Highlight #7 - Halloween!

This is the final highlight I want to write about. I have a friend that says she loves Halloween so much because there is no pressure to find the deeper meaning of this holiday. It is the perfect holiday before Thanksgiving and Christmas, that's for sure. I love Halloween because of all the fun traditions that take place - pumpkin carving, harvest time (as I mentioned earlier), pumpkin and apple goodies, parties, cute costumes (I'm not into the scary thing), and fun paper crafts my kids love doing. Also, in my community they put on a "Pumpkin Walk" we go to every year. People throughout the community create a scene made out of pumpkins and squash. So, we walk around looking at the different scenes and carved pumpkins lining the walk, and at the end we get a little cookie. It's a great family event, plus it's free!
However, being due November 1st, I really did not want a dual celebration of birthday and Halloween. So, I was so glad when he was born on the 28th! Although this Halloween was a bit overshadowed by Kimball's birth (rightly so, too!), I wanted to make sure Peter had a chance to see his friends in their costumes and have some fun. So, on the morning of the 28th, I threw Peter and impromptu Halloween Party. It was so funny when all his male friends showed up in spiderman costumes and the lone female was a princess, or the damsel in distress. We played games, did a craft, and sent them home with pumpkin bread. I had a lot of fun with Peter and his friends. One of the moms offered to take Elsie home with her, which I gladly accepted, which is why she's missing in the pictures.

Highlight #6 - Grandma's Funeral

Okay, so this might sound a bit demented, but it was hard to dround in my sorrow's when my 91 year old Grandma, who felt like her life was an overdue book, finally passed away. It was a highlight to go to her funeral, reconnect with with 39 of my 41 cousins, aunts, uncles, and immediate family, and to reflect on her stalwart life and think about how I will carry on her rich legacy.
Just as my mom said when she spoke at the funeral, my Grandma was a "Lady". She was sweet, loving, endearing, always looking her best, and always seeing the good in others. As my uncle put it, "There was no malice in her heart". These are the things I will take with me and work hard to become. This is the legacy I have to look to and rise up to. What a life she lived, and what a posterity she has left behind, with 7 children and 41 grandchildren, and a generation of great-grandchildren that is still in the making. All of her grandchildren felt so loved by her, as she always kept up on all of our day-to-day lives and I'm sure we all feel the weight of her legacy, that we may become more. I hope I can continue this tradition of hers and pass the same feeling onto my children as well.

Highlight #5 - 50th Anniversary

Mike's parent's celebrated their golden 50th anniversary this September. What an amazing thing! All the sibling and in-laws worked hard and put together a dinner a program to celebrate this event. It was so fun to hear all the stories about each of the siblings growing up. Mike helped put a video together with pictures and videos of his siblings sharing stories. He grew up in a family of 9 siblings, and they all managed to come. Can you imagine the mayhem that goes on when they all get together? One sister-in-law put together this beautiful quilt with everyone's handprints on it and a family tree of all the children and their spouses on it. Then we all helped tie/quilt it together. It was beautiful and she did a great job. It was fun to finally be giving to my in-laws because they are such giving people themselves, that I am too often only a recipient of their kindness. Here are some pictures of their posterity.

This is all of Mike's siblings. I think I got the handsomest out of the bunch!

This is most everyone - children, in-laws, and grandchildren. You may not be able to see anyone.

This is our family picture. I seem to be looking at something other than the cameraman, but it was the best picture we took.

Highlight #4 - Harvest Time

Well, I never thought of this as a "highlight" before, but then I realized, what would August and September be like without the wonderful harvest? We grow a garden, and Mike's parents have a small orchard, so in the fall we have a plethora of produce and I am in the kitchen canning like mad! This year wasn't too bad - I decided to give myself a break, being pregnant and all. It was the year of the jams though. I canned rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb, raspberry, cherry raspberry, and apricot. I think my favorite is cherry raspberry. I'll have to do more of that one next year. Mike is really great at helping out too. He's a great sport at peeling and helping me get the job done when it's late at night. He's great. We also canned peaches, cherries, cherry pie filling, and apple pie filling. I love watching the kids run around eating peaches and apples from the trees, and stealing corn out of the garden. Don't you just love the pictures? This year
there were lots of cherries and my kids loved them!

Highlight #3 - Oregon Coast

Mike and I really wanted to take our kids on a real family vacation this year where we would all have fun, and after much thought, we decided to drive to Newport, Oregon. We had so much fun! Peter was so excited to get to the ocean on our way there. On our way, after an 8 hour car ride, we stopped at a camping spot by the Columbia River and set-up our tent for the night. Peter was so excited to play in the water and tiny beach for about 20 minutes. The next day he thought we were going home and that he had already played in the ocean. The world is so big to a 4-year-old! When we finally arrived in Newport, we camped several days and played and played at the beach, went to the aquarium there, visited lighthouses, discovered tide pools, watched boats, seals, and sea lions, and flew our kite. The last couple nights we stayed in a hotel and swam in the pool, ate lots of ice, and explored the hotel. It is so fun to be on vacation with kids and see the world through their eyes. Here are some pictures.


