Photography

I did a fun family photoshoot a couple of weeks ago. Click here to see more. I am slowly building a portfolio that I can do something with. It has been slower than I hoped, but family life keeps me busy so I have to pace myself. My goal is to get a website going one of these days and do a couple of sessions a month. Slowly but surely.

Life with a First Grader

I was not as nervous for Dallin to go to first grade as I was for Kindergarten. He has come so far and he really had a great summer with his home programs so I was just excited to see how high he can fly. I love his confidence, Dallin really thinks he is good at everything and knows he is a good boy and wants to live up to that. For example, time outs were SO last year. He is a big first grader now so he is determined not to have any of those at school this year. It is great, he hasn't had even one! On Tuesday I went into the class to observe and see how he is doing. This was his 7th day of school. I was surprised that his aid wasn't there, but apparently she was taking some vacation time. I was so blown away with what I saw there. For two hours I watched him as he stayed focused, paid attention, raised his hand to speak and gave lots of answers. He was working so hard and taking everything so seriously all without any help from an aid! Okay, I knew it would be good, but honestly this was really what I was hoping for by the end of first grade.

His teacher is so great too. She is firm but very sweet. Mostly I love all the positive reinforcement that she gives the students after correcting them. Dallin thrives on that and as good as his Kindergarten teacher was, I really didn't see that there. Kids really believe you when you tell them how awesome they are and they will want to live up to that.

I stayed for recess to see how he is doing socially and was very happy to see him playing tether ball with another student. Dallin loved how he has 3 recesses now at the big kid playground. At recess I talked with his teacher and she said that she can't really see much of a difference at all between Dallin and the rest of the class. She said she read his file, but she is just not seeing the same kid. I think that says a lot for him but also for her, she is great. I guess his aid was gone the whole week and as far as I know, he did okay without her. I wasn't there, but I didn't hear anything from school and he told me he still hasn't had any time outs.

Last year I was a bundle of nerves every day when Dallin went to school. If he had a good day his teacher would give him a stamp on his hand and I would just feel so sad for him every time he didn't get one. We had to use external motivation for things he would get if he got a stamp. Let me tell you that being creative with fresh ideas to keep him motivated was not easy. I would go in every week to visit and even though I was proud of how far he had come, he did stick out, had a hard time paying attention and had behavior problems. But at least he was functioning in a regular ed. class, right? This year is so different already, all of that is 100% gone!!! I know I am always saying how great he is doing, but really, every time I think it couldn't get any better it does!!! I am getting many hints from people at his school that he needs to be re-evaluated!!! (I know I am using way to many exclamations, but that doesn't even begin to portray my excitement). Dallin will be up for re-evaluation in the spring, in case you were wondering. I don't really ever use the term autism when I talk about him in the present though. It almost seems like the last 6 years were just a dream that didn't really happen, but they really did. This little boy has put in thousands of hours of work to get to where he is. Early Intervention works!!! Dallin is such a wonderful miracle. I must change my thinking that it can't get any better. I now see that there is no limit for how far he or any of my children can go(more exclamations)!

2 Short Dallin Stories

We went to Six Flags a couple of weeks ago and Peter reminded me that I never wrote about this funny thing that happened:

The kids were dying to go on the rafting ride but the line was pretty long, probably 20 or 30 minutes. So off they went to wait it out. While in line Dallin noticed that the guy standing next to them was HUGE! He was super tall and there was absolutely nothing small on him. Huge arms, neck and everything else. He had a shaved head, wife beater tank, tons of tatoos and piercings. He was as tough looking as they get. Then Dallin in his extra loud voice exclaimed, "DAD, THAT GUY LOOKS LIKE SHREK!" Peter didn't know how to react, but luckily the guy was pretty amused and teased his girlfriend, saying she must be Fiona then. Peter was very glad that he didn't get beat up and we had to have a talk about not saying thing that aren't nice that night. Privately we did get a good laugh out of it though.


