Wild animals in Oregon

No, these aren't pictures of my children. They are actually of animals in a wildlife safari in Oregon . It is pretty cool. You drive around in your car to get up and close to most of the animals. Here are a few pictures from our little tour. It was a hot day so some of the animals were hiding in the shade, but it was still worth it!

This is cool and gross at the same time. This camel is shedding, so it looks awful, but we really got to get up close to see this. The camel had a hard time going under the roof. Poor thing!

This bird came right up to our car. It would bend down then pop right back up again. The kids thought this was great! I guess they try to eat the bugs off your car. YUM!

Pretty sad petting zoo, but I think we came at the wrong time.

Nate giving a little wave.

The boys getting their headshots done!

We were walking around and they were taking the baby cow back to the petting zoo. Nate thought is was pretty great. I think Josh saw some flags or something to go play with instead.

Yeah, we are outta here! I did this without Mike. He was working in Roseburg and so I took the boys on day trips each day we were here. We had tons more pictures, but I didn't want to bore you with them all. You just have to go to the place yourself. We got to see lions, and tigers and bears..oh MY!

Swimming..or something like it!

We stayed at a hotel in St. George with a swimming pool. My sisters and I always have a good time in the pool. Yes, we range in age from somewhere in the 30s to the lower 20s and we have contests from the best dive to see who can do the most somersaults in a row without taking a breath! I, of course won all of them. I was just the one with the camera so you couldn't see how GREAT I was. This is my sister Heidi doing a side dive...what a dork!

Here is my Natie. Isn't he just the cutest?!? He actually like running around the pool instead of being in the pool. Silly, boy!

Here is Heidi doing a roll dive. She is trying to see how big of a splash she can make...

This is Cheryl..yes this is the way she dove into the pool. Now are you seeing why I won all the contests...dorky sisters..haha!

Not bad form, but she ended doing more of a belly flop, then a dive. I guess I got all the swimming genes, except I get claustraphobic when I get in the deep end. That's why we do "contests."

Summer Time Fun in St. George

We went to Tuachan in St. George. It is an outdoor amphitheater where they put on Broadway shows. We took 2 of the boys to see The Sound of Music.

Jared thought the Hitler officers with their guns were pretty cool.

Josh had a totally different impression of the bad guys. Glad we have taught one of our boys who they can trust8-)

Here is Grandpa Jones. That is my mom's dad.
We are so glad that we got to spend time with him. He looks dang good for almost being 90.

Kindergarten Graduation!

Jared's Graduation!
He loves to sing! It was fun to see how proud he was of all he learned!

His wonderful principal. She gave them their diplomas. It's all in the family here. My mom did her student teaching under this principal when she was a teacher.

All the family that was able to make it to the graduation.
Mike, Nate, Grandma and Grandpa Moss, Jared, Aunt Leah and Zoe.
(Savannah is there too, but still in Leah's tummy!)

Jared with his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Trimble. She retired after this past year. My family knows her from way back. We are glad that Jared got her as a teacher!

Summer Fun and Milestones

Go Jared! He is a ball of energy. He is eating us out of house and home and he is only 6. He likes doing flips and cool moves on the trampoline.Got to love my boys! Nate wants to be likes his brothers. Mike is here sporting his go-tee. He started growing it when I got sick and decided he would shave it after I got better. That took about 6 months. I was glad to see it go!

Jared is finally riding without training wheels. We just took them off one day and off he went. Kind of like his potty training, just put him in big boy underwear and he was trained!

This was Mike's project from March until the deadline, which was July 26th. Mike is a perfectionist and I'm glad. I will put up a picture of the final outcome!

Jared played T-ball this summer and by the end of the season he was hitting balls pitched by the coaches. He is definitely our sports boy! Would play every single sport if he could!

Aunt Marilyn..what would we do without her

Jared decided he was going to be taking pictures of everyone.

Marilyn came to town and made this awesome baseball cake for an auction that night. Little did we know that most people went and bought cakes and we didn't even stay to see how much Marilyn's went for.

We've learned the trick to how Marilyn stays so thin...she never stops!! She plays with our kids nonstop. They love Aunt Marilyn and so do we!

BOY CAN SHE JUMP!!

Boys will be boys!

Happy 2nd birthday Nate!
Boy it sure went by fast. I would like to congratulate Mike on the great cake he decorated. Usually that's my job, but I didn't have enough muscle in my arms to do it! What a great Dad!

Nate thinks he is big enough to ride the big kids bikes. He actually doesn't do to bad. If only his feet could reach the petals!

Beware, NAKED baby!
Nate has gone through this phase of taking off all his clothes. I think he is getting over it, thank goodness. It's been like 6 months of this phase. Mike found his out here on the trampoline just jumping around like a wild man. We have some funnier ones, but didn't think they were appropriate to post.

Here we have Nate dumping dirt with his little dump truck. He is trying to be like his Dad......

...and believe me, Mike took a lot of dirt from the front yard and put it into the backyard. Isn't it just the cutest when your kids try to copy Dad.

Playing in the mud pit! Mike again found the boys in a huge mess! HMM! I wonder why it's always when Mike is in charge that these things tend to happen....and of course Nate is naked....again!

I love this picture of Jared trying to get the dirt off of Nate...like he could even make a dent with all dirt on himself...at least he tried!