Baptism Times Three!

With lots of family and friends there to support, we dressed up our three little ones and watched them on their Baptism day. It was a very exciting and spiritual day. There were so many people there to see the kids. Even our good friends Grandpa Clyde and Grandma Rose from Arizona came for the weekend. It was a great weekend with lots of people to spend time with us and be there for the kids.
It was definitely exciting seeing all three get baptized and then hear the blessings that they all got during their confirmations. Each one was unique and special to each of them. Afterward we had a fun gathering for all to attend and for everyone to visit for a bit. Crazy to see how time flies. Loving the moment though.

Pogo Anyone?

Ok, I have heard a lot of funny things in life and presents people want, but when most kids turn 8 and you ask them what they want for their birthday you get the normal, a remote control car, a bike or 3 :) or maybe a dog toy, a stuffed animal or many of other normal young desires. Who, besides our little Bryce, would ask grandma for a Pogo Stick? Well he did and he is becoming quite the pogo boy. Today I walked up to my mom's and had him go with me. He almost made it the whole way. To begin his adventures he jumped about 17 times, then he was excited to get to 39, then all of a sudden he got to 100, then it was just a breeze after that. He got to 370 yesterday. It can be an annoying sound, but his little muscles are getting a workout. :) He is a funny boy and very determined. Him and Matt have looked up the world record and they found out you have to jump over 177,000 times for the jumping record or go a distance of 23 miles for the distance record. He is working on it now. Look for his name in the next book of World Records. :)

I Can't Wait to Turn 8! (But mom and dad can)

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Bryce, Britton and Brooke, Happy birthday to you! Now that is a tongue twister one on all those B's. :)
Eight years ago we had lots of people around too, celebrating that we were doing so well even if we only weighed, 2lb3oz, 3lb15oz, and 3lb9oz. Look at us now!


We are definitely not a family to settle down and relax much. We got home Monday evening and were up Tuesday for a run and a visit to the skin doctor. After an 8 year battle with a spot on my upper lip, the doc said it was time to remove some skin cancer. The first surgery was Tuesday and the second was Wednesday. To add to the events we had set up the kids big birthday party for Wednesday at the pool. Not knowing we would have skin doctor issues we mailed invitations from Oregon and had the party planned. Knowing I would have tons of help from sister-in-laws, friends, and Darin, we decided not to change the party. Oh what fun everyone had. The turnout was great and we had so much fun. I was a bit drugged up still from the medicine, but made it through the party with little problems. The kids had invited a few friends from school and then we invited cousins, neighbors, and anyone else we thought may want to join us for the big 8th Birthday. Can't believe it has been 8 years. Time has sure flown by from my days laying in a hospital bed looking up at three sets of tiny baby socks knowing I was doing it for them. I sure appreciate all the help and love that everyone from the village has offered in raising this group of three. I know the big brother will never read this, but big thanks to him. He is looked up to by not only three little ones, but mom too.
Britton takes a plunge off the low diving board, but would soon go for the high dive.
Brooke enjoys her watermelon.
Yes this is my good smile. :) And yes, I am still missing my two front teeth!I am the big brother and I am glad they invited me to this party. Who should I go tease now?

Yes, I am the cause of this day. ;) But all seem to love them and the party.

This was me most of the evening wiping goo from my stitches. The kids were concerned, but it did not slow down their swimming.
Brooke and her friends Gracie and Madi that came to the party.
There are sure some strong Thomas genes in these two cousins.

Headed Home!!

After 20 days of well traveled bodies, it was time to head home. We had one more stop in Utah at my cousin Stacie's home. Her and Scott have three little boys that our kids love to play with. We don't see them as often as we would like, so making the stop is always a treat. The stop was about 5 hours from home, trailer travel time. We enjoyed our visit with them and the much needed shower after camping in Idaho at the reunion. The next day we got up and took our time getting ready to go to avoid that crazy Salt Lake traffic. It seemed to take longer than normal to get home that day, not sure if we needed more potty breaks or if it was because it was time to be home. We had left right at 21 days prior to today and it had been fun, but turning that corner to see our driveway was a great feeling. Funny one though, just 7 miles before we were supposed to get off the interstate there was road construction that slowed us to a stop. Talk about frustrating. Luckily it was not too bad and we got going pretty quick.
Of course you know Darin and he was seated in the computer room the following day plotting our course for the next summer's trip. Me? Well, I am ready to relax for a few weeks before we have to start the next school year. I have started thinking of places to go though. We had a goal to go back east, but with a future missionary, we decided we better save some money. We will still go on a trip, but six weeks may be a bit too long. Possibly to Arizona, New Mexico (to see Mesa Verde) and Colorado to visit family. Or maybe fly to Washington DC for a week. Who knows, keep watching our blog and I am sure by next January we will have started booking some reservations to something.

