Family Tubing Day

Two days before Christmas, the whole { H } clan - local at least - headed up to the snow to do some tubing on the Autobahn. HOLY FUN!
I was a bit worried about my tailbone (Dec.3 I took a good spill and it's still sore) but once we got up there and I saw there was no impact on your rear end, I decided to go for it. AND GLAD I DID! What a blast!
The day couldn't have been any better. The sun was bright. The snow was compacted just right to slide fast! And my kiddos stayed warm. What more could we ask for?

State Testing Essay Awesomeness

One of the components for Oregon's 4th grade state testing was to write a two page essay telling about a friend that you got closer to and how. Morgan's teacher was so impressed with this and gave us a copy of it... So well done!

My Favorite Cousin

Do you have a favorite cousin? I do. Her name is Jadi. Jadi lives in Texas and she hasn't come to Oregon for years, so I didn't know her that well. But last Summer Jadi came to my grandma's house for one month. Let me tell you some fun things we did together.

First of all, let me tell you how I got to know Jadi better. I would go to my grandma's house everyday because she lived only 15 minutes away. Jadi and I would talk in our grandma's hot-tub and when we were finished our hands and feet were wrinkled.

Three weeks later our families went to the lake. When we got to the lake Jadi and I tried to find tiny shells. After we got our family boat in the water, all of us jumped into the boat and headed to a cove. When we got to the cove our grandpa started to blow up the Hulkster and the Black Ice. Our grandpa drove the boat really fast over giant waves from other boats.

That night we had a sleepover at our grandma's giant house. We played telephone and did pillow fights. After a while we got tired and fell asleep in the living room. When we woke up it was Jadi's last day in Oregon. I made Jadi a cd with Jonas brother, Hannah Montana, and Chris Brown songs on it as a goodbye gift. We watched fireworks while making smores that night. Finally we said goodbye. I could not stop crying.

I miss Jadi very much! I didn't know we could end up being best friends! I'll never forget the time I spent a whole month with my favorite cousin.

Sweet Lauren

"I wish I could have a sister like Livvy."

- Cousin Lauren

Summer Visit from Cousins

Aunt Melanie, Uncle Steve and the kiddos, Danny, Jadi, Natalie and Carson visited us for a good solid fun three weeks this summer. This post is so long overdue, but had to be done because so many fun memories were made. We sure love you guys and hope 3 years don't pass before we see you again.

Danny - 12 years old. How did that happen??

Danny loved trying to make Delaney laugh. He was pretty good at it!

Little Miss Natalie - age 5.

She loved loved loved Delaney.

If she could've, she would've taken her onto the airplane back home with her.

We did alot of this at Grandma and Grandpa's home - roasting hotdogs over the firepit.

Of course s'mores were quick to follow!

The Bobbsey Twins - Jadi and Morgan both age 9. (6 weeks apart)

These two became SO close and are now BFF's, pen pals (via email) and miss each other SO much.

I had a hard time telling them apart from behind - same height, same hair length and color, same body build... it was crazy.

Such good friends they became.

Auntie Melanie loved snuggling with Baby D.

More BFF pics...

We even bought matching Hannah Montana shirts for these two as a goodbye gift for Jadi.

Ooohh how sad it was to say goodbye not knowing when we'd see each other again. Tears were shed... MANY tears and lots of howling. It was a bit comical for us adults... and for Danny. Look at his expression. CRACKED me up!

This is one of my favorite pics... look at both Danny's face (not amused) and Miss Natalie giving herself bunny ears! Too funny.

Yet another one of my faves. Morgan was howling so loudly in the car as we drove away. It was like we had ripped her heart out and stomped on it making her say goodbye to Jadi. Poor Christian couldn't stand the noise, so he covered his sensitive little ears. How funny is that?!

Here we see the girls shedding their tears and plotting on how to keep Jadi from leaving...

They're literally going to kill me if they see this on my blog. Sh! Don't tell!!

What a great summer we had with the Davis clan. I think my girls saw their Texan cousins almost every single day they were in town, whether they spent the night out there, Danny and Jadi and Natalie spent the night here, they played on the slip and slide, boating on the lake, whatever. Every day was spent with them. How special to form such strong bonds with cousins and make memories that will surely last a lifetime.