The Silly Willies

Kite Festival

2010-04-26T19:14:00.007-06:00

We were able to attend the annual Kite Festival. The weather was perfect for flying kites this year. In the past it hasn't been windy enough, but this year was perfect. Only problem was getting tangled with other flyers.

Parker was the best kite flyer in the family. He was able to get our Butterfly kite to stay up the longest.

Dad was very patient with the kids. Making sure they each got turns and got some good flying lessons.

Houston Trip

2010-04-25T22:00:00.024-06:00

The winter's here are long and cold and I complain about them all the time. My sister, Sallie, called me up about a month ago and said that airline tickets were on sale from Salt Lake City to Houston and we should go together to visit our Houston sisters and take a reprieve from the long winter.

I loved the idea of a getting a break from winter and a short vacation from being a mom. Rob was super supportive and re-arranged his work schedule and with a little help from neighbors and grandma I was off to Houston!!

Sallie and I flew in on Friday afternoon and Jenni picked us up from the airport. We grabbed a bite to eat and then we were off to have a two hour horseback ride at Cypress Trails. Sorry, couldn't take pictures of that activity....hard to hold a camera and the reins:) We were very sore afterwards and spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub trying to recuperate (could have posted pictures of that, but pictures of us in swimming suits don't go public)

Saturday we spent almost the ENTIRE day at the temple. Long story there....but we got all dressed up and headed up to the Houston Temple.

First we had to stop to get lunch. It was such a yummy italian restaurant (sorry, can't remember the name)but we had the best waiter ever! Shout out to Vinny from New York!!

Here we are in front of the Houston Temple. Now there are a few silly pictures below, and that's just what happens after spending more than SIX hours in the temple with your sisters:)

Can you tell who is the oldest?? Clue, she is the one on the end who is acting the most behaved

Gorgeous flowers. The temple grounds were amazing! It was so wonderful to see all the flowers and spring growth (everything is still frozen here in Idaho)

Whoa!! Watch out for Bonnie's hair flipping thingy she would do before pictures!

Okay. Everybody's hair is fine now.

The whole crew for Sunday Dinner.

All the girls!

Monday before we flew out we took a trip to Galveston Island. So many of the houses are built like this one because of all the hurricanes and ocean storms. I only posted one of the houses, but seriously there were tons of houses built like this.

Sisters at the Gulf Coast

The Idaho sisters LOVING the feel of the beach and warm breezes!!

We decided to splurge and go on a guided segway tour of Galveston Island. It was so fun!!! Sallie and I had never been on one before. It was pretty dang fun, and at times, hilarious....here we are racing on the bay side of the island.

Elizabeth, Jenni, Sallie, and Bonnie

Learned lots of Galveston history while on our tour. Learned a lot about Hurricane Ike's damage and about famous people who visited the island. Alfred Hitchcock stayed in the house behind us and used a photo of it in the beginning of "The Birds" movie.

Here we are riding on the Gulf side.

Posing at the end of the pier. I could have cropped the guy on the right out, but it was too funny to just keep him in it. I don't think he was too impressed with us crazy tourists.

Even though it was a short trip of only two full days, and two travel days, it was so worth it. I think it safe to say we all had a wonderful time. We missed having Julie with us, but hope to have her join us next time.

Family Vacation

2010-04-12T15:56:00.025-06:00

Several weeks ago we got an email from Mike's family, Rob's brother who lives in Minnesota, saying they were going to come out to Utah for a few days to visit family and friends and spend a couple of days in Zion National Park. We haven't been to Zion since Parker was about two years old, so we asked Mike and Dana's family if we could drive down to Zion and vacation with them for a couple of days. It was a good way to visit with them, since they live so far away, plus we got to enjoy beautiful Zion together.

Here are several pictures from our trip.

We were driving around the Park looking for a place where the kids could get out and walk around over rocks and go exploring. It was our last day there and we had a nine hour drive ahead of us, and we were lucky enough to find this spot. We couldn't even see the cave from the road, that was just a lucky bonus that we found the cave and a great place to run around. The two little ones loved throwing rocks in the water. Glad they were so easily entertained.

Parker poses in the cave

Garrison and Addison playing in the water

G exploring

Everyone exploring

I love this picture of Addie and Parker. It looks like they are walking thru a desert or something. But, it was just amazing rock formations.

