County Fair

Who doesn't love a trip to the fair? How could you not enjoy the many booths full of cotton candy, elephant ears, funnel cakes, giant ice cream cones, and even deep fried Twinkies? Yes, the fair is the one place where eating all the junk food you can is not only acceptable, but encouraged. We did our part and indulged in a few of the above mentioned treats. Although it was still pretty hot outside, we had a pretty fun time last night. The kids had a fun time seeing all the animals, although Claire didn't really care for the smell. She walked through most of the barns holding her nose. :) Grace just loved seeing all the different kinds of "doggies". Although by the end of the night, she was calling all the animals "horsies" instead. At least we made a little progress.

One of the highlights was watching the pig races. They provided free betting, so we all chose a pig to win and got a corresponding colored ticket. Then we sat back and got ready to cheer on our pig. There were 2 races, and the "blue" pig won both times...the only one in the family with a blue ticket...Grace! She won a blue ribbon that said "my pig won". She wore it proudly around the fair (We had to put it on her back for her to keep it on).

License to Nurse

It's that time again...renewing my RN license. I was expecting to pay around $50 for the privilege of being a nurse. It turns out that in the State of Oregon it costs $145 to renew my license for 2 more years. Really?!? I mean, why on earth do we have to pay so much, just to continue working during this nursing shortage? It doesn't make much sense to me. Oh well...sorry for the rant. At least I am good now until 2011.

Road Trip

This last weekend we decided to road trip out to Idaho to visit our good friends Nick and Kara Johnson. They had recently had a new baby girl, and we were anxious to meet her. We left our house on Friday night around 9pm. The plan was for the kids to sleep the whole way, and for me to lay down in the back seat for naps. It didn't go very well. Grace was awake the entire night! We were all super cranky because Grace wouldn't be quiet. Let's just say Saturday was a rough day for the kids. We mostly relaxed and played with water balloons outside. We went out for lunch to a Mexican place, and made yummy salmon for dinner. Sunday morning we all went to Church, and then came home to get ready for a fun afternoon at Kara's parents' house. My sister Bree and her date, David met up with us there. We played with water balloons again, and there was a kiddie pool. Grace loved the pool! They had horses too, which was defiantly the highlight. First we shucked some corn and fed the husks to the horses. The kids really liked feeding them, although Grace wasn't quite sure about getting too close to the big "doggies". After dinner we took turns riding Cocoa. He was really nice, and let us all have a turn. It was Chris's first time ever being on a horse. Claire loved it! She never wanted to get off. Later she asked if we could have a horse at our house. She didn't really understand why our "yard" wasn't exactly big enough for a horse. Grace just kept calling them doggies, but she was pretty excited to see them.

On Monday we went to a fun tumble place that had trampolines and a big foam pit to jump into. We had been there once before, and it is always a hit. Grace loved being able to run around and jump on everything. It is even fun for the adults! They have this really high ledge that you can jump from into the foam pit. It doesn't look very scary until you get up there. It definitely makes your heart skip a beat when you get up the guts to jump.

Tuesday was time to go back home again. This time we drove during the day....a much wiser choice! The kids did really well on the drive, and we were home by dinner time. Overall, we had a really great time this weekend! Thanks Nick and Kara for letting us come stay with you!

Birthday fun

Claire turned 4 on July 1st. She has been looking forward to her birthday for the entire last year! This year we decided to have a party at home with a few friends and a whole lot of family.

The day of the party Claire, Chris, and I went out on Hagg Lake with Grandpa Moyle and Bree. We went on the tube behind the boat and then had fun splashing around in the water. Afterwards, we rushed home and got ready to party!

We made foam picture frames for fun with glitter paint, space stickers, and gemstones. The kids had fun being creative, and they turned out pretty cute. Even Grace got in on the fun.

Claire sitting next to her cousin Reann...

One of Claire's friends Clark...picking out the perfect spaceship...