The 'naughty' Superman

This whole post it completely out of order......oh well.

On Sunday Liz flew back into Portland. She stayed with us until this morning and then took off again (much to Jack's dismay) for South Carolina. Yes, South Carolina, not Florida. So, we just learned this weekend, that Ryan's dad got another job offer to be a Plant Manager(with the same company) over in a town called Aiken...4 hours over the border from Tallahassee. We were pretty surprised that they are moving AGAIN so soon, but this job is more suited to Chris and offers a nicer pay check so I don't blame him for taking it. I was a little sad, however, that now when we go to visit we will have to drive 8 hours to Disney world instead of 4. Lame.

Yesterday we spent the morning/afternoon at the Portland zoo....I love that place. It's so gorgeous. It has some great animals and Jack was WAY more into it this time. Last time we went was when my parents came last September. I think next year I will for sure buy a season pass...it was a very fun day. They have a train ride that used to just go around the zoo....well now it goes all the way to the 'Rose Gardens' and then back to the zoo, so it takes about 35 mins, but Jack and Peter were in heaven. When we got home around 2pm, Auntie Callie and her boyfriend, Josh, were waiting for us. Jack pretty much LOVES them. On three different occasions, all while driving to Safeway, Jack has started screaming that I needed to pull the car over because he just saw Callie and Josh....of course, they were no where to be seen...that's how much he loves them...they are his hallucination.

Here, in our wee town of Newberg, they have what they call an 'Old Fashioned Festival' every July. Last year we didn't go...should have...but didn't....I had just had Peter and was not feeling adventurous enough I guess. There is a Children's Parade, a carnival, live music, fireworks, and tons of delish food. Children are encouraged to dress up however they like and walk for all to see and wave to all the spectators who line the streets....it's kinda interesting, but Jack was a pro...he likes feeling like he's the center of attention:)

Jack was Superman...because I don't have any other costumes for him....but he was more than happy to be "superhero Jack" as he called himself.

Here he is with a few other kids from our ward that we went with. Isn't Superman supposed to be good....Jack was running around with a water gun and shooting at everyone....thanksfully there was no water in it....hmmm...he could not be more of a boy.

These two have been having a lot of fun together lately. Yeah, they still get into all sorts of bother and love to hit one another and wrestle like crazy(I do feel like I spend a ton of time pulling them apart and playing the referee), but for the most part they really do get along fairly well. Peter is Jack's little shadow and when Jack laughs, Pete lights up....it's very sweet.

Enjoying the wee pool on our side deck.

For quite some time Ryan has been encouraging me to go ahead and have my wisdom teeth taken out. I'd been told the same thing countless times from different dentists. I only had 3 wisdom teeth and 2 of them had grown in and were fine, but the 3rd one which wasn't through yet was growing in crooked. I didn't really like the idea of that last one messing up my bottom row of teeth, so after rescheduling the appointment to extract the teeth about 4 times I finally set a date and had them removed. You'd think that after previously changing the appointment 4 times I'd have timed it better this time around....well I didn't. I scheduled it for 2 days after Ryan's 30th birthday...when I should have planned a fun birthday party or something since his b-day was mid-week. It worked out perfect though because our good friends, the Guisti's, came into town for a short visit that weekend. It was lovely to spend time with them again after not seeing them for 2 years. We miss them so much!

It's so fun having an updated picture of these two wee guys together!

We're missing Jack and Luke from this photo (sure they were off causing mischief together somewhere...haha.) Can't wait to meet baby boy #3 one day in the near future...we're coming to Reno for Ryan's cousin's Farewell at the beginning of December!

July...

People keep asking me "So, how many days?" .........well I stopped counting and haven't been really thinking about it all that much because it still seems like ages away to me. Well, I decided to take a minute and count. 58 days. Then we'll be in Scotland. It stills seems too long because I want to be there now, but the time is flying by and we'll be there before I know it.

These last few days have been flippin' roasting here. Torture actually. I can barely stand it. Poor Ryan had to drive the whole way to and from Medford in 98 degree heat without air conditioning in his car. He was soaking wet when he got home.

I cut Peter down to one nap a day because he was staying up way too late at night with the two. Now he'll take one 3-4 hour nap in the middle of the day. It's nice, but if I want to do something with friends in the middle of the day it messes him up and he is a nightmare grouch. I can't complain too much though, now he goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps till 7-8am. Oh how I love getting to sleep through the night again.

I was going back and forth on putting Jack into a preschool this coming Fall. We decided to wait until next year. For now I'm going to do a little playgroup with a few girls in my ward who have kids the same age as Jack. We'll take turns teaching the kids in our homes a couple of days a week.

We went to a Rodeo on the 3rd July. I loved it. I probably won't take the wee ones to the evening show again, but we'll definitely take them to the carnival again during the day. Jack got to ride on a pony and go on a mini-roller coaster. He had a brilliant time, but both kids were wiped out by the evening.

At the end of last year I won us a family photo session. We set up an appointment to take the pictures in the middle of August. Here's the link to the photography blog of the mother/daughter team that will be taking the photos: http://kateandjessphotos.blogspot.com

She wants to know what kind of setting I want.....I need help, I have no idea. ( If you scroll through her blog she has pics in both kinds of settings) We can either do trees, grass, etc, or old walls, train tracks, stairs, etc. What should I do?

He's 30!

Yesterday was Ryan's 30th Birthday! He had a board meeting in Medford(5 hours away) on Tuesday night and then stayed the night at his Aunt and Uncle's house before heading back up on Wednesday. Jack is really into birthdays at the moment. When I told him it was Dad's birthday his initial reaction was "No, it's not dad's birthday, it's my birthday!" ...he got over that pretty quickly though and was really excited to help me make Ryan a birthday cake and get the presents wrapped. Then, of course, he decided he didn't want Ryan to get the presents and that they were actually his instead...ha.

Peter gets really excited when he hears Ryan coming home each evening from work...and usually ends up here on daddy's shoulders.

Ryan with the wee ones after singing "Happy Birthday"

My friend, Ashley, offered to watch the kids while Ryan and I went out to dinner. It was so nice to get out by ourselves. We went to the Cheesecake factory and even though I had make this pathetic birthday cake (pictured below) we couldn't resist getting a slice of banana cream cheesecake. It was incredible. We stopped off at Barnes and Noble so Ryan could use a gift card he got from his parents and then we headed back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY again Ryan...the wee ones and I think you're the bees knees. Love you.