This was Rob's favorite rock formation, so we had to have Parker pose in front of it. Rob said it was like a rock parfait with all the different layers and colors.

Had to post a picture of the mountain goats we saw. We also saw deer and wild turkeys throughout.

The boys pause for a picture on our hike to the lower Emerald Pools. G is just taking it easy.

Parker and Addison behind the waterfall at Lower Emerald Pool. The wind was blowing and the waterfall kept blowing all around us. It was a pretty wet area, but lots of fun.

Me and Addie

Dana and me

The cousins all pose on a huge rock we found on our hike.

Jessica, Lauren, Parker and Addison

Mom and Dad with G

Parker posing like "The Thinker" statue. Remember "Night of the Museum"...."I'm thinking...I'm thinking....I'm thinking"

Group photo

Cousins on the Zion Park bus

Kids sitting around waiting for the bus to take us into Zion. Right behind our hotel.

On our drive down to Zion's we stopped to stretch our legs and took a tour of Cove Fort. It was a really interesting tour, we had a good guide. The kids were really fascinated with how the pioneers lived.

It was such a wonderful vacation. It was a little cooler in temperature than what we had hoped, but it wasn't as cold as Idaho. The kids traveled really well and had a great time. It was a wonderful trip and I can't think of anything that we would have done differently.

For me the highlight was horse back riding with Parker, Jessica, Lauren and Dana. It was gorgeous views on horseback and just wonderful to be back on a horse.

Parker's favorite was hiking and exploring around the cave.

Rob's favorite was hiking to Lower Emerald Pool and trying to avoid getting wet from the waterfall.

And our craziest moment was swimming in the hotel pool during a rain storm. It was the only night we had time for swimming and my kids were determined to get their swim time in. It was windy and raining and just plain crazy that we were outside, but the rainbows were beautiful and so was the sunset. Garrison would not be out done by his siblings. Even he got in the pool, but he only lasted about 10 minutes before I pulled him shivering from the pool.

Broken Bones and Summertime

2009-08-23T21:50:00.038-06:00

School starts in exactly one week. I am SOOO looking forward to a nice regular school schedule and, hopefully, less fighting amongst the siblings.

We have had a packed summer and lots of family time. We had intended to go to Oregon to visit my parents and spend a few days at the beach, but Parker broke his arm pretty badly right before we were to go, and the doctors told Parker his summer was officially over. No swimming, no skateboarding, no rollerblading, no bike riding, etc etc... The only activities allowed were reading, video games, and t.v. watching. It was hard to spend so much money on a trip that would require a lot of time in a lawn chair for Parker, so we postponed our trip to next year. Besides, I had a lovely trip to the ER myself for a gallbladder attack. I meet with doctors about that next week...I might be having surgery for that in the near future....we'll see.

Here's Parker's cast. He broke both bones right above his wrist. He was riding his rip-stick when he broke it...he had gotten his rip-stick for his 9th birthday from us back in June. He is actually a very good rip-stick rider. I've even taken him to a near-by skate park. But, just an unlucky fall that day. He'll have this long-arm cast on for another 10 days, then he'll get another short-arm cast for a couple more weeks. It was a pretty serious break...I'm looking forward to getting the bill from the on-call Orthepedic Surgeon:) Luckily, he's left-handed.

A good chunk of our summer was spent with Rob's family. His sister was expecting a little girl with a congenital heart defect, and we spent a bit of our summer preparing, and wanting to support her family thru the upcoming birth and life of their daughter. As most know we have also lost a young daughter to a serious birth/brain defect, so we knew what it could be like to have an unhealthy baby and some of the trials that come with that. We were blessed to enjoy our young niece, Merideth, for a few days, and we took our family to visit her and spend time with her and her family.

Garrison with Grandma and Merideth.

Addison, Parker, and Merideth.

Me holding Merideth

Rob with Merideth

We all enjoyed being able to spend time with her during her 9 days here on Earth. I also have to say, that although it was difficult at times because Merideth's circumstances were so close to our own when we lost Paige, it was a real blessing to feel able to give support and love to someone else. We had felt such love and support from our family and friends during our time with Paige, and it was nice to be able to turn around and give what we once received. In some ways it was healing for us. Like being able to hold Merideth and pass her around and truly enjoy spending time with her, something we really couldn't do with Paige because of her health issues, and also being able to be a splurging aunt and buy some cute little outfits for her to wear, again something we really couldn't do for Paige. I am grateful that Merideth's family was so willing to share her and allow us to be a part of her short life.

