Halloween and Fall

I love the fall and I'm so happy to be able to experience fall in western Oregon. I love the vibrant colors every where we go it just makes me so happy! The other day we went to the park in just sweatshirts and I got a text from someone in Idaho saying that it had started snowing in Rexburg. I am so happy not to be there for the winter! We came home from our visit with my family the Monday before Halloween for a couple of months we had been talking about doing a star wars theme for Halloween so I went to work and in just two days I came up with our costumes I was most happy with the fact that I just used fabric I had around the house so it was definitely not expensive to make them. When I started trying the stuff on Bo little by little he looked at me and said maybe we should wear name tags so people know who we are, but once I was finished he was happy with how it all turned out. Bo went as Obi Wan, Will went as Yoda, and I went as Queen Amidala. We had fun we went up to Portland to hang out with friends for Halloween. Saturday we went to the Mt. Scott Ward trunk or treat with the Zeller family and afterwards went to Red Robin it was fun. Will had a hard time asking for the candy but after it was dropped in his bag he would say thank you. The next day we went to Hillsboro to see Bo's grandparents and then to Beaverton to see our friends the Jacksons their two boys and went trick or treating with them on their block. Will did really good yelling trick or treat and going door to door. I was impressed with the neighborhood he got multiple full size candy bars and one house gave out playdough. We were having such a good time then half way through tick or treating Bo turned to me and said "I'm not feeling too well" by the time we got back from trick or treating he had to run to the bathroom so the night was cut a little short he was feeling so bad that he asked me to drive. That was a little scary I hate driving anyways but this was the worse because it was an area I had never driven in and it was dark and raining and Halloween so it was busy, but we made it home safely and after puking all night Bo was perfectly fine in the morning besides the fact that he says he doesn't know if he'll ever eat kit kat bars again since that was the last thing he ate.

Michelle Got Married!

Michelle Got Married!

So I haven't posted in a while. I really wanted to but I went home for 2 1/2 weeks to see my little sister Michelle get married and while I was gone my computer broke it was a sad day and made me very grateful for my computer nerd husband who spent a couple a days looking at it ordered a part and got it back up and running.

I drove to Vale with my Mom because Bo was only able to get the reception in Vale off not the wedding in Utah. On the way we stopped off in La Grande for a potty break and to visit my Grandma Kaaen. It was so nice to see her and I was very happy to be able to show her how big Will has got. Will and I had a lot of fun on our little vacation Will was super happy to be around kids and pets every day plus he had a backyard he could run out to whenever he wanted to and a trampoline which he spent hours on. Will loved walking to the school to say "Hi" to Grandpa and to pick the girls up from school Brooke and Aubrey were so nice to him always willing to play with him and baby him. When we got home from all our travels we opened the door to our apartment and he asked us where Brooke and Aubrey were and still asks us everyday if we can go see them. Will loved to hear my Dad play his guitar every time he'd start to play Will would grab Aubrey's pink guitar and strum along with him. We also got to see all of Will's cousins he sometimes got a little overwhelmed when we were around everybody, but was super excited to be around tons of kids and just to be able to goof off and be crazy.

The whole reason we went down to Vale was so that we would be able to go to Michelle's wedding. So a week after we arrived in Vale we drove down to Logan Utah to see the big wedding. It was fun and very tiring to do all the activities crammed into such little time. I became very grateful for my husband on this trip because it was very exhausting to be the only person watching Will and trying to entertain him at the luncheon, reception, and all the pictures we had to do. I'm happy for Michelle and Jeff, I just hope that Jeff knows what he has gotten himself into. :)

Zoo and Baking

We finally took Will to the Oregon Zoo two weeks ago we went with the Galloways who were up visiting from Rexburg. It was the perfect day to go we went on a Monday in the middle of the day there were no major crowds just moms and kids around Will's age and the weather was perfect. Will loves to ride the Max (Portland's train) and he begs us every time we go to Portland if we can ride it so since the day was centered around him when he asked we said okay. Bo and I had no idea the Max stop for the zoo area was underground so when it stopped we were a little disoriented and just followed the crowd of people that got off with us into this elevator that shot us up to right out side the zoo entrance it was a pretty fun experience when your not expecting it. William liked to look at the animals and stuff, but he wasn't overly excited like I thought he would be I think Bo and I were more excited. There is a dinosaur exhibit there right now with motion sensor dinosaurs that was Will's favorite part he also liked the dome you could stick your head in and get an up close look at animals and rodents. It was so funny to see Will's reaction to the elephants there was one outside and one inside when we were there we saw the one outside first and then went inside to look at the other one inside Will pressed his nose right up to the glass like he couldn't get close enough to it I wish we took a picture of it but by the time we got the camera out the moment was gone.

