Our Oregon Cousins!

We just returned from a WONDERFUL trip to Oregon.

Allegiant Airlines had some killer deals from Mesa to Eugene and we just could NOT pass up the inexpensive opportunity to visit Jeff and his darling family.

Greg flew up with the kids and I, stayed for the weekend and then had to come back on Monday evening.  The kids and I stayed for a week!  And it was TOO short!!  Wish we could stay forever!

Here are the kids in front of the Oregon duck when we landed.  It was cold and rainy when we landed and we were all THRILLED.  Coming from a sunny state, rain and cold is actually enjoyable for a BIT.

Having some IPAD fun with the cousins...  Emma could play on photo booth FOREVER.  Especially with others to enjoy the silliness with her.

Saturday morning we went to a belated Halloween Party.  Ashlee and her awesome friend had organized this incredible Halloween party.  Unfortunately, Ashlee got kidney stones and was in the hospital.  (Nobody should ever be cursed with pregnancy AND kidney stones... how horrible!)  Anyway, they delayed the Halloween Party for another week so that Ashlee could attend the party she planned.  We are glad it got postponed because it meant that we could join in the fun!  These girls were SO organized and every game, craft, activity was really impressive!!!

Sonic and Silvermist.

Luckily the rain does stop in Oregon and we got to spend lots of time outdoors!  Here is Greg wrestling with all the kids on the tramp.

Jeff and Greg got into a bragging competition about their "primes" on the play ground.  Jeff claimed that he was the "king" of jumping off a high swing.  We decided to make him prove it.  Not quite as impressive as an adult.

Meanwhile, William and Grant found a puddle to dump themselves and their shoes... boys will be boys.

During stake conference... when we should have been in the sacrament meeting room... but we found a room where it was being broadcast and the kids went crazy.  Definitely not our most reverent church.

We took a GORGEOUS drive to the coast and enjoyed seeing the ocean!  It was Grant's first trip to the ocean, the water was too chilly to get into, but it was great to see it.

Jeff thought it would be fun for the kids to play "close" to the ocean... so we decided to stay close to the tide when it came in.  And then there was a wave that was a tad larger than we planned.  We all ended up in the water up to our knees.  Greg grabbed Emma, I grabbed Grant, Jeff tried to grab Will, but it was too late and the wave ended up grabbing Will.  Poor little kid was DRENCHED from head to toe. Luckily, Ashlee is an awesome Mom and had packed extra clothes.

Then we ventured to a light house for more photo opps...

Tyler had the camera and told Emma to pose... this is what she came up with.  Cute...

Emma grabs Tyler around the waist for a picture and Tyler says, "I don't feel very good about this pose".

On Monday we went to a park to meet Jeff for lunch and drove through the Wildlife Safari.  Greg had never been and really enjoyed seeing all the animals up close and personal.  We even got to see the elephant play a harmonica!!!  True story!!

Here we are at the train park.  Grant was pretty excited to see a train right in the middle of the park!

Ashlee looking like our heavenly angel...

I may or may not have made fun of Ashlee wearing this lovely outfit while the kids rode bikes in the front of the house...

Evening swimming at the YMCA!!  I had our bag all packed and then left it on the couch like an idiot! Luckily Emma was already in her swimsuit and Jeff was holding out towels.  Grant and I missed out on the fun though!!

Tyler jimmy rigged these goggles to fit around his head with some string... that kid is always so creative!!

Emma reading to Grant.  Melts my motherly heart!

And the cousins joined in!

Some bounce house fun.  Jeff accidentally called this play "Jump It Up" and the kids laughed for 10 minutes...

They also had a train table which Grant played with more than the bounce houses.  Guess what Grant is getting for Christmas??

All tuckered out!

Craft time with the cousins!

Another walk about the Wildlife Park on our last day.  These kangaroos were just roaming free in this area.  It was amazing!!!

It was raining when we got there, so we brought our sack lunches inside the restaurant, ordered some fries and ate our food while the rain stopped.  When we finished lunch it was a CLEAR day and we enjoyed all the animals.  Great timing!

Poor Ben had to miss out on a lot of the activities because he was at school every day.  If you are wondering why he is not in as many pictures.

We had such a great time being with our family and Emma and Grant could not get enough of their cousins.  They still talk about them every day and all the fun things we did together.  Too bad they are so far away!!

Here are some funny memories from the week:

• Grant could not get William's name right and kept calling him JoJo.  Even when I would say "William" he would repeat back "JoJo"
• I told Ben that he was such a smart reader and must be as good as a third grader.  He replied, "You mean a college grade?"  
• When we left Oregon Ben prayed that he would not cry when his cousins left. :(
• Jeff was talking to William and Will said, "Dad, it smells like you farted in your mouth"
• The kids were constantly in trouble were talking "potty talk".  When will this end??!!??
• They loved to play pretend and play fight on the trampoline.  Emma is not quite used to as much wrestling in our family and would constantly tattle that she was "kicked" during the "kicking game" or "hit" during the "hitting game".  Um yeah Emma - listen to the name of the game sweetheart.