Camping

We knew we were going to be here for memorial day weekend, and the kids had 5 days off (more furloughs).  So we booked a camp site just a half hour from our house.  We hadn't been camping as a family since I was pregnant with Max.  It was so much fun!  The boys loved the campfire, going on nature hikes, and eating all the yummy camp food.  Ginny had fun too.  I was pretty nervous about the sleeping part of the campout, but she did great and eventually fell asleep and slept good for the night.  She was a little afraid of the fire, though, and kept backing away from it saying "hot, hot!"  Our campout was a success, and we'll definitely be doing this more often.

Beautiful view of the Willamette River.

So filthy, but so happy!

S'mores!!!!

This little guy was awesome to watch.

They could have watched him all day!

Portland Zoo

The kids had a furlough day on my birthday, so I thought it would be great to take them to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day, and so, naturally, it was packed!  But we had a great time.  Max was a big boy and walked the whole time instead of riding in the stroller.  Ginny was pretty taken with the sea lions.  Easton kept us on track with the map.  And Luke kept us all comically informed with his National Geographic animal commentary and fun facts.

I did not notice this face on Max while I was taking the picture.

And yes, Luke knows all the names of the different kinds of penguins.

Another new home!

On Thursday, the close of our sale in Hermiston was final.  On Friday, we submitted our offer on the home we want to purchase.  Yesterday, all the paperwork was signed and accepted.  We are building another new house in Dayton.  I am excited to start fresh again, and just feel settled in our new neighborhood.  Scott is excited about doing another entire yard again (sense the sarcasm?).  The boys are all excited about their big new room and that this house has stairs.  And I'm sure Ginny will have lots of fun exploring and getting into things once we move in.  We feel so blessed that the timing worked out, and that we won't be in a rental for long. (Est. completion end of June).

Excuse the cars in the photo, the neighbors were hosting a BBQ.

Goodbye Hermiston, Hello Dayton

On April 17th, we finished packing up our lovely home, and loaded the Uhaul truck.  It was weird to say final goodbyes to our friends, and it was definitely weird to leave our home completely empty.  It will take a while to not think of it as our home anymore.

All packed and ready to go!

 

One last picture in our house.

 We spent the night at my parents and the next day we drove to Dayton.  Our new ward welcomed us with open arms, and we had the rest of the weekend to get settled and unpacked.  We enjoyed getting to know Dayton a little better, and I am liking how cute and small it is. 

The Elementary school.

Walking through downtown Dayton.

The footbridge at the end of town.

The beautiful? Yamhill River.

Enjoying the ride.

Cute downtown Dayton.

On Sunday, we walked from our apartment to the other end of Dayton and back, in about 45 min.  Scott walks to work, the kids have walked to school once and look forward to next year when I will let the bike to school, we walk to the park, to the library, the post office, etc.  Everything in downtown Dayton is less than a mile and easy walking distance.  Easton and Luke started school on Monday, and have made an easy transition and made friends already.  Scott is loving his job, and I am getting used to everything, and have already made some potential friends in the ward, too.  So, it was sad to let go of the life we had in Hermiston, but we are excited for our new adventure and life here in Dayton.

Max is 4!

For the last 2 months, Max has been asking me, "Can I be 4 now?"  And now he is!!  He wanted a Ninja Turtle birthday party.  We had a party with his preschool group, and they all got masks and turtle shells (thanks Pinterest) and played some fun games and ate Turtle cupcakes.  We waited for Scott to come home for the weekend to celebrate his actual birthday.  He got tons of Ninja Turtle toys and gear, more legos, and other fun boy toys.  He is our fun-loving, crazy, wild, adventurous, all-boy, cute and cuddly 4 year old now.  Our family would be a lot more dull without Max.