Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins has been something I've done for as long as I can remember. Every year I get to carve at least one pumpkin. Usually it is more than one, and this year in particular we had a lot to carve!!




Here is Hailey getting her fill of pumpkin!

Everyone was able to carve their own, except for Gwynie; not quite old enough to wield a knife. Actually as you can tell by the bottom picture we each carved a couple. Below is a picture of Jeremiah with his cute skeleton sweatshirt.


All, lite up. My favorite part. It takes quite a bit of organization to get them all set up with the appropriate lighting. It was a fun night. Not quite like last year when Noah and Isaac ran into each other and ended up in the ER getting stitches. We decided not to play freeze tag in the dark this year. :)

Random

There are spiders everywhere. We have about 5 webs right outside our kitchen windows right now. UGH. And it is the worst when I forget that one is there and run right through the web so it fits perfectly on my face. Did I say perfectly?? Yuck. Oh well, I suppose they eat the bugs.



Just some flower pictures. I thought this sunflower in the picture above was just huge!! Almost looked like a face.

The Snow in August

This was our hike during our trip in August to the Wallawa's. We tried to hike up a mountain, but the snow came...So, next time...

Ice Lake

Here are the rest of the pictures from our hike in August up to Ice Lake in the Wallawa Mountains. It was a great day to hike up, the following day wasn't so great. It snowed up at the lake on us and then was a steady rain as we hiked lower and lower. UGH. And somehow people were still hiking up to camp in the rain! Don't ask me why!! I'm a fair weather camper. :) I admit it.





Monty carried his own food and chain for once!! He didn't mind at all! Thanks Sarah for such a cool dog pack!

Hiking up to Ice Lake in the Eagle Caps.

We hiked up to Ice Lake to enjoy a night out and about!! It was a great hike, pretty steep but we had a great day to hike and enjoy. The next day was another story...we got a little snowed on. :) In August. Weird. Anyway, I can't quite get my computer and internet to work, so I've got to wait until another night to finish my pictures. More will come...

So, this was cool, we found a sweet man made log raft that someone must have spent hours on. And it floated! The problem we found was the lake got deep really quick and we had no oars, but it was fun and even Monty got on the raft with us while we drifted slowly back to shore.

It was a beautiful evening, warm fire, thousands of stars in the sky and excitement for the next day, plus a great sunset. :)

Camping at Wallawa Lake

Our big camping trip of the season was the last weekend in August. We drove all the way over to Joseph, Oregon; about a 6-8 hour drive and it was well worth it. Went with my wonderful husband, my mom and my sis and her family.
I know, the picture below is a little strange. What is that animal doing in the teepee?? That is exactly what we thought. It was just sitting there, very comfortable. They were some very crazy deer, way too people friendly. They would come right into the campsites and just stand there. Very strange.


Swimming in the lake, me, Jeremiah and Monty! And here at the campsite, Noah, Brian and Jeremiah.




My mom cooking, and my sister and her youngest, Gwyn. Cute pics huh?


Brian napping, he unfortunately came down with a bug for a full day, ate some bad food I think; hard to imagine I know, but he does eat whatever he can get his hands on. Below we have Isaac and the fire, a much loved attraction to the boys.

Isaac and Monty.

And some pool time!

Ahh, summertime is sooooo nice. But now it is fall and I'm working on getting through all these summer pictures so I can move on to the next season! Almost there!





Jeremiah is looking cute as ever in the pool.

A Day at the Beach

Went to the beach and had an awesome day! Of course this is a month ago, I'm still putting pictures up late. Brian had a great day and got to surf for a few hours! And we had to eat at Mo's! Masha needed some good clam chowder.



Noah, Brian, my sister, Becky and Isaac. Enjoying the sun.

More fun from August!

We had a fun week or so in August where a lot of these pictures are coming from. Our friend from Russia was here visiting us and we did more than normal in the great state of Oregon. This day was a day of wandering through downtown Portland with Masha.

We checked out the food carts for the first time! Very delicious!



MMM, a yummy meal of borshe. A Russian soup with beets! Masha made us some great soup, plus we got to hang out with Ben from Juneau! So much fun!