Cheap Date Night

JR and I had a fun date night last week, thanks to my sister, Rachel. She had won tickets to a very small, private Ryan Cabrera/Charlotte Sometimes show, but had her baby just a little over a week before the show. So, needless to say, she and her husband couldn't go, and she was gracious enough to give us their tickets. I had never heard any Ryan Cabrera music, and only one Charlotte Sometimes song, so studied up a bit before we went to the show. Ryan Cabrera has had a few hits, but I think it's safe to say he's risen to popularity more for who he knows, and his pretty boy looks than for his talent. He is managed by Jessica and Ashlee Simpson's dad, and he dated Ashlee for quite a while a few years ago. Now he's completely changed his look (you wouldn't even recognize him), and he's been dating Lisa Marie Presley's daughter, Riley, for a couple of years (even though she's 17 and he's 26!). I get the sense that he's kind of a jerk in real life, and this was exemplified in the fact that on stage, he described writing his new single as being about a time when his girlfriend was cheating on him and he found out, but instead of confronting her, he took the opportunity to cheat on her too. Wow, what a great guy! At any rate, though, his music is easy on the ears, and he was a good performer. Here are some crappy pictures we got (Ryan is on the right - the guy on his left was his backup):

Charlotte Sometimes is a newcomer, and I really dig her sound. Check her out here! When I complained to JR about Ryan's attitude about the cheating song, he pointed out that Charlotte wasn't all that complimentary of men, either. Her first single is titled "How I Could Just Kill a Man." Still, I really do like her.
Here's a link to her video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtZqVE_OyzU

Clark County Fair

We finally got around this year to attending the Clark County Fair a couple weeks ago . It's a really big one with lots of stuff to do, but it's also really expensive, which is why we've never bothered before. But now that both the girls are a little older and able to enjoy this kind of stuff, these things are really fun and usually well worth it. Aside from some whining, and eating crappy food, we had a great time! The day started out by parking at the mall and taking to bus to the fairgrounds. Here I am with the kids waiting for the fun bus ride:

Once we got there, the girls pretty much had candy in their hand non-stop.

Here are Chloe and Daddy waiting for the Motocross show.

Those dudes are crazy!

Both girls got a kick out of the cowboy on stilts. Here's Madison in his lasso.

After exploring as many of the fair booths as we could stand, we went on some amusement rides, just the kiddie ones that Chloe could go on. I went on the airplane ride . . .

Then JR took them on a roller coaster:

Then we all went on the kiddie Yo-Yo ride. That's the one that looks like this:

PGE Park

Last Friday (8/1/08), we went with my brother, Andy and his wife, Holly, to a Portland Beavers game at PGE Park (minor league baseball). It was super fun to take the kids to the "the great American pastime," and it was free! The Oregonian (local newspaper) had messed up on our subscription or something, so to compensate they gave us 4 tickets to the game. Here's all of us before we went into the park, in front of a weird but cool sculpture. Madison and JR are the irises of the eyes!

The snacks were ridiculously expensive, of course, but we let Madison buy a snowcone with her own money ($4!), and she even shared with the rest of us.Chloe is still talking about "Lucky" the Beavers' mascot who was running around the whole game dancing and playing with the kids. I LOVE this picture of JR. What a handsome guy I married!Thanks for joining us, Holly and Andy!

It's happening

My 5-year-old daughter is turning into a tween. Case in point: last night, for the first time, she yelled that she hated me when I put her in the laundry room as a consequence for her bad behavior. I was soooo not ready for this horrible rite of passage! I didn't cry or really have my feelings hurt, it was just sad to hear something so awful come out of my dear sweet daughter's mouth. What's even more heartbreaking is that after her time out was over, she felt so bad. I'm so grateful Madison has very strong remorse reflexes. When she does something really bad, she ends up crying afterwards out of guilt. Sad to see, but important too!

American Idol Live!

