Christmas Party

We had our ward christmas party and the primary got up and sang a few songs. Alyssa stood up there but she doesn't really know the words so she just stood there.

Then Megan decided to get into the fun and climbed up there and stood quietly and clapped when they were done.

The three wise men made a visit after the preformance and handed out candy to everyone.

In the army soon...

So I realize that most of you know, but some of you don't that we have been feeling the affects of the bad econimc times. We moved out here to work for Caleb's parents for the tax season and that worked out great, but then Caleb wasn't able to find a job after the tax season ended...in April!!! So we have been living off savings and hoping for something to come along, but we decided to get proactive and decided to join the army. Caleb signed up to be a financial officer (accountant) for a 4 year term, but he still has to go through boot camp and training. He leaves December 29 and I won't see him again until middle of May and then we don't know where we are going from there. Caleb is hoping that we will go to Alaska or to Europe somewhere, I'm hoping to stay in the states and go to Viriginia where my brother and sister in law live. Anyway, I'm really not scared about it, every once in a while I sort of freak out, but we went to the temple before we were even thinking about signing up and the thought came to me, "what about the army?" So I feel that it is where we are suppose to be for right now, hopefully not forever but you never know. Caleb is thinking of going into the FBI after and being a Forensic accountant and he can get his CPA licence and 4 years experience while we are in the army. So that is where we stand, I'm a little apprehensive because I don't know where we will be, but I'm more excited that he has a job and that money will finally be coming in.

Dance Class

On Thursday's Alyssa has a dance class at the community center and they also have an indoor park that we like to go to because it is getting really wet in Portland. The indoor park isn't really a park it is just in the gym and they have a whole bunch of toys and cars and a tramp to jump on so they just run around being silly.
Alyssa had a head on collision with one of the girls in the class so she didn't feel like participating much after that (of course of the day that I remember my camera), but Megan sure had a good time.
Before and after the class they have an obstical course for the kids to play in, which is always a highlight.

Seasons

I finished Caleb's stocking and it took me longer than I thought because usually parts of the cross stitch are left as fabric, but this whole stocking was stitches. Fall

Pumpkins

Caleb wouldn't turn the TV off during the pictures so they are watching TV instead of looking at me.

Little pumpkin! So Halloween day I decided to get a pumpkin to carve because Alyssa would get excited everytime that she saw one. I scraped the sides and she pulled out all the guts, she wouldn't touch the guts last year so I was happy that she did this year. Megan wouldn't even get near the pumpkin.

I'm not really good at carving pumpkins, but Alyssa liked it none the less.

Halloween!!

I was planning on going to the pumpkin patch all season and everyday that I was planning on going it rained so we didn't make it, but I did buy some pumpkins and I let the girls paint them. Alyssa was very excited and painted her entire pumpkin, Megan did it for a few minutes but quickly lost interest.
We had our ward party last week so we tried out our costumes early this year. Alyssa was Strawberry Shortcake, she had the clothes and I decorated the hat. We also dyed her hair red which she really enjoyed, but was more trouble than it was worth so I don't think I will do it on Halloween night.

I tried to find a pink cat costume for Megan to be Custard (Strawberry Shortcakes pet cat), but I failed miserably so she just wore the pumpkin outfit that I got for Alyssa's first Halloween.

slacker

I know that I have been a slacker bloger so here are a bunch of pictures.

Zoo trip

The day after we got back from Utah, it was the 2 dollar zoo days at the zoo so we had to take advantage before the rains started to come. It was a bit chilly when we went, but that meant less crowds so I was okay with that. I really liked the sea lions, we watched for a while and noticed that they were swiming in the same path the whole time and then we went back the same way to leave and they were still doing the same path. Maybe they were trained?
I thought that the cold would mean the polar bears would be having fun, but they just sat there.

We spend almost our entire trip looking for the lions and we finally found them! Apparently it is a new exhibit that just came in September and there haven't been lions at the zoo for a long time.

Megan and dad got lost in the desert from inside the bubble you could see the bugs climing in the sand.

Carrying wood

While we were in Utah, we went out to visit Sian and Damon (Caleb's twin brother and his family) they have two girls similar in age to mine so it is always fun to visit. They are redoing their basement and Caleb got to help carry wood (lucky guy) but the girls decided they wanted to help. I was holding Megan but then I put her down to take pictures, I thought she was just mad because I put her down, but when I did pick her back up I found a thorn in her foot. Oops!

How many kids does it take to carry a board?

Alyssa found that princess dress about 30 seconds after we arrived and wore it the whole time.

Hula!!

