California Cousins

We have been having so much fun with Scott and Rachael's family. The cousins have been having a blast with each other. We had a great BBQ tonight with them. We will miss them so much when they are gone.

Spider Hunting

The boys were hunting for spiders with their cousins. They seemed to have a lot of fun.

Indoor Smores

Joshua loves helping out in the kitchen. He loved making these smores and we loved eating them!

Spring is Winding Down

Well, we have had a very busy spring. May has been especially busy for us. Hannah is home for the summer. She has a full time job that she starts next week. Sarah is probably going to be a nanny in Lincoln City for the summer. Matt is always busy, but will be helping his dad more during the summer. Danielle will be starting volleyball classes soon as well as cooking more this summer. The boys will have tennis lessons again. So while school is winding down, our summer is starting to kick into high gear. Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Weekend. We are certainly thankful for all who have served so we can enjoy the freedoms we do.

Day Twelve

Well our trip is about to end. Our friends, the Greys, brought the part to us from Portland. It's about a three hour drive to Pendleton. Brian had the part replaced fairly quickly. In fact, I was packing slowing because I figured we would be a while. Brian finished before I did. We headed down the road and in about 15 minutes we lost all our oil over the bus and the highway. It was quite a mess. We call Brad who had not left Pendleton yet and he brought the neccessary parts and oil and Brian got it fixed once again. We headed to the next gas station so Brian could check to make sure everything was working properly. After slurpees and beef jerky we were on our way again.

Everything went well after that. Multnomah Falls was a welcome sight. This is one of my favorite places in Oregon. I really love the beauty of our state.

Within an hour we were home. We had a fantastic trip. The only thing missing was Hannah. We all missed her, but she is a busy college student now. I found some new favorite places. I loved Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and South Dakota. I would love to go back to some of these places someday. We'll have to see what the Lord does. I could have never imagined this amazing opportunity in my wildest dreams.

Day Eleven

Day Eleven had us driving through Utah and Idaho. Again, we didn't do a lot of sightseeing. We were all looking forward to being home soon.

Just outside of Pendleton, Brian pulled off at a beautiful viewpoint. He then noticed we were leaking a lot of diesel. So we again prayed our way to make it to Pendleton. We pulled into the Walmart so Brian could decided what he wanted to do. We were also within sight of an auto parts store. Eventually, an eternity to Sarah, it was decided we would get a part delivered to us from Portland. We checked into the hotel that also happened to be in walking distance, isn't God good, had dinner and just relaxed.

Day Ten

Since the kids had so much fun in the water park, we decided to let them play again in the morning and not rush out to early. Again, we had it all to ourselves.

Then it was time to head west again. We did little stopping other than the obligatory rest stops, which were many.

We drove through Wyoming and headed south through Casper instead of the northernly route we originally wanted to take. Montana was predicting 5-6 inches of snow on the day we were driving . And that pretty much sums up day ten.