ThE fOuRtH

We hung out in our front yard and watched fireworks our next door neighbors were setting off. They have four older boys, so I'm sure the 4th is a favorite holiday over there. We also enjoyed a delicious homemade apple pie my friend Sarah brought over. It was low-key, relaxing, and fun! The girls enjoyed doing sparklers, pop-it's, and confetti thingys. Here's some pics Rod took:

Rod experimenting with shutter speed here

Check out those black feet! That's just from toddl-ing around the front yard. Yup...that's definately my child.

Love this picture!

Crafty, crafty

Some crafty stuff I've been up to lately: I've had this chair in the works for a long time; I bought the fabric a year ago to reupholster it. Seriously, an entire year this has been on my mind. It was just so daunting, but once I tackled it, it only took 5 days to do. Now it's comfy and looks good, before it was stained and dirt streaked to the point of grossness!!!

This ottoman actually goes with the chair I just reupholstered, but there's no room in our living room for it. So I recovered it with outdoor fabric and it's a side table/ottoman/coffee table for outside. (side note: those are my tomato plants in the background; I'm harvesting yummy tomatoes, some are from seeds mom brought me from Italy a few years ago. They are good!!)


I hope Megan doesn't check this blog before I take these to her next week, but these are for her baby boy! She's due in a few weeks, and while we're in Tahoe I'll swing these by for her. I made these booties and hat from a super cute Amy Butler pattern. She has a book out that a friend told me about; I got it from the library and pretty much want to make every single thing out of it...but these have satisfied me for now.

It's sad you can hardly see the lining- that's the super cute part of these!!!

Better late than never.....

Here's some pics from the last couple months. Our lives have been taken over by baseball, with all three older kids on different teams. It's pretty much over now, and they all had fun, I think. Audrey liked to dress up in her baseball uniform more than anything. It's all about appearances with that girl. Here she is at her little kindergarten graduation (I missed watching her get her diploma and throw her cap, I was only 7 minutes late and they were already done-at least Troy was there). She thought is was pretty fun, although I'm not sure what the big deal is about graduating from kinder. Sometimes some parents go overboard I think. Anyways, the kids had a good last day of school. Devon got all his grades up and made the honor roll, we are very proud of him. He also got the Mr. Eyor award. It said "no more doom and gloom." Troy and I thought it was hilarious since we call him Eyor all the time. Cameron got the math award for his class. At the beginning of the year he was at a 1.9 grade level and at the end of the year he went to a 5.4 grade level! Maybe he got dad's math brain. We can only hope.

Here's some wedding reception pics. Jenny giggling at the really tacky punch fountain. That gold cherub in the middle is hilarious. What made the fountain even funnier was that fact that it didn't really work either. Punch trickled from a few of the spouts.

Carrie's Jacky dress and pose. Isn't she cute?

I LOVE, LOVE this picture. Adam and Cameron mesmerized by the chocolate. It was just too much to handle. Again, the fountain thing didn't work out so well. If the chocolate wasn't completly stiff that's all you could hope for. At least it still tasted delicious once you figured out a way to get it on your plate.

Me, Jenny and cute Maggie

Once he found water, Alex was a happy camper.

Everyone had a delightful time. Except Audrey. :)

Is it just me or does Adam have a very mischievious look? Was this pre or post 'lets throw rocks off the top of the temple. Oops, we hit a car' Hmmm.

America's future

Some down time with dad before the wedding.

Sorry ladies, they're taken.

How to eat a cupcake. or at least just the frosting, since that's all that matters.


PLAY BALL!!

Lund, Nevada!!!

We didn't camp as planned, due to barfing children, but we did go up to Lund for just the day last Sunday. We visited Grandpa's grave (and other ancestors- we took pictures of lots of other headstones, too), and apparently Grandma's future grave. We had a picnic in the cemetary with mom, Grandma, Roger, Ann & Adam. We really enjoyed seeing everyone, learning a little about our history, and the very beautiful scenery! It was so serene and peaceful- I can see why Grandpa wanted to be buried there.

