January Snow Day!!

It snowed quite a few times here in January. We accrued 5 snow days! The boys ABSOLUTELY loved it!

No school and getting to play all day in the snow (which they rarely see) what could be better?! They had snowball fights, built forts, made snowmen and used colored water to paint the backyard. Nathaniel came over and the fun got even better. They got out their Hoth world star wars guys and had battles in the snow.

By the end of the day all were freezing, but it was nothing that a little hot chocolate and popcorn can't cure!!

Utah Trip, Christmas Break

As I mentioned in the previous post, we left for Utah on Christmas Day. This vacation was a whirlwind. We went everywhere, trying to catch as many people as possible while we were there. Yikes. What ended up happening was that we spread ourselves way to thin, but, had a great time doing it. We got to spend time with my dad, the boys played in the snow, got to be pulled behind the 4 wheeler on a sled, ride the horses, and in general just mess around.

After that we got to go to Heather's house and visit with them, Danielle and Jon came over too. We had fun just hanging out and eating and talking, it was really enjoyable.

Then next day we went down to Manti and did some temple work for my Grandpa McGarry and his ancestors. After this experience we decided that the baby's middle name would be Patrick after Patrick McGarry who immigrated from Ireland to the US. We think the baby's first name is going to be Kaelan. We shall see.

The day after that, everyone went snowboarding - and Levi got to go too. He was so excited. Calder, Ansel and I went to visit my friend Kathy and see her new baby. Her kids are growing up so fast, and are so adorable. It was really great just hanging out with her and talking.

Sunday we just hung around mom's house and played games and relaxed. The boys played with Lia constantly. Ansel is in love with her. Mom wasn't too happy with Lia though, she chewed up one of the wooden pieces to my new game I got for Christmas. Puppies. . . .oh well. We left monday and drove home. After that I needed a vacation from my vacation!!

Christmas 2006

For our ward Christmas Party this year we had "A Night in Bethlehem". All the families in the ward dressed up as shepherds or Bethlehem citizens and we ate on the floor on blankets.




We had to "buy" our food with jems from the money changers and we got to go from one food stand to the next.

As we sat eating what we purchased, a tax collector came by and taxed us. Then we had a program including the Nativity scene. The boys REALLY loved this activity, it really got to their imaginations. It was difficult for them to eat on the blanket however, and I quickly regretted having them wear white outfits!





Christmas morning it was pretty obvious Santa had come to town. The boys were so excited, waking us up WAY too early.



Santa brought them all slippers, set out neatly by their filled stockings.







Christmas day was filled with many hustlings and bustlings. We opened presents, had a Christmas breakfast, made a gingerbread choo choo train, had the missionaries over for Christmas dinner, gave them stockings that Santa had left for them, cleaned up, packed and left for Utah! PHEW!! What a day!

It's a Boy!!

We just found out that we are having a boy!!! Now we can start deciding what to name him. It was so fun to watch him on the ultrasound. He wouldn't stop moving, making it very hard for the technician to do her job. But, that just meant that we got to watch him move all the more. The boys all came to find out what we were having. Calder had been really hoping for a girl. I guess that is an understatement. He had been praying to have a little sister for a very long time. When he found out that it was a boy his little chin hit is chest and he said "my heart is hurting for a little sister" Talk about heart wrenching! But later that night we talked about it and he felt a lot better, he still wants a sister . . . but next time! Phew, dodged a bullet this time!

Levi's Baptism Day

Levi was baptized with his close cousin (actually 2nd cousin - but they don't know that or care!!) named Micheal. It was a really special experience. They were baptized at Micheal's chapel and the first thing Levi said when he saw the water was: "It's green!!" His favorite color, so he thought this was a good thing. The rest of us were more like "eeeewwww, who didn't clean out the font?!" But the fact that they were baptized in less than satisfactory water meant nothing to them. But, I guess, we are just spoiled now days. We don't have to be baptized in the freezing cold muddy water of a river. Anyway, Levi was bouncing off the walls with excitement. It was such a neat experience. We had all of our family there and Levi's best friend, Nathaniel, and his parents came too. That really meant a lot to us.

After the baptism we went to Micheal's house for an open house. We had a chocolate fountain, with lots of fruit and other treats to dip in it. That was a big hit with the kids. I spent the entire time melting chocolate, what an ordeal.

Micheal's grandma (Levi's great-aunt) made them both a really neat blanket that said "Remember the Comforter" and had the date of their baptism and their name. A great keepsake. Levi keeps it on his bed.

Levi's Best Friend from California (Natalie) Comes to visit!

During the Thanksgiving Break, our friends, from our old ward in California, stopped by on the way to their grandma's house in Washington. It was so fun to see them and spend time with them. Levi was so excited to see Natalie again. He really missed her alot. Back in California they did everything together. She loves boy stuff because she has all brothers. What a beautiful blondie!

