Welcome to Washington!

We made it!!

The Great Northwest greeted us with the usual rain and gray skies, but surprised us with some sun as well. The trip out had it's share of weather too... a snow storm in Snowville (fitting, I know), snow leaving the Blues and rain in Pendleton. But, it wasn't too bad of a drive, although Bryan only slept 45 minutes of the 14 hour drive. Thank you portable DVD player and dollar-store toys for "surprises" when B got restless.

Loving the moisture in the air, the smell of the pine trees and being near my sisters again. Already missing my parents and brother. I know, I'm a baby ;)

Wish us luck in the wet-lands... I'm hoping we don't get too much mildew on our stuff while it's in storage!

It's about time...

This blog is turning into a quarterly-ish update...but I finally got updated pics onto the computer.

So we ended October with a bang! Bryan had a hard time at trunk-or-treat, but was a good sport. He loved the big knife he got to carry around while being Chucky. So cute! And a little creepy...

November's highlight was the visit from the Kamahakus. We had all the kids and grandkids together. The not-so great part was letting Natalie talk us into braving Black Friday... it's a good thing we got such great deals at Target! Group shot!

December was crazy, as always. I made a ton of treats for Christmas, ate way too much, and had a great time with my wonderful family. We couldn't put any presents out where Bryan could see them until Christmas morning - he'd try to open every gift. He still refers to some toys as "presents". Here he is showing me his gift from the Norman Christmas party:

Remember this? Bryan dressed up as Santa at almost 3 months old...

Well, he saw the outfit in a box in January and really, really wanted to wear it...

This is what I've been working on for the last month....it didn't take quite that long, but I was burnt out on crocheting after the Christmas rush. Now Matt's got me making a blanket for us. It's weird to make something just for us. :)

Matt's been workin hard and has accepted a position in a Chiropractic Clinic in Vancouver. We're moving at the end of this month! It'll be great to be back in the northwest, but we're sad to leave Nana and Papa, Uncle Joel, and Uncle Jake and Aunt Jamie. They'll just have to visit a lot!

Bryan's face when we told him he gets to see Drewbie soon:

It just took a while to make him understand that soon didn't mean now... :)

October

October was great! And since I'm all about seeing the pics...here you go:

Grandma and Grandpa Hull came to visit. We had an awesome time with them and can't wait to see them again!

We went to Lagoon and rode all the fun rides. We even got Grandpa Hull to ride Wicked!

With minimal screaming...

Hanging around Lagoon...

Then we celebrated Bryan's 2nd birthday with Matt's parents, my parents, Jake and Jamie, and Beth and the boys. Lots of fun and lots of noise!

Cupcakes ala Dr. Suess

We carved Pumpkins! Which Bryan wouldn't touch...he'd stick his hand in for the pictures, then pull it out waying "eeewwww, mama!"

We paraded around the office and got a ton of candy along the way! This is after I scared Bryan and he cried for 10 minutes... But, I won scariest costume, so it was worth it, right? :)

After going to the Trunk-or-Treat with Beth and the boys, we headed to Nana and Papa's house for more candy, a movie, and games. Here's the gang! Bryan wanted nothing to do with Cameron...

Our scary Chucky!! Yes, we have a savings account set aside for his therapy...

Hope everyone had as great an October as we did!

New Car Part 2

I got tired of looking at part 1 so decided to just get on with it.

So. Where did I leave off? Oh, yeah. Off-roading on Sunday with my parents. Don't judge. ;)

K. Monday morning. Well, Matt's Monday morning, which starts at about 11, so my mid-day. I am working away and get a call from my loving husband letting me know that our neighbor had backed into our Jeep.

Yeah. Now, this was quite a feat. Now, the Jeep wasn't blocking the neighbor's driveway, it wasn't parked on the street and part of a parallel parking incident. It was parked in our driveway, on the side of the garage.

Again, not sure how they did this, but we got a lovely picture:

Nice, eh? I just had to laugh. Only with our luck would someone hit our car, while parked out of the way, before we had even signed the papers.

We thought about just taking it back, but after the hard time we had just finding a car I fit in, we decided to just keep it.

Luckily, the neighbor's insurance covered the repairs (a new bumper and rear quarter panel) and now we're driving a pretty jeep again!

