Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2012

Starring Alison Marie as "Alice in Wonderland", and Merilyn Grace as "Frannie K. Stein". {A Monster High character, in case you didn't know :) ...}

I must be getting old and senile... Halloween really snuck up on me this year. I don't know what happened {life and such??} but we were scrambling at the last minute for costumes. Both of the costumes came with wigs, but due to wardrobe malfunctions, they weren't working tonight. 

The cousins came for pizza and trick-or-treating... the holiday wouldn't be complete without them! :)

 Natalie (the Wicked Witch) & Alison

Ali, Meri, and "Dorothy" aka Charlotte. {Although, if you ask Charlotte, she was "Dorpy".}

It had been raining all day. so we went out armed with umbrellas. However, we ended up not needing them! Yay! We had a good time, but it was a pretty early night for us since Halloween was a school night this year. Whose idea was that?!?

Happy Birthday Merilyn!

Our baby turned 6 this year! 

We celebrated with a few family and friends at Kellogg Bowl. Fun, fun!! :) Everyone took their bowling scores very seriously... even Charlotte got into it! Add in pizza and rainbow cupcakes, and you've got yourself a pretty good party!

Luke and Ryan... Our best buddies since Ali and Ryan were born!

I love you, Sweet Girl!

Meri, Charlotte and Johnna... Our cousins are never far! :)

The First Day of School

{I'm chuckling to myself that I am writing about the first day of school... and it's almost Christmas Vacation!}

Alison started 4th grade this year! What?!! She is an old pro at school now... it helps that she had a couple of best buddies in her class and they've been hearing great things about the teacher. I'm so grateful that Trav gets to be there for these moments.

The kindys were on a staggered start, so Mer started a few days later. After three years of pre-school, the first day of kindergarten was a BIG deal. She has been ready for this day for a long time! She was pretty annoyed with me for wanting to take pictures... She had things to do and people to meet!!

I'm so proud of my girls. :)

Camping with the Girls

Our annual Girls Camping Trip was at Suzann's farm this year. It was SO fun! The girls had a ball climbing trees, wading in the creek, riding in the tractor... there was so much to do!

There was lots of playing dolls and Barbies in the shade of the trees.

Gramma Midge busted out the "Poor Man's" silk screen (a coffee filter!) and roup pictures in the t-shirts they made.

It was such a great time! The bummer was that Casey and her girls couldn't be there... and my girls and I had to leave a day early. We're already thinking about the fun we'll have next year!

What the What??

It's November? {Technically, closer to December.} Ali has been giving me a hard time about not updating the blog in forever. I don't know what has been so different about this school year; life usually gets extremely hectic in September! However, this year has been really overwhelming... I haven't even taken pictures like I usually do. Huhm. Is it too early to make New Year's Resolutions? :)

The Pacific Northwest

There's just something about Oregon... and each time I've been somewhere else (especially someplace hot and dry!) I'm always reminded why I live here.

Trav said his favorite sight on our trip was Crater Lake. Thousands of miles, around several states... and his favorite is right here. Who knew? It is a pretty spectacular place!

We went on a couple of different hikes by the river and around our campground. We had lunch at a great little restaurant along the highway, and of course, had to stop by the ice cream shop.

Almost Home!

On our way back to Oregon we stayed a couple of nights in Salt Lake City. Trav says this was his favorite campground. Mostly because it was the first time we weren't in a hurry to the next landmark. We got to take some extra time and relax. :)

The Great Salt Lake

And then, it was a lot of nothing. And, more nothing. For a very long time.

Colorado Springs & Arches

This was our actual destination... we just took the long way to get here! :) It was so great to see everyone, and the girls were super excited to play with Marisa again. We went out to lunch, went shopping, hung out and caught up.

One of the nights we were there we got to watch an amazing lightning "show" that was happening out in the back fields. In fact, Merilyn says this was coolest thing she saw on our trip. :)

There wasn't any lightning going on in this photo!

On the 4th of July we headed over to Grandma Karen's sister's for a barbeque/family get-together. It was hot, hot, hot! But, fun. :) The girls had a ball with the other kids and Merilyn lost another tooth!

After we left Grandpa Ken and Grandma Karen, we went on to Arches National Park. Ali and I both think that one day we'd like to come back here and do some more hiking and exploring. This park was pretty amazing!

How does it do that!?

It was another very hot day... whew! But, the girls got a kick our of climbing up, down, and around the giant rocks.