Fun Filled Saturday

We had a lot of fun today!! First we went to a Champoeg State Park with the church hosted a picnic for all the young families. We met several young familes with small children. It was really nice to have a church family with so many small kids. We are anxious to get to know everyone. The one weird thing is these people DON'T know how to eat!! Josh called them Oregon Hippies because NO ONE touched the desserts!!! We made a dump cake (which is SO good but not too good for you) and not ONE person touched it. There were a couple of pies and cookies and I think I saw a couple of kids eating cookies. Everyone was talking about their organic diets and turkey bacon and fish. A lot of them were thin too!! On the way home from the park we stopped at this berry farm and got a pint of raspberries, blueberries, and marion berries(they look just like blackberries) for SEVEN dollars!!! We came home and me and the kids took a nap!!! A much needed nap. Then we went to this nature park about 1/2 mile from our house. It was AMAZING!! It was so neat. There were all kinds of trails and you were in the forest in town. It was cool!! Garrett loved it. We learned what poison oak was (not by experience thank goodness!). We told Garrett not to touch any of the plants because they could bite him. It was a good day.

Got the Job

Last Wednesday I had an interview at Doernbecher Children's Hospital for an RN position. There were over 60 applicants and I GOT IT!!! I'm so happy. It is an "as needed" position from 11pm to 7am. I basically just fill in the holes. I'm required to work at least 24 hours a month which is 3 days, so that will be PERFECT for us. I'll still get to be a stay at home mom, but we'll make an extra $1000/month!! I'm so excited to keep up my skills as well as learn new skills!!!
YIPPEEE!!!!!

Garrett's Climber

We got Garrett this climber today. He LOVES it!! It's really neat. It has a rock climber on one side, a rope ladder on one side, a regular ladder on the other side and then a slide. We saved all the money from his birthday to buy this. So everyone that gave him money....thank you for the climber!! :)

Cool Weather

I just wanted to let everyone know that is burning up in over 100 degree weather, that we are nice and cool here in Portland. Today was a lovely 67 degrees!! Sorry I couldn't resist. After hearing from friends and family that are burning up I had to write. It is gorgeous here. It's not the rainy season yet, so the days are beautiful. It's been getting up to the mid 80's (which is BURNING up to Oregoner's) but then the nights drop down into the 50's so it's nice weather by the burning. We LOVE the nights. We open the windows and allow the cool air to come in!!! Sorry for all of you down there in the oven!! :)

All alone

My help (Nana and Papa) left yesterday morning so we are officially all alone up here. It's a bittersweet. I couldn't have done it with out all the help. We got moved in the house in about TWO days!!! and then I had time to organize everything while Papa played with Garrett and Nana took care of Haylee. THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!! It was kinda hard saying goodbye, but I think it will be good. This is the first time we've been away from family...Haylee's been running a fever for a few days and we took her to the doctor yesterday and they asked us for an emergency contact that doesn't live with us......I DON'T KNOW ANYONE HERE!!! I think we've chosen a WONDERFUL church though and we'll meet people soon. I think it will be good for our family. We'll have to rely on each other become close....that's what I'm hoping anyway. There's a BBQ this Saturday at a state park with the church for the 20-30 year olds with small kids. I time to come together and meet everyone and let the kids meet everyone....so hopefully we'll meet several families and have a chance to get involved. This is going to be great for us, just keep us in your prayers and stay in contact....we might be thousands of miles away but we still think about everyone.

Our House

These are photos of our house

The Beach

Today we went west about 1 1/2...first to a town called Tillamook,OR. They have a cheese factory that was really neat and the cheese was AWESOME. I remember seeing Tillamook cheese in Walmart in Clovis, so if you see it in your store.....WE'VE BEEN THERE!!! The cheese is AWESOME too if you buy some. We then went about another 10 miles to the BEACH. It is so pretty. It is different from a CA or FL beach. The mountians are right there and the beaches are kinda rocky but where there is sand.....it is so SOFT!! It was about 60 degrees outside but it felt really good. It wasn't swimming water, but it was fun to play in. Garrett had a blast. I think we're going to go back for Josh's birthday. We went out to eat at a sea food resturant. It was really good. What a great day!!

Multnomah Falls and Mt. Hood

Today we went about an hour east of our house to Multnomah Falls. It was absolutly gorgous. It's suppose to be the 2nd longest waterfall in the nation. It was really pretty. We walked about 1/4 of a mile up it to a bridge. It was hard because we were holding Haylee. It was a mile up to the top of the falls but maybe next time. After we left the falls we drove about another 30 miles to Mt. Hood. It's the mountain you always see in the pictures...the one you see in the Portland picture of the post before this one. It was really pretty and the drive was amazing up there. On the way there were so many different fresh fruit stands. We stopped and got some fresh picked cherry's that are yummy.

We're in Portland!!!

Ok, so I've been terrible about keeping this up but I think I have an excuse. We just moved our family 1600 miles away!!! WE ARE IN PORTLAND and it is BEAUTIFUL!!! We love it. Our house is beautiful and the country is to die for!! There is GREEN things everywhere and these huge things with big tall brown bottoms and green stuff coming off the tops of them....I think they call them trees!!! Our house is a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath, 1500 sq ft. It is so pretty. I can't wait to get started exploring this side of the country.

