Family Visits are Great!

Adding new pictures of Carley's Baptism dress.

First I've got to apoligize for the formating of this post. The words are not showing up where I put them and want them. The only thing I can think of is that I accidently selected the right for the pictures instead of center and I don't know how to fix it.

We were thrilled to hear that Jordan and Mandy and their little gang were going to visit us in Washington. We were extra thrilled that the visit fell on the same weekend as Carley's Baptism!

This was my first opportunity to see Dallin who is now 8 months. Mark told me from his visit to AZ a couple of months ago that Dallin was the happiest, smiliest thing...and HE IS!

I couldn't get enough of him and my kids couldn't get enough too.

I also couldn't get enough of this little girl. She was just a small infant the last time I saw her. I loved her independent, no fear attitude. I especially loved that she took to me quickly and become my buddy for the whole visit.

As we do with all our guests, we took them to Multnomah falls. We were cursing the rainy day but they loved it! They got to experience the true northwest.

On their first full day we drove to the coast to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I love how Carley is holding Mandy's hand in this picture.

We had great fun watching how they package cheese, tasting the cheese and eating Tillamook ice cream.

Following the factory we made our way to the beach.

Clara felt right at home with the ocean.

Jordan saving this free spirited girl.

Escaping the waves. This is where the waves came in too fast for Ashley's liking. You can see her worried face here. She wouldn't get close to the waves after this.

At one point the waves came in so fast they knocked Tommy to the ground. Here is a picture right after. It was so cute to see Kenny stop running and come to the rescue. He got behind Tommy and stopped him from getting pulled back in.

We just had to stop at our favorite SMALL aquarium.

We had fun feeding the sea lions little pieces of fish. I would have gotten pictures put they kept splashing us in the hopes for more food. It was the funniest thing to watch them slap thier bodies with their flippers to signal for more.

The octopus were fun too.

On Saturday, Mark and Jordan left early to go fishing. Afton's husband Larry also came. They didn't have as much success as their guide kept leading to the day before, but they still had fun.

While the men were fishing, the rest of us went to Lewisville Park...also a must for visitors. We noticed the playground had been completely redone. We first had to explore it.

We then moved to the river for rock skipping/throwing.

As always, the best was the Merry-Go-Round.

That night we got babysitters and the adults went to downtown Portland for dinner. We ate at Jake's Amazing Crawfish. It was YUMMO!

We then went to Powell's book store which is also a must.

Sunday brought the primary program. How fun for Cousins to watch or perform for each other!

We came home from church and had the wonderful salmon Mark caught for lunch. We also did a little resting to get ready for an important event...Carley's baptsim. It was beautiful. Carley could hardly contain herself the entire time. Despite the water being COLD, it was a great experience and Carley has since said, "It's too bad I can't get baptized again because it was great!"

That night the Foltz' also came over for dessert. It was a fun night to reminese about the weekend and other family memories.

We are so glad Jordan and Mandy could come and we can't wait for them to come again!