Anna is 7!!

Anna turned 7 years old at the beginning of August.  Scott was able to come into town for the birthday weekend (John's birthday is the next day).  Anna was excited for her birthday.  Here she is with her cake.

 As part of the birthday weekend festivities we went to Build A Bear with the kids.

Here's her cake again.  She wanted a lemon lime cake with a lemon lime frosting glaze

Here are a few birthday pictures

Matthew takes a swing at Anna's pinata

Anna and Matthew figuring out treasure hunt clues to find Anna's birthday presents

Opening presents

Anna got some soft yarn from Grandma.  My mom has been helping the older kids with some different yarn crafts.  Anna was happy to get some soft yarn.

Time for cake

John's ready to help her blow out candles in case help is needed.  Maybe he's practicing for his birthday tomorrow.  Happy 7th Birthday Anna!!

Our New Crawler

Emma can crawl now.  She started crawling soon after we got back from our Oregon vacation.  Here she is.  Nothing is safe now.

 She loves being able to get around

Here she is with Anna...just can't wait to get back to crawling.


Look out world!!  Emma is on the loose.

More Summer Fun

 And here are a few last pictures of some of our northwest summer fun. We had a great time at Lulu and Owen's birthday party.  Jaron/Iron Man welcomes us!

 There was food, games and pinatas (candy!)

The kids had so much fun!!

 Slip and sliding at Lulu and Owen's birthday party

 Karlee and Anna

 Taking the Canby Ferry

 Kelsie and Anna at the zoo

 Kallie and Emma

 John and Kallie petting goats at the zoo

 The goats were lots of fun

 Our last night in Oregon.  Shooting marshmallows.

 We had so much fun visiting with family in Oregon and Washington

And soon enough it was time to leave.  We had so much fun visiting with everyone.  Originally I thought we would be going from Oregon right to our new house in California, but we don't have a house yet.  Currently we're on a waitlist to have one built and hoping that all goes smoothly.  And we're just kind of in limbo in the mean time.

Magnus Time

and Gideon, Ruth and Dana

Here are some pictures of time we spent with my sister Ruth and her family.  The kids had a great time playing together.  Magnus and Grant are only a few weeks apart in age.  Grant decided Magnus was his new BFF and was very excited that they were both 4 years old.  Grant still talks about Magnus as one of his "best friends."

We played at a park and everyone was getting crazy with the double slide.

Magnus kept trying to go up

Sometimes my kids would impede his progress

Grant is a few weeks older than Magnus, but Magnus is a lot taller than Grant.

 Another day we went on a little walk by a creek.  It was very pretty.

Here are some pictures.

 Raspberries...or were they blackberries.  Now I can't remember.

 BFFs

Grant and Magnus both throwing rocks into the water

Very important business

 Grant got pretty wet...and so did I, chasing Matthew's flip flop down the stream.

 OK, I guess they were blackberries

They were tasty too

 Boys!

And sisters!!  Me and Ruth with our littles, Emma and Gideon.  

It was fun hanging out with Ruth and family for a little bit.