Northward Ho!!

We finally made our trip to the coast over Memorial day weekend. It was a blast. We left on a Friday night and drove to Oregon. Saturday we got up and drove along the Columbia River towards the coast. Along the way we stopped at the Dalles dam and Cascade Locks. It was pretty amazing to see the large barges move up and down the river. We were hoping to see fish go through the ladders, but no such luck. The Multnomah Falls were amazing. We hiked up to the bridge in front of the falls. The kids really liked the mist that came off the falls. Saturday afternoon we drove to Portland and then on to

Tillamook for a tour of the cheese factory where Uncle Richard works. They have quite the tour. There are observation areas that allow people to watch the cheese making process. The kids enjoyed the cheese taste testing area the best. We spent the evening at Rich & Becky's house even though they were with their children in Moscow, ID. We appreciate their hospitality and the delicious ice cream that they left in the freezer. The kids enjoyed being able to get out of the yard and run to their hearts content. The yard was amazing. There are huge trees, running water, and grassy hills.

The next morning we drove to Cape Mears and saw the light house & Octopus tree. We also saw some people out on the beach collecting clams. The children were extremely dissappointed that we weren't going to go swimming in the ocean. The temperatures were a bit cold & the sun wasn't going to come out. We did go down the coast a ways to Liberty and let them walk in the surf & play in the sand. They had a great time. All of them were soaked & covered with sand by the time the afternoon was over. It took quite a bit to convince them that we needed to keep driving. Corbin assured me that it would be fine for him to just stay on the beach and the rest of us could continue our journey. We drove to Bend and spent the night at hotel. The next morning the kids got to go swimming in the hotel pool. They had a lot of fun. We drove to Boise and used a gift certificate that Natalie has had since November at the Olive Garden & drove the rest of the way home.

The trip was amazing. We loved to drive through the mountains along the coast. Everything was so green. The kids could have spent a month on the beach and already want to go back as long as they don't have to ride in the car. Next time we will need to make sure the Snyders are home so we can go up and visit with them. All in all it was a great trip.

Conference in Lava

We finally got a maiden voyage in for our trailer. For Conference weekend we decided to slip off to Lava Hot Springs and listen to conference over there. We can't get any reception at our house to watch conference, but we could at Lava.

It was amazing how much more you can get out of conference when there is nothing else to do. The trailer worked out great and we had a fun time together. We colored easter eggs & goofed off.

We enjoyed having Jacksons come up and see and go to the hot pots in between conference sessions on Saturday afternoon. We actually ran into one of Natalie's friends from school who happened to be at the hot pots at the same time that we were. It was a great time. We might have to do it again in October.

Spring Break?.....Who needs a break, we've been sitting around all winter?

Natalie has been out of school and we have been busy. The roof in the homestead house started to cave in this winter and we decided that it was time for it to come down. Getting it down was going to be the easy part.

We had to clear out a bunch of dead pines so we would have enough room for a generous neighbor with a loader to get in and knock the house down and pile it up so we can burn it. We might still need to clear some more of the pines out of the way before we burn the pile. I am a bit concearned with the fire spreading so we will make sure that we have ample space.

I pulled out a corner with the pickup just for the fun of it, but I quickly relized that the project was more than what I could tackle on my own.

Last night he came over with his loader and took the roof off, knocked the walls over, and started making a pile for us. It was pretty amazing how quickly the whole project went.

We will still have quite a bit to clean up to do and we are still not quite sure what we are going to do with the area, but it sure opens things up quite a bit.

Time for an update.

Last fall I finally accepted defeat and gave up on the camper trailer project that I had been working on for a number of years. My Grandpa had given me a 72' Rancho Camper that I mounted on a 20' flatbed trailer. It weighed a ton and needed some updating and repairs. During the summer while trying to get it ready for going camping the fridge lit a nest the birds had built in a vent on fire and left some damage to the fridge and roof. Natalie unloaded everything out of the camper that very night. There was no further discussion the lofty dream was over. We hauled the camper to the dump and moved on with our lives.

The past couple months I have been searching around for a practical way to meet our wants of a place to stay out of the weather and a way to haul our four wheelers around. In our seach I had explored toy haulers, fifth wheels, and tent trailers. We went to an RV show in Twin and found our new home away from home. Unfortunately the weather hasn't worked in our favor yet and we haven't had a chance to take it out. We did let the kids spend a night in it out in the yard. We joked that camping out in our yard was probably more remote than most of the places we would ever take the trailer and definately a lot less people. Hopefully April will bring us some better weather and some new adventures to talk about. We are also hoping that our little truck will pull our train.

Sara's Big Day

The other night Natalie had a family concert that we all got to go to. They played some fun songs that the kids really enjoyed. Natalie's professor Chung Park came out pretending to be injured and asked for someone from the audience to come up and help him lead the orchestra. A young boy got to come up and lead the first song. Dr. Park asked for a second volunteer and Sara got chosen to come up and lead the whole orchestra in front of a packed house. I would have been scared to death. She likes the spotlight though and did a great job. Dr. Park made her tell the audience where her mom was sitting and poked fun at the fact that she was going to be leading her and the whole orchestra. It's nice that they have a special concert for families and children to come and appreciate instrumental music.

Kids?

I picked up Sara from kindergarden yesterday and she seemed a bit upset. I asked her how her day went and if they had learned anything new about Presidents day since they had been studing it this week. With great disgust she told me that her teacher told them that President was our president. Sara informed the teacher that she was wrong and that President Monson was our president and a prophet. When her teacher pushed that "no" President Obama is the president Sara told her that "President Obama is not a prophet.

How do you explain to a five year old the difference between church and state. Alteast at her young age she is aware of where to turn for positive leadership in her life.

Yea for Kami!!

Natalie's friend from high school and roommate in college tied the knot a couple weekends ago. We are so excited for Ben and Kami. We wish them the best and are glad that we were able to attend their special event.