My mom came to visit and help me out with babysitting this past week. dan was doing his training in wisconsin) I think she played candyland with laken more in one week then she has in her entire life:) what a huge help she was--THANKS MOM!!
whenever I get to spend time with my mom and sister it makes me appreciate how valuable family is--we are hoping to go spend a week in Iowa this fall if everything falls into place--the whole family traveling together via airplace will be a new experience--laken has only flown once as a baby--and sadie only a few times but not in a very long time. gem and brecken are seasoned travelers--I think gemma flew 4-5 times just in her first year.

dan and I managed to semi butcher little mans hair--he thinks we are killing him when we give him a haircut--and always freaks out. he has the coolest hair tho---reddish blonde with really cool highlights--

dan always says if he would have had laken's hair he would have been somebody--:)

My mom is here visiting for a week--she just happened to arrive when we are having a 2 day heat wave--it was 100 today and of course we happened to rent the only house in town that doesn't have ac.
Dan is in Wisconsin for training until monday and mom is here to help out with the kiddos while I continue to adjust to working fulltime...
thanks mom

laken saw his shadow yesterday and said "that's my laken mommy"
awwwww--how sweet

hike at tumalo falls

we went on a GORGEOUS hike today at tumalo falls. unfortunately the kids seemed less then enthusiastic about getting along with each other--there was constant bickering and fighting for most of the hike--dan and i can't understand why the kids can't enjoy the surroundings and get along for our outings. the picture here is quite deceiving--don't they look sweet?

more camping photos

gemma and her dad

can you say haircut?

we went camping this weekend--actually just friday night as the littles became overtired and cried most of the way from jodi and nathans to our house. we actually went in style as our new friends lent us their motorhome--all I can say is whoo hoo--no tent camping. the area we camped at was beautiful--we fished, kayaked (thanks to jodi's dad). ate lots of camp food, and just had an excellent time

gem had her hair done at our local beauty school yesterday--color, straighten, and cut. she was so excited!!!!

relaxing

dan and I at the washougal motocycle race--the whole weekend was like a sweet treat for me. Unfortunately dan had to work the entire time. I went swimming, read two books, took a nap, and sat in the park drinking a coffee and people watching. the races weren't too exciting but all in all a terrific weekend.

tumalo state park is 5 minutes from our house. We went to the river today and had so much fun floating down and just hanging out in the water. bend is wonderful!!!!

we had a magnificent thunderstorm last night--lighting that knocked our power out about three times and thunder that sounded like gunfire. Needless to say all of the kids were a tad bit freaked out. they ended up all sleeping in gemma's room which meant laken inevitably ended up in dan and my bed. I truly didn't mind--in a blink of an eye he will be 13 and will want nothing to do with me.