Weekend in Portland

YAY for sticking to our goal to have an anual sister weekend every fall. We all traveled to Portland where the fun, beauty, laughter and love was plentiful. 

We started out with ENORMOUS bowls of soup:

 

 Celebrated April's 39th birthday with lots of friends. Isn't she beautiful...

 It was my priviledge to watch my older sisters with their oldest daughters. So much fun. 

 A trip to Davidsons is mandatory. I waitressed their for two years in high school. Seriously the best Marionberry pie in the world!! I would have taken the whole menu with me if I could have. Sweet Greg White (owner) sent April home with a whole Marionberry pie on the house. Gotta love that place.

 Beautiful weather to enjoy the Portland temple grounds together just before we drove to the airport. I have the best sisters ever.

Halloween

Halloween was great as usual. Chris was actually gone at a conference for Halloween itself but the 4 parties we attended the week before Halloween more than compensated. 

 Googleween for Kids (thurs.) and for Adults (fri.)

 Ward party

 School costume parade

Jacob was hilarious! He went back and forth between loving and hating costumes. It came down to Halloween night I said "Jacob if you where this you get candy!" He hopped in his costume and off we went. We teamed with our neighbors and he was doing great for about 10 houses. Then after a house with really spooky music and lasers, he said "All done dark" So we went home and he carried his bucket for the next hour around the house.

Monterey and Redwoods

We took a day trip and traveled south. Chris did it on his bike and we did it by car. The plan was to meet up in Monterey at the "Dennis the Menace" park but Chris didn't quite make it there. After a full morning of riding over mountains, he had about 85 miles under his belt and then he crashed. I personally blame the butterfly that got caught in his helmet. Its true. A butterfly got in his helmet so he took off his helmet (while riding), got it out then put his helmet back on. There were no problems until he reached for his handle bars and missed. He went down hard, got some severe road rash, and bent up his seat and handle bars. A home owner nearby came out and took him to a nearby town where he ate lunch and we picked him up.  

While he was doing that we were playing in the redwoods at Henry Cowell State Park where we saw some amazing things. Enormous trees and even bigger banana slugs. 

 After we picked Chris up, we went to the Dennis the Menace park and cruised Canary Row to find this Ghiradelli ice cream shop where a new world record was set on how fast one deluxe hot fudge sundae can be consumed by three boys. We also listened to a street performer play a pan flute and Alex found a new obsession.

Alex's Baptism

What a great day. Family came in town, we had Alex's baptism early in the morning and then enjoyed a brunch together. We feel really blessed and we all felt the Spirit as Alex made the choice to be baptized and take upon him Jesus' name. 

San Diego Trip

Back in October we took a family trip to San Diego to visit the long awaited Legoland and an added bonus - Sea World. Both were totally amazing. 

 Jacob watched this Elephant built out of legos for 30 minutes solid. 

 We found that Legoland was very toddler friendly. Jacob found tons of things to do on his level. Squirting these huge frogs on lego lily pads was just one of them.

 Alex and Aaron got to drive a car in a miniature city and do their best to obey traffic signals and laws at the "Volvo Driving School".  Aaron was at a disadvantage because he started out with the assumption that you're supposed to drive on the left side of the road. Even though people tried to correct him, he stuck to the rule he thought he knew and did it the whole time.

 Getting loopy on the drive. 

 Sea World is my childhood dream place and I was thrilled to see the orcas. They were so amazing. We hung out at this tank for a long time. Several orcas were in there and they were super active. So cool.

 We watched the big Shamu show and were 3 feet out of the splash zone. Its amazing how acurate an animal can be when using his enormous tale to splash a group of people. It was exactly in the lines. The boys were bummed because they realized they did want to get wet after all.

On the drive home we visited "Pea Soup Andersons" The home of split pea soup. The boys were good sports about visiting a sit down restaurant after 6 hours of driving and 1 hour till home. I recommend it highly. It was a beautiful dutch building with seasoned staff and amazing soup and bread bowls. 

Andrew's Funeral

We were so blessed to have this beautiful day to reflect on his life and lay his body to rest. The day was overflowing with emotion. We were joined by hundreds of people who loved Andrew. People came from all over. My close childhood friend, Mandie. Our amazing friends from Michigan, Dave and Victoria. The doctors and nurses that knew Andrew so well, even before he was born. 

The service was perfect. I was nervous before it began because I didn't know what to expect and I didn't know how I would feel. And I coudn't believe I was attending my own child's funeral.  The service acted as a way to remember and honor his life but also to remind all of us of God's plan for us and the purpose of this life.  The songs, talks and the video of Andrew connected us all so deeply it was a very stirring moment in time. 

Andrew's Last Weeks

This is a really hard post to make. I look at these pictures and want to cry because I miss my son so much. I love how these pictures show the relationship he was developing with Jacob as well as his excitement for life. 

In the last month of his life he had a lot of great moments. Even though his heart was struggling and the ECHO they did on him proved that he was declining, he was living each moment and loving it. He even started to like the "bath pod" after many teary bath times.

I spent a lot of time at home with Jacob since the older boys started school. We took the family to two San Jose Giants games. Visited old friends, Amy and Skip. We enjoyed a night at Golf Land with the family and the ward. I took all 4 kids to get a new tire put on the van after we had a flat.   

Andrew, I know you are close. I know I will see you again someday and we will rejoice together. I love you so much.