Day 2: Boise to Midvale

 By the time we arrived in Boise, it was dark and we were too tired to stop for a picture at the temple so that was where we started off our days journey.

Boise Temple

  From there we continued on to Twin Falls, Idaho where we saw yet another temple.

After we snapped a few shots, we caught a couple going into the temple and asked if they knew of any nearby parks where we could picnic.  I am glad we did because it was BEAUTIFUL.
It was right along side the river,

 

(look closely, those tiny cars are where the park/parking was)

had views of a waterfall and golf course,

 

and had swings....

one for Cambri,

one for Ella,

   

and one for Kaitlyn.

Due to Kaitlyn's swing malfunction she ended up with the best swing partner and the best swing pusher in all of Twin Falls.  What a lucky girl!

 After enjoying a lunch by the river and having a swarm of unexpected guests (flies) we continued on to Utah with one last stop before completing our travels for the day....

the Bountiful Temple

As Cameron and I stood arranging the girls, a passerby, who was just out for a walk, offered to take a picture of all of us.  What a thoughtful woman!  It is pictures like these that are priceless.

 We were now just a short drive away from Cameron's parents.  As we pulled up, Cameron's mother, Sue; sister, Brittany; and niece, Emelie were anxiously awaiting our arrival.  Within about an hour Cameron's other siblings, Cory, MeLynn, and Kristi arrived with their families for a BBQ.  It was wonderful to be reunited with family after a year of being apart.  Family is so precious!

The windy city

  On Day 1 of our traveling adventures we picked up Cameron from work at noon and began our trek to Boise, Idaho.  Our resting place for the night. 
   The most fun to be had was at a rest stop in Idaho, in the middle of nowhere.   Whoever said Chicago was "the windy city" has obviously not been to this rest stop. 
   It was dinner time, so we decided to pull out our picnic and eat under the sheltered pavilion.  Little did we know that our entire dinner time would be spent weighing down our plates, napkins, and other food items as well as chasing our plates, napkins, and other food items because of the wind.  It wasn't long before we understood why we were the only ones utilizing the tables...many were enjoying their dinners in a windless environment, their cars.
   The pictures do not do the wind justice but please notice the girl's wind-blown hair.  I would have loved to have captured the "damage" of the wind but I was too busy chasing our dinner so these will have to do!

                                                                   (Kaitlyn)

                                                              (Ella and Cambri)

At the end of the day we were grateful to arrive in Boise without any casualties from the wind and better yet, we ALL made it alive, even after the long car ride.  Good thing because there would be much more driving ahead of us, we had only just begun!

Behind the Scenes

    Wow, a whole year to the day, since my last post....how pathetic!  Here is to hoping I can do a little better.  A friend recently told me she publishes her blog posts into a book every couple of years so it can serve as a journal, documenting her life and the life of her family.  I think that is a brilliant idea so if I can keep that end goal in mind perhaps I can stick with it. 
   To start things off, my family and I have just returned from a wonderfully LONG vacation where many memories were made, to which I hope to document here.
   Cameron and I have decided that half of his PTO each year will be spent traveling to visit and visiting family but we alternate families every year.  This year happened to be our year to visit my family in Pennsylvania.  In doing some simple calculations and pricing flights we decided it would make more sense to fly my parents and younger sister out to visit us.  It would save us the cost of one plane ticket and we would have all of our comforts, baby gear, car, etc.  So that is what we did!  My mother and sister flew out in June  and my dad is coming to visit next week, since he was not able to get away with my mom and sister.  Because we did not travel to see family, Cameron had all of this "extra" PTO so I began planning a way in which to use it. 
   Living life on the east coast, I have never been to California.  I know, call me crazy!  Visiting California, laying on the beach, driving up Highway 1, eating out, sight seeing, and being with family sounded like the perfect vacation to me so by golly we were going to make it happen.  Once we decided, things fell right into place.
   Cambri does not start kindergarten until next year so we had no school schedules to work around and could avoid the peak season for tourists.  Cameron had a conference in Las Vegas the week following Labor Day, to which I was going to accompany him to (without kids).  Basically, we took advantage of every opportunity we had to get away with using the least amount of PTO days.  I saw it as a challenge and we definitely won!
   We left Friday, August 31 for Utah where we would spend Labor Day with family and leave our children in the Grandparent's care while we continued on to Las Vegas.  Once the conference ended, the Grandparents and our children would meet us in Las Vegas and we would continue on (with grandparents) to the San Diego area for a week at the beach.  We would then slowly work our way up the California coast over the next week visiting Los Angeles, Monterey, Carmel, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Redwood National Park, then finish right back where we started. We had the time of our life!
   Once I mapped out our route I thought it would be interesting to see how many temples we would pass.  When I saw how many it was, I knew they had to be incorporated in our trip somehow.  A woman in our ward mentioned how they have their children stand in front of the temples they pass and get a picture taken regardless of the time of day (or night).  I took her idea and we did just that.  Our children were blessed to see and visit 20 temples on our vacation.  The vacation to which I now refer as "Temple Tour 2012".
  Stay posted to get a sneak peek into our adventures.  Pictures to follow!