Although death can be such a difficult and sad time, it's also a time when family draws close together. Though, there were many tears, there was also time for laughter as family was able to gather together and cousins were able to play together.

Here are the terrible two's! I mean the adorable two's!! Senika, Natalie, Garrison, and Bethany. Cousin's all born in 2007!

Addie and Kira enjoying snow cones.

Parker eating a snow cone in the tree....and after seeing this picture is it REALLY surprising Parker broke his arm???

Rob and his sister Julie. Such silly siblings!!

All the cousins playing around the tree!!

And staying at a hotel is ALWAYS a vacation for the kids. The kids LOVED playing in the pools at our hotel stays!

And of course we had a wonderful 4th of July! We did our usual activities of parade, and fireworks. We also got to enjoy time with my family, as my sister's Julie and Sallie (and their families) came and spent some quality 4th of July time with us.

The cousins doing snake/worm fireworks

Kylie, Emily, Matt, with Uncle Reid (Garrison in the background)

Parker and Addie at the parade

Garrison at the parade

Another fun summer activity that we were a part of was the local production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Rob played the part of the oldest brother Rueben, and Parker was a part of the kids chorus. It was a very time consuming activity as the boys had to attend a LOT of rehearsals. But it was a great show and they had a great time being a part of it.

Parker with some of the other kids in the chorus

Rob with his parents and grandma after the first show. Yes, Rob made the "Reuben" sign all by himself...very creative:) Also you can see grandma has some of the confetti from the show around her neck. Rob loves to talk the producers into making confetti a part of the show. It is a real crowd pleaser, as you can see Addison enjoyed it very much.

Did I mention that I helped with the stage make-up? So, even I was a part of the show. Rob has tried to convince me that I should be on stage with him...but that is SO not gonna happen! But, I do enjoy being a part of backstage:)

We also got to "host" our nieces and nephews for a couple of days as they got ready to attend the local EFY.

They were a bunch of crazy teenagers!!

I realize this was a really long blog entry, but wanted to catch everyone up on our summer activities. But, what we did the most this summer was just "hang out" with our friends and family, eat lots of popsicles, and play in the yard.

Garrison

Addie

Parker and friend

Parker and Carson

Addie and G

Even I got to hang out with some of MY bestest friends!!!

Fun Family Visit

2009-06-08T14:47:00.001-06:00

Our computer broke down a couple of months ago, and so I got way behind in my blogging. Some of our best friends from Utah came up for a weekend visit back in April and I'm finally blogging about it.

Tina and I go WAY back from our country and horseback riding days at Ricks College, so that means we have been super-great friends for 16 years. Amazing! And she happened to marry a super fantastic guy and had super fantastic kids, so we absolutely love hanging out with there family whenever we go down to Utah, and occasionally they come up here to visit us.

Brady and Garrison were fast friends, and that's saying a lot for Garrison who is such a momma's boy.

All the crazy kids!!

Addie and Sadie (the rest of the kids at the top)

Even though it was only 50 degrees outside the kids BEGGED us to get the water slide out. They were crazy and cold....but brave, because they all did it! They had a great time freezing together. They would go down once or twice then grab a towel and head for the warm cement pad or trampoline to try and warm up for a few minutes, then do it again. As we, the parents, watched and laughed in amazement as they all did it.

Colton in-action picture.

Then we moved onto warmer activities. There's a new local Go-Karts place that opened up here, so we went to go and try it out. Here's Abby, Brady and Parker trying it out.

It was such a fun weekend! And we just LOVE Tina and her family!!!

Flashback Moment

Tina and Elizabeth 15 years ago!! Our young and single days...heading out to go country dancing!!! YeeHaw!

Parker's Ballroom Dance Recital

2009-06-02T20:27:00.006-06:00

Here are a few pictures of Parker's Ballroom Dance Recital. He has finished up with his ballroom dance for the season. He really enjoyed it and is planning to do it again next year. Yeah!!

He preformed three different dances, the Samba, the Mambo, and the Waltz. The other pictures didn't turn out at all, so I'm only able to post his Waltz pictures.

Our Easter Weekend

2009-04-20T21:46:00.006-06:00

So...here is all our Easter weekend fun. We had to decorate our Easter Eggs...of course. We did it during Garrison's nap time because he really wouldn't have enjoyed it since he's too young to really care and probably would have made a little more hectic for those of us who really appreciate doing it. Little Natalie came to try it out for the first time with Addie and Parker.

