Rhys

Oh, Love this boy.  He is the sweetest, happiest kid I have ever.  He is so sweet to everyone and has been a complete joy in our family.  He has been such a strong rock in our family through out this whole process.  When its really hard on Justin and me he is always there to put everything into perspective.  Heres a few of what hes up to lately.

His favorite songs are Paradise by Coldplay, The wise man built his house upon the rock, and The big 'ol daddy spider. 

His favorite color is green.

His favorite food is hamburgers, hot dogs and pasta.

He loves bike rides, climbing, hiking, swimming with his floaties, jumping, and running. 

He is the interpreter for his brothers babble.  "Beckham wants a drink."

Anytime I wear a skirt or dress he says "Oh momma, are you a princess? So cute." 

He is so smart.  He will remember everything you say and apply it at random times.  For instance, I mentioned that school buses take the kids to school. And when he is 5 he gets to go to school.  So now anytime a school bus passes, he says, "when I'm five, I get to ride the school bus all by myself. And when Beckham is five, he can go with me too. We can go to school together."  I really hope he gets to ride the bus.

He is still snuggles like crazy at every chance he can.  Every morning when he wakes up he crawls into bed and snuggles for at least 30 minutes.  Since Beckham wakes up usually and hour later, he will often just play with his trains until B wakes up.  

He still giggles at everything.  

He loves to go to the beach and loves to be in the sand, but hates to actually go anywhere near the ocean.  This isn't great for Daddy's surfing buddy, so hopefully he gets over this aversion.  

He is just like his daddy.  They say the same things, make the same faces, and are so alike its crazy.  

Every stage with this kid has been better than the last.  I love how we can have our own little conversations and he can keep up.  I love it. 

He is such a goofball! He is constantly making us laugh and making his brother laugh. It is the sweetest thing to see those two laughing together, and fortunately its becoming a more common thing.  

Basically, I love this kid.  He is perfect to me. 

Labor day weekend

I would love to have a 3 day weekend every week. I think its the perfect balance. We have Saturday to clean/ fix the house, run errands, and even squeeze in a little football (did you watch the U of O game?? 72-0, poor New Mexico!) Then Sunday full of chasing rhys around the church and primary. But monday was reserved for fun and adventure. Last weekend our friends showed us this little slice of paradise in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast, and justin has been drooling about going back since. It turned out to be a gorgeous day. Warm, sunny and no wind!! This is almost unheard of! What a way to spend the last weekend of summer. You have to park on this side with the rocks, and then paddle over to the sandy side. We only had our paddle board, so Justin actually pushed Rhys, Koda and I over on it. Luckily it was low tide and he could walk acrosss most of it.
We took our crab pot and put them out. We didnt catch any thing, but you could see them walking in the water about 2 feet from the surface, we should have just brought gloves and plucked them out.
You could walk over a dune to the other side and be at the ocean so Justin could surf too.

This kid was soo happy. I think this is one of our new favorite places.

Boating in Brigham

On the way home, we stopped to see my BF's parents who live in BC and happen to have a boat they love taking out to Wilard. We lucked out with getting to see them and go on the boat for an afternoon. We love the Rollins!

Rhys tried his first wake surf. I liked it except when the water would splash him in the face. And it looked like Justin was choking him with his life jacket, which probably made it even harder to enjoy. But he was smiling after, that was a good sign.

We finished off our trip with driving back to Portland, with an overnight in Boise. It was great, Rhys slept the entire time driving except the last hour and a half! I was amazed and soo greatful!

RUSH at Red Rocks

We did take off for our first overnight adventure without Rhys. We left him with Grandma and flew to Denver for a day to see (yes, another) Rush concert. It was alot of fun to have a whole day without our boy, but weird at the same time to not have to worry about him. Anyways, my dad and I have been trying to get to see Rush in this venue for years, its supposed to be the best. And it did not disappoint! What a cool venue!!

groupies in our rush shirts

He's back!!

After the concert, Rhys and I flew home for a week so we could fly back with justin in time to meet Elder Garrett at the gate of his plane back from Japan. What we didnt account for was that he would have to then go through customs, and it didnt matter either way. Oh well, it is so fun to have hime back!

I adore this kid!!

We spent the rest of the week relaxing and hearing all about his mission. I guess we really missed the guy!

RUSH at USANA

Great show!! The band that my Dad and I follow around whenever they go on tour are touring all summer. We have a few shows lined up and this was the first. This one was great!

In case you have never actually heard of them, heres some of my favorites:

Limelight, Dreamline, Tom Sawyer, Spirirt of Radio, Freewill, Time stand still, Driven

I love that all of their songs are about something. That should get you started. If you need more goodness, just let me know!

Yellowstone

We headed up to Yellowstone for a day. Apparently I had been there before, in '88, but it was on fire. So we were in one side out the other with no stopping. This time was much more fun. We headed striaght in to Old Faithful and walked around the thermal pools that surround the area.

These burnt trees are from back in '88. It was amazing how much was still standing that had been burned.

Next we headed over to the grand canyon of Yellowstone. It is gorgeous!

There were bison all over the roads when we were leaving. It took 2 hours to go maybe 25 miles.

look at the line of cars!!!

beautiful sunset!

Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons

My dad, Rhys and I finally made the trip up to check out this gorgeous strip of Wyoming. It has been on our list of things to do for a long time. And it lived up to every expectation. What a beautiful country we have. The drive is so nice through all the valleys and farm land, I loved it. We spend the next couple days checking out the area. Rhys was having a blast playing in Jenny lake. He was completely soaked by the end of the day.
He was getting a little loopy by the end of all the driving. He thought it was the funniest thing to eat his toes. Papa and Rhys at the antler arch in Jackson hole.