Bella Beach!!

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Oh how we love Bella Beach! We had a wonderful 4 day trip there last week and made some great memories!

We arrived late Wednesday night after a long day of work and home teaching for Mo*. It was so great to have our first family vacation (for just our little family) since last October, when we went to Disneyland. I love the time we get to spend together away from everything (almost - Mo* did have to keep tabs on stuff at work, but it wasn't bad at all). It was the perfect little vacation. We realized, that although we have been to Bella Beach several times - I think this was our 6th time - this was the first time it was just us. We've done several trips in the past with extended family, but never on our own.

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This was Beach Bungalow - our perfect little beach cottage! It was so close to the beach entrance - which was great in case we forgot something or someone had to go to the bathroom!

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The girls snuggling and reading some Dr. Seuss. This was Sarah and Natalie's bed. Angela picked the sleeper sofa.

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Sarah found a "stick" (o:

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I love this walkway to the beach . . .

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We had some gorgeous flowers in our yard.

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Some sister bonding! Wearing their Discovery sweatshirts we got after our boat ride.

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I love watching the girls play with the waves and scream when they get "caught". We did this activity for hours and hours over the trip.

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Our first full day was pretty cloudy at the beach. Surprise, surprise!

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The girls LOVED the hot tub on the deck, they played in it for hours.

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And the firepit was so fun! S'more's were definitely on the menu this night!

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HUMONGOUS marshmallows are funny, but kind of a pain! When I saw them at Fred Meyer, I was sucked in by the gimmick - they looked so fun. But trying to get a FAT marshmallow perfectly cooked is hard and trying to eat one without making a huge mess is another challenge! Even for adults!

FYI to my Dear Readers

Hello to the one or two people who actually read this! (o: Thank you for always visiting and being patient with my inconsistent entries! I have been feverishly trying to catch up from when I really got behind last May. I have done about 40 entries in the last few days! (Sorry to those of you getting e-mail updates!)

My hope is to get caught up and actually have up to date updates on our family! Please notice the word "hope" not "plan" - we'll see how it goes! (o:

Outer Darkness

We've had "going to family free movies" on our summer list for a long time and hadn't done that one yet. I decided to squeeze it in before our beach trip. Aliens in the Attic was playing and I heard it was really funny - well, kids thought it was really funny. (O: We had fun, but it was a little scarier for the younger girls than I expected. Natalie sat on my lap for a good part of the movie. She does get more nervous about things than most, I think. We had fun anyway and Natalie was belly laughing by the end.

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When we came out, I wanted a cute picture, but the light was too much for them. Thus the shielded eyes. (O:

FHE Buddies!

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Last week our awesome friends Lauren and Elizabeth came to spend dinner and FHE (family home evening - every Monday night) with us! It was so fun! The girls loved playing with Lauren and Elizabeth, Ned* and I had some great conversations while the girls played. Like, what famous 3 people would you really like to have over for dinner and talk with? (current or historical people). Ned* had some funny ones like Randy Jackson from American Idol.

Three Things I Love

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Our strawberry patch is thriving this year and giving us beautiful strawberries! There is only one person in this house that is more excited about them than I am. Miss Natalie! In fact, there are probably a tons of strawberries I never even got to see because Natalie loves to wander in the backyard and pluck strawberries, blueberries and raspberries right out of the garden to eat them. I don't blame her! (O:

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Natalie just seems to get more and more artistic - give her any kind of writing utensil, some paper, glue, a stapler, etc. She'll create something beautiful. We have a house brimming with art projects that the girls make non-stop. It is so fun, but tricky to figure out what to do with every single piece of art. They get very attached and hurt if I just thrown it away. This magna doodle picture was so cute and I didn't have to feel bad about throwing anything away! (O: But I had to get a photo.

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I guess Natalie's artistic talent also spills over into the wardrobe/style department. She is known in our family as our fashionista. Sometimes her style is so far ahead of me, I guess I just don't get it. Her color and pattern combinations sometimes require sunglasses (and a mom to bite her tongue) to behold them. The one above, I thought was particularly cute and very coordinated! I'm happy Natalie has fun expressing herself with her clothes.

Just a Day at the Park

From Blog Favorites #4

Sometimes, the most simple days and outings can be the most memorable. Tina and I planned to meet at a park after the girls dentist appointment. We brought lunches for the kids and hung out for the whole afternoon at Bagley Park. It was a very warm day, so we tried to keep in the shade most of the time. The kids played on the playground, but mostly played in the trees and bushes and flowers for hours and hours. It's amazing how they can entertain themselves in nature when they get creative.

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The kids noticed something in the trees that they said were beehives - tons of beehives in the tree! Curious, I went to inspect. This is what I found...

