Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pumpkins and the Coast

Happy Halloween!!! We had to celebrate a little early this year, due to the fact that Masen won't be with us this year. We had a great time carving pumpkins. Masen and Shawn really got into taking the guts out of the pumpkins. It took them quite a while, but they turned out nice and clean when they were done.

Masen wanted to know what the inside of a pumpkin tasted like, so he actually licked some of the seeds. He said it tasted like pumpkin. Crazy, isn't it?

I had to take a picture of Shawn with his orange claw. He looked like that for about an hour.

We bought a book of ideas for pumpkin carving. It came will all sorts of tools and pictures. Masen chose one that looked like an owl on drugs. Shawn spend a good amount of time getting it just right. I would show you a picture of it, but he wouldn't let me take on of it until we got a candle. It looks just like the picture, but you might have to know what the picture is to see it. He gets an "A" for effort.
Masen wanted to go out to the coast while he was here, so we drove over on the weekend. The ocean was beautiful! The first thing we noticed was the amount of waves coming in from farther away than we had ever seen them. When they would crash, they caused all kinds of splashes. It was beautiful, but cold. The wind was really blowing hard. This picture was taken from the Yaquina Head Lighthouse look-out. The rock is about as high as the land we were standing on, if that gives you any perspective.


Shawn and Masen walked down to the beach by the lighthouse. Here are some great pictures of Masen enjoying himself at the beach.



We drove over to the Historic Bayfront in Newport. There are some sea lions who have made themselves a home on the docks. Masen said he could stay there all day and watch them.


Here is an attempt at a video of the waves crashing. Keep in mind that this was taken on the camera, so the quality isn't so great. The wind was really loud, which is what you will hear for most of the video.

It is fun to live so close to the coast. We take everyone out there when they come to visit us. If you want to see if first hand, just come on over. Our house is always open to our family and friends.
We hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween!







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Sunday, October 5, 2008

Oregon vs Boise State

Masen and I got a last minute surprise. My boss's wife called 3 hours before game time and asked if we would like to go to the Oregon Ducks vs Boise State game. Of course we couldn't pass up the offer. As you can tell, we were right in the heart of the Oregon faithful. That didn't stop Masen from cheering for the Broncos.
The Boise State fans showed up in mass. They were loud at times, but were drowned out by the Oregon fans. This has to be the loudest stadium I have ever been in.


I called my friend John, who is an avid Boise State fan, so that he could hear the rumble of this stadium. It was quiet for awhile, as Boise was sticking it to Oregon, but then things changed. Oregon came back and the fans went nuts. Needless to say, John couldn't hear anything I was telling him.
Masen loved the game and the fact that Boise won. He cheered for Boise the entire time. I think the fans around us got a kick out of this young Idaho boy, dressed in a BYU football shirt, cheering wildly for his team.
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Saturday, September 6, 2008

Evergreen Museum


We were able to take Masen to the Evergreen Museum in McMinnville. For those that are not familiar with this museum, it is the new home of the Spruce Goose, the famous plane built by Howard Hughes. Next to the Smithsonian in Washington DC, this has to be one of the best museums that I have been to.


Carli and Masen posed with a Hellcat. Carli's Great Uncle flew a Hellcat in WWII. This was the first time that Carli had ever seen a Hellcat in person.




They also have a museum dedicated to space flight that was amazing....and I am sure will get even better with time.




They even have a full scale Titan rocket. You go down a spiral staircase to get to the engines.



And they even have simulators for kids (and adults that want to risk it).






And finally, a capsule being lifted by a helicopter. Very cool addition to the space exhibit.

Hopefully this will bait my father and brothers into coming to Oregon to visit.



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Masen's Birthday and Baptism

We celebrated Masen's birthday a little early. He was quickly outgrowing his Spiderman bike that Blythe and Dean had given him, so we surprised him for his birthday.


