Oregon Coast Day 3...The Beach

This morning we started by playing games at our beach house while everyone was taking turns getting ready for the day.

By the way did I mention how nice this house is that we are staying in? The game room is in the garage. I love it! There are a few things in the house that Jeremy want to try to incorporate into our own home.

This is at the Museum before going to the lighthouse. The museum area told us a little about the birds and animals we might see around the area. Bradley was such a good baby all day. I am so blessed to have him.

Everyone stops so Jeremy can take a picture of our kiesters leaving the museum on the way to see the lighthouse.

We are treckin' to the lighthouse.

My handsome husband, still sore, but making a wonderful vacation for me. He trys to do everything that the rest of us do to make it a great family vacation, sore or not sore. Thank you Jeremy! I love you!

I think these are Sea Lions sun bathing. They were so hard to see. They just looked like dirty spots on the rocks.

We were so excited to see the Sea Lions that we almost missed the whale further out. I have to give Jeremy credit for catching this picture, because I couldn't see it.

We took a lot of "family pictures" but in some of them a part of our family was missing. In this one Jillian was asleep and Bradley well, he's just too little to be climbing rocks. But still a beautiful picture.

Daisha so badly wanted to find a starfish. We found one but it is still alive. Daisha was a little disappointed she couldn't find one to take home. So I had to post this picture for her. Here's her starfish.

Jeremy and I just enjoying the trip. It's been so nice to have so many people here with us to help with the kids and we have had some time alone that we can just enjoy our beautiful surroundings and each other.

But sometimes Jillian just doesn't want to leave my side. But who can turn down the cute little face?!

Jillian did NOT want to get her feet dirty at all. Finally I had to just put her down and show that it was ok to go in the dirt/sand. Finally she got comfortable with it and she was off. She loved the sand between her toes.

Boy was that water cold! I knew it would be cold but I wasn't thinking it would numb my toes, and everything else that got wet.

And the kids must agree with me..."RUN! We are going to get wet"

Papa had the boys so far out into the water they were over their heads, literally. They enjoyed it but mom and grandma did not. We were worried papa would lose one of the kids in those big waves.



Some how the little girls, Jillian and Maddilyn, both fell and ended up soaked, and then of course all muddy.

But through it all they are still BEST BUDS! All I can say is ADORABLE!

Grandpa Guy. This is Laurie's dad. What a great picture of him enjoying life. We love you grandpa!

We are all on a search for Daisha a starfish...NO LUCK. :( But still we had a great time at the beach.

Aww, and the sparks fly. I love you Jeremy! Thank you for bringing me to this beautiful place. I love you and I love the wonderful family we have. And I love getting away from "life" and just enjoying the your company.

But after playing at the beach Papa gets to play. The kids all got hosed off outside before being able to go in the house. I think Papa enjoyed that part. The kids not so much. Tucker, which water was colder, the ocean or the hose?

We all had a wonderful day. We had lunch at a place called Mo's. They have the best clam chowder. It was so yummy. And right across the street is a candy shop that of course we had to stop at. Laurie bought us all something at the candy shop. I think I got the best deal...she let me get a whole bag of salt water taffy, and I got to fill the bag with the flavors I wanted. Oh yum! The mint oreo taffy is to die for. Thanks Laurie for putting this all together for us. You're the best!!!!

Oregon Coast DAY 1 & 2

We are at the Oregon Coast. We drove in the car for what seemed like FOREVER but we are here. Yesterday we drove all day to Redmond and we stayed the night at Aunt Diann's house. What a beautiful home she has. And Great Grandma Shorty lives with her now so we got to see her too. She was beside herself playing with the kids.

We took some pictures at Aunt Diann's house with her beautiful landscaping she has. What a wonderful place she has. And she is so kind to let us stay at her home. Not only did she let us stay at her home she took me all over town trying to find some eye drops. I forgot my medicated eye drops at home...I was too worried about everyone else and making sure we had everything that I forgot my own stuff. So I ordered some new ones at a walmart in Oregon well apparently I ordered them to the wrong walmart. We were in Redmond and I ordered them to Bend. Which is only about 20 minutes difference but still how stupid am I? Well Diann she is so wonderful she took me over to Bend and on the way there we had the best talk ever. And on the way home we took 10 minutes to ourselves and she drove me around Bend and showed me the town. It's really nice and lots of fun things to look at. Thanks Diann!

My family. The sun is shining just right that this picture is going to need some editing when we get home but here it is for now. I love my family!

