Better late than never

So clear back in June my Mom took all of us (the entire fam) to California. We stayed in a really nice beach house in Laguna Beach. We did a lot of cool things like Disneyland, an L.A. Angels game and a lot of beach time. The kids absolutely loved it.....we all did. The only bad thing about the trip was us forgetting our camera. We have virtually no pictures from the trip. At Disneyland we bought a disposable camera and just recently had the pictures developed. They aren't very clear, but we'll get more as soon as my Mom and Sister send me their pics. (hint hint) A very very special thanks to my Mom for such a great time. She took care of everything for us and it was a total blast.

Does Peter Pan look as annoying as he actually was?
I think this is something from Alice in Wonderland.
Livy loved riding the tea cups.
The kids were so excited to see Mickey.
Niko trying to do his best Goofy is a classic shot.

Lincoln City

We spent this weekend with Brittanie's family in a beach house at Lincoln City, Oregon. It was really great to be with the family and I think everyone had a great time. The house was great...the weather was great.....and it's just good to be with family. We are the worst picture takers ever, but we did manage to get a few shots from the trip.

This is Olivia, Matt and Michael at the lighthouse in Newport, OR.
Katie with the beautiful Pacific ocean behind her.
Katie, Olivia and Kylee at the lookout point. (sorry if I spelled your name wrong Kylee)
Livy, Keisha and Katie
This is my favorite shot. This is at a Walgreen's about 5 minutes away from our house....the girls just HAD to go to the bathroom. At least Mr. Ape was still smiling. Britt was not happy with my need to snap the moment.

The Young Men

So this past weekend was the High Adventure for the Young Men/Scouts. We sailed on the Columbia River, explored the Mount St. Helen's ice caves and rafted the White Salmon River. It was a good time for all. We have a really good group of guys and great leaders.

Trip to Utah

It wasn't exactly the best trip we've had home.....but considering the circumstances of our visit we had a really great time with our family. Here are some pics from the trip.

Olivia was very interested in the emergency proceedures on the plane....made me feel very safe.
Here is the view up the Columbia River. We are turning to go East right here.
Mount St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.
The girls at the Mo-Tab
Livy was really excited to see the conference center.

One note.....being back in Portland has been great. We miss everyone, but the temp has been high 80's here, with lows around 55 at night. I'm not sure our family could every tolerate the Utah heat again. 100 degrees is too hot.

Pictures from the 4th

We had originally planned on going out of town for the 4th....but Britt had to work so we stayed home. We were very lucky to be invited to a 4th of July BBQ by our friends the Riggs. Here are some pics from the day.

Goodbye Grandma

Grandma I feel so lucky to have had 32 years of my life with you. Having you leave us has been much more difficult than I thought it would be. I will miss your porcelain skin, your soft kisses and your sweet smile. Even with 17 Grandkids trying to get your attention you always made each of us feel like we were the most special. Selfishly I wish my girls had more of a chance to get to know how wonderful you were. Being away from you the past few years has not been easy. We love you Grandma....the 4th of July will never be the same without you here. Give Grandpa a kiss for us and tell him we miss him too.

Weird Skies

This has been a strange summer. I think we have had less than two weeks over 80 degrees...most days have been in the low to mid 70's....and only a couple days have been over 90. Last night we had one of the craziest storms I've seen in Oregon. 700 lightning strikes in 4 hours.....rare for Portland.

A couple days ago we had a quick storm pass through. When it was done it left these crazy clouds. I took pictures for once....here they are.