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!

Moving Month . . . What a Trip!

The first week after we moved out of our Lehi house, we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Harris. Well, mostly. I went to Oregon with Brooklyn for 3 days to find a house to rent with Dave, so Austin stayed with Eli Lewis, Parker stayed at Zach Schaeffer's house, and Brynlee and Spencer stayed with the Cardigan's. Carson and Riley got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa. But when we were all back together, we went back to Grandma's and loved visiting with them.

During the second leg of our trip, we stayed with my sister Michelle and her family. She has three year old twins, Cameron and Lance. Carson and Riley loved playing with them while the other kids had their last week at school in Utah.

Cameron and Lance!

We left Michelle's on March 20 and traveled to El Dorado Hills, California to stay with another one of my sisters, Carlene, and her family for the week. We had a really nice time there, even though Carlene wasn't feeling very well that week. Brooklyn had her first cold while we were there, and she didn't like it when I put her down. I was busy caring for her so much that we didn't take any pictures besides this one!

Aunt Carlene!

On Saturday, March 27, we drove to Medford, Oregon and stayed in a hotel for the night. On Sunday, we went to church in our new branch, the Rogue River Branch. Dave's sister, Beth, and her family were driving home from Disneyland and they stopped to go to sacrament meeting with us, and we shared a rainy picnic with them afterwards. Once again, no pictures! Sorry!

After our picnic, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa Morrison's house to stay with them for the week. On Wednesday, the boys and I went to see some wildlife at a little preserve on the coast with Grandma. The boys loved it! Brynlee was delivering the mail with Grandpa Morrison.

We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch!

Yum!

Riley helps with the move

While we were packing, Riley built a fort in the kitchen by pulling out every drawer and opening every cupboard. Here's the finished product:









Grandma and Grandpa Harris came to help pack on February 27. They helped so much! Especially when it came to finding the right box to put Riley in!





These posts are out of order, just so you know.

The Big Move Part 1

We loaded up all our stuff into PODS on Thursday March 4 and Friday March 5. We decided to rent out our house while we try to sell it, and the new tenants were moving in on the 6th so we had to hurry up and get out. Dave started working at his new job at Fire Mountain Gems and Beads in Grants Pass, Oregon on February 22, so I had the fun job of packing up the house. Thank heaven for great family, friends and neighbors who pitched in so many hours of help with the packing - I never would have made it through this without you! When we were done we had more than 160 boxes packed. I guess that's what happens when you have 7 kids!



After we left our house, we stayed in a hotel for the night in Provo. The kids love to stay in hotels because it always means a great time swimming. Grandma and Grandpa Morrison were in town for the weekend to help with the move and to see Brooklyn's blessing, so they stayed in the hotel with us.


Grandma and Grandpa spend time at the pool with Brooklyn!

Happy Birthday, Austin!!!

Austin turned 15 on February 16th. He enjoyed bowling with his friends on Monday at the new bowling alley in Lehi, Jack and Jill's. It's owned by our Home Teacher, and had just opened that morning. We ate dinner at Pizza Pie cafe, an all you can eat pizzeria, then our family went to see the new Percy Jackson movie.

On the 16th, he wanted to go shopping with the money he received as gifts. We took him to Game Stop where he bought Jurassic: the Hunted. We had strawberry cheesecake for dessert. He said it was a great day, and he hugged me a bunch of times so he must have been pretty happy. I love getting hugs from my teenagers!