Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Logan, Logan, Logan

No pictures tonight, but I wanted to throw in a quick story about our nutty son (well one of the three nutty sons). Last week Logan had the flu for a couple of days. It would hit him hardest in the afternoon and evening so he wouldn't feel like eating much lunch or dinner. But after a good night's rest he would wake up very hungry. One morning I was getting ready for work and heard some banging in the kitchen. When I got out there, Logan was sitting in the dark. He had opened the pantry and felt around until he found a can of mushrooms, then he found the can opener in the drawer and was hitting the can with it trying to get it open. What an ingenious goof!

Monday, August 25, 2008

The Beauty

One of the best things about Oregon is the scenery. We woke up before the sun one day to look for shells on the beach. We didn't find many shells, but did get several good pics.


This little waterfall had to make a new path to the ocean every low tide.



Before and after sunrise.


Hopefully it won't take another 9 years for us to get back here.

So, I mentioned this to a few people, but I really am serious. The Welch family needs to plan a big trip somewhere before Landon leaves on his mission. Any ideas on where we should go? Carrie, what types of places will your new husband (with hairy legs) like to go to? Amy suggested Coral Pink; I'm gonna go ahead and nip that one right now. However, a house boat on Lake Powell might be fun (of course it would need really high railings and really high door knobs so us parents with small kids could sleep at night). We could get a beach house on the coast. Or if we saved up all our pennies we could go to Nauvoo. What does everyone think?

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Attractions

While in Oregon, we did a bit of sightseeing as well. Here are the kids holding a starfish at the Seaside Aquarium. Trevor held it too, but somehow we didn't get a picture of him at the aquarium.

Another day we went up to Astoria and rode the trolley along the banks of the Columbia river and crossed the Astoria bridge into Washington. We decided to have lunch there in Astoria. Believe it or not, spending a week on the coast, that lunch was the only seafood we had. (It was clam chowder. Does that count as seafood?)


On our way back from Astoria, we stopped at Fort Clatsup. That is where Lewis and Clark built a fort at the end of their journey to the Pacific Ocean. It was a very fun place to visit. Usually these types of historical monuments have a tour through the buildings and you can look in the rooms while standing behind a rope. This one was very hands on. They let the kids try on the clothes and sit on the beds.


The next day we went to Cape Meares Lighthouse. We took pictures one the walk down to the lighthouse, but we forgot to take a picture of the lighthouse itself... Here is what it looks like.

Also near the lighthouse is a huge pine tree called the Octopus Tree. Trevor and I walked to it. The lighting doesn't really do the picture justice, but it is a massive tree. Instead of having 1 trunk it has multiple branches. The information placard says that to survive against the harsh ocean winds, several of its lower branches grew straight out, then turned up.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Beach

I think that our Oregon trip will comprise several posts. So we will start with the beach. We had a lot of fun at the ocean and had great weather all week long (surprising for Oregon). The water was the perfect temperature for little kids. Warm enough that they can play on the beach, but cold enough that they don't want to stay in the water very long or venture out too far. Kayson would have nothing to do with the ocean. He would bring me his bucket and ask me to fill it up for him. I tried to get him to walk out with me a few times, but he wouldn't. I can't say I blame him, but I hope he's not traumatized for life. Audrey enjoyed standing in the water, but would get startled everytime a wave came in if she was sitting. She also consumed more than her recommended daily allowance of sand each day. She would eat the stuff by the fist fulls.







Our beach house was just to the left of this picture. We were very close to a great beach and the house was very nice too. 6 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 kitchens and 3 family rooms.
Uncle Michael brought a hamster wheel to cruise the beach with.


We made a lot of sand castles and a few kid-castles as well.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Cedar Valley



I know I've said this over and over, but I really love where we live. Midge (our dog) and I and sometimes one of the boys will go out exploring the hills behind our house. The only thing I miss living right up against the west mountains are the sunsets. Luckily, we have a big wide open valley to the east, so if the cloud conditions look like the making of a good sunset, we will go exploring the valley so we can watch the sunset. Unfortunately, default camera settings don't capture good sunsets. One night we had a beautiful sunset and found an old foundation and trees near by. Of course, I forgot the camera so I didn't get any pictures. I went back the next evening and caught another nice sunset, not as vibrant as the night before, but nice none-the-less. My photographer sister got some awesome smokey sunsets http://nielsonramblings.blogspot.com/2008/06/holy-smokes.html. So I'd try my luck fiddling with the camera settings.

This first picture is the default camera settings. Doesn't really do justice to anything.



Then I started playing with the f-stop and shutter speeds. These two pictures are the ones I like the best. Of course, I didn't have a tripod, so for the longer exposures, the picture is a little blurry if you zoom in close.