We just keep driving and driving and to me it all looks the same. Here are a few of the phrases I heard WAY too much of "are we there yet mom" "ma! juice!" "I'm hungry" "he's touching me" "I have to pee mom" "I think I'm going to throw up" "Can we watch a different movie"

Let's just say that traveling with kids...you HAVE to have patience. For the first part of the trip I thought I had left my patience at home, but I have finally found them and we are all having a good time. :)

This is everyone at the top of the "dragon's house" at the McKenzie Pass Observatory. So our family is really into the show Merlin. For those of you who have seen it will understand when we call it the "dragon's house". It was so fun to be there and see the kids and their excitement.

While we were waiting for Anne (the pregnant lady) to go to the bathroom, we saw a couple feeding a chipmunk.

We stopped off and found a beautiful place to take a family picture. This was taken with a timer on a picnic bench. I am so happy with this picture. It turned out so well! Everyone is happy. Everyone is looking. Everything is just perfect....except the breaks on our car. It was a very much down-hill drive and Jeremy didn't want to listen to me and put it down a gear. Needless to say this trip might cost us a new set of breaks on the car. :) But so far well worth it.

And just a beautiful picture of the view we have from the lake house that Laurie rented for us....or should I say the replacement house we got. That's a story...let me tell you. We got here to Newport today and finally found the house she had rented. It was absolutely terrible. There was mold growing in the basement. There was a old yucky smell you could smell immediately when you walk in the house. It was a old run down place with no beach or ocean even, it was the bay. Laurie insisted that we NOT stay there. She was irrate to say the least, and so were the rest of us really. This place should never be rented out especially at the price she had paid. After lots of phone calls and Laurie being the wonderful, intelligent woman she is got us a replacement house. It is absolutely gorgeous!!!! This is the view we have.



She that is it for now. There are LOTS more pictures but everyone is watching a movie without me, so I am going to go. Stay tuned for more of our trip.

Let it ALL out!

Sorry, this post I have to just let it all out. I have to let it out somewhere. So this week just started out bad. Monday I just don't know what was wrong with me but I just needed my space. I was grouchy to everyone about everything...Sorry everyone!

Tueday my dad called me and didn't sound so good. I asked him if he was ok he said no and he needed me to come help him. He said he couldn't move and he needed an Asprin. I thought that sounded a little weird, and my mom would be home from work in about 30 minutes I thought he was just being "drama". I went to his house and ended up taking him to the emergency room, where my mom met us. At first sounded like he might have just over-worked (which is VERY likely for my dad...he's a VERY hard worker) outside in the hot sun. Well turns out...LONG story short. He had a minor heart attack and he is VERY lucky he went into the doctor. He ended up having another stent put into the same artery that already had 3 stents. There is also another "issue" but the doctor said he would cover that later. That worries me a little but since they aren't worried about it right now it must not be anything major...for now. So I spend a majority of the night at the hospital with my dad on Tuesday.

Then Wednesday dad was moved to Meridian because they don't do stents or open heart surgery in Caldwell. Anyway, so I went to spend some time with dad and a child snuck outside when she found out I was leaving. So I ended up taking Daisha with me. Let me just say hospitals and children are not a good mix! "I'm hungry" "I have to go to the bathroom" "What is that thing?" "Who's that?" "What does that do?" "I'm thirsty" AAUUUGGGG!

And now for today...Dad is still in the hospital but is moved to a different room...less supervision. He is doing better.

Well we got the call that our fence was in that we ordered from Home Depot. So this weekend Jeremy and his dad were going to put that up. Jeremy went today to pick up all the supplies. While lifting a bag of cement his back gave out on him. He heard 3 pops in his back and lost it all...he said his body just gave out on him, almost like he passed out. The guy that was helping him load all the stuff up caught him and helped him get into the car where he called for help. His dad (Greg) went to pick him up with his brother (Jason). They took care of him while I was home...with no idea what was even happening. Finally I got a call...Jeremy doesn't have his wallet and we need his insurance card. I wasn't even dressed. Yes it was in the middle of the day but I was just in my "cleaning clothes". I had been cleaning house, catching up on laundry etc. So I throw on some decent looking clothes and head down there. Come to find out we have a decent size deductible before the insurance kicks in. WOW...totally NOT expected!

So we finally get in to see the doctor and he thinks it's just a muscle spasm. Really?! Well he is still under watch and we might have to take him back in for xrays if he isn't better in the morning. Right now he is OUT because of the pain pills and the muscle relaxer. But we will see how he is in the morning and make a decision from there.

