Oregon Coast trip - part 1

We have been wanting to visit the Oregon coast for years and this last month we finally made it happen, thanks to my parents. They had made reservations in Seaside, Oregon through a time share they own. It was one of the best vacations ever and it was also the first official Tony Norton family reunion. All of my siblings were there except Phillip, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Norton (GG). We stayed in 4 different condo rooms on 2 different floors but the rooms were across the hall from each other.  So there was us with Chris and Tamara in one condo (on the 2nd floor). Stillman, Michelle, Colby and Krista were across the hall from us. On the 4th floor was Melissa, Nathan, Dad and Mom. Across the hall from them was Grandma N, Grandpa N, Derek and Rachel. (And of course all of our kids!)

We began our trip on Saturday August 1st.  Most of us have an app on our phone that allows us to track where our family members are, so it was fun being able to see where everyone was while we were all traveling at the same time from different locations. I hadn't been to Oregon in 20 years and so I had forgotten how much of it still looked dry and desert like after years of people raving about how green Oregon is.  Well, it's not very green until you get closer to the coast but it still has some beautiful scenery, like Idaho.

Just before making this trip we had purchased a cargo box to carry luggage on top of our van since our family is growing.  It was so nice to have but when we got there it made for an interesting dilemma as we wouldn't be able to fit in the parking garage.  Curtis ended up having to take all of our luggage out of the cargo box and stuff everything and the box inside the van just so we could park. While he did that I took our kids up to our condo room. It was handy that my brother Colby had brought his truck so we were able to store our cargo box in the back of his truck all week.

That evening some of the men went to the grocery store to buy some food for the week. That's right, the men! So I took all of our kids down to the pools, including Charlotte.  Funny enough the "baby" pool was colder than the main pool so I took Charlotte in the main pool.  I was worried about how she would react to being in the pool since the last couple of months she had HATED taking baths. She used to love baths and I have no idea why the sudden change of mind.  It might have something to do with me taking her in Lake Lowell for the first time at the beginning of summer and the water was cold.  I don't know.  I can only guess.  Luckily, she did fine in the pool as long as she was being held. I even took a bath with her afterwards since I was already in my swim suit and I think that helped having me in with her but she still whined a bit.  Miraculously by the end of this vacation she began to LOVE baths again. Hallelujah!!!

The view of the ocean from our condo.

The next morning was Sunday so we all went to church in Astoria where Laverne's (Mom's) brother is bishop.  Most of us left after Sacrament meeting and headed back to the condo where we could relax and rest. Later we took our kids down to see the ocean since our condos were right on the beach. Stillman's and Derek's families joined us down there where what started out to just be a walk on the beach turned into most of the kids getting soaked from head to toe from falling and running in the ocean waves. It was fun watching the kids play in the ocean but of course I was still worried the whole time of any of them getting sucked back by a rip tide.

First time the kids touched the ocean and the beach.

Jack is the one on the left in the dark shirt and Garrett's the green shirt in the middle running towards the beach. They were having so much fun running in the water.

Nikki soaked by the ocean and loving it! Don't let the kids fool you either. The water was freezing cold!!

Even Charlotte loves the freezing water. She loved walking on the beach and in the water!

After we went back to the condo and dried and cleaned off, the men on the 2nd floor got to work on a delicious BBQ dinner.  They went a little crazy with meat but it was all delicious! We had hot dogs, brats, pork steaks, jalapeno poppers, watermelon, salad, and chips.

My brother Stillman and Curtis.

Charlotte looking down at the people by the pool.

The view from the condo across the hall from us. They got to look down at the pools and the beach.

Later that night Curtis, Tamara and I went up to the 4th floor to join our brother Derek and Rachel for some board games (Derek's favorite past time).  We played a fun co-op game called Escape! where we all work together to try and get out of the underground tunnels where jewels are hidden before the walls crumble down on us! But before we started and before my battery ran out I caught some awesome views of the sunset.

All the fun we had so far and it was only Sunday night. I will have to split this into several posts. Stay tuned!.....I promise I'll finish it this time!

We're so glad when Daddy comes home!

Curtis finally came home on May 29th and it's been busy ever since! We are so happy to have him home for good....again!

Curtis's first Sunday back we took a little trip after church to the wildlife preserve at Lake Lowell. The kids got to see the trash robots (robots made out of garbage picked up on the preserve).

After walking the trail we found a good spot to throw rocks in the water.

Me and my girl resting in the shade.  I was so tired I had to find a place to sit while the kids threw rocks.  Note to self, never go on long walks on Fast Sunday again!