Family Reunion

Funny how vacations work - we plan our trips way in advance, but it worked out that our vacation ended the same time as my family reunion was happening. We took a few days and stayed with them and had a great time. It was so fun to see some people we had not seen for a year or more. It's always great to see grandma even thought Bryce always struggles when he has to leave her. We had a good time at the swimming pool that was at the campground too. It was a hot pool and that works great for me. :) Matt found some girls to swim with and that helped make his trip. He was able to add a few contacts to his texting list. :)
To start the reunion my niece, Dru, came a bit too fast down a hill and tripped flying over a electric box, hit the ground and busted her arm. She is a strong girl though and still had a fun time with us. That cute frog shirt Kenzi has on was Dru's then Brooke's now hers. What a favorite shirt to pass down.
Aunt Dee with her favorite triplets!! She came from Arizona for the reunion to see us!
Bryce has always loved to run from Jenny and not give him hugs. She finally caught him with the help of someone, but he still pushed away from giving her a hug. :)
Bunches of cousins at the reunion. Always fun to play some football, horseshoes, swim and just chase each other, when you are with cousins.
My cousin, Travis's son, Conley. He is a great kid who the kids loved to play with. He can be rough and push his way for a touchdown or wrestle with the kids. Whatever it is he does, they love him.
Uncle Sam with the kids. Wish we could see him more, but he still lives in Wyoming. He lives right next to where we grew up. He was our second dad when we were younger, always keeping us out of trouble. Sure love him.

Next Stop Grandma and Grandpa's!

A while back grandma and grandpa left the heat of Hurricane for the coolness of Boise, Idaho. We made our trip drop down to southern Idaho so we could see them. They both looked great and were feeling good. They were on their way for a drive with my aunt Elinda and uncle Barry the day we left. Good to see them. The kids always like to see grandma great and grandpa great. Darin gives them a few laughs to add some spunk to their day.

Downtown Seattle

The Seattle Space Needle - What an experience!!
Us at the top on the observation deck of the Space Needle.
There are many commercials and shows where you see the Seattle Space Needle, so we wanted to venture to the top of it. So from a height of 520 feet we looked for our car and out over the city of Seattle. We could see the stadiums that the Seahawks and Mariners play in. It was a fun place to go. I must add that the St. Louis Arch is much scarier but this one was quite high. We then got on a monorail and went to downtown Seattle. It was there that we found the Public Market. Now that was a crazy place.Bryce looking for our car, but ended up seeing the back of Brooke's head. :)
My boys on the train ride over to the Public Market.

We kept hand in hand walking in this area because it was packed. Wall to wall people all asking for fruit or fresh fish. It was an amazing sight. Darin got his clam chowder in a bread bowl and we bought some fresh fish for dinner to barbecue that night. It was a fun experience.
Now that was an experience - the crowd was endless.Dinner!! It was really good.

We took a picture before we went up in the Needle. Crazy it was one of those that they did not charge us, but emailed it to us. Now that never happens. Usually they want their $18.95 for a 4x6 picture. :)

How do you know you aren't in Utah for the 4th of July?

So you know you are not in Utah anymore when you actually watch fireworks on Sunday the 4th of July!! You also know you you aren't in Hurricane when you are wrapped in blankets watching the fireworks. :) This year we were in Seattle, Washington for the 4th. It was funny to sit in one area and watch fireworks for several different communities. We were a bit of a distance from all of them though, so it wasn't that great for sound. Our little RV park put on a bit of a show for all of us campers. It was like one you would put on at your home, so it wasn't too great, but was fun.


To start our day on the 4th we drove from Portland to Seattle. On our way we stopped at the Mount St. Helen's Visitors Center. That was a very interesting place. We watched a video that explained the history of the mountain, then looked at lots of pictures and displays. It was too cloudy to see the mountain that day, but it was really neat to learn more about the volcano. The kids liked it because it was a volcano and there were lots of neat displays. It was also fun to tell them stories about when we were there age and what we remembered about the eruption. We had ash in Wyoming I remember.
A bit farther down the road we stopped and visited with Darin's brother and his family who live in Washington. It's been almost two years since they left Hurricane to live in Washington. It was a good visit and fun to catch up on them and their lives. After the visit it was off to Seattle and our fireworks show!! Greg, Diana, Chris, Andrew and Kimberly in Washington.