We also had our annual Easter Egg hunt in our own backyard with friends and family. We enjoy this much more then the crazy-out-of-control community ones.

I really only could capture pictures of Addison during the hunt...Parker was too fast! Here is Addie and one of her friends checking out their loot.

And Garrison...he really didn't care about the Easter Egg hunt at all! All he wanted to do was jump on the trampoline with his cousin Natalie. In fact he thru a lovely temper tantrum because we wouldn't allow him outside sooner because we worried he would pick-up all the eggs...but nope, he could have cared less about the eggs...he just wanted on that trampoline!

Scouts

2009-04-18T13:44:00.004-06:00

Not the best pictures....but here is Parker with his Pinewood derby car, and another picture of him earning his "Wolf" badge. When they earn a rank they get to give their mother a pin for helping them achieve a new rank, so it's actually a picture of Parker pinning a pin on me. How do you like my Cubmaster shirt? Oh yeah, I'm the Cubmaster for Parker's pack. I know now more about scouts than I ever thought I would. It was always in the plan that once our boys were old enough for scouts Rob would be in charge of all things scouting. But, that planned changed quickly since I am now the Cubmaster.
Parker LOVES scouting! And now that I understand it, and am involved, I think it's pretty cool too.

Horsin' Around

2009-04-17T09:13:00.000-06:00

Here is Addison and myself. She has shown to be a real horse lover...like me. While we were in Utah we hopped on Tobee to go ride around for a little. These pictures were taken just moments before Addie and I got bucked off. Yes! It was a real bummer! Gratefully Addison had a pretty soft landing in a big pile of dirt...until I landed on top of her and knocked the wind out of her. Poor kid. I've been bucked off a handful of times, but this is Addie's first experience. Tobee has never bucked before, but he got startled and with Addie squished in the saddle with me I didn't have a good seat. I tried to turn my body so I wouldn't land on Addie, but I couldn't completely do it, so I unfortunately hurt her. If I wouldn't have landed on her I don't think she would have gotten hurt at all...so I felt pretty bad about that.

Anyway, luckily no one was seriously hurt, I was a little bruised, but I was so concerned about Addie I didn't really notice 'til the next day.

I took Addie into the house and gave her some Advil and she was fine. I went back out and Kirsten and I went on a short little trail ride, but it was pretty short since I was worried about Addie. She was fine though. I tried to get her to come back out and ride Tobee again for a few minutes, but she refused. Tried teaching her that when you get bucked off...you get right back on. Well, she'll just have to learn by example this time since I showed her that I got back on Tobee for my little trail ride.

What an adventure!

Addison's Birthday

2009-03-26T16:32:00.000-06:00

I'm finally adding Addison's birthday post. I haven't had much time for blogging lately, so I have to get caught up. Addison turned 4 in February. She had a nice little family celebration, shared with her dad as their birthday's are only a few days apart. Then because at age four they now get to have "friend" parties on their even numbered birthdays....family only parties on odd numbered birthdays. Just a little tradition of ours.

For Addison's "friend" party she and a cute little group of other 4 year olds, went to a "Build-a-Bear" type of place....sorry, we are too small town for an actual "Build-a-Bear" place. The kids all got to pick out and stuff, dress, and name their own stuffed animals. Afterwards they played with a Thomas the Train set-up at the party place. The girls seemed to really enjoy.

Here's the party girls!

Here's Addie and dad sharing a birthday cake....although it was pink and heart shaped! So not much of a "daddy" cake...but he got his own homemade German Chocolate cake earlier in the week.

Sea World

2009-03-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

Not many pictures today. We took it pretty easy today since we were so exhausted after a long day at Epcot yesterday. We loved the dolphin and whale shows.

I return home tomorrow...I'm excited to see my family again.

EPCOT

2009-03-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at the Epcot Center today. Here we are at lunch in the Land Pavillion.

It was a great lunch...and we had lots of visitors.

We learned today how to tell the difference between Chip and Dale...as they both came to visit us today. Here is a picture of me and Chip...he has a darker nose like a chocolate "chip", and only one tooth. Dale has a slightly redder nose and two teeth. Now we know.

Here we are in line waiting for our turn on the new ride "Soarin". We loved it so much we rode it three times!

