Summer Condensed

It's October.  It's getting colder but we've been blessed with a very sunny and dry fall.  I personally love it when Mother Nature hears my plea to not turn on the faucet yet.

This turned into quite the epistle. But I'm summing up three months so even though it's a long post, I know I skimming over all our activities.

This was the first year we participated in our neighborhood's 4th of July Parade.  There was actually about 300 people who participated!  Who knew?!  We've spent every year with Genet's family since we've moved up to the NW plus it's her birthday. But they ditched us this year :) so we had to go.  It was stifling hot but Jonah had a blast!  Aaron actually put the GoPro on his head and it's hilarious! It's like being inside this kid's head.  He hummed to himself the entire time, giving every moment it's own theme music. You hear him talking to strangers, complimenting them on their costumes, threatening curses upon the families of our friends who shot silly string at him.  Hilarious!

Lucas got his learner's permit!  Big deal over here.  Luckily he's a great driver and we've haven't had any dents.  So far.

We had many trips out to the coast this summer.  Our favorite was during our Williams Family Reunion.  The TX Williams plus Mom & Dad came out for a week and we got to play!

We love cousins!

My boys.

  The day was windy but beautiful and topped off with a yummy dinner together at Mo's. (I know Aaron took a lot more pictures but this is all I have on my computer and I knew if I didn't just put up the few I had, I would never post waiting to collect better pictures.)  We had such a wonderful time together. 

Lucas and Aaron went on high adventure together this year, hiking about 40 miles in Eastern Oregon mountains.  It was probably one of the hardest things Lucas has ever done but ended up being a good experience and I'm so happy Aaron could go for the first few days.  He left at 5:45am on Wednesday morning, hiked 2.5 hours, had a flat tire on the van and drove all day to try and make it for Ethan's baptism that night and missed it by an hour.  He was so disappointed to miss his big day!

Mid August I took the boys down to AZ to visit our newest niece, Daphne.  Amanda and Geoff now have 4 girls and life is all pink princesses and girl drama.  I love it!  They are the sweetest family and I loved playing with the girlies and getting my baby fix in.  Lucas was a natural.

Katherine, the oldest, with creativity oozing from every pore drew portraits of each of as a welcome. All Jonah could say was, "Those are the creepiest things I have ever seen!"  We're working on tact with that one.

We drew pictures, played princesses, went swimming, spent the night up in Prescott, ate a lot of yummy take out and ran errands.  Jonah and Katherine, both alphas, played so well together in the beginning while it tended to deteriorate a little as the week went on. But they found common ground in their make-believe worlds and it was hilarious to hear of all the adventures they went on together.

We drove out to Grasshopper Point one day to escape the heat.  The non-existent rocky trail made it very difficult to get all the kiddos plus gear out to the water but once we were settled, it was perfect.  Shallow water for the little ones plus rock and crevices to explore while we watched the cliff jumpers on the other side.

 Nana and Papa met us out there to romp around.  There are awesome and really get in there playing with all the grand kids.  My mom especially loves the water!  That's the Arizona kid in her.

Jonah has no fear and always goes full steam ahead no matter the situation.  We had to rein him in as he tried to cross the river himself.  He loves to explore and Papa took him on an adventure, stalking through the trees and bringing back cold drinks for us all from the car. They were our heroes!

 

Lucas got some great reading time in the perfect place. 

He also was the sweetest cousin, playing with the girls and looking after them.  Genevieve became his little sidekick and sure loved him!

We of course made the obligatory trip to In 'n Out.  Aaron was jealous.

We had planned to drive out the Redwoods at the end of August but plans changed due to a new facebook project for Aaron at work and training for my new job.  So we decided to just go out to Florence, Oregon on the coast and the sand dunes we didn't even know existed.  It was awesome!

We stopped by the Oregon State Fair on $.25 day and had a blast checking out all the 4H animals, riding rides and eating elephant ears.

Discussing the universe.

