It's been a while

I have been pretty bad at keeping up on our blog lately, and Gordon reminded me that I should catch it up, so here goes.

We took a great family trip last summer to Yellowstone and back to BYU. I haven't been back on campus for over 10 years and it was pretty amazing to see the changes. We even had time to get a bowling game in at the Stevenson Union. My mom told me when I started college that I needed to take a fun class each semester and I had a great time picking out a class each semester that I could "relax" and just have fun, while getting a good grade. I don't know if she realized that was the best piece of advice that I got from anyone about college, but it was! I took aerobics, basket weaving (3 times!!), calligraphy, floral arranging, and bowling. I'm sure I took more, but I have a block right now and those are all that I can remember!! It was fun to take Jude back to the bowling alley and tell him that I took a class of bowling, he was pretty jealous!

We had a great time in Yellowstone! It was pretty good weather in early June, so we really didn't get rained on, but it did get cold at night. We tent camped for 3 nights at three different campgrounds within the park. The first night was great, the temperature was comfortable and we put up our new tent for the first time. We followed all the rules while we were camping as they warned us that they had had bears in the campground the night before. We pulled out our campstove and food, made dinner, took our cooking gear to the washroom and cleaned it all up, packed everything back away in the car, brushed our teeth in the bathroom areas and put all deodorant, toothpaste and all other personal items in the car. We didn't see any bears in the campgrounds. The third night we were all in our tent and it was cold (about 28 degrees) and we all were snuggled in our sleeping bags with our snow hats and gloves on to stay warm enough, and we were mostly asleep when there was a horrible howling that brought my eyes wide open! I looked over at Gordon and he said "Just stay still and quiet, those are wolves". Thank goodness that Jude slept through it, because I think he probably would have not wanted to ever go camping again. I was freaked out and could barely go back to sleep. Thank goodness that was our last night in Yellowstone, because I might have made Gordon get a room at one of the lodges if that would have been one of the first nights. But it was all worth it because the park is amazing! It's crazy how geothermal activity can make such beauty! Here are a few pictures we took at Yellowstone, the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, UT and the Golden Spike in Utah where the two Railroads from the East and West met together:

While Dad's away, the kids will play!

Gordon went on a fishing trip with his Dad and a couple of buddies last weekend, so Jude and I and Dallas and Nicole met Monica & Sean, Ricky & Summer, and Ty & Tori, at Bullard's Beach in Bandon. We went to the Wild Animal Park again this year and the kids loved petting the animals. As we walked in, this crazy Peacock was doing a little mating dance and the kids thought it was pretty cool to see all it's feathers, but didn't like it's cawing or ruffling his tail feathers very much. After we walked away and went to look at some other stuff, Summer tried to take another picture of it and it totaled charged her and she had to run to get away...it was hilarious!!!!

At "Nurseryland" the kids got to pet a de-scented skunk...Jude was still weary of the skunk:

Brody liked holding the possum baby:

Kai liked the ferret:

And the ferret really liked Kai:

In fact, he liked Kai so much, that he climbed into his hood and wanted to stay there.

Kai thought it was pretty funny:

Then they all took turns petting the leopard cub. Jude and Kai are the only two that I got pictures of:

There was some digging in the sand after the park, and Maile thought she could maybe tan her backside a bit before the summer really starts! (Summer actually took this picture with Jude's camera and I thought it was hilarious by cracky!)

Aunt Nicole bought all the kids new sand digging equipment and they had a great time building! Plus Monte showed them some sand crabs and helped with the sand buildings. Sean, Ricky and Jared went beach fishing while we went to the park, so we rode our bikes to the beach to meet them. The kids love to ride their bikes, but Maile got tired about the first 1/2 mile, so she rode in the bike trailer with Kai and Brody and Ty carried her bike. It was pretty funny to see Ty riding his bike with a little pink bike on his shoulder! Ricky caught one fish and a guy that was leaving gave him a second, so that night he and Jared cooked them up and had a snack. After dinner we put the kids to bed and sat around the campfire. It was lot of fun!

