Brooklyn

Brooklyn will be 16 in September. 16!!  She is such a fun girl and accomplishing so much.  She will be a junior in HS this year and has lots of really good friends.  She got her braces off this spring and can't stop smiling!  She threw discus and shot in track and did really well, almost qualified for state.  That's pretty awesome being just a sophomore on varsity. I don't have a single picture since I wasn't able to go to any of her meets.  Being a small school, they traveled places that were a couple hours away mostly.  Not a single home meet.  Bummer.  She was in the school's performance of High School Musical and did really great.  She also was in the advanced Women's choir and always had a solo in her concerts.  She was nominated for best personality in the sophomore class and won the Patriot Award for her entire track team.  She is super adventurous and loves to be with people.  If you hadn't noticed from the pictures, she is beautiful!!  

Washington/Oregon trip

 Glade had been traveling a lot getting things going in Florida and Denver for his work.  That left me alone for several days at a time for a couple months in a row.  SO, we used his free hotel and airline miles to take a little getaway up north.  We stayed in Vancouver, WA which is just above the state line.  We spent our days traveling to different parts of both Oregon and Washington.  I was always confused at where we were.  Other than the driving part, which I hate, we had lots of fun. the first day we arrived, we got settled and walked to the downtown park because there was supposed to be an outdoor concert.  Turns out it was a "BeerFest" that weekend.  Bummer, but we had a nice walk around town and the weather was beautiful.  We ate at a place called the Garage where we played table shuffleboard.

The next day was Sunday so we got up and attended a ward there.  After, we drove to Mt. St. Helens.  Well, we tried anyway.  GPS took us to a random weird spot and we only got to see it from across the way.  We spent the day just driving through the mountains looking at all the beautiful greenery.

Monday we drove to Astoria to see the beach.  We actually drove more south first so we could make a train ride that was supposed to show you the beautiful Oregon coast.  Lame.  It went about 3 miles at 9  mph (we clocked it) and mostly drove through a small town.  But whatever.  We got off with just enough to time to walk down to the very cold beach and back before the train headed back.  Then we drove the 2 hours up to Astoria and spent the day walking around the town and trying to see the historical stuff.  Unfortunately, most things closed at 4 or weren't open at all, so we didn't get to see much.  Darn train ride.  We ate at a riverside restaurant and got some fish and chips for lunch.  We did hike to a light house though, it was really steep, but so pretty.   One funny thing was at the end of the day, we were going to go to this Ice Cream and Frite store before we headed home.  We asked exactly what Frites were and she told us, but it didn't look like they had any.  When Glade asked, the woman said "No, we didn't make any today, maybe on Thursday we will?"  Really, it's the name of your store and you didn't even make any today!!?  Crazy.  So we stopped at Mcdonalds' on the way back and got Sundaes.  That's when I realized that a $1 hot fudge sundae is almost as good as anything else we could get.  Yum!

Tuesday we went to Maltenoma Falls to hike.  First we stopped at the dam and fish hatchery.  There were so many pretty daisies!!  The hike up to the top of the waterfall was just about a mile and you went up about 1200 ft.  It was so hard!!  Seriously, I thought I was going to cry at one point.  But then a nice girl let me have a pony tail holder and then I was ok.  It was so steep though!  After that, we went home to re-shower and Glade had some work to do so that meant NAP time!  That night we went to a little Mexican place next to our hotel and then to a movie.  Nice relaxing day after a  crazy hike.

Wednesday we got up and went to the temple in Portland.   Just as we were pulling up, there was a big group of missionaries standing outside.  They were going to the same session as we were!  Of course I took a pic of them and posted it for their families.  It was really awesome to be in the temple with so many sweet kids out serving the Lord.  After, we drove up to Centralia to meet Pam and Ioane.  They happened to be visiting family in Seattle so we decided to meet for lunch and some shopping.  Pam is a friend from Hawaii who I met because Stephen served in her ward for several months.

Thursday was pack up and go home day.  We tried to do some site seeing in Portland, but that is one crazy place!  We pretty much just walked around town and had lunch at a food truck.  We decided that if you didn't fit in anywhere else, Portland is your place!!

