FAMLY!!!

Yay for family! We had an adventure a couple weeks ago. First we drove to Corvalis, OR. We met my mom and dad, Nette and her kids there as well. In the end we had 8 kids, 5 and under, and 5 adults.First, Carrie took us to the coast and we got to see some tide pools, and then play on an awesome sandy beach. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and I am to lazy to figure our how to transfer the pics to my blog. But we had lots of fun times. The next morning we woke up and drove to Portland and went to the zoo. The kids loved it and it was a great zoo. There were lots of very interesting animals and it was so large that we did not make it through all of it because we were all too tired. But we did have enough in us to go to VooDoo Donuts. It was a very interesting place for sure, very creative but the donuts did not taste that great. Then the next day we rode on a tram that heads across part of Portland. It takes you to a hospital and is not really a tourist attraction but it was a lot of fun. And the kids love to ride on anything in the air so it was a success. We then headed out to Seattle. We got here late and where we wanted to eat could not seat us so we ended up at the mall to eat at the food court. Sadly, and oddly it was my first time in the mall. I barely feel like a woman not going to the mall and having been here for so long. Anyways, it worked out because they had a great kids area with small tables for the children and a big one for the adults.

 Here are the moms with grandpa in the background. The kids on the right are building a tower out of their milks and plates which was pretty creative. Clayton and Cody seem to have fun no matter what they are doing or where they are.

 Ryan has become one of Macey's favorites when we are together. In this picture she had just told Ryan that she was cold. Ryan asked if she wanted a jacket Macey's reply "No, I just need to snuggle for a little bit."

 Here is Grandma with Brigham, he is at the age where everything and anything goes in his mouth. It is so funny to watch, and he always has these big eyes taking everything in. I loved watching him he is sooo adorable.

 Here we are waiting for the water taxi. There were huge star fish on the posts and jelly fish for us to watch while we waited. It was lots of fun.

 Here we are at the Aquarium. These are the giant sea annenamies that they have for you to touch.

 Picture with most of the cousins. It was pretty funny because everyone kept asking us if we were a day care.

 This is one the benches in the large aquarium under the Seattle ocean. Grandpa with his two buddies.

 The kids are watching some fish that are in the ceiling swimming around.

 Sitting on the otter bench, here is a picture with all the cousins. We almost got all of them to look at the same time.

 The gum wall. I have seen this before but have not had any gum. We just so happened to have some from the Space Needle they were handing it out. Before this we did go to the Space Needle, and for some reason I did not get any pictures. It doesn't make sense to me but you do what you can.

 We then went with everyone to the Crabpot. This is Nette, Benson, and Vanessa.

 This one is for you Carrie. She was making funny faces in every picture so I thought since she put in the effort I would include one of them. And MacKayla chowin down.

 Here is Grandma, Grandpa, and my Uncle Dexter and Aunt Charlotte.

Clayton and Cody, we were at this resteraunt for over an hour and they were in their own world the whole time. It was pretty cute. Clayton really has missed him.

 Here is a great picture of Seattle, from the water taxi heading back to our cars.

 Later that night we got ice cream treats and headed to Grandma and Granpas room. Since it was the last night we decided to stay up late and hang out for a bit. The kids had a great time wrestling on the beds and running around.

 Brody giving hugs and kisses bye bye to grandpa.

 And Grandma gets hers too. He not really getting into it because he did not want to go. Its one of those things that they just don't understand fully. He is much better at random hugs and kisses, just cause he wants to. Which they got a lot of because he really did miss them.

Thanks family for the great times. We really had a fun time getting to see every one. It was the first time that we have seen Carrie in over a year. None of us had ever met MacKayla, and she is soo big now. It was a great time and THANK YOU mom and dad for all the great times that we were able to have because of you!!!  WE LOVE YOU!  That was almost two weeks ago now and Clayton still includes you in his prayers to get home safely.

Museum of Flight!

So Ryan was lucky enough to get free tickets to Boeings Museum of Flight, and it just so happened that the day we decided to go was HERO DAY! It was awesome. We had the Military there, local police, DEA and their helicopter, Coast Guard, and FBI. It was lots of fun.

 This is Clayton sitting in one of the military helicopters, and they let him put on their helmet. It was super heavy! He loved it though.

 This is the apache helicopter. Clayton thought that this one was the coolest, however, the line to sit in this one was the longest because all of the adults wanted a turn as well as the kids. So we settled for a standing by the side shot.

 Here is inside the museum, this is one of the older Blue Angels. I think Ryan was the most excited to see this one.

 And the kids area was great. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the airplanes that they have set up so they can pretend to fly.

 This is one of the helicopters taking off. We also saw the Apache take off from inside,which is why we don't have pictures, and they kinda put on a show for everyone and lifted off and then turned and pointed straight at us and I can tell you that I would not want to be at the recieving end of that. It was very intimidating to see it staring you down with the huge guns and torpedos!