Then last week I drove Dallin to his first day of school. On the drive there he enthusiastically remembered a conversation with Peter's Grandpa recently. He said "Mom, did you know that Great Grandpa got to ride a horse to school every day?". Then he said "I wish to do that!" He talked about it all the way to school. It was too cute.

Epic Story 1 of 6

definition- Epic: noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style.Here we are coming up on our 8 year anniversary! This year I decided I wanted to write down a few memories from our Epic life together. I want to write a little each day until the 25th, our anniversary. This is my gift to you Peter, my love, I hope you like reminiscing with me and now we will have it written down forever.

So I will start at the beginning. We look like babies here because we are. I had just turned 16 and Peter six months before. This is October of 1996. I met Peter when I was 14 and we hung out with groups of friends mostly before this. I had a birthday party on my 16th birthday and Peter and Paul and I think Jimmy came as well as a bunch of friends. I don't know how I remember but you guys gave me Monopoly for a gift. Afterward, since we were stake dance regulars(rarely ever missed a week for 4 years) we all headed over to the Beaverton Stake Center. When the first slow song came on Peter was quick to grab me for a dance. Then he asked me to the Tigard High Homecoming dance. I was pretty excited to get asked on my first date on my birthday. Peter was already 16 but didn't really care to date until I was dating age.I did not return the feelings at that time, he was just a good friend to me. Actually, the first time I met Peter, I thought he was kind of nerdy and that he talked a lot, but it was love at first sight for him, he he he. Grandpa D took our group date on a boat ride through Lake Oswego to a lakeside resteraunt, and then we were picked up by a limo to head over to the High School. We were with Greg and Paul and their dates so we had a blast.

Fast forward several months. Peter's persisitant and obvious crush had won me over and I began to like him too. This was a Winter Formal I believe, but not totally sure. This was around the time that Peter and I were labeled a "couple". We spent so many late nights on the phone, hours and hours and hours. I suppose we would have just texted or IM'd now days. We still mostly hung out with groups and went on group dates. We were good kids and Larry and Lori had very strict rules about single dating.

This is the Junior Prom. Peter's top hat makes me laugh. This was shortly before we "broke up", which was mostly my doing.

Rembember this hair style for guys? It was just sooooo hot! This was the Valentines dance Senior year just after we had "gotten back together". After several months of seeing Peter date other girls and denying that I cared, I realized he made me mad because I liked him still. I finally got up the courage to call him one night and fill him in on it. He turned me down flat. I was crushed, but determined to move on. Then after a couple of weeks we both showed up at the New Years Eve stake dance. He kept asking me to dance which really confused me. Apparently he had a change of heart. So then we were labeled "going out again" in the mormon youth world.


We didn't just go to dances over those years, we spent lots of times with groups of people doing fun things. Here we are on Mt. Hood. Peter was an avid skier and I loved it even though I was a beginner. He was very patient as I took a few years to be able to stay with him. I am so glad that we have this and many other things in common.
College was getting very close and I kept thinking it didn't make sense to be going out, but we had fallen in love. I know people don't think you know what that really means when you are that young, but I think I did. Nevertheless we were good mormon kids, with our own plans for our lives and we knew what was coming. The Fall of 1997 Peter was off to BYU and I went to Rexburg to go to beauty school. We technically broke up, but not in our hearts. We did manage to visit eachother via the 4 hour drive whenever we could, but we were definitely allowed to date other people. There were also many letter and mix tapes exchanged thanks to priority mail. Somehow that actually worked out fine. We lived our separate lives, but when we were together, we knew where our loyalties were. We tried to be as realistic as possible for being in love too young.

