Winter Fun!

Fall Hike

Richie and I were able to slip away the Saturday after Thanksgiving and leave the girls with my mom for a while so we could get out and explore. We went up the North Fork and did a hike that was one of the more difficult hikes I've done. It was very verticle. We got to a few points where we were like, where is this leading us, but Richie was determined to go forward and reach the very top. He told me, "if we stop now we won't be able to tell people we made it to the top and what it was like up there, plus if we get to the top we can have our Mountain Dews!" It was a lot of fun and a great butt and leg workout. It was a beautiful fall day as well. We worked up a sweat climbing up and it took us two hours to get to the top, but then it was cold at the top and only took us about 45 mins to get down. It was very enjoyable for Richie and I to spend some time together! Enjoy our pictures...

Weekend at Thetford

We just got home from an amazing weekend at the beautiful Thetford Lodge. We got to stay there three nights and just relax and let the girls have fun. We went with my parents, my sister and her daughter Ayla. And my aunt Diane and her husband Scott came up on Saturday to visit. MaKenna and Ayla especially had a blast together! The whole cabin environment was so much fun. The girls would run to the heat registers and let their hair blow up and just giggle. They really enjoyed going on our little hikes down to the water so they could throw rocks in the river. They especially loved Auntie Dianes cupcakes! It was a great get away and just a great reminder of how beautiful nature is and how blessed we are here in the Northwest. Richie and I got to go on a run and enjoy the scenery, while the girls were napping. Tray even was in heaven out there. He is such a good dog, we don't even have to take a leash, he stays right with us. Ella was a handful around the cabin because she is so mobile now and she gets around fast. She has built up some bravery as well. At the cabin she started pulling herself up on the coffee table and walking along it. I can really see how she is always trying to keep up with the older girls now. I've posted some pictures below to help give you all a scence of how special the trip was. It was an amazing begining to a week full of THANKSGIVING! I hope I was able to capture some of the special moments so that I can share them with you all. It is so much fun just to observe these girls and watch them grow. We have to cherrish these times, as they grow so fast. We are blessed! We wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

Pictures from our weekend at Thetford

Fall 2008 Pictures!

Fall is in the air!

Even though we are still getting some summer weather temperatures, I can definitely feel that FALL is in the air! I always seem to love it this time of year when I feel like getting all cozy. I bought a big box of hot chocolate at the store so we will have some for those cold mornings! We have already turned on our heat a few mornings when the house felt a bit chilly. We will soon be using our wood stove more and more and what else makes it feel like FALL almost more than anything is FOOTBALL season! We've been to the Oregon Ducks football games and are hoping to go to a Beaver game this year as well. We really like both teams, so when they play each other and we have to choose, we usually cheer for the underdog. Basketball season is right around the corner as well and most people who know us, know that Richie and I both love basketball and we are huge BLAZER fans! We are soooo excited for the team this year, that we might give up our DISH network so that we can have comcast to watch more of the games. Silly, I know. But anyway I love this time of year. It is the beginning to a season of giving thanks and of appreciating the simple things in life. I love the fall weather and on our tree lined street, you can not miss the changes that fall brings to the nature around us. Our leaves are already changing colors and are beginning to fall. We will be picking up leaves for a few months! I also love the Holidays that are coming up. Halloween is one that I just love and MaKenna is old enough this year to really enjoy it for the first time. She already has her costume (a monkey) and is so excited because we are going to have a little Halloween party at our house with some of her friends! I am currently looking for good Halloween party ideas and so if any of you have any suggestions feel free to let me know about your creative ideas! Ella is going to be a lady bug and she is gonna be so cute.

Today we were able to go get portraits done of the girls at JC Penny's. We got pictures of MaKenna, Ella and their cousin Ayla! They turned out pretty cute and I can't wait to get the prints, so we can hang them up in our home. I feel really bad because these are the first portraits of Ella that we've gotten and we got Kenna's first ones done when she was 3 months old. Ella is almost 8 months. I can't believe I have slacked on that. I know how it feels to be the second child and not have any pictures of just you by yourself. All of my baby pics have my sister in them too. So I made sure that I got some individuals of both our girls. But I really need to do some catch up work on Ella's scrapbook and baby book so that she doesn't feel less important. I totally journaled through all of my pregnancy with Kenna, but not with Ella. It is so much harder to find the time when you have another child to watch after and then at the end of the day when you put them to bed you are so tired, you just want to crash as well. But anyway I will see if I can figure out how to post some of the picture on our blog as soon as I get them.

