julia's blessing weekend

My sister Amy and her family (Kelby, Gavin 7, Amber 6, Evan 4, Jane 1) came up for Julia's blessing.  They camped in the back yard since our house is so small.  When Amy told her kids they'd be camping in my yard they said "why don't we just stay in her house?"  Our house is perfect for us, but small for visitors!  We started the trip off with lentil tacos.  The kids didn't like them, but ate some anyways.  Then we went to bed.  Next morning we went to OMSI.  Gavin is really into science, so he and Kelby had a great time there.  

Anna, of course, had a great time too.  She loves that place.  There is a new exhibit about natural disasters (the lego exhibit is now gone bummer).  There was a movie/volcano building thing.  I told her the volcano was growing and way hot.  So now she'll randomly pause throughout the day and say "WAY HOT WAY GROWING" with really big eyes. 

After OMSI, we rode our bikes (pictures below) to Oaks Amusement Park.  There is an exhibit there where you can walk on water!  Amy gave her kids 10$ each to spend at the park and they all chose to do this (8$ for like 5 minutes - wowsas).  I'm glad they did b/c it was fun to watch, especially for anna!

We didn't give anna a budget, but Rich thought she would enjoy riding the train.  And did she ever!  She was waving at everyone he said. 

A little princess in the making.  she still talks about the train at least 3 or 4 times everyday.  I'm using another train ride as an incentive to go poopy on the potty.  So far no success.

Here's some biking pics.  It was pretty rough going with Gavin at first.  He had a hard time staying on the right side of the trail.  Amy about lost her voice trying to keep him in line.   He wasn't quiet sure how far in advance he needed to brake to stop and ran into the back of me.  He felt pretty bad, but after that incident he did much better.

Amber was the real trooper.  Her bike was the heaviest.  I'm pretty sure that for every turn we made on our crank, she had to do at least 5 or 6.  She was awesome on the way to the park, but as you can see above - she had a rough time making it back!

Here we are (except rich) on the springwater trail.  It runs right along the wilamette (as you can see) and is a really fun trail if you're looking for somewhere to bike!  After that we came home and ate Leek Soup - since I knew amy's kids would like that.  Then Amy sent the kids to their tents and they went shopping while Rich and I relaxed.

The next day was Sunday and it was Julia's blessing.  Of course we had to get some shots of Anna.

 

Here's the crew: Bart, Annette, Steven, Anna, Rich, Me, Julia, Gavin, Amy, Amber, Jane, Kelby, Evan

Julia and I.  Rich blessed her to be christlike and to help others.  It was hard to listen because anna was having a tantrum over pretzels or a binky or something.  I wish I would have had it recorded or something.  She looked so beautiful.  She is such a pretty baby.  Uncle steven held her for most of sacrament meeting - it was pretty cute seeing him snuggle the baby (:   Oh and take a nap with her later at the park.

After church we had a party at the park.  Just food really.  Steven fried some cod for us - it was so good.  Good food and chatting.  I wish I would have stopped and taken a picture of julia in her dress before I changed her.  Ill have to dress her up again and take more pics.   The friends came but had to leave quick because I forgot to tell them what time we were having the party - so they had made other plans.  Oops, I'm not so good at planning group parties.

Amber.  Richard spun her  a little too much on some of the toys.  She felt sick the rest of the day.

Gavin (wouldn't look at the camera of course)

After the party Amy and I went to the temple grounds and visitor center to walk around.  It was beautiful.

In the movie below, anna is showing off her botanical skills.  I try to tell her what all the flowers are that I know while we are on our daily runs.  So far she knows tulips, daffodils, dogwoods, and her favorite: rhododendrons.

Julia on her blessing day.  She loved the temple.  Just like she loves everything else.  She's an amazing baby, how did we get so lucky?

Amy and the girls flexing their muscles.  Anna put her foot in the reflection pool.  She said "Go swimming!"

This is a video of Anna at the visitor center.  She thinks Jesus is really big.