Then the inevitable happened. There was never any other plan than for Peter to serve a mission of course. Trust me I am the last person that would recommend dating someone before their mission, it is a major bummer. But again, it sure didn't seem like we could help what we felt. Peter left in June of 1998 and that was that. We agreed to write only as friends, absolutely no mushy stuff. I certainly didn't want to be a big distraction to him and never wanted to be the girl who "had a missionary". I couldn't believe this picture when I found it, I have no memory of this. I am sure that one of my room mates headed it up. Apparently several of us were writing missionaries. How embarrassing, this was really everything I was trying to avoid at the time, I didn't want to be the steriotype and especially didn't want to be a statistic. Why in the world did we have their name tags? I have no idea, is that even allowed??? I am not totally sure, but as far as I know Peter and I were the only ones who worked out on this list. See, the mushy stuff just doesn't work! For that matter, to my children and grandchildren, don't date before the mission, it is way out of order and usually pointless. I love our story, but it was such an emotional tug of war.I realize now that even though we did not ever write about our feelings for eachother we communicated our loyalties by writing every week. Neither of us missed a week for 2 years. Well, I take it back, I think I missed one during finals once. I guess that was my subconscous way of telling Peter that I was still there. In reality, I dated as much as I could, started at BYU and had a blast doing the college thing. But my heart was locked and I couldn't open it up. I was emotionally taken and denying it like crazy. I love that we have those letter now. Some day I will go through and read all of them in their nonromantic glory.

So that is my version of our first few years. Kinda long, but hello, we go way back. The rest of these posts will cover less time, but it was fun to look back and get it all down.Love you babe! I don't think you are a nerd anymore by the way.

Epic Story 2 of 6

Coming Home

This was the day Peter came home from Argentina in June of 2000. In these days you could wait at the gate of airport terminals. I got there about and hour before the plane arrived and waited very nervously. Thats an understatement, I could hardly breathe. Peter's family went to his mission to pick him up so he had been with them for a week or two. He was also released over the phone when he called his stake president from a layover. As landing time came close, several friends and relatives also arrived to greet Peter. Then they finally landed. The plane unloaded everyone but the Dickinsons and then they finally started getting off. Peter thought it would make a grand entrance to be the last one off, it was torture! When he finally got off, with his cowboy hat on I couldn't believe he was really there. To my surprise Peter had tunnel vision and quickly found me. He passed everyone else and came straight to me and gave me a big hug! I had no idea what to expect, so that was really cute. There was a lot of excitement and visiting for the next while and then the group went to Shari's resteraunt for dessert. It was so fun to see him, we had stayed close through our letters and I let myself realize how much I had dearly missed him.

As the group dispersed, Peter's family rushed off to go to John's HS graduation. In the rush, Peter asked me if I could give him a ride. I said sure as my heart doubled in speed. I didn't really know what to say to him alone on the drive home but I am sure it was just loads of mission questions. I remember thinking how cute it was that the sun was blaring at us in the windshield and Peter, forgetting about visors in cars, was using his hand to block it. Peter had really missed Subway sandwiches so when we passed one we had to stop, hungry or not! As we sat down, I decided that I wanted to clear the air about a few things. I came right out and said that I was not dating anyone else, just FYI. We both knew that was the big question. He had gotten the impression the last few months of his mission that I was getting serious with someone, and had moved on. I had dated someone, but since half of my heart was in Argentina nothing came of it.

I remember the first time the phone rang after that and my Mom saying, "Cilla, Peter's on the phone". It was kinda twilight zone, because we had always talked on the phone a lot before he left and I hadn't heard that phrase in 2 years. Peter asked if I wanted to join him for some family activity. That happened every day for the next couple of weeks. We were still obviously liking eachother so we made the decision to be a couple again. It was so fast, but then again we couldn't not be a couple since we didn't want to be with anyone else after being apart for 2 years. At least for me, I couldn't stand the thought of not being with him at every moment possible and I think he felt the same.

We had fun all that summer. When we weren't working we were playing.

