We drove to Canada and surprised Rogene's family who didn't think we would make it to the big Christmas eve party.  My sister and her family came too!

I ran into a store somewhere in Washington state to get some crushed pineapple (for a recipe I was bringing to the Christmas eve party) and when I came out my girls were peeking out the sun roof.

Lolo and Lola were very surprised!

Tessa, Emma and Andrew have a pre-party slumber party.

Gabriella and Emma at the party.

Tessa and Rianna

Pam and Darryl at the party.

Braden and some girls upstairs. 

Emma provided the music for the evening.

Tessa and Emma got to open presents Christmas morning with ALL their cousins!

The tree and a million gifts.

Tessa, Rianna, Emma and Andrew.

Anson, Tessa, Rianna and Andrew.

Waiting to open gifts.

More waiting…

Okay, now OPEN!

Kiara doesn't look like she just crawled out of bed.

More passing out gifts.

Emma opening one of her gifts.

Jordan and Anson getting a big surprise.  Lhevinne (their mom) told them she was not able to find a RockBand for them, which was their biggest Christmas wish.  She even wrapped and hid the box so they for sure would be surprised.

Playing RockBand.   Jordan on drums, Braden and Lhevinne on guitar, and Darryl on vocals.

Trey playing Guitar Hero.

Tessa got a Nintendo DS!  (She is hugging it.)

Playing the DS with Auntie Pam and Kiara.

Emma says "More berry!"  (Strawberry)

And then it SNOWED!   Our first white Christmas ever.

Braden built a snowman.

Kiara enjoying the snow.

Here I am teaching Emma how to make a snowball to throw at Braden.

Braden pelting us with snowballs.

Pam throwing a snowball at Braden.

Emma enjoying the snow.

The day after Christmas we all went out for dinner.

Rianna, Gabriella and Tessa.

Cousins.

Lhevinne and her kids.

Riccoh, Rianna and Marj.

Original 5 Talentos.

Lolo and Lola with their grand kids.

The Larsons.

Emma and Gabriella.

It was a very fast but very fun trip!

At least we went to a different water park this time. 

Yes, Emma is nearly losing her bikini bottoms.

In July we went to our church's Camp Meeting.  My friend Shanell and her family flew in for the big event.  We got to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday going to meetings and seeing old friends.  It was awesome. 

Tessa and Emma in one of their children's classes riding in a boat (on wheels) while wearing sailor hats and singing "I Like to Go to the Beach to See What Jesus Made."

Sisters.  It's good to have someone to share the boat with, yes? 

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I tried to get some nice patriotic pictures of my kids this morning.  Tessa is very cooperative these days, but Emma is heading into the "terrible twos" and wants no part of picture taking sessions.   Here is how the last eleventy hundred times I've tried to get pictures have gone.

"The Dirty Look" (Note: Tessa is being a good sport.)

"The Crying" (Note: Tessa is thinking this could take a while.)

"The I'm Outta Here" (Note: Tessa is still hanging in there.)

"The Run Away" (Note: Tessa's smile is starting to get a little stale.)

"The Pouty Impish Look" (Note: Tessa is still smiling in the background.)

"The Give Up and Take A Picture of Just Tessa"

(Birthday party pictures and Tessa's newsletter coming soon.)

After freezing at our campsite for a while, we decided to head down to the beach.  It was about a quarter of a mile from our camp sites.

Lets just say that riding two to a umbrella stroller was NOT my idea.

(It was my dad's idea.  This is the same guy who pulled me and my brother in a wagon behind his motorcycle.  I'll let you guess how that turned out.)

Tessa decided to fly a kite.  Braden and Emma are enjoying the show.

This picture totally makes me smile because it reminds me of every beach trip I went on as a kid.  When my dad goes to the beach he sits on a blanket with shoes on so his feet don't touch any sand, and he covers up with blankets.  My grandmother was the same way.

