Still Under Quarantine

Most of you may already know what's been happening with our children up until now but I have pictures of the newest bit of evidence that nothing is going to go my way. Our boys were first diagnosed with strep and scarlet fever the last week of September - they were given antibiotics and as soon as they finished that first dose it all came back again - so the next round began. Yesterday they finished their second round and at Clint's hockey game we noticed Isaac had about 50-75 big red spots all over him. He went to bed and woke up this morning looking like this...


He is still in good spirits - just looks a little funny - excited about getting to stay home from school for a few days...hopefully this will be the last bit of sickness....I know Erin I told you my kids never get sick - I will not say that again...

I am thankful for...

Since it is the time for giving thanks I thought it would be a good idea to list some of the things I am most thankful for

1. My family - Rich, Isaac, Merrill, Andy & Baby
2. The Gospel and all the ways it has blessed my life
3. My Sister in Laws who come by or call just to see how things are going
4. My home and the safety and protection it gives to me and my family
5. Good food that helps when comfort is needed and can't be gotten any other way
6. Hot Chocolate
7. Slippers - it's difficult to be happy when your feet are freezing
8. When my children say your the best mommy in the world
9. Tiny hands that fit perfectly into yours
10. Snuggle time with my kids - I love cheek to cheek
11. All the food I am going to get to eat tonight (hard to think of anything else when all I can smell is turkey)
12. Living in Canada where there is so much abundance
    
13. TV and all the ways it helps to pass the time when I am bored
14. Cars - any transportation really
    
15. Sunlight - there's getting to be less and less of it.
16. Fruit - especially nectarines....
17. Comfortable chairs - which are getting harder to find the further along I get
18. People who pixie us - leaving yummy treats that I didn't have to bake myself
19. Wii - it really is a wonderful way to entertain the boys
20. Computers & Internet - it's the only way people communicate these days
21. Friends that are talented and don't mind sharing their talent with me
22. Chocolate cake
23. Cameras
24. Flowers
    
25. Cool nights
26. Tums (at least for the next 6 weeks or so)
27. Brothers and Sisters serving missions that send us letters every month
28. Teachers - they put so much effort and love into their jobs and it only benefits our children
29. Good recipes and friends who share them
30. Crayons

I will have to continue this later - I am needed by those children I am most thankful for

The Long Trip Home

We woke up to a very wet morning - I liked the shape our tent left - thank goodness we were camping under the Redwood trees - I can't imagine how wet we would have been without the shelter of their canopy.

Where we camped the forest was in it's second growth - so we drove to the original growth forest just 5 miles down the road. This is a picture of our car parked beside an average sized redwood tree. - either our car is pretty tiny or that tree is monstrous.
I wish the camera could capture just how tall these trees were - really it was worth all the extra driving for the 45 min hike we took through the forest.


Rich inside a small cave in one of the Redwoods - there is a tree that has been hollowed out so that cars can actually drive through it - we didn't go there but we saw the brochure.

I am standing next to a fallen tree - the roots were humongous.

Starting our way home. Home to our babies and our own beds.
Whack a mole anyone? - just at a rest stop in Oregon.

We saw this driving home on the Interstate near Eugene Oregon and thought the boys would love it.

Newport to California

Daddy is on Tsunami watch - our hotel was right on the ocean - it was beautiful to walk along in the morning - a little chilly though
This is a picture of a place called Devil's Churn - we hiked down and the rocks were formed from a volcanic eruption - the waves crashed and it was beautiful to watch - Daddy took a video of it that we can watch when we get home.

This is a picture of a whale - hard to tell but we saw water from it's blowhole a couple of times - too hard to capture with the camera - there are about 60 gray whales that live around this coast area - Daddy was super excited.
We also saw these seals laying on the rocks - there were so many cool things to see when the tide is out - we saw anemones, starfish and mussels stuck to rocks - there were small crabs in pools that were left - we took pictures of these too and we will show them to you when we get home.

This picture was taken inside the Sea Lion Caves in Florence Oregon. It was a long way down to get into the cave - during high tide the caves are full of water. We took and elevator down 208 feet and it really smelled very bad and they were very noisy - still cool to see. Mommy was very excited to get back up above the caves.

As we were driving the sun came out for such a short time but it was incredible to see the ocean with the sun shining on it.


Our campsite in California had a petting zoo! Daddy took the picture of the goat - it really wanted Daddy to pet it but he was not going to.

We drove into Crescent City and went out see Battery Point Lighthouse - you can only get to it during low tide. We thought this was as low as it got but when we were coming back it was a lot drier. I found this blob of something on ocean floor and thought it was amazing - it was solid but was wet at the same time - I really wanted to find someone to ask about it - the only people around were some kids that worked at McDonalds - they had lived by the ocean all their lives - the lady there told me it was a type of jellyfish - apparently they don't all have stingers but it wasn't healthy for me to keep holding it so I had to through it out. I am going to look it up on the internet to make sure they weren't just making it up.


The alleged jellyfish - it releases neuro toxins that are not healthy for your brain and eventually my hands would have gone numb. I think it's really cool if it really was a jellyfish


Daddy beside one of the giant trees in the Redwood forest. We slept under these trees - they were so tall - and it rained on us all night but I think the trees kept most of the rain off of us.


Mommy and Daddy inside the trunk of a Redwood tree that is 1600 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Hey we hope you are having a terrific day and that the kids are super good for you! We love you and are really grateful for all that you have done for us! Can hardly wait to be back home but enjoying every minute of our trip. We made a special message for you along the coast - if we're lucky it'll take years for it to be washed away.


I hope today is all you wanted it to be - you deserve it!! We love you and are thinking of you

Driving down the Coast

After leaving our campground this morning we found this view point with Andy's name on it so we had to stop and take a picture


These are more scenic viewing points along the way - too bad it was so foggy - but beautiful just the same.


We stopped in Lincoln city and saw a really cool glass blowing shop and watched people make some amazing glass blown hanging globes - we would have loved to try it ourselves but you had to make an appointment and then pick up your globe the next day - we didn't have that kind of time. Our next stop was Newport. We visited the Aquarium and took lots of pictures - it was really cool and we wish you boys could have been there - these are the pictures that turned out great



A Scorpion Fish - it didn't move at all



A Sea lion - it jumped into the pool right after the picture was taken



A Seahorse - a lot smaller than I thought



A Lion Fish - I had to take a lot of pictures to get one like this.


Mommy and Daddy at our Hotel in Newport - we took this picture just for you boys - We love you!!

Portland and the Coast

We started the day by visiting the temple in Portland - It was amazing!!

After the Temple and some shopping we saw this very cool sky train - Too bad Mommy wasn't brave enough to try it.

These were taken at the International Rose Garden in Portland - Beautiful!! - Daddy really is the Rose amongst all the Thorns

Mommy in the car leaving the Rose Gardens - It was incredibly hot outside. Thank goodness for air conditioning.

We left the city and headed for the Coast.

An amazing cave we saw from a viewpoint along the way to Cape Meares - a cool place to look out at the ocean.


This was the clouds starting to roll in from the ocean - really cool to see

Cute little rabbit we saw along a hiking trail

Another cool slug we saw on the hike to the Octopus tree - thought you boys would love to see it.

This is the famous Octopus Tree - I loved how the fog made it super spooky looking


This was the ocean right where we were camping - just before the fog rolled in and blocked out the sun for the rest of the night and all the next day. Hopefully we will see the sun again soon

Daddy doing what he loves....This was inside our tent - it was wonderful to sleep next to the ocean and hear the waves instead of the trains...

Love you all and hope you are having the best fun without us