goodbye 2009

I decided that since I really haven't posted much of 2009 I would give a quick recap of some highlights from the summer, fall & winter.

The summer of 2009 I said goodbye to something that has been part of my life since we married 19 years ago. Miss Sadie finally had to be put to sleep. She was 19 years old. Even though she drove us all nuts with her strange ways....we do miss having her around. She was a very loyal (and demanding) cat that put up with a lot of moves, changes & additional pets over they years. Good bye dear Sadie girl.

Both the kids were gone to summer camp for the first time. Several of us made the 4 hour trek up on the last day of camp to baptize our precious Emma. It was such an honor and a special day for all of us!

My brother brought home a wonderful addition to our family this last summer. He met his soon-to-be wife while serving as a missionary this last year in Laos. We had a fun shower for Melissa right after we met her. We were so excited for both of them!!
We enjoyed several days in August up north to see my brother marry this fabulous girl. We couldn't be more pleased with his choice of a mate and look forward to more opportunities to get to spend time with them. They will be leaving for Laos this next summer and we will really miss them. The wedding was beautiful.

The fall of 2009 my kiddos started 6th and 8th grade. I cannot believe how quickly time has gone and how next year I will have a high school freshman! I really still feel like I am only 25 so I don't how my kids can be this old!! I really do enjoy them at this age though - it is so fun to see them having more independence.

Emma participated in CYT after school got underway. She auditioned for Les Miserables and had a great time performing. She was a wedding dancer, beggar & revolutionary. She got to participate with her good friend Aimee and made many new friends during those two months.

In November Curtis and Cody helped with several building projects over in Harrah, Washington. Harrah is one of the poorest communities in our state. They worked very hard for 4 long days and got a LOT accomplished.

I got to attend several field trips this year but my favorite is always the 6th grade trip to the Ape Caves. I went to the Ape Caves several times as a kid and love attending this one. My group of girls and I had a great time heading into the darkness for an hour or so. We had a lot of fun hiding and jumping out to scare other groups!

In the fall we also had a great day in the mud at the pumpkin patch. My children humored me and let me get a photo of them on these "little" kid tractors.

We had a lovely fall and our Christmas season was nice and quiet this year. Our Emma ended up with a sprained ankle and so we had a lot of forced down time. We did get to do quite a few fun things but also had a lot of time to rest. We also did started some new traditions on Christmas eve which was really fun!Tucker and I enjoyed watching Cody cut down the tree.

We even got to have a great day of snow play during Christmas vacation. We made a fun snow man, made snow angels and did some sledding on our little hill. While 2009 brought many difficult things our way....many challenges, heartbreaks and disappointments we still were able to find joy in the midst. It was a year of much character building and overcoming. I look forward to 2010 with a little apprehension honestly but am trusting a big God who already knows the details of this year. He has proven Himself faithful and will again.

Fun Memories

We have some places our family loves to go where we have a lot of fun memories. One of them is a mountain cabin we have been going to for the last 8 years. Here is a photo of us one of the first times we visited with our friends the Martins. The kids were pretty little.
Now here we were there together this summer - eight years later. The kids have definitely grown up but the adults look better and much wiser?!?!? Maybe a little more tired too.
Thanks Martins for keeping the traditions alive with us! We love you guys!

my family

I have been meaning to post about this for awhile. While my brother was home for the summer my mom wanted to get some pictures of our family all together and my friend Julie was sweet enough to play around for an evening with us. We had a fun time taking pictures.
I love this one of my parents and my kiddos!
Emma and my mom got a couple shots together
Here is one of me and "little" brother

Me and my honey...

It was so bright where we were that Cody needed shades in between shots

The men in the family humored Julie and I with this one - but I love it!

Thanks Julie for doing this for us. We are having our own family pictures taken next week by Nicci and I cannot get our clothes figured out. We are going to try to even take some with Tucker. I will post some of the pictures when I get them.

the big falls - with a celebrity!

Yesterday we headed out to enjoy a God-given beauty that is so close to home. Multnomah Falls was calling our names and we wanted to hike to the top! We even took Tucker along and he did a great job once he had his harness on!
This shot of the kids and I was taken about half way up the hike to the top .

Once we got to the top Tucker had a nice bath in the mountain water and we enjoyed lunch on some great big rocks.

There were a few mysterious caves along the path that the kids fit perfectly into!

We made it safely back down for snow cones and ice cream cones at the lodge. Tucker was quite a celebrity at the falls. So many people were asking about him and wanting to pet him. At the end a group of 10 south Korean college students stopped to touch him and drool over him - they were so fascinated they were all posing for a picture with "Tuckar". It began to get a little ridiculous! It must be how the family of a famous person feels - a little invisible.

It was a great outing!

loving flowers

Yesterday my parents, my brother, the kids and I went to check out the rose garden in the big city across the river. The weather was perfect and we had a good time wandering around the gardens.
We checked out all the different varieties of roses and even tried smelling a lot of them!
Some of them even smelled so good, Emma considered maybe eating one of them!!

We went to play in the park which happens to be a park my brother and I played at when we were kids. I think they still had the same slide and teeter-totters from the 70's.

Afterwards, we took them to this favorite spot of mine to have a few "dots". They were delicious as always!

cave exploring

The kids, my brother and I headed off Friday for the Ape Caves to be nice and cool in the midst of the heat. We stopped at a small attraction near the caves to do the underground tunnel at the Trail of Two Forests. My kids went through it about 4 times and my brother even gave it a shot. As for me, no thanks!

After lunch we all headed down into the big caves. With it being about 40 degrees and slightly windy inside the cave, we quickly put on hoodies. It is about a 30 minute hike in and then you turn around.
We were glad we had good flashlights because it is pitch black inside. It is also good to wear a hat or hooded sweatshirt to avoid the water dripping on your head the whole time.
We were able to get a shot or two of us in the dark.

Thank you God for the mysteries you create and that we are able to enjoy them!