Memorial Day

Will had the day off for Memorial Day so we decided to make it a fun family day.

I thought going to Hat Rock would be fun.  It was perfect weather for a short hike.

Everyone made it up to the top.  Rachel wondered if it was a rock made of hats before we left our house; I think she was only a little disappointed that it was just a big rock.  It is still pretty cool (even if it is just a rock).

Here we eat our picnic lunch.  I bought a bunch of French bread and we even splurged on soda pop.  I let the girls come to WalMart with me and they begged for some root beer for our picnic.  It was yummy.

Then we went around to the other side of the part and used the rest of our French bread to feed the geese.  My girls have so much fun feeding ducks and geese.  I even got a goose to eat it out of my hands.  These were really friendly geese; I bet they know humans come and feed them good food.

Adam didn't really like the sun in his face.  But he did seem kind of interested in what was happening around him.

We went on a walk around the water after running out of French bread.  Can you spot the animal on the log?  I would have totally walked right past this turtle and not seen it if not for Will's razor sharp eyesight.

And this was neat to see; Will and I were thinking it might be a crane, but we aren't sure.  It was the only one of its kind and mostly avoided the geese and human crowd.

Whitney found a huge feather and Rachel found a bunch of little feathers.  Of course, we had to take all these home plus like five pinecones and several leaves.

And we stopped to throw some rocks and sticks into the water.  I think this was the spot we were at with the Jensens a couple of years ago when we showed them Hat Rock.  Anyway, it was really fun.  Afterwards we went and got some ice cream, but no pictures of that.  So it was a happy Memorial Day.  I love spending time with my family.

Going Camping

Our ward had a family camp out.  I was a little nervous about taking a baby but everything went fine.

Exploring is my favorite part of camping.  We found lots of bugs.

And a wall of hay (or straw, what is the difference?)  The girls wanted to sit on it and eat their suckers that grandma brought.

Someone in our ward starting the camp fire.  I didn't know there would be a campfire, but we were hoping.  Whitney was waiting for her opportunity to throw in a stick she found.

Time to make s'mores.  I brought s'more stuff, just in case we got lucky and we did.

There can be nothing better than a marshmallow roasted over a fire melting in your mouth - or on your cheek or in your hair.

Dinner came after s'mores.  Not surprisingly, the kids didn't eat much of their BLT sandwiches.  But they still managed to polish off almost a whole bag of chips.  Hmmm...Oh well.  It's camping.

There was this tree swing at the camp site that was a big hit for all the kids.

Adam enjoying the sun shine.  It was raining when we first arrived and we were worried that we might have to go home because Adam hated the rain.  Thankfully, the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy ourselves.

The fire was really fascinating to a certain small boy.  He stared intently at it for a long time with grandpa.  We were able to watch the scouts retire a couple of flags while we were there, so that was pretty neat.

And Adam the next morning in the sleeping bag.  He shared a bag with Will.  I shared one with Megan.  I think the kids all slept fine and were plenty warm.  Hooray for a fun camping trip!

The Elders Quorum treated everyone to some delicious breakfast burritos the next morning.  We city slicked it a little and brought our microwave so we could warm up Adam's bottles, but that is how it rolls with a baby.  Anyway, the kids definitely want to go camping again sometime this Summer.  We will see.

Random Pictures

I promised a random blog of random pictures and I still keep telling myself to do that.  I just don't get as much free computer time as I would like.  Anyway,  here are some of the happenings of the Hermiston Keelers.

This little boy is six months old now.  He gives out lots of smiles and is generally in good spirits.  We got lucky with him being such a content and easy baby.

The girls decided they wanted their hair braided.  We often only do their hair on Sunday for church because they don't want to hold still and I know the hair tie doesn't last long.  But these braids looked cute for awhile and they begged to get their picture taken.

Like father, like son.  Adam looks so much like Will.  And their ties even sort of match.

We talked about rocks for school and then we needed to go explore and find some rocks to decorate.  Here is Rachel holding up hers for the camera.

This picture is from a mom and Megan date.  The girls each get a date with mom or dad once a month.  We went to an event that was in the library during "No Screen Week".  Megan got to help make wheat pancakes.

And then getting a popsicle from Dairy Queen afterwards.