Some of the cousins - Matt, Chris, Britton, Bryce, Andrew, Kimberly and Brooke.

OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

We went to Portland today. We left our previous place early so we could get to OMSI. This is where the teacher comes out in us. This place is a hands on museum of science stuff. It was an amazing stop that we all loved. When we first got there we went to a movie in the Omnimax about dinosaurs. It was pretty good. Then we went on a tour of a submarine. It was real fun because you could go through the sub and touch lots of parts. The kids really liked it. Then came the science play. We went to the chemistry lab where we got to mix chemicals and find out different things. Me and Britt learned how clorox works and how it can take stains out. Bryce and Matt put a wire in the flame of a bunson burner to determine why fireworks are different colors. Brooke and Dad learned why you take antiacids when your stomach hurts. There were places where we made a rocket from a 2-liter bottle with water and air. Then there was a place to look for insects and small animals like snakes and rats. There was a display for Einstein. That was fun try to explain who he was and what he had done. A good quote I like of his is "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”– Albert Einstein Probably one of the most intriguing displays was in the Life Science area where there were over 30 fetuses showing the growth of a baby from just weeks to birth. Brooke is a little more interested in that, so it was fun trying to explain how the development works. Bryce recently asked why we have a bellybutton. Being able to show him why seemed to make more sense than just explaining. The whole museum was amazing. We stayed there for 5 hours. Now for the bad part though, in all the hurrying, I left my camera at the camper. So the pictures are where we went and what we saw, just imagine we were in the pictures.

This is the USS Blueback Sub we went inside. There were lots of fun things to see.


There were several displays with electricity on them. We enjoyed playing there and shocking each other on some of the parts. It started hurting after while though. :)

Interesting display to read about all kinds of math things. :)

This Chemistry lab was really neat. I took a picture of us in our goggles on my cell phone. Any able to tell me how to get the picture from my phone to here? Let me know because it should be a good geeky picture. :)

Free Willy!! (and us too!)

Today we went to Newport, Oregon where the Oregon Coast Aquarium is located. This is where Free Willy was supposed to have been taken care of. It was a fun aquarium. We saw lots of sea life. The kids really liked touching the Anemity (spell) that's where Nemo lived. :)
We were able to walk under a big tube where fish and sharks were kept. Sometimes it looked like the animals were swimming right to you. On our return trip we made a few stops by the ocean. Talk about cold and no desire to go swimming! Not them, they are all for it. It was fun watching them run and play and me trying to find seashells. Oregon coasts only have pieces, no real big shells. We made a quick stop at the Heceta Lighthouse and took a few pictures. What is this lighthouse known for? It is the most photographed lighthouse so I had to add to that statistic. : ) That afternoon we went to my aunt's who lives in the area. We figured it had been almost 20 years since I had see her son. It was good to see them. Lots of fun things everyday!

Bryce looking in the shark tank. Notice the shark on his left. They were all over the tank.

The family posing around the shark teeth at the aquarium.

How do kids run on a cold beach? Oregon does have some very pretty beaches. They were lots different from the California ones most of us are used to going to.

The Heceta Lighthouse. Most photographed lighthouse, that I photographed too. :)
My dad's sister, Ilene and her family Kenny, Scott, and Tia.

Like a Lighthouse!!

Wow how time flies - already July! Where has the year gone? Today on our trip was the day to visit the lighthouse. We found one you could still go on a tour of. Ever been to the top of a lighthouse? Not us, so we decided to give it a try. Now we need to watch that movie Pete's Dragon to show the kids how it works. Old movie for us old folk, most of you probably don' t remember it. :) This light house Cape Blanco is the one furthest west on the Oregon Coast. It was real neat inside. The kids liked it and were mostly good inside too. :) After visiting this lighthouse, we decided it was time to head North to Florence. Lots to see that direction too.

This was a fun walk up to the top. About 70 stairs and a pretty view.

The lighthouse guide described how the lighthouse worked and told us that the light was visible for up to 21 miles. This glass for the light is directly from France. One of the few remaining types like this. It was very interesting to see how these things work.