Oregon Coast

Rafting

Practicing for our guitar class.
That fall we returned to BYU and lived right across the street from eachother(that was a coincidence). We walked to school together every day, hung out between every class, ate meals together and even took a couple of classes together. We were inseperable like this for 8 months after Peter got off that airplane. It all just seemed like a dream come true, we were so blissfully happy just to be together again. But this time were weren't too young, this was for real and it was okay to be dating.

Epic Story 3 of 6

Engaged!

Peter got home 3 months before I turned 21. I talked a little about wanting to go on a mission, but we quickly decided that was not going to be part of the plan. I guess we were done with that idea.



This picture was taken the day we were engaged in February, 2001. After fall semester at BYU things were getting more serious. I was very slow to be able to say the "m" word before that for some reason. Over the Christmas break Peter talked with my dad and got permission to marry me. Then we went back to school. We went ring shopping a few times so I knew it would be coming some time, just not when. By February I thought for sure that he would propose on Valentines day, still nothing! I wasn't worried, but ready. A room mate got married in Seattle the following weekend so we took a road trip there and then home for a couple of days. While we were there Peter asked me to go with him to do some baptisms at the Portland Temple. My family started acting really weird as I was getting ready to go so it was a dead giveaway. Peter hadn't learned yet that my parents CANNOT keep a secret.



After finishing up at the temple, Peter asked me to take a walk. The woods near the temple are gorgeous so it was a really pretty setting. Peter had staked out a special place the day before, but hadn't anticipated a guy with a chainsaw being there when we got there. So we kept walking down a path and then off the path to a very large fallen tree. We sat down and Peter read his Patriarchal blessing to me and told me that he wanted me to be a part of the family that it talked about. Then he got down on his knee and showed me the ring that I had picked out. I said yes of course and was amazed at how beautiful the ring looked. It was a special surprise that the diamond in the ring was bigger than the ones we were looking at, it took my breathe away. I was definitely wowed. I still look down at my hand and get excited about how much I love my ring. It was so perfect, and it meant so much! We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting our families to announce our engagement. I still remember Peter's brother John giving a loud "Wahoo!" when we told them. We stopped by my Grandparents house and my Grandma was very happy to see the new jewelry. They told us that they thought it was a good idea. Then we went to my family get together. Someone noticed the ring moments after walking in the door and my 3 sisters immediately surrounded me and even started hitting me because they thought I had kept something from them. It was a perfect day and Peter was so wise to propose at home so we could tell everyone in person and it makes our temple that much more special to us.


This was the picture we used for our announcements.


Here are some more from our engagement photo session.











We both had plans for the summer so we decided to get married in August. 6 months sure seemed like a long time! I had been accepted to be an EFY counciler and really wanted to do it, especially since I wasn't going to go on a mission. It was a great experience so I don't regret waiting one bit. That doesn't mean it wasn't a very long summer though. Peter went to Visalia California to sell Pest Control and we talked on the phone constantly. When I wasn't working, I was planning our big day. Towards the end of the summer I had finished my last EFY session and so I flew to California to see my fiance. He took a day off and we went to Disneyland. It was my first time there and we had so much fun running around like little kids. It was a blast!



We stayed there late and then had to drive all the way back to the Sacramento airport by 5 the next morning. We were so tired on that drive. Peter decided that we could stop for just a quick nap on the side of the road. We fell asleep for a few minutes and the next thing we knew there was a loud knocking on our window. I was so startled that I started screaming, well not just screaming, but the kind of loud uncontrollable siren scream that has only come out of me a couple of times in my life. I could hear myself screaming but couldn't stop as the officer shined his flashlight in the window to see who was dying. When I finally got myself to stop I was so embarrased that I covered my head with a blanket and laughed and cried at the same time.The policeman asked me to confirm that I was okay and all I could do was give a thumbs up. I believe he said something like "Wow, I have never had that reaction before!" After that, Peter was definitely awake enough to drive so we continued on. I questioned whether he still wanted to marry me after that and thankfully he still accepted me. We still laugh about that and every time I have a moment of insanity, I remind him that he knew I was a little jumpy before he married me.