This comes from Mother's Day.  Whitney and Rachel both helped Grandpa make breakfast.  We were treated with yummy sausage egg muffins.

Adam helps Grandma open some of her presents.  I don't think my mom got to open any of her presents but she didn't seem to mind.  I got some wonderful presents too, but didn't take any pictures.  Will's mom mailed me some flowers and chocolate.  My mom gave me a game.  Will also gave me flowers and a gift card.  Thanks for everything.  It was a great day.

Poor Adam seems to always slide out of everything.  He is so wiggly lately.

Basically my children fill me with joy.  I realize that all my pictures are of my kids but that makes sense because they pretty much fill up my life.  Their smiles are wonderful blessings.

Okay, that is enough random pictures.  We have been having fun in Hermiston lately, especially now that the weather is nice.

A Busy Saturday

It has been a little while since our last post.  We have taken a bunch of random pictures since then, maybe I will do another post of those later.  Here are some pictures from last Saturday, which was fun and busy.

We went to the Eastern Oregon Arts Festival in the morning.  There were some really neat painted pictures and some amazing photographs.  I could have stayed and admired all the artwork a lot longer than my girls were able to stand.

The sun makes this hard to see, but the kids love face cut outs.  Whitney especially liked that this famous painting is found in a Boy Meets World episode.

Adding their hands to the tree.

There were some fun things for the kids to do.  Here they got to decorate "fossils" - or shells pressed into plaster of paris.

The kids each got to pick a flower to plant.  They all picked such beautiful colors.  Now we will see if my lack of green thumb can keep them alive for a few days.

And eating a Popeye popsicle; these popsicles were delicious.  I probably will never make them, but all my kids got their spinach in for the day.  Plus there were bananas and pineapple juice and vanilla yogurt.  It would make for a good smoothie also.

And obviously the hit for the whole festival was the bounce house with a slide.  There weren't a lot of kids at the festival, so my kids got lots of time bouncing.

We had a fast late lunch after the festival and then we went down to the Tri-Cities.  My friend from high school was in town signing her new freezer cook book.  Thanks for the copy, Micah.  I am excited to try new things.  We decided to meet at the merry-go-round.  The girls loved riding the horses.

Adam seemed not to really notice.  He and I stuck to the sled.  The girls had so much fun and it was good to catch up with my friend for a little while.

Afterwards, Will and I dropped the kids off with my parents and we were able to go to the temple.  It was wonderful doing sealings together.  Then we had a very late dinner of Greek gyros.  They were delicious.  I need to learn how to make them.  We spent the night in Pasco.  So it was very busy but very fun.

A Super Scooby Doo Party

It was only like six weeks late but we finally had Whitney's Scooby Doo friend party.  Thankfully, Whitney was very patient as she waited for a Saturday that would work for everyone.  And it was an awesome party if I do say so myself.

We had roughly an extra 15 people here, so it was a bit crazy.  But we made it work.  First the kids decorated bags for goodies with stamps and stickers and markers.

I told the kids to come get their goodies but when they got there the goodies were missing.

The kids had to follow a bunch of clues to find their prizes.  At the bottom of each note was a clue to the identity of the monster - a footprint, a piece of a bag, a paint brush, some circus peanuts, etc.

Only Whitney was able to figure out that it was the ghost clown who did it.  Will was very good and pretended to be the monster and the kids chased him around the yard.

After finding their treats, we played some Scooby Doo games.  This one was Pin the Glasses on Velma.  The girl who got the closest won a big pair of fake glasses.

Then it was time to make Scooby Doo collars.  It is hard to find small circular foods, but we managed to make some yummy Scooby Doo collars.

Whitney shows off her necklace - I mean collar.

Then it was time to go outside again to do a Feed Scooby and Shaggy relay race.  The kids fed them sandwich pieces.

This was a catch the monster game by trying to drop a box on the escaping villain (who was taped to a truck).

And time to open presents.  Whitney said that was her favorite part of the party.

And finally we decorated dog bone shaped sugar cookies.  That is what Whitney requested instead of cake.

Anyway, it was really fun.  I think the kids had a good time and Whitney was all smiles.  Hooray!  Now I have a few months break before the next party.