The Pemble People!

tree house camping

2009-06-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

tina and luke outsider their tree house

Josh in the Oregon Caves

carson doing the zipline~ like a pro!

the girls enjoyed the swing there!

There's nothing else like sleeping in a tree house 37 ft. up while

it sways in the wind with the tree that it is attached to. Or hoping and praying that the suspension bridges were made by someone who knew what they were doing. We spent two nights hanging out with tina and luke at the Out 'n' About Treesort in Southern Oregon. We had a great time. We also spent a few hours visiting the Oregon Caves, so we were either a few dozen feet under the ground or above the ground all weekend. Lots more pictures on facebook.

we got a new llama

2009-06-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Baby Cakes was brought to our house to try to protect our goats after we lost two. She's still adjusting to being here but she is a pretty lady and we're hoping she'll work out well.

boys and guns!

2009-06-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

yes, those are bullets flying!

NO, he's not happy is he?

Let me start this out with- we are not a violent family...really. My husband doesn't hunt and although we love our soldiers fighting for our freedom, i pray that my children will not feel led to pursue life in the military. All that to say, for the second year in a row, brett took the boys to shoot machine guns and hang out with tanks. It looks like they had a blast! Their smiles say it best. They went with some friends of theirs which added to the fun. I am certain this will be on the calendar for next year too.

lovin' the scrap metal junkyard!

2009-06-17T23:40:00.001-07:00

if you've watched HGTV you'll know that it takes a special kind of person to love a scrap metal junkyard. Apparently i'm that kind of person. I love flea markets, garage sales and yes...now i'm a big fan of scrap metal! I think of the "trash to treasure" shows and my son thinks of "junkyard wars" wanting to create things that race and blow up. Either way, it has a little bit of everything there. On one end of the junkyard are the big machines that claw your metal out of your truck- amazing! and then there is the machine that smooshes it all into Wall-E cubes. Then my favorite part where they grab what they think someone may be interested in and put it aside to sell. There are piles of broken chainsaws, helium tanks, restaurant equipment, claw foot tubs, bicycles, parts of old trucks, street signs, welded creations, fire extinguishers, and barrels of rusty horse shoes just to name a few things. Carson picks up a railroad nail and holds it up and says "I bet the nails they used to put Jesus on the cross, looked a lot like these". Silence. He's right, they were probably very similar - what a somber thought. Man! Imagining that piercing his hand was almost too much to think about. God is so good to suffer so much for me. WOW! Thank you Jesus!

track

2009-05-19T21:46:00.001-07:00

I've been spending every day after school hanging out with Josh and Meg while carson and brittany are at track practice. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching both of my track stars as they keep beating their personal records and seeing them realize how utterly amazing God has created them. Highlights have been watching brittany beat the school records in the 100, the relay, discus and high jump and watching Carson come in first place in the 200 last week! Yeah, a few proud tears fell from my eyes when he was telling me "Mom--i did great,the whole time..i did great!" That may sound boastful when you read it, but when he said it, it was a comment of total surprise- he was amazed at what he had done. He said " I could see this one kid coming up behind me and I thought- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! and I got this burst of energy and took off". It all ends this week at districts-and then we get our afternoons free again. What will we do with ourselves?

Aliens vs. Monsters!

2009-03-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

After church, my mom, stef and our family went and saw Aliens vs. Monsters in 3D. Wonderful special effects! My favorite creature was the brainless blue blob- Bob, who kept accidentally eating his eyeball--oops.

Cleaning at the Staubers

2009-03-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Great time getting together in Mill City, sprucing up Ed and vivian's place for them. It's such a wonderful locatin right there on the river, it's always nice being out there. The weather did NOT cooperate at all. The following day was sunny and beautiful, but the day we were there--was beyond icky! Still, we made the day fun and got some pizza for a lunch break and doodled on napkins like you must do when you are there. Looking forward to having them back in the area.

A day at the beach--

2009-03-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

So last Sunday I told Brett---we need to go to the beach and just make sure it's still there. He was wonderful and let us go on a whim. We stopped for Pizza in West Salem, played on the beach in Lincoln City (the weather was perfect!), then zipped into Depoe Bay to do our slot car racing (kind of tradition now) and played a little mini- golf. Then we came home, showered all of the sand off of us and were ready for another week :)

I love those days of just taking off and not having anything pressing on the calendar. Wish there were more of those.

P.S. Yes, the beach is still there

In loving memory......

2009-03-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

of our beloved Llama.

We miss the sound of his bell he had around his neck as he walked around, his funny camel run when I fed him hay and his long eyelashes. We'll miss you Mr. Llama!

2009-03-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

Brett and the kids are building a tree house! Right now, as you can see we just have the platform, but it's getting there. As soon as they get a railing up, and we have a clear, warm night, they will be sleeping under the stars! There are two of these wonderful walnut climbing trees on the property. One of the reasons we bought this place. It's getting us ready for our tree house camping trip in June that we booked last summer.

Fairy Godmother's RULE!

2009-02-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

before her ballet recital-

before a dance recital to "the Lion sleeps tonight"

she was asked to do some modeling for Nordstroms
plus too many church programs to list....

The fairy godmother and Cinderella- her good friend Gabby who did a great job!

Ok, in my completely unbiased mother's opinion---my daughter did EXCELLENT as the young, beautiful fairy godmother in the school Cinderella play! I could never get up in front of people on stage and speak or sing--and she makes it look so easy. Maybe it's because she has been dancing and singing on stage her whole life? I don't know, all I do know is I was very proud!! Proud of her talent- yes, but more importantly proud of who this young girl has become and is becoming.

Spirit Week at School!

2009-01-23T15:08:00.000-08:00

Homecoming week at W.V.C.S. where my kids go to school! Tonight is the homecoming game- and we are excited! This week they favorite decade day, duct tape day and today was Blue and White (our school colors) day. Megan got into it the most, which shouldn't surprise anyone. Brittany was a bit too cool for this whole thing. Meg made her own black and red duct tape outfit- yes those pants are completely covered in red duct tape! Carson's favorite decade is in the future--this is his costume before he finished it. He even had a foil leash to watch his virtual pet. What a nut! Anyway...go WARRIORS!!

