Outdoor Fun

Bend is definitely a place where people like to be outdoors and there is a lot outdoors to do! Here are a few of the outdoor things we have been up to lately:-)

A couple of weeks ago Dan said, "Lets drive up and walk around one of the lakes up by Sisters". In my mind I am thinking like lets go walk around the lake and maybe wade in a little bit. So, I packed a bag with some towels and had the girls all put on their shorts and flip flops. We get up there and Dan pulls out his swimsuit and asks where the girls suits are. I tell him that I didn't pack them because I didn't think we were SWIMMING in the lake! Well, apparently that was the plan! People around us may have thought we were a little weird, but the girls didn't seem to care one bit jumping in in full clothing! Luckily they were in grungy play clothes that could get dirty:-)

The girls had an absolute blast. They got in and swam and even found a log to float around on as daddy pushed them around the shallow lake.

Mom was the only one who stayed dry and decided NOT to jump in!

It was a very fun day at the lake- next time we'll bring our suits:-)

My mom saw this idea for a "100 things to do in the summer bucket list" So, when we got home from Utah we made out our list of 100 things we wanted to do this summer and wrote them all on a cute chart on a poster board. We have been working hard to do at least one item each day- some are easier to do than others! It was a cute idea and the girls are having a blast marking off each thing as we do it!

One of the things on our bucket list was to plant something. Kaylee went to the store to help me pick out some very pretty pink and yellow flowers. The girls had a blast helping dad plant them in the back yard and have been very responsible at watering them each day ever since!

Another item on our list was washing the car by hand. Our car had not been washed all winter and was in quite bad shape! The girls were good helpers- although I think they thought it was more of a water party than work:-)

Daddy's little helpers:-)

Soaking wet by the end but smiling from ear to ear!

Sparkling clean! These little peeps do pretty good work:-)

The girls are always wanting to do arts and crafts so our chart had to include a couple of arts and crafts projects. So far, we have learned to make friendship bracelets and have made these life size posters of ourselves. The girls thought it was so fun to lay down and trace their bodies and then decorate the tracings to look just like them. I think they did a pretty good job! They wanted to hang their posters on either sides of their bed so they could show them off to daddy when he got home from work.

We have marked off about 20 of our bucket list items so far so we still have quite a ways to go! But, we will keep you updated on our progress as the summer goes on:-)

We Love You Dad

Happy Fathers Day! We love our dad! Thank you for working so hard for our family and for always making us laugh and have a good time. We know you are outnumbered by all us girls in the house- but we hope you know just how much we love you!!

This year for fathers day we got a bit creative. I saw this idea on my new favorite website Pinterest! The girls each looked adorable holding one letter of the word DAD and then we put them all together to make a cute DAD fathers day card. The other idea was a snack box made out of a case of the glass bottle Crush pop. We filled up each of the bottles with a different little treat that we know Dan likes to snack on. Then we decorated the box for Father's Day. Finally I asked the girls for reasons why they love their dad. I wrote them on little tags and hung one on each of the bottles. It turned out really cute and Dan has very much enjoyed munching on his variety of snacks!

Utah Trip

On the night of May 23rd we received a tragic phone call from my dad letting us know that my Uncle Rick had unexpectantly passed away. It was very startling news and a situation that we knew we had to get to Utah to be with our family as soon as possible. We had planned to maybe take a trip to Utah after school got out at the end of June, but within hours moved our trip up and made arrangements to make it there early so that we could be there for the funeral and to support our family. We love you Uncle Rick and will miss you so much!

We have been in the process of looking for a new van, since in a couple months we will have 6 people in our family and only 5 seats in our car! We have not been able to find one yet, so my dad was nice enough to help us rent a van to make the trip down to Utah more comfortable. We were so excited when we picked the van up- the girls were in heaven with all the space and it was a brand new 2012 Dodge Caravan with just 83 miles on it! Amazing! Well, the trip started out great until we passed through Burns, Oregon and started our way through the Stein Mountains. We were driving along when all of the sudden out of NOWHERE a deer slammed into the front drivers side of the car. Neither Dan nor I saw it coming which I guess is good because we didn't even have time to have a reaction to swerve. The first we saw of it was when it was hitting our car! It just hit the front side of us so I really didn't think there would be that much damage. We were both in a bit of shock so we kept driving for a few minutes before pulling over to look at the car. Well . . . apparently a deer can do a lot more damage than I thought! We knew we needed to get this car back but we were like 3 hours from Bend and about 3 hours from Boise with no cell service! We decided to just keep driving even though the bumper was all bent in around the tire. We called the car rental place when we got to cell service and they said they could send someone out, but it would be 2-3 before they made it to us and then another 2 hours to Boise. We decided to just drive very slow to Boise on our own. Luckily we made it- but boy did we get some strange looks as we dropped it off at the Boise airport! Dan went in to get a new car and let the guy know that we were having a bad day. We were on our way to a funeral AND we hit a deer! The guy was nice enough to not only give us a comprable 2012 Dodge Caravan, but even gave us one with a DVD player in it! The girls were in heaven the rest of the way to Utah! Glad to have my first deer hitting experience behind me!

Although the circumstances for visiting Utah were not good, we did have a great time spending time with all our family we miss so much. Dan flew back to Oregon to work after the funeral and the girls and I got to stay for a couple weeks and hang out. We had lots of fun spending time with everyone, shopping, sewing baby blankets and burp cloths, and enjoying the sprinklers on one of the blazing hot days we were there! The girls were so happy to be back with Nana and Papa and Nicole and Janessa. Kaylee even got to have multiple playdates and parties with all of her old friends! It was great to be home:-)

P.S. On the way home luckily no deer were hit:-)