Oregon Coast 2012

family reunion at the Lind cabin

pushing each other into the very cold water

kids meeting relatives for the first time

strolls down the Seaside Boardwalk

clam chowder

making homemade ice cream

watching Lexi's excitement at being included in Guesstures games

a beautiful day at Hug Point

Y Sandcastles

a trip to the emergency room

laying in bed with Grandma and Grandpa

traditional Thai feast

Bunny Bunny Bunny Bunny

The Candyman

Arcades

The Juice Pot

Lewis and Clark Museum

curlers with Aunt Jenny

watching Ben catch a frog

Grandma's granola

Astoria's Tower

endless hours of Munchkin Radio on the drive

Jeremy picking me up and throwing me into the freezing cold ocean

hot dogs and s'mores on the beach

playing the Wii with Steven

runs along the coast
Pass the Pigs

lots of ping pong

having Lexi giggle and exclaim, "Who keeps doing that?" as the waves wash over her feet

Fruits, Veggies, Dessert!

Elli's beachfront tent

sneaking away to watch girlie shows

the bunk room

broken ovens/burned cookies

the Carousel

Mini Golf

watching elk walk in the beautiful meadow off the coast

Crabbing

accidentally tying the bait on the wrong side of the net

a very slow motorboat

LOTS AND LOTS OF FUN!!!!!!!

..These are our memories of this year's Green family reunion.  It was a perfect vacation.  Jen, you were AMAZING-- you made it all work!  Thank you, and please come and move into our house!!!

Important life lessons

Tonight at Family Home Evening, Jeremy was giving a lesson about how we should be kind to our family members.  He had everyone tell an example of how someone in the family had served them today.  Xander went first and said in all sincerity:

"I pick Mommy because she serves us by teaching us important stuff like how we should change our underwear every day."

I'm glad I'm good for something!  (:

What I just HAVE to take time to say today!

I just ran a marathon.

Or rather, I feel like I did.  We had a family photo shoot at 9:00 a.m.  Doesn't sound too exhausting, but somehow it was.  The actual photo shoot wasn't too bad.  Besides Elli not being cooperative, having a goobery nose, spilling water all over herself, and completely messing up her carefully done hair, it was great.  (:  It was trying to coordinate outfits for 10 people and getting them to all look good at the same time that was a bit crazy!  Luckily, my sweet friend,  Channy, came over at 7:30 to curl hair and totally save me from going off the deep end!!  So grateful for good friends.  The photo shoot was done by Fotofly, who so generously waived their normal fee for our family upon learning of our sweet kiddos.  What a blessing!  The photographers were amazing and super patient-- I can't wait to see the photos!  We took a bit longer than a typical family (go figure) so we'll be going back later today to see how they turned out.  The last time we had professional family pictures was in 2005-- WAY too long ago!  Maybe now that I've conquered the fear of just doing it, we'll make it an annual thing.

Or not.  We'll see.  (:

But that's not what I came on here to say!  Nor to tell about Taylor and Parker's experience at BYU basketball camp, or how their baseball season ended, or how Elli played Heart and Soul with zero mistakes after hearing it once, or how Lexi is driving me batty asking to play with friends every half hour, or how she took her first motorcycle ride, or how Graci looks AMAZING after chopping a foot off her beautiful long hair (under a bit of pressure from me) and donating it to Locks of Love, or how summer has been a daily emotional rollercoaster for me-- going from loving it to going out of my mind to perfect bliss to mental breakdown about every few minutes, or how tough it was to watch the Herriman fire burn down several homes in our stake...  All good things to blog about, and so many more..

Today I just HAD to take a few minutes and express how full our hearts have been.  The last year and a half, our family has seen the recipients of so much Christlike love.  We have been a true charity case!  Not a charity case in the negative light that is often associated with that phrase, but in a most beautiful way.  The scriptures teach us that charity is the pure love of Christ.  That is the kind of love that has been shown our family.  And we have recently been overwhelmed at the thoughtfulness and sacrifice that has come our way.

We want to say thank you.