Having a longer engagement was a little hard since we never wanted to be apart ever again, but it worked out okay and then it was time for our special day.

Epic Story 4 of 6

Wedding Day

We were married on August 25th, 2001 in the Portland Oregon LDS Temple. I loved planning our wedding and I am sure I drove my mother crazy with every detail specifically planned out. We bought my dress and my mom spent hours making it more modest and adding beautiful embellisments. The night before, we had a big family picnic. I got a migraine headache from all the stress and had Peter escort me out of sight to throw up. I was obviously too sick and had to go home early. I went home, threw up a couple more times and went to bed. If you get migraines you know how bad they can get. The next morning I got up very early, feeling refreshed, and took my time getting ready for the day. I did my hair and makeup just like I had practiced and made sure everything was just right for the day.



I headed over to the temple around 9am with my parents. I was a bundle of nerves, but so excited. My mom helped me get ready for the ceremony and then we were off. We met up with Peter in the hall a few minutes before the wedding and he handed me a nice cloth handkerchief. It was sweet, he knew me well. Actually about 3 people did that! All of our family went to the sealing room to wait for Peter and I. There were a couple of minutes just before going into the room that Peter and I were able to sit together on a couch and wait to go in. That was so calm and peaceful. We contemplated the importance of what we were about to do and it was really our only private moment of the whole day. That was really special to me.


Then it was time to go. We walked into a room with about 50 of our closest friends and family. I cried happily through the whole ceremony as Peter predicted. One moment we weren't married and the next we were. Its kind of a strange thing that way.



Amazing, we look exactly the same right? Right! Good answer.


We had pictures taken and then went to our luncheon at the Spaggetti Factory in downtown Portland. We sat at this huge long table with one of us on each end with our parents on either side and all four sets of grandparents in between. It is a very special memory to me now to remember all parents and grandparents sitting there, everyone still married(still are), and in good health. It was only a month or 2 later that my Grandpa Arave had a debilitating stroke. Today we have 3 grandparents left between the 2 of us. Nevertheless, we were so lucky to have them all there that day and we have such wonderful examples of how to live a good rightouss life together. I also remember not being able to eat anything, there was just way too much going on for me. I noticed Peter wolfing down his whole plate and drinking several glasses of strawberry lemonaid however.



From there we went to the Beaverton Stake center for the reception. It was beautiful and everyone had worked so hard to make it just how I had wanted it to be. We sang a duet "Grow Old Along With Me" and played our guitars. That was really neat for me. We dance and visited and then we ran through a trail of bubbles to our car. I didn't want a getaway dress, which was very popular at the time, but instead I stayed in my wedding dress to leave. The reception went by way too quick. I have often wished it could have gone longer, but it was wonderful. I got another migraine but did everything I could to ignore it. I wasn't going to let that interrupt my day.



We couldn't get into our car because it was so full of little balloons and covered in silly string, but we somehow managed to get out of there and off to the rest of our lives. I loved my wedding day but mostly I loved who I had married, and still do. I am so glad we have all eternity because a lifetime wouldn't be close to enough.

Epic Story 5 of 6

Hawaii

The day after our wedding we headed to Hawaii for our honeymoon. Neither of us had been there so it was an exciting new adventure for us. We checked into the Beachcomber hotel a block from Waikiki beach. We had an amazing suite on the 20th floor facing the ocean! We still had some daylight left when we got there so we ran to the beach to check it out. We rented a couple of surf boards thinking it would be easy, not so much. We tried for about an hour to get up and then gave up, well Peter got it a little so he would want some credit for that. Then we paddled way out into the ocean past the breakers and just laid on our boards and watched the sunset. The water was so warm and it was so unbelievably beautiful, and we were married! It seemed like we were the only 2 people in the whole world. I love that memory. It is definitely my happy place to think about still.

