Our 8th Anniversary!

This year Brian and I celebrated 8 years!!! We celebrated on Tuesday night at the Melting Pot. It is one of our favorite restaurants. For the weekend we did our first alone hike in 5 years. We dropped the kids off at my parents and then headed up to the mountain to hike up to McNeil Point on Mt. Hood. WOW! It was hard, scary, crazy and really amazing once we got to the top. For Brian it was a small little hike but for me it was a hike of death and I thought I was going to fall off the mountain. Snow crossing, sleeping in a tent on the side of a mountain, scrambling and climbing up cliffs is not my usual routine. It was sure a way to celebrate an anniversary, but next year I'm thinking spa weekend!

Swim Lessons ~ May 2008

Mila and Ivan just finished their first swim session. Mila graduates to Catfish 2 but Ivan needs a little more time in Catfish 1. They are doing great and love swimming. We have a great community pool near by and the kids love the water slide. These pictures are of the last day of lessons. Unfortunately Ivan had a double ear infection so he couldn't get in the water, but Mila had a great time!

Friday May 16, 2008 ~ Canon Beach

Today we went with the VanderLinden family to Canon Beach. The boys played hooky so they were able to enjoy the beach with us. The weather was about 100 degrees but the kids had a great time! We started with breakfast at Camp 18 (yummy!). Then we headed over to the beach for 6 long hours. We built a sand castle and a big lake. We also had plenty of water fights. The kids ganged up on me and I ended up soaked! We had to bribe the kids with ice cream to get them to leave. We all got burned, but it was worth it. We had a great day and ended it with a little drive up to Ecola State Park. We can't wait until next time...

My Little Helper ~ May 2008

Ivan has started a new obsession with the vacuum cleaner. He wants to "help" me all the time. It adds about 10 extra minutes to my cleaning but it's worth it!

Mother's Day 2008 ~ Cedar Creek Grist Mill

Mother's Day was good this year (except for my $206 speeding ticket). Brian brought me breakfast in bed and then we went to church. After church we had a wonderful lunch at my parent's house. Valerie's in-laws were in town and so we all went up to Washington to show them the cabin. After the cabin we went over to the old Cedar Creek Grist Mill. Unfortunately it was too early for freshly pressed apple cider but the scenery was wonderful and the weather was not too cold. We got some great pictures and ended up having a very nice Mother's Day 2008!

Mila's Last Day of Preschool ~ March 20th

Mila loved her 2 years of preschool at Mustard Seed. She was lucky enough to have Teacher Tami for both years. Teacher Tami, Teacher Silvia and Teacher Shelby are wonderful people who have unlimited patience and love for children. Mila learned so much and will miss seeing her friends 4 days a week! I doubt she will ever forget PreK. She was given so much love and support, it will be hard for kindergarten to compete! Good bye Mustard Seed, Thank You!!

March 30, 2008 ~ Payton's Blessing

Today was Payton's blessing and after church we went to the Janeck's for a family celebration. Ivan finally mustered the courage to hold her!!! It was soooo cute. He held her forever. Mila was waiting for her turn for so long that she came up with a plan. She decided to bring Ivan her MP3 player and put on some sleepy music so he would fall asleep and she would be able to hold the baby. It didn't work, but eventually Ivan's arms got tired and he passed her to Mila. They all looked cute and we got a great "first" picture of them all together.