EMERSON

2009-01-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

I know that most of you don't even know this little bundle of joy---but to us, she is the most precious baby in the world! Can you even believe those incredible blue eyes! If you keep watching my blog over the next 25 years, I'm sure you'll see her grow up, go to school, get married....oh my! NOT YET!! for now, she is just the perfect little person we prayed for. God is soooo good!

Luke's winter recital

2009-01-15T18:11:00.000-08:00

We were able to go to Luke's Winter program this week. Looking dapper in his blue shirt and tie being adored by my mom, his parents, and us (as well as a few hundred other people, but they don't count!). He's the best nephew in the world!

What gingerbread house?

2009-01-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so some people eat their gingerbread houses when they're done. But what fun is that? When they are old and stale--it's much more fun to blow them up.

FIESTA BOWL!!! in ARIZONA weekend!

2009-01-08T19:05:00.001-08:00

Brett had a business trip (all expense paid, I might add) to Arizona to the Fiesta Bowl. He was going to be staying in an incredible resort, so I asked if I could go along and he said YES! What a weekend it was! We stayed at an incredible place called "The Phoenician" outside of Phoenix. When Brett was in meetings I was able to relax, sleep in, read, raid the mini fridge of everything chocolate, take incredibly long showers and just slow down. It was heaven. When brett wasn't in meetings we were taken on an off road jeep ride through the desert, and enjoyed an exquisite dinner. Then on Monday we jumped in the mustang convertible that we rented and headed to the Fiesta Bowl. What a game!! It was the Texas Longhorns against the Ohio Buckeyes. I thought the Buckeyes had a better marching band, but Texas had a real longhorn cow thing on the field for their mascot so I voted for them. As you can see, i really know nothing about football. We watched from the biggest box available where the food kept coming. I had to have a chili dog because I thought that was what you were suppose to eat at a game, but I think that is baseball?? hmm... Matthew McConoughey was there, but I didn't get to see him close up. Longhorns won in the last 15 seconds of the game!

We were also able to see Brett's aunt and uncle who lived an hour or so north of us, which was wonderful. They were very gracious to give us dinner with no notice that we were even coming.

Except missing out on seeing our friends the Kelloggs (they were snowed in) it was an excellent trip!! I am hoping to go next year when they do it again!

Christmas in LaPine, OR

2008-12-31T16:52:00.001-08:00

Many of you know that my dad and his wife, suzan have stopped sailing and have just built a house in La Pine, which is just down the road from Sunriver. So, we were lucky enough to drive over there with my sister and Luke, on Dec. 26th to be able to spend Christmas there. They ordered up lots of snow for us, and the 8 of us invaded their 2 bed/2 bath home for 24 hours. We had a great time. Carson made a snow face by just falling face first into some snow and we were amazed at how clear it came out--isn't it weird? creepy kinda. We played "Catch Phrase", did some sledding, lots of snacking, hot cocoa, a puzzle, and we all had a great time together. The drive wasn't bad at all, and when it says "chains required" brett will tell you that, that is a guideline for most drivers but he is unlike most drivers.

Baby! it's cold outside!

2008-12-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, to the people who live in sub freezing temperatures every winter--you may think we here in Oregon are just big old sissys. Well, we are. But we appreciate the beauty of it probably more than those use to it. We had our snow :) then our freezing rain which was gorgeous :) then we had more snow :) then we realized we couldn't get out of our driveway :( then we lost power for 30+ hours :( then we realized we have no secondary heat or water with no power :( not quite as fun. We slowly watched the house temperature go down one degree at a time wondering if we were going to die. Tina called to see if we had eaten the children yet. We were fine. We were actually having fun (at least the kids and I, brett was too busy being the mighty protecter man--wanting to take care of his family). So, we looked like we were trying to bring back the dead as we sat in a circle with candles in the middle (about 14 of them!) but we were really playing poker. We fed the birds. We heard the branches come crashing down like nobody's business. Brett slid around the icy road on his 4 wheeler as I reminded him that an ambulance couldn't rescue him and I would pull the plug if he was in a coma. It didn't stop him. I didn't think it would. Brittany joined him but stayed on the snow. We talked about what we would do if our house slid down the hill (we decided we'd ride it out like a Disney ride, put our hands up and yell WAHOO!!). We found our propane stove and made hot cocoa (that was a necessity after all). We put all the mattresses, sleeping bags and blankets in our room, and had a huge sleepover with the 6 of us sleeping in one room. Personally I think it was a total blast!! Now before you get too worried, it only went down to about 54 degrees in the house and there were times we were actually hot as we had overbundled. But now, we have a computer, lights, TV, guitar hero, and a heater (which I'm grateful for, as the word HOTEL was coming out of my mouth more often than Brett wanted to hear). So, we will go back to our lives as we knew them. Of course, it is still snowing and we have about 6 or 7 inches of snow. Brett's dad brought us out some chains, so we should be able to trek it into Silverton for things if need be. So, that's what's going on here---what about where you're at?

let it snow...let it snow...let it snow...

2008-12-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

GOD LOVES US SNOW MUCH!! that's what Carson said when he came in from the snow, and I couldn't agree with him more! Today has been one of those days that you wish you could just do over and over again! We woke up to beautiful snow, stayed in our pjs way too long, bundled up and made a fabulous snowman that has a frozen wave to passersby, and did a little sledding. Came in to hot chocolate (Thanks Meg!), and cuddled up reading our "gingerbread baby" book. In this version, the gingerbread baby runs and runs and ends up hiding in a beautiful gingerbread house. So, we took our graham crackers and made our gingerbread houses after the story. Now, it's time to do a puzzle--as we smell the yummy chicken and veges cooking in the crock pot waiting for dinner time. Usually my life is not a Hallmark commercial--but today it is --YEAH!

Bring on the SNOW and MUD!

