Thanksgiving in Oregon outnumbered by kids

Now that we are in driving distance of family and Whitney had the entire week of Thanksgiving off of school, the kids and I decided to head to my parents house in Oregon for 10 days. Jim had to work since he had asked to have a week at Christmas off. We headed north with a stop in Idaho to see my dad's parents, pick my mom up in Boise, and then onto our stop for the night in Oregon. The next morning we made a detour up into WA to pick up my brothers 3 kids. His family was planning on coming down for the holiday but my sister in law ended up having a c-section the next morning so it was good we had picked up the older kids. We stopped in Portland to pick up my mom's van and two more cousins. The cousins had a blast playing together the entire week. My brother Kyle, his wife Diane, and their twin boys joined us a few days later. We had a fun Thanksgiving together but missed the others that couldn't make it. The kids enjoyed a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, two trips to the indoor water park, making gingerbread houses, nightly swims in the hot tub, and playing with their cousins all day long. We got delayed a day returning home due to a snowstorm but otherwise had a wonderful trip.

When we left there was no snow on the ground and we come home to this huge pile in our yard from all the snow Jim had to shovel while we were out of town.

Children's museum

We got a deal on a six month pass to the children's museum which is perfect as it gives us something to do when it is cold out. Jonas loves to play at the water station and in the tree house. Maren of course loved getting on the horse and loves the little town with the grocery store, house, farm, and construction zone. We went one day for a special program with the Radio City Rockettes. The girls got to learn how to do the kick line and make their own dancing doll.

Home Sweet Home

We moved into our new home on Halloween day. The house is three floors with a walkout basement. We can truly say there is space for everything even guests so come and stay! Here's few shots sans furniture of the house:


Getting the keys -- Backyard



Kitchen and view from kitchen/family room


View from family room and dining room


Entryway/Living & Dining rooms/Office -- Maren dancing in the basement


View from the back deck, the street lives up to it's name Sunset Ridge

As you may be able to tell one of the things that really drew us to this place was the incredible amount of natural light in the house and the great view that goes with it. It's a great house in a great location (only 8 miles to the nearest ski resort!) with awesome neighbors.

Happy Halloween!

We had a week of Halloween celebrations this year. It started off with Trunk or Treating at the church the weekend prior to Halloween. Jonas quickly figured out the candy thing to the point of starting to steal it from other kids buckets. Then there was a costume parade and class party at school for Whitney. We then finished it off with trick or treating the day we moved into our new house. When the first trick or treaters knocked I wasn't ready since I hadn't tracked down the box with the candy in it yet. Luckily they were our neighbors so they just came back by later on. It was fun to meet some of our neighbors that way on our first day here. We had soup in pumpkin bread bowls and witches brew (homemade rootbeer) for dinner.

Fall color drives

A few days this fall I would take the kids for a drive up the canyons to look at all the pretty fall colors. I love the bright yellow aspen trees mixed in amongst the dark green pine trees. Here is some of what we saw:

First snow

This is the sight we woke up to this morning. Now I don't mind the snow as I love to ski but there is just something wrong about it snowing before Halloween!

3 Little Monkeys

We don't normally let the kids jump on the couch but they were having so much fun on this rainy day that I couldn't help capture it.