The Dickson Crew

A Very Merry Christmas - 2011

2011-12-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas Season brings joy, peace, and magic. It also brings comfort - there's a certain coziness that comes with the decor that fills our home, the warmth from the winter sweaters and coats, and from the familiar traditions that fill the season year after year with the same spirit that makes Christmas wonderful.

Like the visit to Santa. My older boys know better than to murmur or complain...they WILL get their Christmas "outfit" on and brave the line-up to see this Jolly Man. This year it even took several attempts - long story. After all, I remind them, "Santa is very good to you - I wouldn't test him if I were you". This was the first year in a long time that I haven't have a crier for the picture on Santa's lap- they are all too old now - it makes me want to cry ;)

And Christmas Eve with all the cousins at Grammy and Papa's house for a delicious dinner, time to play and be excited together, and of course the Nativity Play done by the kids. This year Grammy put together a little program with speaking parts for the older kids and Christmas Carols mixed in with the scripture/story reading. A little something different, but still that same good 'ol tradition.

You'd think we would have enough actors with our big clan, but some of the kids were happy to play 2 parts if needed, like the shepard-wise man below...

I love how traditions bring out all the best feelings of love and kindness. You know you're there when the oldest is stealing kisses from the baby.

And of course there's the tradition of opening one gift each - which always happens to be matching Christmas pajamas. No one is ever too old for this tradition! And Papa leads us in a big family prayer - always tender and touching - especially this time of year.

And playing, playing, and more playing - even with pajamas on and down to the last second before it's off to home we go.

Before this mom and dad feel like they got a wink of sleep (mostly because we stay up late putting toys together and finishing touches on gifts, and enjoying peppermint ice cream and some quiet Christmas time together) our boys are up at 6am (the earliest allowed) and pouncing on our bed - ready for the magic of Christmas morning.

I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture all the kids and all the gifts, but some highlights include: Cade got a Kindle Fire - lucky bum

Luke's loving his new big wheel!

Bo's showing off his "slides". All the cool wrestlers wear them.

And Santa left a really cool surprise out in the driveway!! It's going to be a super fun sumer!

(p.s. - the RV isn't ours - more about that in a post to come )

I loved having Christmas on Sunday this year. After the chaos of stockings and gifts, it was a nice change of pace to go get dressed in our Sunday best and enjoy remembering the real meaning of Christmas and enjoying the true spirit of the season.

Then it was time to head back up to Grammy and Papa's for more gifts and celebration.

It was a knight Christmas for Cole. He's excited about his playmobile castle. So was mom - I LOVE playmobile!

Bo got a cool science kit

Ty's sporting new clothes and trying to figure out the puzzle ball

By then end of the 2-day affair, it feels a bit like a whirlwind. But it is a wonderful finale to a wondrous season. There are new gifts to admire, new things to be grateful for and a new outlook on a new year. I love that the end of each Calendar year is swelled up in this magical time of giving, sharing, celebrating and remembering the gift of the Savior in our lives. It was a very Merry Christmas and a happy 2011 for our crew for sure.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-21T09:54:00.001-08:00

In Living Color Christmas Card

To view our unique Christmas card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

A Happy 4th Birthday

2011-12-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

A cute invitation (that got eaten by my computer - I have a new computer :) ) went out to a few friends that said something like: Hear Ye, Hear Ye, All Knights of the Round. Your presence is requested at a celebration in honor of Sir Cole's 4th Birthday. The friends followed the address to the castle and had lots of fun...Decorating Knight shields-

And earning their armor -

And playing in the bouncy Castle (in our garage - I leave it pushed to the side and ready all winter as a cold/wet weather activity to burn off the energy of my gang. Great! You should try it!)-

And feasting on treats -

And showering the Birthday Boy with noble gifts -

And making great birthday wishes and memories -

The kids all went home with their helmet/masks, shields, foam swords and a tube full of plastic knight toys. It was a hit all the way around. And this 4 year old is a big hit at our house! We love you Birthday Boy.

Turkey Day 2011

2011-12-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

This year the Thanksgiving holiday included a week off of school for the kids - so we had a whole week to celebrate my favorite holiday of the year. We spent the week counting our blessings and making new memories at our favorite place - Black Butte Ranch.

The older cousins set out one afternoon with the goal of hiking to the summit of Black Butt

But snow got the better of their attempt. But there were still plenty of smiles and a renewed goal to try it again in summertime!

The story of Thanksgiving dinner proves us genius! Grammy reserved a private dining room at the lodge and we let the Lodge restaurant do the cooking for our large group! It was delicious, relaxing and no dishes!! It might be a new tradition.

But just so that we didn't miss the whole "Thanksgiving experience" and so that we had lots of cold turkey to snack on throughout the weekend, Grammy still roasted this beauty!

The fun continues...

We had a

fun family time at the ranch's Turkey Trot. Bart was a trooper and did the kids trot with the boys while I ran the 5K.

And enjoyed the Sister's Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony

And the Sister's Thanksgiving weekend Parade.

Santa rode in on the last wagon to kick of the Christmas season!

Our blessings are countless and we have so much to be grateful for - a now another fun holiday to add to the list!

Papa turns 60!

2011-12-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

When world's greatest Papa and Dad turns 60 - it's cause for a giant celebration. But since he doesn't like crowds and attention, we obeyed his wish and curtailed our party planning, and instead of a surprise party with the TONS of people who love and admire my dad (which is how we wanted to celebrate), Grammy rented a giant house at Lincoln City for all us kids and grandkids to share and party together. It was risky- the beach in November - but we lucked out with excellent weather and enjoyed lots of fun relaxing, watching movies and football, eating good food, playing games, not sleeping (since every family had at least one sick kid up in the night - but we'll try not to remember that part), and enjoying the sand and water.

All you need is a hoodie and you can still enjoy building sandcastles and gathering seashells at the beach in the fall.

And of course there was the giant family flag football game!

Uncle Andrew with his team!

Luke watched a lot of it from the window in comforts of the warm beach house.

Grammy put together some fun party games.

yes, one of which involved knocking over water bottles with a ball inside a pantyhose that hangs from your head :)

the kids put together a little program to honor papa and it ended with a dog pile on the birthday boy!

We hope a little birthday party in a beautiful setting with all the people who love him most made him feel as special as he is!

We managed to talk a photographer into driving out to the coast to surprise Grammy and Papa with a group photography session. This was my favorite moment caught on camera...

It was pretty chilly - so Bart had the job of keeping the kids warm and free of complaining during the photo session.

I wish every weekend could be frozen in moments like these. I love my family more than words and I love my wonderful dad - for the father, example, rock, inspiration, friend, advisor and hero he has been and always will be. He is truly one of the most generous, kind, humble, faithful, man of integrity you can ever know. Because of him I owe so much - everything. Thanks dad. And thanks for giving us an excuse to have another wonderful time together.

Mission Catch-Up

2011-12-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

A note to the 2 (maybe 3) people who actually follow my blog - and who I'm sure have given up on me by now for good, since I haven't posted in like 5 months...

I am bound and determined to catch up. Because I like to print my blog into a book each year - I have made a commitment that I will finish the year on time and not flake on the only form of scrapbooking/journal keeping that I still attempt. So bare with me for the many, many posts that will follow. I didn't want to leave anything out.

And I'm not done...more to come!

Halloween-ing

2011-12-13T22:50:00.001-08:00

This year we had Mr. Clean, a crazy Duck Fan, a referee, a ninja, a knight, and a cowboy.

For the church party and trunk-or-treat I came straight from my Zombie run, so I was a race runner and Cade was Jimmer Fredette.

Tough little rascal - complete with a real black eye!

Going door-to-door with friends from the neighborhood. Cade and Ty felt BIG and COOL as we let them go off by themselves, just the 2 of them, for part of the night.

The "ride" home after tired legs set in.

Our tradition of homemade donuts and hot cider await!

I also tried a new recipe this year that may just have to become a Halloween treat tradition - it was SOOOO good!

Black Licorice Caramels.

I got the recipe here

I cut 'em up into squares. And wrapped like the website said. And put them in these cute tins from the dollar section at Target.

A perfect gift for teachers! Or anyone! Next year my husband says I better make a double batch.

Zombie Run

2011-12-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

When you see an ad like this for an event in your community:

So you have ran a 5k before? That's nice. Maybe you've even qualified for the Boston Marathon. Cool story. But, how do you think you would fare with someone chasing you? What if that someone belongs to the partisan of the living undead? If you think you have what it takes to master your fear, control your adrenaline, and survive the horror- all while maintaining clean underwear, then come prove it at the Zombie Apocalypse 5k Trail Run.

What do you and your running friends do? You sign up as survivors.

Yep. We really did this. On October 29th at dusk. And if I wasn't too cheap to buy the pictures from the photographer's website, I could post proof of myself running through a corn maze, along mud trenches, and up hay covered hills - all while being chased by freaky people dressed up like zombies. If you really want to see, you can click on the photo webiste here.
But here we are at the finish line:

looking like a bunch of tired runner who didn't "survive". Those zombies were fast!
Chalk it up to one of the crazy things I've done - it was sure fun!

Soccer Stud

2011-12-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

Bo has been patiently sitting in the stands and on the sidelines watching his older brothers for years, and waiting for his turn to play team sports. His first hack at fall soccer was a roaring success. He loved it! And we loved cheering him on. He was very focused and serious. But every once and while we would see him crack that smile - he had a blast! Even on cold, foggy mornings. (No my camera lense isn't dirty - it was really THAT foggy - but it was the last game of the season, so I HAD to take pictures anyways.)