Baloo came and snuck up on me and Sallie today. He was SOO cute!

Today was so fun!

BUT, I am so sick! I've got a sore throat and fever, and just feel awful...and as the day went on I felt worse and worse...by the end I had completely lost my voice. BUT sister's retreats don't happen very often, so I bucked up and stuck it out. Hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow as we are spending the day at Sea World.

Orlando Temple

2009-02-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Orlando Temple. Aren't we pretty!!??

We did some of David's (Bonnie's husband) family names today. Oh my goodness, it was SO awesome!! We sealed some sisters/daughters to their parents (at the same time, which was a first for us and VERY COOL). The spirit was so strong...some of these families were there and waiting. These were families I was able to help research and get temple ready. Yeah, it was neat.

After the temple we headed over to the Hoop-De-Doo Musical Review (dinner variety show) at the Disney Wilderness Lodge. We had to take a boat to get there. Sorry, I don't have a picture. I'll try and post those pictures later.

By the way...the weather is GORGEOUS here! I don't miss that Idaho snow at all!! BUT, the water tastes AWFUL!! BLAHHH GROSS! Bottled water is the only way to go here. Seriously, anytime I try and drink it...instant gag reflex.

Here we are in FLORIDA!!

2009-02-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Florida with my sisters! Our first night on our "Sister's Retreat"!

We found this "Stargate" ring portal thingy! We got a real kick out of this. Had to take a picture.

It's my first night away from kids. Boohoo. I miss them! But, it's beautiful here, and I'm so excited to be here with my sisters!

Okay, it was SUCH a long day flying to Orlando. I had to first fly to Boise, then onto Seattle...then another 5 hours on the plane to go from Seattle to Orlando. By the time I got to Orlando I had a huge headache. But, after some advil, dinner, and laughing it up with my sisters...it was gone.

Rob's birthday

2009-02-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

Rob turned 37 this month! What an OLD man!!

We had a small little family party for him. I made his favorite cake...German Chocolate, with homemade frosting. He also got some of his absolute favorite ice-cream...Chocolate/Peanut Butter from Baskin-Robins. We generally keep our birthdays pretty simple for each other. The kids and I all made him some home-made birthday cards, and we got him his newest favorite movie IronMan.

Sweet and Simple.

Hair in Rags

2009-02-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

When I was a little girl my mom would put me and my sister's hair in rags. While our hair was wet, and right before bedtime, she would take sections and roll it up, and tie the small strips of cloth (rags) in a knot. The next morning you'd take the rags out, and have nice curly hair. It's the old-fashioned way, the way they did it before curlers were invented, I guess.
Every once in awhile I'll do it to Addie's hair. I haven't done it in a long time, and then the other day we were watching Little Princess and the girls in the movie had their hair in rags and Addie really wanted it done.
Here's the before pictures:

Here's the after pictures:

OMSI

2009-02-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Okay...okay...this is my last Christmas post. After this I'm all caught up on what we did over the holidays. I know...I'm slow. But after this I'll need to catch you up on what we have done this month. Rob and Addison both had birthdays in February. So, that'll be my next post.

While we were in Oregon we took the kids to OMSI (Oregon Museum Science Institute). The kids LOVED it. Parker remembered it from the last time we were in Oregon and begged us to go again. Besides, my parents got us a year family membership to OMSI for Christmas...so we had to since it was free.

There is fun for all ages at OMSI. Garrison's favorite was the toddler section. They had lots of balls...and he loves balls.

It is so funny to look at these pictures of Garrison because these pictures were taken before he got his very first haircut. He actually got his haircut shortly after this because all the people around us at OMSI kept calling him a girl. Hello! Does he look like a girl?? I didn't think so, but his hair was quite long and curly. So, now with his new do...he definitely looks like a boy.

Garrison also ventured into the lab for a few minutes with dad.

Addie loves to play in water...she spent a long time here.

Addison also loved the toddler section. Here she is doing spin art with one of the workers. We still have her picture on our refrigerator at home.

Parker also enjoyed the toddler section...but that didn't last long. He was onto bigger and better things pretty quickly. He loved the science lab where he got to do actual experiments with chemicals. I think he loved it the most because he got to feel like Harry Potter in Potions class.

If you are ever in the Portland area with your kids...you've got to take them here. It is fun for all ages. They did so much more than what I have pictured here...but I can't make this too big of a post.

