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?