According to his own game analysis - "I was a scoring machine!"

Enjoying frozen yogurt with his team after the game.

Getting his trophy! Almost a smile! We loved his coach - she was a doll - and I love it when a mom steps up and coaches.

We know there's a smile in there ready to crack wide open! We love you soccer stud!

Ex-Cubscout

2011-12-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

Lest you think the boy only does sports - His agent wants you to know that he also earned his Webelos and Arrow of Light Badge this fall. The photographer was a bit unfamiliar with my camera - so the pictures all ended up blurry - but here's proof. He's now officially a Boy Scout!

Way to go buddy!

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

2011-12-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

Our annual trip to Baggensto's Farm with the preschool. (Since I've annually had a preschooler since - well, a long time:)) This year it was Cole's turn to enjoy the field trip and find the perfect pumpkin.

gotta love the oversized green preschool field trip shirt!

cluck. cluck.

Aboard the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch

Banding together to hunt for the perfect ones.

He looks cute - but don't let that fool you. He was known as the "pumpkin kicker" that day. Why does the boy think everything needs to be kicked or thrown??

So many, how do I choose....which one to kick next?

He finally found the one! Too bad it was too big for him to carry. Someone got to carry two. Oh well, it's what mom's do :)

BYU v OSU

2011-12-13T16:05:00.001-08:00

We didn't have to travel far to see the BYU football team play this fall. Just an hour drive to Corvallis on October 15th to Reeser's Stadium got us in the stands to watch BYU earn a victory.
Bart's brother and 5 cousins came down from Seattle for the weekend to stay with us and join us in the cheering section at the game. We got perfect fall weather and had a pretty sweet tailgate party before the game - with 2 kinds of hot soup and fully loaded sandwiches.

and some homemade "Y" cookies. I can never hope to be my dear friend Ashleigh, who is a cookie queen, but I gave it a good shot!

my cute mom

while the guys threw the football around and ate incessantly, the girls had thier own version of tailgating

Go COUGARS!

Excited fans!

(I don't know who the crazy guy behind us is - no relation!)

Thanks Oregon State for being gracious losers :) And for letting us show our true blue!

6 yr old Birthday Bash

2011-12-13T15:49:00.001-08:00

A Soccer Party for Bo's 6th Birthday. The boys kicked, passed and scored their way to a fun time!

With Referee Dad (he was really excited about being involved ;)) they managed to complete some soccer relays.

And played with soccer balloons on the trampoline.

And had fun kicking to soccer ball pinata open for prizes!

We had one happy Birthday Boy! We love you Bo!

Back To School

2011-12-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

Backpacks on the backs, new shoes on the feet, and kisses on the cheeks! It's time for a new school year. Watch out - here come the Dickson boys!

Cool 5th grader

Fun 4th grader

Full-Day Kindergartener

First year of Preschool!

And a mom (no picture) with some hours with only 2 littles at home (more quietness) and some time on her hands!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-12-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

We said it would be a tradition - and though a million things tried to get in the way of it happening - we held strong and determined - and spent a long labor day weekend at our favorite place, Black Butte Ranch.

It's our way to celebrate the finish to a great summer and spend much needed family time together before the crazyness of fall hits.

We love the warm weather of Central Oregon, the rustic and cozy house of Grammy and Papa's at Black Butte. It makes you feel like you left the busy city life lightyears away. And the endless outdoor fun to be had...

Like tennis 3 times a day or more!

Relaxing in the hammock on the back deck.

Kind of relaxing...

...it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt :)...

BBQs and celebrating birthdays.

beautiful sunsets watched from the hottub.

Eating ice cream at the swimming pool.

Spilling ice cream on suntanned tummies at the swimming pool.

It's all GOOD!

If only the fun didn't have to end! Back to real life - with loads of new memories and re-stocked energy.

Portland To Coast

2011-12-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

130 miles, 32+ hours, one walker on the road at all times, 4800 walkers, Downtown Portland to Seaside Beach, 3600 volunteers = The Largest Walking Relay in the world! And my lovely team of motivated and fun loving mommas finished 68th out of 400 teams! Not too shabby for some weekend warriors.

The afternoon before the big day, we decorated my suburban, loaded up our gear and headed home for one last good night of sleep before it all began...
on Friday, August 26th at 5:30 in the morning our first walker (me!) was poised at the starting line ready to take off for a wild adventure.

My suburban was bedroom, changing room, party room, kitchen and anything else your imagination can conjure up for the next 32 hours. If it is a discussion topic, it was talked about. If it if junk food, it was eaten. If it is a hilarious moment, it happened. If it was an advil pill, it was swallowed. Through the city, rural communities, and coastal range - from wee hours of the morning to silly tired hours of the night, we walked and rode and talked and laughed. And finally arrived at the sandy finish line of the picturesque Seaside Beach.

Celebrating our finish! And then on to a greasy breakfast at Camp 18 before returning to our crazy lives - but now with fresh perspectives, hope, and motivation for the future! I love and admire these Sassy ladies. Thanks gals for an unforgettable experience.

Beverly Beach - Aug 19th and 20th

2011-12-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

Our family doesn't take advantage of the beautiful Oregon Coast as much as we should. So we are grateful for planned events like our ward campout that give us a reason to load up the camping gear and head for the sand! We quit camping several years ago and vowed to not do it again until we had - NO MORE BABIES - so this was our maiden voyage back at it. And it went remarkably well! No bottles, no***woops***less crying, only one in diapers, and everyone even slept through the night! We don't have pictures of the camping - so just imagine us cozied up in our two room tent, making peanut butter cup smores and doughees (toasted marshmallows covered in bread dough and coated in cinnamon/sugar) over a roaring campfire, and enjoying yummy blackberry pancakes for breakfast. We didn't even get rained on! It was a great day for family and friends at the beach...

Cade helps Cole manuever the rock bed

Baseball on the beach...of course...

Taking turns getting burried in the sand

Our sand martian - a dead one!

Gotta do just like the big brothers

And with all the fun we had down at the beach on Saturday we just might have to get back into this camping thing...

Summer Portraits

2011-12-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

I needed a studio portrait of Bo at age 5 for my wall gallery - it's a little tradition my mom did that I am copying. And since he was coming up on his 6th birthday quickly, I had to pull something together fast. So we booked a sitting at Yuen Lui and got some handsome shots of him and the motley crew.

Lukers - Age 2

Best Buds and Worst Enemies - depends on the moment

My loves.

Meet Spike

2011-12-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

Through unexpected circumstances and a weak mom moment - I was talked into a new (and only) pet for the Dickson family. He's a uromastyx (means: "spiney tailed lizard" in someone's language) and he's actually really easy. He came with the whole set up (cage/rocks/lamps), he's vegetarian, so no buying crickets, he doesn't require water, his heat lamps are on timers, and he never makes a sound! He's kindof prehistoric looking with his spiky tail and changes color when he's basking - the boys think he's cool. And I got a few mom points for being cool about it.

Bo has "primary parental duties" of this not-so-cute-thing. He is suppose to be the one to feed him and clean out his cage. So far I have mostly been the one to feed him with the dutiful reminders from the littlest boys. He's only gotten out of his cage once (when the towel that was draped over it fell down inside - I guess he used his claws to climb up it and over and out and had a little adventure) - but we found him pretty quickly :) Good thing. I was about to have a coronary thinking he was creeping around unknown in my house somewhere!

The boys made him into a pokemon card....oh, pokemon cards....when will that phase end??

State Champs!

2011-12-13T11:00:00.001-08:00

This kid is a fierce competetor. He is a natural athlete, driven a hard worker - and loves to compete. And this season in baseball gave him a chance to put all those qualities to the test. He made a 4th grade Federal team (the city's all-star team for his grade) and had a season of intense games and nail-biting finishes. And a lot of chances to light up the field!

It all culminated in the State Tournament on July 16thwhen his team went undefeated making it into the championship game. The game was to be played on Sunday - but thanks to a downpour it was postponed until Tuesday night. Because of our religion, we don't participate in sports on Sunday, so Cade was pretty excited and grateful as the rain-out unfolded. This allowed Cade his chance to come to the mound as the starting pitcher.

We were down in early innings, but kept the game close and then in true form for these ballers, they fought and crept their way back to pull of an exciting win - earning their title of State Champs.

It was so fun to watch their excitment and joy as a team. A great moment to see these boys feel the rewards of hard work and believing in themselves and each other. For me, it's what sports is all about and why we sacrifice for our kids - driving them to and from practices and games, wiping tears of dissapointment, sitting in miserable cold or blasting heat all season, lugging heavy gear, and spending endless money on bats/shoes/gloves - for moments like these that leave a lasting impression. I even left our church's girls camp (where I was acting as camp nurse) for the night to drive back for the game. And Bart changed a flight for a work trip to make it back in time to watch every second. It was wonderful. And we are so proud of our Cade - our buttons could burst!

A group of HAPPY boys and coaches!

It all finished off with a team party at my parent's house. With a top-notch cake,

Swimming,

BBQ and to relax and celebrate!

So grateful for coaches to help our kids shine, guide them to success, but also teach values and life lessons along the way!

At least if we gave up half of our summer for baseball - it ended this good! Now we can enjoy some relaxing weeks of summer...until the fall sports begin :)

Baseball Finale

2011-12-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Ty's 3rd grade baseball team played into Mid July with some great wins at the County Tournament that qualified them to be in the State Finals. It was a fun season with a great group of boys and families - we are so proud of our second baseman and how much he imporoved this season!

