How Sweet

This sweet little girl will be 3 years old in another month. I just got a phone call from her. She wanted to call and sing me a song. So she did. She sang the whole song of "I Love to See the Temple". All by herself. Twice. Wow, I was so impressed. She knew all the words and she sang the tune! I was so excited and happy. It is so wonderful to watch your children grow, embrace what they have been taught and then teach it to the next generation! I am so proud of all of them!!

CATCH UP

I have been horrible at blogging. I check everyone's blog on a regular basis, but for some reason, I can't motivate myself to do my own.

It has been a really hectic summer. There have been LOTS of ups and downs. Things are finally starting to settle back down and I think I might be able to do this. We shall see.

We started off our summer with Josh returning home. I cannot describe what it was like to finally have my baby back home and be able to talk to him whenever I wanted. He is so fun to have around. He was all smiles as we welcomed him home with EVERYONE of the family at the airport. We had silly signs and a new nephew and niece to welcome him home. His funniest statement on returning home was "Wow, everyone has all their own teeth"!!!!

We took family pictures while everyone was home and had such a fun time.

Poor Josh was only home 5 days before we loaded him up in the car and started driving back east to the beach house. We took 65 hours on the way there. We enjoyed the 4th and gathering with Reed's family to distribute his dad's ashes at sea. Coming home from Delaware we took a week. We headed south and visited Arkansas and the home of Popeye Spinach (in Alma), drove through Missouri and stayed in Oklahoma for a few days. The people that Josh served are such wonderful, humble people. They loved him and I am so grateful to have met many of them and seen the love that they have for my son.

Then we continued our journey into Rocky Mountain National Park, Utah and finally home. I cried when I saw the Cascades. They are such beautiful mountains. In the words of Josh, they are REAL mountains. Jackie and her boys spent a lot of time with us at the farm this summer as Zach concentrated on collecting data and working on research for his doctorate. Reed and I headed out again for Utah to meet up with his family for the final distribution of ashes. We are now home and don't plan on going anywhere - until the latter half of September. But I will enjoy my time here.

I have been so busy helping my dad move a couple of times and now we are full on into canning. This week I have canned fresh tuna and green beans. There are more beans to go and then it will be peaches and tomatoes. I love filling up the pantry and storing up food. You never know what the future will hold.

This next weekend will find us down at the cabin, painting and hopefully relaxing. After such a busy summer, I need it.

The family at the beach!!

The grandkids at the beach!!

EVERYONE together at home.

Beach time

This summer we took the whole gang back to Bethany Beach, Delaware, for some much enjoyed time in the sand and surf. Jayme's girls went completely Hawaiian and decided they wanted to come back every summer! Aloha!

Aunts and uncles and cousins - all ready for a fun day at Sussex Shores!

Some eat corn, some eat sand. The beach has it all. It all comes out eventually.

Nothing beats Delmarvelous sweet corn at the beach!

Sunglasses, sunscreen, muscle shirt - this man is ready for the beach!

What is the best thing about a vacation to the beach? If you ask this crowd, you'd get 5 different answers. The worst thing is having to leave when vacation is over....

The Countdown

Well, I have decided that I will officially start counting down the days. In exactly one month my baby will be returning from his mission to the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission! I am excited. We will have a wonderful Father's Day celebration! His homecoming is on Sunday, June 19th at 9am in Corvallis 2nd Ward. We will celebrate with family and friends at 1pm that day! These last few months have just DRAGGED for me. But I am happy now to realize how close it is. I have the official travel plans, but Josh's current companion is trying to talk the mission president into a 1 transfer extension. I don't think they do those anymore, but I am so happy that they are doing so well together and are finding success in their teaching. I am a HAPPY MOMMA!!

A Trip To The Zoo

Last week, Jayme checked the weather forecast and it called for sunshine, so he suggested we head up to the zoo. Jackie had an appointment, so I took the 2 smaller K's and headed for the zoo. Typical Oregon weather started out sunny but with a COLD breeze blowing, then it rained, hailed and finally some sunshine, but not very warm. But we had so much fun. Katarina has been patiently waiting for me to get some of my pictures up, so here we go!

I wish you could hear Kyler in this picture. I merely told him that I wanted to take his picture. He said "Deeeezzz"! That is 1 year old speak for "cheese"!!!
Kayden climbed on the big lion statue!

Katarina and daddy riding the wood horses in the barn! She LOVES her daddy!

The tigers were up, out of doors AND moving around! They were very big!

The giraffe was inside today. Maybe because it was so cold!

The zebra is bright with

all it's stripes!!

That is one BIG hippo!

Elyssa crashed part way through, but mom kept her warm zipped up inside her jacket.

While we waited to ride the train since it was raining - again, we went inside the place where they have the Lorakeets. You could purchase a cup of nectar and the birds would come and perch on your arm or hand and drink from the cup. The kids were FASCINATED with the brightly colored birds. They were not allowed to touch them, but they were very close to them.

The train ride was so much fun. We rode right by the elephants and saw the new baby. We could see the wolves and eagles. We heard the whistle blow and went over and under bridges. We had such a fun day at the zoo!!!

This is the definition of Aloha.

This is the definition of the Big Kahuna. I've never seen such a BIG SURFER.

The surf at Makaha was beautiful, but the area north of the beach was a homeless camp. The west shore of Oahu is pretty rough territory, but the ocean is fantastic.

Cruisin' Hawaii

Reed and I spent the last week on a cruise around the Hawaiian islands. It was so much fun. Here a few pictures of the trip!

As we sailed away from Honolulu we were blessed by a beautiful rainbow to send us on our way.

The lights of Honolulu as we sailed away!
The first day found us on Maui. We spent part of the day at the beach, kayaking and snorkeling, before we headed up the volcano to watch the sun set from the top of the world at 10,500 feet. It was the only time I was cold!
The next day we were on the big island of Hawaii. On the Hilo side we visited the volcano and hiked across Kileae iki (the little crater). Reed was right at home being the geologist. A couple from Texas attached themselves to Reed and asked tons of questions. Reed was in 7th heaven explaining things.
From there we visited the falls.
On the Kona side we kayaked and snorkeled. We also saw some of the damage from the tsunami. On Kauai, we kayaked up a river and saw where they filmed the opening credits to MASH, Neverland from Hook, and Indiana Jones. We also hiked through the jungle to some remote waterfalls.

As we left Kauai, we sailed along the Na Pali coastline, where we were entertained by whales spouting and slapping their tails as well as the dramatic coastline.
It was a wonderful week. I will post later about the pictures from our visit to Pearl Harbor and time on Oahu!