2008-12-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

The boys were so excited to see the snow and mud this morning! So after church, they came home, got dressed warm and went 4 wheeling. Personally I think my husband had just as much fun as the boys out there. They got incredibly muddy and had a great time! They came up and made some mud angels for us. Meg rinsed them off before they came in and took a bath.

YIPEE!-it's snowing right now!

2008-12-12T23:29:00.000-08:00

Something about snow falling---it brings out the little kid in me! I just jump up and down and clap my hands together and I seem more excited than my 5 yr. old. I just love to watch it fall. It's so quiet. So peaceful. It's like being in a snowglobe. It's like the soft powdered sugar that I sprinkle on my brownies after they cool.

My kids see it differently. The girls see it as one more day to get their homework done if it's an officiall snow day and they get to stay home. My husband sees it as a new clean canvas to drive his 4 wheeler on and make cookies. My son sees it as a snowman waiting to be built, and is begging for me to get the sleds out of the garage. I think no matter what the reason--snow is fantastic! As rain it's clear,drops down and splats and you can hear it. As snow it's white, dances down and silently joins it's friends to make a white blanket and as an added touch it sparkles like glitter in the moonlight. I mean, was God thinking when He made snow or what?!

Our Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T18:11:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving was great this year, as we are so thankful we were able to be with many of our friends and relatives. The turkey came out good (one year we had to do a quick run to KFC!), we had enough mashed potatoes, and Josh had his necesarry olives for his fingers. The kids and I made a "thankful tree" that people could write what they were thankful for on leaves and add them to our tree. We played some games, rocked out to "Guitar Hero" and did a lot of chatting. My dad, suzan, and brett's sister, Stephanie were able to stay the whole weekend so we had even more time to hang out with them which was an extra bonus. And Praise the Lord---I am finally done eating leftovers!

I hope you had a great thanksgiving and had a moment to give thanks to Him who gave us everything that we have.

Be thankful

2008-11-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

“And whatever you do,

whether in word or deed,

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
- Colossians 3:17

Hawaii-- Day 10--going home

2008-11-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

I was the only one I think ready to head home. Josh wanted to move to Hawaii and play on the beach for the rest of his life. We didn't miss the rain one little bit, but we did miss our pets, our church and our friends and family of course. Our hotel while we were there was a magnificent hotel. It was a Marriot Hotel and Spa. We didn't do anything "spa-ish" but it was beautiful and relaxing. One problem we had is that we were only suppose to have 4 people in the room (we had 6) so it was really squished with kids sleeping on the floor, a rollaway that took up any leftover space, etc. We also had to come and go in shifts so they wouldn't know we were a group of 6. It wasn't very crowded during the week we were there, it was like having the place to ourselves. But it had no microwave! So we made our cup of noodles with hot water from our coffee maker. It did have a mini fridge which was real nice. I guess the main reason I wanted to come home was for some quiet and elbow room. I love my family dearly, but sometimes it's nice to have a few minutes to yourself. They all felt the same way. Anyway, the view from the room was great and we could watch the luau outside from our balcony on the days they had it. It had 3 hot tubs and several pools which were all filled with salt water and one had sand on the bottom which was fun. We could also walk a few feet over to the ocean if we wanted. We played some tennis, ping pong and volleyball. Would have been perfect with 2 rooms.

The last day brett took the girls to the top of Mauna Kea where they have observatories run by different nations to see the sunrise at 4am! They said it was magnificent being above the clouds watching the sun come up. They got back in time for a quick swim in the pool, and lunch before heading to the airport. We tried to see if we could save some $ by putting josh in the overhead compartment (see pic) and he fit, but I caved and let him have a window seat instead. Long flight to San Fransisco and then PDX, but having Wall-E as the in flight movie really helped.

We are now home in rainy Oregon, all snuggly and warm in our house. I have my 3 dogs laying next to me as I type this, and I hear my son and nephew playing in the other room. Life is good.

Day 8 & 9- Hawaii- the big island

2008-11-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

More boogie boarding, snorkeling and having fun! In Hawaii--there is a LOT of black volcanic rock, there is also bright white coral. So, one thing that visitors do on the island is arrange the white coral into messages for passersby. We of course, stole someone else's message by taking their rocks--but we did leave the "in memory of" ones. We are fully aware that our message has probably been destroyed by now--but that's OK. It was fun! Brett thought it would be hilarious to put B.C. after 2008 as if it had stayed there that long. Well, after that the kids were all being Geico cavemen or something--looking quite prehistoric.

2008-11-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

BAD SPELLERS UNTIE!

Day 7 -Tiki Time

2008-11-22T10:45:00.001-08:00

Well, back to Kona on Day 7 as that is where the best snorkeling is. More snorkeling with turtles & fish.

Stopped to see the tiki statues, we didn't really read all about their religious ceremonies and superstitions, we just ran through taking pictures. Josh was pretending to be an angry tiki god in one (but had a hard time because he wanted to smile). We were being pretty silly, as it was hard to be serious thinking people would really worship man made funny looking wood guys, when the beauty created by the true God was all around. We ate lunch at our favorite taco stand that had a real parrot (named Pancho) that ate with us. Yes, i know we are in Hawaii and not Mexico but still, brett has to scope out the best taco place. It's what he does.

Day 6- the other side of the Island

2008-11-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

We loaded up in our rental expedition and headed out for the other side of the island. The side we were on was more dry with fantastic beaches but we also wanted to see the tropical side as well. So, off we went! We went to our second Macadamia Nut factory and watched how they made the chocolate covered nuts and of course sampled a few. Drove and walked around the World Botanical Garden which had hundreds of beautiful tropical flowers and a labyrinth that the kids got lost in for awhile. I have a zillion (aprox) pictures of flowers but I won't post them all. Then it was time to hike and see some breathtaking waterfalls. Akaka Falls is the name of the really long waterfall pictured. The plants were huge and we felt like we were in some "Honey, I shrunk the kids movie". The bugs were on this side of the island as well, so we ended up with a few bug bites on our trip. We went to Waimea Canyon which was very pretty too.

