Day 3!

Reindeer Farm!!!

They have some CrAzY antlers!!

Checking out those Reindeer!

Is that cool or what???

So many amazing structures!

This is one of my favorites!!

Couldn't get that pesky peacock to move!!

Very cool!

He had way too much time on his hands!!! Who would build something like this????

Simply amazing!

Cute little house!

That little house is balancing on that little spindly thing underneath it!

A girl and her gnome...it's a beautiful thing.

Love this picture!!

And this one!

How cute is this?

We call him The Bird Man!

The cemetery.

At my grandparents home.


Friday morning we got up and again, made lunches. Then we headed out to one of my favorite childhood places: Peterson's Rock Garden! I love that place! Still do!

This is the most quirky yet fascinating art display anyone could ever see in the Northwest. The garden contains four acres of all kinds of structures built merely from local rocks mortared together. There are castles, replicas of historic buildings, miniature bridges, terraces, towers, lagoons, monuments, light houses, fountains, and more. We also enjoyed the tranquility of the area, which is beautifully landscaped with lily ponds and picnic tables, lush gardens and small streams. Wildlife such as ducks, chicken, cats, and peacocks roam free around the property.


The structures and statues were created by Denmark immigrant Rasmus Peterson. In 1906, Peterson had settled in Redmond where he began his life as a farmer. The Cascade Mountains have seen a lot of volcanic activity, making this area a lush museum of rare and beautiful stones. Peterson started collecting rocks within an 85-mile radius of his home as a hobby. Some of his common finds include Oregon agates, petrified wood, obsidian, malachite, thunder egg, and jasper.

Over the years, Peterson's rock collection grew enormous. He finally used his collection to build monuments, bridges and miniature buildings in 1935. It instantly started attracting attention until in 1950, the place opened as the Peterson Rock Garden, spanning four acres around Peterson's farmhouse.

We spent a couple of hours there, roaming the grounds and then finally eating out lunch there.

When we left the rock gardens, we headed into Redmond. I wanted to stop by the cemetery where my grandfather is buried. I have never been back since the funeral, almost 18 years ago.

We also stopped by their home that they moved into back in 1980. My grandmother still lives there by recently went to Colorado to live with my Aunt for awhile, so she wasn't there.

After that we headed over to the Reindeer Farm!!! Real, live Reindeer!!!! We're still trying to convince Levi that they are real! He doesn't believe us. He's just sure it goes along with the whole Santa scheme......so funny.

We headed back to the house for a yummy dinner and then Scott took the older kids to the Sports complex to play basketball while the little ones all hit the sack!!

Day 2!

Heading into the cave...sorry, terrible lighting on the picture.

At the end where I was no longer going to be crawling. I could stand here if I bent over a bit.

Waiting for the others to come back.

All of the crew, squished in the teeny, tiny spot, just before the end of the cave!


Thursday morning we woke up and made sack lunches for everyone. We headed to Bend to the Lava Caves! I had been there as a child once or twice but no one else had! Boy, were they in for a treat!!!!

It's quite a hike down into the depths of the cave. We had a couple little ones that were not really sure about going into the dark. We stopped at the entrance and rented 3 lanterns. I had Jasmine on my back, Sam had Savannah on her back and Scott had Isaiah.

The temperature in the cave is a constant 45 degrees. Thankfully we had thought to grab every one's sweatshirts, even though the temperature outside was much warmer. The cave is approximately 7000 feet long. So just about 1.3 miles. It's amazing how long that feels like when you are walking in a dark cave!!

The cave is pretty open, with the *ceiling* pretty far up there. There was a sign inside that said it was 50 feet thick (the distance between the roof of the cave to the ground above us)!!

There were spots where the sides and the ceiling were suddenly right next to us and I felt very claustrophobic. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the ceiling dropped to the point where we were on our hands and knees, crawling through the dark.

It finally got to a point just before the end where we were going to be crawling for quite a ways and then on a slither on our stomachs to the end. I decided to stop there and wait for the others. Scott took Izzy off his back and they crawled together. Everyone went except for Talisha, Savannah, Jasmine, Thomas and I. We waited, hunched over for about 15 minutes, while the others went to the end.

Coming out at the opening again felt like Heaven! Our eyes adjusted to the light, we were hit by a blast of hot air and we huffed and puffed our way back up the hill to civilization!

I don't think they will forget that memory for a long time! Everyone had a great time......and a great workout!!!

We went back to our *home*, put babies down for naps while Scott took the older kids swimming. Later after we ate dinner, Sam, Sabrina and I took the Talisha, Savannah and Isaiah to the pool. They had a great time!!

What a day!!!!!

A Break In Vacation Posts.......

