essential oregon

Flying with two kids - lots of fun with extra space from Lily's seat. Unfortunately we didn't take a stroller and Lily brought shoes that were too big for her so that was a challenge getting to the car rental. At one point I was in the long line sitting on the (carpeted) floor because both kids wanted to be held and Adam was laughing over in the corner with the luggage, and told me across the room "You look desperate." About two hours to Cannon Beach, driving through rain and green green green. I was thinking it is strange that there are so many environmentalists in Oregon because you'd think since they are constantly surrounded by trees they wouldn't be too worried.
Those present were Mom and Dad, Liz and her four kids, Amanda and Tyler with Henry, and later Nathan and Alicia with Eve.Activities including waiting for it to stop raining so we could go outside; Tillamook Cheese Factory for a cheese sandwich and ice cream; watching 7 grandkids being mesmerized watching the glass blower for 30 minutes; playing soccer; playing on the beach; running on the beach (one of my all time favorite things to do, ever); Ecola State Park which I haven't been to since Nathan and Alicia took me there about 9 years ago; and of course enjoying some quality family time discussing controversial political and societal issues with Mom and Adam yelling back and forth until the cookies made by Amanda came out of the oven and we turned our attention to inhaling them even though she didn't follow a recipe. Good times.

10 years!!!!!!

After camping, Adam sent me off by myself to St. George for the week (it was really his idea). He returned for our 10 year high school reunion on Saturday. We went to the free get together at the park, which was a lot of fun. I am cheap; I just couldn't bring myself to buy dinner tickets for $40. Instead we went out to eat with Mindy and Jesse and went to a movie and spent $40. I did get to go out to lunch with Britt and Trav, though. So much fun. We seriously need to do that more often! Topics to remember: almost making Britt cry from laughing so hard about my pregnancy with Jack when I was so depressed I considered on a regular basis putting my kids up for adoption because Adam and I were going to get divorced because he thought I hated him and therefore didn't talk to me for 9 months; also Trav always coming out on top - NO MATTER WHAT. :D

we are not campers!

During Memorial Day weekend we drove down to Posey Lake near Escalante and went camping where there was still snow on the ground. It was cold. And screaming windy (all night long). But it was like a Bird family reunion since everyone was there but the Hendershots. Luckily Adam is not the only camping pansy in his family; when Jesse bailed the first night, as soon as we had scarfed down the amazingly delicious dutch oven dinner that Kurt made while I was sitting in my car with the heater and the kids, I had that car packed within about 2 minutes. Okay maybe 10. But to make some excuses, I forgot pillows - again. And Lily was scared of the toilet. And the fire (which would have been okay if it hadn't been freezing). But here are some happy pictures.
We saw about 5 deer on the way home, one of which stepped into the road and gave us the adrenaline shot to stay awake for the rest of the trip even though we were both dead tired.

i am copying britt...

...who taught me you can procrastinate blogging. I have such a back load of things to post, I'll start out with where I left off.
May held our 6th wedding anniversary. No communication there! We basically did nothing, but a few days later I remembered I had an idea like 6 months ago to surprise Adam at work, because I always wanted him to do that when I was working. I dropped off a flower (iris), some chocolate turtles, and a love note for the secretary to put on his desk. I hope it was embarrassing; I love him but seriously it's not like we've been married for 20 or 30 years and he can get by without doing anything.

conversation in sunday school

Sabrina: Why don't you get your scriptures from the car.
Adam: I've read them so much I have them memorized.
Sabrina: Your memory is not that good.
Adam: Yes it is, Jane.(When Adam has the camera he will take about 50 photos of me to go through and delete later. I now suspect he prints them off to look at them before coming home from work so he can recognize who I am)

