Hood River with the Close side!

Right after Durango, we traveled in the opposite direction to Hood River, OR with Cade's parents. We went to visit Tara, Johnny, and Ashur. I had never been up there to see where they live and I'm sooo glad we did. It was so much fun and Hood River and the surrounding areas is GORGEOUS!!! I didn't get a picture of Tara and Johnny's neighborhood, but picture if you will a cute little home, to the east an airport office building, to the west hangers (where they store airplanes), and behind a complete runway, with airplanes all over...awesome, huh?! They live right on the airport. It's great! So some of fun things we did there were: the guys went fishing one entire day, while us girls and babies went to the Portland zoo, went berry picking, shopped around Hood River, went on an AWESOME plane ride around Hood River and the Columia Gorge (It's fun having a brother-in-law that's a pilot), and lots of laughing and playing games and eating good food. We had a blast!

So the day we went to the zoo was $4 day. At first we thought "awesome it happens to be the day we were planning"...then we got to the zoo...the line was forever long and we didn't know if we'd even get in! So we had lots of time in line to take pictures :). The babies did really well too! It was so crowded we kind of looked from a distance at many animals, but overall it was a really fun day.



Proof we actually DID see some animals :)!

The boys fishing. They went with an instructor who taught them how to fly fish. They said they had a really great time!


Some day this will be a scary thought...

Just as happy as can be in her favorite place! She loves being under the table! And who can blame her, it's like a permanent fort!

Tara took me to the cemetary where they buried Ashur. It was great to see and such a beautiful spot. I love the airplane on the head stone. They did a good job designing it.

Cade in Johnny's office workin away! He brought his stuff so he could work a few days. That just always allows us more time to be away. It's a blessing that he can work remotely with his job!

Grandma and Grandpa Close picking blueberries. And man were they good!!! Fresh off the bushes!

Grandpa reading stories to the grandbabies...they LOVED it! They were paying attention to every word...so cute!


Playing war with the babies legs...well, you can tell who's really having fun here...don't think it's the babies.


The plane ride around Mt. Hood...so amazing!



Picture of the Columbia Gorge



Cade and I also got to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We spent the day at the Portland temple in the morning, then went to the Columbia Gorge and ate at a restaurant right by the Multnomah Falls and hiked there (absolutely beautiful!), and spent the night at a bed and breakfast by Bridal Veil Falls. It was soooo much fun! And I can't express how grateful I am for my wonderful husband! He is so amazing and makes me feel just as beautiful and fun as he thought I was the day he met me. I love him with all my heart!

We went hiking for a bit and we looked down and could see the restaurant where we had just been eating.

Hey, it's Oregon, what can I say?...

Durango Vacation!

I know, I know, it's been a LONG time since I've made a post! I keep having people say, "I keep looking on your blog for updates...". Well, here I am because I know all of you just wait and sit on your computer all day waiting for a blog post :). After reading this you can get on to your exciting lives again. :)

This summer we had a blast! Unfortunately our family vacations happened to be right back to back, but they ended up working out and we had so much fun with both sides of our family. First we went to Durango Colorado. I had never been there before, but it is a beautiful place! Stephanie's grandparents have a cabin amongst all these beautiful pine trees. I LOVE the outdoors and it was so fun to be in nature, but with all the blessed utilities of today :). We went to the rec center one day and played b-ball, raquetball (well, some of us just stood against the wall and we tried hitting each other...yes, childish, but we laughed until it hurt!), climbed the rock wall, and went swimming. It was a lot of fun. We also went river rafting/floating down the river :), and a lot of fun activities/games/great food...you know, the usual! We also celebrated Jordan and Wills' birthdays. Here are some fun pictures!



Wills definitely found a new obsession...Robin's motorcycle...he wouldn't let go of it...and no one was allowed to touch :)


If anyone knows Steph, you'd know these cakes were just "thrown together"....she's amazing at everything she does.





Henry got worn out by all the fun...

Family pictures!

We got some family pictures done in May and I was waiting for the final proofs and edited ones so I could post them on the blog! I finally got them and then found out the files were too big anyway...boo. So these are the smaller files that are not edited. Oh well, they're still fun! We had them done at an orchard in Provo by my good friend, Kimberly. We think they turned out wonderful! It was a beautiful place and it helps having a beautiful baby girl. Enjoy!

She's on the move!

Well, Emma has learned how to climb the stairs. That means two things: a new and exciting view for Emma and a very busy Mom. I have to watch her more and more all the time. I was trying to do laundry downstairs today and I looked away for about a minute and she was a 1/3 the way up the staircase. She is in heaven though! Something else to stimulate her mind!


Another thing Emma is absolutely enthralled with is the vacuum. I got it out today, set her on the ground, started vacuuming and it was hilarious! Her arms stayed in the same upright position the entire time, she did not move a muscle except for her head following the vacuum back and forth and back and forth. She loved it. It actually made vacumming more enjoyable for me...watching her concentrate so hard on what that weird contraption was.

She is also getting her second tooth now. This was taken a week ago showing her first tooth. Now she's sporting her second on the bottom...so cute.


I love this girl! Oh, I can't get enough of her smiles and giggles...funny thing about that...my family thinks she never smiles and giggles. She is a very very observant child and loves to watch people and her surroundings. She will watch people and things all day long and not get bored (as long as it's a relatively new environment), but her face will not change much..very sober. As you can tell from most of the pictures I post. But the fun thing about being her Mom...I get to enjoy her laughing quite often! She is so much fun now. Fun interacting more and more. I love her!