Day 5 of Hawaiian Paradise!

2008-11-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

Wet, sandy, sun burnt and loving it! A lot of snorkeling with friendly sea turtles, and gorgeous colorful tropical fish. Just incredible! Lots of boogie boarding as well. Brett got on some pretty serious size waves and I thought he was going to drown a few times as he went under and didn't come up for awhile--but he survived.

Josh made a sandcastle with Brett that was the envy of all of the other kids on the beach. Josh had a shovel and bucket, so he was good to go on the beach for days.

HAWAII--Day 3 & 4

2008-11-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

These were busy days. We drove around half of the island and hit a few beaches, one of them being the "black sand beach" which was surprisingly soft and blacker than we expected. We also went to the "magic sand beach" but no magic happened, apparently the tide takes all the sand out sometimes and then it reappears!! After visiting the Volcano National Park, we walked through a half mile lava tube and ended up coming out in the beautiful jungle like terrain on the other end.

Brett found a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, so we had to go there. Carson found an itsy bitsy baby gecko. We did a little souvenier shopping and ended the 4th day with a hike to see the only active volcano erupting in the evening. It was just a short hike, and it really glowed beautifully at night, but our pictures didn't come out too well. So the picture of the volcano is one that someone else took with a better camera the day before. Still, it was cool!

The BIG ISLAND!! of Hawaii- Day 1 & 2

2008-11-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, there are way too many pictures to post here, so I've decided to do it day by day! So these pics are from Day 1 (which was pretty much us travelling there) and Day 2 which was hanging out at the hotel, the beach and going to a Luau. There were fire dancers, hula dancers, delicious pork that they dug out of the dirt, and brett even went on stage and volunteered to shake his booty and do the hula for the crowd! The kids got a real kick out of that!

Aloha!

2008-11-18T22:17:00.001-08:00

Just returned from Sunny HAWAII!

Can't wait to share our adventures and pictures with you!

Stay tuned..... they'll be coming soon!

TUCKER

2008-11-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you need a dog?

Of course you do? and how could you say not to this face?

1 yr. old, light colored golden retriever (we think maybe part lab?), fixed, just received all of his shots, worming, microchip and a clean bill of health. He's still a bit "puppyish" so he has a tendency to chew on any shoes you leave out, but he doesn't jump on people, bark or whine. He loves to be brushed. He was dropped off near our home, and is very skinny but he is slowly putting on some pounds and will fill out nicely.

We named him Tucker but he doesn't really come to it, so you can name him anything you want.

Tina--you know Misha needs a playmate :)

America Bless God!

2008-11-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

Well election day was yesterday--and I hope you were able to vote.

God is the King of Kings & Lord of Lords and the ruler of my heart and life, and I'm so glad that God is ultimately in charge of everything. He supplies all of our needs (what a financial promise there!), He heals the sick and broken hearted (what a healthcare promise), He promises peace in our circumstances, unconditional love, forgiveness over and over again, friendship, a home in heaven for eternity--and all we have to do is vote Yes to Jesus! and tell him, you'll be one of his citizens and will listen, obey and follow His commands. He even gives you a manual written by Him when you're not sure what to do. With a leader like God, why wouldn't you want to follow Him? So pray for Obama and the other leaders of our country- they have a great responsibility, but remember to FOLLOW JESUS!!

October 31st---

2008-11-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

This was our first year of not doing a family themed costume thing. We went to Mark & Linda Nye's house and chatted all evening with them and Mark's parents which was much more low key and enjoyable. It was also less fattening than getting 10 bags of candy from trick or treating to eat quickly before Christmas fudge arrives. Mark made us some delicious enchiladas and tacos, the kids (and their dads) rocked out to Guitar Hero upstairs, the girls decorated sugar cookies that Linda had prepared. Josh had a blast and dressed up like an alligator, and his best buddy Timmy was a bird for part of the night. A great, safe night--hope to do it again next year.

Is she getting cuter every day or what?

2008-11-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

I will try not to post pictures of Emerson every week---until she's 18, but we'll see. We're all in love with her.

Yosemite & Family Reunion

2008-10-29T22:16:00.001-07:00

Quick weekend trip. These blogs are out of order, as we went to California for my grandmothers 90th birthday, we hit Yosemite on the way there and went to 6 flags on the way back. I just now got a hold of brett's camera which had the pictures of the rest of our trip on them. So, here you are---a little late.

Had a great time seeing relatives we hadn't seen in a long time (some we had never met), and spent about 15 minutes total walking around Yosemite National Park before it got dark. Still, it was very pretty. My grandmother looked great--- and we hope that she had a great day with all of her family there together.

------------YAAAAAY!!-----------

2008-10-26T19:20:00.003-07:00

Baby Emerson was born!!!

Our family is so excited that James & Sydney are now the proud parents of sweet baby Emerson!!

Welcome to the family little Em!

We love you!!!

6 of us at 6 Flags!

2008-10-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

Our first time to 6 flags in Vallejo, CA---and certainly not our last! Closer than Disneyland and Sea World, much cheaper and just as much fun. We enjoyed the rides, feeding the dolphins, the tiger show, and getting completely soaked by the killer whale and hanging out in the butterfly pavillion. Megan is our only roller coaster rider, but there were a lot of other rides that the rest of us enjoyed. Two thumbs up for 6 Flags!

Happy 11th birthday Carson!

2008-10-24T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today he had the boys from his class over, for some fun "boy" time of building lego houses and blowing them up with firecrackers, climbing trees, shooting the potato gun, and eating spaghetti with meatballs without plates, utensils and some chose to not even use their hands! Followed by root beer floats. All in all, a good party for a boy that is 100% boy!

We are so NOT a serious family!

2008-09-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

With the economy so depressing, and life hectic and stressful at times---sometimes you just have to be SILLY! At our house, that's probably a little too often---but you're only a kid once, and even when you're older you can still act like a kid. So, giggle! hula your hoop! do the hokey pokey! look at your face cross eyed! walk like an egyptian! when was the last time you did a somersault? eat ice cream for breakfast! ----then you can cry over your 401K. There will be plenty of time to do that. Hope these pictures make you smile!

