I'm still here...

Ugh. SO I am just coming back to this post after spending about an hour on it and then accidentally closing without saving and losing it ALL when it was almost done.... GRrrrrr...

So instead of totally awesome commentary on it all I think I'm just going to do blips.

I finally downloaded our camera (from April to now) and here is some of our summer so far according to the camera.

Dallas' birthday! Our littlest is 2 now and definitely entering the terrible twos. His nickname Bam-bam is very fitting and he keeps us on our toes, but he's a cutie!

Quick camping trip with Nana and Papa, Shane's family and Josh.

The kids trying out Grandma and Grandpa's new swing set! They all LOVE it!

Tucker is 5 now! We celebrated at Out of This World Pizza and had a great time!

The Rowley Family vacation to Sun River! It include lots of bike riding, swimming, hot-tubbing, kids activities, yummy food, movies, basketball games, reading, family time, and tons of fun!
Ice-excavating! Tucker and Landon loved it. The others had fun and Dallas just ate the ice.Shane fashioned a 'hoop' from a cardboard box with a hole in the bottom and tied it to the balcony railing. We used the kids' balls and had tons of fun playing basketball all week!



4th of July spent with Nana and Papa at the St. Paul Rodeo. Love our handsome cowboys!
Jayson, Kim and Josh finish the Seattle to Portland ride - that's 204 miles. Yeah, they're super awesome.

Riley's baby blessing weekend in Coeur d'Alene. We had so much fun hanging out with the family and thanks to Kimbre and Matt for being such great hosts!

Just kids being kids - some of the fun in between.

Dallas is our cheese-ball.

Tucker learned how to swing! The boys love to play in the backyard.Movies in undies - so cute.

Dallas went through a phase where sleeping in the buff was much more comfy...Jett says he's playing the guitar here - some awesome rock and roll. I think it looks like "hi-yah!!"

You can always find Tucker sitting there drawing - he's our little artist.

Well, we're not done yet but we're having a lot of fun enjoying our summer break. At least now I'm a little bit more caught up on the blog. ;)

FYI...

So I know ya'll know, but I'll say it again....
WE MOVED!

It all went down in less than a week - I happened to see this house listed, we drove by and called, went to see it and filled out an application, got accepted, signed papers and payed moola, and moved! It's only a couple miles from our old place - so still super close to everything. We love the big back yard and big garage and we're slowing getting everything out of the old place and into the new. We're bummed about leaving our awesome ward, but look forward to new adventures in a new, big ward. So we've been pretty busy lately - moving, last week of school, getting ready for a dance showcase we're performing in, regular family stuff, etc... So no pictures yet, but once we're more settled and get the camera out I'll be sure to post some pics of our new digs! =)

Running for Risa

On Saturday we attended the Running for Risa benefit marathon and had a blast! Risa Whitaker is an 18 year old girl who recently lost her battle with a rare cancer and she's a part of an amazing family we know. All of the proceeds from the race went to her family. The race was awesome! There were a total of 386 runners doing a marathon, half marathon, 5k and fun run. It was the most gorgeous perfect clear day ever and being at Haag Lake was so pretty! Jayson got there super early to help set things up and we arrived later and prepped for our race. I ran the 5k along with Karen, Madison, Ashley, and Natalie. Clarissa did the half marathon and was awesome! There were a lot of other friends and people we knew running and it made for such a fun atmosphere. I was a little nervous because I hadn't prepared as well as I could have, but it was great! Yes, I did walk a bit on the up hills - there were some good ones! - but I ran most of it and made a time of 35.06. I'm happy with it as it was my first 5k ever! It was fun hanging out with the family and enjoying the atmosphere and especially remembering Risa and supporting her family. Awesome day and a great experience. Kind of makes me want to do more runs! We'll see...

Getting ready to run
Coming into the finish line!


Karen had a great finish!

So impressed with Clarissa finishing her first half marathon! She did awesome!
Have to pose on the finish line...
The boys were kind of bored but did great hanging around.

