Portland Starlight Run

The Starlight Run is the first event of the annual Rose Festival in Portland, OR. It's a 5K (3.1 mile) run through the middle of downtown Portland. The run is the opening act for the Starlight Parade which also runs the same route beginning around 9:00 PM and concluding after 10. It is a "fun-run" in nature with all kinds of weirdos dressing up in costumes and trying to run the course. The picture you see below is from the Rose Festival website. No, that is not Sidnee in the coconut bra and no that is not me with the pasty white chest and green grass skirt. Sidnee has been running a lot lately and wanted to enter an actual race so I said I would do it with her. It was a really fun evening and the 250,000 people that lined the parade route were not intimidating at all. The costumes included a family dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Pacman and their kids as the ghosts. There were also numerous iPods and cross dressers running the race and no fun-run is complete without flashers in trench coats! Only in Portland (well, maybe not only in Portland but I am for sure not surprised to see it in this crazy liberal town).

A group of friends of ours were downtown that night for a birthday at a restaurant and decided to linger to check out the run and parade. Sidnee and I were hoping we could just do the run and not be seen by anyone we knew but it didn't happen that way. We passed them towards the beginning of the race so we were still looking good but the route brought us back by them a second time towards the end. I made sure to let Sidnee know so we could pick up our heads and knees and pretend like we weren't suffering. We ended up finishing the three miles in just over 33 minutes. One of them said they got a picture of us so I'll post it as soon as I get it.

Happy Birthday Luke!

Sidnee took care of the thoughtful/sentimental post yesterday so I will take care of the birthday pic post today. Here are a few shots of our darling baby boy from his birthday party yesterday. All the guests had arrived and he was still enjoying his mid-afternoon nap. You can tell by the look on his face in most of the pictures.

Who doesn't get excited about cute little Sesame Street books?

By the time the Mickey Mouse, twirling propeller, loud and obnoxious scoot bike came out he had started to warm up. Thanks a lot Ammie.

Kennedy was kind enough to help Luke blow out the candles. I'm sure he will find that as he gets older his sisters will have hot air to spare.

The frosting you see on the tip of his finger was about all he would do on his own. He had no interest in his cake and was, in fact, trying to fling off what little frosting he had on his finger. He gets that from me. Frosting is of the devil and I'm sure had no place in the great plan of happiness put forth in the pre-existence.

Happy Birthday Lukey!

one year old

I've been reminded by my sister that I need to get a new post. If she posted frequently and kept us up dated on her life in cow country then maybe I would feel like she had room to say such things. But it worked anyhow and I am here writing this entry while everyone is asleep in their beds dreaming away. (yawn)

This is the eve of my little baby's 1 year birthday. What was going on this day one year ago? It was memorial day weekend like it is now and I had four days till my due date. Many emotions going on, excitement, impatience, discomfort, anxious feelings knowing that the time is soon here. Contractions were 20-30 min. apart so I told Daniel to go to his softball game and I would call him if things picked up. My labor pains got a little more intense so I called him home. He had to run off the field in the middle of the game and tell everyone he was leaving cause his wife was having a baby! He thought that was pretty cool. Knowing what we know now he could have stayed for the whole game and one after that. I should have just walked to the hospital and had him meet me there cause the hospital was just a few blocks down the road.

My contractions never got closer together and so the evening was long. We waited around for the contractions even down to the very end with the last push. But he came and all went well. Lucas Daniel was born May 23, 2008. What a joy and a blessing to have another child. How grateful I am for these beautiful gifts from a trusting Father in Heaven. We are glad you are here with us Lukey! We love you!

And here he is today getting his first haircut. What a handsome man. Is it obvious how the two other people in the picture feel about this boy?

A New Post!

I figured it was about time for something new on this here blogspot. What then do I write about? What do I want the whole world, who wishes to peer into our lives, to know about us?

Well world, what better to write about then the thing you adore, and are amazed by. What is that you say? Children I answer. They are truly amazing. This whole journey is quite amazing. We have our share of ups and downs. We have the pig flu... just kidding we don't, but there always seems to be a cough, fever, or something going on with us. But we are enjoying what life has to offer and we know we must have the bad days to recognize the good ones!

First off.... Lucas Daniel, oh how we adore our sweet baby. He grows and does new things daily as all children do. But we kiss him, fight over him, maul him and he takes it quite well.

Jacky the lover. He is still cuddly and loves affection more than your average three year old. He will tell you he loves you and then he doesn't love you anymore all in the same breath. Still idolizing Davis even though Davis makes him scream. Jackson is a joy to us all!

Saturday night as the house got quiet and the kids fell asleep I told Daniel I felt bad for the choices that I had made in the day. Several times the kids came and asked me to play pictionary with them. My answer was "when I get this floor mopped!" They also wanted to do a puzzle together and for me to sew their dolls some new clothes. Kennedy even said, "Can we do something fun together as a family?" The hours ticked by and I was able to put off their requests all day. The regret in knowing those sweet kids won't always think I am cool and want to spend time with me. So I told Dan how I wanted to change and to put my wants aside so that I don't regret my time as a mother. So here is a picture of Sunday after church and lunch, Addison said "Can we make clothes for our strawberry shortcake dolls now?" Daniel looked right at me not having to say a word, and I knew exactly what he was saying with his eyes. "Here is your chance to redeem yourself." So we sat at the sewing machine and the girls listed their orders of what they wanted me to make for them. It was fun and I surprised myself at how well the clothes turned out! (I am not a seamstress by the way) It is amazing how the littlest things can make them happy! Kennedy came to me while I was sewing and asked if there was anything I couldn't do. My answer was yes but at the time I couldn't think of one thing!

Our Davis is the last I'll write about. He, in this picture, is showing some attitude because I told him he had diaper duty. Two diapers in the trash outside, that's it. He wasn't happy about it! So I ended up chasing him around the yard and pegged him with the diapers. It was fun but he didn't see it as fun and he even told me he didn't want to be my mom anymore. I said "oh good I don't want you to be my mom anymore either!" I like to think of it as a phase. I really can't get it right for this kid. He is hard to please and will let me know about it! I do have to share how sweet he can be. On Sunday while sitting in Sacrament meeting he was sitting on my lap. Every once in a while he would hop off for a few seconds and sit next to me on the bench. After a couple times doing this he looked up and said, " I keep getting off because I don't want to toot on you!" How kind and thoughtful is all I have to say!
We are happily doing our everyday thing, feeling the blessings that come from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hope you to are loving life and what comes your way! (This makes it sound like a Christmas card)

Good Luck Chad! We'll Miss You!

Chad reports to boot camp (Army) on Tuesday and we will miss him. We got one more quality bonding experience before he left. You can see by the picture below that it involved knuckleheads and guns. Not always the best combo but when someone who has the training Chad does it turns out alright. After some instruction and basic info we were feeling good. Notice my sexy blue plastic gun.

We drove out to Jeremy's brother's house in Yacolt to set up shop. Here is a nice shot of my ear. Ha, "shot", get it? Maybe not. OK, I'll move on.
Jeremy seemed to be having a little trouble with his gun. That seemed to be a common theme throughout the session. If it wasn't the gun it was those dirty targets moving around.
Shooting with my eyes open got to be too easy so I decided to try it with them closed.
One handed? Yeah, I got that.

Hold it right there Mr. Box. Just give me an excuse to pump your guts full of lead.

Thanks CHAD! You'll be in our prayers.