Thanksgiving in Lewiston 2021

 My sweet sister invited us to Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with them and even tho we missed our family at home, we had the BEST time with the Bower-Johnson clan and are so thankful we decided to go!

These two... always have been great travelers! They are so fun to be with and we had many a laugh on our trip over to Lewiston. 

We had spectaculular weather the entire weekend and are so grateful for that. Mt. Hood was showing off as we headed east on Wednesday morning. 

A BIG moment happened on our journey. My car hit 100, 000 miles!! She is almost 14 years old and still going strong. She is the best car and I hope she last a long, long time!

Coming down the hill into the valley the sun was starting to set and it was way prettier than this photo shows. 

We playes a lot of games and did two big puzzles while we were there. My sis and fam are so much fun to be with!

Loved getting to see my precious Abby... being her aunt is pretty great!

We also took lots of walks with Stella the pup. Both Matthew and Evelyn love her so much... I do too!

Morning walk selfies...

We learned a new game... Phase 10. Not sure how we have never played this before. SO fun!

Silly husband...

To say we ate well while we were there would be an understatment. This is pre-Thanksgiving meal snacks. 

Bruuuuce!! We love Sebastian, too!

Lots of fun hanging on Thursay. Eric actually made chinese food for dinner instead of traditional turkey (we had that on Friday). He made it ALL from scratch.. and it was amazing!!

After dinner Thursday we went to Locomotive Park downtown to see the amazing Christmas light display. 

It was chilly but beautiful and it was good to get some walking in after our big meal. 

More puzzling.. 

Abby headed back to school (Boise State) Friday morning. We were sad to see her go but glad we got time with her. 

Cheers to another amazing dinner!

We introduced the kids to one of the best "Christmas" movies ever! HA!! Even tho the language is horrible throughout the film, the movie is epic and the kids enjoyed it a lot. It now will be a new tradition for us to watch it!

We headed home today, thankful and grateful for such a fun time with my sis and family. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2021

Even tho Halloween is my least favorite "holiday", it was still fun to be able to do a more "normal" night compared to last year when the pandemic was in full swing.

The kids went their separate ways tonight, as Evelyn went to Ellie's and Matthew went to his friend Xavier's. Both kids had a fun night and I enjoyed going with Matthew and hanging out with other parents in the Minor's garage while the boys did their thing. 

Our Astronaut, Flapper Girl, and King 😂

Needless to say he was NOT thrilled about his costume.. but he was SO cute!!

Matthew had a good time with his friends. Us parents were brave and let the 10 boys go trick-or-treating by themselves for the first time. Although Matthew shared later that there were some not-so-good moments behavior-wise, for the most part they did great and follwed our directions. Big step of independence for sure!

Some of the boys... pizza and chili were a hit!!

Meanwhile, Evelyn and Ellie were beuing their usual selves...😂

I swear these two take the best candid shots!

The girls were out walking and decided to come to the Minor's house to say hi! It was fun to see them out getting exercise and having fun!

The boys went out twice and reeled in quite the haul of candy. They all had fun. 

I think they will always sort their candy together as long as they trick or treat.. and I love it!

Happy Halloween, friends!

Evelyn's First Homecoming Dance

I am not sure how we got here, but Evelyn went to her first Homecoming dance last night!! 😲 

She actually was pretty low key about it and didn't want a big fuss made. She just wanted to go with friends and have fun. And that's what she did. 

Ellie's grandma treated the girls to a mani/pedi the day of the dance, which was perfect since Doug and I were in Forest Grove at Matthew's football game. 

After the game we picked up the girls and brought them home to get ready. Their friend Amy would join them later. 

Evelyn borrowed a dress from our dear friends daughter (a senior this year). We are so fortunate for friends with older girls who we can borrow from! 

Getting ready...

Amy arrived and we took a bunch of photos outside. 

Ellie...

Amy....

And our beautiful Evelyn Joy...

I am so thankful for the friendship these three have. They are hilarious together and they care for one another so well. Love them so much!

These two... besties for 8 years now. 

So much silliness out of these three...

Love her so much!

We had pizza for the girls here and then I took them to the dance. They had a fun time and are glad they went. 

I am so thankful and grateful to watch Evelyn grow into who the Lord wants her to be. So fun to watch her go thru these "firsts" and love being her mom!!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

 Matthew's football season has started!! He has been at it since early August and has been working hard and improving all the time.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks...

He's number 8!

The team goes to the high school football games in their game jersies to show support!

Sadly he has had some knee trouble and has missed two games... BUT... we are on a new stretching plan and he is doing SO much better and we are excited. This is his knee at it's worst! 😔

He played so good in his game last week! Made a great catch for a first down and had some amazing tackles. SO proud of him!

Matthew and his buddy Xavier after the game.

Grandma and Grandad came to watch too!

Thankful for this chance for Matthew to play and make good friends. Looking forward to the rest of the season!

544

 When the kids headed back to school today, it marked 544 days since I have been away from them for more than 3 or 4 hours other than the occasional sleepover at a friends or my mom's. Doug has been working at home since the pandemic started which means it has been 544 days since I have been ALONE in the house for more than 3 or 4 hours. 

544. 

Yes, I counted. 

Needless to say I have been looking forward to school starting a litte more than past years. 😁

At the same time, I am SO grateful for the extra time I have had with my family during the pandemic. Yes, we drove each other nuts sometimes, and we definitely struggled like most everyone else during this time. But, I hope we all will remember the good times we have had that we wouldn't have had otherwise. 

The day before school started I wanted to make sure we had one last day of fun together. 

So yesterday morning, went for a walk to Starbucks...

We got blizzards at DQ....

We went for a long walk at Commenwealth Park after the above ice cream....

And Matthew got a haircut!

Both kids were excited and nervous about their first day. Both are in new schools this year, and not really being IN school for 18 months it all seems a bit foreign. But they both got up and got ready this morning and were in good spirits. 

Our beautiful freshman...

These two... BFF's since 1st grade!

My handsome 6th grader...

Both of them had a great first day and seem to like their classes/teachers just fine. Not a lot of homework for a bit as the teachers try to ease the kids back into full day school. Fine by me!

Thankful for a good launch day! Trusting the Lord will bless them and keep them safe and healthy!