We tried to become selfie masters, but in the end, we pretty much just suck at it.  Glade says I'm getting a selfie stick for Christmas. ♥

Lunch in Astoria

Portland temple

This is from the top of the waterfall we hiked.  We started down where those cars are.

If you really look, you can see the trail in three places below where we were taking this picture. That's how steep it was.  Near the beginning, we stopped to take a breather and there was a sign that said "switchback 1 of 11".  OY!!

Normally I would never post such a nasty picture,but I earned every bit of that nasty sweaty hair!

This was my good hair day right before the hike 

As close to Mount St. Helens as we got

This is where the GPS told us it was

train ride 

These two pictures illustrate why Glade and I can rarely share our food.   So opposite!

There's a bridge in this picture that was 5 miles long that we drove across to see the lighthouse. It was in a place called Disappointment Island.

Pam and Ioane

This is what it looks like at 9 pm .  Seriously, it wasn't fully dark till almost 10:30

4TH of July Campout 2015

We left Thursday to go to Jone's Crossing about an hour past Payson.  We found a nice spot with lots of shade and we were even able to have a fire!  We went with our friends the Johnsons and the next day the Varos joined us.  Mostly the kids played and hiked and worked on their fort.  The girls played barbies for hours, rode bikes and they all drank a lot of soda!

We got rain almost every day, which is awesome!!  On Friday, we took them to Blue Ridge Reservoir to swim.  It was a really steep hike down and we had a dog and a baby.  Kinda scary.  The kids played for a couple of hours, floating on logs and swimming to the other side where they jumped off rocks.  That night it rained for like 7 hours straight.  We sat under our canopy snuggled in jackets and blankets. ♥

The next morning, we lost three of the little ones who had gotten up early and walked over to see the cows.  (there were a ton of cows!)   They got lost coming back and had been gone almost an hour before we realized they hadn't been seen for awhile.  We took off walking each direction with no luck.  We gathered again to pray and talk about what we could remember.  It seemed like it was logical that Jake had taken them for a hike with all that was said.  But we just weren't sure. Glade and Kali continued to drive around looking for them while we waited for Jake to return.  A bit later, a guy on a quad came and told us they had found three kids who were lost.  Kali followed the man to go pick them up.  They were scared and had cried and they too, had prayed for help.  God is good.  We all got around and headed into Payson for 4th of July!

It was off and on cool all day, but never rained.  We all participated in the games and had lots of fun.  Katy won the sack race and I came in third (in my age group).  Rhett tried to win the foot race, but the grass was wet and he slipped at the start line and still almost won, but no go.  Glade and I won the 3 legged race, go us!! We cooked out and enjoyed our friends and family as always.  

Sunday we got up and went to church at the Blue Ridge Branch, always love that.  Every year we see people we know as well.  Spent the rest of the day just chilling in the cool weather waiting to go home.  Random pictures with explanations below: 

a fort the boys found and enhanced.

swimming at Blue Ridge

Katy about to win the sack rack

one of the many selfies from the weekend

Dalin 

Rhett ready for take off

They are really small, but Brooklyn, Becca and Rhett are over there

kids all trying to get on the log at the same time.  It was so awesome to hear them working together trying to get everyone on at the same time

Bo and Kimball 3 legged race

Me deciding life is too short to sit on the side lines!

Spencer and Brynlee

Joe bought Glade an apron to wear

This is the hammock Dalin made to sleep in.  He did the first night, but the second night it was raining and was worried about him.  He had this contraption all wound up with a tarp around it like a cocoon.  I, of course, layed in be thinking of all the awful things that could happen and about the rain and decided to ask him to come inside.  He did and after he was settled in the reclining front seat, I asked if it was a little bit more comfortable than the hammock.  He replied with a completely sincere "not really, but as long as your happy Mama".  It was like Stephen was right there with me.  Dalin is just like he was with being so sweet.  So of course, I let him come sleep in my bed with me.  Love that boy.

Bo crashing in the sack race