our 'princess' and 'monster' pumpkins per request of the kids.

Here are the adorable pirates in full costume! They had a great time and were so good at trick-or-treating this year, but were afraid of some houses or decorations (namely a smoke machine and a gorilla handing out candy.

Belated Thanks to Dani!

Last May, Dani gave me a future gift of tickets to the BYU Oklahoma game that was going to be played in Dallas. At the time, we thought we would probably be moving, but had no idea when. As the summer wore on, though it was in the back of my mind, I really didn't think I'd actually go.

We moved to Portland 3 weeks prior to the game, and with unpacking, and not having plane tickets, I started thinking about selling the tickets on stubhub. I invited a co-worker, Mike, though he was going back and forth about going too because he didn't want to see BYU lose. Another co-worker from Dallas heard about this, and within a few hours, he was on-line getting us tickets! It was a great deal!

On to the pictures! The uploaded in reverse order, so we'll start with the end of the game. The stadium was really cool at night. Especially after beating the #3 team in the country!

Here's that huge videoboard after BYU kicked the extra point to take a 14-13 lead. We were going nuts!

Again, that videoboard was awesome! 60 yards long! It played live as the plays were happening, so a number of times when the play was on the opposite side, I found myself watching the videoboard.
Here we are before the game. I'd say that there was only 10% BYU. But we were loud!

Thanks again Dani for the awesome b-day present! You rock!!!

What Have We Been Up To?

1- Jared started his new job! This is him leaving for his first day of work from our friends' house since we weren't in ours yet. He is really seeming to love working for a small company.

2- We have been enjoying the awesome parks in our new city. The city we live in has two awesome parks with great water features. (The water features have been off for awhile now, but this was in August... I am really behind on my blogging.)
3- We have been loving trips to the coast with Mel, Bridger and Kacy!
4- We had a fun time at the state fair with lots of friends from work. (A post to come on this later...also, I LOVE this picture, I think it is hilarious and adorable).
5- Jared and Mike enjoyed and incredible BYU game in an incredible stadium (I will have him write his own post dedicated to this).
6- A family trip to the coast which involved GREAT fresh seafood, sand, flying our new frog kite, and lots of fun in the sand and water. Claire had a scare when a wave knocked her over and started pulling her out to sea, luckily Jared was standing next to her and grabbed her by the foot - scary!
Jacob was braving the cold water with his Dad.
Well, not really braving, as much as running from.

7- Loving our new house and enjoying lots of family dinners. This night Jacob announced at dinner that he wanted a family picture, so we set up the camera and made the little guy happy. (Disclaimer: please disregard the clutter on my counter, I am a busy lady). Also, I promise that I will post more house pictures, I just need to do a bit more 'finishing' work.

8- Family hikes in Forest Park... it is this great Urban Park that is pretty much a giant forest in the middle of the city. It is beautiful, and we are pretty sure that Claire could stay there all day hiking... she was totally in her element.


9- Another coast trip with Mel, Bridger, and Kacy which I forgot my camera for. That trip turned into an all day trip when our husbands surprised us by skipping out on work early and coming to meet us... lots of sand play, football, frisbee, kite flying, relaxing, and running from waves. We ended the day by eating pizza and watching the sunset.

10- Making new friends, playing games, etc...

Fun with the Fam

(Trying to get a cousin picture... if more than half are cooperating it is a good shot which makes this a good shot.)

On our way cross country we took a nice long break to have a family vacation with my family. We spent a few days in Cody visiting and preparing for our trip to Flathead lake Montana... it was a beautiful beautiful place and lots of fun. We stayed in a great cabin with the whole family for a week and it was the perfect space. The cabin was a great size with a small fenced in front yard and a HUGE backyard with a firepit, two ponds, a waterfall, TONS of cherry trees, a peach tree, apple trees, pear trees, and raspberry bushes; we spent a lot of time picking and eating the really yummy fruit and we were lucky enough to be there right at the peak of the cherry season, they were delicious.

This is the view of the lake from the deck of the cabin.

All the cousins enjoying their bribe from the family pictures (which I still don't have a copy of).
We (well at least Jared, our kids, my parents, and I) enjoyed a trip to Glacier National Park and the beautiful scenery there... see how happy Dad is to be there!

There is so much color there... aqua water, red rocks, green plants... and Claire's red hair.

Claire was TOTALLY in her element here and could have walked around outside in the forest and near the water all day... Jacob wasn't so sure!
More Glacier....
And more...
There were a couple of times that we drove right through a cloud and could look down on it, it was kind of a drizzly rainy day but was still beautiful.
When we weren't at Glacier, picking cherries, or playing with cousins we were most likely on the boat... Claire loves the boat.
Jacob likes it sometimes.
I love to be behind it. We got one great day on a smaller much smoother lake and got in some great skiing. Jared really did well on one ski and went farther than he ever has on one and crossed the wake several times, I think he has it down now... unfortunately all the pictures from that day were on Mom's camera.
We went swimming and grilled burgers by the lake one evening... if you look in the distance I am rescuing my nephew who floated right over the rope for the swimming area. When I got to him and asked if he needed help he replied in a confident little 3 year old voice "nope! I can do it by myself, the waves will bring me back!" (his Dad didn't want to swim out to get him, so as he was panicking that he was getting to far out he kept telling him the waves would bring him back... they didn't)
We had lots of baths in this fun tub. (Showers in this tub were very interesting... the all around shower curtain was very clingy).
We also had lots and lots of glow stick fun... every night (the kids loved playing in the little loft).
More glow stick fun. Thanks Grandma!
And this is my beautiful daughter holding a giant slug... don't be fooled by her face, she did not hate it. You would not believe how impossible it is to clean slug slime off of hands! And why would she be holding a giant slug?????
... because she has cousins like this, who love bugs, snakes, bats, and apparently slugs. Giant slugs! They are trying to teach Claire their love for these things.
We also had a lot of fun with bubbles because Grandma brought lots of bubble guns and other bubble toys. This is my adorable niece Tyler, she is shy, she doesn't love new people, but she is really cute.
Claire loved the bubbles.
Thanks for such a great time Mom and Dad we can't wait for the next trip! :)

Thanks for the Markers Nana

...we LOVE them! Mom got a nice long nap in the car while we played with them. (we loved the rest of your car ride surprises too).

xoxo

Cousin Visit

Since blogger is somewhat cooperating today I can do a blog post. We had a great visit with cousins on our cross country trip. We only had one full day and two nights, but we fit in as much as possible. Jared's sister Camie and her family live in Minneapolis and we enjoyed our time visiting them.

Like I said... we fit in a lot of stuff, and the boy cousins were spent by the end of the day. Good thing they have each other to lean on.

We went to a great lake/pool with a beach that they have nearby... it was a fun place for the kids to play together. Claire and Lydia were looking very cute in their matching suits from Nana.
We had plenty of snack breaks... (Clayton was really enjoying just laying on the sand that day).
We also got to meet sweet baby Wyatt and see their beautiful home.
The cousins all played so hard together and had WAY too much fun sleeping in the same room (not as much sleeping as the parents had planned). We had a great time... Thanks for having us, we hope we can come back soon!