Showing his throwing, fielding and hitting skills...

Timberwolves at the State Tournament

Boys...never missing a chance to have fun!

Ty's great Coach had lots of compliments for Ty's skills and effort at the end-of-season party. A long and fun season of baseball has come to a close. Time to catch a little break of summer...

Reunion Road Trip

2011-09-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

In July, we piled everyone in the car and drove to Bear Lake, UT for a family reuinion of my mom's side. We made a stop in Boise, ID for a day and played at the water park...

Cole and Maddy changing things up!

Bo and Daddy testing the drop off slides

Then on to Utah for the Weaver reunion. We stayed in cabins at a KOA - I wasn't sure what to expect, but we were super impressed! They were even air conditioned! It was a great reunion turn-out and lots of fun.

My sis and I represented my Grandma Lois family in the "Family Challenge"

Kind of like Minute to Win It, we had to compete in several crazy stunts. We had to string short pastas onto a spaghetti stick with using just our mouth- not easy!

and bounce pencils into plastic cups

I can't say we won...but we had a good laugh out of it.

2 of my Great Uncles - of the original Weaver family. Great, great men. So glad for their examples and influence in my life.

Bear Lake was absolutely beautiful. And we had a fun afternoon out on some waverunners...a trip well worth the hours in the car.

We stopped by the Logan Temple on the way out of Utah. Such a beautiful temple...where my parents eternal family begun. Reunions and family history can be so powerful in reminding us of who we are and what we live for. I am richly blessed with an amazing family who I love. I love trips like these where I get to spend time with them.

4th of July

2011-08-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ours was an all-day event. It started with a delicious pancake breakfast at our church. (That's not a joke - seriously, it was good :) )

Then we all (hundreds of ward members and friends) did a trek to the temple. We followed a back-way route and walked, ran or biked to the Temple. It was just under 7 miles. Here some of us are at a water stop.

It was a ton of fun and a great way to celebrate our religious freedoms and great opportunities in this country and honor those who worked so hard to provide it for us - like our old and modern-day pioneers. We all agreed that the temple trek will be a yearly tradition for the 4th.

Off our bikes and at the Portland Temple.

Then over to Grammy and Papas house for lots of yummy and festive food...

and hours of swimming...

Burrito Babies

Then at dark it was firework time...we got quite a eyefull between seeing several displays out over the valley from my parents view at their house and all the illegals that my brother-in-law and his brothers brought down from Washington State. It was a first class show.

A very happy Independence Day!

Keepin' it Rollin'

2011-08-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Down the river that is. We enjoyed one of our favorite date nights this summer in a kayak on the Tualatin River.

We saw all kinds of wildlife including this amazing blue herron

It was so calm and serene - not another soul in sight. And my husband even did most of the rowing! Good deal for me! Good summer night having a great time together.

Kicking off Summer

2011-08-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

We kicked off the first week of summer with a trip to the zoo with the cousins- the summer weather just forgot to show up! Even though the cold weather had us in hooddies, the cool temperatures made it so all the animals were out and easy to see!

3 crazy animals for sure!!

Paino Playing Pair

2011-08-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

They still might not say it's their "favorite" extra-curricular activity (or even one they like at all), but my two oldest boys are becoming quite the piano players. Every time a recital comes around, like this one on June 12, they amaze me with their improvement and talent. Speaking of talent - Caden actually signed himself up for the 4th grade talent show at school (without my prodding) to play his recital piece. It helps when your cool piano teacher has you play hip songs like the "Pink Panther" and all the kids get to snap along as you play and think your awesome! Tyler has a real gift for music and always picks up on pieces so quickly. They both do well - and even though liking it was never a requirement anyways - they just might be getting closer to it!

two piano playing peas in a pod

Ty prepares his music book

Caden concentrating so hard...

Thanks Sister Card for being such a wonderful teacher!

I finished!

2011-08-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

My first solo race was a success. The Helvetia Half Marathon on June 11th.

We finished in just over 2 hours - which I was pretty happy with considering how hilly the course was. My friend and "trainer" (she loves when I call her that :) ) helped show me the ways of preparing. Even with our spotty training schedule - so goes it when we each have lots of young kids and busy hubbys - we felt pretty strong all the way through the race, even picking up our pace for the last mile. Of course we earned ourselves some nice green medals, but the best thing about finishing the Helvetia Half are the free beer and helvetia burgers! I actually DID have a burger (even though it sounds nasty after running 13.1 miles) and it was pretty good!

I ran a half-marathon and acutally enjoyed it! Maybe it will be an annual tradition...maybe :)

Take Me Somewhere Fun

2011-06-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

It's what his shirt says! And what every little kid wants EVERYDAY. Yesterday, this mom and dad decided to go along with it...

How does going to a brand-new building with a 747 on top with water slides coming out of it, known as the Evergreen Wings and Waves Indoor Water park, the day before it opens to the public sound? LIKE FUN FUN FUN!

And even better, it was FREE. Bart's company built this water park in McMinnville that opens this week! So as a thank-you to the company, Evergreen held a special event for Hoffman families to come "test" it out before opening to the public. Employees and their families had the entire park to ourselves along with unlimited food from the cafe from 2-8pm yesterday.

The airplane in the picture was literally flown to Evergreen's landing strip before 3 cranes hoisted atop a structure that would be built into a one-of-a-kind water park where 4 giant slides start from inside the airplane! You have to see it to believe it and slide down yourself to enjoy the thrill!

The littles enjoyed the kiddie section that was all done up "air-style"

A shot of Cade flying out of the Mach1 slide...

grabbing a tube and getting ready to go back up for more

This giant helicopter rested way up above the "wooded" play area and filled a huge pail of water...which dumped ferociously on all the unexpecting children below ...or on those, like Ty who discovered its timing and waited below for it to fill and feel the downpour

And Luke loved to sit in the nearby lounge chair and laugh at kids getting dumped on!

Everyone was water-logged and exhausted and all smiles as we left - well, except Bo in this picture who was unhappy that he couldn't have another hot dog before leaving - it was definitely SOMEWHERE FUN! You'll have to go try it out if you live close. Or come visit and we'll take you. And it's indoors, so it's open year round! A fabulous family day. Thanks Evergreen. I'm sure we'll be back!

Birthdays

2011-06-05T14:25:00.001-07:00

Tyler loves sharing a party with his mom :)
Good thing he got his own too. He partied in the "fast lane" with some bowling and pizza for his 9th birthday. Scheduling his party around Memorial Day weekend is always tricky, but he has some great friends who were sure to be there and made it a fun celebration.

The Birthday Boy

One of Tyler's best gifts is being a good friend. He is such a kind and thoughtful kid. This year he had a speech to write and give for school on "How to Make and Keep a Friend" and he confidently told me - "I don't need much help on this one mom, I know this well."

They came, they bowled, they ate pizza and brownie sundaes, they made a mess, they got hyper and they were picked up by their parents - the mess was left behind! My kind of birthday party. Like I always say, this is my way of saying "Happy Birthday to ME"!

Easter 2011

2011-06-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

I realized that in my last session of mass-posting, I left out Easter pictures. I wish there was a way to edit the order of your blog posts. I guess it really doesn't matter, only to "obsessive-me" who now has to be bothered that the posts aren't truly chronological. Regardless, we had a wonderful Easter and some really handsome boys that should get posted about, out-of-order or not. Easter is one of those really special holidays, the only "Sunday" holiday, that seems to hold it's meaning and purpose. Sure, we do the candy and egg hunts that the kids love - but I love that my kids seem to truly understand the reason we celebrate. Bo brought home an Easter lesson from preschool the previous week and was so excited to share it with all of his. He did an amazing job of describing the events around the crusifixion and ressurection. We watched "He is Risen" and I showed the kids my pictures of the garden tomb and holy lands from when I went to Jerusalem with my family as a teenager. The loved seeing the pictures and had a lot of questions. It was just an enjoyable, wonderful, peaceful day. And, any Sunday where we get to have our Dad home more is great.
It took some coaxing to get Luke to put down his plastic Egg for a picture...

Finally, the egg is out of the mouth, but a goofy smile replaced it!

Easter basket time. Bo is so easy to buy little gifts for. He loves knights, and dragons and any cool "boyish" figurine...and he is always thrilled with the simplest things.

Luke just wants to the candy of course...

Easter evening up at Grammy and Papa's.

The weather never seems to work out here in Oregon for outdoor egg hunts, but Grammy doesn't let that get in the way...the entire basement is turned into the hunting grounds for her grandkids. Here, the boys have their bags and ready to go.

Cole and Luke find some eggs in Papa's den.

The cousins sang their Primary Easter songs they learned and then tried to hold still for a photo. Talented Grammy made all the girl's dresses!

Spring Snacking

2011-05-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun spring snack to try. It's a mix of the "dirt cup" idea and fruit kabobs with a cute spring twist. Bo and I made them for preschool snacks and they were simple and yummy, kind-of-healthy and a huge hit!I always seem to finish my "projects" after the sun goes down, so thus, the lack of natural lighting for the pictures - photography is not my talent!Simply make chocolate pudding and let set in individual serving cups. Top pudding with crushed oreo. Cut pineapple into chunks and be sure to make little slices in the top of each chunk for a daffodil look. Stem and slice strawberries into halves. Cut green apples into thin wedges. Skewer fruit with apple slice arching upward for a "leaf", and fruit at the top to make a flower. Good luck getting your skewer to stand upright in the cup (extra chunks of oreo for propping helps). Finish off with a gummy worm over the edge (it's the kids favorite part). Enjoy!

