Sunday, October 19, 2008

Oregon {Part I}

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This is our view out of the airplane on our way to visit my brother, Spencer and his wife, Kristi, and their family in Oregon. And there is Aaron Jr. on the plane with his bag of sugar products on hand to try to keep him happy throughout the flight. Thanks to Mark and Suzy for the buddy passes. Love you guys.


Spencer, Luke, Aaron Jr, Benjamin (the four boys)
Just like we have done most times that I have come up to visit, we hit lots of different parks when the kids needed an outing. Here are lots of photos of playing at the park.


Aaron Jr.


I didn't know this was being taken, I was turning to laugh toward Kristi, who was taking a photo. I look like a mad woman.


Spencer, Luke, Aaron Jr, Benjamin


Luke & Aaron Jr


Kristi and Baby #4 due in just a couple of weeks. They have three boys and this one will be a girl.
Kristi with Benny in the other photo.


This photo absolutely cracks me up. Spencer wanted to jump onto this bridge with Kristi standing on it and see if he could get her to go flying into the air. Well, Kristi played along and this is how high she managed to get. Spencer thought he got her flying that high. Kristi doesn't let pregnancy get in the way of having a good time at the park with the kids. Plus I am sure she would have been okay if this had sent her into labor.


Kristi, Benny, Spencer, Luke, Aaron Jr


Aaron Jr and some rotten fruit he found and picked up with a stick. Mmmm...


Me, Aaron Jr, and Spencer
I wanted to join in on the action with the kids, so I decided to be a magic carpet that they could ride down the slide. I tried it on my stomach first, but it hurt my hip bones that way, so...


I decided to get all four boys on my lap and try it sitting down. Well, I was so worried about the kids shoes catching on the slide and twisting their legs back, I was horrified the whole time for their sakes... so I look completely crazy in these photos as I worry myself sick.
At the bottom, Benny went flying because Spencer couldn't hold on through the momentum. He is doing fine. :)


Me with Aaron Jr. I had to include all of these because I loved the expressions on Aaron Jr's face in every single one.




Spencer, Kristi, Benny, Leslie, Luke


The kids all took turns trying to scare me.


At the local farm feeding the goats.


Aaron Jr, Benjamin, Luke, Spencer... time to get clean.


We drove out to this place where there is a gigantic statue of Paul Bunyon and Babe.

The kids are all walking around at the bottom.


Later we went to a river and Spencer built a fire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Here Spencer is showing Luke, Spencer, and Aaron Jr a little frog that we found.


Then, out of nowhere... Spencer decided to show his skills and he wrestled this fish out of the water with his bare hands. Well, it was dead when he found it, but he still brought it out of the water with his bare hands. Don't worry, with this fish... he practiced the catch and release method.


Benny, Spencer, Luke, Aaron Jr... throwing rocks into the river.


Luke is involved in a 'Joy School' group. It was Kristi's turn to teach this week, so Aaron Jr got to join in and go to school for his first time. He had fun. Here are all the kids that were there.


Just some sweet close ups of my baby.


The other day, Aaron Jr was playing with a toy dinosaur. Well, he started crying really bad and was holding his eye. He had caught his eye on the pointed tail. He wouldn't let me see, but cried himself to sleep. Later, I looked at his eye and it made me nervous. So we took him to the eye doctor to make sure it wasn't anything threatening to his sight. He is fine, but his eye doesn't look very fine. Here is what it looked like yesterday... and believe it or not, it looks a little worse today. They said the red should go away within about a week. Poor thing.


Today, we went to a wildlife rescue place. We went with some of Spencer and Kristi's friends from their ward. We saw some neat animals. In order of appearance: Wolf, Badger, Grizzly Bear, Cougar
I had to take the cougar one even though you can't see it very well... GO BYU!


In order: some kind of bird, squirrel, some kind of bird (hawk ?), another kind of bird
I didn't listen to their names very well.


Here is the group we went with. I wouldn't be able to name everyone, so I won't try. They know who they are. :)

This is only {Part I} because I have a bunch of photos from the coast and I haven't finished going through them yet... so stay tuned for the photos from the beautiful coast.


As always, Aaron... you are missed. I love you...

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13 comments:

dani said...

what a great trip, leslie!!! i've never been to oregon, but it really looks beautiful. i hope you and aaron, jr. totally enjoyed yourselves:)
love,
dani

Kristi said...

It is hard to encapsulate so many days in a single post. We have had so much fun having you guys here. I am getting bummed knowing that the party will be over soon.

Joann said...

How fun! I love the picture of you laughing so hard when Kristi surprised you taking the picture. I think you really look like you are enjoying yourself! What a handsome little man Aaron Jr. is becoming. My favorite pics are the ones of him in the swing. What a great variety of fabulous faces! I am glad you had such a wonderful time, but I missed your posts. Glad you're back!

Anonymous said...

I missed your posts too, Leslie.

I'm glad you both had such a lovely time.

Love

Jane

Lisa said...

glad you are having a worthwhile time there while you have the chance! the fall weather looks beautiful there. thanks for the disgusting up close look at the red eye!

Sasha Fisher said...

Love the classic everyone in the tub photo. What part of Oregon were you visiting?

kristen said...

Crazy mun ! no. It's a great photo of your laughing. Love it.

You look like you had lots of fun moments.
Great to see.

Matchbox Mom said...

Yikes about Aaron Jr's eye! Bummer! Glad he's okay tho.
I'm glad you got to go visit family...what a blessing they are!
Hugs!

Tam

Claire said...

THey're great pictures Leslie! Looks like you had a great time. Poor little Aaron's eye. Is it alright now?

Jennifer Miller said...

Looks like it was a GREAT trip! I love that you take so many pictures and that you know what pictures are fun to look at! I love looking at every picture you take!!!! Im glad you had a good time!!

Anonymous said...

Leslie, How nice that you are having a long vacation up there. I love it there and I love to see pictures. I seriously want to go up there sooo bad. It was a great trip. Poor lil Aaron. So sad. Love you Leslie. I'm excited to see you if you ever make it back!!!!

Miss Heather said...

Hi Leslie,

You don't know me (I'm friends with Jesse and Amberly Schiffman) but I've been reading your blog for an entire year... and I just love your posts. You are such a talented photographer. I'm so impressed! You look like you're so happy with cute Aaron Jr. and I'm so glad you're doing well.

Just wanted to let you know you're in my thoughts a lot, even though we don't know each other. :)

-Heather

Scott / Lori said...

Hi long lost sister! It seems like forever since I have seen you. Longer still because we have been out of town too. Looks like a splendid trip to Oregon, what a cute little group of boys. You all look like you are having a wonderful time. Those pictures of Kristi made me excited for their new addition. Hope the rest of your time there is great. Love you!