Gingerbread House Fun!

We introduced another annual tradition of ours to the rest of the family this weekend which was decorating gingerbread houses. Blake's brother and his family along with Bill and Jan and Blake's cousin Karoli's son, Matthew (who was spending the night) all came over for pizza and gingerbread house-making fun! The kids had a blast making the houses although I think more candy made it's way into their mouths instead of on their creations:-) A little hot cider and gingerbread coffee topped off a great evening!

Christmas Tree Hunting!

We did our annual Christmas tree hunt the weekend after Thanksgiving. Blake's parents went with us to look for their tree as well. Our new mini schnauzer, "Pepper", joined us too and thoroughly enjoyed the snow. It was a beautiful afternoon and we found great trees as always!

Halloween

Our first Halloween in our new neighborhood. Harrison dressed as Mario from Super Mario brothers, Sophie was a bat and Clara a cat. Blake even kept it festive by dressing as a snowboarder:-) We kept it simple and trick-or-treated in our neighborhood. Blake's parents participated in the fun and came over for dinner...complete with pumpkin pie. It was a nice mellow evening.

Harrison's Birthday

Harrison chose to have his 9th birthday this year at Sun Mountain Fun Center (again) where he and his friends did some bowling and played arcade games. The rest of the family joined us after bowling for pizza, cake and presents. He had a great time and all his best friends were able to be there to share in his day.

Our 14th Wedding Anniversary

Blake and I celebrated 14 years of wedded bliss on July 9th. To celebrate, we went on an overnight camping trip at nearby Sparks lake. We started off by riding the chair lift up to the top of Mt. Bachelor, where they have a restaurant and 18 holes of disc golf (not to mention the spectacular views!). We got a late start, so we unfortunately didn't have time to use our canoe on the lake. Meanwhile, the kids stayed at Blake's parents who just moved to Bend in June. They went to Munch & Music at Drake park where a different band plays for free every Thursday evening in the Summer and different food vendors and kids activities are available. They had a blast! We hope to get a few more camping trips in with the kids before this Summer is over (and it will be before we know it!)

Hosmer Lake

Last week, we took Blake's cousin Karoli and her family (they just moved to Bend) up to Hosmer Lake for an afternoon of canoeing. It was a beautiful day. Hosmer is a very shallow lake (2-3 ft.), so the kids were able to get out and walk from canoe to canoe.

Sophie's 7th Birthday

Sophie wanted an "art themed" party, so we had it at the Art Station down in the Old Mill district. She decided on a clay class instead of a painting class, but I couldn't figure out how to do a "clay themed" cake, so I made a paint themed one instead (just in case people are confused:-). They made bowls and then later went outside to the large grass area to open gifts, eat cake and then run off all the sugar! Later, we had a little family gathering at our house with pizza, more gifts and cake. It was quite the day, but Sophie said it was a great birthday. Mission accomplished!