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Bo wrapped up preschool this month. Of course it all comes to an end with a cute little program.
He is still not a fan of "cheesyness" or being front and center, but at least he gets up on the stage now - that's better than last year. We grade by improvement around here.

Just don't ask for a smile

oh my, did we catch him almost singing?

and surely he can't be attempting some hand motions? Wow, improvements galore!

But we sure love our Bo. He is our "middle" and our star whether he steals the show or not. He is on his way to kindergarten!

And watch out preschool, you have this monkey coming your way in the fall!

12 Happy Years

2011-05-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

This guy and I...after 12 years together, we have learned to be good at just a couple of things. One of them is making time to be together - just the two of us. We have been faithfully having weekly date nights for 12 years running. They usually aren't extravagant and often not even planned out. We just get the babysitter and get in the car and drive and figure it out from there. But we do it... and it has been one of the greatest joys of my life with him. So when our anniversary or a speical occasion comes along I never worry about planning or expecting anything different. I am just as happy with same 'ol-same 'ol (because the same 'ol makes me happy). But somehow in the midst of all the traveling he's been doing for work, bishoping, and the hecticness of life with 5 crazies (our kids) he pulled out a little "Bart"-style anniversary. My awesome husband always seems to find a little way to make our anniversary new and special and unique year after year. This year it was a day together skiing on Mt Hood.

The weather was gorgeous and the view breathtaking (even with some guys finger blocking part of the landscape :))Perfect spring skiing. Then when our legs had enough, we scarfed down a feast at Famous Dave's and did a little shopping together - yep, he even shops!.

When we got married, we were young and dumb and pretty unprepared. I took a chance on this guy and boy did I get lucky! I knew when I married him, he was a good man. I just didn't know how good he really is. I knew I loved him then, I just didn't know how much I could. Here's to 12 happy years together and an eternity more. Love you babe!

Look Who's 2!

2011-05-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

My BABY, that's who!!

ALL ABOUT LUKERS

-He is loud, bossy and rough (what choice does he have as the 5th of 5 boys -He fits the bill well!)

-His favorite food is cantaloupe and sunflower seeds (shell included)

-He has a scowl that he has practiced and perfected

-He's so ticklish you can hardly change his diaper or dress him

-He loves books and trucks

-He loves to be goofy and crack himself up

-He is a daddy's boy BIG TIME

-He loves piggy back rides down the stairs

-He loves to wrestle (or swordfight or anything rough)

-He loves showers by himself

-He is LOUD! (maybe I mentioned that)

-He is bossy (and that too)

-He is rough (in case you missed it)

-He gives the BEST "tight squeezes" any 2-yr old could!

-He has the most contagious laugh

-He's world's cutest little guy

-He is absolutely loved and adored by his brothers

-He'll always be our Baby Luke

Lukers had his 2nd birthday party at Red Robin (original, huh?), after cubscouts and inbetween baseball practices - but we made sure it happened and that this sprightly boy had a night that was all about him. I still can't believe my baby is officially a terrible-two year old, although we think the terrible"ness" began a while ago (if it starts early, does it end early??)

I love you sweet boy!

BYU Women's Conference

2011-05-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

My mom has been going to BYU Women's Conference every spring for the past few years. This year, I finally wasn't pregnant or nursing a new baby, so she invited me to come along! I undertook to task of getting the planets to align to make it possible for me to slip away for a weekend. With the help of an amazing babysitter who even braved an overnight stay with our 5 crazies, and a husband who juggled all of his tasks and mine...I was able to spend 4 days in beautfiul, snowy Provo and enjoy some much needed "girl" time.

The conference classes themselves were amazing - truly inspiring! They alone would have been worth going for. And time alone with my mom - just the two of us was worth every effort. But if that wasn't enough...the rest of the company of ladies and the accomidations were to DIE for. Explanation: My mom and dad are part of a special Leadership Council for BYU (my mom always tells people jokingly..."if you donate enough, you could be to!") So BYU uses the conference as special retreat for the council women and makes it an absolute "retreat" in every way. The other 70 ladies who attended were incredible woman - beautiful, kind, generous, and involved in wonderful things. We kicked it all off with a special tour of This Is The Place State Park in Salt Lake City, and then continued on to Sundance where our cabins awaited us. I've seen some beautiful things in my life, but the cabin used for the group gatherings and the second one where my mom and I slept in were unbelievable.

This was the cabin that we had all gatherings and ate all our meals. It belongs to an amazing family that has 11 grown kids and 50something grandkids! The woman in the red suit standing in the middle of this picture is Sister Kristen Oaks...yep, she came and spoke to us one evening.

The cabin that my mom and I slept in was just walking distance away. We didn't get to spend a lot of time there, but it was gorgeous - I could have just sat in the quiet rooms all weekend and drank in the beauty. It was like an enchanted fortress.

Beautiful views from about every window

A grandkids bunkroom that slept 16 and was simply amazing

And a game room with that had EVERYTHING imaginable! My boys were drooling over the pictures.

There were amazging meals, evening devotionals, beautiful luncheons, shuttles that drove us to BYU campus and dropped us off curbside for our front-row seats in the Marriot Center, sweets on our pillows each night before bed, See's candies set out at every table, a goodie bag for conference filled with a journal/candy/gum/mints, and Ogio luggage with BYU logo embroydered on the front as a take-home gift.

To say we were pampered was an understatement. To say "thanks" to my mom for toting me along is simply not enough. It was a wonderful weekend in everyway!

Conference Favorites

2011-04-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

As if General Conference weekend isn't cool enough - a weekend twice a year (for our church)when you get to stay home and watch uplifting and faith promoting messages from the prophet, apostles and church leaders, from your couch, in your very own family room, on cable television, with your family. A Sunday without meetings, no rushing out the door so you won't be late, no high-heels that hurt your feet all day. I LOVE IT! But I love it even more because we have some family traditions that make the day even more special. Not only do I love these traditions, but my kids look forward to them for the 6 months inbetween and expect now every General Conference Saturday and Sunday. This year, I even added a new one! My sister sent me this idea from "Brown Paper Packages" website and I thought it was awesome. *Buckets with gospel words on them and filled with your kids favorite treats - as they listen to conference and hear the words on the buckets, they get to come up and take a goody* So I mostly copied, with changing a few things. I wanted to be able to change the words on the treat buckets. So instead of having gospel words written or stuck directly on the buckets, I painted some wooden rectangles with chalkboard paint and attached them to the front of each bucket. Then I just wrote the words with chalk - and now I can change them as often as I want! Also, as you can see, my buckets were green (I also have some smaller white ones, I liked them both) not because I painted them, only because that is what the $1 section of Target had (probably left over from St. Patrick's Day). But I thought they were more fun anyways! I left off the ribbons the the handles because...well, I have boys, and I didn't want the ribbon to obstruct the view of the TV.

The kids LOVED it. It really did work - for the bigs and littles! This one is a hit for all the ages. They listened and heard words even at times when I didn't!

They like to keep busy with work sheets too. Busy AND quiet are good. So I always print out Conference packets - you can find them on the internet. Sugardoodle.net had some great ones this Spring for all ages.

And of course - our traditional breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls. I only make them twice a year -April and October (General Conference time!)

I love General Conference weekend. And I love having these simple family traditions to go along with it. I see that it fills my kids with feelings of love and excitement for these weekends and I hope that they will associate that love and excitement always with listening and following the Prophet.

A Bracket for Brothers

2011-04-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

March Madness wasn't the only intense tournament going on in the month of March. The bracket sketched out neatly on the chalkboard at the front of the gym last Wed night had every cubscout (and their dad) nervously sweating as they waited their turn for a chance to make it into the Pinewood Derby Final four. Bart couldn't even get blamed for doing the cars for the boys this year. Since he has been traveling so much, it was up the our 2 cubscouts and good 'ol mom to put together some winning vehicles. Uncle Bill and his power tools helped with the cutting - but the sanding, painting, and and wheels were all them! (and yours truly) So, on March 30th, it was off to the races with the BYU Jimmer-mobile and the TrailBlazer car (would you expect anything different from my two boys?) Their motto: "We don't want them fancy...just fast." After the grueling round robin tournament where everyone's car raced each others, it was on to the bracket. Tyler was number 1 seed and Caden number 2! As the tournament played out and the bracket shrinked - soon it was only 2 remaining! Yep -the Dickson brothers!

Here they are at the end of the track, waiting for the final race - and their final fate-1st or 2nd place...(notice their positions - do they look like brothers of what?) And the TrailBlazer wins!!! Tyler took 1st, and big brother Cade lost only to his little bro. And he was an amazing sport about it too. I was really happy for them and proud of them both - and myself in fact!

The winners pose with papa.

The boys show off their prizes, Red Vines and DumDum pops - oh boy! What a fun night. Now I just have to figure out what we did, so we can do it again next year...and the next, and the next...only 11 more times!

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-06T22:23:00.001-07:00

Our Spring Break wasn't warm or tropical or very "springy" but it was a getaway to our favorite place with some of our favorite people. We went to grammy and papa's house at Black Butte in Central, OR with our friends who have 3 boys of their own. What could be more fun than 8 little boys and a week with no real plans? (Just go with it, *wink *wink) The kids and I spent 10 days. Bart came and went for work throughout the week but that didn't keep us from all our playing, relaxing and enjoying the snow. We woke up to beautiful snow at the ranch most mornings, swam at the indoor pool, played a TON of board games (rummikub and banagrams were worn out by the end of the week), ate yummy food, hot tubbed, read, relaxed and of course watched a lot of March Madness basketball.