 

Too many tutus

With a house full of girls, we are bound to have dancers.

(p.s. Cambri's hair was 1/2 of her doing and 1/2 of mine, can you tell who did what?)

Do we hope/try for a boy?

OR

Do we keep those cute and sassy ballerinas coming?

Pre-Pre-School

I can hardly believe I have a child old enough to begin school! Our little Miss Cambri began preschool last week and I have to admit she was excited to start school and I was just as excited for her (and for me). With her birthday being in October she will just miss the cut-off for Kindergarten next year. So lucky her, she gets TWO years of Preschool AND from what she displays now, she will be the brains of her Kindergarten class.


We love you Cambri! You are such a joy to raise and have in our family. You are constantly molding me and teaching me how to be a more Christ-like mother and I love you for that. You are an incredibly active and busy girl. I am convinced that your high level of energy is due to the fact you have a very lively spirit that wants to be set free and accomplish greats things in this life.

We wish you the best this school year and the many more school years to follow! We hope you continue having a love for learning and strive to learn all that you can. We are here to guide you each step of the way. Good luck Cambri!

Bummin' at the Beach

It is rather embarassing to admit but this was the first and last day we went out to Cannon Beach this summer. I know, lame. But I must say, it did not disappoint.

We have gone out to the coast numerous times in the 2 years we've lived in Oregon, mainly when we've had family in town, and each time we have gone, the weather has been rather dreary.

Not this time. It was BEAUTIFUL!
So beautiful, that our 3 little ladies donned smiles, all day long , it was heavenly!



The girls favorite activities of the day were,

running from the waves,

AND



flying a (free) kite
--given to us by a young lady leaving the beach

On the other hand, MY favorite activity was watching 2 different women, not even 15 minutes apart, chase something along the beach. Sorry no pictures of this one!

I got a good many laughs out of both of these scenes because we have all been there before, but in the end I joined in the race once the women gave up and were no longer entertainment for me. :) If anyone was watching me I am sure they laughed, at least once.

The first woman was chasing a piece of paper. She ran after it for some time, stopping, bending down to grab it, as it blew just out of reach. When she gave up I ran after it to catch it. I figured if this little piece of paper was worth her chasing, it must be important to her. I did just as she did and had no such luck so I decided to catch up to it and dive to grab it. Well I dove, and the paper blew just out of reach. Haha! I bet that was a sight to see. I did end up catching it and found it was a receipt! Sheesh, all of that for a receipt. I returned it to the woman to which she thanked me and said, "My husband is a real stickler with budgets and receipts. When I couldn't catch it I turned around and said, well I lost one. He will be glad we did not lose it."

The second woman was chasing a rectangular kite. She pursued the kite for a little while but her hands were tied down carrying other things that she did not continue on the chase. I caught it and returned it to her just as Cambri ran up. The woman offered us her kite, because she and her friends were leaving. She insisted so Cambri enjoyed the next little bit flying the kite. Upon our leaving Cameron suggested that we find another kid we could give it to. We found a family on the way back to the car that we left the kite with and they wasted no time. That kite was up and flying right away.

What a great day it was! Not only was the weather perfect, we had many good laughs, performed a few good deeds, and were recipients of a kind act.

It was evidence to me that regardless of what we see in the news, we are surrounded by a world of good!

Something Right

Despite my many short comings as a mother, I must be doing something right.

While the girls and I were stuck in traffic, Cambri and I had some cute conversations. One of which was...

Cambri : "I can not wait to be a mom!"
Mom: "Oh yeah? Why is that?"
Cambri: "Because I can take my kids to do fun things."

Although I am not PERFECT and am not always the BEST example to my children, I was happy to hear that Cambri already had the desire to one day become a mom and care for her own children. The most rewarding but most challenging work we as women can ever do!!

I suppose if I am instilling anything in my children, it is the joy that can be had through mothering, through the bearing and raising of children.