favorite picture from the trip

I love this picture. Maddie took this one at the park!

on the way home we stopped at multnomah falls. the kids loved it!

catching up with friends

here are a few pictures of friends from home. one night Dan went and saw some of the college kids, played some ping pong in the student union building! The first picture is our friends Liz and Andy their little guy, Noah. Such a beautiful family!

Spencer's Brain

Spencer came up with his design. he calls it "the boat with two people"

The Gates family

This is my cousin Tiffany and her husband Bob and their new little girl, Keona. A great little family! We had a blast catching up with them Just for the record, little town Molalla has a really really good mexican food restaurant..La Churrito! best mexican food I have had! Oh, back to family! Spencer has a huge love for babies and he was attached to Keona the minute he met her. Kept hanging all over her. at one point during dinner all of a sudden Spencer went missing and then all of a sudden his rond head popped up between the dinner table and the babies car seat. He couldn't get enough of her. Sophia caught this last picture of Keona pinching Spencers nose. Good shot Sophia. At the end of our visit and dinner, Spencer told Dan, " I think she has a crush on me"

GreenStone coffee shop

after the funeral and family luncheon we stayed in Molalla to visit my cousin, her husband and their new little baby Keona. While we waiting to catch up with them we took a rest at a nearby coffee shop with the kids. It was such a great place. we got out the laptop updated the first day of the trip and Dan and Spencer took a little walk through the tiny main street of downtown Molalla. Outside the Coffee shop they have a really neat water feature and outside tables to really take in, enjoy and relax. It was truly a restful place.

Grandpa Talerico

Last Monday morning we received a call from Dan's mom that her father has died. This was totally out of the blue. Grandpa had been out and about and had normal activity the evening before and went to that bed evening and died peacefully in his sleep that night. He was born in 1922 and had a long wonderful life. We were able to make it tot Oregon at the end of the week to be able to be a part of the funeral services. It was a a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time with Dan's family reminiscing of days with grandpa!

snapshots from the family luncheon

This is some the kid action from the family luncheon after the funeral. Spencer seemed to be in control of the "kids games" session. kind of funny.

These are Dan's cousins Matt and his wife Erin and their baby Andrew and Michelle and Leo and baby Natalie. Also Aunt Susan with her grandson. (Andrew)..oh and my silly son, suctioning a cup to his face.

The baseball ballerina girl!

Just got to Portland, and we got to meet my sister at her daughters baseball game. It was a good place to stop first! The kids needed to run...we made the drive in record time...but that is only because I told Dan.."we don't stop unless the kids tell us they need to go tot bathroom" hard to believe that none of the 3 said a word about going to the bathroom until we got into Portland! Sweet!

a relaxing play day

Today was a really nice day and the kids played a ton outside while I enjoyed nice cool spring weather. I am trying to absorb as much neutral weather as I can before summer hits and I hang with the AC. I love this picture of the girls! Those are their tulips they planted behind them. And this picture of Spencer and Averie kills me. Spence better watch out....before too long Averie will be right up there with him.

play day

last Friday our church had a family movie night put on by our Children's Pastors! The movie started at 7, but we met Dan at work and then went and played at the park by the church for awhile and then took the kids to a little mexican restaurant. good pay time, good food and a great movie. Charlotte's Web. Maddie invited her best friend from school and they had a blast!

wiped out!

Spencer kills me. This morning when he woke up he told us that he needed to have his cinnamon toast crunch cereal so that he would have power for his soccer game. Well I guess he was right! He ran his tail off going after every loose ball, scored two goals..and we also had to have a little discussion that you can't steal the ball from your own payers! what a nut! anyway, I had no idea that he changed out of his soccer uniform and never took his shin guards off. Later that night I told him to get ready for bed and the next thing I found when I went to check on him...no pajamas...no brushed teeth...just passed out. I really like the one sock thing he has going on as well!