Masen wanted a Spruce Goose cake for his birthday. I have seen cakes that my brother Blake has made for his sons. Here is my lame attempt at trying to be an artist.




Masen also received a rocket launching kit for his birthday. We quickly burned through 3 packs of engines, launching it behind our house.



Masen and his pal Jonathan had a blast chasing down the rocket on their bikes as it decended back to earth.

Thanks to some special permission from church leaders (pushed through by Bishop Moffitt), Masen was able to be baptised on the Saturday before the Twin Falls Temple Dedication so that he could attend. It was a good thing that he was baptised by himself as he drew quite a crowd.


Here is the proud new member of the church. We are so happy for him and the wonderful kid that he is. He is growing up way too fast.


We had a lot of family that made the trek to Twin Falls for Masen's big day. It made for a very fun day.
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Saturday, August 30, 2008

Ultrasound Update

We finally got our ultrasound pictures scanned, so we thought you might like to see them. I know they are small, but at least you will get an idea of what our baby looks like.
This is a picture of the profile. If you look really close you can see the arm bones.
The top picture shows the baby's feet. The baby was really active during the ultrasound, so the bottom picture looks like it is sucking its thumb.
The top picture is the money shot. We wanted to know if we are having a boy or a girl, and here is the evidence. There is an arrow pointing to the genitals (or tenders, as Masen calls them). I know the picture is small, but it is quite obvious that this baby is a...BOY! There were many quesses that we were having a girl, and even I guessed wrong. No big deal. We are thrilled, and everything with the baby looked great. The last picture is another profile shot.

As far as we know, Jan. 3rd is still my due date. The baby is measuring right on track. We are hoping for a December birth. It was be nice to have that tax deduction. You are all welcome to pray for that with us. I am starting to get a bigger belly, and have given up on trying to wear my other clothes. I still don't look pregnant to most people, but I feel like I have a huge belly. I keep joking that I am going to make a shirt that says, "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant." I'm sure I will get plenty big in the next half of my pregnancy, but right now it's just annoying.
That's our most recent news. Maybe we will get some profile shots of my ever increasing belly for our next entry. We love you all, and hope you are doing great!
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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Hello from Oregon!



It's been just over a month since moving to Lebanon, Oregon, and we are finally feeling settled in. We rented a house in a nice neighborhood, and we are starting to meet some of our neighbors. Okay, so we've only met the families in our ward and Masen's friends, but it's a start. We are hoping to get to know more of them as time goes by. Our house is a country blue color, with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. The main floor is just a great room, with a nice sized kitchen and family room. We also have a 2 car garage, which will be nice when the rain starts. Maybe we can get our landlord to install a garage door opener before the weather changes. It's worth a try! Here is a picture of us outside our house. Please ignore the grass. It looked that way when we moved in.


We have had Masen with us for the past week and a half. He is having a great time riding his new bike (he got it for his birthday), and playing with the neighbors. He has made a couple of good friends, and spends all day playing with them. We are getting ready for his baptism later this month, which means we will get to see our families again soon. We are excited about him getting baptized, and he can't wait. We get to go to the Twin Falls Temple dedication the Sunday after his baptism, which will be a great experience for all of us.


We are both doing good here. Shawn is learning all the in's and out's of being the "big boss man." He has a small staff, and most of them a hard workers. It's been a high learning curve for the past month, but he is enjoying his job. Carli got a job teaching 3rd grade math, science, and social studies at Green Acres Elementary (how many of you are singing the song right now???). It's a different kind of schedule, and a really small school. There are only about 15 teachers total. The first day of school isn't until after Labor day, which is a good thing. Lots to do, not enough time.


Everything is going great with the baby. We get to find out what we are having in a week, and we are really excited about that. Masen says he wants a brother and a sister, but he's going to have to be patient and take them one at a time. There isn't really a baby bump yet, so nothing to take a picture of. That will all come later.


We are going to take turns updating the blog, so we'll see how we do. We hope you enjoy keeping up with our lives!
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