Friends, Fun and Food!

The Markels finally made it! We had such a good time together! When we weren't out having fun we were making yummy food!!

Tuesday: Arrival
Food: Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola cream sauce and yummy mashed potatoes!! :-D Sooo GOOD!

Wednesday: Lava River Cave and Lava Butte, and a trip to the market
Food: Big, yummy sandwich for lunch and for supper:Grilled Pizza with Fresh Pesto from the Market & White Chocolate Bread Pudding [wipes drool]

Atop Lava butte

Thursday: Baseball game and Float down the Deschutes
Food: Asian night- yummy chicken wings and chicken and pork dumplings

Here's the crew just before Brenda took her unexpected swim in the river :D

Friday: 3 mile hike on the River Trail
Food: Aspen Lakes Lodge

We had to hike to work off all the calories we were eating!!

Yeah! I'm so glad Brenda made it out here! Brenda, you're the best!!

Brand 33 @ Aspen Lakes did not disappoint

Don't these look delice??

Saturday: Canoe on Hosmer Lake and Cook Out
Food: Weiner roast and S'mores

Even Star had to get in on the canoe action

Can you see how incredibly clear the water is??

See how much fun Brenda is having in our tippy canoe??

Perfect day, perfect weather... that's Bend!

Ethan thought he would like to fish, so he tied this dragonfly he caught to a piece of long grass and went fishing with it.

Cook out!!

Myles hamming it up

Yes, that is Brenda eating a hot dog!! Can you believe it? She really does love me enough to go canoeing, out on a cookout and eat hot dogs!

and.... Myles even got in on the bug action... something unheard of from the boy who hates bugs!!!

We had a great time!

Sunday: Church & Chill
Food: Chicken Pepperoni 8 pounder and Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings. Mmmmm!

Monday: Ethan's Birthday Party- I tried to get Ethan to change his birthday party to a later date when we could have more time to plan his party, but he insisted on having it while his best friend Myles was here :D
Food: Dominoe's Pizza & Calzones: We took the week's leftovers and put them in calzones. YUM!

Tuesday: Good-bye
Food: Pilot Butte Drive-Inn

It was so fun having Myles and Brenda here. We were planning their next trip while they were still here. We still have so much to do and see in Bend with them. We wish they could have stayed longer and Brad wishes we had taken more time to decorate the house.... I guess that will have to wait until the next trip.

Can't wait for them to come again!

My full freezer is happy they came too.

My boy- 7 years old!

My boy was born 7 years ago today! We had moved to Dedham, MA, on July 1st and he was born on July 28th, so we were still pretty new to the area and hadn't completely unpacked.

I was so anxious for him to come as the girls had come 3 and 4 weeks early and had anticipated an early arrival. Ethan came only 2 weeks early. I was busy eating Thai food and walking trying to move things along. Ethan's birth was very "normal". Sitting at home waiting for contractions while I watched "Grease", the Saturday afternoon movie on tv, and then eventually getting the kids to the neighbours and going into the hospital.

It was actually pretty exciting to have my mom there when Ethan was born. She was in the air on her way to MA when we went to the hospital, so we had the airline notify her when she landed that we were at the hospital, and she took the taxi straight to the hospital where Ethan was born a few hours later.

Ethan's homecoming day. We had a "blue party"

Here he is on his blessing day (2 weeks old)

Ethan's first trip to the beach- Wingaersheek beach (1 month)

Such a cutie!
Mmmmm cookies!!

Uh-oh!
Ethan at 18 months Ethan at 3 yearsEthan at 5 years
It wouldn't be right to show pictures of Ethan without a critter photo

"I think I scared him away"

Here's a pic of Ethan after he fell in the river trying to catch a crawdad

Happy Birthday to my boy who is always full of surprises and keeps things interesting around here. He has always been a lot of fun, full of energy, with a witty sense of humor, an inquiring mind and a great kid!

Ward Campout!

This last weekend was our ward campout. We opted to stay out at the campsite both Thursday and Friday night, and while the days where a beautiful 85 degrees, the nights were pretty chilly. The first night we were there the temp got down to 34 degrees, and the second night we were there it got down to 32 degrees!! Even the dog needed a blanket and had her nose buried under the blanket. Luckily our sleeping bags kept our bodies warm. The only problem was your head sticking out. By morning we all had our heads buried in our sleeping bags too!
Ethan had just got poked in the eye in this picture but it is supposed to be a picture of his lizard. He caught it with his bare hands and carried it around and loved and pet it all day. He even had a leash for it (a piece of string tied around th lizard's waist). Unfortunately his lizard died, but I believe there is a special place in heaven for that little guy who endured so much the last 24 hours of his life to bring so much joy to a little boy :-)
Abby was proud of her grasshopper catch too.
We camped right near this creek that had a couple great swimming holes.