I hope you all are enjoying the change in nature as much as I am. Although I have to admit by the time February gets here, I'm ready for the sun again. Maybe I can talk Richie into a family vacation somewhere warm and sunny about that time of year!

Family Update

I haven't been the best at keeping our blog updated, so I just added a bunch of new pics and I wanted to let you all know what we are up to.

Time is flying by as usual. Ella is already 4 1/2 months old and MaKenna just turned 2. I can't believe that we have a two year old. Wow. But we are sure enjoying her. Yes she has her terribly two moments, but it really is a fun stage as she is albe to communicate with us more and she is learning and exceling at an amazing rate. It seems like every day I see her do something or say something new. She is doing pretty well at using the potty chair her "poo pot" (except when she needs to go number 2). She can sing the whole alphabet by herself and can count to ten in English and Spanish. I am amazed.

Ella is rolling over both ways from front to back and back to front on both sides! And her two bottom teeth just broke through. My girls are early teethers. She is cathcing on to eating rice cereal, getting better at swallowing and now watches us as we eat! She is a very happy baby and I am blessed she gets to go to work with me every day!

We just got back from a trip to Utah. We went out there for Richie's sister Sandy's high school graduation. We had a good time and especially MaKenna with all of her cousins. We had a fun time for MaKenna's 2nd birthday. She got a party at grandma and grandpa Hildebrandt's. It was like a field day. We set up fun activities for the kids to do out in the field. MaKenna got a bounce house so the kids had a lot of fun jumping. We also are finishing up remodeling our kitchen. It has been quite a project. We tore everything out down to the studs and rebuilt it, with Richie doing most of the work. We will post before and after pictures soon. It is the first of many projects to update our cute house! So this is how our busy lives have been. I will try better to keep updating more often.

MaKenna's 2nd Birthday

Utah Trip June 2008

Welcome Ella!!!

Good Bye 2007

Well 2007 zoomed by. It is so wierd how time seems to go faster the older you get. As most of you know by now, we are expecting our second baby in February (the 4th) and we are so excited. This time we found out the gender and we are expecting another baby GIRL, who we will name Ella Rose, after Richie's grandmas. It has been fun because Richie's sister, Kriste, who is living with us, is also expecting and we have the exact same due date. She is expecting a boy. This pregnancy has gone by much faster probally because I'm not so focused on everything since I have MaKenna to chase after. She is getting so big and is not a Baby anymore, she is really miss independent and she is getting quite the vocabulary. But she is so much fun. This Christmas season has been fun since she can really enjoy it more than last year. She loves SANTA (except the alive ones), and recognizes SNOW (even though we have none in Salem). We are currently attending swimming lessons again and this time MaKenna's cousin Ayla is in our class along with her good friend Cora! So it has been fun and she is getting over being so scared. It just takes her a while to get used to things, but now she throws a fit if I won't put her swimsuit on. We are very excited to see how she will adapt and accept the new baby. As we go into the new year, we wish all of you the best and hope that we will be able to see you soon!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas 2007

FALL 2007

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Summer Fun

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

MaKenna Turns 1

June, 4th we celebrated MaKenna's First Birthday!

The year went so fast. I was so thankful that MaKenna had a June birthday so that we could have birthdays outside in the sun. We planned to have the party at a park, but Mother Nature decided to dump rain, so we ended up having it at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

MaKenna got lots of new toys including cars to ride, swimming pools, clothes, and basketball hoops!

She also had her very own cake to dig into. We had it all set up with the garbage bags laid out under the high chair so that we could pick up the mess afterward, but when it was all done, there wasn't a drop on the floor. MaKenna was very dainty with her cake and had it on her face, but never really dug in, she picked at it very carefully with her fingers. It was funny.

SWIM CLASS!!!

MaKenna had a great time at swim class. She was very unsure of it all and was always grabbing on tightly to mom's straps. But she very much enjoyed kicking and gliding into the pool. She learned how to get into the pool, by sliding in on her stomach. When she got dunked she didn't know what to think, but she did try and drink the water. Hopefully we'll get to practice more this summer and take classes again next year!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Beach Trip

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Woodenshoe Tulip Festival Woodburn, OR

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Cousins Photo Shoot