Our adventure to La Grande

We went on our annual "where to take our Christmas card picture" adventure.  I can't show you how it turned it out because you can wait to see your card :)  We did find snow!

Evan loved the snow until he fell.

My attempt at taking both the kids picture at the same time....didn't work.

One of the signs that were at the Oregon Trail info booth

Thanksgiving in the country

Where did you go for Thanksgiving?

Since we had just moved to Pendleton & driven a lot of miles to get there, driving to Bend didn't sound like too much fun.  It would have been great to spend the holiday with family, but instead we went to one of Chris's co-workers grandparents house for Thanksgiving dinner.  It felt odd to be with complete strangers, but all went well.

First we had to get in the car and drive an hour to Heppner.  It is smaller than Pendleton.  Once we got out of Pendleton we only passed 2 cars in 60 or so miles.   Oh and everyone that did passed, waved.  Must be a small town thing.

Heading into the hills. This is what the surrounding area of Pendleton looks like.

Our game...who could spot the biggest buck.

This guy was with 8-9 does. We also saw one coyote.

here's one of the smaller bucks

This one was the trophy!

On our way back over the mountains (as the locals call it)

Austin asked to try Turkey liver.  I wouldn't eat it, but with some salt and pepper he thought it didn't taste too bad.

Today I made a small Thanksgiving dinner for us.  I missed not having left overs last night. 

Exploring town

Chris put these up downtown last week. 

The famous Pendleton Round-up rodeo grounds

(click on the image and it will enlarge so you can read the text)

we are now members of the local children's museum. We have unlimited visits for a year! 

Austin the fireman

Evan loves all the new things to play with

Arrival in Pendleton

My parents & I left Albany at 9:45 on Thursday morning after picking up the fish, frogs, cat and dog. There were also boxes of unallowable things that Swartz could not transport, so we loaded that and the refrigerator items in the pick up and took off.   My Mom was driving the Jeep, I was leading in my car with my Dad following with his pickup.  Evan was riding with me and cried for about 4 out of the 6 hours it took us to get to Pendleton.  We stopped twice and thankfully the roads were wet & not frozen.

Here's a few pictures of the new house before the boxes were unloaded.

dining room area

living room

kitchen & laundry room beyond. Turn to the right and you go into the garage & basement

Happy un-packer :)

view from our driveway

Moving Day 1 & 2

Day 1: packing.

It was a treat to have a moving company come and pack all our stuff.  It wasn't without work for us of course.  A BIG THANK YOU!!!!  to my parents for coming over to help.  They watched the boys & helped me clean and get things together for the Swartz guys to load.

It took 3 guys from 8:30-4:00 to pack our 3 bedroom house

Day #2: Load

Again, 3 guys came to load everything in this big trailer.

They arrived at 8 a.m. and was done around 2 p.m.

couch before they wrapped it in plastic.

As they were loading room to room, I was cleaning as they emptied it.

Evan and Grandma at the Holiday Inn Express (Albany) enjoying the jet tub

Christine confirming the hid-a-bed is NOT comfortable!

Samuel experiencing a swimming pool for his first time.  He thought Austin's goggles were really cool.

Evan and the Barber

Evan's first professional hair cut.

I've been taking Austin to this old time barber & love the way he does a "little man" hair cut.  Evan's curls seem to be going away and Pendleton is a lot drier climate than Albany, so I decided to take both boys in today to get a hair cut. Disclaimer....Grandma's will probably not like his short due.  I think he looks adorable and did a great job sitting in the chair.

here he is after his bath tonight. Cute little man!

Cindy's here!

My dear friend Cindy came for a short weekend visit & we tried to keep busy.  Here are a few of our adventures, not in chronological order.

squirrel at the zoo

Meredith, Cindy, Austin, Ava, Garrett & Evan at the

Oregon Zoo, Portland

group shot at the zoo.

Friday (before Cindy was here) we went to a playdate/hike in Corvallis.  The kids found some huge leaves!

These kids are growing like crazy...still not as big as the sun bear though.

Chester loves Cindy too!

Our hike in the snow to the summit of Mary's Peak. 

It was 38 degrees and foggy but we made it. With bald tires and all.

Austin's first snowman of the year



Evan 15 months

My little bull rider!

Leave the dryer door open for a few seconds and this is what you'll catch.

He was very proud of himself for climbing in here.

Evan is trying to say lots of words, but they all come out sounding the same.  He pronounces mainly the first syllable and then stops.  So milk is just the "m", water is just the "w", and he tries really hard to say Chester but I've yet to capture that one on video.  We've been working on obedience & coming when we ask which he has made lots of improvement on the past week.  I've taken him into the library and fish store without the stroller & have been able to pay without him running the other direction.  Which has been wonderful for me.  He continues to try and keep up with Austin in whatever big brother is doing.  When Austin goes outside to play, he brings me his shoes to follow.  I can't wait to see what he does this year with a Christmas tree :)

More October B-days

Birthday boy Isaiah with his cousin's

Yummy chocolate birthday cake homemade with love from his Mom.

View from my brothers house of the mountains

Happy 85th birthday Grandpa Franklin!