I was the ward campout a few weeks ago and we decided to go at least for the evening because it was only like 30 minutes away. Not to many people showed up but the kids had fun running around and playing with the hula hoops. Alyssa is getting pretty good at them, she can do a few revolutions before it falls.
Megan just likes to carry them around because Alyssa has one.

Even if we were planning on spending the night, Alyssa decided that it would be a good night to get sick and throw up for the second time in her life. She was feeling fine when we got to the camp site and then she was feeling better by morning. so it was a short lived sickness.

Even Caleb got in on the fun.

Purple dresses

Grandma Bell made matching dresses for the girls and I decided to go to the Portland Temple to take some pictures with the beautiful scenery. However, the girls decided that they didn't want to take pictures that day so none of them turned out great. Here are a few of the ones that are okay.

Fountain

A couple of weeks ago we decoded to take advantage of one of the last few warm days of summer and I took Alyssa to play in a fountain. It was colder than I thought and she didn't last long, but I think she still enjoyed herself.

Megan wouldn't hear of playing in the water.

Utah Trip

We had a surprise trip to Utah last week and although it was great to see everyone, but unfortunatly we all had to get together to attend my grandpa's funeral. He has been battling cancer for over five years now so we all knew that his time was coming, but it still came too soon. I love my grandpa and will miss him a lot, but I am glad for the time I got to spend with him and that he got a chance to meet my children. I tried to explain to Alyssa what was going on, buy I don't think she really understood, but maybe she did. It was great seeing my parents because they have been in Jerusalem and I didn't know when we would be able to see them next, and I got to meet my new nephew Will which was really fun. Alyssa and Megan enjoyed being chased by grandpa and playing with Tyler. I think Tyler liked Megan best because he called her doggy and a dog is his favorite animal. It was also great to see Caleb's brothers and their families. Anyway, it was a sad reason to get together but really great to see everyone.

Freakin' Spiders

I love all the vegetation that is in Portland, but I have found a huge downside to it...spiders! There are like these flying spiders here and I hate them. They fly from one tree to another or from a tree to a bush and they go across the sidewalks so when you are walking you walk right into the web and then you feel creepy crawly all over all the time. Sometimes they even attatch to the car from one of the trees, just overnight, and I will reach for the handle to open the car and my hand will be covered with web, I just hate it. Then they also infest the park and create webs in all the corners of the play equipment and I stuck my face in one the other day trying to catch Megan from falling, or megan sticks her hands in the web. Anyway, I don't think they are deadly or anything, but they are big and they can fly and I just hate them.

Madam Megan

Megan is just so cute I thought I would put up some of the latest. Here is Megan with her first corn on the cob.
Alyssa never wore hats when she was Megans age so I think she is really cute in hats.

I usually don't like black and white picuters, but I thought that these looked better in black and white.

5th Anniversary

For our anniversary we were able to get away from the kids for a whole night!! It was the first time away overnight in over two years so we were really excited. We went to the coast to a town called Seaside and it was really fun. We walked along the beach and there were sand dollars everywhere which I thought was really cool because I've never seen real sand dollars in nature before, but Caleb was not as impressed. Then we went and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which was alright, but not great, but we love to go to movies and havn't been able to go in a long time so it was nice to go. Then we walked downtown where there were tons of shops and candy stores so we got some taffy and fudge. We also ate at a good seafood place.

The next day we went to Astoria where such films as The Goonies and parts of Twilight have been filmed. They mostly just used some of the old homes and some of the beaches, but it was still fun to see. We wanted to find the old shack from the Goonies, but I guess that they built it for the movie, so it isn't there. We went up to the top of the hill and climed up this tower to the highest point of the area (I'm in the red shirt at the bottom).

It was a great view from the top and we found out that Astoria was the first town founded beyond the Rocky Mountains and was the end of the Lewis and Clark trail. It was a great anniversary and I loved spending time with Caleb, it has been a great five years and I can't wait for more.

Camping-Again

I'm not sure exactly where we were camping, but it was a couple hours south of Portland. We went to meet up with another of Caleb's brothers Scott and his wife Sarah and their kids. Although it was domestic camping, we were maybe 100 yards from the interstate and there was a playground right next to our camp site, we still had a lot of fun.

Another reason that we went down south was for Caleb's family reunion. It was fun to see Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that I have never met before and just to hand out and catch up with them. We also don't get to see Caleb's grandma very often so it was nice to spend time with her and have her see the grandkids.

Megan is cute and she knows it.

Here is Megan and Noah hanging out in the playpen while we got the fire going.

Alyssa and Julia had a lot of fun together.

Alyssa admires the fire.