Trip to Oregon

Elijah and Tyler sharing a horsey ride
Kody, Ariana, Elijah and Grandma made chocolate chip cookies together- What fun!Kevin and Kody played XBOX and had two very interested boys watching!
Gracie and Tyler had fun playing together
As you can see, the kids got along well together, and made a DISASTER of Ariana's room!
Gracie, Ariana, Johnathan, Elijah and James
Buff Danielle was catching Gracie as she jumped off the couch and I caught it in action!
Gracie and Danielle

Grandpa gettin crazy on the dirt bike!
Kevin gettin crazy on the dirt bike!
Kevin and Elijah goin for a ride
Elijah excited to hold a kitty- and the one he went for was "Puny Tom," the tiny gray one in the middle. He was about a third of the size of the rest of the litter!
Tyler enjoying one of Ariana's toys!

Tyler enjoying Uncle Karl's football game
Danielle and Tyler playing
The stud Karl and his proud mama wearing his jersey!
Karen has been very busy lately canning.. this isn't even all of it! She's got tomatoes, pears, peaches, apricots, zucchini and tomato relish, lots of jellies, green beans- and I'm probably forgetting something! I told her she may have us as visitors if this country goes into a famine crisis! ;)
Tyler wearing Kody's birthday present from us- a new beanie!

This last weekend we went up to Bonanza, Oregon to spend time with Kevin's family. It was a weekend full of birthdays: Karen on Thursday, Kody on Saturday (he's now a teenager!!!) , along with Dan & Karen's 33rd Anniversary on Saturday (Congratulations, again! That's definitely an amazing accomplishment, and great example for all of us!). In addition, Karl had a football game on Friday which was so fun to be able to make it to and see! Although his team didn't win, it was fun to watch him play!

It is always so relaxing to go up there, away from city life and craziness, to calm and peaceful. The weather was amazing, and Elijah especially had so much fun playing outside. There was a horse and cow to feed, chickens to collect eggs from, a dirt hill to climb, a trampoline to jump on, a bunny to pet, and new kittens to hold (he fell in love with the runt of the litter-- "Puny Tom" as the Hess's nick-named him... carried him around any chance he got!). He also got to ride Kody's dirt bike with Kevin, which he enjoyed, but after too long it worried him a bit. Amazingly, Kevin even got me to try it, and I actually got the hang of it my first try- didn't even kill it! (Although, I stayed in first gear my whole ride!!!) ;) We hated to leave, but here we are back to the normal hustle and bustle. Kevin's back to work tonight, and I'm busy with about 7 loads of laundry!