We spent the next four days wanting to see as much as we could. We did some hiking, parasailing, snorkeling, jet skiing, taking surfing lessons, going to the the cultural center and fire show, eating good food, lying on the beach and sight seeing. It was so amazing. That really set the tone of our marriage, we are always busy trying to fit as much as we can into everything we do. We have returned there one time since our honeymoon. I could spend every vacation in Hawaii and I hope to go back many times over the next few decades.


Hawaiian Temple


Parasailing


I couldn't imagine a better place to start out married life, it was paradise and we enjoyed every second.

Epic Story 6 of 6

Newlyweds










After we got home from our honeymoon it was time for school to start. We packed our car and Peter's parent's van full of gifts and headed to Provo. We had arranged for an on campus one bedroom apartment at Wymount Terrace. It was so tiny and perfect. We arrived after a long day of driving at midnight, but I was way too excited to go to bed. I spent the whole night enthusiastically unpacking all of our new stuff and arranging our little place. It was so awesome to finally be living under the same roof. Our very own place! I felt like a little girl decorating my doll house.

A couple of months later we went to Chile with Peter's family to pick up his brother Jimmy from the mission. We saw many things and met lots of people. I had just finished 2 years of spanish classes so I was really excited to use my new language skills. My spanish wasn't great, but I didn't let that get in the way. It was a great trip, and a testimony builder for me to meet all of the members that Jimmy worked with.

This was a mine we toured in Chile.





After the school year we spent the summer in Merced California and I did some home study courses while Peter sold pest control.

For our one year anniversary we went on a week long Carribean cruise. I didn't know there was a shark behind us until this picture was developed. Just kidding, I believe it is just another snorkeler. Just making sure you are paying attention. It was pretty fun trip, minus the morning sickness! I found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks before we left. We still enjoyed ourselves and we were so excited about starting a family together.


Some ruins in Mexico









Aside from some traveling as newlyweds, we went to school full time, and lived with our feet a few inches off the ground. I loved playing housewife. It was a fun time of life to be at college as a married couple. My grades went down that first semester becuause we were so busy having fun adventures all the time. We definitely lived life to the fullest.


BYU intermural waterpolo.









After Merced, we returned to BYU and did another year of school while my belly grew for 8 months. Then we moved to Santa Rosa California just before having Dallin for another summer of pest control sales.

It was there in Santa Rosa that we made the next big jump in life. The 2 of us became 3 early in the morning on June 3rd, 2003. This picture was taken seconds after we became parents as we looked at our little baby for the first time. Our most exciting adventure of all. It sure seems like it all came down to this moment.









Now it has been eight years and we are about to become a family of 7. We have grown a lot in the last 8 years, and endured some trials, but life just seems to get sweeter and our commitment to eachother is deepened with every experience. I love the choices we have made together and the life we have created. Happy anniversary Peter, I love you. I love you more all the time which I didn't know was possible. I hope you liked reading our story. It may seem ordinary to other people, but to me it is an epic one that has still only begun.

1st Grader

How is it possible that I have a child in 1st grade? My life goes by fast, I was just holding a tiny little baby Dallin in my arms I swear! Well enough of that. Dallin gets excited about a lot of things in life; trips to Oregon, family outings, etc. I have never seen anticipate something as much as first grade however. Every morning for about 2 weeks, he would wake up and come right over and tell me how many more days until school would start.

Then the day finally came. I took him to his class and he met Mrs. Fischer, his new teacher who seems very sweet. He was also very happy that he has the same aid that he had last year who he loves. He ran over and gave her a big hug. He quickly said goodbye to me and eagerly went over to his new desk. Eden and Tanner also took this day seriously. They both insisted that they wear their backpacks to Dallin's school as well, it was too cute!

Dallin is having a great first week of school! He loves it, especially getting 3 recesses on the big kid playground. He is doing just fine, no issues at all that I know of so that is great. He is determined to be a really good boy for first grade and takes this big boy transition very seriously. What a great kid.