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They are weird looking pin cones and they were really big. But thank goodness, not beehives!

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The flowers and garden at the park are so pretty.

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Tory and Angela - cute buddies! These two were born just a week apart!

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Before I could remind Natalie not to pick flowers! Well, they made for a cute picture at least. (o:

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Tina and Taylor taught Sarah a new craft. I call it Boondoggle, I can't remember what Taylor and Tina were calling it. Sarah brought home her project and worked until she was done that afternoon! After the park, we drove to 7-11 for much needed Slurpees!

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Natalie and Angela later that night... They picked vampire teeth for their prize at the dentist.

We're Going to the Dentist Today

I had this song from Sesame Street stuck in my head the morning the girls had their dental appointment recently. "Me and my llama, me and my llama, we're going to the dentist today." Natalie had the great idea to change it to, "Me and my mama, me and my mama, we're going to the dentist today." (o: (Anyone remember that old clip from the early 80's? That song still gets stuck in my head after all these years - that's incredible.)

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Looking good Sarah!

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This was Angela's first official visit. She's had the introductory visit where she tried out the chair, but this was her first cleaning. She did great!

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Whoa! Nice teeth Nat!

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Natalie loved watching the whole process - future dentist or hygienist? Add that to her long list...

The girls all got glowing reports, which was a relief. A couple weeks ago, Nat's teeth were looking SCARY. A few days went by without a close inspection by mom or dad after brushing the same week Natalie was having a lot of loose tooth issues. It simply hurt to brush some of her teeth, so she was skipping them altogether. Thus, when I finally noticed, I was pretty grossed out. I thought for sure there might be some possible cavities, but we caught it in time I guess. Phew!

Welcome Back!!

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Okay, this scene literally made me cry. Sarah and Allie have been apart for over a year and they embraced like this for at least a full minute or maybe two. Long enough for me to get all teary and then come to my senses and scramble to get my camera and turn it on to get a picture. It was the sweetest thing. They didn't talk, they just hugged for a long time. I was just as happy and excited to see Kim, but she might have gotten scared if I hugged her for that long!

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These two are just amazing friends. I LOVE that they are so close even after long periods of time apart. Kim and I plan that they will be BYU roommates someday. (Uh - don't tell my family I just said that, ahem, I mean U of U!) We have missed the Melansons so much while they were away in Texas. Oregon was not the same without them. They had a pretty hairy move out here and things didn't exactly go smooth. I wanted to help in some small way AND I really really wanted to see everyone, so I offered to take the kids so Kim could get some things done.

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Sweet Kate - what a crack up. She makes me happy! She has grown up so much this past year! As you can see, Kate LOVED our marble maze. She must have dropped the marbles in around 40 times when she was here!

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I LOVE this one! I could just squeeze her!

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Luke - I missed you too buddy! (o:

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I put Kate to work while she was here. A little child labor never hurts.

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Little sweetie.

Learning the Hard Way . . .

Natalie, for some unknown reason, decided to see what would happen if she stuck this blue thing in her ear. (It's a piece to Mrs. Puff's boating school Lego set)

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What she found is that a terrible, sharp pain that feels like a shot happens and you scream for 10 minutes and your mom can't figure out what your trying to say happened. Then sometimes a little blood drips out your ear and your mom takes you to the doctor to see if you punctured your eardrum. Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not. In Natalie's case today she was lucky! Just an abrasion in the ear canal.

Dr. Riddell was awesome and so cute with Natalie. She didn't lecture. She was pretty funny and simply reminded Nat that we don't stick anything other than our elbow in our ears. I think Nat will remember this important rule.

I feel like I take the girls to the doctor now more than when they were babies. We went in three times last month for urine tests. I will say no more . . . well, maybe later . . .

Washington County Fair

From Blog Favorites #4

We love going to fairs! We love seeing all the animals, the crazy vegetables, the photo entries, the kooky entertainment, people watching, etc. etc. County and state fairs are just so much fun! Oh and the terribly dangerous food - we love the cotton candy, elephant ears, corn on the cob, fresh squeezed lemonade, etc. I am sad to say that we live right down the street from the fairgrounds and this was our first time going to the county fair! We've driven to Salem several times for the state fair. We were very pleasantly surprised. It was a great fair!

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This baby calf was born about 30 minutes before I took this!

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Checking out the cool reptile house.

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A silly board the girls had to get their picture in. (o:

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I love watching Sarah watch something funny. It is quite entertaining! (o:

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What's so funny you ask? . . .

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It's this guy. He was hilarious and he also had some pretty amazing tricks!

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Even Angela was amazed!