Third stop Oregon...

Okay... I am so sorry it has taken me FOREVER to get my Oregon Pictures posted. Here they are. The pictures include pictures of my sister with my boys, my dad with my boys, Oregon mountains, and my sister and I. We had a great time in Oregon, even though we were there only two days. It was great being able to see my dad, step-mom and sister again. It has been way too long since our last trip out there. Joshua LOVED seeing all the animals my family have chickens, two horses, and three dogs. Joshua was 'farmer Joshua' whenever he would go outside with his Grandma. I thought he looked cute in the hat and had to take some picture. I thought the picture of him in the hat turned out rather well. :)

The night we got into Baker City we drove to LaGrande to see my sister. It was great to see her and have her meet Will for the first time. The mountains were beautiful driving in, Joshua and Will fell asleep on the way over. Joshua in his BK crown was too cute to pass up taking pictures of him. We were able to see my sister's place and hang out there for a little while before heading back to my dad's house. We had some good conversations, lots of games of hide wood eggs and find them, and lots of good food (as always thank you Linda for your wonderful hospitality).

On Friday we drove to Boise ID to see some GREAT friends of ours who used to live here (you are greatly missed). We had great conversations, games, and food. Thank you for entertaining us, we look forward to our next visit. For the fourth of July we went to a parade downtown and ment to light fire works that night and watch the local fireworks. I came down with a sore throat that as of TODAY is finally going away. So I went to bed and the guys played games. The 5th of July we lit some sparklers and smoke balls. One of the green smoke balls rolled under our green jetta. It looked like our car was melting. :) It was great fun.

We took the entire 9 hour trip home in one day, however, it took us 12 hours to get home. It has taken some time to get on a schedule again but I think we are finally back to a normal life here. Enjoy the pictures.

Our trip to Gillette

We had a lot of fun in Gillette but it is so nice to be back home. We left last Tuesday after my ultrasound appointment. The drive went well there and back dry roads all the way but there was a horrible wind on the way home. Michael was able to work in Gillette on Wednesday and Friday from his Uncles house so that worked well. Christmas Eve we all hung out at Michael's Uncles house, that night we went to the Christmas Eve service at our old church then went back to his Uncles house for a wonderful seafood dinner. There was shrimp cooked all sorts of ways and crab, there was a crab dip, and little smokeys. Someone brought a veggie and fruit tray and of course there were all sorts of sweets. Joshua liked the breaded shrimp and called it chicken, it was very cute. He had so much fun playing with Michael's cousins the youngest is four years old. They played ring around the rosie a lot, and gave each other piggie back rides. Joshua did get a very late nap that day from 3pm until 5pm so Joshua could survive the evening. People left their house at 11pm, way past Joshua's bed time. Luckily he did sleep in until almost 9am because of the late night.

Christmas morning was WONDERFUL. We all got up slowly Joshua, Michael and I were the last to get up. We visited ate a great breakfast of danishes then moved to the living room to open presents. Jannie read the Christmas story as in Luke. Then Paige passed out all the gifts and Joshua got started on his stocking. We wrapped all of his stocking gifts because he loves unwrapping everything. I have him on video for every gift he opened. He was thrilled at whatever was inside it and played with it for a while before asking to open another gift. Michael's Aunt and Uncle also got Joshua a couple of things, and he loves them thank you so much. They also gave Michael and I an electric griddle (now we can make hash browns the way they do, which we love). I didn't expect any gifts, it was a wonderful surprise. It took us a while to open gifts. Everyone was visiting and we took turns opening gifts. I loved that it didn't feel rushed like we had to open them all in 30 Min's. At 11:30 or so we were all finished with gifts and took showers.

At 1pm we drove over to Michael's Aunt's parents place. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls, a veggie tray and corn. It was so good, I am glad we were invited. I loved the company too. We get a long great with her family and we always have something to talk about. While we were there we played the Wii, and dominoes, and visited. It was so much fun. We were there until 7pm because Joshua needed to go to bed since he missed his nap. Michael and I had a great time that night for a couple hours just watching TV together while he was a sleep.

We had a ton of good food, as we always do when we visit them. I love going and cannot wait to go back to see everyone again. I miss the family we have in Gillette and the friends we have there too. On Saturday before we left town we were able to see a good friend of mine Shannon and her husband. Michael and I love hanging out with her and Michael gets a long great with her husband. I wish we lived closer so we could do more together. Maybe some day.

That is about all of what we did while we were in Gillette. We were constantly busy but it also felt like we had a lot of down time to enjoy our family. Thank you so much, Lyle, Marlys, Grant, Mitch and Paige for letting us in on your Christmas and for giving up one of your bed rooms. Thank you everyone else who took time to see us. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.