Trip to Oregon

Getting this entry in has taken me several days. I have to keep coming back...It's really July 16th now. We spent 10 days with the Hamilton family in Oregon. It was a whole lot of wonderful days just being with family. There are now 15 grandkids ranging from 16-2 in ages...and it was a blast. Our kids loved having playmates constantly. And Mark and I enjoyed catching up with everyone and playing with all of our nieces and nephews. We spent the 4th of July up in a big mountain home with most of the family, just enjoying the mountains and each other. We are so blessed with amazing family. We feel blessed by the love we feel from them no matter where we are. Here's some of the highlights of our trip.We had lots of pictures, and I didn't do a very good job of only using a few. Oh, well...


One of the first nights there, we went out to Mark's sister's new home out in the country...the kids had a great time learning to drive the 4-wheelers. Drew spent most of the night holding on to his "buddy" cousin Shane, while Shane drove them around on his 4-wheeler.

For the 4th of July weekend the whole family went up to the Blue Mountains (about an hour from Pendleton, OR) and had a great time enjoying the mountains and eachother.

This is Dallin and his cousin Caden taking care of their frog Hopper. That little frog survived a whole weekend of lots of little fingers...I have no idea how.

There was a little pond not too far from the cabin that the kids threw rocks in - for a very long time.

There was this great, very long table to eat at...it didn't fit us all, but pretty close.

There was an elk farm very close to the mountain lodge...it was pretty amazing to see those huge animals so close up.


There were no fireworks allowed due to fire danger, so we spent the 4th night with a contained fire pit roasting marshmallows for s'mores and telling funny stories about each other.


Mark and his mom.

Here are a few pictures of just some of the fun things we did while at Grandma and Grandpa's home.

The cousins had a craft afternoon and it was so fun to watch all of them create. Grandma has all the good stuff for a perfect afternoon of crafts.

Drew and cousin Clayson had fun with the hot wheels and building tracks. It is really a neat experience to see our children interact with their cousins. We feel blessed to live where we do, but we do wish our children could be with their cousins and family more often.

Dallin and Tyler showed there BYU spirit (do you think their dads have influenced them at all?).

The cousins just having fun!

Mason and Grandpa building Legos -- the boys talk about Grandma and Grandpa's millions of Legos all the time...they always spend a lot of time building while we are there. We went bowling one afternoon and Mason got the highest score of all the cousins (even the teenagers) - 112.

Some of our special visits...

Mark and Grandma Davis (his grandmother on his dad's side).

4 generations are represneted in this picture...

Great-grandma Last, Grandma Hamilton, Me
Dallin, Mason, Mark, and the oh so happy Drew
Some of our most favorite people happen to live only one hour from Mark's parents - we are so excited that we get to see them when ever we visit Oregon.

We met the Sumsion's in Ottumwa, Iowa and Mason and Logan were the best of friends. It is amazing to see them together because still after all these years apart, they are very much alike. They have so many of the same interests. Thank you Heavenly Father for bringing amazing people into our lives.