just the three of us

Adam and I were in Reno during Mother's Day the first year we were married. We called Janet to talk to her, and she said she was in California celebrating with some friends - which I thought was pretty awesome. Fast forward 5 years and I have been bugging Adam to go to Southern California for all of them and he refuses because of 'the traffic.' Since Britt is pregnant and I desperately wanted a non-St. George vacation, and after Deena suggested that I "road trip it" instead of fly, I asked Adam if I could take the kids to California for Mother's Day. So off we went!
5 hours to St. George the first day, and the second day we left for Irvine - 7.5 hours, about 1.5 out of the car. I had grand ideas of stopping at all of the old stops of my high school days: Krispy Kreme runs with Vickie to Mesquite; milkshakes in Baker where the world's largest thermometer is; shopping at the strip mall in Barstow. Well Mesquite doesn't have those donuts anymore, and since Lily said she needed to go pee in Vegas we stopped and had our yearly allotment of McDonald's, which the pidgeons got 1/2 of anyways. Then the kids slept for about 4 hours and we were in the valley by then. What great travelers! I am thinking of lots more trips to go on with them.
My kids got so much sugar. Have to go crazy every once in a while, right? We went to the beach pretty soon after we unloaded the car at Britt's. We waited in line for about 1 1/2 hours to get a table on top of Ruby's Diner at the end of a pier. The kids seemed happy - they all were sticking their heads through the slats to look at the water, totally freaking me out as Jackson is quite the risk taker. I was beginning to get a vague suspicion that my Southern California vacation would be similar to visiting Nathan and Alicia in San Francisco, where you EXPECT it to be cold. Luckily Britt had extra coats for everyone - I refused to believe that I would need them on the beach in May! (I was wrong).
Not that the beach wasn't awesome. Just cold. Lily screamed bloody murder when I tried to walk with her in the water. She wouldn't have anymore of that but loved the sand.
Jackson of course was much more willing and even laughed when the tide rushed up and almost knocked him over.
Free kid attractions: escalators and fountains. The kids loved this place.
As soon as Jack felt comfortable enough (i.e. after dragging me back and forth like 10 times) he tried out the stone path at the koi pond by himself. And yes, he fell in one of the cracks up to his thigh. He and Lily thought being able to see the fish so close was soooo cool.
Sprinkles cupcakes in Newport Beach. The vanilla were definitely better than the chocolate that day. So good. We also made it to Trader Joe's where I spent a ton of money on treats and specialty foods - later I told Kurt we couldn't go to Disneyland because I spent my budget on groceries.
Here we are right before I left. Along with Eleanor's arm.
Mother's Day itself was interesting. Lily went up to the front in Sacrament meeting to sing with the Primary, and she came back and peed on my purse. So although I had planned to attend the rest of church, I spent the last two meetings calming myself down (I was so. ticked) outside with Jackson. Which was super nice as there is honeysuckle and birds of paradise everywhere and the Newport Beach temple was across the street of the chapel. And along with some always appreciated, practical, important, and desperately needed at the time advice from my mom, got the motivation to get over it and move on, trying to be better.
Because my goodness. I am so grateful for my two babies.

once in a blue moon...

...BOTH kids take naps at the same time. So instead of sitting on the couch in shock like I normally do, I am trying to be productive and catch up on a ton of pictures and events. Like Lily eating blue candy in her white Sunday dress. This is what happens when I leave Adam alone with the kids to go visiting teaching.
Jackson and Henry - precluding the week of hell in St. George that I didn't talk about much on here because honestly I don't think I will ever think it is funny.
Work on the back yard begins (back in March)! Mckay was so awesome to come up and help Adam take out the deck.
And here it is all cleared out - there was about 40 huge beer bottles and tons of garbage underneath - so nasty.
Free babysitting! Jackson and sometimes Lily were so entranced with the workers back there - especially when the little mini tractor made an appearance.
And finished! It is much greener now, and we absolutely love it! Our yard is 3 times as big now, and I still have my vegetable boxes.
National Bring Your Son and Daughter to Work Day. I took advantage again, and was so impressed with how good they were for the ~2 hours we were there (I made sure there wasn't too much work to do before I brought them).
Of course drawing is always a favorite - Jackson was COVERED in highlighter on his shirt and stomach. Lily loved the balloons from Diane and Jackson was very excited he could reach up to desks and get down scissors and staplers. Fun toys!

Adam graduated! Now he has a nifty Masters hood. Pretty cool. He was super happy to not have to go to school anymore - I am still holding out to fully celebrate once he passes his CPA tests.
Here's the hard worker with his favorite cheerleaders, although Lily looks a bit unhappy because it was raining.
Date night at the Jazz Playoffs in Salt Lake. Can I just say I love having other people put my kids to bed. (every so often)