Camping at Indian Henry

I love camping with my family. We had such a nice time together. The weather was PERFECT and I can't say enough good things about this camp ground, called Indian Henry, that we love to stay at. It's on the Upper Clackamas River in the Mt. Hood National Forest.

S'mores are a MAJOR tradition when camping, in our family. Avory created the BIG s'more. She ate it all too. I think Brig and Kelton ate 4 or 5 that night. That's the good thing about camping. You're always so hungry, everything tastes really good, and you go burn it off right after eating!

Brynn, Brig and Dave posing for pictures while hiking.

The kids found this fort already made down by the river.

Dave's eyes are dreamy.....as you can tell by the expression on my face....haha! (Love my camping face! :b)

Brig and Avory are my daring kids. They jumped off this rock into freezing water a few times. Notice in the background that the older boys behind them never jump! hahah! Kelton chose not to jump this day, but wants me to let everyone know that he did the next day.....LOL!

"Go Avory!"

Payton loved finding pretty rocks in the water. All of them were to special to leave there too. (Oye!)

A picture of my "Gang."

Me doing some cooking around the camp fire.

Dave is pretending to watch the coals in the barbaque next to him. He had a good book with him on this trip, the last of a triology. He never put the stupid thing down. Me and the kids harassed him the whole time about never doing anything with us, because he was reading. He gave me the "evil eye" as I took the picture. LOL! Isn't he scary?


Next time we go, we hope some of our friends or family can come with us! (Hunting pictures to follow this blog next week! )

PS- Happy 30th birthday Diane....you're getting so old!

My baby turns 4 years old!

My little Payton is growing up! She was so excited about her birhday! She thinks 4 is so big! I told her 4 year olds don't suck on their fingers, trying to get her to stop that habbit. (So far it hasn't worked.) I'd have to say that I'm a little happy my kids are growing up! I love the freedom that comes from all my kids being potty trained, talking, not having to take snacks, strollers, and diapers with us everywhere, and kids going to school during the day! Such a happy time in my life. Hehe!

Payton had this cool princess cake, and as my sister Maren said...."Yes, Payton, dreams really do come true!" She loved the cake!

Present time! (I could of fixed her hair before pictures, I guess.)

Oh good she loved it! Happy day!

I survived Girl's Camp 2008!

These are my Beavercreek girls! We had a good time this year. Lots of fun and very little drama! Always a good thing. Megan and I voted ourselves the HOTTEST camp leaders up at Camp Melacoma. We played make-up and hair one day while the girls were in certification. It was fun!

I tried archery. Look at that form! Too bad I couldn't hit the target!

Here is Avory's hair and McKenna Fox's hair before our skit. It had nothing to do with the skit. They just thought it was fun! Cool aye?

Bishop's Day: We had a hula hoop contest. I didn't do to bad! I still got it!
So we did have a little drama....oh no! A SNAKE! Scary! Taking a picture of her crying made her laugh though! haha!
Only one minor injury.....what?....it's okay......it's just a little flesh wound! haha! (It's not real. It was for 1st aid certification.)

So glad I'm done with camp. Now I can focus on the rest of my summer!

Brynn turns 7!

My cutie-patootie Brynnie turned 7 this month! Funny story: As we were shopping for her birthday supplies, people would ask her if it was her birthday we were shopping for. She would reply "yes" and then they would ask her if she was turning 5. She would get all sad and say "no, 7" and then the people would try not to act surprised and say, "wow, you're going to be so big!" She's such a runt! :( She wanted to have a beach birthday party. This was the cake she designed.
We just barely had got this pool up the night before! The only bad thing, was that the water was freezing cold from just filling it up. The girls didn't last long in it.

Brynn and her friends! Aren't they cute?

The Trek

Our stake recently reenacted a Pioneer Trek. The kids dressed in authentic pioneer clothes and reenacted several real events that happened along the way. It was a huge testimony builder for Kelton and Avory to attend. They both came home saying that it was the hardest, yet best thing they've ever done.
Avory and two of her best friends, Emmalyn and Susie.
Kelton and his possy of friends.
(I didn't know how to turn this picture? But isn't it cute of Kelton?)
Kelton and Avory before leaving on the trek.

Backpacking

Dave and I, and some of our closest friends, decided we needed an adventure. We decided on backpacking. We headed out to Eastern Oregon to the Umatilla Wilderness. (All the cool places we wanted to go were still under a lot of snow.) This picture is us just getting ready to start on the trip. I know my pack looks bigger then Daves. It's not really. I just couldn't fit my sleeping bag into my pack.
This is some of us taking a break. It was really hot and we had ticks jumping on us. Yes, my crazy friend Kati took her 3 month along. She couldn't handle us going without her.
Here's Dave and I on the second day. We were climbing to the ridge of these mountain ranges. It was a beautiful view. All the spring wildflowers were out too. You have to see it in person to really get how beautiful it was.
This picture is intitled "My Oregon Granola Picture." I would fit into SE Portland really well wearing this outfit.
On the last day of our 5 day adventure, we came to a great watering hole. We swam all day. This is me teasing Dave's farmer tan. Isn't he cute despite the ugly tan lines?

Anyway...we had a blast. Thanks to Mom and Dad Harris for watching our crew so we could get out! It's been awhile!

Avory turns 12!

This is a catch up blog entry. I have been going like crazy! But I didn't want to miss telling everyone that my oldest daughter has turned 12, which is a rather big birthday! Isn't she cute! We went to the Mac cosmedic store and had make overs. She now gets to wear make-up. She is good about not wearing to much most days.
We rented out the roller rink for her birthday. She had about 13 friends come to her party. We had a blast! (I'm surprised that most kids these days don't know how to roller skate! Let's just say they were schooled by this "old lady!") This is a picture of Avory's best friend Rylie Spencer and of Miss Kylee Bolinger!

Avory as graduated from 6th grade and entered into YWs! I must be getting old to have children this old!