The other day Will and I made rolls together, Will always wants to "help" me make things but really all he does is get out his own cup and play in the flour and sugar. This time I made an extra big batch and decided to see what he would do with the dough. He loved it! I gave him some cookie cutters and helped him make a "W" for his name, but he was more excited to use the rolling pin and fold them like mommy was doing. The only problem I had was once he was done making his creations I tried to let them rise like your supposed to but he kept on begging me to let him eat them. I finally told him he could try it thinking that he wouldn't like it but of course he did it was pretty gross so I threw them into the oven before he could try to take another bite of the dough so his were a little flat of course it didn't stop him from devouring them.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

When Bo got his new job this summer he was really excited that it was a job that is flexible so that he could join the Red Cross and Rotary Club. About a month ago he came home really excited from a Red Cross meeting and told me that he gets to do something really cool, but he is not allowed to tell me about it because it was "Top Secret"(he really likes to torture me). After trying to trick him into telling me what it was for a while I kind of forgot about the whole thing until last week he came to me and said that the local news is covering it so he can tell me. Extreme Makeover Home Edition was in town re-doing the School of the Deaf and Bo got to be a a part of it through the Red Cross. Apparently the whole process is way different than what it looks like on t.v. (surprise, surprise) so Bo didn't get to meet any of the hosts of the show. One of them was on the roof doing a tour with the cameras and during that time none of the average workers were allowed close to it, Bo and a couple of others were actually yelled at for not being in their designated areas, but still I still think that it is really cool that he got to participate in something like that. If you want to watch the show it is supposed to be part of the Halloween episode this upcoming Halloween, I think.

We are still pretty busy every weekend we are pretty much doing something which is really nice it always makes the week go faster when you have something to look forward to. We took Will to a developmental screening so that we could get him started on preschool through the school district because of his speech delay we thought that we would be able to score free preschool this year but through the testing we found out that Will has pretty much caught up with his age group! I was happy when the lady said I shouldn't be stressing over his speech any more, but sad when she said that he didn't qualify because Will LOVES preschool and I was hoping it would be a good way to meet some friends in the area for him. So now we are on the search for a good preschool that isn't too expensive.

A while ago At&t had an employee appreciation day at a family fun center in Wilsonville we went and had a lot of fun. We kind of got there a little late and left early because we were tired but we had a lot of fun while we were there. We played miniature golf as a family which was what Will would've done all night if we let him. It was so cute how happy he was golfing alongside his Dad. We also went into the kid zone with Will and because no one else was using the area Bo I jumped in with him and climbed through the tubes and went down slides I was laughing the whole time because it was so funny seeing Bo trying to maneuver through the tubes he actually got stuck inside one of the slides because of his long legs he came out with rug burns all over his arms. The best part of the night was when we got home Will didn't even make to his bed before he was asleep, I love nights that end with no bedtime battles!

Enchanted Forest

Last weekend my sister Cami and her Family visited they stayed with us for two nights. Saturday morning we got up and decided to go to the Enchanted Forest. At first we weren't sure if we wanted to because it kind of seemed expensive because you have to buy tickets for the rides as well as a admission price. I'm so glad we went! Will had so much fun and he only rode one ride (although he did ride it twice). The Enchanted forest has three different areas Story Book Lane, Wild West, and European Village the kids loved Story Book lane so much we went through it twice. Will was in heaven just being able to explore, run around, crawling through tunnels, and the slides that were attached to some of the buildings. I am so glad my sister came and visited it was fun for me to be able to have someone to talk to and Will had a blast being around kids his age. When they got up to go Sunday morning Paul told the kids that they were going to Grandma's house at that point Will goes "Come Mama lets go to Grammas" It was very hard for him to understand that he couldn't go with them and after they left he was pretty sad.

Busy Weekend

This weekend we were constantly going. My friend Erin got married on Saturday in Washington so Bo and I went to the wedding and on our way dropped Will off to play with Grandma Colley. It was a great wedding, but we were having so much fun that we didn't take pictures. The next day the Nyleen family had a reunion about 40 minutes from us so we went to that. We almost didn't make it because everyone we asked had different directions for us and they gave us the wrong name of the park so the GPS didn't help us at all. When we were about to give up Bo's sister Carly called and told us that her boyfriend Adam would drive out and meet us and then we could just follow him in. We are so glad we went it was fun! Will had so much fun playing in the river and the sand box he keeps on begging us to "go see grandpa" because he thinks its his grandpa's house. While we were playing in the river I slipped and fell flat on my back completely soaking myself. It was really embarrassing and hurt really bad! I still am having back pain. We are so happy we made the decision to move here. We love going to the farmers markets on saturday and Will loves visiting Grandma and being able to ride the max he asks me if we can ride the train every day.

We're Back!

I gave up blogging more than a year ago, but now that we've moved back to Oregon and the people who actually read this blog live far away I've decided to start it back up! We are doing great in Salem just getting to know people and reacquainting Will to Bo's family. I think our favorite part is just driving and seeing all the green around! We also love the berry prices the other day I went berry picking for a church activity and got raspberries for 68 cents a pound! This last week my parents came to visit and took Will and I to the coast with them. It was so much fun and a great little break from real life. Will wasn't too happy the first day that we were there it was pretty windy plus the noise of ocean kind of scared him but he enjoyed the sea lions at Newport and the aquarium too. My camera died right after we saw the sea lions so no pictures of the aquarium :(, but he loved the part where you get touch the starfish and other little sea creatures and every orange fish he saw was Nemo. The second day on our way out of town we stopped at the Lincoln City beaches Will just went crazy digging in the sand, chasing seagulls, rolling down hills, and even chasing the waves! I really wish I had my camera for that because he was so happy tagging along with my sisters Brooke and Aubrey. My Dad convinced my Mom to let him bury her once he was done she fell asleep so we left her in the sand and played in the ocean pretty far away. I once looked up to make sure my Mom was okay and I'm pretty sure there were people taking pictures of her. It was pretty funny. We are so happy that they decided to come up and had a great time with them. It really helped Will because he misses his cousins and friends so he absolutely ecstatic to have Brooke and Aubrey here for a while.