Since We've Been Back

It's been almost two weeks since we got back from our trip and I can't believe how busy life has been. Between catching up on blogging, laundry, and church stuff I haven't had a whole lot of free time. Ian has been busy (as usual) with work, so that has been hard too. It's nice that the summer weather is here finally. We have been to the pool, played at the park, caught more bugs, and done some fun outings.

Last week we also had lots of time at home while I was doing laundry and cleaning the house. Davin has been really into dressing up lately. Most of our costumes are too big on him, but he loves them anyway, especially Bumblebee. He also told me that he is going to ask Santa for a Spiderman suit. :)
Talia is pretty much the cutest baby ever. She started sleeping through the night since we have been home from Oregon and that makes everyone happy. She had a little growth spurt last week too and slept a ton during the day. No complaints from me! When she was awake she was a happy girl!
Last Friday we went to a little fun center called Jungle Jim's. I bought a 10 visit punch pass, so it's a good thing the kids loved it! We ended up staying for about four hours and eating lunch there. Next time we go we will invite some friends so the kids have someone to play with. Talia was pretty content to watch from her stroller or my lap.
Davin loved the jeeps and the airplanes the most.

Weston was brave and did the big roller coaster all by himself, but his favorite thing was the bumper cars. Somehow I didn't get a picture of him on them, but he rode them over and over again for at least half an hour.

There were also swings, a carousel, a giant climbing play area, and arcade games. It will be great for the really hot days when it's too windy to go to the pool.

We had a good 4th of July weekend too. Ian had a rough DIY day though. He spent all afternoon on Saturday working on the light fixture on the boy's new ceiling fan, but couldn't get the light to work. The fan works fine, so for the moment they are without an overhead light. We went to the pool together, which was nice. Later that evening Ian decided to put the air conditioner in the window since Sunday was supposed to hit 100 degrees. He was cutting a new sheet of plexiglass to fill the rest of the window space when he sliced open his thumb. Sigh. Let's just say there was lots of blood, slightly less cursing, and seven stitches when all was said and done. Poor Ian.

Sorry for the poor quality, poorly lit phone pic

Monday we celebrated the 4th of July with a BBQ with friends, then we went and watched fireworks at Murray Park. It was a great group, a beautiful day, and a fun celebration. I'm very thankful to live in America and to have so many freedoms. I am thankful to all the people who serve in our armed forces and for those who give so much of their time to serve in public office. Our country would not be what it is without the sacrifice of so many. God bless America.

It's a Date!

After our day at the beach our trip slowed down a little. We had more time to hang out and play Mario Kart, play in the yard, and visit with family. On Tuesday afternoon Weston and Davin got to go spend the night with Aunt Aly! Ian and I dropped them off at Aly's apartment and she took them to see Rio at the cheap theater, then fed them pizza and let them sleep in her living room. They had a great time. Thanks Aly!

All the cousins playing Mario Kart . . . aren't they cute?!?

While the boys were playing with their auntie, we left Talia with Grandma and Papa and went on a date! First stop was the nicklecade for some skee ball and air hockey. Next we drove into Portland and wandered the shops for a bit before our dinner reservation. We bought some paperbacks at the Portland Library book shop, and perused fun cards at a paper store. I love downtown Portland (when it's not raining). It's such a pretty city with so much character.

After shopping for awhile we went to dinner at a fun fondue place called Urban Fondue. It was delicious. It was a great date dinner because it took so long. There was plenty of time to talk. After dinner we decided to drive over to another part of the city and go to Powell's Books (can you tell I love bookstores?). Powell's is ginormous! We spent most of our time in the children's section, but we also checked out the puzzle books and the design section.
I really wanted to go to Voodoo Donuts. It's kind of a Portland "thing," but neither Ian nor I had ever been there. Plus, I love donuts. The main location was closed for renovation, so we went to the other location. It was 10pm and packed! The line was out the door. We also discovered that they are cash only when we got there, so we scraped together all our change and had enough to get a few donuts, so we waited in line and ended our evening with a yummy treat.
On Wednesday morning Aly dropped the boys off and life went back to normal. :) We decided to go mini golfing. We went to an actual golf course that had a beautiful little mini course out front. We were the only ones there so the boys got to roam around and putt their balls into whatever hole they wanted. This made it much more enjoyable for the adults. Plus Oregon is just gorgeous. Weston wants me to make sure that I include that fact that he fell and scraped his knee. I guess it was rather tragic.

Pre-knee scrape. All smiles.

Wednesday night Ian and I snuck out and saw Source Code at the cheap theater. It's a really cool, old theater with a balcony. I actually really liked the movie too. Shorter and happier than your typical thriller.

Thursday morning we all went fishing. We went to this same trout farm a couple years ago when Davin was a baby and the fish were biting like crazy. Weston caught 4 fish in about half an hour. This time though it was rather slow. We were there for almost an hour and a half and only caught 3 fish total. Davin got two and Weston got one. Poor Ivy didn't snag any, but she didn't seem too upset about it. Weston had one on the line right before we were going to leave, but just when Ian went to net it the fish flopped off. It was a little disappointing, but we all managed to leave happy since Weston enjoyed watching the fish getting cleaned. Davin looked grossed out the whole time. It was funny. Jim fried up the fish for dinner, along with some tilapia. Weston was the only one who ate the trout though. I am so impressed that he will eat it like that, especially because this time it was fried whole, head and all.

