Cannon Beach 2008

Sorry I have been MIA for awhile, I have noticed that this is a recurring theme in the blogging world- lots of vacations taking us away from our computers!

These are some pictures from our trip to Cannon Beach with the Goates clan. We had a great time even though the weather was cooler than we would have liked. Paul got to wrestle with his brother and nephew, so that made his day. The kids got almost nonstop exposure to cousins (the other kids in the pictures) and lots of time on the beach- paradise!

Yea for Visitors!

I am very behind on blogging, so these pics are from a few weeks ago. These are from a fun visit with ALL of my sisters and my Mom. We had a blast! The kids are in love with their new little cousin Andrew and worked so hard to keep him laughing! Emily and Tracy and I took the kids to Remlinger Farms for a party one day and that was really fun. They have a little roller coaster and rides that are just the right size for my kids. Plus, lots of animals- including our namesake!!




Ahh....the joys of childhood...


And adulthood!! I think both Em and Tracy's expressions are priceless


These are pictures that we took while on the train ride- cool!




Auntie Heidi, Andrew and Lauren- what beautiful people!!


Livi sure loves her Grandma!


Since we live so close to the University of Washington, we are getting the kids loyalties established while they are still young :-) Josh had a basketball camp there with a buddy of his so we took the opportunity to take a couple "GO HUSKIES!" pics....



These are a few pics from the kids last days of school- they all had a wonderful year. Livi pretty much just played (of course) but both Lauren and Josh's teachers went out of their way to let me know how much they have learned and grown this year. Josh's last report card was especially fun to read. A few things his teacher wrote:

"Josh has grown immensely in kindergarten. He reads, writes and thinks mathematically at the top of the class and is very well prepared for first grade....Josh was always kind, cooperative and helpful. It was a joy to have him in class."

I am a pretty proud mamma if you couldn't tell :-)




More to come.....

A Very mobile home!

Hello! Sorry I have been MIA for a while... It has been very busy with the end of school and a trip to Oregon and house guests, so needless to say I have a lot of fun pics to post. However, I wanted to do a quick post about our friends house moving party. They bought a home on a beautiful piece of property by the water a couple of miles away from us. They decided that they wanted to build a new home on the property, but the existing home was nice enough that it would have been a shame and waste to tear it down. So, they sold it to a guy for $1 who went to the expense of lifting it onto a barge and hauling it to Canada. Our friends knew this would be a fun thing to watch so they had a party so we could all witness this unusual event! I guess it was unusual enough that it ran on a couple of news programs and on the front page of the Seattle times! My brother said he saw it on CNN too :-) By the way, the owner of this home is the same "friend" who had a guy serve me with papers as a joke on April Fools Day. I believed charges were being brought against me for illegally downloading music (I knew I hadn't done it but I thought someone had stolen my identity) for about 5 minutes until I remembered what day it was, but I was still shaking for 20 minutes! I need a particularly brutal payback so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Here are a couple of the links of the reports......(By the way, that is Lauren in the dress and Josh in the red sweatshirt of the picture that was in the newspaper!)

http://www.komonews.com/news/20165644.html (make sure you click on the video link afterwards)

http://www.king5.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=255683

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008003486_move18m.html

I also took a few pics that day...





When I have a few more minutes I will post some new pics from the last few weeks....stay tuned! :-)

Long time no blog!

Hey Gang! Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things have been a bit hectic lately with trips, visitors and school activities. I have sure had a nice time though! My favorite part of the last few weeks was my trip to Juneau, Alaska to see Emily's graduation from the University of Alaska- Yea Emee!! Tracy and I flew up together (check out her blog for pics) and met Todd and my Dad up there. We had so much fun! It was so exciting to just go out to dinner and not worry about feeding anyone but myself! And, when we flew, I actually READ the whole time- it was wonderful! I did miss Paul and my cute little kiddies, though and it was nice to come home to their sweet, joyful faces...

I got the rest of the pics from that photo session I did when we were in Salt Lake in April. I am having a really hard time deciding which ones to put up and where. If any of you have particular favorites PLEASE let me know! She gave me a CD with every picture in color and also in Sepia- so once I choose the pics I have to decide which version to use- Ahhhh! HELP! (Please also consider the 6 pics a couple entries ago...thanks!) :-)

Trip to SLC

Well, we went to Salt Lake for spring break again this year. We had a wonderful time visiting with family, but the weather sure didn't cooperate. It was snowy and cold until the last day we were there! Even though it was the day we were leaving, we wanted to get the kids on an outside adventure before we left. So we called in the troops and went to Hogle Zoo. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone in Salt Lake had the same idea- the place was packed! But we still had a wonderful time.

This is in front of the "wishing water" at the entrance of the zoo. Josh and Lauren both asked for coins to make their wishes. Josh was quick to announce that he had wished that Pokemon were real :-)


This is a fun picture because 3 of the characters in this shot have the same birthday! Josh, cousin Andrew and ..... the baby giraffe were all born on November 28th!




This sweet little boy is our cousin Henry- the kids adore him!


Don't you love this? This cute little guy trying to keep his precious ice cream safe from his big dad and uncle!


We had such a nice stay with Grandma Pam. She made her famous cookies with the kids at least twice, had a fun easter egg hunt, and watched the kids for 2 days while Paul and I went to Park City! Thanks Mom!


This is my beautiful nephew Andrew- isn't he adorable?! He is the first cousin on my side of the family and we are all so excited that he is here! I am a very proud aunt if you couldn't tell :-)



This is a special picture to me. We went to Grantsville (the little town I lived in until 6th grade) to visit a friend of mine and ended up going to my old elementary school. She is a teacher there now and had a key to get us in. It was at night so no one else was there and we had a blast! I got to see all my old classrooms- her room was actually my second grade room! When we went to the cafeteria, she told me how she remembered our first day of kindergarten. Our moms were there with us having lunch and when it was time to take our trays back, I came back in tears. I guess I didn't know exactly where to put it and it kind of freaked me out!! It really hit me at that moment how special it was to be standing there with a dear friend who has been a part of my life for so long. Then we went into the gym and that is where the history really hit me. It is the exact same! Not just from when I was there, but my dad and grandparents! The gym floor is the original floor from when the school was the high school (with the cowboy still in the middle)- WOW! This picture is amazing to me. My kids and Lisa's kids on the same floor that we played on when we were kids. Cool!

New Pictures!