Connor's Birthday and early spring

Connor turned 4 this year and Nic and Shannon had a party at their house to celebrate. This time the cake was inspired by the Airplane theme. Connor is developing into quite the cute character.

A couple of days after his birthday there was this interesting sunset. There was a small opening in the clouds to the west and the light made a band across the mountains to the east.

The unusually warmer than normal weather and the dryer than normal weather has all the flowers and trees coning out two to three weeks earlier than normal so I thought I needed to show the earlier than normal spring time.

Playing in the sand and jumping on the tramp also started earlier this year. We had to document the stick jump activity that happens every time Connor and Payton come over and jump.

Finally I hired someone to place soffet and fascia on the addition . This picture is before the work but you can see it sitting on the table.

Progression of the house

It has been a bit slow in getting the addition done. For the month of February we did get insulation on the walls and then started on the sheet rock. I don't know why I am so slow but it seems I have so many evening meetings lately that they take all the energy. Luckily it has not been a real cold winter since the ceiling was open to the vents so warm air did not stay in the house.

Finally in mid February we had our 2nd snow storm of the season which is so unusual. Here I got a snow blower for Christmas and only have got to use it twice.

Grand kid overnighter

We decided to have the grand kids stay the night with us right before Valentines Day. Before they stayed with us though Cindy dressed up to look like a 100 to celebrate the 100th day of school. Yes she went to school that way all day long.

The party had various activities played outside and in the house. Outside was very mild for February and the kids jump on the trampoline and tried new tricks.

When it got dark it was time to do bubble snakes. Notice the walls now have insulation on them now.

Annual Bowling/ Birthday party

It has become an annual activity to go bowling as an extended family to celebrate Mom and Dad's birthday. We went to Ben Lomand Lanes. Connor, Payton and Shannon benefit from having a child's lane with the bumper up. Both Connor and Payton have developed their own style of bowling.

During the latter part of January gas began to go up from reaching an all time low of $1.77. During the summer it had gone up to $3.49 a gallon and to drop to this low has not happened for decades.

Ashley and Cal's wedding

On January 10 we flew to Portland first thing in the morning to attend the sealing of Ashley and Cal. We took Nate with us as he had a basketball game that Friday. Since we were going to stay only one night we just brought some carry on luggage.

We got to Portland and as we were walking to the car rental saw Bill Walton of the Portland Trailblazer fame. We did not take a picture since I would have intimidated him. We then drove over to the motel everyone was staying at. It was then time to head over to the Portland temple for the sealing.

After the sealing we waited outside for the happy couple to come out and be greeted by everyone and have pictures taken.

 We then did a few pictures of our own. 

There were a few hours before the wedding dinner so we decided to drive over to Maltnomah Falls at the entrance to the Columbia River Gorge. It was misty with off and on rain.

Of course everyone else was there in rain coats and casual and we were in suit and dresses just having come from the wedding and still going to the dinner, but those people will never see us again.

It was then time to head head over to the dinner in Oregon City. The dinner was at Museum of Oregon  History and overlooked Willamette Falls.

At the dinner table Maddie and Dad worked on their wedding smile faces.They still have a ways to go.

 We then returned back to the hotel which was near the temple and  took this night picture. The fresh smell of the evergreens and the bark is a smell that is so good, especially when it is winter and you don't have those smells at home.

The next morning we were up and off to the airport. We stayed a little longer at the airport however as our plane had problems and so they brought in a smaller plane. They asked for volunteers to give up their seats so we did since we had no time frame to get home that day. It turned out to be a good deal as we got a free meal out of it and $300 a person air voucher for a future trip. We took this picture of this massive wood clock cut out on one tree trunk in the center part of the airport which symbolizes all things Oregon. You notice Shannon is in a wheel chair as she had hurt her foot playing soccer a few days ago and had to wear a boot brace.

New Years Eve

We celebrated New Years Eve at our house. At first it seemed liked the numbers would be fewer this year but it turned out we had 27 at our house. It was a good trial run for the addition. We did not have it completed and it was a little on the cold side with no ceiling yet and insulation to keep out the cold but with the fire place going and space heaters it was doable. Everyone could fit and also move around in the kitchen. We had different games going on that were competing for who was having the most fun at their table.

Finally it hit midnight and we had noisemakers, poppers and then fireworks to welcome in 2015.