Summer to Fall

 

We had a busy summer - fun road trips, college visits, church outings and more!  In August Matthew worked at the county fair for a couple weeks - his first job!  We went to the fair one day and got to see him in action.  It was super hot that day so we (some of us) soon got grouchy and we didn't stay as long as we might have otherwise.  We had fun thought.

Matthew at work in the Chuckwagon at the fair.  He made lots of food including elephant ears.

Hard at work - he worked 8 hour+ days for about 12 straight days - no days off.

At the fair we got to see the pirate parrot man.  He said we could coax the parrot over to our hand by holding up a dollar - and sure enough that bird stole our money.  :)

Emma with the parrot man - he looks like a statue but he is real, so is the parrot

We got to have some different cousin fun times - including a sleepover!

Hanging out with cousins

Emma practiced roller skating - she's improving a lot!

Doing some different summer activities

I took Emma to a girl scout swim party at a local pool - John and Grant got to come as well

We played foosball as we waited for our swim time

John and I have been having a lot of fun playing catch during the summer!!

Anna helped me deep clean the fridge - it was a lot of work but looked oh so sparkling and clean afterwards

Anna also helped the boys do a deep clean of their bedroom

Here is John enjoying his cleaned up bed

Did a little bit of blackberry picking

As is becoming a back to school tradition, I took the kids to the mall to get new shoes and some new clothes.  First I took the older three - here we are at Old Navy.

The next day I took the younger two - we got some new shoes and enjoyed some pretzels

We also had fun looking in Claire's - one of Emma's favorite places in the mall

so many stufffies

Another day we had a fun family hike at Silver Falls in Oregon

We did a 5+ mile hike as a family which was a lot for the younger guys

Lots of fun exploring along the way too

And very beautiful!

On the way back we stopped to get shave ice and see Ma2 and Pa2

The teachers in our school district ended up going on strike, delaying the start of school by 7 school days.  It gave us a little extra time to get ready for the start of the year.  Anna made a big batch of burritos for her school lunch and stored them in the freezer.  

Here we are at high school orientation - Anna tries out her new locker

At the library finishing up the summer reading program

And Emma at her back to school event!!

We finally went back to school!  Looking forward to a great new year!!

Birthdays

 

We have two August birthdays - Anna and John on consecutive days. 
Here Anna and I made slush (a family favorite lemon orange slushy drink) for her birthday dinner

We had a fun Clue themed a birthday celebration for Anna.  Matthew had to work so he wasn't there.  Anna was Miss Scarlet, John was Mr. Green, Emma was Mrs. Peacock (the bird one) and John was a weird Col. Mustard.  We did a little murder mystery activity and then watched the movie.

Grant turned a fake mustache into fake eyebrows

I finally made Anna's birthday cake correctly.  She likes this cake my mom makes and for years I have been making it wrong, but finally got the correct recipe.  You can see the recipe HERE.

Hooray - Anna turned 15 this year.  So many candles.  

She is looking forward to getting her learner's permit

A few days later we went out to a birthday lunch at a favorite Mexican place (Who Song and Larry's in Vancouver).  We went to an early lunch then took Matthew to work at the county fair

Yum!

And then it was John's birthday!!

John loves The Legend of Zelda video game series on Nintendo and has for many years.  So he wanted a Legend of Zelda themed cake.  Emma wanted to be involved with making the birthday cake.  Here we are getting ready to begin.

Here is a bonus photo from John's birthday 2019 (when he turned 7) - he is dressed up as Link, the main character from Legend of Zelda

And here is our completed Legend of Zelda cake

Hooray John!!

He's turning 11 this year

Here he is with part of a completed Lego set from his birthday.  He likes Legos and Minecraft and mostly playing video games - he's always telling me how he wishes he could play them more.  Mom eyeroll.

We went out to lunch at Olive Garden for John's birthday - he got a special b-day piece of cake.

And we went to Big Al's for some gamer time!

Happy Birthday John!!

Yellowstone

 and thereabouts

Here are some pictures from our family reunion trip to Southeastern Idaho and Yellowstone

Mesa Falls

Floating Henry's Fork - we had a lot of fun

Visiting Old Faithful

A wet day at Mammoth Hot Springs

It was a great trip - I think I was just in mental/emotional exhausted mode the whole time and not at my best - summer wore me out this year!!  But everyone had fun.  Whenever I go to Yellowstone I wish I could spend another week there.

On the way back - we stopped quickly at Craters of the Moon - another place we need to visit!!

And we eventually made it back home!!  A fun week!!

Summer

Here are a few more pictures of our summer adventures.  Matthew went on a three day campout and bike ride with the young men from church. Scott also went as one of the leaders - so we have pictures!!

Matthew seemed to have a good time even though his bike is now too small for him - we'll get him a new bike soon.

The tunnel

Matthew and Dad

Matthew also taught himself to knit over the summer - I am impressed because when I've tried to teach myself to knit I just end up frustrated and angry.  So good job Matthew!!

Emma got her wish of trying boba for the first time.

She hated it.

So did John.

So now they know

Backyard swimmy pool fun

Playing at a park near us

Picking blackberries

At the swimming hole

Emma and I did the downtown bird walk - you can find the 10 or so statues of birds in downtown - using a vague guide we printed out online - it was still pretty hard but we finally found them all.

And we got donuts afterward

We visited Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.  I have never been out there and it was so interesting.  Pullman is a really small town next to nothing and there are no big roads that go there.  We drove on a lot of empty country roads - not seeing another car for miles and miles.  Finally we arrived in "the Palouse" - a region of Washington (and maybe parts of Idaho/Oregon) that is all low rolling hills - it looks like a bunch of sand dunes, mostly with wheat growing on them.  Washington State University and the town of Pullman are right in the midst of the Palouse.  Here we are by a cougar statue - WSU's mascot is the cougar - like BYU.

Looking down over the practice field.  We took a thorough walking tour of WSU - it was a pretty cool campus.  We didn't have time to do individual tours of major departments or anything but got a good feel.

Getting some WSU gear

We learned they have a grizzly bear rescue program at the school and you can go see the grizzly bears - pretty close up - pretty much whenever you want.  Glad we got to visit!!