We even headed up to Hoodoo for an afternoon with our oldest 3 for skiing. I was amazed at how fast the kids picked it up. It was our 5 yr old's first time and he was hopping on the chair lift and whizzing down the bunny hill by the end of the afternoon. My sister, who now lives in Central OR was a doll and watched our littles for the day so both the hubby and I could be in on the fun!

The parents were tuckered out from a day on the slopes, but leave it to little boys to have boundless energy and enough grit to decide to climb the huge snow bank out at the parking lot.

This one must have climbed and slipped a dozen times before he made it to the top! But he kept smiling and trying. It proved to me how much growing-up he has been doing...he's now one of the big boys!

The all finally made it!

Crazy group up top.

Daddy got pulled into hottubbing with this motley crew...lucky for him since he had some sore skiing muscles that needed attention.

Another highlight of the week was taking the sleds to the snowpark. It was fast and furious down the hill ones the pathways were blazed. Only minor casualties were had. I still think there were more smiles than tears. It was so fun that it deserved a return trip before the week's end.

By our second trip up, the snow was REALLY deep! Here's our oldest waist deep taking a break to eat some snow.

Me with my neice (just in case you wondered how a girl got in our family photos - my sister and her kids joined us the last part of the week. Fun, fun and more fun!)

Bart and I made a pact that we would do no more boring, wet, spring breaks at home. For me, it means a week to spend with the kids and to just get away somewhere. This beautiful place ALWAYS does the trick. Thanks Black Butte for the break!

Livin' off ALOHA!

2011-03-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

The hubby and I are only getting through the past 2 weeks of cold, wet weather, sick kids, and a disastrously (is that a word?) busy schedule because we are still living off the memory of our recent trip to paradise. We pulled off the near-impossible! We actually cleared 10 days from our calendar, convinced my mom to stay with our 5 crazies, dug out some shorts and swim-suits from the drawers and hopped on a plane to Hawaii. We literally felt guilty traveling - just the two of us. We kept feeling like we were "sneaking away" and going to get caught at any minute and returned to reality. But we escaped successfully and arrived in the warm, sweet smelling Big Island and enjoyed 9 kid-free days - pure heaven!

My parents have an amazing condo on the Kohala Coast - it's pretty hard not to enjoy yourself. Our first day there included a long walk around A-bay - it was beautiful and private, except for a lot of sea turtles on the shore along the way.

I'm not sure what this pose is, but is was amazing standing on the rocks while the waves crashed in. We even thought of our boys at home (just for a minute) and sent them a little picture message...

Our hike ended at a lone palm tree out in the middle of a bed of lava - literally nothing but lava rock as far as the eye can see. And not a sole in sight. At the base of the lone palm tree was this treasure! A natural fresh water pool. Yep, fresh, cool, crystal clear spring water coming up out of the middle of a lava field! Hawaii amazes me. We might have swam in it.

We enjoyed an afternoon whale watching cruise. We were just lying in the beach, and looked up as they were boarding for the cruise and said to each other, "Hey - that sounds fun! Let's go grab tickets and get on!" One of the millions of things that are possible when you're not toting little ones along.

Humpback whales galore - no zoom!

We rented long boards one afternoon and gave ourselves lessons. Just a note - its harder than it looks. We like to say that the bay was especially choppy that day :) And I like to remind Bart that I did better than he did staying upright!

Our good friends from home joined us on day 4 and together, we booked an afternoon helicopter ride around the island. Definitely the BEST and ONLY way to see everything. It was beyond incredible. We flew from the dry side of the island to the rainforest, around the rim of the volcano, and through the Kohala Coast valleys and waterfalls. Breathtaking!

A still shot of the fire red lava literally flowing from a vent.

I didn't get many other pictures with my camera, because I was busy getting sick - yeah, embarassing, I know. Especially since I was in the cockpit next to the pilot. Next time I'll remember the dramamine . It was still worth every minute!

My favorite though - had to be the Zip Line tour. We took a military 6 wheeler through the wilderness, which was probably the scariest part of the tour, stopping a time or two to let wild cattle move out of our way. Then, 8 zip lines through the rainforest canopy - past waterfalls, and over valleys with ocean views. It was beyond cool!

We spent a TON of time getting R&R at the beach or by the pool. We enjoyed a couples oceanside massage, daily morning smoothies, yummy restaraunts in the evenings, and warm nights playing bananagrams with our friends on the lanai. I read 2 1/2 books. Exercising even felt relaxing.

My mom did AMAZING with my kids (I had no doubts - just worries that she would make me looks bad!) and we found all well when we returned home. A testament to the whole idea of couples needing to just get away once and a while. Reality hits like a cold bucket of water - I think we were home all of 20 minutes before Coley threw up all over the bathroom floor and someone's homework got spilled on. But it all felt fun again in some un-normal way - it's what a good vacation does to you.

So until next time, this image will be engraved in my memory. The tan is already fading away - but the experiences and memories won't if I can help it. I'll stay livin' off ALOHA as long as possible.

Loving Love Day

2011-02-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I love the simple holidays like Valentines Day best, because you can do some fun things without all the pressure and stress that Christmas can bring. My creativity for this year was more like copying...but when you have creative friends, why not? My friend, who by the way has an amazing blog you can check out here (who you may already know, becuase she is getting quite famous in the crafty-blog world) sometimes posts about her homemade lollipops. I gave them a try last year and they were pretty "fool-proof" so this year was round two.
I love this kid. While craftiness is usually lost on boys, this kid is always up for helping me with my newest project. The older boys wouldn't hear of having any other valentines treats besides store-bought NBA cards with store-bought sour licorice sticks attached. But this boy is always ready to humor me and go along with my ideas. So while the little two nap - he's my helper and we have a blast.

We wrapped them up in small plastic treat bags and tied 'em up with a ribbon.

Then for the cards...I remembered a different friend doing a cute thing last year. So, since I'm a creative copier, I started pulling all the ideas together...and...

He was even willing to go along with this next part, which involved a silly photo shoot holding out his fist in front of him.

Then using photoshop to crop and add the lettering, and $.13 cent 4x6 prints at Costco - we added the homemade lollipops and had our preschool Valentine's Day cards.

He was pretty happy with them - can't you tell by the half-smile he had while holding it up? Thanks Bode for always wanting to hang with mom and your help making Love Day lovely!

Laughter for 4 please.

2011-02-22T23:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, some friends of our introduced us to a man, who has changed our family forever. Maybe you've heard of Brian Regan- a clean, family-friendly comedian who is simply hilarious. Since our first introduction two summers ago - everything that may be funny has to be scored against the Brian Regan scale. We don't quote movie lines at our house, but no family dinner-table discussion goes without dropping a Regan line. No family vacation or car ride can carry on without a Regan joke. Even our 3 year old knows lines, even though he doesn't know their meaning. Brian has infiltrated our home and his funnies just never get old to us. So our older boys were thrilled when "Santa" brought us 4 tickets to his January 28th show in Portland. Me and the boys met Bart downtown for a yummy dinner and then headed over to the "Schnitz" for a night of laughter.

His material was all new. And while good, we still think his "I Walked on the Moon" show takes the blue ribbon. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing continuously for 2 hours. It was too much fun and a great memory maker with our big kids. And the night ended perfectly when Brian encored with his "little league" segment. But instead of snow cones, we then headed to our favorite yogurt shop, Peachwave for some delicious dessert. Grape, no cherry. Grape or cherry. Both favorites!

New Years with Family

2011-01-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

We stayed home for most of the Holiday vacation and soaked in some down-time following Christmas. But we decided to finish off by throwing in a little road trip to Tacoma, WA to visit some of Bart's family and ring in the New Year with the Dickson gang.

Our first stop was to Bart's grandparents house. They were happy to see us and always welcome our brood. (The fact that they have a game room with ping-pong and pool in the basement helps to make it a successful visit with kids). Grandma suffers from Alzheimers, but we were happy she seemed to recognize us. We hope our boys get more chances to visit with Grandma while she is still happy and feeling good. But for now we got good quality time and photos with lots of smiles!
Bart with his grandparents - we can see clearly where Bart gets his bald head...errr...good looks!

One of the reasons we made the trip had to do with the coaxing Bart recieved from his cousins to come and help add depth to the Dickson flag football team in the Dickson vs Dyer (long-time family friends) first annual New Years Day bowl. So New Years day started with a frosty field and a football game...

The Dickson team started strong, but lost momentum and gave up the first year's win to the Dyers. I say it's because the Dyer team snagged my 10-yr old to play with them - he made ALL the difference! Like any friendly sports competition - everyone shook hands and even snuggled in for a group shot at the game's end. Considering no one got hurt and the new year was kicked off with a little excercise and a lot of fresh air - it was a WIN for everyone.

We are looking forward to a happy, health and robust New Year. Can't wait to see what adventures 2011 has in store.

All I want for Christmas is...

2011-01-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

my boys - with smiles on their faces. I think I got my wish! We had a great Christmas morning - just us. The boys came creeping into our room right at 7am (as they were told no earlier than that) and the stocking-sifting and paper-shredding madness began. Grammy and Papa do their rounds to all the houses to see what happiness has been opened. This year Santa brought an Oregon Ducks hoodie for Cade, a Jaquiz Rogers (OSU) jersey for Ty, knights and a frisbee for Bo, knights for Cole (since he still says whatever his older brother does), and a ball for Luke (like we don't have enough of those!).
Mom and dad scored big smiles for getting the boys a Wii. They were not expecting it at all (since we swore we were going to be a no video-game house) I guess we got soft.

