One thing our family has LOVED about living where we live is being just an hour from the coast. There is something about sitting on the beach and just listening to the waves. I could sit there for hours...

In fact, that's just what we did last Friday.

Gavin loved his first visit to the beach! (He did what I felt like doing! Slept, ate and soaked up the Vitamine D!...yes, there was lots of sunshine that day!)

Carter takin' in the view.

Jemma (CrAzY!!!) in the pretty darn cold ocean.

We went with some friends; the AwEsOmE Mitchell and Skinner families.

Left to right: Jemma, Reagan (front), Miles (only the top of his head is visible :(), Molly, Carter, Grant (back), and Hattie. We worked our little tails off building that sand castle. We were amazed it stayed standing long enough to take this pic!

Me and Gavin.

Hattie, Carter and Reagan. Such. Cute. Kids. (If I do say so myself.)

Jemma was an official water collector for the sand castle building...

Brandon and Carter flying a kite. We forgot to bring ours. Thanks Skinner family for letting our kids have a go with yours!

We roasted hot dogs and smores out there after hours on the coast and I was so hungry from playing even I ate a hot dog. (I've never been a big fan of 'em, especially after cooking them over a duraflame log and having some SERIOUS diarrhea ((for lack of a better word)) when I was 18, so that really says something about how HUNGRY I was.)

Gavin Update

Gavin is just over a month old...

ONE MONTH OLD

... already. That is insane! This little guy is loved. loved. loved. Jemma and Carter want to hold him ALL. THE. TIME. (Especially when I've just gotten him to sleep...)

Love those cheeks, gushy lips, and fuzzy head.

This end is pretty adorable too. :)

Dancin' it up!

Jemma's Dance Recital was last night...she did GREAT! During the dress rehearsal (that's what the video is of...we weren't allowed to video tape the actual performance...I'll keep my opinions on that to myself...) she just kept looking off stage at the girl behind the curtain prompting them. So, in an attempt to get her to look out toward the audience during the actual performance, I told her me and Dad were in the audience and wanted to see her face... she did a wonderful job of facing forward, but I guess I should have mentioned smiling too cuz she had a pretty solemn expression the whole time.

I will say this for her though, she did NOT appear to have stage fright. There was one little girl who (poor thing) just covered her face with her arm and cried through her whole dance. It was so sad! Brandon was telling Jem afterwards that she did a great job and that she wasn't afraid or anything in front of ALL those people, to which Jemma responded, "I was like, 'oh my goodness, I have got to get out of here and go watch a movie or something.'" (True Jemma fashion...that girl could be the first official member of MAA - Movie Addicts Anonymous...)

My video taping wasn't the best...I apoligize for the shaking.

Jemma is 2nd from the left.

Jemma was still on a little dance high on the way to the car...she danced all the way there singing the song from their finale number "Simply the Best". And let's face it, she had simply the best time last night...our little performer!

She had such a great time this last year in dance...her instructor (Miss Patty) was phenomenal and I seriously can't say enough good about the Forest Grove Dance Arts. We were pretty impressed by the size of this production especially coming from such a small town. We're sure glad we got involved!

Our Boys

This video of Carter and Gavin kills us. If you watch poor Gavin's face, most of you will be wondering why I didn't stop video taping sooner...(I'm a mean mommy...just trying to capture life's "real" moments I guess)...the poor boy looks like Rudolph the red-nosed- reindeer by the end.

We're working on the "soft" thing...

Meeting Gavin

Carter's looking over my shoulder right now naming off all the people in the pictures..."There's Tarder, and Femma, and Nina, and Papa and Bavin!" (Can you figure out who's who?)

Brandon's parents were in southern Oregon for a quading trip this last week and made time to come up here to visit us and meet Gavin.

It was (as always) raining while they were here, so we made cookies, watched a movie...

Jemma took a nap on Papa (tuckered out from their tickling match)...

and we went out to dinner. We orignially went to The Cheesecake Factory...but there was a 45 minute wait...on a THURSDAY NIGHT for crying out loud...so we bailed on that and headed over to Red Robin where they seated us as soon as we walked in! Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

I've decided that our kids are generally pretty good when we go out to eat...maybe it's because it rarely happens...anyway, Jemma kept asking to go see the Red Robin that was walking around...eventually he came over to us and that MADE her night. When the Red Robin was headed away from us, he looked down at something, and Jemma caught a glimpse of a head under the costume...she then said, "Hey! That's not a bird! It's a human!"

Hillarious!

Carter didn't want to have much to do with the Red Robin...he liked it better from a distance rather than up close and personal. And Gavin, well, he was a perfect newborn and slept right through dinner and all the way home. :)

We sure enjoyed seeing Nina and Papa. The kids (and Brandon and I) always get so excited for them to come.

Love you guys!

What have we been up to?

I'm am glad I haven't had a whole lot of obligations lately (other than the MILLIONS of Dr.'s apts. that come with a newborn)...cuz we've mostly just been hangin' around the house. We did venture out to Target today...a must when you're 'bout outta diapers for your 2 year old...any-who...here are a few shots of the kids. Jemma is a hard-core helper with little Gavin. (She is still learning that he's not able to hold his own head up...can't play with him like you would a 6 months old...) and Carter, well, he's still adjusting to all the change, but he'll give kisses and hugs if encouraged to do so. :)

We love these three and already can't imagine life without Gavin.