New Car - Part One

It's that time of year again when you drive your old beater to a safety and emissions bay of any old Oil & Lube shop, heart pounding and wiping your sweaty palms on your pants, praying that your car passes, just so you can register the thing.

Matt and I have lived in Utah just over 3 years now and every time we take Matt's car in for the testing, we end up with a laundry list of things to fix before anyone will give us a pass. Well, this year, the list was just a little too long and much too expensive to dwell on. so, what do we do?

Trade it in for a 2008 Jeep Patriot.

And, I actually fit pretty nicely in it. YAY!! (Anyone over 6' will appreciate this...)

So, we went in on a Saturday, made the trade, and since our credit union was closed, had to wait to sign paperwork until the next week.

So there we sat, Saturday night, reveling in the excitement of a new car when Mom and Dad asked if we were going off-roading with them the next day. Of course we went! This things got four-wheel drive, baby!

We had a blast, although it's quite different when you're off-roading in a vehicle that is yours (if not quite technically, yet). I was a bit stressed out and made myself take deep breaths. Often. We only scrapped bottom a few times, and learned when to get out and move the bigger boulders out of the way. Tip of the day: when an F-250 hits a rock, the Jeep will most definitely hit the rock.

Bryan had a blast! He was exaggerating the bumps and yelling WEEE!!! Wahoo!!!! for about an hour. Then he got sick of it and wanted lunch.

On our way home, Bryan zonked out for a much needed nap. Coming around a bend in the road, we almost hit a whole herd of sheep! The Uintas have open range for local farmers and for miles and miles we saw traces of the herd's passing. We had to wade through a couple of them...

So, here's some pics:

Highlights

Hello Again!!

It been a very busy few months so I thought I'd post the highlights of everything that's gone on. So sit back, relax, and prepare for a TON of pictures!

Portland

Bryan and Matt at the Tillimook Cheese Factory. Poor Bryan couldn't have any cheese...

Bryan overlooking the cliffs on a hike from Ecola Beach to Indian Beach.

Bryan and Grandpa Hull waiving to Daddy

The view from the top of the Astoria Column.

Bryan lovin it up with Grandma and Grandpa.

Watching the Dragon Boat races on the Portland waterfront with Natalie, her boys and Julianna.

Playin with Tommy and Michael... kind of.

Just in case you weren't sure what that big expanse of water was, the sign will help you out.

All the boys watching the boats.

We had such a great time in Portland! Can't wait to go back.

Mom's Birthday at the Drive-In

Trent pretending to be asleep so he doesn't have to deal with Nana. Hehehe :)

Drew and Bryan enjoying the cake.

The Six-Month Project

Yeah, it took six months, but sooo worth the wait. Matt made this cabinet for us, with my Dad's help and with the money his parents sent us for Christmas. Thank you everyone!!

The 4th of July

Waiting for the show to begin.

Beautiful!!

My Growing Boy

Say "Cheeeese"!!!

Hangin With Aunt Jamie and Uncle Jake

That's our last couple months in a nutshell. It's been such a busy time, and there are more stressful weeks ahead of us, but we've had so much fun! And we are so thankful for all the great times we've been able to have with our family. We love you all!!!

Antelope Island

Last month, while my parents were watching my sister's kids, we all made a trip to Antelope Island. It's the largest island in the Great Salt Lake and, as you can probably guess, there are antelope living there, along with a myriad of birds and best of all: Buffalo. There are around 500 buffalo on the island and you will never know if you will see any or if they are all hiding from you.

One of our favorite things to see on the island is a ranch on the south end. It has the oldest house in Utah still on it original foundation. (That's their claim to fame...) It's a pretty cool old house full of antiques. There's also a barn, farm-hand housing, a spring house (which Papa told the kids is where they took naughty kids to drown them), a chicken coop and horses.

Bryan loves horses. Every day on our way to and from Bethany's house, we pass fields abounding in horses and I hear a constant stream of "Ne-e-e-igh, Ne-e-e-igh" from the back seat.

On this trip to the island, we also go to see people on horseback and hear the excited "ne-e-e-igh, Ne-e-e-igh" as they trotted past. I would highly recommend the drive out there - the kids had a blast!

Here's some pics of our trip (sorry there's a ton!):