Through the Eyes of a Child

Some cute moments I wanted to share:

 A little while ago, we were all driving in the car when Caleb happily announced, "I have polkadots on me!"  Now, if you know anything about our boy it's that he has allergies, and therefore is prone to get little hives on his skin when he has a reaction to something.  So, I was thinking, "Oh no. What has he gotten into now?!"  I calmly asked him to show me where his polkadots were, as my mind spun circles trying to remember if he had eaten anything new that day that could have caused a reaction.  Guess what he pointed to.....a freckle!  We chuckled quite a bit over that one, as we explained that no, that was called a freckle, not a polka dot.

Caleb got a Halloween package in the mail from my parents in which was a Frankenstein shaped cup.  Here is the following conversation.
Caleb: "What that?
Me: "A Frankenstein cup."
Noting the confused look on Caleb's face, but not wanting to scare him, I explain a little further.  "Frankenstein is a monster, but he's a good one."
Caleb: "Oh. He eat cookies."
Confused look on my face now. Who eats cookies and is a monster?
Light comes on in my brain.....Cookie Monster from Sesame Street!
Me: "Yes, he's like the cookie monster." 
Matter settled.

Hogle Zoo Labor Day Weekend 2012

So, I've been a little slow at posting these pictures, but better late than never, right?  We went down to Utah over Labor Day weekend to attend a baby blessing (which sadly, the few pictures I got of baby Kaiya were really dark, so I ended up deleting them, thinking I would get more, but never did.)  Instead, I got some pictures of my family. 

Richard and I thought Caleb would like the Hogle Zoo, so we went with my familly and had a great time!  I think what Caleb liked the most, though, was being with his uncles Jacob and Evan.  He always had to know where they were and what they were doing, and if at all possible he was right there with them.  It was so cute!

I think these are Colobus monkeys? Whatever their name is, when I saw their tails the word that came to my mind was "elegant," which is not something I normally think of monkeys as, so I thought it was worth trying to capture in the camera.

 

Snacktime!  Grandpa was a hit with the popcorn!

Out of all the zoos we've been to, we finally got a good picture with the giraffes.

I don't think I got this very well, but if you scroll through the next 8 pictures quickly as a sequence of events you might be able to see what the polar bear is doing. 

The polar bear is doing flips in the water!  On the left side there is a glass wall that he pushes off with his paw, floats backward, flips himself around underwater, and swims back to the glass wall. I didn't get a picture of this, but the polar bear had a very excited audience at the glass wall.  All of the kids wanted to be front and center when he put his huge paw on that glass!

GRADUATION!!

Some of you already know, but some of you don't, so I thought it would be a good idea to publish our latest news on here. 

RICHARD HAS FINALLY GRADUATED FROM ALL OF HIS SCHOOLING!!  YAAYYY!!!!!!! 

(Can you tell I'm excited?)  :))   We are finally into the world of jobs!  I know some of you may be wondering what's so great about entering the workforce, so let me tell you...more stability and a SECOND CAR!  We have lived the majority of our 7 1/2 years of marriage with only one car, and while most of the time it was fine, lately it's been a bit of a struggle for me.  So, if any of you have suggestions on cars/SUV's that you like, let us know! 

We are also going to be moving to Idaho Falls, Idaho come the beginning of December. Richard was offered a good post-doctorate position at the Idaho National Lab (INL), so "a-packing we will go, a-packing we will go, heigh-ho the merry-o, a-packing we will go!"  We are excited to be closer to family, and I'm sure they, especially grandparents, are excited for us to be closer as well.  Hopefully, we will like the INL, and be able to make it a permanent place to live!  Wish us luck!

Summer 2012

What have we been doing this summer?

Learning how to use scissors,

Watching the movie, Oklahoma, and finding out how awesome cowboys are,




Learning how to use the big boy potty,




Finding a new love...fireworks!



Getting buried alive!!

Helping with sandcastles,



Digging to China,



Playing superheroes,

Visiting Peter Iredale shipwreck,



Seeing the shortest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast,




Touring Fort Stevens State Park,




Becoming Bob the Builder with newfound toys,




Having fun at the Tautphaus Park Zoo...




...seeing all the exotic animals...



...lions, and tigers, but no bears, oh my!





Loving the petting zoo...




...even the pig.



Orange Cloud Salad

Here's a quick fruit salad recipe that tastes a lot like Orange Jello Dessert, but is ready in half the time. Nice and refreshing for those hot, summer days!

1-6oz. package orange jello
16oz. cottage cheese
12 oz. Cool Whip
1-15 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
2-11oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained

Sprinkle jello over cottage cheese, stir until dissolved.  Add Cool Whip, pineapple, and mandarin oranges, mix well.  Serve chilled.

(Lion House Recipe Collection)

May Hike

Richard and I got a little stircrazy back in May, and decided we would take a dayhike as part of our Anniversary celebration.  So, we drove to a state park, prepped ourselves with water, and were on our way!

Caleb was very excited to go, and kept running back to get me as I would stop to take pictures along the way.  We heard "Let's go!" and "Come on!" a lot that day. :)

The wildflowers were blooming along the trail, and bumblebees were taking advantage of all that pollen!

More wildflowers!

You can't really see it very well, but Caleb is laughing because he was walking through some tall grass, and it tickled him.

On our way home from our hike we got some nice views of Mt. Hood.

Random point of interest along our trip.  Somebody(ies) built a full scale replica of Stonehenge, and  dedicated it to those who were from Washington and served in the World Wars, I believe. It was kind of cool to see it since I probably won't ever get to see the real thing.

So, that was our trip! We had a fun time seeing a bit more of Washington state, and curing our travel hunger pains for a little bit longer!