Levi turns 8!

Levi had his birthday party today, on his birthday! It was a lego Star Wars theme. He wanted a lego cake, which his grandma Severson and I worked on for a while, and he wanted lego games. The kids all have fun in the lego relay race. We split the kids up into two teams and they raced against each other building a lego Star Wars ship. Each kid was responsible for 5 steps. Unfortunately, I didn't make the teams as even as I thought I did and Levi's team won by a long shot. Too bad. But the kids didn't seem to care, they just had fun. They also played musical chairs to star wars music and hit a Darth Vader pinata with light sabers. It was fun, even if a little crazy, to have 12 eight year old boys running through the house!!

Calder's 5th Birthday - Star Wars at OMSI!!!

For Calder's 5th birthday we went to the OMSI, which was featuring a REAL life Star Wars exhibit. It had all of the original costumes and props, plus Yoda's puppet, R2D2, C3P0, Luke's landspeeder etc. They also had interactive exhibits. One of them was an air propelled hover craft that the kids could ride. The boys could NOT get enough of this, they went back time and again.
Also there were legos to build their own speeders and make them go, using magnets.

The boys spent their time running between exhibits and pretending to interact with the characters. We were there for 2 hours.

Near the end, when we thought that we were done, all of a sudden the place was filled with real life Characters from the movie.


The boys went crazy going from one to the next shyly shaking hands and getting their picture taken with them.

All of the boys were going to be Star Wars characters for Halloween so this was a BIG treat for the birthday boy! Calder especially wanted to meet Jango Fett (who he was going to be for Halloween) Just about this time my camera started to malfunction so the pictures are less than they should be, but that is part of the story too so I can't leave it out!

We ended up staying a full other hour at the end for the boys to meet the characters. It had turned out to be sponsors night and so they had the characters their as special guests. What luck for us, and what a great present for the birthday boy!!

Lani came up and stayed with us for the weekend. While she was here we took a trip up to Mt. St. Helens and Ape Cave. We didn't have a flashlight, for the cave, so we couldn't go in too far but it definitely want to go back.

It is supposed to be a very long, deep cave, with many levels. As you can see by the railings and the drop off, it is pretty neat.

Levi and Calder wanted to keep on going, but Ansel was not too happy about being in a cold, damp, dark cave. He was more than happy to head back to the car.



Mt. St. Helen's was amazing. I wish we could have found our way to the Observation Deck, but what we found was neat enough.

We went to the west side of the volcano where we could see all the devastation that the eruption caused.

It was really fascinating. Levi found a GIANT overturned tree with its roots skyward and they really enjoyed playing on it. All the trees that have grown up since are the same size and you feel like a giant walking among this miniature forest.

We took a hike through the forest and could see the deep cut in the land from the ash tidal wave. What an amazing thing the forces of nature are!!

Caleb and Elizabeth visit

Caleb and Elizabeth came to visit over Labor Day Weekend. It was a lot of fun. We did so many things. The days were so beautiful and warm (a little too warm), but we got to have a really good view of Willamette Falls (back in the day - before it was destroyed by the papermill- they called it Little Niagra). It is kind of a depressing sight. There is hardly anything left of the natural falls. They have installed locks and a cement wall all around the top to control flow. Just to the right of it is the ulgiest sight you have ever seen. The VERY rundown looking paper mill (put into comission sometime in the late 18 or early 1900s. It drapes both sides of the river, just below the falls, and one can imagine that is were pollution begins. I really wish I could have seen it before. It is easy to see the beauty hidden beneath the destruction. Someday I hope that papermill goes away and it can, once again, be the little Niagra Falls.

Next to where we stopped to see the falls, there were history signs, filled with information on Oregon. Oregon City (which is where we were in the picture) was the first capitol of Oregon and the first settlements. It is where all of the pioneers came through, both American and English leaders ran the city. It is a very old city. Alot of history there.

And, of course, we can't stay away from the beach in the summer, so we took Caleb and Elizabeth there. First we made a pitstop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was really cool to see how they make cheese, and try all of their samples. It all tasted SO good, but of course we were starving.

There was a lot of fog on the beach that day, but it was still nice. We played soccer, made sandcastles with armies defending and destroying them. The boys LOVED this. We also jumped off sand cliffs. We were all so sandy when we were done, it took a couple of weeks before all the sand was out of Ansels hair.

This beach was really neat, out a few hundred yards from the shore sat the most amazing rock formation. They call it serpents rock, and for good reason. It looks just like and undulatiing serpent out in the ocean, quite beautiful! I can't get the blog to upload this picture so you will just have to imagine!