A Walk Along the River

Weekend trip to Long Beach

In February we went to Long Beach with the kids and Jeremy's family for a weekend. We had 2 old houses rented that were full of antiques. We ate lots of food and played fun games. 

We all wanted to go for hike, but the trail was really flooded. We were deciding if we should keep going or turn back. We turned back. 

This was a short walk to the beach from our houses. It was cold and windy.

This beach we drove to after the attempted hike. 

On our way home we stopped in Astoria to see the Column.

The view from the top after climbing up all the stairs.

 It was really windy up at the top and so cold. 

Not Too Much Going On

I'm not even sure if anyone reads this blog. I've kind of gotten out of the habit of writing on here and I admit I don't always take the time to read everyone else's. I do go occasionally and catch up on what I've missed. I love seeing everyone's pictures and kids growing up so fast.

Our kids are all healthy and doing mostly well in school. The house is slowly coming along. We got half of our fence up not too long ago. The busiest side of the yard that needed it the most. Jeremy built me a couple of garden beds in the back yard to plant some vegetables in. The cold weather that I thought was gone for the year came back and killed my tomato plants already. The rest of them are surviving so far. I'm hoping to get some paint soon and add some color to the inside of our house. Aside from the mess, it kind of looks like we just moved in.

Arizona Road Trip

The Salt Flats

Grand Canyon

Manny and Marla

Jeremy and Hunter

Mike and Jeremy

Tamara, Hunter and Taryn

Tamara, Rachael, Elise, Devin, Ryan, Cody, Dylan and Taryn

The kids in front of the Luxor

In July we took a family vacation to Arizona and back. Along the way we made fun stops and saw very cool things. We left on a Friday right after lunch.

Our first stop for the night was Klamath Falls, OR. The next morning we drove an hour to the Lava Beds National Monument in Tulelake, CA. There we saw Lava Beds and climbed through Ice Caves. The kids had so much fun, I don't think they wanted to leave. After the Lava Beds we drove to a Fallan Nevada and stayed there for the night.

Sunday we woke up and drove to Las Vegas. We made it just in time for dinner. After dinner we had time to walk around and see a few different hotels and do a little souvenir shopping.

Monday we were a little slow getting around not realizing how long of a drive we had ahead of us to get to Casa Grande, AZ to stay with my cousin and her family. We did finally arrive about nine o'clock that evening. We ordered pizza and chatted until we were too tired to chat. The next day we had a yummy Breakfast and a BBQ lunch. The kids got to swim and get to know their cousins.

After lunch we drove to Scottsdale, AZ to spend the next three days with Mike, Jen (Jeremy's dad and his wife) and Jeremy's little brother Hunter at their second home. We got to visit, the kids spent most of the days in the pool and we ate great food. Jeremy's grandma flew out from Iowa to visit too.

We then headed to Chandler, AZ to spend the following three days with Manny and Marla (Jeremy's dad and his wife). They didn't have room to sleep all of us so we stayed in a near by hotel. We visited and the kids swam and again we ate great food.

Monday morning it was time to head home. We stopped at the Grand Canyon before we reached our first stop in Kanab, UT. It was so cool seeing the Grand Canyon, something I'll never forget. The next day we stopped at the Great Salt Lake and met up with my very old friend Jolynn that I hadn't seen since high school. We drove to the Salt Flats on our way to Twin Falls, ID where we stopped for the night.

Finally we were on our last driving day and we were almost home. Hopefully the kids will always remember our road trip and I can't wait to do it again someday.

New House

Formal dining room and the walk way.


My Kitchen!


Front of the house.


Back of the house.




For those who haven't heard yet, we had a house built earlier this year. We never imagined the day we would actually have a house big enough for all of us to enjoy. Our house has five bedrooms, two and half baths, a living room, family room, two dinning rooms and kitchen and a two car garage. The build started in February and we moved in in June. It's in the perfect location, the kids didn't have to change schools and Jeremy and I are within walking distance to both of our works.

It's been a while

Hello to those of you who read my blog. I hope to be updating this very soon. New pics and news about what's been going on in the family for the last year. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've posted.

Pumpkin Patch with my Niece

So I get a phone call last week from my sister telling me that I need to take Trinity to the pumpkin patch this year. Last year she got to go with her pre school class so I took her brother. Well, this year he is in pre school and went with his class. Her thinking is that I took him last year so I must have to take her this year. I was so happy to hear that she wanted to go!
My friend from work was planning on going to a pumpkin patch with her niece too so we decided to take the girls together. It was a different one that I hadn't previously been to. It was a bit of a drive too. When we got there we did a pumpkin launch, walked through a really dark hay maze that you needed a flash light to see where you were going, played in the kids play area, Trinity got to ride a pony and then we picked out our pumpkins. On the way home we had lunch at Burger King and then Trinity came over and played at my house for a couple of hours with the kids.