I got this clip from my cousin's blog! It's amazing!!! I am one of those people who can be deeply touched by good music. It strikes a chord within my soul and gives me an energy like nothing else can. Watch this clip and enjoy the amazing talent! It's long (8 mins.)but sooooo worth it!!!

Day 1!

We took out the front bench seat in the van to squeeze all of our stuff in! Doesn't everyone look happy to be here!! Ha Ha!!

How many kids can we fit on a tube? There's 4!! No, we didn't pull them like that. We were anchored in a swimming area!

Scott and Izzy! He took Savannah and Talisha out as well! They had a great time!!

She loved sitting in the driver's seat with daddy!

Loving this day!!!

Everyone had their life preserver on! Even cute baby Jazz!!

Sabrina waiting for her ride!!

Levi in the middle of trying to do something "tricky"! He was pretty proud of himself for standing up on the tube while speeding along!!

I think this is Thomas.......

Driving the boat!

Kicking back, enjoying the scenery!!

Now a few pictures from the house that we stayed in! It was a Tuscany inspired home, that was very open and spacious!

This was on the dining room wall. The room had a huge table that sat 12!

A shot of the Master bathroom!

A sitting area off the kitchen!

View from the deck!

Tuesday night Scott got home from Denver around 9 from a business trip. We discussed what we wanted to do for the next few days and made a plan. We finally got to bed just before midnight. We got up early Wednesday morning and started packing. We finally got out of the house around 10 that morning. Our first stop was Detroit Lake! We rented a pontoon boat for the afternoon!

The weather was perfect! Beautiful blue skies were all that we could see! The last time we rented a boat at Detroit Lake, Talisha was a baby (we think, or maybe it was Savannah......no pretty sure it was Talisha.....anyway) and the kids have been asking when we could do that again.

Everyone had plenty of turns on the tube, getting pulled around the lake. I think Tanner's highlight of the day was stopping at the floating bathrooms in the middle of the lake. He just thought that was "soooo cool"!!

When we finally finished our boating adventure, we headed into Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond. We had found a beautiful, huge home to rent for the rest of the week! Usually when we go someplace, we stay at a hotel and end up getting at least 2 rooms. It's expensive to have to do that but with this many people we don't have much choice. So when we considered renting a home, it just made sense. Especially when we found one that was big enough for our crew!!!

VACATION!!!!!

Get ready for this!!!!!!!! We just returned from a much-needed vacation and all the details and *amazing* pictures are coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But first I need to do some laundry. And sleep in my own bed.

The Birthday Girl!

The birthday girl with her tiara!

Then she spied her cake and needed to remove her tiara so she could get down to business!

Until the "fire" went on the candle......that threw her a bit and the finger went in her mouth.

Candles aside, she was now ready to dive into her cake!

Mmmmmm.

Wait, what is this??? He's clean!!!!!!

Feel free to chew your way into your gifts!

Her cd player was a huge hit! We took 17 video clips of Izzy dancing to the tunes!

Finally getting the hang of this gift thing.

Now it's official!!!! The party is over, the cake is eaten, the gifts are opened........whew!

Jasmine had a great time! She is such a little sweetie pie! What a year it has been! Part of me feels like she has been here forever, the other part feels like we just picked her up yesterday. I still remember calling Scott from Florida after seeing her for the first time and telling him how beautiful she was. And he was like, "Uh huh, I'm sure she is." And I was like, "No, I mean she is really beautiful, like an angel. She's perfect." I couldn't get over how beautiful she was. She had a light about her that I could see and feel. There was something about her......that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Now a year later, she still hasn't lost that glow. She is still an angel. She still smiles and giggles and coos. She rarely cries, usually only if she gets hurt. She is a little mover and is trying very hard to start walking. She's not afraid to take risks (much to my dismay). She is a joy to have in our family. And everyone still calls her "Baby Jasmine".

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Jasmine!!! We love you!!!!

Speaking Of Babies.........

There she is!!

All 1 year of her!!

Sooooo sweet!

With her signature smile!!

Our baby turned one today!!!!! Sweet little Jasmine Belle had a birthday! Now the really nice thing about turning one is that if it's a really crazy busy day, you can always celebrate your birthday the next day when it's more relaxed.

And that's exactly what we'll do! Tomorrow we will have her party. But today, I had to take her in and have her pictures done. She was a little slow to warm up to the photographers but when she did......we ended up with 70+ pictures to choose from.

It broke my heart not to buy the whole kaboodle of them......all $598 worth of them!!!! I tried to justify that for a brief moment, couldn't do it and walked out of there with still way more than I had planned on. Doesn't it always go that way???? What happened to the $9.95 package I was going in there to buy?????

Oh well, she only turns 1 once. She's come so far since those early days........I will post more tomorrow after her party.

Happy Birthday Princess!!!