Flashback Friday:Roadtrip

So last August was my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary! They live in WA and it was my parents crazy great idea that we should all carpool up there together! My parents came and picked me and the kiddos up and we drove to my sister Tanyas house in Oregon (8hrs)  I was so nervous that my children would scream the whole way! Turns out it wasnt that bad afterall! Dont get me wrong, they did scream just not the whole way ;0) We would stop at rest stops for a break every now and then...the weather was too nice not to lay on the ground like bums relax for a while at this one rest stop! HA! ;0)

Easton LOVED all of the quality time he got to spend with his grandpa! :0)

We finally made it to Tanyas house in Oregon and needless to say slept very well that night ;0)
The next day we (all 8 of us packed in the car like sardines!) and drove up to my grandparents house in Washington (another 4hrs.) Here is a lovely preview of our accommodations:

and here we are playing BONUS! Its a game we made up as kids and always played on trips. Basically one person finds a random treasure in the car (mystery crusties, pennies, chewed up gum etc. and they put it between the other persons toes (they should have their eyes closed) and they try to guess what it is! :0)

In this case it was a grape that got squished all over Tanya ;0) We got there eventually and were so happy to get out of the car! We stayed at my grandparents house for a couple of days and had a blast spending time together!

Easton and his Cousin Cole had fun playing together and Everett...well...screamed was cranky pretty much the whole time! Its a good thing hes cute! ;0) This pic of him screaming was from our house earlier in the week but was too appropriate not to put in ;0)

Lets see, we spent alot of time visiting and getting ready for grandma and grandpas partaaay :0) My mom was in charge of the decorations so I enlisted my family to help me blow up a million balloons to make this cool balloon arch for the party!

It was so much fun to see my Aunt/Uncle and cousins that we dont get to see very often! Alot of time was spent taking pictures, eating yummy food and laughing :0) Here are some more pics from my grandparents 60th anniversary shin dig!

The party was super fun and super exhausting so after it was all said and done Tanya and i and our kiddos all went to the pool/hot tub to relax :0)

and the boys had fun popping all of the balloons when we got back :0)

and my gramps decided to show off his riding skillz  ;0)

All in all it was a really fun trip and im so glad that i decided to go even thought i knew it would be crazy! I love being able to see my family and spending time with them! One last story, on the way home we decided to stop at a park in Oregon for a rest/food break. There was a really pretty river and grassy area that looked like a perfect place to have a picnic...

and Easton was pretty excited about the surprisingly large amount of pigeons around!
It wasnt until after we put the blanket/sat down/started eating that we noticed the bird POOP everywhere! And i couldnt resist the temptation to feed try to catch the birds!

It reminded me of the crazy bird lady on Mary Poppins "Feeeeeeeed the biiiiiiiiiirrrrrds...topins abaaaag.." LOL :0) ANYwho, so we did alot of driving to get back home and we were so happy to be back home with  Matt (Easton missed his daddy like crazy!)

but i personally think he got the sweet end of the deal...a week vacation all.by.himself! ;0)

Christmas...yes i know its March!

ummm yeah, i just realized that i havent even posted about Christmas!? Now THATS pretty bad! First off, this was our Christmas card:
Lets see, this year was the very first time that we stayed home for Christmas! And while we missed the usual fun family traditions at my parents house it was really fun making our own traditions at home! (and not having to haul 2 screaming kids and a car-full of presents to Bakersfield was a plus ;0) Easton loved the tree and insisted we had the lights on 24/7 and one night for family night we strung lots of popcorn to put on the tree! (a tradition from Matts childhood that we are carrying on :0) Sorry i didnt take a picture of just the tree this year...when did i become such a slacker?! Matts mom and dad were able to come down and spend Christmas with us and we had a nice little group to celebrate the holiday with!
 
We made a big delicious dinner on Christmas Eve and played some fun games together (ive decided that a tradition of ours will be for each family or couple to have a game ready for everyone to play!-super fun! :0) We sang Christmas songs, read the Christmas story from the Bible and the Night Before Christmas. Easton had a blast and actually enjoyed opening his presents this year!

This was the first year that i didnt have to force talk him into opening them! Everett just had fun watching all the festivities...he loves His big brother  and watches everything he does..its really sweet.

Christmas is such a special time and i love that i will get to re-live the excitement and wonder through my sweet boys :0)

Ive been trying to take alot of pictures of my littly guys because i feel as though they are growing up so fast! So i hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and here are some random pictures from december :0)

-Everett is a little over 6 months here-

heres the 'bum' beard/hat i made Easton! :0)

THE END

My little weed :0)

Guess who is THREE MONTHS OLD?!

Thats right, my little man is getting so big! I have NO IDEA where these three months have gone? Its mostly just a blur of changing diapers, feeding, screaming children, snuggling etc. Oh, and just to keep it real, Everett is not a very 'easy' baby like his big brother was. He needs to be held all.the.time or he is crying!

Which would be fine if i didnt have anything else to do! I usually just carry all 15 pounds of him around in a carrier while i attempt to get things done.

Needless to say, at the end of each day i.am.exhausted! And I just have two kiddos...i dont know how people do it (while still keeping their sanity!) with 2+ kids! Craziness i tell you! :0)

But yeah, he cries alot! Its a good thing he is so darn cute ;0) He smiles and 'talks' to me all the time and it pretty much makes my day!

LOVE MY BOYS! ♥

Burney Falls Camping Trip 2012

SO Matt had a few extra days off so we decided to be crazy brave and go camping with the boys!!! We loaded up the kiddos and the Happy Camper and headed to Burney Falls!

We found a good camp site and set up shop :0) The first thing we did was go on a hike to the waterfall (one of the prettiest ive seen!)

Everett loves being outside and pretty much slept during the whole hike :0)

Easton did so good on the hike! He never complained once and had a blast checking out the waterfall/walking along the river with mommy and daddy :0)

Me and my boys ♥

We ended up having to carry him for the last half mile or so...needless to say I he was pretty warn out by the time we were done! Worn out = good nap! ;0)
When we got back to camp, we started making our hobo packs for dinner! Hobo packs are pretty much the BEST camping dinners.ever! It has become a camping tradition of ours to make them!

YUM-O! :0)

Here is momma being scary silly around the campfire with smores in her teeth ;0) LOL!!! (picture via Easton!)

We had to keep Easton from the fire several times. He doesnt get the concept yet that fire is dangerous! It will be nice for mommy and daddy's anxiety when he understands those things better ;0) Easton and Everett slept like champs in the happy camper! It didnt get super freezing at night either which was a big plus :0) The next morning we ate breakfast by the campfire and then decided to hike to the falls one last time before we left. I brought my fishing pole this time (just in case!) and Matt was nice enough to watch the kiddos while i fished under the waterfall! I fished there for just about 20min and caught 5 fish!!! IT.MADE.MY.LIFE!

I dont remember the last time this momma was able to go fishing so it was a pretty awesome feeling to have a fish on the end of my line again! (best.feeling.EVER!) Here is a photoshoot with my fish. (i always take a pic of them before i let them go :0)

The biggest fish i caught was 14-15 inches! This is us on the hike back to camp :0)

and our failed attempt at a family picture ;0)

All in all it was a GREAT little camping trip! I look forward to the next one with my boys ♥ The End