Contagion

Just a funny Jaxson story:

We were driving in car, when Jaxson asks me: "Mom what is puberty?"

My heart sank and I thought, this is it...the beginning of many discussions I have dreaded since the day he was born.

I quietly and calmly answered: "Well bud, it's when a boy becomes a man and he starts to grow hair on his body and his voice starts to deepen."

Not what I was expecting from him: "Mom I think (anonymous) got the puberty already, cause his arms are really hairy!!!"

Thinking to myself that puberty was like a disease to me when I was that age, I simply answered back: "Well, I don't think  (anonymous) has puberty yet, but some people are hairier than others."

That seemed to satisfy his curiosity for now...whoosh!!!

I wish there were a cure for puberty as well, so not looking forward to it!!

Bathroom Remodel

As part of getting our house ready to put on the market, we finally had to remodel our master bathroom. When I told people that we were doing so, most look confused and said they had never even seen that bathroom before. Not to my surprise though, because it is probably the most hated room in the house!! It is truly hideous, and I rarely let people in there. So now you get to see the before and after:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So much better, wouldn't you agree?

Gangsta

So for some reason every time I ask to take the boy's picture they think they are rock stars or gangsters...this trip to the grocery store where they each got new sun glasses demonstrates exactly what I am talking about. Not sure where it came from, but in all honesty it's pretty funny!

SUMMER LOVIN'

This has been one crazy summer I tell ya!! We have been doing so many things I cannot believe that summer is quickly coming to an end...the calendar now reads three weeks til school...all I can say is, AHHHH.

Most of the summer has been spent with our great friends and family...we got to make a trip out to Prineville, which has become a summer tradition. We also, for the first time, got to visit the Swift Creek Reservoir. This is a amazing hide away about an hour east of Woodland. We hope to make another trip up there soon, as Nick did not get to make it with us this time.

Not to mention all the fun dinners, play dates, and happy hours we have had this summer...looking back I truly feel blessed to have such great people in my life!

We do plan to cram as much in as possible in the next few weeks...would you expect anything less! Until then here are are few pics from the last two get aways:

Roasting marshmallows in Prineville.

Celebrity alert: We got to hang with Dante Cunningham (former Blazer) this weekend, and Jaxson was in heaven. He was really nice and played hoops with him all weekend!

Jaxson's face is crazy...but love the devil horns his hair is making!!

Nick attempting to wake surf....and I use the word "attempting" very loosely:-)

Swift Creek Reservoir, Mt.St. Helen's in the background!

Travis and Jaxson playing catch!

Nick and Grant helping to pick up drift wood...pure entertainment for about an hour!

Tadpole hunting!

The boys!

Little Amelia in a tire...so cute for some reason!!!

Geocaching

We were recently introduced to Geocaching, which is basically a real life treasure hunt. I guess it's been around for a long time, and I am not sure how we have never heard of it before, but so glad we know about it now. In order to figure the whole thing out we had some friends over that are really into it, and another family who wanted to learn as well. We had a dinner and then went out for our geocaching adventure.

For those who don't know what it is I will explain. So basically people hide "caches" all over the place, and there are millions of caches all over the country apparently. Caches can be anything from a box, to a fake rock, or even a tin can, and they may or may not have things inside. People who hide them add the cache to the web-site http://www.geocaching.com/, and anyone can then go find it. So as a beginner you go to the web-site and sign up, it's totally free, and then if you have a smart phone you can download the app. Once you have the app, it tells you where the closest caches are. We were shocked to see that there are tons within walking distance of our house. Once you get close there is a compass that can help guide you, but it's really only good to about 15 meters. The caches can be cleverly hidden so you really have to look. Once you find the cache you can log that you found it and if there is a treasure you can take it, but you have to replace it with something of equal or greater value. The kids absolutely love it and it's just a fun way to have an outside adventure!! It explains everything on the site, so check it out if you are interested!

We are headed to Sunriver next week and look forward to doing it there as well!! If you try it, let me know what you think!!

4th of July!!

I believe this is the third year in a row we have gone down to our families house in North Bend for 4th of July weekend. This year my parents and my sister's family came along too! The weather was so amazing and we had a wonderful time too!! The kids are all at such a great age and can play so well together, it really requires little adult supervision..I mean having to constantly watch them and breaking up fights over toys that is. We went to the beach, rode the motorcycles, let off fireworks and just generally enjoyed each others company! I hope we continue to make this a yearly tradition!!

This was one of the favorite activities of the weekend. Pa would take all the kids on a ride in the Rhino!

We took my family to Sunset Bay, one of our cool finds, and they loved it as much as we do!!

Finding crabs!

They had a creature building contest, and we all had to get in on it!

This was our creature...Giant Crab Ray!

Playing in the water!

Love this picture!!

These two really became best buddies this weekend. They are one year apart, and they are finally old enough to play together, and boy did they...attached at the hip all weekend!

Fireworks!

I did not take my camera riding, and took all those pics with my phone. They are all on my Facebook if you want to take a look!

Carter turns 2!!!

My little baby nephew turned 2 last month, and I cannot believe it! We went to John's Incredible Pizza to celebrate and had a great time. I would really recommend that place to anyone, way better than Chuck E. Cheese!

My aunt with her grandson Nicolas!

Riding one of the rides they have!