NOISIEST KIDS!

2009-02-06T14:03:00.044-07:00

Sometimes I feel like my kids are the loudest kids in the world. Seriously, my kids are SOOO loud! Rob and I have learned we cannot even have a conversation together until the kids have gone to bed. We just end up, practically, yelling to hear each other over the kids, or we are getting constantly interrupted. The only problem with that is...because of old age, we generally have forgotten what we needed to talk about by the time the kids go to bed. So, we end up vegging out in front of the T.V. both too exhausted for conversation. Well, that might be a little of an exaggeration...but not by much.

Here some pics of our wild and crazy, loud kids!

This one is almost a little scary of Parker. He and his cousin were goofing around and pulling their pj's as far up as they could. What goofballs!

Don't let this boy in a yeti hat deceive you! He may seem innocent and quiet...but he is a SCREAMER!

His squeal is the loudest of them all...well sometimes Addie can beat him. The best is when we are in the van and they think it is hilarious to have a screaming/squealing contest. It's a miracle I haven't been in more car accidents.

Parker's picture was disturbing me because he had such a funny face, so I had to throw in a better picture of him. Of course, now Addison looks horrible...but she is a girl who likes to cry a lot...so this isn't too unusual to see her like this.

Thinking about Paige today

2009-01-29T12:38:00.003-07:00

So, I have been thinking a lot about Paige today. Our little girl who died at two weeks of age...for those of you who didn't know that.

She died July 2003, it's been about 5 1/2 years. I have to say that time definitely helps heal. Anyway, the reason why I was thinking a lot about her today is because I went and got me legs waxed today. Yes, it was painful. But, anyway, me and the aesthician (sp) got to talking and I ended up telling her the story of how we lost Paige. And as I was telling her about it I found that I had forgotten a lot of the details. I don't generally go into a lot of detail when I talk to people about how we lost her and I hadn't realized I'd forgotten so much. Which means I've been able to put it behind me.

The thought came to me, that although it was so difficult losing her....that I really look forward to the day that she will be with me again. I've heard, or read in the scriptures somewhere that there will be an oppurtunity to raise her in the next life. Won't that be something? To be able to raise a child in a place where you NEVER have to worry about them? I am constantly worrying about my kids here on Earth. What would it be like to raise a child in heaven, where there is nothing to worry about? That thought alone is such a blessing and comfort.

Sorry, I'm just rambling today...but thought I'd share my thoughts...and a picture.

Parker snowboarding etc

2009-01-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

Parker and his dad got to go snowboarding a few weeks ago at the local Kelly Canyon Ski resort. Parker went for his first time last year, but they got to go again this year. Parker loves it and thinks it's really cool. We put him in lessons last year, but he prefers to just go with his dad instead of doing lessons. Rob says Parker his crazy and just likes to go straight down the hill super fast. He's not very good at turning yet, and usually crashes when he tries to practice turning....hence the helmet.

On a side note, Parker is also on a ballroom dance team. This is him at his very first performance. Here he is doing the Samba with his partner Alayna. They are soo cute. They have another performance/competition next month, they will be doing the Samba again and also the Waltz and the Cha Cha. I know you can't tell in this picture(probably because he is concentrating), but he really enjoys it and plans on doing it again next year.

Christmas in Oregon

2009-01-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

It was a winter wonderland in Oregon this year. It never snows there, and when it does it melts within a few hours. So, this was a very unique Christmas. I had to take pictures outside my parents house to never forget the Christmas in Oregon with a foot of snow. At it stayed the whole time we were there.

Did I mention we drove there from Idaho?? Yeah, it was scary. It normally is a twelve hour drive...but there was a blizzard in the Columbia River Gorge...so it took us seventeen hours this time. Did I also mention that they don't have snow plows in Oregon??? This was the first time we have ever actually had to use our snow chains. The plows never did come thru the whole entire Portland area. They just wait til it melts. Coming from Idaho that is a really weird thing.

This was Rob's picture. Another new thing for this Idaho Boy was seeing ice over everything. I know you can't tell very well from this picture, but our van is completed incased in a layer of ice. Rob had never seen anything like it, so he took a picture.

Sooooo.....what do you do when you are snowed in at Grandma and Grandpa's house???

You play games!!!

Christmas Eve picture of Robert's Family

Christmas Eve Picture of Paul's Family

Christmas Eve of our Family.

Don't we already look tired??

