Pacific City, OR 2010

We packed up the car and headed south to the OR coast for an entire week of fun with the family. I plugged the address into the GPS and the 6 hour drive seemed like it would take forever but I knew that the drive time would be worth it. Little did I know....the drive would really take 8 hours! We left around 12:30pm and arrived at the beach house around 8:30pm.
There were many points during the drive when Griffen would ask how much longer we had and all I could do was sweetly reply an estimated amount of time. He kept busy with movies and the leapster, thank goodness we packed them.
We had a fun filled week at the beach with Grandma and Papa along with aunts, uncles, and cousins. The kids never seemed to be bored and were entertained for hours playing in the sand.
I learned that when someone says "beach" it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be 75+ degrees, sunny, and swimsuit worthy. It was sunny for the most part but the wind kept the temp down and we wore our sweatshirts quite often.
There was a huge sand dune that was quite the challenge for me. We all hiked up but I didn't know if I would ever reach the top. Thanks to the kids yelling "you can do it auntie Shannon" I was successful! The view from the top was beautiful. We could see all of Pacific City. Going down the sand dune was much easier than going up!
One of the mornings when the tide was out we made our way down the beach to the tide pools. The kids had so much fun discovering all of the different sea creatures. The hermit crabs seemed to peak everyones interest along with the multiple starfish that were found. I guess you're not supposed to take the starfish with you because there were a few people that approached the kids to tell them that they needed to put them back in the water.....we had already taken care of this.
Grandma was prepared with multiple games and projects for all of the grandkids to keep them entertained. The cousins play pretty well together although we had some issues with sharing. I was so proud of Griffen to set a good example by sharing his leapster with his cousins. Learning to share is a work in progress for everyone.
The vacation at the beach was a success with plenty of relaxing, food, book reading, naps, and socializing. Although I don't look forward to the drive again, I do look forward to spending many more vacations with the family.

THE Demiter Garden

The garden is growing like crazy! This year we planted.....are you ready for this.....3 varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, artichokes, spring mix, green leaf lettuce, green beans, sweet peas, corn, squash, zucchini, pumpkins, green and yellow bell peppers, jalapenos, green onions, and walla walla sweet onions. Wow - that is a whole lot of stuff!

Matt has asked why we planted so much but I remind him that I plan to can salsa and spaghetti sauce along with grinding and freezing veggies for the new baby. He is pretty proud that I am tackling so many projects.

We planted late this year due to the cool weather so now that it is mid July only the lettuce is ready but we are hopeful that many of the other veggies will be following along shortly. There is plenty blooming so it shouldn't be too long.

The "girls" are also doing very well. Alfredo, BBQ, Teriyaki, and Dijon should start laying in about another month and then we will have wonderful fresh eggs! We have 2 brown egg layers and 2 speckled/Easter egg layers so it will be lots of fun to get eggs each day with Griffen.

Matt has stated that he would like to add a sheep or goat to our mini farm but I don't think that will be happening in the near future. :)

Weekend in Richland

I drove to Richland to spend the weekend of 7/8 with Matt and the family. Almost everyone was in town so I had the chance to catch up with all of the in-laws. This weekend was also a great opportunity for Matt and I to spend some time together so although it was 100 degrees we decided to play a round of twilight golf. We rented a cart, of course. I played fairly well considering the heat and the fact that I am 6 months pregnant with Knox! We had a great time laughing and playing a non-serious round of golf.
This was the weekend that we set aside to visit the Columbia River Temple and receive our Endowments. Both Matt and I were a little nervous but also excited for this next step in our lives. It was so wonderful that Jim and Sharon could be our escorts and Renae, Janelle, and Jeremy were able to attend the endowments session as well. All of the Temple workers were extremely helpful and we never felt lost. This was truly an amazing experience for the both of us and we look forward to many trips to the Temple with our family and friends.

Papa and Nana's Lake Tyee Property

Papa Rick and Nana Linda came to visit in June and this gave us the opportunity to spend some time with them at the Lake Tyee Property.
We got to spend 2 separate days with the family. Matt was in town for one of the visits and we all took some time to go fishing. No one had any nibbles but we all enjoyed ourselves anyways. Griffen was counting down the days until he got to fish with Matt, he thought he was the master fisherman!
On the 2nd visit we also got to see Michelle and Ryan. The weather was warm enough that we headed down to the pool. Griffen spent a few hours swimming while I sat in the sun and caught up on my reading.
Dad made a great dinner on both visits and we topped the nights off with smores!
I can't wait until Dad and Linda can spend more time here so that the grandkids can get to know them better. Until then we will make the most of the visits that we do have. It was so nice to have Papa and Nana home for a little while.