Some updates and LOTS of pictures!

Well, it's been about 2 months since I have updated. I wish I would do it more often, but honestly don't think about it all that much. I will try though. First I'll start with our biggest news....Mike is home!!!!!! He got back in September. The boys and I flew out to Illinois for two weeks and then he came here for two weeks. He will probably be back there until January, but he will then come back here and start school. I have started working and am looking for a better job. I like my job, I am just not making enough to have it be my only job. So the hunt has begun!!! I won't even attempt to go into all that has happened in the last few months, but will post some pictures of what we've been doing.






Apple Picking at Eckerts in Grafton, IL

Mason at Mike's Welcome Home Ceremony

Yay! Daddy's home!

Morgan loved the pumpkin patch this year!

Mason did too!

Mason went on his first pony ride

We camped in a yurt

We went to a lighthouse

It was pretty cold there!

We visited OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center

The last few months

We've been a busy bunch in the last few months and I've seemed to let this slack. I can't believe I haven't posted anything since June! Since my last post we have celebrated the 4th of July, went to visit family in Redmond, gone camping, started running, and I think that is all of the bigger things. We are loving living in Oregon. It is finally raining after 28 days with no rain and a 100 and 90 degree record breaking heat wave. I am loving the rain right now, but am happy it won't be sticking around for too long. Mike should be home in the next few months and we can't wait to have him with us again. Kendra is moving in with us and that will be wonderful to have her here. It is a situation that will benefit us all and I can't wait! I hope to start working in September and am very much looking forward to it. I've loved staying home with my boys, but this momma needs a break every once and a while. :) Plus it's not a normal 8-5 M-F job, so I think it will be nice. I will try to post pictures and maybe some more detailed posts about our mini vacations a little later.

Beach

Well, it's been almost a month since I wrote last and we've been busy. We just got back from the beach. It was an impromptu trip that ended up being a lot of fun. Mom and Erik went camping down at Nehalem Bay State Park from Saturday-today actually so I decided we would go visit them at the campground on Sunday. It was very nice weather and we got down there about lunchtime. The boys had a WONDERFUL time playing in the dirt being boys. We went hung out at the campsite most of the day. We went to the beach area, but it was SO windy that the sand was pelting our faces. We turned around and went right back. We ended up staying at the campground until dinnertime. Mom and Erik had friends that met them there camping too so the kids and I took off and headed to Cannon Beach for some dinner and then home. As we were eating at Mo's I realized it wasn't as windy there and felt bad that Mason had been so excited about going to the beach, but hadn't gotten to actually play at the beach. I called Tolovana Inn, which sits directly behind Mo's, and they had a room available. So, we decided to stay. We had to head into Seaside to get diapers and some necessities that I obviously didn't have because we hadn't planned on staying. When we got back we headed to the beach for a very pretty sunset. The boys played and had fun in a bit of water. The next morning we got up went to Seaside for some shopping at the outlets then back to Cannon Beach to get ready, check out and play on the beach some more. After that we headed back to see Mom and Erik, then all went to Tillamook to the cheese factory. It was a very exhausting few days, but the kids had fun and that's all that matters. We are home now just resting and relaxing!

We made it to Oregon

We left Illinois about a month ago and have been on the go ever since. The drive out was pretty good considering kids and animals. Morgan didn't tolerate the car as well as he did during our Christmas drive, but not too bad. The animals did surprisingly well. We stopped and saw my cousing Jeneane on the way through Utah and am so glad we did as she ended up passing away that same night in her sleep. I was very happy I was able to see her again. So, we made the last days drive here, unloaded everything over the next few days and then drove back out to Utah for Jeneane. We came back on a Saturday and then I flew back to Illinois for the house closing on the following Thursday. We weren't sure the closing would even happen because of some issue the bank had....but it all went through. After working my butt off getting the house ready to leave for the new owners (with lots of help from Jessie and Tara!) and having to reschedule my flight home we are done with the house and I think I can speak for Mike and I both when I say it will be a while before we buy another house. It was stressful and binding and right now I enjoy the fact that we have more flexibility in our life. I got back from IL on a Saturday and drove out to Grandpa's 80th birthday party. I was excited to see the boys and my family. There was an amazing turnout and Grandpa was so busy talking to people the entire time. The following Friday Susan and I headed to San Francisco until Monday. We had a wonderful time visiting pretty much all the touristy things San Francisco has to offer. We've gone to a few Beaver's baseball games that the boys really enjoyed and we got to ride the train named Max as Mason calls it. Now it's a week later and we are busy trying to get moved into our new rental place. It's a three bed 2.5 bath townhome in a nice little neighborhood. I am excited and hope that everything will be done and ready within the week so we can finally get settled and into a normal life routine.

So, that was one huge post but that's what we've been doing in the last month or so. Hopefully I will be able to update more often, but if things keep going like they have been, I can't make any promises.

HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY MASON!!!!!!!

I can't believe Mason is 3!!!! He is such a big boy and wonderful blessing to us. The boys gave Mommy and Daddy a little present and let us sleep in. We got up and Mason dug into some chocolate Grandma sent him for Easter. We figured, why not it's his birthday. Then we went to Denny's for breakfast with Steven, Jamie and Logan. Mason and Logan had a BLAST sitting next to each other in the booth. We had a corner booth, so they were contained and were laughing and really enjoying being kids. Jamie took pictures, I will have to get them from her later. Later on we are going to Steven and Jamie's for some dinner and to play the Wii. I think I am going to try to find Mason a game to play on it. We are going to take some cupcakes over to celebrate Mason's birthday after we eat dinner. That's about it. I will post more later or tomorrow with pictures of our day!