Braden dug a big hole in the sand.  Emma was really excited about it.  My mom forbid Braden to let anyone bury him up to his neck in the sand.  When he asked why she said, "If a tsunami comes you won't be able to get away."  Frankly, if I were Braden and I was buried up to my neck in the sand, I'd be more worried about someone kicking me in the head. 

Emma went straight for the ocean and didn't stop even when her feet were getting wet.

My sister Pam and her husband Darryl, who was sporting sweat pants that he had put on backward.

Kiara and Emma playing around.

Tessa, taking a break from the kite flying.

Rogene and me, rocking our Roots USA 2002 "pie man" hats.

Tessa trying to keep warm.

Emma making raspberries.

Rogene helping Tessa ride her bike back to the yurt.

Lessons learned on this camping trip (learn from my mistakes, people!)…

• No camping in May in Oregon
• No camping at the Oregon Coast (usually cold and windy)
• Be prepared for the barfing with extra EVERYTHING

Oh yes, it was warm.  WARM!

My dad makes awesome fires.  They even burn OUTSIDE the fire pit.

Braden and Tessa warming up by the fire.

My mom, sister and I went for a morning walk.  We saw this Tsunami Evacuation Route sign. 

The sign… it was pointing towards the bathroom.  My sister thought the sign might be suggesting that you might need to use the restroom if you see a tsunami coming.

My parents, trying not to freeze to death.

Rogene got his laptop fired up and managed to get our church web cam going so we could watch the church service.

My family had a birthday party for me.  They even managed to get this cake (and gifts!) to the camp out in one piece.  How awesome is that?!

Emma found the hidden cookies and brought them to me.  I wasn't kidding about "denying requests for cookies" taking up a large portion of my time. (We accidentally left the cookies out and the raccoons helped themselves that night.)

Emma laughs at my feeble attempt to hide the cookies.

Grandma and Grandpa had the kids over to the RV each evening for a nice warm bath before bed.

Hold on to your hats… Yurt Camping Weekend Extravaganza - Part 3 is coming soon.

For my birthday and Mother's day weekend, I talked my whole family into going Yurt camping.  At the Oregon coast.  In May.  In 50 degree weather. (Wind chill made it more like 12 degrees).  I just have to say… my family members are really good sports to participate in this hare brained scheme.

Behold, our Yurt.

All yurts are clearly marked, so the raccoons can keep track of whose food they have raided.

The yurt on the left is mine, the yurt on the right is my sisters.  My parents brought their RV and were at the campsite just across the path.

This is what the inside of our yurt looked like when we arrived.

Another picture of our yurt when we first arrived.

My sister told me all the important things to bring for comfort and also to make your yurt look cute.

• matching comforters for the beds
• table cloth for the inside table
• flowers for the table
• matching towels and blankets

She also said to bring a table cloth and flowers for the outside picnic table too.

A welcome mat is always nice, and helps keep the dirt out of the yurt.  Hey, that rhymes!

Maybe, just maybe, instead of bringing all this stuff I should have brought, oh I don't know…

• extra towels, blankets, sheets, pajamas for when Tessa woke up in the middle of the night and rained down barf from the top bunk into my cupped hands (I couldn't find anything to catch the barf with at a moment's notice!) and all over our bedding, towels, and pajamas.
• more t-shirts for the next day when Emma barfed on my last clean t-shirt

Stay tuned for Yurt Camping Weekend Extravaganza - Part 2.  Coming soon.

It's my sister's birthday!  Pam, I hope this will be your best birthday ever!  Thanks for being such a great sister!

Go over to her blog, Terrific Teens, and wish her a great one!

Here are some photo booth pictures of us through the years.  We haven't been to the photo booth in a while, apparently.  Pam, lets go get some new photo booth pictures ASAP!

Our first photo booth picture.

With our cousin Teri

High School/College Years

Pretending to pick our noses (a favorite pose of ours).

Singing?  Practicing for future dentist office visits?  Being chased by a wild dog? Telling the "Wide Mouth Frog" joke?

With Darryl, Pam's husband.