Southern Oregon with the Rasmussen's

We met up with the Rasmussen's at Crater Lake. I have to pause and confess that ever since I've been able to distinguish land from water in the atlas, I've always wanted to see the nearly perfectly round Crater Lake. Sometimes dreams take 30 years to come true. Just remember that, kids.

Grant found a fellow connoisseur of navy blue and aqua. 

We go to drive out to the Pacific Ocean. The kids LOVED holding the starfish and touching the sea anemones.

 I loved that no one was swept away into the sea, despite their best efforts to get soaking wet.

On the way home we stopped to see the Redwoods.

There was not a horizontal redwood that wasn't touched by every kid. Each one had to be thoroughly loved. 

So many cousins, so little time! 

Portland, Oregon with the Hancocks

We just finished an awesome trip to Oregon. It's a little rough going overnight, but we made it. Here are some highlights of our time with the Hancock's.

 Enjoying the visitor center at the Portland Temple.

 Wasn't it nice of the kids to show solidarity with Grant by falling asleep mid-walk?

 There are some awesome waterfalls in Oregon, and we got to visit some of the "crown jewels." I have always wanted to walk behind a waterfall, and here my wish was granted more than once.

 These are not the size of trees that we normally have blocking the trail in Tennessee. Oregon trees are closer the girth of an elephant than me. 

The three legged race quickly became the default activity. Even after hiking all morning and being positive that they couldn't walk another step without eminent danger of expiring. 

We went on a fun city walk with allowed Grant to touch more than just foliage. More or less dirty? I guess that depends on what you consider dirty. 

Many thanks to Quinn for taking a turn with Grant. I'm pretty sure we need to make a t-shirt with a burly guy on the front (just like Quinn) that says something like "Hiked with Grant."

Panama Vacation

Last fall we went on a great vacation to Panama! 

Ryan made a great video of our trip which can be found here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyiodenQNWo&feature=youtu.be

Then Ryan got called as a bishop and we kind of fell off the earth. 

Grant is growing!

Here is Grant when he was very young trying out one of Grandpa's new bowls. A perfect fit! The picture doesn't do justice to how long his hair was. Next, Ryan's got Grant with his 3 month bow tie we received from one of his co-workers.

 When I realized that 6 days out of 7 were bad hair days for Grant, we decided to cut his hair.  He was only 3 months! There is not great muscle control at this age, and it took Amber and I working together to get the job done.

Then we had to do some touch-ups; it's easy to  notice when you miss a spot, after you've taken 2 inches off everywhere else.

Big storm and big game

 Two years in a row Ryan, and the kids have camped in the backyard only to be chased inside by tornado-like wind speeds. Here is what happened this year.

 Our kids are getting a little superstitious about camping in the backyard. Carl, who wants the final limbs of the poor ash tree to fall down, keeps asking to camp in the backyard again.

 I try not to encourage him since this storm cost us a new roof. 

This summer Ryan led soccer club for the kids. They met in the yard every morning at 6:30 and did drills and other "soccer things" until breakfast. As a final show of how much they learned, they challenged the Finch cousins to a soccer match. 

The Finch's not only outnumber the Hackett's, they also outweigh them. Everyone had a great time regardless. And I'm pretty sure that Carl spent the whole time practicing his somersaults. He's the one in the Argentina jersey close to the ground. I'm sure that one day he will be our secret weapon.

Piano Room

I have to apologize because these pictures were taken last winter when we normally do our wallpaper projects. The problem with getting these pictures is you do all the grunt work and then it takes a month to get all the new paper up and all you want to do is sit in the new room and enjoy it. 

Here is our piano room with it's new dogwood blossom green wallpaper. We love it!

Master Bedroom

I think that our master bedroom might be my new favorite room now. Here is the old room in a strong 90's style motif. This was not the only layer of wallpaper we had to pry off, but it was the darkest.

Luckily the kids love, love, love scraping wallpaper off. Is it the party music we listen to? Is it the good company? Is it the promise of frozen yogurt when we're done? It's hard to know.

If you will see Jane's technique below, that is why Ryan dremmeled off the corners of everyone's putty knives. He was sick of patching walls.

Here is the completed room. I made the curtains and they were being trained to hang right in this picture. I would take another picture now, but the room is full of baby stuff that are not so cute.

Cousins and new tricks

Celeste and the kids came out for a great visit. Everyone had a great time riding bikes, playing in the yard and learning sign language. There was even a soccer game where everyone got to use their new skills from this summer's early morning Soccer Camp.










And then there were the new tricks... Carl learned how to climb the door frames and my life hasn't been the same since. I walk a lot more stooped now, especially between rooms.

I love this picture of Alice and Grant. He had just given a heroic burp, and luckily I got this picture of them.

The kids and Ryan pulled up the last of the  dreaded landscaping rock and "black plastic of death", and they put down mulch. I hope that it was in time to save our redbud tree, but I have my doubts. We don't take pictures of that tree anymore.

Happy 4th of July

The hottest day of the year found us on the Best Hike of Our Lives! This hike is spoken of with a kind of reverence in our home, which is ironic since it's called Devil's Bathtub. There were 14 stream crossings, and we initially thought we were going to stay mostly dry. But come the 5th or 6th crossing, caution was tossed to the wind along with the ideas of dry clothing. 

 At our picnic spot, all the cousins decided it was time to make a dam. Hoover would be proud.

 Those were some cold wet kids by the end of our hike.

The kids and their moms successfully made it through another summer of swimming lessons. Tears were shed, feet were stomped, bribes were issued, but everyone learned a lot and no one drowned. 

Happy Spring Birthdays!

This spring Jane turned 8 years old and got baptized! 

 She was so happy!

 She really loved snuggling Grant.

 This is what happens when Carl finds my old sword and the kids commandeer the tissue paper from baby shower gifts. Fierce baby protection mode.

 Now that school has started again, I think it's fitting to include our end of the last school year party - inspired, decorated, and enjoyed by the kids most of all.

 Helen decorated her own birthday cake! Amber provided the cake and frosting; Helen provided the garden theme idea and enthusiasm.

Welcome Baby Grant!

We adopted a baby boy in April, but we wanted to wait until it was finalized before posting pictures on line. And also, life with a newborn is a little hairy.

 Here we are in the step-down NICU where we spent a few days as he got stronger.

 We were super happy to have him in our family!

 Thanks to Grandma Bee who came out and helped watch the kids while we were in Kansas picking up Grant. Carl is so happy to have someone else in the "boy room."