PS I didn't take this picture....I cheated and got it off the internet.

NO MORE DOGS :) :(

Well we just gave our second dog away tonight. It is bittersweet. First of all we're not allowed to have big dogs in our rent house in Portland, so it's a relief we were able to get rid of them, but it's sad because they were part of our family. We gave Sadie away to a friend a couple of weeks ago and she's doing good. And tonight a young couple with no kids took Tyson. I'm glad both of them are going to good homes.

Garrett vs. Haylee

Garrett at 3 months

Haylee at 3 months

I took this picture of Haylee today...by the way is PUSHING HERSELF UP....and it reminded me so much of Garrett!!

Our House

We signed a lease on a house in Portland. It's actually in a suburb of Portland called Aloha, OR. It's 1500 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. It's two stories which I'm a little nervous about with having two little ones but we'll just get nice baby gates and NO PLAYING ON THE STAIRS. It has a nice little yard with a privacy fence so the kids can play outside without me worrying about them. We're SO excited. It's about 11 miles away from Josh's school and about 9 miles away from Garrett's preschool. Josh leaves for Portland on June 30th. He's renting a truck and driving up there with his step-dad and dad (that will be interesting), and then me, the kids, and Jody (my mother in law) are flying up to Portland on the 3rd of July. It's ALMOST HERE!!! Josh is trying to get into the Air Force too. He went for his physical last Friday and passed with flying colors and now he just has to send his application in and it will go to a scholarship board. If he does get in they will pay for ALL of Dental school as well as a $2000 stipend for us to live on!! I SO hope he gets in but it's pretty competitive. His recruiter says we have nothing to worry about but I'll be happy when we have a definite answer. Sorry I'm not able to post something everyday. Life is pretty crazy right now, but we're making it. We're all ready to get into a routine and have a house. Jody has been so kind to let us live with her and it's been nice having help but it's not the same has having your OWN house. Soon....Soon. I hope everyone is doing well and please keep looking at our blog. We'll keep you updated!!

Happy Birthday Garrett

Ok, so today isn't Garrett's birthday, but we had his birthday party today because of the move and everything going on right now. It went really well, but it was so windy, so we couldn't light the candles because the match wouldn't stay lit. We let him light candles when we got home though!! We had so much fun. Josh smoked brisket, I made the cake and a pot of beans and then some people brought some food. It was fun.

The kids getting BIG

Garrett and Haylee are both getting so big. I can't believe that Garrett is going to be three this month!! We're having a really big birthday party for him tomorrow at the park. He is SO excited. Here's a picture of Garrett helping make a chocolate cake and picture of the kids in their "USA" outfits!!

Six Flags

We went to Six Flags on May 26 with our friends Allen and Kathy McKinney. It was our last "have fun" vaction before going to Portland and being poor medical students. It was SO hot that day...I think it was a high of 98 degrees, but we still had fun. Garrett really enjoyed himself. He rode the kids rollercoasters and LOVED it!! Haylee enjoyed being outside and going for a ride in her stroller all day!

Videos of the Kids

Garrett went fishing with Dax, David, and Josh while we were camping. It was funny because Dax and Garrett ended up playing while Josh and David fished. It was fun though....Garrett is getting a fishing pole for his birthday!!

In this video Haylee is telling me how mad she is!! She is so cute when she's upset!!

Vaction

I'm THREE MONTHS OLD


Wesley and Haylee


Rachel and Haylee


Haylee talking to Grandma Shirley

Garrett's TWO goose eggs....the first was from hitting the elevator at the hotel in OK city and the 2nd was a four wheeling accident

Dax and Garrett at Applebee's

Josh and Garrett in Aunt Carrie's Pool

Lanie reading to Garrett (the flash scared her)

Josh and Garrett fishing while camping

Garrett driving a four wheeler (not really)

Lindsey and Haylee

Grandma and Grandpa with Haylee (this was the best picture of Grandpa out of FOUR)

Abby and Garrett

Lindsey, Steve and Garrett on Big Red

Uncle Kenny holding Haylee

Dax giving Garrett a stick to catch frogs with

The guys cooking breakfast

Sweet Haylee

Grandma Joan and Garrett

Garrett sitting in his baby chair

Ok... I know it's been a while since I've written. We've been on vaction since May 13th. We're still on vaction...we get back home on May 27th. We went up to Arkansas to visit my family for about a week. I got to see my sister Lindsey and meet her boyfriend Steve. We REALLY like him!! He's a really nice guy and we hope it works out for them. Speaking of Lindsey....she left for Australia on Thursday. HOW COOL IS THAT!?! ....Anyway....while we were in Arkansas we went camping with the Smithson side of the family for two days. It was blast....minus the fact Garrett got his SECOND goose egg. The first one was from running into the "elibader" at the hotel. After we left Arkansas we went to Texarkana to visit Josh's brother, sister in-law and their three kids. Then we drove to Dallas and stayed with Josh's oldest sister, her husband and their three kids. Now we're in a hotel in Dallas. Some friends of ours from Clovis are meeting us here tonight and I think my cousin's wife and baby are going to come tomorow morning. We're going to go to Six Flags and just have fun for a few days!! Here are our pictures so far!!