And we wish that there were words that could express it better, because we feel beyond thankful.  Jeremy and I have both been in tears the last few days as we have seen the love of Christ enveloping our family.

We are so, so grateful.

Creative!

A few days ago Graci, Jesi, Lexi and Xander came in and informed us we needed to visit the girls' room for a play.  We arrived to find an elaborate theater set up on the bunk bed.  The play combined elements of all of the Disney Princess movies (this despite being less than five minutes long-now that's talent!).  Here are a couple of pics:

The put-upon step daughter looks remarkably happy next to the evil step mother!

Backstage:)

It was quite the theatrical thriller!

Cute Couple!!!

I know two people who are not going to be very happy with me when they see these pictures posted...but I couldn't resist.  Taylor and Graci were all dressed up to go to a youth meeting at church, and I just had to take a picture of them together.  It was like pulling teeth to get them to so much as touch each other, but I think the results are quite cute:)  Is it just me, or do I have darling kids?

The Restaurant of Fancy Nancy

I finally did it.  I made the commitment to eat healthy.  I have been struggling for the last few weeks and today after eating too much for lunch I decided no more!  I was not going to eat again until dinner, and it would be a super low-cal, healthy dinner.  No exceptions.

Approximately 5 minutes later, Jessica came walking into the room.  "Mom, are you hungry?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

I hear her voice start to shake.  "Are you just a little bit hungry?"

I turn around and see her face has fallen.  Apparently, I haven't been paying attention.  She is asking me for a reason.  I can see that now.

"Well, yes-- I am just a little bit hungry."

Her face brightens.  "Perfect!  I'll be right back!"

Five minutes later she comes into my room, in a dress and Sunday shoes and a big smile.  "You have been invited to the Restaurant of Fancy Nancy!  I am here to escort you.  Please come this way, Madame."

Great.

I follow her as she leads me outside.  She seats me at the patio table and hands me a menu.  "Please take a look and see what you would like, m'am," then disappears into the house.

Ok, I have a dilemma.  Remember that I wasn't going to eat anything more until dinner?  And now I have a menu with all sorts of options in front of me.  I decide to at least try and choose the healthier looking options.  I go with fruit salad and toast with apricot jam.  It takes her several minutes to come back and take my order.  It's hot outside-- almost 100 degrees.  I move the table into the shade.

Finally, she comes and takes my order.  She then takes the menu and then hands me a jar with broken crayons and a sheet of paper labeled. "Activity paper."  It has a maze drawn on the front, and directions to draw a picture on the back.

"I'll be right back, Miss!" she says as she disappears inside again.

I complete the maze and turn the paper over.  Then I draw a picture of a cute little blonde girl with glasses and label it, "My Adorable Waitress."

Then I wait.

After a few minutes, I start to add more detail to the picture.  The dress gets colored in.  I draw hearts all over.  The writing gets embellished.

And I wait some more.

I start to wonder what messes are being made inside.  I hadn't put anyone in charge of the littles, so I'm scared to death of what they are up to.  I contemplate going inside, but don't want to ruin things for Jesi.  I add even more detail to the picture.

It's been at least 30 minutes.

I hear the basketball bouncing and call out for Taylor or Parker, hoping they can go in and check on Jessica for me.  Nothing.  I see Sophi smiling at me through the window and try to tell her to tell Jessica to come outside.  She just continues to smile at me.  I think of all the things I should be doing.  I add even more detail to the picture.

Finally, after about 40 minutes, my cute little waitress comes back out.

"Whew!  Sorry about the wait, Ma'am.  I didn't know how long it took to make fruit salad!  By the way, sorry about the toast being cold-- I made it first!"

She hands me a HUGE bowl of cut up fruit and two pieces of cold toast with apricot jam.  Then she stands there as I eat my food.  Chocolate milk to wash it down.  No sneaking some of it into the trash.  I have to eat it all.  I try telling her how delicious it tastes, but that I am beginning to feel full and watch her eyes well up with tears.  Immediately, I change my tune and tell her that there is no way I can be too full for a meal like this one.  She brightens, and I try to tell myself that surely God will remove the calories from this meal.