It earned us huge hugs too!

This one was still trying to wake up, but he's holding all he wanted.

This one was in knight heaven. His new love. Papo knight company was loving our house this year.

For a little boy, Christmas morning is simply magical. While we try to make sure our kids remember the real meaning of Christmas - I remind myself to just enjoy this morning and all of the surprise and elation.

We spend a lot of time making sure the Christmas season focused on Christ and giving. We have family nights reviewing the symbols of Christmas and their true meaning. We pick a family and do the 12-days of Christmas where we leave a surprise gift of the doorstep every night leading up to Christmas. We deliver lots of goody trays to friends and neighbors. We read scriptures and stories - I buy a new Christmas book each year. This year I found a favorite in "I Believe in Santa Claus" by Diane G Adamson - A childs Christmas story teaching of Santa and Christ.

We did a couple of new things this year that really added to our Christmas fun - We used the money from the advent calendar (quarters that Grammy puts in each drawer to go along with a candy for each day) and the boys picked out gifts for each other at the dollar store. (An idea I got from a friend's blog) It was a great outing to help fill one of their Holiday vacation afternoons. But it was also really fun to see how much thought and care they each took trying to find the perfect present for each other. They went up and down isles stewing and thinking - it was cute to see what they finally decided on - and cuter to see them try to keep their baskets secret from each other and hurry home to wrap each item themselves. Since it was so inexpensive, I was able to totally refrain from my controlling nature and let them do it. They made sure I knew that they want to do this every year. A lot was added to Christmas morning when each boy got to feel more personally the joy that comes from giving. I also borrowed a "tradition idea" a friend once shared with me - each boy got a box of their favorite breakfast cereal (the ones I will never buy during the year except for camping of Black Butte trips). They were so excited to eat breakfast, we had to remind them there were still presents to unwrap. It was just another simple way to make Christmas memorable.

We spent the rest of the morning skype-ing out-of-town family. Then we headed up for Grammy and Papa's for a huge brunch and huge round 2 of presents. The day was filled with cousins playing, parents visiting and napping. Then we finished off with eating all the yummy left-overs from Christmas Eve dinner. After we were stuffed full and tired, we traveled home happy and filled with the Spirit of Christmas. It truly is the best time of the year.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eves have settled in the nice same scene year after year for us. That is part of what makes Christmas so great - the Traditions - the same wonderful events, constant warmth, consistent love and enjoyment that never grows old. I am lucky to have all my siblings and their families close by - so on Christmas Eve afternoon, we all head up to Grammy and Papa's. You can feel and smell "Christmas" from the driveway. The kitchen is all a bustle as the women pull together the finishing touches for the feast. Kids run and play with utter excitement to all corners of the house. This one was caught LOTS of times, doing this...
We gather together and Papa, in his choked-up voice does the same welcome/gratitude speach we all love. Then we "try" to enjoy a beautiful, peaceful dinner. With so many little ones it's usually more like mahem - spilled drinks, laughter and usually some tears - but beauty and peace can come in lots of packages.

After dinner, the kids get costumed and perform the Nativity as Papa reads from the scriptures.

Each year there are new cast members to add to the performance. Cole-the shepard guards the manger until everyone is ready to roll.

Some of the new cast members aren't as eager to participate...

The older kids still love it as much as the little ones

By the end of the Nativity play, it usually looks like this...but it is a work in progress.

The kids all help carry up the presents from downstairs to arrange under the tree (or more like around the room) - Our grammy has perfected the art of gift-giving. Then everyone opens one gift, which is always Christmas pajamas. Even the parents and guests get a new set of pj's - but we don't make them pose for a picture.Then for the evening wind-down, someone plays the piano and we all sing our favorite Christmas Carols. As you can see, the winding-down part wasn't successful - it turned into more of a dog-pile/wrestling match. Poor Aunt Haley on the bottom.

Then the parents have the job of getting their kids home, to bed, and eventually asleep - So Santa can come!

Every year, as the kids get a little older, the feelings of Christmas seem to change. The traditions are the same, and the scene looks identicle. But there seems to be more excitement, more anticipation, more gratitude, more LOVE. I remember it being great when I was a kid. The best part is that is seems to keep getting better!

Happy Birthday Bart!

2010-12-23T23:07:00.000-08:00

Bart turned 34 this week.

We threw a party for him "dad-style" at Round-table pizza (a place where the kids can run and not bother everyone else) - and he was a good sport about it. I brought his favorite - mint chocolate torte. When we arrived home, there were about 50 young men and women from our church at our house to sing him "happy birthday". Bart tried to give me credit, but I didn't even set it up - they just love their bishop!

We love you dad!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-12-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

School Music Programs
Bo is not a fan of the spotlight - but he is getting better. We don't expect smiles, we're just glad he gets up to participate in his preschool singing programs. And hey, by the last couple of songs, he didn't even notice that he was singing along!

Cade had his school Christmas Music program the same night. So luckily Bart was in town and didn't have Bishop appointments - so we divided and conquered. I don't have any pictures of Cade, the dancing elf (which I am sure he is happy about), but our family all enjoyed a fun night of Chrismas music to help kick off the season.

Christmas Piano Recital

It is so fun to see how much the boys are improving. I truly thank our piano teacher for making lessons so fun. And for her wonderful recitals she puts together. Like she says, "they are a lot like Christmas...take endless hours to plan and are over in a snap". But we still love to listen to the holiday music played by our boys and other great kids.

Visit to Santa

We miraculously coordinated schuedules and were able to take all the cousins together to see Santa again this year. They're ready for Santa - is Santa ready for them??

The cousins pose for a picture while waiting. They had fun sharing their excitement all huddled under the outdoor heaters in the gazebo waiting for their turn with Santa.

poor santa.

The trick to this tradition is finding a "good" Santa - looks and spirit. The Bridgeport Village Santa has been wonderful the past few years. He takes time to talk to each child and even had the kids ask questions - like where he parks his reindeer. (I didn't hear his answer, unfortunately) Thank you Santa for being wonderful and adding magic to our season!

Teacher Gifts

*For Bo's preschool teachers we tied up cute Christmas kitchen towels with a story about the symbolism of a towel - a reminder to do works of goodness. We attached a note with our thanks for their works of goodness they do with the preschool and included some yummy chocolate covered peppermint oreos.

*For Cade and Ty's teachers I procrastinated a while waiting for some great-crafty-inspiration to hit. But I kept hearing and being reminded that teachers don't want more "stuff" or more treats to eat that they have already been given x 30 students. They just want gift cards (or something useful). So to all you teachers out there - just know that us parents try to listen. So I found these cute giant plastic muffin wrappers at the Container store and filled it with breakfast from Panera (a pumpkin muffin, gingerbread bagel and cream cheese, and orange juice) and a gift card to Panera. I figured I couldn't go wrong. Who doesn't LOVE Panera, and it happens to be just down the road from our elementary school (so a yummy spot for lunch during a school day!)

Cookies with Grammy

No matter how busy the holiday season gets, my mom still sets aside a Saturday to have the grandkids over (the older ones at least) to decorate sugar cookies. Then we get to take home these masterpieces and add them to our goodie-trays to give away to friends (well, the ones that are giftable anyways!) Even though we have to fit it in with basketball games and parties and everything else, the boys look forward to this every year.

We are blessed. And the Christmas season is so good to remind us of it. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Christmas has come early!!

2010-12-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

There have been a few monumental events that have occurred at the Dickson household that are blogworthy - or at least important enough to be included in our family album at the end of the year (when our blog becomes a book). 3 big events that feel like the best gifts of the season to me.

Lukers has kicked the "chair". This sad, old high-chair that doesn't really fit in our dining nook has finally been retired. Over the course of 5 kids, I refused to ever replace it - I only despised it more and more with each child and every passing year. I will never have to clean those creveses, scrub the straps, or wipe the windows next to it again. I KNOW I will have plenty more messes at mealtime to deal with - but at least they won't involve this old highchair. While I should be sad that this is a sign that my last baby isn't such a baby anymore...I don't feel remorse when it comes this worn-out scum-collector. I'll shed an extra tear for the crib or carseat when it is retired, but not the highchair. Good riddins!

Cole is officially, 100% trained. He has finally overcome his phobias of going #2 in the potty and is pull-up free, day and night. If you know me or my potty-training record, you know what a big day this is for us. We don't give advice or offer training in this area - it's not our cup of tea. But for this boy - he's all good! And warming up quite nicely to being an underwear model I think.

Saving the best for last...Bart and I cut a check, sent it in this envelope and recieved a reciept that our law school loans are paid in full! Now those years of toil and trouble can truly start to become a distant memory. I remember thinking this day would never happen. But now we can say - BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, CHECKED THAT BOX. Waahooo!

Some things just feel like - Merry Christmas to us!

Civil War Game

2010-12-13T13:52:00.001-08:00

Call us bandwagon fans - but you would be too if your family LOVES college football like mine does and your state's university has made their way into the national championship game this year! The fact that UofO is a strong client of my husband's company also helps. But really, it's our oldest boys who are to blame. They have been routing for the Ducks for the past several years (a little to our shagrine, I might add - but we held our tongue) and now they have pulled us on the bandwagon. So when Bart got offered 4 tickets to the OSU v UofO Civil War game, we knew what 2 guests we would invite to come along! Does it make us bad parents if we used the game tickets as a motivator for accomplishing a goal first? But Cade and Ty worked hard on their goals we helped them set and truly "earned" their chance to see the Ducks beat the Beavers and advance to the National Championship game.

