California 2009

While I was at Girls Camp in June I was told that my father was in the hospital due to kidney failure and congestive heart failure. It really worried everyone in the family but he soon brought up his numbers with medicine and changing his diet. I had the plan to go to Utah while my parents would be there on their vacation so I could see them and visit my sisters at the same time but due to the medical issues my parents decided to stay close to home. I knew that Mitchell had to work so I asked him if I could take the girls to California. He knew that it was really important to me to see my Dad so he was happy to let us go.

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My niece, Elizabeth, came along with us. We left at 4:00 am and drove straight through. I made it, stops and all, in 14 hours. It was not a bad drive and I was surprised I actually did it by myself in one day.

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I made sure that we were there over a Sunday so that I could go to the Corcoran Branch that I grew up in. I love the branch and all of the members that still live in Corcoran. I have wonderful memories of my childhood and would move back in a second if the situation came about that we could. We had a great time going to church with Grandma and Grandpa.

The next day we (My family, Elizabeth and my parents) met up with my sister Tricia and her family, who happened to be on vacation in Palm Springs at the time, and brother Mark. We enjoyed a fun filled day at Knotts Berry Farm.

Oh my, we had such a great time! The day before Hailey was not feeling well so we were worried that we might not be able to go but as we woke up to leave she said that she felt better. She ended up throwing up while on the drive, and two more times but after she threw up she sad she felt a lot better. She ended up sleeping off and on, but she still had a great time.

Camp Snoopy was so fun for the kids and since I stayed with Hailey the whole day, we stayed there a lot of the day.

Uncle Mark had fun going on the rides with the kids.

Carter, Parker, Hailey and Ashley on the Camp Snoopy Hopper

Lindsay posing on the airplane ride while waiting for lunch.

Ashley pushing her mine cart with her own strength, this is my kind of ride due to the workout. :)

The Ferris wheel was such a fun ride, but the line was so long and then once you got on it took awhile to get off so we only went on this twice, but the lines were worth it.

Tricia, Carter and Hailey on the fiesta cups. (The whole gang minus Dad who was the picture taker and Mark who went home a little earlier)

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It was so much fun being able to spend the day with cousins. Thanks Tricia for coming up with the idea!!

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That night my parents and I got a hotel by Knotts Berry Farm. In the morning we enjoyed playing in the pool. That afternoon we went to Huntington Beach. Our plan was to let the girls body board, but the waves were so high that we had to get the girls out of the water. They still had fun making sandcastles and finding HUGE seashells.

Hailey, Ashley and Lindsay enjoying the beach. Hailey is holding one of the many shells that we found. Lindsay was trying to body board and a huge wave went over her head that caused about a pound of sand to go in her hair and swimming suit. She stayed out of the water after that.

Ashley being cute.

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Another fun thing that we like to do at Grandma and Grandpa Adamson's house is swimming at the YMCA. While growing up I went to the Y all of the time. Our girls were so excited to go on the water slide and they were sad to find that it was closed the day that we went, but we still had fun.

Right before it closed Lindsay got a bee sting on her arm and was very brave and did not cry. She actually said that it did not hurt very much. I was glad to know that she was not allergic because Ashley is and about three years ago she was stung like 8 times when she stepped on a bee hive by accident.

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One of the days we went to Fresno for my Dad's Dr. apt with the Kidney Specialist. He said that my dad looked good, but his kidneys were functioning at 20%. If the function got down to 19% he would be put on the kidney transplant list. I hope that does not happen! The Dr's call him a walking miracle because he has been diabetic since he was 12, had a quadruple bypass while I was in high school and now his kidney problems. In June the family fasted for my father and we know that prayer and fasting works, he is the proof!

While in Fresno we walked around the grounds of the Fresno Temple.

The grounds are gorgeous.

Thank you Mom and Dad for making our week so fun and memorable! I, and the girls, cherished every moment!

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We are lucky enough to have both sets of Grandparents within 30 minutes of each other. We also had a lot of fun with Jan and Hershel, Nana and Christopher.

