Cousin time

We had a great visit this last week with some extended family that was in town from Utah. My cousin Aubrey stayed with us for a couple nights, with her baby daughter Linnea. Of course, none of the pictures we got of Linnea even begin to do justice to how beautiful she is!

New beach

Some friends introduced us to a park not too far away on the bank of the Columbia River called Wintler Park. What a hidden gem! There's sand, grass, bathrooms, and of course water to play in, and it's free! We'll definitely be visiting this often over the summer.

I love this picture of Chloe's little prancing in action:

JR busted out the Cheez-Its to feed to the birds and quickly drew up quite a crowd of seagulls:

Madison's Two-Wheeler!

A couple weeks ago JR took Madison out on her two-wheel bike to get a feel for how she'd do. Lo and behold, she picked it up immediately! I was so excited because I've been wanting him to teach her since last summer. What a big girl! Here she is in action:

Proud father, proud daughter:

We intended this to just be a posed shot (thus no helmet) . . .

But then she just took off!

Memorial Day at Alderbrook

We had a great long weekend at Alberbrook (my grandparents' property near the Oregon Coast) for Memorial Day last month. The first night it was just ourselves along with Andy and Holly and their little Owen. The next day more aunts, uncles and cousins arrived and we had a grand time, roasting s'mores at the campfire, shopping at the outlet mall, and of course, playing in the sand!

With my parents and my little sis Merilee. Ignore my funky windswept hair:


I LOVE this picture of Chloe and my cousin Chase:

JR gave the girls a ride on Great Grandpa's riding lawnmower. Too bad he didn't actually mow any of the grass. Sorry gramps!

My mom rocks!

Last month we celebrated my mom's 50th birthday and her graduation from Oregon Health & Science University (she's now a Master of Science and a Certified Nurse Midwife, along with a Bachelor of Science, and a Registered Nurse - yeah, she's basically awesome). It was fun to get everyone together, friends and family alike, to celebrate this incredible woman. I'm so blessed to have a mommy like mine! Here are a few pix from the shindig.

With my baby sister Merilee, who is graduating from high school tomorrow!

Catch-up time

There's a lot to catch up on over the last month. Here goes: Easter was great - we always get two of each holiday because we celebrate with JR's family down in McMinnville a week or two before so we don't have to travel too much on actual holidays. I love this method, it's worked out awesome for our families. Here are some pix of our first Easter with JR's family:

These were taken right before we left:

The girls with Shelby, JR's nephew's daughter. I think that makes them 1st cousins once removed???

Madison and Shelby were saying "Best Friends Forever" and clinking their glasses in a toast - so cute!

The granddaughters (and a great-granddaughter) with Grammy: Chloe with her loot:

Also, for Easter, a neighboring stake puts on a huge "Life of Christ" exhibit with art and scenes from Christ's life, musical performances, and children's rooms where they can make crafts, dress up like women from Christ's time or angels, hear stories, etc. It is AWESOME and worth the drive to get up here! Here are some cute pictures from that:

There was a tent set up with grain and bowls kind of like a sandbox - the girls could have stayed in there for hours.

Chloe admiring herself in the mirror:

Aside from Easter, Madison had an interesting experience the other day. We and our neighbors, who have an 8- or 9-yr-old daughter over every other weekend or so, had a garage sale over the weekend. The three girls were playing most of the day outside while the dads were watching over the sales. It was great! But then, Saturday night after we'd gone inside and the sales were over, Madison told me that she had accidentally broken one of the neighbors' sale items while she and the neighbor girl were playing with a ball. So I explained to her that she should have told me sooner and that she needed to pay for what she broke with her money in her piggy bank (they get a small allowance each month for doing their daily chores). She had been nonchalant when telling me at first, but after I kind of scolded her, she got really remorseful, and almost started crying. That's typical for Madison - she'll frequently cry when she makes a bad choice, just out of feeling sorry. I'm grateful for this trait, which unfortunately has not developed in Chloe yet whatsoever! Anyway, instead of being nervous to go to the neighbors' and apologize, she reminded me a few times that we needed to go - she was excited to go! So we did - we went next door and I explained the situation and let Madison say sorry and that she'd like to pay for the item she broke. The neighbor gal was super sweet about it - the item had only cost a quarter, but I assured her that this was more about teaching Maddie a lesson than it was about money. What a great lesson on integrity for my little girl!

Madison's Birthday

On March 7th we had Madison's Popstar Birthday party. I had fun putting together a themed party that I read about in Family Fun Magazine. We made guitars and microphones: Opened presents:

And ate a guitar-shaped cake!

Here are all the girls together - fun!

The grown-up is my sister Rachel with her little girl Mary.L-R top row: Madison, Madilyn, Madisyn, Kylie, Ryland, Kyra.

L-R bottom row: Rachel, Mary, Chloe, Jadyn, Leah

Thanks for coming everyone! And for the generous gifts. The party was a great success.