Lava Butte (aka: heading home)

Because I am a dork who then married a dork (but as Eric says "Being a dork keeps you out of trouble"...to which Ryan added "...and they make more money"), we stopped by Lava Butte on the way home from vacation. Here we are, atop the Butte. Amazing views, 360 degrees. And although I wouldn't recommend it, it can be done in flip flops.

Here's what I call Eric's "teacher pic". I think he wanted me to take this one so he can use it in a geology lesson with his honors freshmen in the future. I think it's funny....and no, I don't know what mountin that is. Bachelor maybe?

they just keep on comin.....

Grandma does an amazing job of corral-ing all the kids at once. She brought some scholastic bug magazine things, bug catchers, and individual books for each grandkid (she actually had a whole rubbermaid tote full of stuff to keep them occupied in a pinch). Here is Grandma teaching them about the stuff in their magazines. Later they all went out and hunted for bugs using their catchers. If you're wondering: yes, they even caught some.

Kari, Maggie, and Ashlynn....in the backseat of a police car on the Fourth of July Picnic thing at one of the parks in Sunriver.

Sam. and a REALLY big thing of cotton candy.

The Annual Moffat Cousin Dance Party...hosted once again by Uncle Ryan and his iPod. I think the sprinkler was the dance of the moment at this point...
I have some video of it too, I'll try to get that up soon(ish).

Sunriver, not quite as candid...

Here's our fam. Perched on "our" picture rock, again. Maybe next year we can get Miles AND Maggie to smile....maybe...

Joel and Mags were quite the pair....as evidenced here: Eric said "Smile!" and this is what he got.

The twinsies....documenting Sunriver 2010 in their own special way. (Do YOU know who is who?)

I can't believe I'm posting it: me, in a swimsuit...with pool hair....but alas, it might be the best picture of Miles and I taken yet. So why not? Plus maybe it will give me incentive to keep running after Hood 2 Coast is over...

Sunriver Candids

Here's how our trip started. Our little reds....sleeping side by side.

Of course, as soon as we roll in- the kids decorate their bikes (and faces, check out those shades!) and are off and riding. Even Miles got in on the action...rollin' along in his walker.

Great Grandpa is out of practice with the high energy that comes with 8 kids six and under....

Uncle Ryan took a spin with Sam and Kari at the park. It was one high flying ride for Sam and Kari!

Birthday!

My parents were up for a long weekend to help celebrate Miles turning TWO. It was a very fun weekend. Thanks for making the drive, Mom and Dad, we love you!!

Transitions.

Just said Goodbye to Miles' EI therapist this morning.  Her fam is moving to CA next week.  My tears are proving transitions are harder for me when Miles is involved.  God provided a wonderful friend in Kim this year, we're praying His next helper will be an even greater blessing.

transition

Miles was pretty intrigued by the crazy pile of boxes in the living room before we moved out. They proved a great place for him to pratice his standing. This pile of boxes was tripled in size before we were done....and the garage was already full. It was one ugly mess.

Then we moved. We moved into a neighborhood where people introduce themseles before we can introduce ourselves. Where we have PURPLE carpet. Very soft, but very purple carpet. We moved into a house roughly twice the size of our previous home. We moved in and have been slowly unpacking and doing projects as we go. We're currently hunting down an odd odor in the kitchen, so if you come over- don't judge us by it. :-) We're incredibly happy and blessed to be in this home, all if it's quirks included. We'll have plently of little projects to do this summer to get the house up to speed, but (hopefully) nothing major.

Miles has been in his own little heaven with all the boxes that have been around. When I empty one and toss it aside he crawls over and plays inside it. I'm pretty sure that he's learning NOTHING by playing in it, but sometimes the kids just needs to have fun. Plus, it's cute.

Here's the only picture of the kids I have in the new house: playdoh. playdoh on carpet. Yep, you got it- I don't care! It's industrial carpet in the family room area and so I don't really care what they do to it, which is rather freeing.

I'm hoping we'll actually take some pics of the place soon, we'll see if I come up with something exciting to post about. :-)

Catchin' up.

Alright, so moving is not a friend of the blog. SO, here's a quick glipse of some things we've been doing BESIDES pack, move and then unpack.

We've been getting going on our running. I'm all the way up to 3.25 miles. I've got to get to 6+ in the next month, so I'm praying the rain finishes up around here so I can get back out there.

We enjoyed some sun before we moved...since then, it's been rain-rain-rain. Seriously folks, it's been wet- even for Oregon. Here's Mi sporting some overalls and his (then) new hat--which is currently missing. I'm hoping it shows up soon in a random box....

We let the kids run wild with the camera while we packed. They dropped it and busted it. Eric brought the ol' thing back to life somehow. I'm secretly kind of hoping that they drop it again soon and finish it off so we can spring for a new one. :-)

Here's a pic of Maggie taken by Sam. As you can see we also sported some pretty bad hair while we were trying to move. Poor girl.

And, last but not least (as least for this post) when all your toys are packed you play with packing tape. Here's Sam's "creation" one evening.