The following weekend we went to Lion's Park with a lot of my family who were in town for my cousin's wedding.  I caught 2 of my boys hanging out in the shade. Garrett is loving having daddy home again.

After about 5 or 6 months of having this pottery wheel (she got it for Christmas), Nikki finally got to use it and make her first pot. Messy but fun!

And Curtis bought a new truck.  We can't wait to use it camping this summer!

Nikki decided her hair was too long and making her hot. She's been wanting it short for awhile so I finally gave in.  Here's the before front shot.

The before back shot.

And grandma Butterfield cutting it all off!

The after front shot.

And the after back shot.  She loves it!  I kept going back and forth on whether I liked it but now that I'm used to it I love it on her too  :)

We spent our anniversary traveling to and from Pocatello for a Butterfield family reunion.  There were some foam swords for the kids to play with so the boys were having at each other! They especially enjoyed chasing the big boy cousins around and ganging up on them.

A fun activity for the kids was to make some paper rockets.

Then launch them as high and far as we could using pipes and a 2 liter pop bottle. It was such a fun and great idea!

We took a trip to the Idaho Aquarium in Boise.  It was our first time and it was so fun!

We saw tons of tropical fish that you would only find in the ocean.  Lots of them we recognized from "Finding Nemo".

There's even some you can touch!  These are manta rays and small sharks.

Hanging out with the scuba diver  :)

Garrett looks a little worried about having his hand in that crab.

Nikki fell in love with the manta rays and was asking to have one for a pet.  I have to admit I thought they were pretty cute too.

The sharks were more difficult to reach for petting but we found a spot where it was shallow and this particular shark that he's petting was just doing circles around the tank. The sharks were a little more bumpy and rough skinned than that of the smooth slippery manta rays.

Jack was a little scared to pet them but enjoyed putting his hands in the water and watching them.

Garrett and Nikki

Jack and Nikki

Since we were gone to Pocatello all day on our anniversary we didn't celebrate until the following Friday night.

We celebrated with Dad and Laverne. It was my dad's birthday so we all went to Goodwood BBQ.  It was the first time for Curtis and me and the food was very yummy!

Wow, that's a lot of ribs! It was my first time eating ribs and they were delicious! Afterward we went over to the theater and watched the newest Star Trek movie.  It was very good! Happy 11th anniversary!

November 2012

Here we are in December already and it's time to highlight some of the things that have been going on in November!

 

This year all of my kids plus a couple of neighbor friends and a cousin (Katie) took most of their Halloween candy and we filled a box to send to the soldiers in Afghanistan.  Some of them made a card too and got very creative.  We sent the box to Curtis and he shared some candy with those he works with and the soldiers.  They all really enjoyed it.

 

I had the great opportunity to take my kids to the Boise LDS Temple open house.  We also had our neighbor friend Ashlie and her daughter there with us.

 

Jack was having a little fun with his underpants.  I think he's enjoying being potty trained now.  Don't worry these are clean!

 

We had a night of spiking hair.  I told Nikki hers was too long so she held it up.  Jack is also sporting a shiner on his cheek that he received that week when he fell and hit the piano bench.  It cut pretty good on the inside of his cheek.

 

Nikki has been having a great time playing basketball this Fall.  This was her 2nd year playing.

 

We had some small pumpkins that Grandma Vernie gave us so we made turkies out of them for Thanksgiving and took them to Grandma Norton's on Thanksgiving day for decorations.

 

During Thanksgiving weekend we had fun putting together a gingerbread house.  I put the house together and then I let them do most of the decorating on their own.

 

Then a few days later we made a train.  They were both beautifully decorated and yummy!

 

The train is heading for a tunnel!  Watch out!

 

Yep, even I had some.  Yummy gingerbread!

 

Our neighbor was showing Nikki his sword he had gotten when he was a kid.  He grew up in California where the church was very small and his teachers gave him this as a reward/gift for getting his Faith in God award.  They were an older couple and it was just their thing that they liked to do with the boys who got their Faith in God awards.

 

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we got our tree put up!

 



I was also able to get our Christmas lights up during the last week of November.  Yep, I even got up on the roof to get above the garage.  I told the boys to watch so that if I fell they could go tell someone.  They just thought it was cool that mom was up there.  I'm just thankful our roof is not too steep.  I'm also thankful for timers on our lights so I don't even have to think about turning them off and on every day.  Sometimes I just love technology!  And luckily I got the lights finished before it rained that day, as you can see the driveway is wet.

Now time to enjoy the month we celebrate Christmas!  It would make this holiday season so much better though if Curtis was here to share it with us!