July 4th

Okay - one last stolen moment on Patti's blog before she gets home. Since she missed the 4th of July with us, I figured I would update on our fun since she will have totally different stuff to put up when she gets back.

The kids and I had a nice morning - Cap'n Crunch for breakfast, PB&J for lunch, and then we headed out to my brother's house in Vernonia for a BBQ. The kids got to go swimming in the pool with their cousins, as seen here.

Lexi had a great time, and I had trouble getting her out of there for dinner, but no real shock.

Spence was also having a great time - using his cousin's raft to float around and splash everyone. I think I caught this picture in that rare moment where he was contemplating his next victim.

After the swimming - we ate. Actually, it was the whole dinner being ready thing that caused the swimming to come to an end, but you get the idea.

We enjoyed the evening out on the deck, and then we went over to watch the town parade. The kids got a ton of candy and a couple of stuff animals out of the parade which was fun for them I suppose.

The kids then got to set off a few fireworks, and do the sparklers and pop-its that they love. Spence managed to spell his name correctly with a sparkler and everything.

Bella spent a large portion of the day (well, and the whole week really) in Daddy's arms since she gets kind of attached. We had a good time.

Lexi was her usual shy, reserved self as you can see in the picture here. (For those of you who don't know me as well, I have a sarcasm problem I have been working on for years... not sure if I will ever kick the habit.)

Just a note, but there is no 'family' picture because Patti wasn't with us, and she is the one who reminds me about it... she also is the one to remember the spare camera batteries which would have come in handy by the time I thought of it...

After that we waited and watched the town fireworks display from my brother's back deck.

It was a fun day. We hope you and yours all had a Happy and Safe 4th of July. That's all from me - I am sure Patti will fill you all in very soon on her trip to Illinois.

Jared has been gone (in the DR) too much...

Okay all, I am totally cheating. This is Jared. I have been traveling way too much of late with work and figured I owed my wife a few public words of thanks. As most of you know, Patti pulled a switch-a-roo on me this last week and went off on a trip without me or the kids, much the same as I have done 8 times since April. Over the past week I have come to appreciate the amount of effort and just plain 'amazingness' that my wife has embodied since I changed jobs. As I have tried to keep up with the kids and everything while she has been gone I have come to understand a little more what it is like everytime I fly off for a week or two.

Thank you Patti for all that you have done for the kids, the home and for me while I have been traveling and working far too much. I love you and truly appreciate it.

Anyway, for those of you (including Patti) who are curious, I am going to throw on a few pictures of the Dominican Republic. We are launching a site down there and I have been heavily involved in all of the IT infrastructure setup.

I hope all is well with you all and I will try not to hijack Patti's blog too often. She comes home tomorrow, so she probably won't let me!

As some of you know I was stuck down there on Father's Day, since I had to work all day Saturday before it and be there for a meeting Monday morning, there was no way to get home. (It takes anywhere from 14 - 39 hours to fly to PDX from there, depending on how bad the airlines mess with you... if you want an earful about the demons of the underworld conspiring to ruin my ability to get home ask me about the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport sometime - or maybe don't...) Anyway, I decided to go out to the beach on Father's Day with a co-worker and I ate at Boca Marina for lunch. Here is a picture taken there.

It was good food, and a great place to eat. The view was amazing. That almost made up for being stuck there - and if it hadn't been a 2 week trip, maybe it would have... maybe. Anyway, here are a couple of more pictures, I guess they don't need a lot of dialogue.

(That is sand, not snow...)

Above, the Caribbean beach of Boca Chica about 30 km outside of Santo Domingo.

Below, the view from my hotel room in Santo Domingo.

All in all, I would have rather been home - to be honest - but if I couldn't be home, at least I got to see something new.

Patti - thank you so much for doing it ALL by yourself for so much of the time! I love you.

I can't believe it has been two weeks!

So it has been two weeks since I posted. I have been keeping myself busy playing in the nice weather with my kids. Jared has been gone a lot lately so we have been trying to keep ourselves occupied!! We signed up for a reading club at the library in the last two weeks. We have had fun playing outside and even got to go to Blue Lake Park and play in the water area. The few short days Jared was home we hiked Horsetail Falls, which was fun, but we got eaten alive by mosquitoes (well at least I did, 20!!) Right now I am preparing to leave town for a week for a family reunion in Illinois. I am going by myself with some of my other family. I am really excited and probably will take lots of pictures and will post them when I get back. I haven't downloaded the current pics right now, so just a short update to let you know I am alive.

Happy Father's Day!!

Jared was not able to be with us for Father's day this year, but we were able to call him and see him via the Internet web cam. The kids really missed him, but we will celebrate when he gets back next weekend. Happy Father's Day, My Love!! We miss you bunches!! Thanks for being the husband and Father that you are. You are such a great dad to our children and they love you so much and for all that you do for them. Here is the picture of them that you wanted from this morning, before we went to Craig and Pam's ward for Brian to be ordained. We love you, honey and can't wait to celebrate when you get home.

Since Jared was gone, we decided that we would go and celebrate Father's Day with my dad and have dinner!! Happy Father's day Dad, thanks for all that you have done for me growing up and all that you still do for me. I love you!!

The Sun is OUT!!

Let's go play!! I am so happy it has been sunny the last couple of days. So on Saturday we we decided that we would go to Blue Lake Park and maybe go in the water park thing that they have there and have a picnic lunch also. I wasn't sure if the kids would get in water since it was only in the 70's, but they did, what troopers!! So while Lexi, Spence and their cousin Billy played in the water Bella was watching them play and really wanted to go in and see what the fun was all about. Here is her looking at the water wanting to walk over there and play. (oh I forgot to tell you she is full on walking a little unstable at times, but prefers to walk most of the time!)
So I decided to let her go in the water, since I figured that she wouldn't like it and come right back out. Does the picture look like she didn't like??

Of course she loved it and got all wet and didn't want to come out, but I made her so that I could put her swimsuit on. Here is a pic of Lexi and Bella playing in the water!! She is having so much fun.

Even when it was time to go she didn't want to be done. Here she is trying to escape back to the water!!

After the water we went over to the playground and let the kids play for a little while.

All in all we had a great day and the kids were totally exhausted by the time that we got home! Thanks sun for coming out to play!!

I had to add this last picture of Bella she has a thing for shoes. While we were at the park she had both pairs of her shoes and just wanted to hold them. She does this all the time, she will walk around the house with her shoes. I think it is just so silly!!

Lexi is now a Second Grader!!

Lexi had her last day of school this last week. She is so excited that she is now a Second Grader. She had a different type of First grade, with the move and all. I realized that I didn't get a picture of her other teacher at her old school. But here is a picture with her teacher that she had at her new school. Below is a picture from the first day of 1st grade to the last day of 1st grade.

Way to go my beautiful angel!!

My Beautiful Niece Graduated!!

My oldest sister's second child, Sarah, graduated from High school this last week. I was able to attend it and was so happy to be there. We were also able to attend her graduation party the next night where Bella had fun in the grass in their backyard. I had fun talking with family. Congrats, Sarah I am so proud of you!

Abby and Bella chillin' in the grass

Bella playing with the graduate!