6 Months!

Well, I'm a little slow because he was actually six months on August 27 but I'm a bit behind on blogging.

Since we were in the middle of moving I didn't post at 5 months so this is kind of a 5 & 6 month post. He got his first tooth one week before he turned five months. This is way early. My other two kids didn't get teeth until past 10 months so 4 months was a bit of a shock. I knew it could happen, but was still very surprised. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a good picture of his two cute little teeth because he gets kind of mad and then the picture is always burry. I'll keep trying. He is an expert roller. Fast, and furious when he wants something and Dalin and Braden thinks he's so funny when he rolls. He's so close to sitting on his own and can do it for a short time before he either folds himself in half and gets upset or tips over. He gets super angry whenever you eat in front of him so he's started eating solids now, and by that I mean baby food. There is nothing he won't eat. He really enjoys Olive Garden's salad dressing, thanks to Dan. What is it about men wanting to feed their children things they should not have? Like popcorn, suckers, and chicken. Yes, Dan's tried to sneak all of those. The kid is 6 months old for heavens sake. Anyways, Landon also enjoys walking while holding my two fingers, and desperately wants to crawl. He will get up on his knees and push with his feet, but hasn't figured out that it doesn't really work unless you're up on your hands at the same time. He usually smears his face into the carpet while pushing with his feet. What a cute little bundle of love.

Mom what are you looking at?

Ooooo, look at that

Just got it. But I need a better look.

Hmm...this is interesting

Is that a camera? How can I get to that?

How long till I face plant?

He still loves his bouncer. He can get really going and bounce pretty high.

Canon Beach

Well, I finally managed to figure out how to get my pictures from my phone onto my computer, although it took about 4 hours (that's not an exaggeration either). I'm glad I had my phone with me when we went to Canon Beach because half way there I realized I'd forgotten the camera. Can I just say I love this place! We had so much fun. The boys were super excited to go to a real beach and see the ocean. Our first glipse of the Ocean and Dalin said "whoa that's a big lake". Then Dan explained about the ocean and the boys eyes just got bigger and bigger. Dalin ran to the sand dropped where he was and started digging, "I need to make a sand castle right now". Braden on the other hand ran for the water, being a water dog and all, this didn't surprise me. So Dan dug in the sand with Dalin and I went to the water with Braden. The biggest mistake I made, one that I won't make again, was shaving my legs that morning. Salt water and freshy shaven legs do not mix. It stung like nothing I've ever felt. It's better to have nice long, hairy, bushman legs and enjoy the water without that ever so fun stinging sensation. Anyways, we walked down the beach a ways to a large rock with a beached corral area. Apparently when the tide it out you can walk amongst them (there are workers there to keep people off the corral and rocks) and see starfish, clams, crabs, and whatever else is clinging to the rocks. Dalin and Braden got to touch a starfish and loved that. Some of the shells made kind of a sucking noise and it freaked Braden out to the point that I had to carry him. He just kept yelling and screaming very loudly "mom, they're going to eat me!" People we looking at us, like I was beating him or something. I thought it was pretty funny.

The boys loved playing in the sand.

I like this picture. Landon liked looking at the waves.

Walking to the big rock and collecting every shell we could find along the way. By the time we got there my pockets were loaded up.

Dan dug a huge hole in the sand with the boys. Of course they thought this was the funnest thing in the world. I'm not sure what Dalin is doing in this picture. It doesn't seem like a very good idea to lay face down in the sand, but I don't remember him doing this.

Landon had fun too. I love his cute little face in this picture.

Dalin discovered this really big shell that was still completely intact. He brought it home and it now sits on top of his book shelf.

Aloha!

Well, I've finally moved, and more or less feeling settled in. It's been a long haul and I'm tired and want to have a night out without the kids and the stress of moving, but all in good time. So where exactly did we move? To a suburban areas just outside of Portland (10 miles) called Aloha. The place name is pronounced "A-low-wa" instead of "A-loh-ha". Out of curiosity I researched the reason for this pronunciation and discovered that Julius Buck was the first postmaster and that he named the office Aloah after a small resort on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. During the application process the last two letters were transposed by the Post Office Department, resulting in the shift from a Midwestern Indian name to a Hawaiian word. The pronunciation, however remained the same. Just a little tidbit of information for all you who are interested. Aloha is not actually a city and in fact we live just outside of Beaverton city limits, in unincorporated Washington County. So if you're ever searching for us on a map or even trying to find our address in GPS or something it may not show up. For all intents and purposes we live in Beaverton. Unless of course you come from Oregon and then it would be a crime to say this. Anyways, I realize that I'm sort of going on and on about nothing so here's 10 things I love about Oregon.... 1. Beautiful green, green, green! 2. Winco on ever corner 3. Fred Meyer on every corner. This is a bonus because they have great deals (I'm a couponing freak in case you didn't know) and a free day care center where they'll watch your kids while you shop. It doesn't get much better than this. 4. Alberton's - also great if you're an avid couponer 5. Once a week the local newspaper, The Oregonion, delivers all the weekly ads to your home whether or not you take the paper. Can you say free SmartSource? Again I'm a couponer. 6. Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation take care of all your needs. Parks are everywhere and right in the middle of Beaverton they have 222 acres of land they refer to as the nature park with trails and ponds and all the beauty of nature right at your doorstep. They also have an excellent recreation department where they set up just that, recreation opportunities no matter your age. All you have to do to participate is live in Washington County. They have indoor soccer, swimming, karate, dance, basketball, and the list goes on and on for anyone, any age. They also have classes for a number of interests from yard care classes to do it yourself classes. I've already taken advantage of this and I think it's great! 7. There's a temple 15 minutes from my house 8. Love, love, love our ward 9. They Go Green! We use 100% clean and renewable energy to power our house. We have 4 different garbage cans and the actual "garbage" can is very tiny (32 gallons). At first I thought "what the crap is this, I'll fill that thing up in a day". But then you have a recycle can about the same size as the huge ones they use in Utah and you can put just about anything in there. Anything plastic, doesn't matter what number it is. You can put paper, scrap metal, aerosol cans, paint cans, and whatever else you can think of that's recyclable. Then there's a separate glass recycle can for all your glass items, and last but not least a yard debris can as big as the recycle can. You can go to your local yard debris dump and pay pennies for fresh compost that they use your yard debris to make. If everyone did this what a difference it would make! 10. Cannon Beach less than an hour from my house More posts to follow with pictures.