Newport Aquarium

So we stopped to get ice cream yesterday (delicious tillamook ice cream) and were asking all sorts of questions to the girl behind the counter about what there is to do in Newport, Oregon. She said you can check out the harbor or the lighthouses, go to the beach, or for a younger group I would suggest the aquarium. Little did she know what enthusiasts my family is about creatures and wildlife. So here are just a few pics to show just what little kids my family is when it comes to sea creatures and the aquarium!

Well if we aren't a big enough freak show, we decided to all line up and compare our, as Patrick would say, "freakishly long arms" to the wingspan of birds.



Tidepools are amazing. Lucky for us this was a touch tide pool with starfish, sea anenome, crabs, and my personal favorite the sea cucumber. There were about 10 other families that came and went while mine sat asking questions about everything from the bell jellies we found washed up on the beach to how starfish digest their food. We learned a lot and touched just about everything in the pool, lucky for us we have long arms... :)


The whole fam got to pet sharks and sting rays. I love the sting ray eyes, so cool looking. Just some more of life's little pleasures.

The Sharks - Patrick spent the whole time in the tunnel making whale noises. I have never seen so many weird looks, its not like he is easy to miss.

All in all our family had a great adventure!

Road Trip

So it begins...
The fam, all 10 of us piled in the Roper's (my brother in law's family) RV and headed to Oregon.

On the way we found this amazing slide. Two way slide and super tall. So awesome.

along with the best teeter totters I have ever had the privilege of mounting, and flying saucer too. Karlie and Shalie had to go on the same side to try and balance out my Dad, needless to say they fell off. What a blast!

Pine Creek 2009

Pine Creek: Rappelling, Water, Cliffs, Singing, Boulders, Frogs, Lizards. Joy!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

My mom just corrected me and says it is worth a million. Sorry to whoever said that, but you were wrong. Mom is always right.

Here are some fun pictures from Bear Lake.
Tie Dye T-Shirts

Shalie and Karlie's birthday. Complete with awesome new glasses.

The pinata bash, almost caused the death of several small children, they were a bit over zealous to get candy and ran out too early, almost getting bashed in the head by whoever was swinging.

Luckily, no one got hurt.

4th of July

Pretty much the 4th of July is one of my most favorite holidays ever!

Since the beginning of time, or my time at least, my whole extended family goes up to Bear Lake to celebrate. Boating, biking, tennis, tie dye, sailing, sand castles, beach, pool, sunshine, sunburns, card games, movies, food, fireworks, surfing, reading, frisbee, birthdays, family, fun! Yeah, doesn't really get better than that!

This year the crew at Bear Lake included

Martin, Shar, Madeline, Scout, Diane, Blaine, Richard, Heather, Tyler, Paige, Chris, Susan, Jose, West, Jaimi, Ali, Emma, Jeff, Melissa, Jake, Ashley, Dallas, Thomas, Heidi, Bryan, Nic, Bree, Ben, Keith, LeAnn, Spencer, Sam, Stuart, Paula, Alan, Jessica, Me, Patrick, Karlie, Shalie, Nathan, McKay, Karen, Steve, Alicia, Anna, Curtis, Jared, Jenny, James, Claire and of course Oma and Opa

All in all we had a great group and had a ton of fun!

The only sad part is that I had to come home today so I can be on time for work tomorrow :( oh well :) My mom and siblings are up there til next Saturday, I mean what would anyone do with 6 more days in Bear Lake anyway. I mean come on...

Feeling Small Again

Jessica's favorite thing to do when she is here on Sunday nights is to pull out all of the home videos. It usually starts out with her on my mom and dad's bed, but within about the course of a half hour the whole family is piled in my parents room on their bed. I know. It's amazing that all of us can fit, seeing as I am 5' 9" and only Nathan and McKay are shorter than me. Judging from the height of Patrick right now at a whopping 6' 7" (same as dad, though he would tell you that he is taller) I believe the chances of the two youngest boys being shorter than me are, well zero. I am destined to be the shortest person in my family, it is just a matter of time.

We currently rank in from tallest to shortest at 6'7", 6'7", 6'0", 5' 11.5", 5' 11", 5'10.5", 5'9" (me), and then Nathan and McKay (we haven't quite started keeping track of how tall they are). The funny part is that I wouldn't exactly call myself short around well any other family except mine. Maybe I'm wrong but 14 year old twin girls that are 5'11"+ are not exactly the norm. From videos of my childhood, to having younger sisters get taller than me, I'm getting used to feeling small again.

Jessica Black's Wedding

Here are a couple pics from Jess's wedding. Julie Anderson, Kathleen Reed, and I had a splendid time supporting our favorite bride! (keep in mind I took these with my phone...not too shabby)

Weddings

Everyone and their dog is getting married. Jeff and Melissa had their reception last night at the Lion House and then today i spent all day at my roommate Jessica Black's wedding festivities. Crazy how girls spend months planning a wedding and it all is over in a matter of hours.

Totally worth it, but still crazy. For goodness sake. Both were beautiful and it was fun to see tons of friends and family and ward members.

I'd post an awesome picture from the wedding, but of course we all forgot cameras and the only picture I did take was on my cell phone which I can't get to link through the bluetooth on my computer. Kind of annoying, but what can you do?

So Jess was my roommate all year and when I see her I just think of all sorts of random conversations and jokes that we had. . . which turns out to be a curse. When I was talking to her all that I could think to say was "Girl, you huge". Just because we quoted that so much winter semester. Some kind of bridesmaid I am, all I can think to say to the bride is "I love you heftiness, I love your zestiness..." whatever I guess :)

McKay's Song

McKay came up with this song out of the blue last summer while in yellowstone. It just resurfaced this week so I though I'd share:

Roll, Roll, Roll Nathan's head.
Hardly down the stream,
hit it, bash it, smash it, crash it.
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily.

Such loving siblings.

I thought it fitting to show you the true McKay... he's a keeper!

Patricks Latest

Today at work I got this text from Patrick:

"So... While I was unicycling this morning, i came upon a rather rocky and queerly steep descent. As i maneuvered down this death trap, i found myself rather tilted in a forward position. so great was my angle in comparison to the mountain, that the only means to escape an abrasive fate was to bail. And so i did, greatly underestimating the grade of the hill i found myself, patrick, hurtling down this hill at top speed. Fortunately i had a camel back on, unfortunately, my shirt was not on due to it being tied in a shawl around my noodle. Needless to say i tripped, turned so i landed on my shoulder, and proceeded to slide down the mountain. In bare skin. When i finally came to a halt, and regained consciousness. It appeared the camel back had spared my back from a more gruesome fate, alas the upper arm and shoulder looked like they've been attacked by a bear. Delicious. I continued on my way, feeling slightly more manly than previously."

So, there you have it. What makes it better is that he informed me that he concocted this wonderfully elegant message while sitting on the toilet. Information that both you and I didn't need to know...