Even though the game was at OSU's Reser's Stadium - the boys would not allow us to go without sporting yellow and green - so we figured, "go big or stay home"!
Notice the sea of Orange and Black around us? Maybe it really makes us bad parents that we allowed our kids to be obvious and outnumbered in enemy territory. (There was actually a lot of duck fans scattered in even though you can't tell). We just feel we got the chance to give our kids a little lesson in friendly and not-so-friendly rivalry behavior. It was still a fun afternoon with our boys - perfect football weather (sunny and cold), time together, and a great game!
Don't worry - Bart wore a BYU Cougars shirt under his coat (closest to his heart!). Go Cougars! AND GO DUCKS!!

Over the River...

2010-12-13T13:19:00.000-08:00

...and through the woods to grandma and papa's Black Butte house we go - for Thanksgiving that is! We celebrated this favorite holiday in the snow-covered beauty of central Oregon with my entire family - yep - 24 of us, all in one cabin! It was tight quarters, but so much fun. The cousins love being together - and the snow kept them entertained outside much of the time - which made the indoors even a little peaceful and relaxing at times! It was a rustic and cozy Thanksgiving meal.
The kids supervised Uncle Gregg carving the yummy turkey.

After the feast, we all put on our warm clothes and boots (if we could find them in this pile) and went for a wintry walk together to get some fresh air and work off our stuffed stomachs.

It doesn't get much more beautiful than a snow covered trails at dusk in Central Oregon.

Cole and Luke enjoyed the "ride"

Two of the things I'm most grateful for - beautiful, bundled-up babies, and huggable, generous papas!

After our chilly walk, we played our traditional huge-family-bingo-game - complete with awesome prizes from grammy. The kids all crashed that night, with full tummies and grinning faces. The holiday weekend included late nights for parents playing bananagrams, moms staying up late doing secret craft projects, trips to the indoor swimming pool at the ranch, and lots of time in the hot tub. It was a perfect Thanksgiving - with much to be thankful for!

Mostly my family who I love beyond measure. As long as we have each other, we have enough - everything else is just icing on our cake.

Boo to You!

2010-11-07T23:04:00.001-08:00

Halloween time means a trip to the pumpkin patch, picking totally random and fun costumes, trick-or-treating, lots of treats and tons of fun. Ours fit the bill pretty perfectly.

We got to go with Bo's preschool for our first trip to a pumpkin patch.
Luke can't believe how many big orange balls to kick and throw he has to choose from

Cole stops playing "chase" in the hay maze long enough to get a snapshot

Bo's found the perfect one! He had to make sure it had a little dirt on it - "so we know it's real mom".

Cole switched from "chase" to "hide-and-seek" in the hay maze - he wasn't impressed that the camera found him!

Typical preschool class picture.

Then we had to make our annual trip just down the road to our favorite farm with the big brothers (mostly for the apple cider and pumpkin donuts, but we fit in some other fun too).

we got stuck at the baby chicks for a while - Bo and Tyler are softees for cute, fluffy things

I was a softee and gave into the overpriced pony rides...Coley (behind) wasn't a fan

This year for trick-or-treating we had a Crazed Ducks Fan, a Colts Football player, batman, a shark, and lion. Members from our church handed out candy on Saturday night, so we got to start our sugar high a night early!

Hope everyone's Halloween was just as Happy!

Tricks and Treats

2010-11-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

Something festive got into me this fall. Maybe it's that I am feeling myself emerging from "survival" mommy (with too many little-ones causing sleep- deprivation and a feeling of barely keeping my head above water, so I commit to only the ESSENTIALS of life - nothing more) to a mom who is feeling more like her "normal" self. Whatever the reason, I had Bo help me pick some favorites from my list of ideas in my head and we enjoyed some spooktacular afternoons (usually while little ones were napping) being crafty together this past Halloween season. Here's our attempts at being festive...

Cagey Ghosts

We made these silly ghosts in the front yard. Who knew tomato cages had so many uses? So before my got shoved deep into storage, we used them as the frame for these happy haunters.

This is a little sketch of the idea if you are still confused how a tomato cage becomes a ghost...

I used some tie-wire to form the heads (I had to add this since my tomato cages are the beefy-er type and don't have the loose wire ends at the top). Then we strung the frame with lights. Next, simply throw some white sheets over the top and add the faces. I cut my eyes and mouths out of the craft foam sheets and straight pinned them on (the faces held up well through the Oregon weather, and were easy to remove when I took it all down and needed to wash the sheets before storing away). The arms on the one ghost were created by duct taping a tennis ball to a wooden dowel that I stuck in the ground next to the structure.

This is how they looked all lit up. We were pretty tickeled with them.

Tasty Pumpkin cupcakes

Witches Hands
These are so fun and simple for kids to do. The hardest part was getting my hands on those clear plastic kitchen gloves (I'll save you the long story). I like the medium size. It doesn't really matter, but if you go too small, they are harder to fill. Put a candy corn in each finger tip and slip in several M&M's (warts) as you fill with popcorn. The finishing touch is the spider ring!

Ghostwriters
These spooky-looking pens are a cinch to make and cause everyone to do a double take. We made a batch and gave them as gifts to the boys school and piano teachers. When I showed my neighbors, they were all started making them too!

Just cover a ball point pen with white molding clay making sure you leave the tip of the pen exposed(I like the Crayola Model Magic-it's really lightweight and easy for kids to use). Shape the clay into a finger shape and attach a plastic finger nail with glue, leaving room for the pen to write (before attaching the nail, I used clippers to make the nail tips broken and jagged-looking). Using a small knife or toothpick, I made the creases at the knuckels. Trim the nail down leaving room for the pen to write and Then paint the fingernail a ghastly color. Make sure you let it sit out for a couple of days to dry. One of the boys' teachers was even using it for parent conferences! They loved it.

Sugar Cookies

No holiday is complete without decorating cookies. I snagged this "Boo" cutter from Crate and Barrel this year and had a lot of fun with it. My best friend from college has an amazing blog (http://beeinourbonnet.blogspot.com/) and her tips are helping overcome my fears of frosting cookies. I used her royal frosting recipe and "squeezie bottles" as she calls them. (thanks Ash!)

Halloween Dinner

My Mom and Dad hosted all the family at her house for a dinner and party Halloween night. The menu included 4 different yummy soups (one made by each of us girls) and these breadsticks that looked like withes' fingers (a witch with edema anyways!)

I made some "edible eyeballs" using big slices of carrots topped with sour cream and a sliced olive.
and also these "monster bites" out of apples and slivered almonds.

And of course, we didn't leave out our Halloween tradition - homemade donuts!

After writing this post and remembering all the fun projects, I'm feeling like I'd better hurry up get going for Thanksgiving and Christmas before "survival" mommy decides to make a comeback!

Add football to the list

2010-11-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has sons that play football know it is a whole NEW experience from anything else little league. Youth sports are fun, busy and can even get competetive and intense. But football is in it's own world. Caden decided to put soccer aside and wanted to give football a try this year - (we figured it would help us know if it was going to be a sport to add to our year-round variety or if he didn't like it we could weed it out and focus on ALL the others our boys love to play) so we entered the Mafia.

You GIVE:

-a chunk of your checkbook,

-your last month of summer vacation (yes, practices for 2 hrs/5 days a week starting Aug 8th and our school doesn't start until the first week of Sept.)

-your time volunteering (EVERYONE must help - there are jobs for all family members)
-your voice (cheering through 2-hour games each Saturday)

-and your nerves (when your boy gets laid out by some defender and stays down for a while).

And you GET:

-fantastic coaches who help your son realize even more talents and new strenghts

-a whole "football family" for the season,

-a lot of fun memories

-an obvious realization that of course your son would love it! And that he's a great little quarterback!

-AND ANOTHER SPORT TO ADD TO THE LIST OF FAVORITES in the Dickson household!

quarterback school - reviewing the plays pre-game

I call this "facing the giants" - we faced some teams a lot bigger than ours - but our Timberwolves were quick and mighty

Cade is burried somewhere deep in the middle of that huddle - stinking cute!

"Set-Hike" - Cade's the "gloved" quarterback with his posse of runningbacks behind him.

The cheering squad - they were true and faithful all season long.

My team job (with the coaxing of my husband) was team sportswriter. I was to write a summary after each game to submit to the local paper. Most moms sign up for helping in the snack shack or something fluffy- but I couldn't imagine missing any games - I wanted a job that allowed me to watch the action on the field (there's a reason I have 5 boys huh? I'm nuts), so this seemed like a good idea. The problem is, I'm not a very good writer - so in return, I coaxed my husband into writing most of the articles. He should thank me - I helped him uncover a hidden talent and help erupt a new secret fantasy of his to be a sports columnist. I wish I could paste the articles' text below so you could get a taste. I am just glad we now have documented colorful commentary to help us remember our fabulous first football season!

Soccer Star

2010-11-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

Tyler's 3rd grade soccer team finished 1 goal shy of being undefeated for the season! His team even won 1st place at a tournament. We saw a new level of speed and aggression come out in Ty this year. He really picked up his level of play and the game really started to click with him this year. He was really fun to watch and was nicknamed "big foot" for his monsterous kicks and huge shots on goal.

If I find the action shots I took early in the season, I'll post them later (they must have gotten downloaded into a mysterious file). The final practice of the season was the biggest game of the year - parents vs kids. We convinced Cade to watch the little boys so Bart and I could both play. It was cold and wet and a TON of fun. We ended up tied (with no holding back, parents seriously giving our best effort) with these little soccer stars. Here's a shot of the whole group all soaked and smiling.