Christmas morning for Garrison

Christmas morning for Parker. He loves all his Lego Loot!

He scored a big Rubbermaid container of Legos. Thousands and thousands of pieces.

Addison really wanted a horse for Christmas. So, she got one! And the best part....we don't have to feed or clean up after this one.

We seriously had a wonderful time in Oregon this year. Although the drive to and from was extremely scary at times. It was worth all the fun times and memories. We feel very blessed this year and we are especially grateful for FAMILY.

Carson's baptism

2008-12-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Addison and Ashlyn

Carson and Parker

Carson with his proud parents!

My brother Paul and Jennifer

We got to go to Utah for Carson's baptism. It was great to see so much family. The cousins always love to get together and play.

Addie loves horses

2008-12-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Addison has a love of horses...just like her mother.

Addie and Tobee (Kirsten's horse)

Parker being Parker-Halloween

2008-11-21T13:17:00.006-07:00

Parker LOVES to sell things. Here he is setting up a Pumpkin sale. He has a small following too. He had a lot of friends who wanted to stop by and help him with the sale. He was really generous too and split the earnings with all his little buddies. He made quite a bit too.

Here is Parker's WONDERFUL Harry Potter Quidditch costume. Why is it so wonderful??? Because I put a lot of time and money into it. Rob was not thrilled with this as he says, "You only wear it one day a year!" Yes, but if I'm going to do a costume I sometimes get a little carried away and have to go all out. I made the Quidditch Robe by hand (thanks to Grandma Dalley's help) And bought all the cool other things to make it look as much like the movie as possible. I think it turned out pretty good. We even dyed Parker's hair black. Parker was pretty excited about it all.

We had an old chicken costume that was Addison's. We put Garrison in it and called him Hedwig.

We had a wizard theme going on this year as you can tell. Addison really wanted to be a witch. Then she decided to add vampire teeth in the costume too.

Fun Pictures

2008-11-19T20:03:00.006-07:00

Just taking some pictures of my cute kids (if I do say so myself).

Parker and Sennika

2008-10-16T11:59:00.002-06:00

I had to put this picture in for Sennika (my little niece). She loves her cousin Parker, and Parker loves her too. So, here they are together.

Fun with Garrison

2008-10-12T22:16:00.000-06:00

One of Garrison's favorite activites....climbing in the cup drawer and throwing out all the cups.

What a helper!!

Another favorite activity.....playing on the trampoline. I had to take a picture with all that static.

Garrison's Birthday

2008-09-05T14:53:00.000-06:00

Garrison turned one this last month so I had to dedicate a blog about him to celebrate.

Isn't he a cutie!!??

Garrison's first taste of sugar!! He had to test it out a little first.

He must of liked it 'cause then he just dived right in.

Silly Kids!!

One Year Ago!!

Lagoon

2008-08-11T10:13:00.001-06:00

Here we are on the LadyBug Bop. Addison didn't care much for this ride, but she still ended up going on it three times. She was a pretty brave girl. She went on a lot of the older kid rides that her brother dragged her on.

Addison's favorites were the kiddie rides. I would stay with Addison and Garrison in the kiddie area while Rob and Parker would go on all the wild, crazy rides. Then Rob and I would trade spots. Parker and I went on some of my favorites like, Wild Mouse and Spyder while Rob was in the kiddie area with Addie and Garrison.

Of course we all went on the Merry-go-round.

It was hot, hot, hot. Parker loved going in the big water fountain to cool off. He would get totally soaked. Addison was a little more tentative, and only got a little wet. In fact, she didn't like any of the rides where she would get wet. Even when we went on Rattlesnake Rapids she would stick her head under my shirt so she wouldn't get totally drenched.

Addison, finally getting a little wet.

Lagoon's newest ride is the Odysea. Parker loved this ride. I have to admit, I liked it too. You would go around in circles and get sprayed with water from dolphins and sharks. Parker was trying to duck away from some of the water and hit his head really hard. He got this MASSIVE goose egg right between his two eyes. It looked awful! I really wish I would have taken a picture of it. It was so disgusting--it was huge! But, I didn't get a picture of it because I rushed him over to the first-aid office to get a bag of ice and some tylenol. Amazingly, it didn't slow him down one bit, even though the EMT told him to take it easy for awhile.

This is how Garrison spent most of his time at Lagoon. Just hanging out, eating his toes, while everyone went on rides. He was a good sport.

