Riley loves church!

I just love our little Riley! Today in Sacrament meeting I looked over at him and he had his shirt completely unbuttoned and was about to take it off. I promptly buttoned him up but five minutes later he about had it off again! Little Turkey!

Does TV really affect my kids?

A few days ago, Carson and Riley came over to me and started flicking the back of my arm. Carson says, "Yep. Flabby!"

I said, "What?"

And he said, "You need what we saw on TV."

I asked, "What was it?"

Riley said, "It's a revolution!"

Carson said, "I can't remember what it's called, but you'll feel it after seconds. Only 200 reps for 6 minutes a day, Mom! It'll change your life!"

They called me to the room the next time the info-mercial for the 'shake-n-weight' or whatever it's called came on. Thank you, ABC Family!

Our own little Napoleon!

So, I'm wayyyyyy behind on our blog, you know, moving again and all. There are lots of pictures and details I want to add but it's gotten late tonight and I'm tired so here's just a couple of pics of Riley from last summer when he thought he was Napoleon Dynamite.








Riley would go around the house saying things like, "I don't feel like I do, gosh!" and "Freakin' idiot!" (That's what happens to 4 year olds when teenage boys live with them and they watch Napoleon Dynamite in the car over and over.) One night, most of us had just finished eating dinner and were cleaning up but Riley was still at the table. I turned to ask him if he was almost done and I found him putting tater tots in his pocket. For real.

A Day in the Park

On April 18 we had gorgeous weather so we decided to spend some time at the park. We went to a neat one called Palmerton Park. It's full of big, old trees and a river with a bridge spanning it. Brynlee and Parker wasted no time climbing one of the largest trees in the park.

Spencer was excited to join them in the tree.

Austin joins the group!

Carson had a great time with the hula-hoop - he is very good at it, just like all his older siblings.

Austin surprised me with this great pose!

Mommy loves Brooklyn!

Parker says, "Cheese!"

Riley found a bug on the way up to the slide.

Daddy gazes at Brooklyn.

We took a walk down to the river.



We had a rock skipping contest -

Who's rock went the farthest?



Austin found a great rock to skip - it's shaped like Utah!!



Let it rip!

Brynlee goes to great lengths to get a great skipping rock!

Riley gets in on the action, too!

This is the 'R' on the hill for 'Rogue River' - we live on this hill under the R.

You can see it very well from the park.

This is the bridge that spans the river.




Here's the family on the bridge!

Austin holds Brooklyn - he adores her!

On the way back to the Suburban, Brynlee found an egg filled with candy from Easter.

Dave wanted to find one, too!

Riley begged us to let him push the stroller back to the burb.

Pushing it wasn't going very well - pulling worked better for him.

He wouldn't let us help him at all!

Our trip up the coast!

On April 17, our family took a trip up the Oregon Coast from Reedsport to Seaside. Our first stop was close to Heceta Head, where my favorite Lighthouse is. If you look really hard, you can almost see it between Austin and Parker's heads!

(Somebody said something mean to Spencer, I'm not sure now what it was.)

What a view!

Brynlee loves her sister!

We stopped in Newport for lunch. We found this little Chinese restaurant that turned out to be perfect for us. They served Chinese and American food so nobody in our brood went hungry. We were the only ones there besides the owner and her 4 year old daughter, who had a great time running circles around the place with Carson and Riley. The owner cracked jokes with us and complimented us over and over about our kids, she couldn't believe all 7 were ours. When we left she gave us all hugs. We had a great time!

This is the little 4 year old watching us leave.

Our next stop was in Tillamook where we bought cheese curds and ice cream cones. YUM!!!

We finally made it to Seaside where we joined up with Dave's family to surprise his brother, Matt, for his birthday. We met them in the candy store. The plan was to have a barbeque on the beach, but the weather didn't really cooperate so we came up with plan B.

Uncle Matt, cousins Jarom and Amanda, Grandma Morrison in the background.

Aunt Carda meets Brooklyn for the first time!

Austin brought his money with him and treated himself to a second ice cream cone! Brynlee didn't see why she couldn't have one, too - bummer that she left her money at home!

Apparently Carson felt the same way as Brynlee!

Riley found a trail of footprints and just had to follow them, even though they led down an alley way that only went to the garbage cans.

We substituted our BBQ for a fun dinner at Pig-n-Pancake (something like IHOP). We were quite a crowd - me, Dave, Austin, Parker, Brynlee, Spencer, Carson, Riley, Brooklyn, Uncle Matt, Aunt Carda, Jarom, Amanda, Caleb, Rachel, Uncle RJ, Aunt Megan, cousins Hunter and McKenna! We had so much fun!

After dinner, we went back to the mall and had rides on the Carousel!

Austin and Parker

Spencer and Parker

Carson and Riley

Hunter and Brynlee

Parker and Spencer

Brynlee

Riley wants another ride!

The First Weekend in our New Home

After 4 long weeks on the road, we were finally able to move
into our new home in Rogue River, Oregon, on Saturday, April 4. PODS told us our stuff would arrive at 10 am, so the branch members came at 11:30 to help move us in. We fed them pizza while we waited for the pods, but at 12:30 they all had to leave so they could watch conference. At 2:30, PODS called back and said they wouldn't be arriving until Monday morning, so we had to be creative for a couple of days. We borrowed some sleeping bags and air mattresses from Uncle Dan, and we ran to the store to buy some frozen lasagna and whatever else could cook in its own container. Dave bought a big stock pot after the priesthood session so we could boil eggs for Easter. Good thing the Easter Bunny knew where we moved to!

Carson and Riley were visited by the Easter Bunny!

Here's our wonderful Easter dinner of frozen chicken alfredo, white bread, packaged salad, and a little bit of frozen cheesy broccoli cooked in the microwave in a 10 x 15 glass pan, all served on paper plates with plastic utensils!

We all enjoyed eating our Easter Feast on the dining room floor!

Dave and the kids had a great time playing the card game 'LIAR' on the floor!

Riley helped keep the air mattresses nice and firm!

We were so excited to see the PODS arrive on Monday morning! It had been more than a month since we had seen our things!



Our dining table was the only casualty of the move. It looks like we'll be eating on the floor a while longer!