Painting Faces

Sometimes, in our many business adventures, we get some cool perks. We've done trades for everything from free hotel rooms to dirt and hydro seeding for our lawn. This week, we got the chance to get some free face painting. It wasn't really a trade this time, but just for fun, I guess. We met an awesome face painter at the Family Fun day we sold soap at in July. She is a very talented face painter. Well, she wanted models for some pictures she was taking, so guess who got to be the ones? Yep....us! The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Bria got to be painted as a cat.

Max was a puppy

And Logan was a present

One Special Boy!

Ugggghhhh! It's so easy to get busy and get behind on blogging. Time is just flying by! Logan turned 1 on August 20th. One. Year. Old. I really feel like he was just born. Then there is the part of me that panics a little bit because I still feel like I'm adjusting to 3 kids and it's been a whole year. Shouldn't I be adjusted by now?

Anyway... on to Logan. First off. I apologize, future Logan, for dropping the ball on picture taking! You really had a fun birthday, I promise!

We spread Logan's birthday celebration over several days. Lucky boy! Friday (his actual birthday) started out with multiple laundry basket rides courtesy of Bria and Max. They love to put Logan in the laundry basket and push him pretty much all over the place. They even make it comfortable for him by adding pillows. Logan thinks it is absolutely the funnest thing in the world! He spent the rest of the day getting lavish attention and loads of kisses! And.....no pictures!

Saturday, we had already planned to go to a Back to School party at Grandma and Grandpa Webster's. Unfortunately Dave couldn't make it. But, since we were all there, we decided to add a little celebration for Logan. We sang Happy Birthday, ate peach cobbler and ice cream, he even got to open presents. BUT.....NO PICTURES!

Sunday night, we continued the celebration at home (and with Daddy). Logan really only had one present left. We got him a Busy Ball Popper, which he loves

Although, he can be seen more often pushing the balls around as though they were cars rather than playing with them in the ball popper.

After opening presents, we had some cake and ice cream. Logan was really funny with his cake. He very cautiously touched it. He absolutely did not like the feeling of frosting stuck on his fingers. We weren't sure he was even going to eat the cake.

But, after one bite, he was hooked!

Happy Birthday, Logan!!!!

Here are some of Logan's one year milestones:

He can't walk yet, but he is one heck of a crawler. He can stand on his own, but gets rather panicky if he thinks he has no support. He's happy as can be to keep getting around the way he knows how - typical guy though....if it ain't broke, right?

He can say a few words - Mama, Da (for Dad), and Hi. He also waves, but usually only if he recognizes the person.

He is doing excellent with eating food. We've transitioned him into regular table food.  And, he eats like a champ! Sometimes I think he eats more than I do!

He is finding a new and fun friend in Max. They play and wrestle together for hours on end. It's been fun to watch how Max has grown so attached to Logan. For most of Logan's life, Max has just sort of ignored Logan, but the last month has brought a huge change in their relationship. It's cute.

Logan really loves to tease. He plays chase with Mommy and peek-a-boo with almost anyone who will pay attention to him.

We sure love our little Logan!

Shift Happens

A couple of years ago, we came across this awesome video about our new technology culture. It's totally worth taking the time to watch.



The original was made in 2006, and as I watched it tonight, I couldn't help but think of all that has probably changed or become outdated since they made it. Lucky for us, there are versions 3.0 and 4.0.





Pretty cool, huh?

Our Favorite Place in Oregon

It is way fun to visit Oregon, but hands down, our favorite part is visiting Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Frank! They were really the whole reason we even wanted to go to Oregon. They were so nice to let us spend a few days at their house.

I am way disappointed in myself because the kids had so much fun together and there was so much going on, but I forgot to take pictures!!! That is really the only regret I have from the whole trip. But, we did get a few good ones...thank goodness!

Grandma Sharon with Logan, Bria and Max

The kids were so funny. Somehow, they all realized that they had the same Faded Glory flag shirts, so totally on their own, they coordinated their outfits for a group picture. Poor Logan, he's the only one not matching. In the picture, Bria is holding her "Faith" puppy and Faith is holding her "Bria" bear that they both got from Grandma Sharon. Cute girls!

Josh

Weiler enjoying his ice cream

Bria and Faith are like two peas in a pod!!

Max with his puppy from Grandma Sharon

Thank you, Grandma Sharon for letting us invade your house for a few days! We love you guys!!!!

