Driveway Basketball

One of Spencer's and Alan's favorite things to do together is to play basketball in our driveway.  This was our FHE activity a few weeks ago.  It's really funny to watch them because Spencer gets laughing so hard he can hardly play.  I love that Alan takes the time to play hard and be silly with our boys.

Mason and I hung out on a blanket on the grass.  He ate beach toys, leaves, and grass.  I took pictures.  Summer evenings are the best!

Silver Falls

We took advantage of a race-free Saturday at the beginning of August and drove to Silver Falls for some hiking.  Spencer doesn't love hiking, but he complains less about it now than he used to.  :)  Mason rode on Alan's back the whole time and did great except for getting soaked through from Alan's sweat.  Yuck!

You would think we had hiked at Silver Falls enough to know what the trails are like, but apparently not, because we made the exact same mistake we made two years ago.  The first waterfall is only about a 1/4 mile in and the 2nd on is only about 1.5 miles past that.  When we got to the 2nd falls, we decided to keep going and make a big loop rather than turn around and go back the way we came.  The signs didn't tell you how long the loop was.  Turns out, it's 2.3 miles of almost straight uphill.  Spencer thought he was going to die.

This picture makes me laugh.  We were resting on the long, uphill part.  I was pretty tired too.

Spencer bounced back rather quickly after lunch in the shade though.  It must not have been THAT bad.  ;)  He played on the playground for a bit and then waded in the river.  I wished we had thought to bring swim suits for the boys.  Mason was dying to get in the water, but he didn't have anymore dry clothes to change into.

We stopped for one more short hike on our way out.  Mason needed a bottle by that point, so I fed him in the car while Alan and Spencer hiked to one more fall.

I really appreciate the time we get to spend doing fun things as a family since it doesn't happen as often as I would like anymore. This was just about a perfect day!

AZ - The end

After the camping trip, we just a had a few days left to enjoy being home.  We went to Church, hung out at my parent's house, and took Spencer and Mason swimming.  Oregon doesn't have many outdoor pools so it was really fun for Spencer to swim outside.

I love this view of Dad's garden.

Mason loved to scoot around on the deck and we could enjoy it for a few minutes before the mosquitoes would find us!

Ahhh, Arizona sunsets.

Marc and Spencer have the same sense of humor: Where's Waldo?

Michelle never let any of us forget that her birthday was coming up on August 31st.   I thought it would be fun to do an early surprise party for her since I won't be there for her real birthday.    You can tell how she felt about it from her face.  :)  We had her favorites: Mexican food for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.

Shopping in SJ is VERY limited so she got jerky, Reeces peanut butter cups, and glow in the dark wall stars from the dollar store.  

Monsoon clouds.  I spent one particular summer isolated in a snow cone shack.  The shop had been moved to a new location that year and business was very slow.  I spent a lot of time watching these kinds of clouds out the window.  I fell in love with clouds that summer and have loved watching them ever since.

Dipping his feet in the irrigation ditch.  Sadly, my Dad's only irrigation turn while we were there was late in the evening when it was already dark.  Spencer would have loved to run around on the pond/lawn.  Maybe next summer...

I'm a little obsessed with taking pictures of this baby.  I don't want to miss a minute of his development and it's going so fast.

We headed back to Phoenix for our return flight on Tuesday morning.  I hate saying goodbye to my parents.  The Phoenix airport is the worst.  The trip was uneventful though and Debbie rescued us from the airport since Alan was at a training.  Thanks!

Alan had crock-pot lasagna waiting for us when we got home (thanks again to Debbie's help!) and the house was spotless!  So nice!  Poor Alan was so lonely and really missed us.  It's not fair that we have to be apart from someone we love all the time.  It's good to be home now, but I am always lonely and homesick for awhile after these trips.  I can only hope that someday we won't be so far away from either of our families.

AZ - Heap Reunion at Green's Peak

My Mom's family camps at Green's Peak for their family reunion most years.  It used to be an annual thing, but it hasn't been organized and not as many people have attended recently.  This year, Mom and Susan took it upon themselves to have a real reunion.  There are seven kids in their family, 36 grand kids, and I have no idea how many great grand kids.  Lots.  Out of all of those, there were over 70 of us at the reunion this year.  Not a bad turn-out at all.

Some people camped for the whole week.  I wasn't brave enough to do that with Mason, so we just went Thursday-Saturday.  Spencer got to spend a couple of extra days up there with Mom, Marc, and Lindsey.

A bunch of these pictures are courtesy of my cousin Wendy.  Thank you Wendy!

Mason and Spencer both liked the hammocks Marc and Lindsey slept in.

Mason and I slept in our own tent so it would be a little more quiet for Mason.  He slept well the first night, but the 2nd was slightly miserable.  I never would have even attempted camping with Mason if I was having to do pack, set-up camp, cook, and clean.  My parents, Marc, and Lindsey did all of the work so all I had to do was take care of Mason.  Thank you!!  Mason always wants to get down on the ground, but he eats everything he touches so I couldn't let him down much.  He was definitely a full-time job and I think I've had my fill of camping with a baby for awhile.  :)

It turned out to be a very rainy week in the mountains and it poured for two solid hours both afternoons we were there.  Thank heavens my parents had this big, new tent with a wood stove in it.  We stayed warm and dry in there during the rain.

Playing cards during the rain.

The kitchen:

Marc helped Spencer build a fort before Mason and I got up there.  Building forts was always my favorite part about camping as a kid.  Oregon forests are beautiful, but they have way too much undergrowth to be able to do that. 

Aunt Susan put on an AWESOME pirate activity for all of the kids.  They spent a couple of hours decorating hats and going on a treasure hunt.  Spencer wasn't feeling well from eating too much junk food the day before, but he still went on the treasure hunt and had a great time.  All of the kids came away with a big bag of loot.  Mason even got a blow-up sword!

There was a horseshoe tournament.  I don't have any pictures of it, but here are some spectators.  :)  Marc and Clint were the champions and got to take the pink flamingo home as their trophy.

Aunt Chris spent hours and hours creating an ancestor matching game.  We matched husbands and wives and then she told a short story about each one.  It was really interesting.  And, she gave personal copies to everyone!  What a treasure!

We all got together around one campfire on the last night and my Mom, Susan, and Steve told stories about my grandparents.  A lot of the great-grandchildren didn't get to know them, so it was mainly for their benefit, but I learned a lot I didn't know too.  My grandparents were good, hard-working people who left an incredible legacy in their posterity.  I'm proud to be a part of that family!

Thanks so much for making it possible for me to get to this reunion Mom and Dad!  I couldn't have been there without your help!