Bye Bye Dune Buggy

So, we bartered with our plumber for our house. He gets the dune buggy. It really is a good deal for all of us, but it is sad to see it go. We've had a lot of fun with this toy. We went to Florence this weekend for one last ride.

Sydney loves this! She is more sad than all of us.


Loading it up to go out to the dunes on a beautiful day...you can't beat that!

Fun with Aunt Dianne

We got to go out to Black Butte Ranch with Aunt Dianne on Thursday to go swimming. It was so fun! I just wish the pool were in my back yard!

She's not happy, is she?

Jumpin' in!
Some people there had this cool floaty toy and we got to play with it too. Sydney would get mad and scared if anyone touched it while she was holding on. She didn't want to fall off!

Nobody to tag

I'm sorry, but I can't pass on this tag. I have no other blogger friends besides "the cousins." You guys already tagged everyone! I'm terrible at these games!

I've been tagged...

My cousin, Erin, tagged me. She said on her blog that her cousin, Emily H tagged her. Does she have more than one cousin with the name Emily H?
Anyway, here it goes...even if it is uninteresting!

4 Jobs I've held:
1. Waitress/Hostess, Windward Inn & Blue Hen
2. Intern/Interior Design Assistant, FFKR Architecture
3. Designer, Nancy McCormick interiors
4. Designer's assistant, Neil Kelly

Movies I Can Watch Over & Over:
I don't really like watching movies over and over, but there have been a few that I could. Most of these were from when I was a kid.
1. Grease I
2. Ice Castles
3. Savannah Smiles
4. Harry Potter Movies

Places I Have Lived:
1. Long Beach, CA
2. San Clemente, CA
3. Florence, OR
4. Provo, UT
5. Springville, UT
6. Orem, UT
7. Portland, OR
8. Gresham, OR
9. Sisters, OR

Shows I Enjoy
1. HGTV (anything on it except maybe decorating cents/sense)
2. Any reality TV show (including the Bachelor...yes, I admit it!)
3. Disney Channel movies (High school musical! with my kids, of course)

Places I have Been on Vacation:
1. Carribbean (2 times!)
2. Hawaii (2 times!)
3. Arizona
4. California
5. Utah (Zions, Bryce, Arches)
6. Yellowstone
7. Yosemite
8. All over Oregon, camping
9. Vegas
10. Lake Havasu
11. Lake Shasta, houseboating
12. Wisconsin, and Nauvoo (thanks to Cassie & Chris)

Next trip...Mexico!!!

Favorite Foods
1. ICE CREAM
2. Mexican food
3. Seafood
4. Anything out of the ordinary...funky gourmet food you can't get everywhere.
5. All fruit & vegetables...if that is all I had, I could be happy eating only this.


Websites I visit
1. My Friend's and Family's Blogs
2. Pottery Barn
3. Restoration Hardware
4. Costco
5. Kid's sites (everythinggirl.com, crazymonkeygames.com)
6. Church sites for ideas (ideadoor.com, jennysmith, lds.org)

Places I'd Rather Be right now
1. On my boat in the middle of a lake
2. Any tropical beach
3. With my family doing something fun (Mom, Dad, Beth & Kyle, Chris & Cassie)
4. Balboa Island
5. Europe (with my friend Sharri)
6. The sand dunes in Florence, one last time with the dune buggy

Now I get to pick 5 other blog buddies to do this!
Anyone who wants to...go for it. Now you copy this and tag 5 other people! Have fun!

Adventures with Jim

Yesterday, we had "the best day ever," according to the boys. We went on an adventure with one of their favorite people, Jim. He is the local naturalist and his hobby is to watch over and band birds. He counts them and keeps track of what is going on in the boxes he puts up all over the area. The boys and I joined him yesterday. We went to at least 5 boxes (birdhouses) before we found one with a nest and babies. He said it was pretty strange. One box we looked in had a nest in it for the last 5 years, but not this year. We were just happy to find one.

One of the birdhouses for the American Kestrel...the bird Tyler studied this year.On the ladder getting the birds out of the nest to band them. I was just afraid the mother was going to dive bomb us. She just watched from a distant tree top.
When I say adventures, I mean of all kind. We got stuck out in a weird sandy area. The boys thought his car was the coolest. It had an oven, refrigerator and a pop up in the ceiling. Jim had to call his friend to come tow us out. Meanwhile, we banded the birds, so it wasn't such a long wait. The boys wanted to know if I would ever buy a car like that because it was so cool. What did I say?! Maybe. Jim could hear the whole conversation.
This baby fell out of our grasp and didn't want us near him. Check out that wingspan at 4 weeks old!
Tanner holding one of the babies. The gloves were to protect him from their huge talons (claws). They were scarey looking! Not to mention their sharp little beaks!Tanner gently caught the one that didn't want to be caught.
Tyler with his baby Kestrel
Jim banding the bird.

What you didn't see, is that I did hold tw0 of the loudest babies, all the time looking over my shoulder for the mother and praying they wouldn't poop all over me. It was an adventure!

Another thing I didn't take a picture of was the driving experience. At one point Jim stopped the car and jumped out and ran behind the car. He then noticed we were rolling backwards down the hill. He hurriedly jumped back into the drivers seat and told us that he saw a racer and he wanted to catch it and show us. A racer is a snake. He is more in tune with nature and animals than anyone I have ever known. The boys ate it up!

House Update

So, here is a little update on the house. Nyle has been sheeting the roof and getting some fascia up. These really don't show much fascia, but the roof is mostly sheeted. It has been a full week! The roofer (my brother-in-law) is coming on Wednesday, so we need to be ready for him! They even worked on Saturday. The fun never stops.

This is the Family Room and above is Syd's room.
Office and entry. Nice post isn't it? There will actually be 3 8x8's on each side with rock bases. We are not covering the rafter tails...I wanted that look and we don't have to worry about a lot of rain! Yeah!

Sprinkler Fun

What's better than sprinklers and popsicles?