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.