Birthday Boy!

It was Wyatt's birthday the day after we got home from Oregon.  I still had a ton of laundry to do and we made a last minute decision for me and the kids to go to Idaho the next day so it was a bit of a crazy day.

We were able to fit in some birthday fun.  I let Wyatt open one present that morning.  He was thrilled with his new Gordon Hayward shirt. 

We decided to go to a movie that day.  We invited Tiff and Katie to come along.  Wyatt loved having his two best friends there with him.

We saw, "The Secret Life of Pets."  It was probably the dumbest movie I have ever seen, but the kids thought it was funny.  Katie took my three older kids to McDonalds after the movie and I ran home to keep my laundry going and then Hallee and I met them at McDonalds.  We could only stay for a few minutes because I had to get Jonah to football.

Jonah was so excited to get his gear that night.  Isn't he the cutest?

Wyatt went with me to take Jonah to football and after we dropped Jonah off we went over to Sam's Club to grab some stuff for our trip.  Keith met us over there and he and Wyatt stayed and ate dinner together while I went back to pick up Jonah.

We had a very short window of time that day when everyone was home.  Wyatt was so excited that it was finally time to open presents.  We had already given him a big present, so we just gave him a few small things, but he loved them.

He was so excited all day.  He loved telling people that it was his birthday.

He was most excited about his new compass.

Right after Wyatt opened his presents we had to run the older two to Scouts and Activity Days.  Keith and I had fun playing with Wyatt and Hallee that evening.

I sure love this cute boy!  Wyatt's primary teacher brought him over a Star Wars Lego set.  He chose to build that with Keith that night when he got to stay up late.  I think he had a great birthday!

Farewell

We left the beach Sunday morning and went straight to Kyle's farewell.  

The cousins sang  "We'll Bring the World His Truth."  They did a great job, I love that song!

Kyle gave an amazing talk.  He has really prepared himself and he is ready to serve a mission.  He will be amazing.

I know his family is sure going to miss him.  He does a ton to help, but he is also very positive and sets a fun, positive tone for the rest of the kids to follow.  

We stayed for the rest of church.  The kids did great going to their classes since they had been there the week before as well.

After church we went over to Julie's parents for a barbecue dinner.  It was so good!  The kids had fun running around and playing with each other.

They had Kyle and his cousins (one leaving on a mission and one who just came home) say a few words.  I love that Kyle just reached down and pulled Wyatt on his lap.  My kids adore Kyle.  

Hallee got plenty of attention from Lindy and Alexys.

After a great dinner and dessert we said goodbye and drove a few hours to Pendleton Oregon where we had a hotel booked.  We drove the rest of the way home on Monday.  This was probably one of my all time favorite trips.  We had so much fun, we had a ton of quality time with our family and we made wonderful memories.  I'm so glad that it worked for everyone to be there!

Take a picture of me and Kyle!

Caitlyn has a very hard time with goodbyes.  She has cried a few times about how much she will miss Kyle.

We will all miss Kyle.  I think it will go quickly for us because we usually only see him once a year. 

These two crack me up!

Wyatt loved all of the attention Caleb gave him.

The girls had fun playing games together.  Usually Keith and the kids would go to bed and I would go to one of the units and stay up visiting.  I loved it!  Keith was able to join in on the last night.  I love visiting and laughing with my siblings.  On Friday night it was just us five siblings sitting on the balcony talking and laughing together, it was so much fun!

More Beach Fun

We loved playing in the white sand at Beverly beach, but Otter Crest beach is a lot of fun too.

The girls had fun jumping in the little stream.

They are just so cute!

Something was pretty funny!

There are a lot of rocks.  The kids liked climbing over them.

It was so nice to be able to relax and visit so much.

The kids had fun climbing the sinking sand hill.

We were all so happy to see Matt when he finally arrived Friday evening.

We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores on the beach Friday night.  

The boys helped bring over logs for seating.

We all loved eating dinner on the beach.

The men, we missed Earl.

Jenna and her friend were in Portland on Friday so they drove out to the coast and joined us for dinner on Friday night.  It was fun to visit with her.  We all had fun eating, visiting and exploring on the beach Friday night.

Table for 31

We kept our meals really simple while we were there.  One night we all went to dinner.  They gave us a little area all to ourselves, that was so nice.  We had a girl table, little boy table, big boy table and an adult table.

The food was really good and they took good care of us.

I feel so lucky to have two such wonderful sisters-in-law.  I love having sisters and I'm so glad my brothers married such awesome women, so I could have more sisters that I love to hang out with.

I'm so lucky to have sisters who are also my best friends.

Gary and Julie were so generous and paid for dinner.  They bought each table a big brownie ice cream dessert.  The kids loved it!  The grown ups enjoyed some yummy pie!  It was a great dinner and so nice not to worry about cooking and dishes.

Pool Fun

They have a great pool overlooking the beach.  It is warm, but it is so cold when you get out.  All of the kids love to rough house with Keith.

I love this picture of Keith and Tessa.  Keith is such a fun uncle and he is always helping out.  

Tessa and Hallee were so cute together.

Hallee loves Lindy.  They made up a little handshake where they make a heart out of their hands, it was so cute.

One corner of the pool had a hot tub that was warmer than the rest of the pool.  I don't think it was meant for that many people! 

I had fun swimming and visiting.  I enjoyed the real hot tub!  

Wyatt and Rockwell could have swam all day.  Rockwell was showing me how to swim.  He is so cute!

Caitlyn loves to hang out with the older girls.  She loves all of the attention that Lindy gives her.  I loved that all of the cousins played together and paired off in different ways for different activities. 

Triple decker!

Rockwell and Wyatt were swimming away from Kyle while he tried to catch them and put them in jail.  He said Wyatt had to go for streaking, he might have mooned people a few times.  We swam every day and we usually had the pool to ourselves.  

The kids all loved to sit in the sauna after swimming.  It was so cold when you got out of the pool.  We swam until 10 PM the first night we got there.  I took Wyatt and Hallee up to the room while Keith and the other two were still swimming.  We got lost and poor Wyatt and Hallee were so cold.  Hallee was crying saying, "I didn't even want to come to this hotel."  She is a bit dramatic, I think she gets that from Keith.  HA! Wyatt was so sweet and kept telling her that she could do it and that he was going to give her a treat when we got home.  Luckily, we finally found our place and then Hallee was glad we were there again.