OH, you thought that was all...it gets better. So my sister (Sheree) came home from work early to help me watch the kids so I could stay with Jeremy at the doctor's office. She stays for a while, and then decides she wants to go see dad. She asks me to go with her and Rob can stay with Jeremy and the kids. No problem. We end up taking Daisha, Jillian and Sheree's boy Zakary. On the way there Jillian pukes in the car. We have to stop on the freeway to clean her up. We think she just laughed so hard and gagged herself, because she wasn't sick after that and the kids were all laughing pretty hard before it happened. So she is without any clothes. We get one of Zak's onzies (size 18 months...she wears 3T) We just put it on her like a shirt and didn't button the bottom. And then I just wrapped a blanket that Sheree had in her car around her legs. Oh and she had a pull-up on. I started working on potty training with her today...well sort of. That is a whole nother post. Ok, so we get to the hospital the kids are out of control playing with the buttons on papa's bed, climbing in the chair then out of the chair, in my lap then down. After a while they were sitting by Sheree and she was occupying them when all of a sudden Sheree goes, "Gross" and picks up Zak and heads to the sink. I asked what was the matter. Jillian had peed through her pull-up and on the floor and Zak was playing in it. Really? I just wanted to sit there and cry. By this point I am done. I can't handle anything else. I know it just something so small but I am just exhausted. So with that being said. I am going to bed. Pray something big sells this weekend and that next week everyone is feeling better. (Physically and Emotionally)

OH MY!

OH MY! It's been so long since I have posted anything. I AM SO SORRY to everyone who actually reads this.

Right now is probably not a good time for me to be updating this either because I am not in the best mood. Jeremy is still going to school and he's been talking recently about how to get his Masters Degree and how long that's going to take. WOW...5 years. I didn't sign up for that! Knowing that I got a little frustrated. I was beginning to think "we are almost done" and with that information it feels like we are just starting. I asked him if he could teach while he gets his Masters. He said he could but it would be too hard to get a job right now. (In my translation of his tone that means he's not even going to try.) I volunteered to go get a job. He said we will see what happens. So we will keep that on the back burner for now. The E-bay business is still going good but ebay is such a rip off on all of their fees as so we are getting close to just breaking even with all the extra fees, instead of making any money. Well that is the hard part of our reality right now...but here is proof that we aren't just stressed all the time and we can have a good time. My kids are my joy!

Isn't Jillian just adorable. Daisha put curlers in her hair. She loved it!


For some reason I can't get any of the kids to sleep in their own rooms or beds. They all want to sleep in Jillian's room or in the livingrooms. But the love they have for each other is priceless. I love catching them in moments like this.




Afternoon project. I found these bottles of paint at the thrift store one day. Jeremy couldn't understand why I wanted to buy them but when I pulled them out and let the kids work on projects they occupied themselves for hours while we could get some work done and they had a great time. No mess to clean up. I love these paints. Then when they were done they wanted to give them to people but they wanted to give the same one to more than one person so I scanned some of them and we emailed them. They were all SO excited to see their paintings on the computer. :)


Bradley Bean after his bath. He is just so cute!


So the night before the 4th the neighbors were setting off fireworks. The kids were all so excited. Jeremy and I were in bed watching a movie and all the kids came running in saying they heard fireworks so we let them open our blinds and watch the fireworks out our window. The neighbors stayed up pretty late and the kids got tired after a while. Jillian would lay down be almost asleep then they would light up another one. She would lift her head and say "Boom Boom Mom". It was so cute!


Wackie Jackie came to spend the day with us. She UNFORTUNATELY had to leave early. Thanks for coming Jackie. We missed you but we're glad we got to see you. Love you Jackie!


We went to Middleton this year for their parade and fireworks. It worked out perfect for us. My mother and father-in-law live right next to where the fireworks were lit off and right where the parade started. So we just hung out at their house all day. We played cards in between the parade and the fireworks. Jeremy and I beat Jason and Greg in Pinocle, only because they cheated..that makes us the winners. :) Either way it was fun!


Papa lit off some fireworks for the kids. Here they are doing the snakes.


And what is the 4th of July without Sparklers!






The whole family watching the fireworks together. I can't believe we finally got everyone together all at the same time, all day long. What a great day it was!


Bradley just sat in Jeremy's lap during the fireworks. He didn't ever cry or seem scared. He was good all day long, with the heat and all.


Maddilyn a little affraid of the sparklers.




Get me away from here!


Jillian says "I will get these sparklers open by myself, I want to do some more!"


Fireworks at the in-laws.


Daisha and Jillian watching the fireworks. What a GREAT big sister Daisha is!