Olympic National Park 7.09

Here are some pictures of the kids at the rain forest.
The picture below is of us all looking at the fallen tree that has now become a nursery tree (we think that is what it is called!). Right after we saw this Lauren tripped on a root and fell. She got scratched up a bit and continued on. She fell many times in the rain forest but didn't want any help. One of her favorite sayings is, "I DO IT!"

Here are some pictures of us on Hurricane Ridge. The one up above is we are all looking at a cute little chipmunk. Below: we are looking at the great view on our hike.

After the family reunion we went to see the Olympic National Park with Shane's brother and his family (Heath). It was a fun trip. The kids enjoyed spending more time with their cousins and seeing some cool sites. We stayed in a motel the first night we got up there and the next day we drove around the Park. First we went to Hurricane Ridge then to the Rain Forest and the to Ruby beach. Each one of our girls had different favorites. Brianna loved the hike up the mountain because we saw some wild life. Paige loved the Rain Forest because of the cool trees and being with her cousins. Lauren liked the beach because of the stacked rocks and playing with all the sand, water and rocks. After we saw the sites we drove back to Grandma and Papa's house to spend one last day with them. It made for a long day but it was neat to see some new sites.

Nielson Family Reunion 7.09

Fun times at the beach!

The girls got to pretend like they were pilots. The buttons were their favorite part.
Taryn and I walked around the air museum together for a little while. I enjoyed having her company. This blimp was funny.

Shane's mom made us all these great marshmallow guns. It was very unexpected and FUN!
This was Paige's favorite airplane because is was so small.
Lauren loved these cows. She wanted to stay and look at them for a very long time. While we were at the cheese factory Shane's parents got us all ice-cream. :) I got huckleberry it was great!
Here is a picture of all of the grandkids except Ryker. As you can see there are a few more girls then boys!

What a view. As we were driving we would stop for Shane's dad to take pictures and there were some really great views!

We had our first Nielson Family reunion. It was held in Oregon at the beach. Shane's parents rented a beach

house and we were able to all stay together. The best part about this is we haven't all been together in two

years. The kids all played really well together and my kids were sad to leave and asked when they would see their cousins again. While we were together we did many activities. We went to the beach, saw the Tillamook cheese factory, saw a air museum, had a grandma store for doing good deeds, marshmallow gun fight, games at night after the kids all went to bed, lots of food, talent show and good old hanging out! IT WAS A BLAST!

Rodeo time 7.11.09

We really enjoy going to the rodeo. Even if it is small. It is something the kids look forward to almost as much as Christmas. This year we were lucky enough to have family with us. The rodeo seemed a bit short this year and hope that we will have more bull riders for next year.

Here is a picture of Shane and I. I thought it would be nice if there was a picture of me in this blog somewhere.
Here is some more pictures of us at the rodeo.

Saturday Afternoon fun 7/11/09tl

Steve taken care of Ryker.

Maddie being a pro slip-n-slidder!
Awesome picture of Lauren.
Lauren really wanted to do the slip-n-slid she did great until she hit the bottom and the water splashed up in her face and she just sat there and continued to get wet. She didn't want anything to do with it for a little while. She did give it another turn but it didn't go as well as she had planed.
Brianna is just growing up.

The first time Rena went down she didn't really slide because her pants were not slick enough so- she decided to rip holes in a garbage bag and then side down. Sure enough it worked. We called it her diaper. :)

Here is a picture of our BIG boy. He has just continued to grow and is way bigger now.
Here I am showing my girls that there is nothing to be scared of and it is FUN! The cold water felt good to. I often wonder why we don't do the things that we loved to do when we get older. My sister and I had fun on the slip-n-slid that day.
Cute picture of Paige.
Cute picture of Lauren.

Parade time July 11th 09

We always go to the parade before the rodeo. This year we were a little late. This is one of the neat things that we saw.

I can only imagine how hot they were. It was a warm morning.
Steve thanks for smiling!!! I don't know what the other guys were doing.

Swimming Pool July 09

When my family came up the following week after Ryker was blessed we all went to the pool while Shane was at work. The water was cool and it took some time to get used to. We all had fun spending time together. In this picture Paige is not smiling but she did have fun.

Here is a picture of my mom holding Ryker. She was the babysitter at the pool.
Rena loved to play with Lauren in the pool. Lauren loved it too. One of the favorites is the swimming fish.
We all got in the hot tub at one point. The only one that didn't get in is Paige. She has a hard time with hot water.

Rykers Blessing July 5th, 09

Shane's parents were able to come and spend the weekend with us and be a part of Ryker's blessing. It was a nice day outside so we decided to take pictures outside. Dad has the nicer pictures because he took some with his nice camera and he is a lot better at taking them then I am.

Here is a picture of my family. I think it is the first one with all 6 of us. Mom was nice and took it. Thanks mom.
Here is our little buddy in his blessing outfit.
All is right in his world. :)
It was a very good day.