This evening was very overcast and had rained hard earlier, so we went to high ground again. This is looking east over Cedar Valley. Our house is just over the saddle in the middle of the picture.



Of course, our valley isn't all sunsets and views. Midge and I have stumbled across two tarantulas:



I've heard lots of tales of rattle snakes in the area as well. Luckily I haven't run across one of those yet. I hope that if I do, I will notice it from so far away that I have to use the zoom on my camera to get a decent picture of it. A long time ago, there was a lot of mining activity in these hills as well, so every once in a while we run across a CERCLA site warning of dangerous levels of arsenic, lead and mercury:
Maybe it's the chemist in me, but all these signs do is make me curious. No, I haven't given into temptation, and I doubt I ever will, but I'd like to see the tailings piles and understand what is being done to restore the area. (Does anyone know some one who works on one of these sites?)

Friday, July 25, 2008

City of Rocks

After an eventful day at the pool on Thursday, we decided to head to the City of Rocks on Friday.

We found a Logan sized hole. On second thought, we should have taken this picture from the other side. He could have been Whinny the Pooh stuck in Rabbit's hole.


Then we found a Trevor sized hole.


Here's the gang. Kayson was sad in this picture and had been whining most of the day, but for reasons only he knows, right after this picture he perked right up and played happily with his cousins and brothers on the rocks.

Amy has more pictures of the kids and our adventure at her house on her blog here and here.

Trip to the Cemetary

On our way home from the camping trip we spent the night at Amy's/Grandma Nelson's. We should have planned better, because we missed the parade and rodeo by a day, but we had a lot of fun anyway. I decided to take a walk up to the cemetary to visit Grandpa Nelson's grave. All of the kids except Skyelynn and Audrey wanted to come with me and I was happy for the company.

As purdy as that hat looks, something tells me Grandpa wouldn't wear it.


On the way home, the kids decided they were done walking, so we crammed everyone into the wagon and dragged the bike behind us.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Camping

We went camping at Alturas Lake (near Red Fish Lake) in Idaho. It was a beautiful area and had a lake with a very nice beach. The water was about as cold as Bear Lake, a little on the chilly side, but we had fun swimming in it.

The sand castle may not be real elegant, but they are boys, they had more fun digging the moat and getting the water all the way around it.


One day we had a lot of rain and hail. After it cleared up, it was still too cold to go swimming, so Dad, Trevor and Logan went geocaching.


What a splash!


Trevor will make a great scout soon. Not only can he keep up on hikes and loves camping, he could sit all day around the campfire (even if there isn't a fire in the pit).

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Mmmm... Pudding...


What can I say, the girl likes her pudding.

Friday, July 04, 2008

Stars and Stripes


I think he could fit right in in Hollywood. What a star!

Friday, June 27, 2008

1 Year Old


Hard to believe Audrey is 1 year old.


She has very beautiful eyes.


But they are getting sleepy. Should we call it a night?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Spidey's Birthday


Logan turned four years old! Look at that snazzy basketball cake.


Is that spiderman? No, just Logan with a spiderman scooter, helmet, pads and sandals.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Ties


Get ready for some posts. I haven't posted in a few days (but who is counting right?), so I thought I'd go through the camera and post a handful of pictures.

I was getting Logan dressed for church and put on his tie. Kayson said he wanted a tie too, but we didn't have one for him. About 5 minutes later he came back and told me he found a tie.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Jump, Jump, Jump

I guess it is past time for a post. I have a million excuses, but none of them good, for not posting for so long. Here is Audrey in her Jumparoo that she got for Christmas. I'd say Santa knew what he was doing with this present.



Today we went to visit Grandma Great. Trevor took a nice picture of Grandma holding Audrey. I told him he'd have to post it to his blog, but later he decided he didn't like the picture and deleted it from his camera. Of course, he kept the picture of my truck that he took through the van window as we were pulling out of the garage. Amy, do you offer any kids photography classes? I'm afraid his artistic future is doomed.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Trevor's new blog.

Check it out. The link is on the right. Trevor has a new blog. He added his first post himself tonight.

Friday, January 25, 2008

From Audrey

Okay, Dad is not updating this blog often enough. I am too cute to not have millions of blog posts about me, so I guess I will have to post pictures myself. (Did I mention that I am really humble too?)

Here I am playing on the floor, but you better look quick because...

I'm leaning, leaning...


And over I go.

I like to be held, but this is a bit uncomfortable. I think I'm okay still.

Wait a minute! Is he old enough to hold me? And what is all over his face? Is that Mac & Cheese?


Well, at least I get a kiss. Everything is great.

See you all later. I'll keep bugging Dad to post more cute pictures of me (and the rest of the family I guess).