We also started our Mommy preschool this week and we love that too. Eden especially looks forward to it each day. I love the curriculum, I just open the bag for the day and follow the lesson plan, so easy and fun.

It has been a big adjustment for everyone to get up a bit earlier and not having Dallin around, but I am so proud of his accomplishments and how all of my kids are growing and learning.

Papa

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I love this picture of my Dad. This was from their trip to Idaho last week. Definitely in his element!

Great Printer

The HP Officejet L7555 A few months ago Peter and I decided we really needed a new printer. Although the $30 one that we were using worked, It didn't work well and the ink cost was insane for the amount of printing it did. So as we were shopping Peter really gravitated toward a black and white laser printer because of the high output, but I just couldn't face not having a color printer for all of my homemaking needs. Color laser printers were just too expensive and although the ink would last a long time, it would be a serious investment each time. Inkjets are pretty cheap but you don't get much bang for your buck with the ink. We seemed to be at a crossroads as we went from store to store trying to find the right fit for us.

Then we just happened to be at Costco, probably buying diapers, and as we browsed the printers I noticed this one that had a sign claiming to be cheaper than a laser printer per page. We talked with the salesman for quite a while about this claim. He even showed us the ink cartridge refills on which the package estimates how many pages you can print per cartridge. Sure enough it was very comparable with laser jet quantities. It was something like 1500 pages for the color cartridges and 2500 for the black and white! Much different than other ink jets quantities.

This printer is an Officejet which is a step up from the regular inkjets, but Peter was skeptical since it was only $139.00. Somehow we decided this printer was going to be our best compromise since we just couldn't afford Color and Laser in the same sentence.

When we brought it home and put it together, I did notice the quality was surprisingly good for the price we paid. Since the printer came with ink I decided not to hold back with the print jobs at all, but didn't expect much from the lower level ink that they usually come with at first. Seriously I printed like crazy, no holding back for the last 4 months and this thing just kept going! I don't know how many reams of paper we went through because the kids go through so much paper too for their own use, but between myself and them it was at least 10. I am careful to print on the economy setting a lot, I have always done that, but still printed and copied like crazy. I finally had to buy some color ink for this thing after all this time just yesterday, but the black is still going strong.

The color cartridges cost a total of about $60(about 1500 pages, perhaps more on economy printing), but that is still a lot less than laser cartridges. You can get 2 black cartridges for about the same price (5000 pages!) The printer itself has really impressed me for the price. Way better quality than I expected for $139. It has only jammed maybe 3 or 4 times with what seemed like a thousand print jobs. Anyway, we have been very happy with our decision to get this printer so if you are looking to get something good, try one of the printers in this line. If it requires HP Officejet 88XL ink, that is the way to go. I love to share a good find so I hope this is useful for someone out there.

P.S. This one is also wireless so we hooked it up to our internet router and can print from anywhere in the house!

Water Park Fun

This is from back in July when we had a heat wave. The kids enjoyed cooling down at the splash park by our house.

Tanner cracks me up in this.





"Look at my BIG muscles mom!"

Camping

Since we didn't get to have our family reunion campout, Peter set up the tent in our yard the other night. We baked s'mores in the oven and ate them in the tent, sang songs and told stories. This is one of the kid's favorite things to do with their daddy.

Goey Goodness


"Going on a Hippo hunt!"

Frog

A few weeks ago Peter was working out in the yard and found this huge frog! The kids watched it for a long time and then decided to catch it which turned out to be easy. It was a fun discovery for them.

