Vancouver and back

This has been a very fun couple of days. We went to Vancouver to visit Ruth and Dana and their new son Magnus. Boy is he a little cutie and we were lucky to be able to meet him and be part of the baby blessing on Sunday. And he seems like a very happy little fellow. We took a whole ton of pictures, so don’t mind if there are a lot of pictures for this blogpost.

This is a picture of Whitney meeting her cousin. She really liked the baby and we had to make sure that she didn’t put too much pressure on him or poke his eyes. But Whitney did pretty good and usually just pointed to him and would say ‘baby’. It was so cute to watch Whitney give Magnus hugs and kisses.

Here Whitney and Magnus get a ride on their daddy’s shoulders. They both seemed to really love the experience. Whitney was the big girl on her dad’s shoulders and Magnus was too little to really have a baby fight, but it was fun watching them.



We got to do a lot of fun things on our trip. The first thing was to go the Japanese Garden in Portland.

It was just Will, Whitney, and I that went because Dana was at work and Ruth wanted to stay home with a fussy Magnus. It was a beautiful garden with lots of flowers and streams and it was just a very calm place. I could have stayed there and just read a book or written a book or just spend some time sitting. It was peaceful. Here are some pictures from the garden.

It was just a wonderful garden. Inside, was even a zen garden. I guess these rock gardens were very popular in medieval times.





The next day was spent with Ruth and Dana and Magnus taking a tour of all the pretty sights in the gorge. I cannot believe what we miss when we just drive through quickly on the freeway and don’t get to see everything.



We went up to Crown Point and got to look out over the water.

I thought the fog over the water made it that much more beautiful.

This building is the visitor center for the point and we got to climb up to the ledge and see everything. You can see for miles from that far up the mountain. After seeing everything from up high, we traveled a little ways to go see a couple of waterfalls. I don’t remember all their names, but I am sure we could ask Dana and they would tell us.

This is first waterfall we saw. We got to get really close to this one and could feel the mist spraying off the bottom as the waterfall hit the small stream.

Here is the three of us standing by the waterfall. We also got to see the Maltnomah Falls. According to Dana, it is one of the biggest waterfalls in the Northwest area. It is 542 feet tall and simply magnificent.

It is amazingly tall. We got to walk up a little trail to be on the bridge to get closer to the falls. Unfortunately, people aren’t allowed to get to close because about 17 years previously there was a big rock slide and a huge boulder fell down, injuring people at a wedding shower. But we could still feel the mist as we stood on the bridge.

It is hard to tell because our camera doesn’t have the greatest zoom abilities, but this is us standing on the bridge. Dana ran down the trail to get some pictures of us on the bridge. We were at this waterfall for awhile just having a great time looking at it. But then we all got hungry and needed a late lunch.



After lunch we went to a fish hatchery/water treatment kind of center. Dana taught us all about salmon ladders

Which still seem a little cruel since you are making the fish swim upstream and I don’t think they really need to, but it is suppose to be more realistic. The great part was when you go inside the visitors center and get to see from behind glass windows the fish swimming by in the fish ladder.

Here Will shows Whitney the fish going by. The salmon must sort of travel together because there would be great clumps of them and then none would swim by the window for awhile. I learned that salmon really have a rough life.

So it was a really great couple of days. We all said our goodbyes to each other after sacrament meeting. I wish we could stay longer, but we will have to get back together soon.

Happenings in Cheney

There hasn’t been too much exciting happenings in Cheney. We like to go outside a lot now and for Memorial Day we hosted a BBQ for all the families in our ward who live around here. We had a good turn out too and it didn’t rain on us. So it ended up being successful. We just wanted to post some random pictures of the things we have been doing.

Whitney tried to put her hair tie into Will’s hair. It didn’t work out so well when she tried, but then Will gave her some help and got the tie to stay in. Naturally, I had to take some pictures to remember just how handsome Will looks with a hair tie in.

Will was just laying on the floor one day and Whitney came up to give him something. I think he took too long to accept the offering, so she just put it on him. After that, Whitney went around our apartment looking for more fun things to put on Will. Books, dolls, stuffed animals, nothing were left out. It was funny to watch the pile on Will’s stomach grow larger and larger until finally it just tipped over. Look out below!

Whitney has been getting bigger, so we took out another box of larger clothes that we received from Lissie and Gary (Courtney’s aunt and uncle). Here Whitney tries on her new ‘Daddy’s Girl’ shirt. Will liked that shirt and Whitney really does love her daddy.

We also found a couple new dresses in that box. Whitney looked all pretty in pink yesterday at church. It was finally nice enough weather that we could put her in short sleeves and just socks, no more tights. I like no more tights because those can be a pain to put on small children.