Dragstrip Day!

2008-09-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Brett put some new stuff on his red mustang cobra and we had to go try it out on the dragstrip. I'm always in charge of bringing the cheering section, ear plugs and supplying them "energy" from the snack bar there to keep them going. Brett's goal is to get a better time than the last time he runs the strip. His time was a bit disappointing for him, but we're blaming the heat of the day as that always slows him down. Not that he was going slow---it's always over 100 mph, but it's on a straight strip, he wears a helmet and there is an ambulance standing by---so I'd much rather him do it there than on I-5. We were there until the sun went down and he got quite a few runs in. It was a day where pretty much anyone could race, so there were funny cars, motorcycles, VW bugs, lowered hondas that couldn't get over a speed bump if their life depended on it and trucks. Brett enjoyed racing the corvette the most I think though.

Go Daddy Go!

Happy Birthday Josh!

2008-09-19T00:12:00.001-07:00

Cupcakes at school, a birthday crown, a drum set, blowing out candles, a room full of balloons--He's 5, it's official! He beams with pride when brett's on a trip and carson's at school and he's the "man of the house". Today, he had his first cavities filled--poor guy, he was very brave though and did great. Carson and Josh are best buddies and call each other "Big Bro" and "little bro". Josh is hoping to grow up and be just like his big bro and his daddy.

Happy 14th Birthday Brittany!

2008-09-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

For her birthday we got a hotel room (OK, it was actually the manager's apartment) at the Shilo Inn in Salem. She had a few friends join her for swimming, pizza, staying up way too late, ice cream cake and breakfast. She had a blast and is the best 14 year old in the world! plus, she has great friends too!

15 yr. anniversary trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!

2008-09-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

Brett surprised me with a weekend trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico which is where we went for our honeymoon 15 years ago. Wasn't that sweet?! Tina was wonderful and offered to watch the kids for the 4 days. What a trooper!

We flew First Class--and let me tell you there is a huge difference between first class an coach. The seats are huge! Instead of a soft drink and the option to purchase for $5.00 a sandwich that was wrapped in saran wrap 2 weeks ago, you get a serious meal even though it is just a 2 hour flight to the first layover. We're talking salad and breadsticks to start, lasagna and then chocolate never letting your drinks get half empty. Coach people can't use your bathroom, so you don't ever have to wait, it's less bumpy and I think somehow you get there faster---Ok, maybe not, but it is not something I am accustomed to at all! But i could get use to it.

Our HOTEL--room wasn't too shabby either, nothing but the best for his lady! We actually had a suite that was quite SWEET! Living room, dining room, full kitchen, bedroom & 2 bathrooms. Hello, it was as big as our first house! Balcony overlooking the magnificent pools that were practically touching the ocean. Swim up bars but we never used them.

TEQUILA & GEORGE- Those were the iguanas I had my pictures taken with, carson thought it was cool. There was also this gold pirate statue dude, he didn't move for hours. I went up and put in some $ in his tip jar and he moved to shake my hand. I freaked out, shook his hand and we got a picture together.

GLASS BOTTOM BOAT RIDE--We walked a lot around the marina, shopped for the kids, watched a X-Files movie with spanish subtitles and took a glass bottom boat ride out to the "arch". Our glass bottom boat driver was a maniac, we could pretty much look into the glass at the bottom of the boat and see snorklers he was driving over, then he would make this obnoxious seal sound louder than any seal would ever make. I guess this was his trademark or signal to other boaters or something, letting them know something or another..I personally think he was advertising his annoying mannerisms and maybe making other people really glad that they were on the boat that they were on. Not exactly a relaxing ride. We did see the arch, lots of colorful fish and he picked up about 8 people from a beach and they joined us for the ride smoking their cigarettes in front of us so the smoke would come back and gag us. It was an adventure, we laughed about it.

FOOD-Then every day, twice a day actually--we had the ritual. The taco ritual. Brett must eat tacos, must find the best authentic tacos in Cabo. I ask locals in my broken spanish for the best taco stand that is NOT for tourists and we go on our hike off of the main drag. These are not taco bell tacos but rather the little soft flat tortillas with the onion/ salsa mix on top of the carne asada. He puts on his hot sauce and I just wish they believed in cheese on a taco. We found some pretty good taco spots. I did talk him into one really nice dinner--and boy was it nice! It was Chris Ruth's Steak House. Brett has been to this restaurant in Hong Kong and said it had the very best steaks in the world. He was correct. Fanciest meal I'd ever eaten, our waiter, Eduardo was like our private water as he only waited on our table and one other table and those people left when we were ordering. So, he stood there behind brett with his hands folded in front of him waiting for our glasses to be half full then he calls to some other busboy kid who fills them up, and when there is a bread crumb that falls from my breadstick--he calls for the same kid to come and remove it from the white tablecloth. This goes on the whole dinner, the food was extraordinary and I highly recommend if you ever see a Chris Ruth's---you make a way to eat there once and order the filet mignon.

SIESTAS- Mexico is known for it's siesta's and we certainly didn't want to offend their culture, so brett especially found a hammock, a bench, the bed, the pool side lounge chair, whatever and took his siesta. After all, it is vacation!

DRIVE- Well, we're not really into the whole tourist thing so since we rented a car, I decided we should use it. I asked some guy where we should go for a drive and he told us some dink town 2 hours away. I said--let's go! We got out of town into the sagebrush and saguro cactus country when the rental car's "check engine" light came on. It was about 98 degrees and the thought of walking miles and miles for help, didn't sound like fun. Brett said it was the transmission, that didn't sound good to me. We kept going. There were cows, horses and donkeys that wandered across the road at random. Brett wasn't sure what to do about the speed limits whenever he obeyed them people zoomed past us like we were stopped, so he just went with the traffic at like 180 kph. I think he liked seeing those big numbers on the dash. I just kept thinking the car was going to blow up. We survived it and got to this town, it was small. Hard to believe it was really on a map. Anyway, someone told us that the "hotel california" from the Eagles song was here somewhere. We found it, and ate lunch there. Brett was a bit mesmerized with the humongous nude drawings of a male and a woman by the bathrooms---since one boy went into the wrong one. We didn't get a better picture because we didn't want to look like perverts staring at the naked drawings. We went to a mission there and went inside and prayed (it was Sunday and we missed going to church). We made it all the way back to Cabo later that day with the "check engine" light still on.