Roomies

Two of my old Rick's College roommates live in Portland, so of course, we had to try and see them while we were there. I haven't seen either of them for almost 10 years! It was so fun to catch up and meet their cute kids.

Becca, Jenny and Me

The whole gang, minus Dave....he was behind the camera.

Oregon Coast

What would a trip to Oregon be without visiting the coast? There is just something so awe inspiring about being near the ocean. For me, it really puts things into perspective taking in the enormity of the ocean. We first went to a beach in Lincoln City and then headed down the coast to play in Newport. I have to apologize in advance for the massive amount of pictures on this post. I love beach pictures and Dave took about a million. I have way too many favorites!

Lincoln City

We couldn't get Max to stop playing with the sand long
enough to look at the camera!

Newport

Newport is one of my favorite places to visit. It is an actual working harbor that also doubles as a tourist attraction. It's really fun to be there.

Newport Bridge

Grants Pass

Our next stop was Grants Pass. I've never been there before, but have heard tons of stories about it. Dave always describes it as a very wooded and closed in place. On his mission, he felt claustrophobic while living there. I can see why after growing up in Idaho - it's open enough here to see 20 miles!

We didn't spend very much time actually in Grants Pass, but Dave wanted to for sure stop at the local drug store to get a phosphate. Phosphate's are a drink. It's really hard to explain - kind of like a sweet and tart base that gets mixed with another flavor. They had tons of different flavors to choose from. And, the best part.....they only cost 25¢.

After our little refreshment, we went for a quick stroll downtown.

All the fire hydrants were painted. Each one was different and unique.

After a quick stop downtown, we headed to Larry and Renee's house, which was the real reason for visiting Grants Pass. Dave baptized Renee on his mission and they are one of the very few people that he actually still keeps in contact with. They were very kind and let us stay in their guest house. All of the kids had tons of fun - their three kids are almost exactly the same age as our three kids. Their house is just outside of Grants Pass, but I could have sworn we were at a cabin. Forest totally surrounds their whole property. Deer continually walked through their yard. The kids had a blast! Bria and Max both asked me why we don't live in the forest.

Eugene's Saturday Market

We've been talking about taking a trip to Oregon all summer. We went back and forth. Yes - let's take the trip. Never-mind - we can't afford it. Well, maybe if we stretch our budget here....let's go in July. Nope. It'll never work. We can't make it this year. After a whole summer of that, we really thought that it wouldn't work out. But, last week, we decided it was now or never - summer is almost over - let's just go! Wednesday we decided to leave that Friday. Not very much notice, but thankfully, we go on road trips quite a lot, so we figured we could throw the trip together with no problem.

We spent the first day driving. All day. We got kind of a late start. There are always tons of errands that need to be done before going out of town. So, we didn't get to the hotel our first night until 2:30 in the morning. Our kids, of course, got their second wind and it took a few hours to calm them back down and get them to sleep. I really thought we were done for and the rest of the trip would be three tired and crying kids. But, I was way wrong! They always do well on trips, and thankfully, this one was no exception.

Day 2, we stopped in Eugene and went to the Saturday Market. Every trip we've made to Oregon, we've wanted to go, but...it is a Saturday Market and only open on Saturday, so our timing has never quite worked out. But, this time, we actually got to go!

There was live music and entertainment.

Eugene is a really interesting place. If you think the hippie movement ended with the 1980's, you are quite wrong. It never ended. It just moved to Eugene. It is a really different place, but fun to see everything.

The Saturday Market there is HUGE!!!! I thought that there were maybe 250-300 vendors, but I just had to check on the website. The map shows almost 400 spaces, which were all full when we went. That's not counting the adjacent Lane County Farmer's Market, which we didn't even walk through. The Saturday Market estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 people visit on any given Saturday. Really crowded, but way fun.

Some of my favorite parts were:

All the tie-die! We got each of our kids their very own tie-die shirt.

The soap vendors. I think we saw 5. It was fun to see everyone's different soaps and packaging, and of course talk to them about soap!

The Tarot Card reader with one droopy eye. Pretty scary!

They had tons of cool and way professional looking crafts. They also had some very strange booths - like the prayer booth. Just go in and pray if you like.

But, really my favorite part was probably the food. They had tons of selection! You could eat almost anything you can imagine there! But, of course, the kids picked one of their very favorites - PIZZA!