After the run, we went home, cleaned up, took a short nap and then went to a friend's house for an Easter egg hunt! They have a couple acres and invited a few families. The boys had a lot of fun playing with friends and finding eggs. Dallas was content to hang out at the treat table and eat lots of chips and salsa! (The scrape on his nose happened at the run when he took a nose-dive off his bike!) He also had tons of candy from the eggs that Jett found. =)

Later in the evening, we left the kids with some friends and attended Risa's funeral. It was incredible! Karen did the eulogy, which was so perfect and wonderful - then the Encore youth choir performed a few musical numbers, her brother read from her journal, more singers and the whole thing was so great. She was such an amazing girl with a very powerful testimony of the Savior and the gospel and her funeral was a great celebration of her life and legacy. It was quite a day and one we'll always remember!

Happy Birthday to Dallas!

Dallas is TWO! I can't believe it really - he's still my little baby but oh is he trying to be a big boy! He just won't stop growing...He sure brings a lot of joy to our lives and we all have so much fun with Dallas. He's snugly and funny and sweet and of course a super cutie!

Well, we have fun plans to get together with the whole family for some yummy dessert and fun presents and just hanging out! I don't think Dallas realizes today is a special day for him, but he'll get it more tonight when he sees the presents!

Happy Birthday little bug!
We love you!!!

Happy Birthday Jayson!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweetheart!! Here's to leaving the 20s behind and looking forward to enjoying your 30s!Jayson, you are so kind, gentle, funny, hard-working, handsome, caring, a great dad, talented, smart, goofy, sweet, loving, strong, cool, nice, active, loyal, sensitive, trusting, friendly, reliable, brave, charming, honorable, romantic, skillful, thoughtful, witty, sexy, wonderful...

and best of all...

YOU'RE MINE!!!I love you babe - Happy birthday!!!

Portland Children's Museum

Ready for a picture overdose? You've been warned. And they're not even the greatest pictures, but here we go anyway...
We went to the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd share some fun pictures of our day. The boys were so well behaved the whole time and we spent a good 4 1/2 to 5 hours there! It was awesome.Playing at the grocery store and bistro--Tucker loved making me different meals, Jett got good at flipping his pancake, and Dallas loved pushing his cart around filling it up.The exhibit going on right now is Curious George and the boys loved spending time with all the cool stuff in there. Here's a little mini-golf action.Dallas loved this George statue and had to give it a hug whenever we passed by it.Getting the big fan to blow the windmills around.Definitely Jett's favorite area was this conveyor belt. The kids put in a foam block and cranked the wheel to get it to the top where it would then fall down zig-zag conveyors to the bottom. They loved it! Dallas liked watching them fall down each level.Digging in the Dig Pit.
Tucker always likse to brush the alligator's teeth.This was Dallas' favorite area - it had steering wheels! We spent awhile in there.

Tucker's face is goofy but he sure had fun playing on this huge train table!

The water area is always so fun and wet. The boys had a blast there. Dallas was so clever in figuring out if you put your finger in the spout, it makes the water shoot harder and makes the wheel spin faster. He spent forever doing this. And surprisingly, Tucker didn't freak out too much with as wet as he got - a small miracle!
My camera battery died here so that's it for photos, but we sure had a blast! There are so many fun areas to play in and we just rotated between them all all day long! I sure am lucky to have such awesome boys!

Snow Day

Portland is funny. They reported that we should expect a lot of snow and that it would stay for a few days. They were a little right. It did snow but only and inch or two and it was gone by this afternoon. That always seems to be how it is. So around here any little skiff means no school! Yay! We all bundled up and headed outside this morning and had a blast playing in the snow! We built a big snowman and rolled lots of snowballs and threw a few, made snow angels and trekked across the field. We also had a few tastes of the snow - Dallas especially enjoyed eating it - and even enjoyed the sunshine through it all! It was great! SO here are some photos of our fun! =)
I know there are a lot but we don't get snow very often so too bad. ;)Jett's first order of business...a snow angel of course!

Our snowman! Jett called him Snowy and Tucker called him Mr. Snowhead.

Tucker wanted to hold his hand for the picture.

My goober.

He loved eating the snow - I made sure he got the clean parts. =)

Cheese!

I don't even know why he made this face. Silly booga-lips.

Jett made his own small snowman and later karate chopped it apart. It was awesome.

Handsome Tuck-man

He just makes me laugh.
=)