Birthday Pictures

Good Morning Birthday Boy!



The boys at the park


Enjoying yummy cupcakes





Burning off that sugar at the bounce house!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY MORGAN!!!!

I can't believe my baby is one. It's sad and exciting all at the same time. He is a wonderful little boy that has blessed our lives so much. He is walking, babbling a little and full of smiles! Today we had a wonderful day. We went to a dog park with Jen and Mae up in Edwardsville. We had a blast. Mason and Morgan got to explore the huge park and look at fishies in the pond. Mason was feeding them his french fries from lunch and they were all making a clicking noise trying to break the fries apart. Poor fishies! After we went to the park we hung out at Jen's house for a bit, then came home to make some cupcakes for the birthday boy. After the cupcakes were done we went to open bounce with Jean, Rose and Mikey. The kids all had a blast and Morgan enjoyed his first cupcake. It was so cute. I have pictures, but will have to upload them later because I am getting to this a little late tonight! Oops. It's been a long day. So now I have a 1 year old and almost 3 year old! I can't believe it. Both my babies are growing up way too fast!

Wow..where have the last 11 months gone?

It's official. Morgan in 11 months old. Only 1 more month and he will be ONE YEAR OLD. I can't believe it. I was looking at pictures of him as a baby and can't believe how much he has changed. To make things worse on me, I took a look at Mason's baby pictures too. My babies are growing up way too fast. Morgan is now walking all over the place. He doesn't get to the standing position on his own. But if he by anything he can pull up on, he does, and takes off from there. He usually goes until he falls and then crawls to the next thing he can pull up on. Last night I watched him bend over and pick something up and go back to standing without falling over. I was amazed. He has quite the personality these days and has really been a great baby. Both of the boys were awesome babies and I couldn't have asked for any better. I feel so blessed that these two little guys are in my life and that God thought I did something good enough to deserve them. I will always cherish my boys. I am excited that as Morgan gets older we can do more things together. I look forward to the park this summer when Morgan will actually be able to get out there and play. He loves playing with his big brother and I know he will love it at the park. Mason has been such a good big brother. We've had and still do have our tough moments when Mason gets a little irritated with him, but overall I think they are wonderful brothers to each other and will have a wonderful friendship as they get older.

In other family news, Mike is still doing well. He recently got internet in his room and we have been able to chat onine via messenger and have really enjoyed have unrestricted time to talk. We also use our webcams so that we can see him and he can see us. He got to see Morgan walking, the boys playing and that his car is indeed being taken care of. (He always asks about his car, so I showed it to him to prove that nothing horrible had happened to it.) It is so nice being able to talk to him, but takes it to a whole other level to be able to see him. It's wonderful and I am thankful we have the technology now to be able to do that. I don't know what I would have done being a wife of the WW's or Vietnam. :)

Sleepy boys

The boys fall asleep in the cutest places sometimes. So I thought I would share some of the pictures with everyone. The first one is Mason sleeping on the living room floor. He was waiting for me to put Morgan to bed and didn't make it that long. He fell asleep laying over one of the couch pillows. The second one is of Morgan. He was eating lunch in his high chair. I walked out of the room and back in and he was asleep...so cute! The last one is Mason in bed the other night. He usually falls asleep holding a sippy cup. The other night he didn't have one, but wasn't asking for it either. He had been playing with unopened soda cans earlier in the day and apparently it made its way to bed with him. Because he was snuggled up with a soda can!






and Mason's jammies really do fit. They are just hiked up!

Zoo Day

Tuesday this week was a beautiful day. I had been watching the news and saw that it was supposed to be about 70 and clear. I have been wanting to go to the zoo, but the weather has been wintry and crazy around here so we haven't been able to go. Once I saw that the forecast for Tuesday was still the same on Monday, I called Jen and we made plans to take the boys to the zoo. We got to the zoo about 11:30-12:00 pm and it was PERFECT weather for the zoo. It was a bit breezy, but that's all it was, a breeze. The boys had on short sleeve shirts and zip up hoodies on and were perfectly fine. I kept Morgan's on him all day, but since Mason was up and running around he was in his t-shirt and it was perfect. A lot of the animals were out enjoying the day as well. Mason had a blast and loved all the animals. Morgan was very good and hung out in the stroller the whole time just taking everything in. It was his first trip to the zoo, so it was a ton of stuff he has never seen before. We were entertained for a while by the hippos swimming under water right past the viewing windows. It was amazing. I took a video, hopefully it's not too long to post. (I just tried and it wouldn't load...sorry!) All in all it was a wonderful day and I am so excited to do more things like this with the boys. I am loving that Morgan is older and Mason too for that fact and that they are so much easier to take places like this!

Mason's first time bowling

This weekend we had one of Mason't best friend's birthday parties to attend. Sam was turning 5 and his Mom had his party at a bowling alley. Mason has never been bowling before and this was a wonderful opportunity for us to see how he liked it. He didn't just like it he LOVED it. He got to bowl, play with friends and eat yummy cake and pizza. I don't think his day could have gotten much better! He got very excited every time he pushed his ball down the ramp. He would jump up and down saying I did it, I did it!!! Jen was nice enough to come along to hang with Morgan so I could help Mason bowl. Morgan did very well with Jen and it was wonderful to be able to focus on just one child (which was necessary because it was hard getting him to take turns!!!) Here are some pictures and a video of our fun.