The Clubhouse

Gordon built Jude a "Clubhouse" in the backyard. So far Jude and all the neighbor boys love playing in the clubhouse. Gordon built a climbing wall to enter the fort through the trap door and a closet door for the entrance/exit to the walkway that goes around the whole structure. (He designed it to look like a Fire Station Lookout with an observation deck.) We received some playground pieces from Gordon's Uncle Mark and Aunt Tina years ago to build our own playground set, so Gordon has been using pieces of that on the clubhouse: the climbing blocks, the monkey bars, the swing (which is on the deck by the house). We still need to put in a slide for the exit, but we haven't found what we are looking for yet for a reasonable price. If anyone has a place to get slides for cheap, let me know please! So far the kids don't seem to mind. Gordon will put a roof on as soon as we have extra money for the materials (ha, ha, extra money).

Spring is in the Air

Since Jude has learned to ride his bike without training wheels, we have been doing a lot of family bike rides! First of all I need to thank Summer for running after Jude and Maile a few fridays ago, to teach them both to learn to ride without training wheels, when I was at work. Jude was so excited to tell me that he could ride his bike without training wheels!! Pretty much everyday since then he has asked to go on a bike ride after school and work. Gordon and I have been riding with him and we are enjoying it too!

Last Thursday the two of them ride from our house to the bike path behind his office (approx 3 miles) then they rode to the end of the bike path in Central Point, past the Expo, over the overpass, by Scenic and across the highway to Gordon's grandparents house. He mapped it out afterwards and thinks they rode about 12 miles. They called me later and I picked them up, since it was getting dark and they wouldn't be able to make it home before it was totally dark. Jude loved it even though Gordon said he crashed/fell off his bike 3 times.

On Saturday Nicole, Susan, Jude, Dallas and I went to the Pear Blossom parade. Jude and Dallas had a fun collecting candy that was being thrown at them. The weather was kind of crazy though, it was windy, but the sun was shining which was great! My scalp got it's first sunburn of the season. After the parade and really late lunch/dinner, we all went for a bike ride and Gordon joined us. We rode from Medford to Blue Heron park in Phoenix/Talent and played at the park until the clouds looked like they were about to burst and soak us! We all had fun!

Even Nicole and Gordon tried riding the buckin' bronco. I think all Nicole's practice has been worth it. Gordon on the other hand might need to work on his skills.

How to Train Your Dragon...

Last Friday we took Jude to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was great! It's a fun movie and very entertaining. Monica had shown Jude a picture of Monte with a Viking hat from his McDonald's happy meal from their trip to Boise and he remembered yesterday, so he talked me into getting him a happy meal after school on the way back to work. He was so excited to make the hat, but I made him wait until we were back at work and could put the unwanted pieces in the garbage instead of finding them in the car a week later! He did not want me to take a picture, but I finally talked him into it, and it's so cute! What a goof!

Dad and Jude fun times!

Yesterday Gordon and Jude went show shoeing on the backside of Mt. Ashland. Gordon got show shoes for his birthday and was so excited that he (I mean Santa Clause) bought Jude a pair for Christmas. This was their second outing so far, since there really hasn't been that much snow, they haven't had a great chance of using them this season. Jude took his camera and he and Gordon both took some pictures and Gordon took videos of Jude walking around in his snowshoes and sledding down the hills. It's super cute to see him sitting on the sled with his big shoes hanging out the front. The first picture is a small snow ball that they started at the top of the hill and this is what it looked like at the bottom. It made a great path for Jude to sled down! The second one is the igloo that they built. Jude punched a hole in it if you can see it, because he said it was a garage and his sled run can right down the hill and into the garage. The last picture is sledding! Jude insisted that Gordon make a jump some where on the hill. Aaaah, boys!It was pretty warm on the mountain yesterday, as you can see, Jude started with his coat on and ended up with it off, but did keep his sunglasses on all day. Both of them came home with sunburned cheeks!

Kitchen Complete!

Yeah! I have my kitchen back and it's beautiful! The kitchen is totally complete now with moulding and everything. The dining room is done minus the floor trim, but Gordon is completing that tomorrow, so we'll be all back to normal now.
Here is the picture of the dining room and I love the contrast that the maple floor has with my cherry table. This picture actually shows the red wall too which again, I am so glad that we put the green in the kitchen and not this red, but I love it on this wall. I will have to say that without the carpet this room is louder, but well worth it!!!!