Proud to be Americans!

It was so much fun to do lots of red, white and blue to celebrate the 4th of July!

Jenna made this delicious shortcake with real whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries. I loved it!

I made little goody buckets (instead of goody bags) for each of them to celebrate the holiday. The boys had fun playing with the flags the most.

Jenna made awesome chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries and blueberries for our 4th of July breakfast! Yum!

Casey and Benson waiting for the parade to pass by.....

Weston having fun at the 4th of July picnic......

Benson wandering around with his bag of potato chips. He sure loves chips!

Family time at the swing set after the picnic lunch at the park!

What a beautiful family! I just loved the patriotic outfits!

Jenna made these white chocolate dipped strawberries that we took to the fireworks that night!

Waiting for the fireworks to start.... Benson fed himself some yogurt.....

Another bag of chips for Benson!

The Best 4th of July!

I was just thrilled that Casey, Jenna, and the boys came to visit me for a week at the 4th of July! I had a terrific time and hope they did as well. We had lots of fun and kept busy! On the first day they were here, we went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry). Benson had fun just running around and hiding....

Casey and Jenna were good at the brain teasers. (Benson was hiding under one of these tables in the picture above.)

At lunch time, Weston was more interested in playing than eating. He was so cute!

At the zoo gift shop, Weston was quick to make his selection for purchasing.... I wanted to buy him everything he was holding but didn't. He loved the lizard, snake, and dinosaur the best!

When we went to Walmart, Weston disappeared and we got quickly concerned when we couldn't find him for awhile. I was calling his name and finally I heard him reply to me... He was underneath these bean bags hiding! It was so cute! I had to take a picture of him climbing out after we all had a good laugh!

We had lunch at Humdinger's one day. It is a popular hamburger spot in Portland. This was on our way to the outlets in Woodburn where we had a fun time shopping.

My pictures are a bit out of order.... This dinosaur picture of Jenna and Benson was taken at the zoo.

This cute picture of Weston and Benson having lunch at their own picnic table was taken at Humdinger's.

Another picture taken at the zoo...... What cute boys!

Benson was so adorable to watch sitting at the little table and eating his breakfast. I just can't hardly describe how much it meant to me to have them here. It was just wonderful!
Thanks Casey and Jenna for coming to visit!

Visit from Mom and Dad!

My mom and dad - 20+ years of marriage and still happy... We mostly talked and ate but we did go a few places during the 9 days they were here.

My mom, dad, and nephew Kade had fun shopping at Bob's Red Mill. Then we crossed the street to get yummy bread from Dave's Killer Bread store.

We had fantastic doughnuts at Voo Doo Doughnuts. My dad LOVES doughnuts so we all went to try them out. The favorite in the group was the maple bar with a piece of bacon on top. My favorites were the Voo Doo doll and the Portland cream! Delicious!

The Voo Doo Doughnut truck...........

We had fun at Portland's Saturday's Market. I bought myself several necklaces with glass pendants! They are beautiful and I'm having fun wearing all of them!

This is a picture of us at church - Susan taught a great Relief Society lesson on families.
From the left, Kade (nephew), dad, mom, me, Susan (sister-in-law) in the back, Susan's mother in the front, and Randy (brother). I had one of my new necklaces on in this picture.

Susan and I took my mom shopping at the Christopher & Banks store for a new Sunday outfit. She ended up getting 3 tops and some jewelry. (I got myself some jewelry too!) She bought this top that she has on in the picture. (The "belt" around her head was just for a fun picture.)

My dad watched 7 western movies while he was here. He LOVES them and could have watched more. I didn't watch any of them. Here's a picture of my dad, mom, and John watching one of the movies.

It was a really fun visit - one of the best. I was sad to see them go!

The love of my life............

my family! This picture was taken at Whiskeytown Falls with my camera. I would have liked to have taken a family picture with Jason's camera - perhaps at Christmas or the next reunion!

From left to right, me, Nate holding Elijah, Brielle and Adalei on Misty's lap, Ashley holding Paisley, Jason holding Spencer, Charity, Jenna holding Benson, and Casey holding Weston! These people are the most important people in this world to me! I am so blessed and love my family so much! I cherish all our times together and wish we lived closer! I look forward to seeing them again soon.

Random Shots from the Family Reunion

Pretty Paisley in her flower girl outfit after just attending a wedding with her mom. She was all ready to spend the night in a tent with her dad but I found her sleeping on the couch in the morning.

This was so cute... Elijah was having a pre-breakfast snack of cheerios. Benson came along and decided to help himself to some cheerios. They were so cute together. Elijah didn't even cry or try to stop Benson from eating the cheerios!

Spencer with his Aunt Charity....

Weston wanting his dad to wake up...........

My three granddaughters - Paisley, Adalei, and Brielle. They had fun playing "house" together!

Adalei posing by the turtles at Turtle Bay Exploration Park.

Weston up high.........

Nate, Elijah and brave Brielle with the parrots at Turtle Bay.

Jason, Paisley and Malcolm with the parrots....

Jenna attracted two or three parrots to her arm but this picture just shows her with one.

Weston feeding the parrot.

More Random Shots from the Family Reunion

Elijah walking on the railing with Nate..........

My 3 youngest grandsons playing together - Spencer, Benson, and Elijah! They are approximately 18 months old.

Nate put a lizard on Elijah's shirt sleeve. That lizard stayed there a long time even while they were hiking. Do you see the lizard below the orange stripe on his sleeve?

Paisley and her Aunt Charity hiking to the falls.

A picture of Nate, Misty, Adalei, Brielle, and Elijah at Whiskeytown Falls.

When we arrived at the falls, Weston got a snack. He looks so cute in this picture.

Here's a picture Charity took of me at the falls.

This was just so cute - Weston sharing his snack with Adalei and Brielle!

Adalei and Paisley having dinner together on the double camp chair.

Here's Spencer - I didn't get many pictures of him. He looks really tired in this picture.