Pearson Family Reunion

The weekend of July 14th we hosted a reunion for Kyle's mom's family: the Pearson Ohana.  Kyle's maternal grandfather turns 87 years old this month (today, actually!) and decided he wanted to come to Oregon to visit.  It really is remarkable he was able to come all the way from Louisiana.  His son, Mark, came with him, and Kyle's other two aunts, Sally & Debby, also came.  Christine and her family came from Utah, so there were about 26 people here.  We had a fabulous time!  It worked out so well for Grandpa to be able to relax in the back yard and visit with everyone while we all "played" around him.  We had yard games, a frisbee golf course, water games, and swimming.  Oh, and LOTS of food.  It's amazing how much food humans can eat when it's right there in front of them and it such yummy food!  I ate way too much all weekend!

Here are a few shots of people enjoying being together:
 

 

 

Aunt Sally (Kyle's aunt), AKA "Queen Sally" brought three grocery bags full of water and other toys for the kids to play with.  They had a blast playing with them and absolutely loved Aunt Sally and Uncle Mark.  Kyle's aunts and uncles are so good with kids!  It was so fun for me to watch.

 

Kyle's dad held Andon in this chair (in the shade) for at least an hour, if not longer.  It was so cute to watch them talk and play together.

Here is Grandpa with several of his great grandkids.  They were all wet from playing in the water at this point, so they got him all wet, too!

Here is Grandpa with his birthday cake.

Everyone contributed their favorite memories and photos of them with Grandpa and I created a memory book.  Grandpa seemed to love it and said he has showed it all around the retirement community where he lives.  It is neat to see how sentimental he has become; he is so focused on family and can't tell you enough how much you mean to him and how family is everything.  He is a wonderful man who has accomplished so much and has a wonderful family!

Here is Sally showing the kids how to turn the play structure into a water slide.

 

Here is Kyle's Grandpa with his four children: Sally, Jan (Kyle's mom), Debby, and Mark.

I loved this picture of Grandpa and me in front of the flowers.

Sunday evening we all attended Bridget's baptism (Kyle's niece).  This is the family picture we took in our backyard shortly before we left for the baptism.

 

It was a wonderful weekend and it was so fun to have everyone here!

Happy Fourth!

We had a busy, fun, Fourth.  The Elders' Quorum hosted a pancake breakfast and bike parade for our ward and thus Kyle became the chef.  He was in charge of all the food: the chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes and sausage were a hit.  Afterwards, the kids enjoyed riding their bikes through the church parking lot.

We came home and put Andon down for his morning nap and went outside for our neighborhood parade.  They had a Wilsonville Police truck "lead" the parade, and I was impressed with how many neighbors participated.  (There are only about 40 homes in this neighborhood.)  Lots of kids and a lot of adults had their bikes and wagons all decorated.  Those who didn't participate in the parade sat in lawn chairs on the "route" and threw out candy for the kids to collect.  That got a little tricky with them riding their bikes but luckily mom and dad's pockets were handy:).  They went around the loop three times before they tired of it.  It was darling.





Later that afternoon, we headed up to Camas, Washington, to celebrate with the Alva Barney family. We have gone up there the last couple of years: their cul-de-sac does a big barbecue and ice cream social before doing fireworks together.  One of their neighbors especially gets quite into the fireworks: I told him each year his "blast zone" sign gets more professional looking.  He said next year he'll add lights, so we'll see!  Anyway, the kids had a blast playing together and throwing "Pop Its". 

I love this picture...they are definitely brothers!

Around 8:00 p.m. (I know, we missed their real firework show), we headed to Vancouver to Mom and Dad McCune's.  They are currently living on Hayden Island, a island between Portland and Vancouver, in the Columbia River.  It is the perfect location to view the big fireworks at Fort Vancouver, so we took them up on their invitation to join them.  Mom staked us out a great spot, and the kids played and we chatted while we waited for the show to start.  The glow sticks I bought were a great hit as well.

 

 

We didn't get home until midnight, so it was a very late night for my kids (they usually go to bed at 7:00!) but everyone had a great, full day. 

Happy Independence to our country.  I am thankful for this incredible place we live!

Day at the Oregon Coast

The last week of June we finally had a chance to head to the coast for the day!  We decided to try a new beach this time, and settled on beautiful Cannon Beach.  (We usually go to Cape Kiwanda or Lincoln City.)  The kids had a wonderful time flying kites, building sand castles, playing in the waves, and generally exhausting themselves.  The stop at Dairy Queen on the way home was also a definite hit.
I *think* this was Andon's first time to the ocean and beach; he loved the sand but wasn't too sure about the icy, cold water.  Maybe next time:).