 This was in the Boeing Museum for the women that worked during the WWII. The sign that they are all standing around says "Ladies- Please be careful of your language..... there may be gentlemen present." I just thought I would add that for all of us tough women out there. It helps us remember what we can do and accomplish.

Catch up for June and July

So we have had a fun summer. We have relaxed a little on the camping and been doing more at the house. This is one thing. I bought some curtain rods and we set them up in the hall and put a sheet between them. The boys love their FORT! It is great Brody loves to run through the sheet.

Playing at the beach. This is our favorite park here. It has a lot of fun stuff for the kids to do and also it has a beach with rocks. And when the tide is out there is a little bit of sand to play with. The boys love to be outside and really get bored staying in the apartment.

 When we are in Clayton loves to do experiments. I found this cute little science kit at Bed Bath and Beyond on clearance. It was a great investment. I give him baking soda and vinegar and he likes to watch it fizz and then adds other things to see  what it will do.

 Here we are on one more camping trip. This is at Ensign Ranch, it is owned by the church and they have these cabins with bunks for 15 bucks a night. Sounded like a fun idea since it was a rainy weekend. The boys loved it of course. They have Canoes that you can use, and a giant slip-n-slide.

 Clayton found a birds nest on the ground. It was the most exciting thing that he found all weekend. He loved it.

 On our way back home we stopped at a lake. It was soooo full that the walkways were underwater along with stairs down to it and well all the trees and lake edge. It was pretty crazy to see. This is Brody balacing on his log. Clayton was doing it so he had to also.

 More time at the beach. It is still kinda cold, we were in jackets this day. However it is starting to get warmer and the boys really wanted to get in the water a bit. They love it, and it is sooo cute to watch Clayton help Brody. He is such a great brother.

 We put Clayton in gymnastics while we are here. He loves it and was one of the best in his class from the beginning. It is really nice to cause they wear him out. This is him on their rock climbing wall.

 This is him being a monkey on the bar. He loves to swing up there and flip upside down.

 They have a cute little toy room for other siblings to play in while we are there. Brody loves the zebra, and since we have been going there for almost six weeks now, that is his zebra. He gets very jealous any time any one else rides on it.

 This is Clayton and Brody going down the slide together. When we were at one park, Brody wanted to go down the big slide. I asked Clayton if he would ride down it with him. Now it is just what he does. Every park we go to Clayton will take Brody up to the big slide and ride down with him. He really is wonderful. And Brody LOVES Slides.

 This is Brody sitting at a baseball game. Boeing gave out free tickets to the game. We got to sit in their box and have free hot dogs and drinks. It was pretty awesome. This kids loved it.

 Here is Clayton posing in front of the game. I don't know if they actually watched any of the game but it was fun anyways.

 This is the Ward Father and Sons. They went to the Ensign Ranch and this is Clayton sliding down the giant slip-n-slide.

 Here is a cute picture of Ryan and Clayton warming up after riding down the slide. The water that they pump down it is from the pond and it is freezing cold.

 Here's Clay riding a horse. He loves riding horses.

 And here they are repelling down their rock tower. Clayton loved this as well and was talking about how brave he was after that. Ryan of course is the ever so proud father!

 This is a random picture of Brody at our apartment. This is his way of looking out the window. What you can't see in this picture is that he is standing on the heater below the window so that he can see out. Unfortunately, all of the windows are too high for him to see out of otherwise. But it is so cute to watch him, there is an apartment building across from us and there are always birds on the roof. That is what Brody is so intently watching. He loves all animals.

 We are at Ensign Ranch again. Yes I know three times, it was within a two week period as well. But we found out that Seattle really doesn't do anything for the 4th of July except light off fireworks, and since that is at a park that is smaller than Kaysviile, with thousands of people we decided to forego that and came camping again. This time we came with Ryans mentor, Jordan and his family. He has a girl that is Claytons age and he has a lot of fun with her.

 This is Clayton and Ryan going down the slip-n-slide together. They had a really fun time, even though it was freezing. I opted out of the this and kept the kids warm in between rides.

 Here is Brody riding on dad's lap. He loved it and hated it. He knew it was going to be freezing but he loves going down anything so he wanted to do it.

 This is the next weekend. We drove up the pass and hiked to a waterfall. It was a very fun hike. Brody and Clayton did great. Clayton has become a great hiker and went the whole way himself, which is really not a big surpirse. It was only 2 miles. Brody did a little more than half of it by himself which we were impressed with!

 Clayton helping Brody up the steps. Brody is very independent and does not want to hold your hand if he does not have to. But he will hold Claytons over anyone else.

 Walking up the path some more. It is sooo green and beautiful we have a hard time not taking pictures the whole time we are walking. We are still in awe at how green it is.

 There is the water fall. We did get closer than this, you had to go around a rock outcropping on some sketchy stuff but it was very fun. But also very wet so we did not get out the camera because we were soaked when we got back around.

 Here are Ryan and Clayton playing by the river. It was a lot of fun to be able to hang out on the river. The boys love to throw rocks. And Clayton was creating a little ant water park, it was pretty cute.