October & November Happenings

Sydney lost her first tooth. I have never seen someone so happy. She shows everyone she sees. She is really excited to share this event since Brooke has not lost her tooth yet. She really is enjoying her own moment.

A local gas station in town had a thousand pound pumkin that you could guess how many seeds were inside. We went and watched as the store owner carved the pumpkin with a chainsaw. This was definalty a moment that reminded me of how Bend use to be so small and a simple activity like this can be so much fun.
I always admire the mothers that plan the Halloween costumes for their families with a theme. But as this year proves...I just let them pick what they want. We definatly got a variety but they all loved what they chose.

Jeff was asked to be a Principal for the day at one of the Middle Schools here in town. He really had a great day seeing what happens behind the scenes at school. It gave him an appreciation of what Dayne will be going through next year when he starts Middle School.

My sweet Alexis turned 9. (Going on 15) She chose to spend the day with her best friend and they went bowling, to the arcade, Red Robin, and a visit to the local reptile store. She is truly a blessing in our family.

School

The kids were so excited for school to start. This year Sydney & Brooke started Kindergarten. YEAH!!! They only go half day but are so happy to be all grown up and go to school with their brother and sister. This year they are all in the same school. Dayne is in 5th, Ali is in 3rd and the twins are in Kindergarten.

We are looking forward to all the adventures the kids will get to do. Ali has already been on 3 field trips and Dayne has been on 1. I have already done 6 hours of volunteer work in the classes and 28 cold lunches. Drove to soccer, tae kwon do, dance class, cub scouts, activity day girls, gymnastics and it has only been the first 3 weeks :) I know that all other moms have begun the same life and I wish you all the best and keep smiling as you get to enjoy all the excited of the new year.

Summer

Wow! Were did the time go. We have done lots of fun things this summer but I can't believe it is time for school to start next week. Here are a few of our adventures the last few months. We went on our annual trip to the Owyhee Reservoir in Oregon.

Sydney & Brooke finish Preschool. They had an amazing year. Thanks Miss Mindy!

Jeff & I got to go to Vegas with some amazing friends from college. We had a great weekend.

We spent a week on the Oregon/Washington Coast with our friends who flew all the way from Tennessee to spend time with us. We also drove over and saw Mt. St. Helens and went through the Ape Caves.

Then we had a great visit from Jeff's cousin. They brought there kids down and we went to the Lava River Caves and floated the river. We really enjoyed their company.

My wonderful sister-in-law from Utah came up and took family photos for us. We had a great time. So glad for her talent!

Tennessee - Jeff's Birthday

Jeff had his 37th birthday and we went to Memphis, Tennessee to spend the special occasion with our good friends. They took us to the Memphis Zoo which was amazing and I had to put in some of the animal photos I took. That I just found cute.

Jeff got his favorite things for his birthday BOOKS, BOOKS and more BOOKS. This one was a signed copy.

We had a great trip with all the kids and we really want to thank our friends for all the good food and all the fun places we went.

Australia!

Well it has taken 13 years but we finally made it back to Australia to visit some of our close friends. We were able to take Dayne and Ali with us which was such a wonderful experience for them. We stayed for 2 weeks and were able to enjoy the day to day life of the laid back lifestyle of the SouthEast coast of Australia.

Kukabera birds that moments later ate Jeff's sandwich out of his hand just as he was taking a bite.

First stop after we got off the airplane. It was 98 degrees and beautiful. We stopped to eat fish and chips which became Dayne's favorite meal.

One of my host families from my year as an exchange student suprised me at dinner. So good to see them.

Ali's favorite thing was the beach. She spent hours mastering the waves.

Three of my good friends. It was so fun to catch up and spend time together. Time may have passed but not our connection. Felt just like we had seen each other.

Dave & Maree let us stay with them and were our tour guides/party planners. So good to spend so much time with them.

This was another one of my host families that I had lived with for 6 months. Aunt Sharon and Uncle Peter. They live on a beautiful farm that Dayne & Ali got to collect eggs from the chooks every morning.

We spent 2 days in Sydney. ( Well 3 since our flight got cancelled and we had to stay an extra day). So fun to show the kids all of the sites.

The view from Maree's porch every evening. WOW couldn't ask for anything better.

Dayne was not so much into the water but loved the soft sand.

Took us about 4 days of looking for wild kangaroos. We finally came across these wallabies. But then when we got the the next town they were everywere.