We then drove out to the coast where Aaron hand fed a very bold seagull.

We stopped at Thor's Well, one thing on our Oregon bucket list. 

We decided to go the Seal Cave which is actually quite an amazing place if only there were seals.  Apparently we went off season, but we have vouchers to come back in January to come when 100's of seals are there to breed.  The pictures of the seals were amazing though. :)

Oregon really is gorgeous. And the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

We went miniature golfing, go carting, bumper boats, and the highlight dune buggies!  Aaron brought his GoPro so he has all the pictures and video.  I'll have to get them to post. It was a blast!  Jonah was is the front seat whooping and hollering the whole time while a father in back of us started puking from the motion and was sicker than a dog for second half of the ride.  Poor guy!  But we will definitely do it again!

Something about this pose Jonah loves...

Aaron planned a weekend getaway at a bed and breakfast in Newport for my birthday last May and we finally took went in August.  We had smores on the beach, late movies, hikes up to the lighthouse, afternoons reading in front of our beautiful view and the local quilt show. 

This was our view from the bed and our afternoons reading.  The Friesses watched our boys and we love cousin sleep overs! Jonah and I only threw up once from a little stomach bug passed through the Williams reunion.  But no biggie.

September brought school much to the chagrin of the boys.  Lucas started 10th grade and is playing in all sorts of bands this year.  Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, marching band, pep band and will try out for the pit in the winter musical.  He also has been rocking out on the drum kit and convinced us to take lessons.  We have a local teacher just one neighborhood over so that might start soon.

He's taking a lot of advanced classes and loves US History and seminary the best.  He's thinking about becoming a psychologist when he gets older.  Hmm, I wonder where he gets that?!  (My mother and my two sisters all got their masters in counseling, social work and guidance counseling while I got my BS in psychology.)

 My favorite.

Jonah started 1st grade with a brand new teacher to the school, Senora O'Connor.  He's has a rough beginning getting in trouble for hitting and messing around to the utmost frustration to his parents.  But after our 2nd conference with the teacher she said she noticed a pattern of things only happening in the afternoons.  We talked about his eating habits and that maybe low blood sugar could play a part in his behavior.  He's always gone crazier instead of lethargic when his blood sugar gets low.  She now will set a aside a time for him to sit in the hall for him to have an afternoon snack.   I truly think this will make a huge difference.  I hope.  Other than some behavior incidences, he does great with the Spanish and loves math.

Jonah is also playing on his first soccer team this year and it's been a real learning experience.  I've seen a lot of improvements in his ball handling and getting himself into the fray to kick the ball.  I have to smile as he's the only one I've ever known to sing "Go, go Power Rangers!" as he runs down the field!

In bigger news, my parents have received their mission call to Central America Mission Area.  My dad will be the area auditor and my mom was called the be the mental health advocate, basically a counselor to missionaries. They leave on Jan 18 and then will live near church's Central America headquarters in Guatemala City but will be traveling all over like to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Belize, etc.  They've been dedicating every minute practicing Spanish and Aaron has been giving them weekly lessons.  It's unusual for both missionaries to have a specific calling but if anyone could handle it, it's them!  I'm so sad they are leaving but happy about their dedicated service.

Overall we are happy and busier than ever.  I started a new job at the elementary school as a Title 1 teacher, teaching basic reading skills to K-2nd graders.  I do a few groups in English but a few in Spanish as well.  I love being at the school and I work with a fabulous group of women. I'm only there for 3.75 hours a day and am done by 12pm.  I've found I manage my time so much better when I'm busy and I find I'm much more productive the rest of my day.  I've made a new habit of getting up before the boys to study my scriptures and that has made all the difference.

Aaron has been traveling more for work lately and will be gone all this next week, being in 4 cities in 4 days.  He works so hard, both at his job and for us.  Love that man.  We just celebrated our 17th anniversary of our first date. Cannot believe it.

I am once again setting the goal of posting our family history at least once a month.  We'll see how it goes.