If I wasn't such a slacker...

...then you wouldn't have to spend so much time getting caught up! But since I'm a known slacker, the next 5 posts should adequately cover the last 6 weeks :)

So on Sunday morning, this crop duster was keeping me from getting an extra hour of sleep, but the boys (and that includes Chris) were having a great time watching it fly back and forth in front of the house.

That is our mailbox in the picture, just to give you and idea of how impossible it would be to sleep through this!

The view from our front window is so perfect, it looks like a picture hanging on the wall.

So Conner is getting to be such a big boy. He has been experimenting with walking for a couple of weeks now, and he has 4 teeth (after a couple of months of teething, poor thing!). He is lots of fun, and is all about trying to climb up on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! I have been amazed more than once at his climbing skills--hopefully there are no ER visits in store for us anytime in the near future.

Now that summer has FINALLY arrived, we are loving the sunshine, but unfortunately our back yard has been flooded for the last 3 weeks. Apparently because of the very wet spring, and then the over abundance of water available for irrigation, the water has no where to go and our back yard has become a lovely swamp. I can't send the kids or dog outside without fully expecting them to be a mucky mess when they come back in. Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa who took Dallon and Jace for a week so they could go outside without all the hastle of trying to stay dry, or get cleaned up when they come in. We'll see how the rest of the summer goes, and hopefully we'll be using our back yard some more when it dries out (hopefully before school starts again!).

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Dallon and Jace had a fantastic time with Grandma and Grandpa last week. I'm sure they hardly missed me (sniff, sniff). I'm so glad they got to get out of the house and have some good times that we can't do at home. They started the week with waffles for breakfast.

COOL OLD TRAINS--JULY 5TH

STORY/CRAFT TIME AT THE LOCAL LIBRARY--JULY 6TH

COOL NEW TRAINS

OREGON ZOO--JULY 7TH

petting zoo

the boy who stares at goats--but he didn't kill it

cool dinosaur exhibit

baby elephant, was born last year, so cute

CHILDREN'S MUSEUM--JULY 8TH

cute little veterinarians

SPRAY PARK FUN--JULY 9TH

TOY STORY 3 IN 3D!!! JULY 9TH

We did a 4.5 month long countdown to the premier of Toy Story 3. We had to go the day it opened or Dallon would probably have experienced a psychotic break. Unfortunatly the nearest theater with 3D technology is more than an hour away. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa found the time to take them, and they loved it all over again!

We picked the boys up on Saturday, and they have been bored out of their mind since. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, hopefully we can do it again next year!

Independence Day

Rocking those Old Navy shirts with Grandma and Grandpa.
At the Haines 4th of July parade. They also have a pretty big rodeo (relatively speaking).

Hoping to come across some sugar being tossed at random.

After the parade, Dallon and Jace left with Grandma and Grandpa to go to their friends' cabin for their annual BBQ. And then they headed back to Forest Grove. It was really strange to have them leave, but I only cried for a little while, and kept myself busy so that I wouldn't spend too much of my time missing them. They had a lot more fun than they would have had at home.

a week with Grandma and Grandpa

So Grandma Sally and Grandpa Charlie came for the Independence weekend festivities, and also to pick up Dallon and Jace so that they could spend a week with them in Forest Grove. I was really looking forward to having an opportunity to shampoo my carpets, sleep in, and get a few things done around the house while not tripping over too many toys.

Over the weekend, we had some fun. We went to the Sumpter Valley Railroad and rode the old steam train. This was a hit with the boys, and the dog seemed to like it, too.

Restored late 19th century narrow rail car. Very cool, but I can't even imagine riding thousands of miles across the country like this! The ride was actually really relaxing though, the movement of the car over the rails and the noise was actually quite soothing--I practically fell asleep, and Jace and Conner actually did.

Baker City MotoRally

So we knew there was a motoRally in Baker every year, we didn't know how big it was! And it seems that you see and hear bikes rumbling through town all year long.

We found some really cool rides, and some that looked really comfy, too!

Bikes lined up all up and down main street, it was pretty impressive.

I think that is a keg on the back, I wonder if that's legal?

Conner enjoying the warm day and all of the excitement. Cute baby!

Dallon trying not to smile.

And Jace sneaking a ride in the stroller. We'll have to check this out every year, they had some great custom bikes and I even found a really great elephant ear!

Helicopters

One of the first things I learned about Chris when we were first dating was that he loved helicopters. He got to ride in one of these for work, and then arranged for us to go back to the airport with the boys and have a good look at them.

Dallon at the controls, I don't think I would trust him with it quite yet.

Jace enjoying the ride.

Wow! So many buttons and levers can be really overwhelming for little boys who generally have to touch everything.

These helicopters are so tiny, I would have died from the anxiety if I had to actually go up in the air in one! But for those much braver than me, it is probably a lot of fun.

End of School Year 2009/2010

The end of the school year was bitter-sweet. We will really miss Dallon's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Cutright. I have never met anyone who was more perfectly suited to be a teacher and Dallon has benefitted so much from her and his aid Mrs. Brown.

They had an end of school party for their class planned, but because the weather refused to cooperate, we had to have the party in the gym at the school instead of at Mrs. Brown's farm. Bummer! The kids didn't seem to notice though, and they had fun eating hot dogs and running free in the gym for a couple of hours. I brought Jace along with me, his school ended the week before, he had fun playing with Dallon's classmates, too.