Friday morning Great Grandma Bowles and Emilee and Ivy headed home. The house felt so empty! We ran a couple errands, then came home for lunch. That afternoon we went to see Cars 2. It was fun. The boys loved it. I thought it was ok. Certainly not my favorite Pixar movie, however I thought it was worth the price of the movie just to see the Toy Story short at the beginning. Hilarious!

That night we played cards and gathered up our stuff. Saturday morning we packed up the car and hit the road. We stopped again in Boise for the night. We swam and grabbed some dinner, then came back and tried to sleep. Our room was right next to the basketball court and so it was loud. Finally at 10:30 Ian went and complained, but it was still a noisy night. On Sunday all I wanted was a good night's sleep in my own bed.
Thankfully we made it home without incident and I got that good night's sleep! I can't believe we have already been home for more than a week. Now back to our regularly scheduled life . . .

The Oregon Coast

We had a fantastic time at the coast! We picked a good day. The weather was lovely, sunny and about 70. The water was even warm! We drove out in the morning and went to McDonald's for lunch as soon as we got there.
After lunch we wandered Main Street in Seaside. We rode the carousel, bought souvenir sweatshirts, then hit the candy shop. We got some fun flavors of salt water taffy, a vintage orange soda, and cookies and cream fudge. I let the boys each pick 3 pieces of candy. Davin chose boring stuff like a DumDum and a mini Airhead, but Weston ventured out a little and got a gummy earthworm. It looked gross and he loved eating it and pretending it was a real worm.
The boys ran around on the boardwalk while we took some family pictures. This is the same spot where we took a family picture when we went to the coast in 2009.
Our last stop before the hitting the sand was the Seaside bookstore. It was so fun! I found the greatest ABC Superhero book with fun characters like Aqua Man and The Volcano who vomits on villains. The boys love it, especially Weston.

Finally we got our gear and headed out to the ocean. We set up our stuff on the sand and enjoyed the sun and sand and water. The kids flew their kites with Ian and Aunt Aly. Even Talia got her feet wet. It was a lovely afternoon.




In the late afternoon the clouds rolled back in and it was time for dinner. It was Ian's parents' 31st wedding anniversary, so they took us all out for fish and chips. It was delicious. Thanks Jim and Den! :)
We wandered Main Street a little more and stopped for some ice cream, then piled into our cars tired from our fun in the sun. We will definitely have to make going to the coast a tradition!

We ended up having to take a 30 minute detour in the middle of the already 2 hour drive, but it was gorgeous! Seriously, as we were driving through winding country roads and passing beautiful farmhouses in green valleys I could understand (a little bit) why people would want to live out in the middle of nowhere. It would be like having your own little piece of the world.

Father's Day!

Sunday morning we took family pictures. Ian's parents have very late church, 2-5, so we had plenty of time to come home from pictures, eat lunch, and open Father's Day presents. In addition to getting BYU football season tickets, I gave Ian a new tie (original, right?) along with matching ties for each of his boys. They looked so handsome all dressed up in their matching Sunday best.
I felt bad that this Father's Day got a little lost in the vacation and family, but I hope that Ian felt loved. He is a great dad. I am so lucky to have him as my partner in parenting. We love you Ian!!!

OMSI & A Party

One of the things Weston really wanted to do while we were in Oregon was go to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, so we spent most of Saturday playing there. It was a perfect day for it too since it rained all day.

We went a year and a half ago when we were there at Christmas in 2009 and he has talked about it ever since. It was actually free this trip too because our Discovery Gateway Children's Museum (in Salt Lake) pass works there. We had a blast and it was much less crowded than when we went at Christmas last time.

Ian and Weston shooting a bottle rocket.

Talia loved this little baby ball pit. She sat there happily for a good 15 minutes.

Weston in the space shuttle simulator.

All of my boys were enthralled with this spinning wheel exhibit.

Most of the group in the earthquake simulator. It was pretty fun. You could push a button to simulate different strength quakes.

The kids enjoyed playing in the erosion table.

I think Ian and his brother had even more fun than the kids at the erosion table.
Ian flooded the village.

Davin and I sent a few pennies down the spiral.

Weston dressed up like a chipmunk and went in a giant hollowed out tree to collect nuts.

Look who can spell his name!

Weston is a macho macho man.

The kiddos loved the water tables where you could build your own sailboats and paddle boats. Although Ivy just like splashing. A lot.
Check out Weston's look of concentration. Love the tongue!

We had so much fun at OMSI! I think Weston got his fill. We were there for 3 or 4 hours. By the time we got home everyone was exhausted. We relaxed and had some down time for a little bit then rallied in time to get to Uncle Ryan's surprise 30th birthday dinner. Aly was so excited to plan this fun party for her hubby and it was a great success. It was at a really yummy Mexican restaurant and everyone's gifts were contributions so Ryan could renew his medical license that he needs to fly a plane, hence the airplane cake. Happy Birthday Ryan!

The boys sat with Grandma and Papa. They stayed entertained by taking turns wearing Papa's hat.

Aunt Aly with Talia. She was a trooper for having such a long day out and about (Talia, that is). :)

The birthday boy! Happy 30th Ryan!