Opening Day

Opening Day in Cincinnati is a celebration! So of course, we decided to walk one block to 5th street to watch the opening day parade. There aren't super high hopes for the 2019 Reds season, but opening day ushers in one of the nicest seasons of the year!

The view of opening day is awesome from the tower!

 

Spring Break Cincinnati

This Spring Break, we decided we were going to spend it as a "Staycation" in Cincinnati since Jared just started, so we did a bunch of fun Cincinnati activities.

Taylor and Hayley came to Cincinnati too

We spent a night at Great Wolf Lodge

and had a fun time on the water slides

We took a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo

And we enjoyed some blue sky doing archery in the backyard - taking lessons from Liam!

 

School

Liam writing about why meteorologists are important: 

They help us know when a meteor is going to hit our house.

Kate: Dislike - This girl dislikes her hair

Jacob was student of the week!

Crazy hair day at the Greene School

One of the things we love about being in Cincinnati is that when the family comes to visit Nana and Papa, we get to be part of the fun! Liam wrote about this 1for a school writing assignment.

"Over the weekend, I celebrated Easter and my now 1-year-old cousin's birthday. All my cousins came for Easter and my not yet married uncle and his girlfriend also came. My 0 year old cousin came too. I did join in the Easter egg hunt."

 

Welcome to Cincinnati!

WE'RE BACK!!!

We arrived in Cincinnati on Valentine's Day

Liam's New Year's Resolution:

a promise you make to yourself to be better or to help others. Liam's New Year's resolution is to make a spy club in Cincinnati. And practice archery lessons more often. 

Jar0ed's runs are now by the Ohio River, and in the first weeks of February, after a lot of rain, the Ohio River escaped its banks. This is the view from Newport.

Kate and Liam on their first day of school. Excited to head to first grade at Maple Dale Elementary!

 

Jacob and Claire - their first day at Sycamore Jr High in seventh grade.

We got to celebrate Nana's birthday in person - celebrating both Nana's birthday and our big life change with a yummy dinner in downtown Montgomery, just down the road from where our home is.

The moving process was SO much easier than the last move - Great American moved us with a corporate move. The movers packed everything! It was awesome.

Unpacking - feels great to have things unpacked, though it will take some time before we are fully unpacked and moved in.

 

Saying goodbye

This was probably the very hardest part of the move - the saying goodbye to friends. We spent our last night at the Candrian's house, completely moved out of our house on Roanoke Drive. Friends came over to see us off.

Kate had a good group of friends

After realizing that we were living 25 minutes away from one another for a few years, we finally made it up to visit Michael and Brynn Bacon in Hillsboro. It was fun to catch up and introduce our wives.

Torin and his best friend Grey Battles

Jared and Dani went for a run at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City - all these years, this is the first time we've been here.

They built it to look like covered wagons. Now, as John Candy said, "Wagons, EAST!"

We decided to take one last trip to Aji Tram with Ryan and Jessica

We got to spend a long day with our framily, the Schaffers.

Little did we know that MEL WAS PREGNANT!!! They told us a week after we got to Cincinnati

 

Packing up the things that aren't going in the truck - it is like getting ready for a couple-week long vacation.

All packed up and ready to go.

Amanda Parker and Lorena Candrian

Kelsey Hornibrook

Alice and Scott (and Glee, Griffen, and Gedde) McKnight

 

Girls Ski Trip

Dani took a final ski trip with Mel, Ashley, and Tamara up to Mt Hood Meadows. It has been a fun 9.5 years - the earlier years we did a ton together, and as our schedules got busier, we had to make some time (though the Battles being in our ward certainly helped!). 

A blue-sky day and a lot of smiles were highlights for the girls!

 

Doing the last things in Portland

We have loved our over 9 years in Portland. We arrived as a family of 4 and had 3 more kids, made wonderful friends, and unforgettable memories.

We got to go to the temple a few more times - we have loved having the temple so close. It has been literally across the highway from Jared, out his window. It has been in our stake - a place of refuge and revelation for us.

Another run with Jimmy! We will miss him.

One thing we enjoy about Oregon is the temperate days that happen during the winter - we could even get another bike ride in!

Winter did give us one more snow storm - and whenever it snows, we HAVE to build a snowman!

Another bike ride - the country roads of Sherwood and Stafford are incredible. I love being able to be in rolling hillsides only a couple minutes after leaving the house. What a beautiful area we have lived in.

We went for another hike in Tryon Creek - so amazing that we could have this beautiful hike a short drive away!

And, of course, some wings - need to get the good food in Portland while we still can!