Playhouse Progress

I have been trying to take pictures every time progress is made on the playhouse.  This is Peter getting a framing lesson from my dad.  He helped him do one wall and then Peter was able to do the others later.  I keep telling Peter that this is practice so he can build me a dream house some day, ha ha!


Dallin was right there the whole time.


Gotta watch out for creatures in the yard!

Tanner turns 4

Tanner had yet another Thomas filled birthday this year.  It still his favorite thing ever.


He was so excited about what was under this big sheet.





He is saying "Cranky!" (the crane)






I found an amazing deal on Craigslist for this table with everything nailed down (like you see in stores).  The lady even gave us like 30 trains with it.  I can't imagine how much it would have cost to buy all of this new.




After this I made them come and do cake so I could run off to a Relief Society meeting.  Peter said after that, they continues to play with the table for hours without even remembering to eat the cake or even that Peter existed.  All the kids enjoy it.  Tanner is especially serious about birthday cakes.  He believes that whatever the cake is, that is the birthday theme.  So he wanted a monster truck birthday. He must have remembered Dallin's cake from a couple of years ago..


Trick candles again. Dallin jumped in to help.
We did several things for Tanners birthday week including a Crispy Creme donut trip(also to celebrate the last day of school), the Family Fun Center, and ice cream at Sonic(courtesy of the library summer reading program), and another birthday celebration with a Scooby Doo birthday cake with Peter's family.   Since I am posting this after, I should say that two weeks later Tanner is still spending A LOT of his time with his train table.  In fact, if we are away from home too long, he starts to complain that he wants to go home so he can play with his Thomas.  
Tanner is such a fun guy to have around.  He talks like a grown up.  It is so cute coming from a little guy.  He is also a deep thinker.  He shares his theories all the time.   It is so hard not to laugh when he says cute things, but lately he gets really offended if you do.  The other night at dinner we were discussing volcanos.  They were talking about all the smoke that comes out.  Tanner looked down at his hot dog and said "Just like hot dogs have smoke." Peter didn't get what he was meant and told him "No, I don't think so."  Tanner said "No Dad, you are wrong and I am right."   I thought about it for a minute and realized that he was talking about when you barbecue them and you see all the smoke.  I informed Peter and we decided that Tanner was right. I just love that boy, he has an abundance of personality all his own. 

The Rains Came Down

We had a VERY wet, long spring here.  Summer was very literal as things only began to really get sunny and warm week or so ago.  I have really been liking the mild weather.  My favorite temperatures are in the 60s and 70s.  The rain got to be a bit much there for a while though.  The back of our yard turned into a swamp at one point. One Sunday morning, after raining nonstop for what seemed like weeks, it poured HARD.  After church we discovered once again, water in the basement.  I guess it goes with the territory.  No matter, a few fans and dehumidifier and a few days later we were back in business.

Then I began to see all the beauty around that came from the abundance.

Remember our fern of hope? That's it on the right.  The one on the left is the real one that has grown into a beautiful plant.  This is really symbolic for me and life in the last 6 months.  I went through a pretty hard time, and now I think I am ready to lose the fake fern and enjoy the real thing.

I read the Square Foot Gardening book and we were excited to give it a try.  It is a wonderful method.  It was so exciting to see new life starting to peek through.

So that sums up our soggy spring.  Now onto a beautiful summer.  So far, mostly 70s. If it never gets over 80, I would be happy, but I'm sure it is going to heat up now.  I love being able to take my kids to the park and not feeling like I am being sizzled in a frying pan.

Fort Stevens

This place was really cool, a little creepy and gave us moms of little ones many heart attacks.









This was the most creepy. Peter was standing inside the bunker(?) looking at us outside of it.  I could just imagine soldiers standing in their with their rifles resting in those little slots waiting for the enemy to come over the horizon.  eek!

Astoria -1

A couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend in Astoria.  The weather was perfect, we stayed with family, and had a nice adventurous time.  We drove to my sister's on Friday night.  Then we were at the beach by 9:00 the next morning.  It was so nice not to have to get everyone ready, make the drive through weekend traffic and only have a good 2 hours once we get there(that is what usually happens with our day trips).  So our first stop of the day was the jetty.  It is so cool looking.  And just in case you were wondering, it is man made.

Ha ha, I guess it wasn't that obvious to us!

Self portrait:


Looks like me...


but it is my sister!  Fooled ya.  Hey hot stuff!




Then we headed over to the shipwrecked beach.  This ship is so cool looking.  Dallin  thoroughly enjoyed climbing around on it.











Eden loves, I mean LOVES collecting shells.


Tanner was the brave one (this time) that kept running in the water.  Funny how it changes depending on what phase they are in.


Then Peter and Dallin got to work making one of the many sandcastles of the day.


Lily supervised.

I just love the look on his face.  It made me laugh out loud.

Ta Da!


Someone decided to move in.


and stay for a while


Nah, I just threw some potato chips on their so I could take cool pictures.


The girl's "pretty" sand castle








Want to know what Carter was doing this whole time? I guess he was becoming a sand monster! No joke, at one point he and his cousin were seen putting sand in each others diapers. 

This is when we knew we'd better call it a day and get these guys bathed.