FISHING- There are only 3 things I will get up early for, hot air balloons- fishing and a crying baby. We got up at 5:30am, packed our stuff, drove to the dock where the people tried to swindle us into paying more than we agreed to the day before. They said we needed to pay for the fishing license and the bait. We said we'd only pay for the bait. You barter in mexico that's just the way it is. They said no, we said "see ya" and walked back towards our car in the dark wishing we had never got up. They ended up telling us that today for some reason, they don't actually need a license. Weren't we lucky?! So on the boat we went. It was beautiful seeing the sun come up while we were out in the ocean. I thought, this is worth getting up at 5:30 for. Being the ever so scared in water person that I am I asked our driver for a life jacket, he kept saying he'd get it in a little bit. Then half hour later, I'd ask again and he'd say "the boat is good, everything is good" as he waved his hand over the gauges at the front. Good or no good, I'm in the ocean in this little boat with a stranger (who could be a hired killer) and a husband who well....we don't always get along. Brett kept saying "you'll be fine...you don't need one honey, you'll be just fine". I asked the driver if he had ever fallen overboard as he was leaning over to grab his line one time, he said "no, i have never fell but many people come fishing and fall". Excuse me! where is that life jacket?! I finally stopped fretting about it and figured if it was my time it was my time. Then I looked at brett to see his face not looking so good. I reached out to touch his arm and he was very clammy. I asked how he was doing and he said he was going to be sick. He never did get sick, he made the whole 4 hour ride- yeah! the ocean was very choppy and our driver was not afraid to use the power his engine had and put us all over the ocean. We got some tuna in the beginning and were excited. Then he chopped those up and put them out as bait and we were able to catch the big dorado. We remembered them from our last fishing trip there. We got 5 Dorado, one too small we had to put back and brett reeled in the big one he had me take a picture of. A group of guys (bachelor party) went fishing the day before and we saw their catch hanging--a humongo Marlin. We were looking for one of those, but didn't get one. It ws a great time fishing and I survived with no life jacket even.

HOMEWARD BOUND-- of course, I had to buy these impossible to take home star light fixtures for our back porch, and brett had to get this hammock chair which meant carrying a large 3 ft. stick past customs as a carry on. Came home to hugs and kisses and Tina and Luke who were probably anxious to get home but never let on.

HOME- I was careful not to drink their water, but I forgot you probably shouldn't kiss a Mexican fish. So, Montezuma's revenge appeared a day later ( what I personally did to the guy is beyond me, and i think he needs therapy if he is still full of revenge after all these years!)--

All part of the Mexico experience. Heard some Oregon guy was killed by the Police in a restaurant we walked by several times the same weekend we were there--yikes. God took good care of us, over and over again--He is always so good.

Adios y Vaya con Dios

Silver Creek Falls--bowling- fire & s'mores- GREAT DAY!

2008-08-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Brett had to be gone Sunday- Thursday this week so he really wanted to make the most of our family day- Saturday. So, we listed our options--State Fair, Louis Palau festival, bowling, silver creek falls, playing poker, going to the beach, the zoo...the list was pretty long. We voted and we each got to choose one thing. We started by going to my favorite Silverton mexican restaurant for lunch, then we headed to Silver Creek Falls for a short hike and some practice swings with the baseball bat. The weather was great and brett hadn't been to this waterfall yet. Then lunch, and home to grab our socks for a game of bowling. I hadn't been to the refurbished bowling alley in Silverton so I enjoyed it's family atmosphere and colorful crazy bowling balls. Josh was ahead most of the game--yes, I said JOSH! the bumpers really help, he kind of zig zags his ball down the lane and somehow it ends in the center a lot. These lanes have automatic bumpers that block the gutters for those you choose to have bumpers, so as soon as it's my turn the bumpers disappear and my ball has room to go into the gutter. Brett tried to teach carson his spinning technique, and megan tried granny style---in the end, Megan actually won! Then home for the campfire and s'mores by the creek & up to the house for a game of Poker that brittany won. Then finally bed. Great day!

carson at canyonview camp

2008-08-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Carson spent this past week at Canyonview camp near our house. He went with two of his best friends from school--and they were able to go swimming in the rain, do archery, horse back riding, sang lots of silly camp songs, hiking, candle making & learning more about God. Last night was our chance to go to the camp as a family and see & hear about all of the things he did and a time for the campers to show us the songs they learned. He had a great time! and Josh is excited to go and be like big brother in a few years. This was carson's second year he was able to go.

Click! click!

2008-08-22T16:52:00.001-07:00

Brittany & Megan love to take pictures of flowers-- many of them have been blown up and hang in brittany's room. Just thought they may bring a smile to your face.

Fluffy little Bunnies & Tanks w/ guns!

2008-08-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, while mom was away for just one little weekend, not only did they spend a day at the lake but they also visited my dad and brett's mom over in Central Oregon where they are building their home. They went to a fair, and a car show and had a great time. The boys were thrilled to get into some kind of square tankish thing, and the girls loved the rabbits and now they think they must have one. Kind of surprised that brett didn't get them one, he's kind of a softie when it comes to fluffy critters (which is why we have 3 cats-they were once small fluffy kittens!). Anyway, pictures pretty much describe their day--so I won't attempt to tell you about a day I wasn't there for.

While mom's away....

2008-08-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

Brett took the kids to Suttle Lake for the day to go boating with some friends of ours. It was a good thing I wasn't there because I freak out (to put it mildly) when my kids are behind a boat going Mach 80 on something that someone blows up. I would have been the party pooper screaming "slow down!!" the whole time and nobody would have had any fun. They had a blast without me and thankfully they are all still alive!