Last Friday, 7/11, my mom took all my sisters and I to see American Idol Live at the Rose Garden. We went out to dinner before the show at a very popular place right on the Columbia River called Beaches. The show itself was awesome! Each of the top ten did three songs solo (except David Cook, of course, who did 5-7 songs), then there were a few group numbers. Everyone did a great job, and it was really cool to see them all in real life. Besides Cook, Brooke White definitely stood out. She was so charming and comfortable on stage, while some of the others seemed awkward between songs. Of course, the other highlight for me was seeing Jason Castro. My sisters and mom hate him, and I LOVE him, so they all laughed good-naturedly when he came onstage and I stood up and screamed, "I love you , Jason!" He's just so dreamy! Oh, and I love his voice too.



My sisers and mom were all freaking out when Archuleta stepped out. I must say, he seemed much more mature and seasoned than he did on the show. Of course, his voice has always been stellar, but he's so boyish and awkward when he's not singing that I can't take him too seriously. But he did a really great job, although we did wish he had sung Imagine. My siser, Merilee, is convinced she'll marry him someday.

Getaway

This last Monday (7/14), we had the opportunity to head out of town with the kids for a couple of nights. Woohoo! We hadn't done this since we were pregnant with Chloe, so it was a welcome retreat. My mom is in midwifery school full time at Oregon Health and Science University, so she usually can't spend as much time with the girls as she'd like, but she has the summer off. So she graciously and happily agreed to have the girls overnight a couple of nights. We didn't do anything too glamorous - instead we opted for the relaxing. We spent both nights at my grandparents' own little paradise: 6 beautiful acres just outside Lincoln City, about 20 minutes from the beach. During the day, we went out to lunch with my grandparents and did some shopping on our own. Not much more than that! We just needed some time to slow down and enjoy not having a schedule.

Camping for the 4th

We had a bunch of extended family up from Utah for the 4th of July and got to do all sorts of fun stuff with them while they were here. First, on June 27th, we had my aunt and uncle, Sheri and Sam, and their 5 kids stay with us overnight. Even though they're my aunt and uncle, they're both more like peers and we're really close with them, and it was so nice to have a house big enough to accomodate their big brood! They used to live in Portland but moved to Utah a few years ago and we miss them terribly!

The next day, we were able to attend the sealing of my other aunt and uncle to their 4 adopted children. That was awesome, especially because it's taken a really long to time for them to finally be able to adopt most of them and it's been a long time coming. They have 6 children plus 4 adopted now! Wow. And their first grandbaby on the way!

After the sealing, we all headed to my parents house for dinner - there were about 50 of us! It was really hot so the kids were playing in the sprinkler to cool off. Here are some adorable pix of Chloe in her little swimsuit. So cute!

Then for the 4th, we all went camping at the beach. We went to Waldport, which is a few miles south of Newport. The campsite was great, and there was a big sand dune hill to jump off of - a very fun and safe thrill ride that even Madison could enjoy. The fireworks were over a beautiful bay just off the ocean, very cool. Here's a pic of the girls with a couple of their cousins. I love the cousin time! They just play like crazy when they've got their cousins around. Actually, they're technically my cousins, so I believe they are Chloe and Madison's first cousins once removed??

After camping two nights at Waldport, we headed north to Newport, just our little family. We hadn't been to this adorable beach town since we had kids, so it was fun to walk along the historic bayfront with them. We got to see a deep sea fishing boat dock and cut up their catch of the day (sounds gruesome, but it was very interesting to watch), and a couple of guys catch some huge crab right off the pier. Then we drove out to both of Newport's lighthouses.

This one is at the south end of Newport Bay, and is not functioning anymore, but you can go in and take a tour - it's all decked out and furnished like it would have been when the family lived there in the 1800's.

I couldn't help but think how lonely it would have been for that family. This was the first building in Newport, so there was no one else around for miles, and it sits on a really high hill overlooking the coastline. Without other people or paved roads, it would have been very isolating. But I'm sure the family had their great times too. Maybe they even enjoyed being away from it all? There's also a legend that this house in haunted. There's a video that runs in the basement about a young woman who went into the house never to return. I remember the story creeping me out as a kid! I managed to distract Maddie before she could watch the ghost story portion of the video, thank goodness.

This is the other lighthouse in Newport, at the north end of the bay:

Chloe had fallen asleep, so I stayed in the car with her while JR and Madison went in. I didn't mind - I was right in the middle of New Moon