After I finish, I am handed a map.  "Please follow this to your treasure, Monsieur!"  I decline to tell her that I am not a man.  The map leads me around the yard to various places until I find a leftover Valentine in one of the bushes-- my treasure.

Later on in the day, I decide that I've already ruined my "diet" and proceed to eat a hamburger, countless Milk Duds, a cookie, a yogurt, some almonds, and another big glass of chocolate milk.  I guess my resolve wasn't as strong as I thought.

I love our little Jessica.
 

The Bus

 

The bus is getting closer...

This is Sophi waiting for the bus.  See the smiles?  That is because she is so excited for the bus to come and take her to preschool.  Excited, that is, until the bus pulls up.  At that point the smiles are gone and Miss Grumpy pays a visit.  The complaint?  She doesn't want Kevin to be her bus driver.  Every time she sees him, she yells, "I don't want Kevin!" and throws some type of fit as I strap her in.  This has happened every Tuesday and Thursday since Kevin replaced her former bus drive about three months ago.  (For the record, it also took her a couple of months to get used to her first bus driver!)   Kevin seems like the sweetest guy, and she can't tell us why she doesn't like him-- just that she wants her old bus driver.  He doesn't even touch her-- I buckle her in and her teacher unbuckles her.  He plays fun music and is softspoken and sweet.  My "mother's sense" tells me he is a very good guy, and I'm not worried that he has done anything to make her not like him.  She just hates change, and so she hates him! 

Well, this week a new bus driver pulled up.  She screamed her little head off saying over and over, "I want KEVIN!"  She threw the biggest fit when I strapped her in her carseat and sent her off with the substitute driver, kicking and screaming like she never has before.  This turned out to be a huge blessing, because the substitute somehow helped her realize that she does indeed like Kevin!  In fact, it's all she can talk about now.  "I like Kevin!  He is my nice bus driver!  I don't want a new bus driver.  Kevin is my favorite!"  And so on.  So thank you, poor substitute driver who had to listen to her wails, for finally putting an end to Sophi's disdain for Kevin.  You have made our mornings much more pleasant.  (:

Xander + Sophi + Mommy's Make Up =

Planning Session

Many Saturdays Christi and I are organized enough to start the day with a planning session.  It usually gets started fairly late in the morning, but it still helps us to get the important things done.  Here is what our outline looks like if I am taking the notes:

Here's what it looks like when Christi (and Sophi) takes the notes:

:)

Conversation with Jess

Jesi comes walking into my room holding a DVD.  "Dad, instead of two shows can I just watch a movie since that would be the same as two shows."

Me (assuming Christi must have told her she could watch two shows):  "Who told you that you could watch two shows?"

Jesi:  "I don't want to watch two shows!  I want to watch a movie!"

Me:  "Yes, but who said you could watch two shows in the first place?"

Jess (with a furrowed brow):  "But I'm not watching two shows, I'm watching a movie and that's the same as two shows!"

Me: "But did somebody tell you it was OK if you watched two shows?"

Jesi (a pitying look on her face):  "You don't get it do you?  A movie is the same as two shows, and I want to watch a movie."

Me:  "Let's wait until Mommy gets back and then we'll talk to her about it."

Jess:  "You're still confused, aren't you."

Conversation with Soph

Christi and I were in our room planning out our Saturday.  Sophi wanders in and in a sweet little voice asks, "Daddy, can I have some yogurt?"

Me:  "Sorry Sophi, but we don't have any yogurt."

Soph:  "I gonna ask mommy.  Mommy, can I have some yogurt?"

Christi:  "Sorry Sophi, but we don't have any yogurt?"

Sophi:  "Xander had some yogurt."

Me:  "Maybe there is some yogurt."

Sophi:  "I know.  I can ask Graci."

Me:  "OK."

All of this was said in Sophi's sweet little angel voice.  She continues in this voice:  "OK.  I ask Graci."  Then she walks out of our room and makes an instantaneous switch to her do what I say and do it NOW voice.  She bellows out at the top of her lungs.  "GRACI, YOU GET ME SOME YOGURT!"

Ah, sweet Sophi.  She is at once charming, consternating and positively precious:)