July.. so far

I haven't blogged in so long I don't really know where to pick up... I guess I'll start with the 4th. My sister Eva and her family (sans Michael) drove up from Provo and they were here for a few days. She stayed with her in-laws in Vancouver and I saw her 3 times. Once to go to an awesome kids park/water park that I discovered, the second time for the actual celebrating of the 4th and the last time for Sunday dinner. I loved seeing her and the kids. I've missed them a lot and I soaked it all in as much as I could while they were here. We had a yummy BBQ with them and then had fun with setting off some of our own fireworks and then watching others. Jacob was terrified and crying at first and then eventually got over it and had fun. Daniel was a little mystified by the whole thing and watched with interest, never crying. True to tradition I made home made vanilla ice cream that turned out fabulous!

Then, much to my delight, my brother Richard and his family came to spend a few days with us the next week. It is their first time coming up to the north west and I was ecstatic to have them here. I rarely get to see him since he was already married and stayed in Utah when my family moved to California in 1997. We had a wonderful time together. They came last Wednesday night and on Thursday I took them to my new favorite kid park/water park (it's called Murase Plaza in Wilsonville about 11 miles south of us). Katy got some good pictures of the place and showing how much fun we had. Check them out

That night after an awesome sloppy joe dinner with corn on the cob and watermelon, we all headed over to tour the grounds of the Portland Temple. I'd never taken my kids there and Jacob had a really nice time. It can get a little hectic with that many kids, but we did ok and we were glad we went. I love the Portland temple and I feel like I'm in a small private forest when I go there, even though it is literally only several feet from the freeway. The flowers were vibrant and beautiful and I loved the uniqueness of them. I am intriged by blue flowers since they are so rare and then have rows of them here. I took pictures but they turned out looking purple and hence didn't show accurately what is really there so I didn't post them. It is surrounded by tall trees and I love my first picture where you can see the shadow of one of those beautifully old trees cast upon the temple.. so beautiful.

They left Friday morning. They wanted to see the famous Multnomah Falls on their way out of town and since we had never been there we decided to go with them and then part ways from there. I would always get shocked expressions from people here when they would find out that I have lived in Portland for two years and had never gone to see the falls. They are some of the most famous ones in the world, more than three times the height of Niagra. It's also the second tallest year-round waterfall in the United States. The drive there takes you off the main highway onto an old historic highway and the drive is almost breathtakingly beautiful.. even mystical, like something from another century/time (well, I guess in reality it is). I enjoyed every passing moment as we drove the three or so miles down that gorgeous road.

The falls were beautiful and we were awed by the sheer height of it and then, without much success, tried to quadruple it's height and imagine what Angel Falls in Venezuela (the highest waterfall on the entire Earth at 3,212') must look like. Oregon is so beautiful! I almost can't complain about the rain because that is what is mostly responsible for how green, lush and beautiful it is up here. I'm excited to start exploring and seeing more of it. We lingered at the falls together for about and hour and then sadly parted ways. I just about started crying on the way home. I was so sad to see them go yet felt so loved that they came up here to see me. I really miss being near family and it is something I constantly yearn for.

That brings us up to now. The weather has been enjoyable, and despite the wonderful sunshine my little deck garden isn't thriving well. I have one cucumber and about 32 tomatoes that refuse to ripen and turn red. A few of them are even starting to rot from the bottom. My zucchini's also aren't well. I've grown four, three of which have died and I expect the last one will follow soon. I really wish I had a green thumb. I was hoping that since I'm following the counsel of our leaders to grow a garden to be sustained from that the Lord would bless me and my poor abilities and that miraculously my little garden would grow. I don't know what more to do, but with how much money we've put into it I feel like we will end up with one very expensive cucumber!

Today I finally received the settlement check for the accident we got into just after Daniel was born. It was more than we expected and is truly a blessing that will help us to almost be completely debt free. We have so much medical debt and I will be thrilled to wipe it out! So, in the end, I guess my pain and suffering wasn't all for nothing. That's good to know.

This is getting really long... I'm sorry. But I just have to get it all down. Jacob is potty trained now and that went better than I expected. He is also a talking machine and his imagination is starting to explode. I love to watch him and laugh at the things he does. Daniel is cute as ever, he is almost one and that amazes me (as all mom's are amazed when their babies grow up). He isn't walking yet and I haven't seen him cruise, but Brent says he's seen him do it. He crawls everything and can crawl/climb up the stairs like a champ! He's so good at it we've had to gate it off because he will be almost to the top before I even know he's on them. I love my boys to pieces. I feel like I have been challenged recently by motherhood and that the very things I pray for help with are even harder to handle.. but despite all that I am very happy and feel perfectly blessed with my life.