Oregon Recap

Here is a little recap of our trip to Oregon:

Our first day there was Thursday. Peter went rafting with the big group and of course I stayed back with the kids. We had a cousins day at Michelle's house and it went great. We had about 15 small children there and they all got along so well, that we barely had to do anything other than change diapers and feed them. They were totally self entertained with eachother it was great! I loved watching Dallin interact with his cousins, my he has come so far. He spent a lot of time playing games with Derek and talking Star Wars. I really love seeing him able to relate to children his age. This is still pretty new to see but you would think it was never an issue! The rafting trip was a huge success as usual, lots of wet fun, family bonding and food. I admit I was pretty bitter that I had to sit this one out, it is one of my favorite activities. Definitely worth the trade off though since I am being "crafty".

On friday Peter went to take his Journeyman exam and a few of us went to the Enchanted Forest. I can't believe I grew up in the Portland area my whole life and have never been there. Yeah, I learned that taking 4 little ones with no hubby is a lot of work. I took my stroller but realized that the extreme hills and corners were a pretty big chore. The kids had a GREAT time though, it was such a perfect activity for them. They loved exploring all the fairy tales, enjoyed a very humorous version of snow white, did some big slides, and watched a really neat water show.

Saturday was the wedding and then Sunday we left for the beach for a couple of days with the Dickinsons. On Tuesday Peter flew back to CA so he could work and I drove the scenic drive to Astoria to visit my sister. I was so glad that I was there during the Portland heat wave. It was only in the 70's and low 80's there. It was fun to visit with Cami and her cute kids. I was a little sick so I was not much fun but it was still a good visit. By the time I left her kids had our plague too :(

Thursday I drove to St. Helens to visit my parents. That night I got the call from Cami that one of her kids had Chicken Pox...dun dun dun! My 2 youngest have not been vaccinated for that yet. Incubation can be a while so we still don't know if they will get it. The bad part is that I still had my sister in Beaverton and one in Salem to visit but they did not want us to come even close with that exposure. Laurel has a little baby and Beth's twin girls haven't had the shot yet either. Our family reunion was scheduled to be the following Thursday so I was going to visit my sisters for a couple of days each and then Peter was going to come back for that. With the Chicken Pox outbreak the family just decided to cancel the whole thing. Can you imagine camping while your kids come down with chicken pox? With no one to visit and no reunion to wait for I decided to throw in the towel and go home to Peter. I visited with my parents for another day first. Then on Saturday I went to the Hedman family picnik and we stayed the night at the Dickinsons (they have all had the pox). Dallin got to spend some quality time with Peter's Dad and Grandpa D that evening so that was really neat. They went to Grandpas house to visit him and they swam in the lake, just the 2 of them. How great is that?

Sunday morning we left for CA with Lucy in tow. Thank goodness for her willingness to come and help me out. We got a flat about 15 minutes out on I-5. I have no problem changing a tire so it wasn't a big deal. The hardest part is getting the bolts off. Peter keeps a t-iron in the car which helps, but I still had to jump on it to loosen the bolts. I must have looked pretty sorry doing that with my pregnant self so a good samaritan stopped and finished the job for me. Even with a full size spare on I wasn't comfortable making the rest of the trip with no other back ups so we stopped at a Walmart tire center for lunch and got a new tire. It was a long day as the only driver but we finally made it back safe and sound. I was actually glad to be back, Peter and I were really missing eachother. I can't complain too much because we were in Oregon for a week and a half. My only sadness was not seeing 2 of my sisters and their wonderful families. I was exausted though and glad to be in my own home again.

Being home a week sooner than planned I realized that I had a completely empty schedule! I have definitely taken this opportunity to have a "staycation" and relax at home. I have only left the house once to grocery shop this week and that is great with me! Dallin can't have therapistscome in either because believe it or not 3 of them have not had Chicken Pox. So no one coming and going, just a quiet week alone with just us and Lucy. Lucy played and played with the kids, they love her to death. We played games, camped in the yard and took bike rides. Lucy was able to stay for 3 days and then she flew back to Portland. I have been editing photos like crazy, reading and recovering from the busy trip.

Enchanted forest. Without Peter there to help with kids, I was not able capture a lot.