Parker's baptism

2008-07-21T17:49:00.001-06:00

July 5th...Parker's baptism.

Proud Parents!

Nauvoo

2008-07-19T22:10:00.003-06:00

Uncle Robert holding Garrison in front of our hotel. It was an awesome location, right across the street from the Nauvoo temple. The main room the family had included the balcony above the store.

We enjoyed lots of activities in Nauvoo. Here we are in the Family Living Center. We are learning how the pioneers used to make bread.

Parker making a silly face on our wagon tour.

Addison also enjoying the wagon tour.

Rob poses with Addison and Garrison in front of Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma's burial spots.

Parker and I playing the stick game at the Pioneer Pastimes Center.

Rob (with Garrison) also enjoying some other pioneer pastime games.

We tried to recreate those lovely pioneer moments by dressing up in old time clothes. You know how pioneers are NEVER smiling in their photos. Well, we tried to not smile to give some real authenticity, but it just looks like we are scowling, so that didn't turn out very good.

Just more pioneer pasttime fun.

Here's our family on a real ox cart...too bad you can see the ox in the picture.

Addison and Parker with Aunt Abra. I think we are at the brick yard

Okay, so this one has a story. You know how Rob and I have a "kissing cousin" email address. It's because we actually are cousins. Sick, I know. Kidding, we are very distantly related. We are fourth cousins. Our great-great grandfather was Edwin Dilworth Woolley. He was an early pioneer saint who lived in Nauvoo and came out west with Brigham Young. Rob and I were able to find his lot of land that he lived on while in Nauvoo. So, we are kissing on our common ancestors land. Silly, I know.

Here's my mom and dad. Our trip to Nauvoo this year was in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. My parents wanted to celebrate their annivesary in Nauvoo with their family. So, as many of us kids that could come...came.

Here's all our family that made it to Nauvoo for the reunion/anniversary.

Elizabeth and Parker at the Women's Garden

Addison and Parker playing in the Mississippi. The sunsets on the Mississippi are pretty amazing. I don't think this area is usually under water, but with all the flooding in the area it was easy to get right by the water.

Minnesota

2008-07-12T18:48:00.017-06:00

To begin our family vacation we headed up North and over East to go and visit family in Minnesota. It was about 19 hours of driving. But we had a great time visiting Mike and Dana's family (Rob's brother).

It was pretty scary when we stopped in North Dakota and the family got chased by a gigantic buffalo.

Then Addison almost got eaten by the Wampa at the Star Wars exhibit in St.Paul.

You know these pictures of being attacked might be more believable if Addison wasn't smiling all the time.

Here we all are at the Stars Wars exhibit in St.Paul at the Science Museum. This was mostly for Parker's benefit. But as you can tell by the next picture I think the older "boys" enjoyed as well.

I'm not sure what Mike and Rob are doing in this picture. I believe they are trying to seek wisdom from old Yoda. "Help them, it will not" says wise Yoda.

Then it was off to the Children's Museum. Children of all ages as Mike and Rob joined in all the fun.

This picture speaks for itself.

I did already mention this was a "Children's" museum...right??

"THE BEACH"

The next day we headed off to spend the day at a nice man-made beach they have near Mike and Dana's home. Here is Parker taking it easy in the water.

Parker and Lauren.

Jessica and Addison.

Addison in her favorite "rainbow hat"

Well, this catches you up on the Minnesota part of our trip. Tune in next time as we continue on down the road to Nauvoo, Carthage, and Winter Quarters.

Launch of the 'Silly Willies" Blog (aka: WillyBlog)

2008-07-07T13:57:00.010-06:00

Just testing this thing out. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this thing, so be patient with me. Rob has done most of the work...as you can tell by some of his silly comments. But Rob says I'll need to keep it up to date now that he has finished setting it up.

We got motivated to get this set up so we could share pictures and adventures of our recent family vacation to Minnesota and Nauvoo and then back. Yes...we drove the whole way with kids (3000 miles)!!

Garrison helped to drive part of the way too!

It was a long two weeks, but lots of fun and very memorable. Here's a couple more pictures, and that's all I have time for today.

This is in front of the hotel where we stayed. Addison and Parker in their new pioneer hats.

The family in front of the brickyard in Nauvoo.

This was the view from our hotel in Nauvoo. The sunsets were incredible. This was our favorite photo we captured while there.