Whitney will probably yell at us in the future for putting up a picture of her without any clothes, but she is wearing a diaper. I cannot remember why she didn’t have anything on, either she was eating something messy or about to take a bath or maybe changing into pajamas. Anyway, she escaped without clothes and wanted to play with some toys instead. She is actually holding the ring box that held Will’s wedding band I bought.

I know we have done enough of the cheese, but this picture was too funny to pass up. This is how much Whitney loves her cheese. She wants to lick the container clean.

And here is our loving family. We tried to take our own picture of all of us after church while we were all dressed up nice. It only required like twenty pictures, but we got one with all of us smiling and looking at the camera. What an accomplishment. Thank goodness for digital cameras so we don’t have to print all the not so good pictures.

A LITTLE DOG, A LITTLE CHEESE, AND A LITTLE ZEBRA

Whitney has been having some fun times lately. We try to get her to eat whatever we are eating for dinner and it sometimes works, but mostly doesn’t. Anyway, one night we were having Navajo tacos for dinner and we were giving Whitney pieces of tomato and lettuce and whatnot, but what she really loved was the cheese.




So we put a little bit of extra cheese into a container and just let her have it.

Here Whitney is really enjoying the cheese; she has a small smile on her face and she looks like she is really glad to be having cheese all of her own.

And she was good enough to try to lick the container clean. That, obviously, didn’t work at all. But it was cute to see her try to get every last morsel of that cheese. If you look closely, you can see that Whitney managed to get a lot of cheese all over her face.

It is under her eye and across her cheek and in her hair. And there was a lot of cheese on the floor. So it made for a bit of a mess, but Whitney just loved it.



We decided to have a picnic on Saturday at the nearest park, which is only about 1/3 mile from where we live. There is a playground at the park and plenty of shade for our picnic. And it wasn’t a sweltering hot day, so we were grateful for that. And Whitney was grateful for a little dog.

This little dog was the life of the park. Whitney just loved it. Thankfully, the owner said the dog was very friendly and great with children. So we let Whitney chase after her and pet her.

The dog was mostly too quick for Whitney and was able to get away. Sometimes Whitney would get really close and she would lean down to give the dog a hug and the dog would scamper away, so Whitney ended up on the grass. And Whitney hates the feel of grass on her hands, so she would always start crying, but then she wanted to try to get the dog again. The owner even brought a little ball and the dog would play fletch. Whitney got to “throw” the ball a couple of times for the dog, but in would only go about a foot and the dog wasn’t too interested. So I threw it instead.



Will got out a new toy for Whitney that has been in our storage for awhile. We were given this by some good family friends and Whitney has been too young to really enjoy it.

It is a little rocking and spinning zebra. I don’t know why it is a zebra and not a horse like normal, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. It took a little while for Whitney to warm up to the new toy. She was only on it for a couple of seconds the first time Will put her on, but now she enjoys it more and will get herself on to rock out for a little while. We are hoping to get some batteries for it soon so it can play its music.



Well, Whitney has become the master at hiding things. The other day I was looking for her shoe so we could go outside to play and I looked everywhere. Usually, both shoes are together, but I could only find one. I kept asking Whitney where it was and finally she pulled it out of an old poptarts box that was sitting next to the garbage to be taken out. I don’t know why I didn’t think to look inside that little box. Then, one day when I went to grab a hot pad out of its drawer I discovered…

Apparently, the cookie was waiting for when Whitney wanted it later. It was pretty funny to find a half cookie in my hot pad drawer. So Whitney is always surprising us. And with all that hard work, she gets very tired.

So that is what is happening in Cheney. We are having a grand time watching Whitney grow and explore. Take care.

Cinco de Mayo

Hello sunshine.  We have finally had several warm days in a row and we are very grateful for it.  We have been going on long walks now that we can stand to be outside for more than ten minutes at a time.  And Whitney has been enjoying a little playground that is right next to our apartment.  We have mostly just been hanging out, but we did have a surprise Cinco de Mayo party.  I decided while Will was at work that I would throw our own little party for when he got home.

So I made a Happy Cinco de Mayo sign for our living room and I put up streamers on the ceiling and I even made a little invitation and put it on our outside door so Will could see that a party was happening inside.  He had to RSVP with a kiss.

I also made a bunch of balloons and Whitney liked them at first.  Her shirt says Fun Fun Fun, but her face says otherwise.  Maybe she just didn't want the camera out.