Mom's outta here!

2008-08-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

My sister, Tina and I flew to Virginia for a weekend to see my beautiful cousin Erin get married! The wedding was gorgeous, God gave them perfect weather and we had a great time seeing relatives we hadn't seen in ages. I'm so thrilled that I was able to go. We hitched a ride with our cousin Julie and her son, Che to New York City and "had to" stay in NYC for a day. Tina took me to Serendipity (from our favorite movie) where we had dessert after eating some New York Pizza, then I took her to Ground Zero because she had never been. We were able to see my cousin Julie's work place which is an amazing building in itself right downtown and the pictures from the 39th floor were amazing. You could see everything from there! We were lucky enough to get on a flight standby and Tina's friend, Russ "worked his magic" as a jet blue pilot and was able to get us seats together in the exit row (even more leg room!!). Great weekend! Thanks Tina (& Russ) for making it all happen!

Weekend at the coast!

2008-08-13T13:39:00.001-07:00

Just a quick trip to Lincoln City, OR to hang out at the beach. It had been awhile since we had been so just decided to go! Every once in a while you just have to go and make sure the Ocean is still there. Greeted with buckets, shovels and warm chocolate chip cookies, we love D Sands hotel---because they let you have 6 people in one hotel room and it's right on the ocean.

Y NOT?

2008-08-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

I let the girls have some friends over (Y not!)---and they had a blast. Not a lot of healthy food, or sleep but they had fun. They dressed up in formals, did a water balloon toss, pinata, face painting, ate donuts of string, slept out in a tent, played flashlight tag, hula hoop contest and giggled until mean old mom made them be quiet at 2am.

I'm an official Oregonian---- or I'm just weird.

2008-07-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

O.K, so usually the Oregon State song is "Rain, Rain go away, come again another day". On average July is our dry month--averaging only .57 inches of precipitation. But after a VERY rainy Fall, Winter and Spring we are on day 48 of NO RAIN! Today there is a 50% chance of rain, then the sun will be here for the next 10 days on our local forcast. The clouds are here, and get this! I'm actually "hoping" for rain! Just one day-- a day to make cookies, grab a jacket and watch the raindrops bounce off of the BBQ out back. Guess we'll see what happens. I know that the farmers are frantically turning their hay, cutting their straw, bailing, loading and hauling--so perhaps I should pray for no rain for them---if I could have it just rain over my house, that would be great. I need to remember all of those track meets watching the girls run, while I stood in the mud under the umbrella--cheering them on, and knowing I couldn't complain because they weren't complaining. Getting hot chocolate at the closest Starbucks to warm everyone up, as they changed into dry clothes in the back of the van. Yeah....rain can be a real pain, but you know a few drops to remind us of splashing in the puddles with my pink striped rain boots with my 4 yr. old doing the same in his Lightning McQueen boots. That's all I want.

Happy 84th Birthday to ED!

2008-07-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday we were lucky enough to spend with Brett's Grandpa Ed celebrating his 84th birthday. He looks great and has recovered well from his heart surgery. Getting stronger every day. We had a BBQ at their river front home and Brett, his sister and the kids went fishing in the river while I hung out chatting at the house, relaxing. No fish were caught, but they had a great time :)

Happy Birthday Ed! We love you!

Oh what fun it is to ride....

2008-07-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last month we got 3 more ATVs so now the whole family can ride. We only ride on our property where brett has created dirt tracks and some jumps and mounds. I am actually enjoying riding now that I have my own-who would have thought.

Camping at the Metolius River

2008-07-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

As we drive towards Central Oregon, I begin to wonder why it seems so odd to me to leave our perfectly air conditioned home with a huge costco King size mattress, a fridge full of food, a T.V., and running water---to go sleep on the ground in a tent the thickness of a piece of paper, and deny my body (and those around me) a shower for 4 days. Why? Why would normal people do such a thing? Well, Josh said he didn't remember camping (I think we pretty much didn't camp last year and he's only 4). So, that was like saying--he's never had a life. So, we packed up the van and headed out to the Metolius River campground 2 1/2 hours away. It's brett's favorite. The metolius is known for the way it originates, not from melting snow but rather from ice cold springs that come up and instantly create a huge river. I have to admit that camping on the other side of the mountains does have one good thing going for it, the smell. Over on this side you have fir trees that don't really smell unless you cut them and put them in your house at christmas. But pine trees---it's a great smell to wake up to. That and the smell of bacon and eggs on the propane stove. S'mores are another good reason for camping. This year there was an abundance of tiny, baby chipmunks that were born recently. They were the size of your thumb and zipped around the campground. They were too small to hold peanuts we had brought, so they got the sunflower seeds instead.

Flashlight trips to a stinky outhouse is a reason to stay home--but now we can all rest easier knowing that josh has camped and will remember it. Hopefully!

----------4th of July---

2008-07-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we decided to have a last minute 4th of July party with pretty much only relatives and some of brett's friends from high school and their families. It was great seeing people that we see not nearly as often as we would like to. Brett's sister, Stefani came for 4 days and she is always fun to have around and loves to clean (something I despise! and it shows) so she was very helpful. She took the kids shopping one day, and we did a small birthday celebration with her. Both brett and her turn 40 on July 12th! Party went well with no injuries even though there were some people driving too crazy on ATVS, and illegal fireworks were falling from the sky. Water balloon toss, pinatas, jumping house, lots of food and 50+ people make for a great time. We are so thankful to God for our country, our freedom and to those who have fought to give it to us. God Bless America--

The boys say--

2008-06-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

They have been counting the pictures on the blog and well..the girls are taking over, so time for some boy pics to even out the score! We have been strawberry picking, painting a room, having sleepovers and just enjoying summer. Right now I can hear the pool filling up, I bought a 10' one for this summer (at 50% off), since last year I waited for them to go on sale and it was September before I got one. It is suppose to be in the 90s this weekend, that sounds too hot for me.