Lindsay, Hershel, Ashley and Hailey Lindsay, Nana (Grandma Courson), Hailey and Ashley

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Jan and Hershel have 10 acres in Riverdale. They have a couple of four wheelers that we had a lot of fun playing on. Chris (my nephew), Ashley and Lindsay
Hailey and Ashley by the sand dune.
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Jan was so excited to show the girls her hope chest. It had a lot of fun treasures in it, many of which I have never seen before so it was fun for me to see.
Hailey and I enjoyed looking at Jan and Hershel's wedding book. Chris was looking at his grandpa's Scout book.
Jan is holding up the mobile that was above Mitchell and Ryan's crib. I really enjoyed looking at Mitchell and Ryan's baby book. There were so many fun baby pictures.
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We then went with Hershel to their own watering hole, the Kings River, that is a 5 minute drive from their home. Hailey had fun driving there. Yes, she is actually driving.
Every year that Mitchell went to Oklahoma they would swim in the ponds. His grandpa would bring a couple of watermelon's and would throw them into the pond. As we arrived to the watering hole, Hershel backed all the way into the water and threw in two huge watermelons. It was fun to do one of Mitchell's traditions.
The water was absolutely PERFECT! It was clear, beautiful and warm. Hershel grabbed a couple of lawn chairs and we enjoyed watching the kids swim.
The girls, and Chris, had fun relaxing on the tubes, swimming to the other side of the river and just hanging out. It was so fun I did not want to leave!!! I can not wait to go back next year. I know that this will be a memory that the girls will never forget.

We left a day early so that I could visit with my friend Kelly at her house. I have known her since I moved to Corcoran when I was in the third grade. We have had a lot of fun adventures together. It was fun spending the night and catching up a little with her. Her son Tyler is a doll and the girls had a blast playing with him and their dogs. Thank you everone for such a wonderful time! Not sure if I will make the trip without Mitchell again, but now I know I can do it if I have to.

Lindsay's New Room

Our Lindsay is growing up. She is such a huge helper around the house and is such a wonderful cleaner. Whenever we go to anyone's home she is constantly cleaning their house for them. She thinks it is fun. She will clean everything, but her bedroom. Her two sisters like to get out toys and not put them away and she does not feel that it is very fair that she has to clean up her sister's messes.

On a Friday night Mitchell decided we would move Lindsay into her own bedroom. We wanted it to be a secret from the girls. We went to Home Depot and picked up all of the supplies to make her a special bed. It had to be special because we were moving her into the office that is pretty small and would not have room to hold drawers for her to put her clothes in so we had attach them to the bed.

Mitchell drew up the plans and went to work. While we were working on the bed the girls wanted to know what we were making and it was funny hearing their guesses. They ended up thinking that it was going to be a huge box. After a while they figured it would be a bed, but we told them that we were going to sell it once it was made. (Yes, we lied to our children, but it was fun to tell her the truth later on.)

Mitchell making the drawers.

Bed frame

Installing the rollers for the drawers.

Voila and we were done. Mitchell made another blue piece of wood to look like the other two drawers that will become a fold up little table. It just has not been installed yet.

I went to Fred Meyer and bought her this new comforter set. I really like the colors and it is reversible. When we get the time we plan on painting her room in a light green to get rid of the ugly brown walls.

This is when we told her that it was her own room. She really thought we were going to sell the bed and was pretty sad, but helped paint it and had a great time and did not complain. I think she was pretty excited.

She absolutely loves having her own room. I do not think she has slept in it by herself yet though since her younger sisters keep sneaking in and sleeping with her.

Portland Rose Garden

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful state. I absolutely love Oregon. We have a gorgeous Rose Garden that I love going to every year. It has hundreds of different types of roses.

This year we decided to take the train from our zoo to the rose gardens. So we were able to see the animals, ride a train and see the beautiful flowers.

This rose color has to be my absolute favorite. I would love a dress in this color so I am always on the lookout for it. One of these days.
Ashley and Lindsay love the yellow roses and had fun snapping photos.

Relaxing by a memorial. Thee were so many fun placed to take pictures in front of flowers and the girls wanted to take a picture in front of this brick wall.

Lindsay was our photographer.

Independance Day

This year for the Fourth of July we decided that we would spend it hiking, playing at the beach, paragliding and watching the fireworks over the Ocean at Seaside.

We were so excited to go on a family hike. We packed a picnic and hiked up University Falls and Gales Creek.
Each girl had their own backpack with their own supplies.

At Gales Creek we had to cross this tiny bridge. Later we had to cross the same kind of bridge that did not have a railing on one side. I was pretty nervous about the girls crossing, but they did a great job.

Mitchell loves to paraglide and he knew of a beach by Tillamook that had a good paragliding and hanggliding hill. We had to check it out. We had a lot of fun playing on the sand dunes.

Teddy also enjoyed playing in the sand. The girls would dig a hole and he would run over and dig with them.

Mitchell took off with his paraglider and was able to coast down the beach. He was so excited and had a great time.

Later that night we made our way to Seaside and watched the firework show from a far. There were so many illegal fireworks going on that by the time the real firework show started, there was so much smoke in the air, we could not see a thing so we went home. It was a still a very fun day.