I used my big box of crayons to make the sign and Whitney discovered the box before I could stop her.  So we had a big mess of crayons; and I caught her in the act so she cannot deny that it was her.  Not that I know who else she could possibly blame.  Anyway, the party was fun.  We turned on some music; our only Spanish song for Cinco de Mayo was Feliz Navidad and I don't think that counts.  But we had a good time dancing and eating the snacks I made and playing with Whitney (who didn't think mom and dad should be dancing unless she was involved).

Here are a couple of other things Whitney has been doing lately.

She got a popcorn popper toy for her birthday from my parents and she loves to drag it around.  At first, she wasn't sure what to do with it, but now she knows that she can push it and the little balls inside make a cool popping noise.

When we were in Vancouver, Will's mom gave us this beautiful knitted shirt for Whitney.  It fit her perfectly and is really cute.  Thanks for the shirt.

Lately, Whitney has been taking magnets off our refridgerator and trying to place them other places.  Here she tries to put it on a cookie sheet, but that didn't work.  Whitney has also tried magnets on the cooler, the couch, the window, and other places around our apartment.  It is pretty funny to watch her go around.  Of course, the magnet always falls down because it won't stick on anything not metallic, but Whitney hasn't grasped the concept yet.  She just thinks it is fun.

Here is Whitney going for a ride in the box lid.  We had an extra lid and Whitney has now made it into a play toy.  She puts herself into the lid and she does the sign for 'more', meaning she wants us to give her more rides around the living room.  And she gets quite upset if we take too long before we stop what we are doing so we can play with her.  I guess we will see how long the box lid is an attractive toy for Whitney.
So things are going great here in Cheney.  Hopefully, things are going well for everyone else.  Take care.

Ruth and Dana’s House

This last weekend was a fun one; we went to Vancouver to spend a couple of days with Will’s sister, Ruth, and her husband Dana, and Will’s mom. We were hoping that we could see a new baby and Whitney could meet a cousin, but little “viking’ Jensen has decided to stay comfortable and warm a little bit longer. (Will’s sister, Ruth, has now had her baby). But that’s okay because it means we will need to go back later to meet him. Here is a picture of everyone; it only took several tries to get Whitney to look at the camera.

Whitney had a blast at this new house with lots of new toys to play with. She especially loved this little bunny house that has been in the Keeler family for over twenty years. It is just a simple little play house with a family of five bunnies inside, but Whitney discovered she could shake the house and the bunnies would make a fabulous noise. Here Whitney and Will play with the little house for awhile.

Ruth and Dana have a lot of really neat electronic things and some of them were okay for Whitney to touch. For instance, there was a lego robot that moved with a controller. At first, Will and Dana played with the pair and tried to control their robots into attacking each other. But then Whitney got the remote and was allowed to control it.

It was really funny though Whitney thinks all remotes go for the television, so she ran over to the TV when she got the remote and tried pushing buttons to get the TV to turn on. Will showed her what the control really did and Whitney thought it was cool that she could make the robots move.

But Whitney’s favorite toy, by far, was a little electronic “bug” called a Hex bug. It just uses a battery and vibrates all around on a hard surface. Here is a video of Whitney trying to catch the “bug”

We had a blast just watching her go crazy over such a little thing. Whitney is always surprising us; she has decided lately that she absolutely loves her carseat. She has always been a good traveler, but now Whitney will put herself into her carseat and try to buckle herself. I think it means she wants to go more places and does not want to stay at home. Anyway, now Whitney is branching out and trying other people’s carseats.

This one happens to be Ruth and Dana’s and they plan on using it soon. Maybe Whitney just wanted to test it to make sure it would be good.

One more fun story from our trip. While we were there, Vancouver had their first farmers market of the season; so we all decided to go. I wish we had a farmers market here like they do because it was huge and amazing. There was all kinds of food and jewelry and rugs and paintings and everything you could think of. And it was more fun than Costco because there were all kinds of yummy samples to try. I wanted to go back and get the samples again – garlic and parmesan popcorn, real salsa, fudge, homemade bread, little sausages, and much more. We bought a little lunch of international food while we were there and just sat on a bench outside the park to eat. Whitney was more interested in a little water display that was like a statue of salmon shooting off water. Because it was a nice day, I let Whitney go into the water thinking she wouldn’t like her “cold shower” and want to come out. Boy was I wrong. She loved being in the water and was constantly running back towards it while I was trying to get her to leave. By the time we got away, Whitney was soaking wet. Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought my camera. So we took a picture after arriving back home.

This is Whitney without her pants because they were too wet. We found her some new clothes when we got back to Ruth and Dana’s place. Anyway, that was our fun trip. It has been great to see so much family over the past two weeks. We love you guys.