This is at Cobble Beach...while Dad and Peter explored in the tide pools, Elsie communed with the cobbles.

This was the lighthouse we didn't go up. It was pretty disappointing. I had geared Peter up all month talking about lighthouses and watching Pete's Dragon....only to find out there was a height restriction. Sigh. It was pretty to look at, at least.

We heard the Oregon coast is the only place where all colors of starfish - red, orange, and purple - co-habitate. I thought this picture was kind of neat, seeing them all together.


Mike is an explorer - he's not afraid of anything and is handy at just about everything. He even talked me into picking up a starfish.

Kite flying at its finest.



Peter loved using the Kelp as a "laso".

Here is Elsie, enjoying the sand as only she can. She was always such a mess.

In the Newport Aquarium, they have this area where you are encircled in the aquarium and can see the fish all around. Elsie showed Peter how fun it was to look at the glass on the floor. I just needed some orange cones to set around them for those passing by.


Ummmm....Lollipops!

Peter LOVED to chase the waves. We spent a lot of time running along the beach. It was a lot of fun!

Highlight #2 - Nicholia Ranch

Every other year my side of the family has begun doing a family reunion. This summer was our second biannual event and we held it at the same place - Nicholia Ranch. Why have a reunion in the same place 2 times, because it is so dang fun for everyone! There are fishing ponds, horses, a plethora of 4-wheelers, hiking, games...the perfect adventure for anyone under 90. The cousins love to explore together. This year the favorite place for the 9, 6, 4, and 3 year old boy cousins was the junk yard. Can you imagine? Old cars, rusted metal, glass chard's, dangerous flamable material - pretty much anything you shouldn't burn. Yes, this was very exciting for the boys, and nerve racking for the rest of us! But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we got to the ranch, we all made the time to stop and visit my Grandma Rydalch. She was 91 years old and this was the last time my kids or I were able to see her as she just passed away last month. What a wonderful person and a great experience this was. I really hope Peter will remember her always.
While at the ranch, Grandpa put together a treasure hunt for the grandkids. This was no ordinary hunt, however. The cousins found themselves digging for treasure, fighting bad guys with their swords, drinking magic potion for more energy, and following maps and compasses as their guide. It was a definite highlight for us all during the vacation! Here are some pics....





We also went on a little hand-cart trek - it was only a couple miles, but carrying one inside me as well as 1 on my hip, it was more than enough to give me a great appreciation for those dear pioneers who walked across the plains for religious freedom.

My dad was ingenious when he thought of bringing these along....the pieces to build our own marshmallow shooters! They were a ton of fun, and Elsie and Eden enjoyed the spoils of the battle. Lanita, in the background, just got a marshmallow shot down her throat - hence the lovely expression.

There was so much more we did. We flew kites, made movies (Thanks to my award-winning brother-in-law, Micah, for being the director and shooter), and played a rousing bean-bag game we couldn't get enough of. We rode horses, which Elsie LOVED. She would giggle and laugh all the harder the faster the horse would go. She is definitely a thrill seeker! Peter earned the fisherman's award. Every time I turned around he was trying to talk an adult into going fishing with him. He would cast all by himself over and over until he'd catch a fish. He wasn't afraid of their slimy, gross scales and flipping bodies as he pulled them out of the water. It was great. We had a lot of fun. A big thanks to my Uncle Carl for letting us use his place. It gave us all such great memories for a lifetime.

Highlight #1 over the past 20 weeks

I am a very over-anxious pregnant person - I am either cleaning and working like mad or I'm lying down in sheer exhaustion, and there is not much activity (such as blogging) in between. However, there was so much that happened over the past 20 weeks that I can't let them go by without a few words and pictures.
So, Highlight #1 would be Peter's 4th Birthday! He had his first birthday party and we had so much fun! Peter was quite specific on what he wanted to do for his party: a water balloon fight, treasure hunt, and a Winnie the Pooh birthday cake. We all had so much fun!

Okay, so I forgot one can't make red out of food coloring, so my boy got a pink birthday cake, but he didn't seem to mind. That's what counts! The next picture we are filling up more water balloons. Trying to do this with a pack of excited 4-year-old's was a hilarious experience.

I loved this picture with all the skinny arms flailing around. This picture puts me in motion.

This is when we showed Peter his new big-boy bed he got for his birthday from Mom and Dad. What an exciting day!

Peter was born the same day our town does its 4th of July celebration, which means he gets fireworks on his birthday every year! We get together with my husband's family and eat dinner and cupcakes while we wait for it to get dark. Elsie sure liked the frosting!

Peter is modeling his new p.j.'s Grandma just gave him for his birthday.