We had kindof a pioneer theme to our Ward Campout since this week is "Pioneer Day" and some of the Sr. Primary girls pulled some of the jr. primary kids around the campground in this little wagon.

After supper Friday night we had a few words from the bishop and then... it was time to dance!
Check out Samantha and Brad's moves (Brad is on the near side in the baseball cap and blue jacket and Samantha is on the far side in a blue tshirt).

Elise danced too, but by the time she got in on the action the light was too dim, so I don't have any good footage of her.

We had a great bonfire too
and visited with friends. We have such a great ward family here! I love it.
In the morning the Primary put on some "pioneer games" for the little ones. I wish I had my camera when they were doing the 3 legged race, as Abby was paired with the boy you see in the yellow shirt. They looked so cute.
We had a great time and came home thoroughly exhausted!

Could we possibly do any more church stuff?

You bet we can!!
Monday we started our trip home early and left the hotel around 8am as we had tickets for the Twin Falls Temple Open House at 11:40am. We got there just in time, and it was so worth the stop. It was neat for the kids to be able to tour the temple. It was especially fun to watch Elise when we were packing before the trip, searching her closet for her best dress to wear to the temple. She really has such a tender spririt and really took it all in. Also, it was neat to hear Samantha's comments upon leaving the temple that she had understood things better than she had before.

In the (telestial) garden room there is this really neat mural of the Shoshone Falls and local landscape which I thought was really cool. I found a news link about the Twin Falls temple that shows the mural and the inside of it really nicely. Click here. Please forgive the lame advertising before the clip.
Here we are at the temple

We also checked out the Snake River Canyon
For our entertainment for 2 hours in the car to Twin Falls we were favored by a radio show by Elise and Ethan. Here is Elise "on air". Their mics were rocks tied with string dangling from the coat hook. The show was actually very entertaining!!
Here are a few clips from the radio show for another 1.5 hours on our trip after Twin Falls on the way back to Bend.

We were also treated to an awesome sunset on the way home!

Monday was a long day, as we didn't get into town until 10:30pm.

I am so glad we made our little "pilgrimage." It was good to show the kids some of the church history and help them realize the great sacrifices that were made by the early saints, so that they could enjoy the restored gospel today. Then to wrap up the trip with a visit to the temple, a place that they can look forward to going to when they are older completed the trip perfectly.

"Come Come Ye Saints"

Sunday we went back to finish up some of the sites around Temple Square.

We went the the Museum of Church History and Art, and got to see this neat original handcart, as well as all the other interesting things to see there.

We also caught an organ recital at the tabernacle. I don't think in all my years and trips to Utah I had ever heard the organ being played. I remember having to go into the cry room as a child and hearing it, but that is not the same. The accoustics in the building and the 11,600 pipe organ are really something to experience.

We also go to check out the new Conference Centre and took their hour tour of the building. What else can I say but WOW! That place is huge!! It seats 21,000 people. When you think that the building is full for each of the 6 sessions of conference... that is a lot of people!!

I liked how the building is also an art museum of sorts. There is so much art depicting Christ. We took a bunch of pictures, but this stained glass window is one of our favorites.

Back on temple square For Sunday dinner we were thrilled to go see our friends, the Osguthorpes. We were neighbours when we both lived in Montreal in 98-99. It was amazing to see how much the kids have grown, and meet the new ones that have come along since then.
The kids had a great time and it was great catching up with them. I love how great friends can always just pick up from where you left off and it hardly feels like any time has passed.

Thanks Mary for a fabulous meal and a great evening!

Salt Lake City

Saturday was our day to see some of the sites on Temple Square.

We got the tour of the North Visitors Center, had lunch at the "Nauvoo Cafe", checked out the Joseph Smith Memorial building and watched the new movie "Joseph Smith:Prophet of the Restoration" which was really good.

Here Brad & I are 15 years later after our picture was first taken here at our wedding.
We checked out the view from the administration building.
It was in the high 90's again today, so the kids were cooling off under these plants that had recently been watered and were dripping.
We also toured the "Beehive House" and ended our SLC day with a trip to

I have to say it was very different not having Crossroads Plaza and the ZCMI center there to go shopping or grab a bite to eat. It is such a construction mess down there right now!

The kids (and Brad) were "done for" around 4pm, so we decided to head back to the hotel. Right by our hotel was a new Cabela's store that Brad wanted to check out. I have to admit I wasn't exactly on the band wagon about that one but...

we ended up staying at Cabela's for 2 hours! It was great entertainment! All the taxidermy displays, aquariums, shooting range and candy store kept us busy. I can't imagine how long a person could spend in there who was actually interested in the merchandise!

Later that night we were treated to a fireworks show being set off right behind the hotel. We still don't know the occasion, but they lasted a good 15 min. and we had the best seat in the house on our cushy deck chairs behind the hotel about 72 degrees. It was perfect!!