The Salem, Oregon paper (Statesman Journal) had a full page article on Tina and Luke going to Africa yesterday. It was exciting for the family, and I think you can see it online if you look at http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/LIFE/806240325/1059/ARCHIVE should be able to just click on it.

Anyway, I'm a proud sister of course, also praying for their safety night and day. I'm sure God will protect them. God is that way.

So sad how time flies.

2008-06-17T00:22:00.001-07:00

I look at my girls and I remember like yesterday when they were born. Where did the time go? Soon, they will be driving and moving out of the house and starting their own families. Ok, not yet....but if the last 13 years went by as fast as they did, I have a feeling the next 13 will go even faster. I stare at them, I tell them not to grow, I try to cherish every moment with them...but still, despite my pleas they continue to grow up. I'm proud of them, so very proud of them--they are beautiful inside and out and I'm the luckiest mom in the world. God is good, so very good.

imagination- wonderful children and some paint!

2008-06-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

I love summer vacation and just love having my kids home! Brett's in Texas for a few days, so the kids and I had a family meeting this morning and tried to figure out what to do today. We decided to make cut outs for our upcoming 4th of July party. So, we went into our small town and scrounged around behind buildings and found some cardboard, bought some white primer and came home buzzing with ideas. We drew up some great ideas and voted. The kids rolled on the primer, I drew some sketches and cut out some ovals for heads, and the kids painted the pictures. We had a blast, laughing at how very un-professional we were and anyone's ideas were fair game. When trying to decide what color to paint our snail, Josh decided we should have a rainbow snail-- we agreed with the 4 yr. old.

anyway, we still need some cardboard to do our headless gladiator holding his own head by the hair...but we're pleased.

Hope you had as great of a day as we did!

Thanks for the phone call Uncle D--always great to hear your voice.

laura

have you met my other kids?

2008-06-13T09:06:00.001-07:00

Some of you do not know about our 22 other "kids"---

so I thought I'd inform you a bit about our goats on the farm. They have been the best part of living out in the country. Wish that Simon and Avery could come out and pet them.

We have 22 Nigerian Dwarf goats. We had 9 born here this Spring. They weight between 2 and 3 pounds when they are born, and are smaller than our cats. Even full grown they are not as big as our dogs. They are kind of like pygmy goats but don't have the big bellies. They are each named and are very friendly! Coming up with names isn't easy when you have 9 babies born in 2 weeks. So, we try to go with themes. We had a dancing theme for one sent of twins (Tango & Jitterbug). Then there were the twins that came the next day and one looked like he was wearing a saddle, so he is Rodeo and his brother is Cody (Cody, Wyoming is the home of the rodeo). We have lucky, who almost died during delivery when we were not home but someone driving by came and saved him plus he was born on 7/7/07 if that's not a LUCKY number than I don't know what is! Maybelline looks like she is wearing eye make- up and my mom thought of that name. Peg-leg went to our pirate goat who had a limp. We have Penelope and Monique, Ace, Squeaker, Dixie, well...i'll be here all day naming them all. We have seen first hand new life and sadly some death, and have had a few close calls but we have had an overall wonderful experience with these little critters.

Springtime in Oregon---

2008-05-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

Megan (age 12) just finished her "vaulting" class at a nearby Christian Horse Camp. Basically, it's gymnastics on a horse, a big horse! She did a great show at the end of the 6 week class, and is now officially ready to join the circus. Pictures didn't come out that great, as I was trying to take pics, and hold Josh and balance on one foot. Brett was out of town and I had stepped on a nail the day before, got my tetnus shot and hobbled to the show. Of course, it was well worth it.

Josh (age 4) just finished his first (and only) mini-marathon which was about 1/4 mile. He wasn't exactly thrilled when he came in 28th out of 30 pre-schoolers but got a medal anyway. It was all for a good cause, as food items were donated to the community food bank.

So, Brett's in Florida this week, staying at hotel INSIDE Sea World, and is having fun at Universal Studios with some people he works with tonight. It's for a conference that he HAD TO go to, poor guy. Sympathy is just oozing out of me for this man in his fancy hotel, probably dining with dolphins for breakfast tomorrow.

The biggest thrill we had this past week was the birth of a beautiful black calf on our property. We are letting a guy keep his two cows on our property to help eat the grass down, little did he or we know that the mama cow was pregnant. So, we were thrilled to see the wet and slimy calf be born, stand up for the first time, take her first steps (remember Bambi---same thing, quite wobbly) and nurse. We have yet to name her--she is black and white and about the size of our dogs. Loving being out in the country! And this is where Spring happens!

What did you do this weekend?

2008-05-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Our weekend was jam packed as usual. Saturday, brett took the boys to a "machine gun shootout" for the first time. Picture is of Carson who is 10 now. They put on their safety glasses, earplugs and were able to shoot real machine guns at donated cars. Yes, a 4 year old with a real machine gun!

The girls and I met up with Tina, Luke and Tim at the ALIEN parade, where we sold over 350 snow cones! You'll have to read Tina's blog to find out where the $ from that is going. The green girls are mine. I've always thought they were out of this world!

Then on Sunday evening, Megan and Carson were part of a huge musical at our church. Megan was the main character and had 3 solos and too many lines to count. She had practiced the past 6 months for it, so it was a huge deal. This was her 10th and final musical at the church. She did marvelous! My mom, dad & his wife, brett's dad, tina & Luke, two of her school teachers, and 4 friends from her class all came to watch, as well as some cousins of bretts. There are 150 children in the kids' choir, and over 1,000 people came to watch it--so it was a big deal around our house.

No, i'm not going to Ireland this weekend, nor am I going to Africa next month---my life's big excitement is usually taking the kids to the orthodontist or waving good bye to my husband at the airport as he jumps on the plane. He'll be in Florida next week, and he's in San Jose today. But I am thrilled that I will see you guys in Virginia this summer!! Yippeee!! Yes, I am 40 and probably too old to be yelling "yipee!" but I don't care---I will do it anyway, and loudly!