An owl flew into a tree at the cemetary while we there! I've actually never seen an owl in "real life" before- and during the day, too!

Grandpa Gubler's birthplace- his parent's home is no longer standing, but it was located in front of these trees- where the lighter colored, flat grass is.


We went to the Lund Muesum! There's was even a picture of mom in this museum! They have a picture of Grandpa's parents celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and mom is a little girl in the picture.

A doll-house sized stove.

A creamer used to separate milk and cream, I think this said it was donated by Grandpa's brother George. Mom told us Grandpa's father would take the cream to Ely to sell. It took him 3 days round trip with a wagon and horse. He'd camp on the way.

Mom- correct me if I'm wrong here- I think you said this was one of Grandpa's Uncle's house?
And that he was a little bit of a character?

Grandpa's elementary school! Then it was one room, now it's been added on to. The date says 1915. The girls got to play on the playground, which was great to release that road-trip energy!

Aunt Lucille's house (Grandpa's sister). Mom said when Grandpa's father died, she remembers he was laid out for the viewing in this house.

Grandpa's high school. Built in 1931. They no longer use this as their high school, they have a nice new one. There was a random chicken hanging out like 5 feet from here. Seemed very Lund.

Completely unrelated, we had a little "flower party". Caitlin's idea. Her and Lizzie each picked 3 friends to come over. We did flower projects, painted faces, played "pin the stem on the flower", and played in the sand box.

Cheers! The highlight was using these glass cups and punch bowl. The girls felt super cool and grown up using these! Grandma gave them to me because she loves me the best. (just kidding!)

For dessert, we did the ol' worms in mud thing (which is really gummy worms in a mashed oreo/chocolate pudding/whipped cream mixture). Yummy!!!

So that's what we've been up to lately!

Whittle Update

Just in case you all need a visual as to where I'll be spending most of my time starting in 2 weeks, here it is:

There's definently nothing fancy about it, but it's large, and in the price range we needed. There really was nothing on the WA side of the river that fit our family (a 2 bedroom just won't cut it), or that was large enough but still in the budget. This was the only one! A couple in our new ward raised their family in the house and has it for sale now. They want to sell it and go on a mission. I guess it's been on the market for a while but hasn't had any offers. They called us and said they would rent to us for at least a year. We definently plan on renting for a while. The house is in Lyle, which is about 12 miles east of White Salmon.
Kitchen pros: DISHWASHER!!! cons: very little cupboard space, what's up with those little ones that hardly anyone can reach? There are a few more on the other side of the kitchen that aren't in this picture. I realized I've been spoiled with my current large kitchen, I'm going to have to figure out where to put stuff and food...there's no pantry :(

These trees are in the front yard, it's nice since it creates some privacy. It seems like a quiet (at least til we get there) neighborhood. Alex is always stripping and ends up naked on his 4-wheeler outside. I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate that.

This is the view of the Columbia River from the backyard, isn't it awesome? From the house you can hear the trains along the river and the barges. The kids love it.

I think it's good that the kids now have a visual in their mind where we are moving to. We took them by their schools and went to church too, so I think they are excited. Our ward seems nice, a good combo of older/younger families. Not too big or small. Alex went to nursery for the first time (well, except for when I'm in Benicia) and loved it. When another kid who apparently has issues clawed him in the face for no reason he was very sad and didnt' want to stay, but all the new toys conviced him to give it another try. After church a family invited us and a few other families over for dinner. It was great to get to know some people, and the boys had a great time. There's a good group of boys close to their ages, so they made instant friends. Audrey has a few girls close to her age too. Well, I better go pack up some more. It is so overwhelming! I'm trying to go through all the kids rooms and get rid/throw away stuff while they're still in school. I know that it would be much more difficult with them home. We are officially moving on the 17th. The house has plenty of room for visitors! It has 6 bedrooms total and a rec room and family room downstairs. I don't think we have enough furniture to fill up the house, but that's okay. Anyway, I left my camera at mom's from the wedding and I got it a few days ago, so when I get them uploaded, I'll put some up. There's some cute ones. Hope everyone is good!