And of couse the season-end celebratory pizza party is always a hit. Way to go Tigers.

And one more trophy to add to the collection. This one was well earned! Great job Tyler.

Lizards and Snakes and Spiders, oh my!

2010-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

It doesn't get much more fun than 5-year old birthday parties. But I've done a lot of fun boy party themes over the years already, like; baseball, pirates, race cars, superheroes - to name some. I wanted to do something new and different and perfect for my newest 5-year old. This time is was all about Bo. So we decided on a reptile party - SO him. But not just any old reptile party...one with REAL reptiles!

So I sent out the invitations... and decorated reptile style...

I made a path of lizard tracks from the front door to the back patio where the party would take place...

And then let Mr. Lizard do the rest...

Of course there were party favors filled with reptile-y things...
And ONE VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOY!

Another School year

2010-09-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

The backpacks are loaded with supplies and these boys are ready for another school year as 3rd and 4th graders. They didn't even want their mom and little brothers to walk them to school on the first day - that was such a last year thing!

Go be your best boys!

Labor Day Fun

2010-09-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

I love Labor Day - it's like that last hurrah of summer. So why not spend it outdoors and with your favorite people? That's what we did! My family thought it would be a great idea to all meet at Oaks Park (a local and I guess, still popular) amusement park. Only we couldn't even get close to the park with the crazy traffic and cars backed up farther than anyone can imagine. So when we investigated what was going on and found out there was some "union" event at Oaks Park for the day - we quickly started brainstorming for a plan B. Luckily, my family was stalled in traffic right on Sellwood Bridge and we were admiring all the boats in the water below us. That moment sparked an idea that brought us to a river dock and led us on one crazy and fun adventure. We called and booked tickets for all 24 of us on the Willamette River Jetboat Excursion! They said it was for all ages and family friendly...so we threw life jackets on all the kids, took our seats, snapped a few pictures and we were off on our hour-long adventure.

Notice the sign behind Cole and I. It says - "An exciting adventure with sharp turns and quick stops. You WILL get wet. You MIGHT get soaked." And then a whole list of warnings...family friendly huh?

The boat ride took us up and down the Willamette river, sometimes at high speeds, spinning 360's and stopping on a dime - and getting wet with every manuever! There were also some slower moments where we learned a little history of the Portland waterway and had a moment for a quick photo ("quick" was key - my camera would have surely been overboard had I had it out during the action). Most of the younger kids were white-knuckled for most of the ride, and Cole pretty much had his head burried into me - refusing to look. It was just so fast and fun, we didn't have time to feel bad for them! It was a Blast!

Papa and Grammy - a little wet, but still smiling. The young kids weren't too sure about the whole thing...but watching their panicked reactions to all the stunts made the ride all the more hilarious!

Luke's just along for the ride - spiked, wet hair and all.

A stop at McCall's waterfront park for a calm moment to admire the Portland skyline and draw attention of park-goers - good marketing!

The whole "wet" gang posed for a picture after the wild excursion. It was truly so fun and we can't wait to do it again next summer when they re-open sessions. Maybe we'll leave the little ones home next time!? Thanks Oaks Park for being too busy - we had a MUCH better time anyways! Next, our group was off to dinner at the Ol Spaghetti Factory to celebrate all the August/September birthdays!

The jetboat excursion kind of represented our summer in a way - fast, furious, and tons of fun. Definitely a good, last Hurrah for a fabulous summer.

Double Digits!

2010-09-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Caden turned 10 earlier this month! Each year we seem to have trouble finding a way to celebrate with his friends, since his birthday always falls around Labor Day and everybody seems to be out of town. But we still rounded up several friends that were in town and they had a great time celebrating as all boys like to do - bowling and chowing down on nachos and french fries

and cooling off with a sweet treat of ice cream at Coldstone

I still can't believe I have a ten year old. And I am crushed by the thought that he is more than half-way through his years that he will be in our home! This boy is such a great kid. Every mom thinks this, I know, but he is really something special. He is incredibly bright and mature and funny - my sister says she sometimes feels like calling to see if Cade can come hang out - he is that much fun to be around. He knows what he is about and is very driven to be his best. He is a hard worker. He is an awesome older brother and oldest cousin - the little kids truly LOVE him. He has that look and feel about him that says - "I got it under control". As his third grade teacher put it, "if there is one word to describe Caden it would be - COOL." We have high hopes for our kids and sometimes I feel like I expect so much out of this one...yet, everyday I stop to notice - and there he is exceeding my expectations! He makes us so proud. Happy 1oth. We love you buddy.

Summer Family Pictures

2010-09-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

My talented sister-in-law lugged all her camera and gear from Florida and helped us get some family pics during our Black Butte reunion in August. Thanks to her quickness with the camera and a lot of patience with us, she was able to get some great photos.

This is us, just keeping it real. The shot was taken on the golf course and you will notice the picture on the top has golfers and carts in the background. Then after some handy work in photoshop - viola! They disappear!

Our blondest boy

This kid is packed with personality. We love his little teeth, all seperated and perfectly rounded - we call him Mike Wazowski (from Monster Inc.)

Mischevious but oh so cute...

Coolest kids ever

Thanks Heather for taking the time to help us capture these memories and great times.

Depoe Bay

2010-09-07T00:23:00.001-07:00

We always look forward to our annual summer camping weekend with our friends. This year, we ditched the tents and upgraded to a house at the coast!

Although our camping trips were always great for serving up adventures and hilarious memories, I think our beach weekend will stick as a new tradition. We enjoyed perfect weather and had a wonderful time.

Lukers took a little time to take a liking to the sand - but his sad face was just as photogenic.

The shore and tidepools were full of sealife - the kids stayed out for hours discovering!

Cole was a little leary of the waves crashing in - he is still saying "thank you that the water didn't get us" in his prayers each night! He did a lot of observing from high up on the beach while the rest of them played in the sand and water all day long.

Our friend pulled out his nets and we went crabbing off the rock pier close by- we had some great luck and caught a dozen or so. Mostly small ones to throw back, but a few beefy ones too!

Cade's going to have to teach Dad how to hold 'em...he got chomped on the finger!

The kids help measure the crabs back at the house to make sure they are big enough to keep...and to EAT! A quick photo before we cook them up!
We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and memories!

A beautiful scene to end the day. And a wonderful finale to a great summer!

A Wolf and a Bear

2010-09-07T00:04:00.001-07:00

Not scary animal sightings in the wilderness, but the new badges my boys have earned in Cubscouts this summer. I got a quick snapshot of them at our August Packmeeting in the park.

Yes, Caden is wearing football pants (coming late, straight from practice) and yes, they are wet from a water fight. Sometimes pictures aren't meant to be good, just meant to document life and memories.

I also got to fulfill my motherly responsibilities and chaperone 2 days (since I have 2 boys, I guess) at cubscout day camp this summer. I actually love watching and listening to boys this age - it is a real hoot. And I love seeing my boys learn and try new things.Tyler was a natural at the BB Guns. He was pretty impressed with his mom who got a couple bulls-eyes too! It's no wonder I have all boys - I really like this stuff, and I'm not too shabby!
On to being eagle scouts someday...if I have anything to do with it!

Free to Hit the Road

2010-09-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I returned home from our date Friday, Aug 19th and realized that we had nothing going on the next day! A miracle! So we decided before football and soccer games started and we were back to fall weekends, crammed full - we'd take full advantage. So we did an impromptu road trip a couple of hours north to Tacoma, WA to visit family and make a surprise appearance at a cousin's wedding reception.

They might look a little intimidating...but these boys are pretty good travelers and were up for the trip.

We met up with Bart's brother's family and spent the afternoon with them at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

The boys were amazed at the animals. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed myself!

Lukers loved the discovery lab and getting to touch the starfish...a little too much...he started grabbing and flinging them...kind of frowned upon by the zoo employees.

A lot of excitment and large crowds helped us lose our oldest child for a little while. It was a little scary and I was feeling like a pretty lousy parent. But luckily Cade kept his head about him and thought to ask someone to borrow their cell phone and call his dad's number before we got too worried. Smart boy!
It ended up being one great day! Sometimes the unplanned trips make for the best ones.

Dickson Family Reunion

2010-09-06T22:52:00.001-07:00

When you get 2 parents, 6 Dickson siblings (from all corners of the country), their spouses and combined 16 children (all 9 and under) together for a week - what do you get? Well besides CHAOS?

FUN!!

Bart and I hosted the first Bi-Annual Dickson family reunion. Our amazing family flew from Florida and Seattle (and in between) to the great Northwest to spend a week in one of my family's favorite places- Black Butte Ranch, OR. We truly had a great time enjoying the outdoors and being together.

After a huge BBQ dinner Monday night, the kids gathered around Grandma for a fun family home evening - they listened to the story of "Nephi - the Shipbuilder"

and even got to play with a real hand-made bellows!

then, made their own twinkie "ships".
or just ate the ship ingredients!

One thing the week had plenty of was good food. When you have an event with Grandma Debbie, the eating is definitely TOP NOTCH! Cooking for 30 people for 7 days straight doesn't even phase her.

Besides good food, there was lots of game-playing, bike riding, tennis and swimming. The dads enjoyed a hike of Black Butte, the moms took an afternoon away to shop in Sisters.

There were German-style disco dances in the dark with glow sticks!

And a little time for relaxation...when grandkids weren't sneaking up on you!

He still managed to convince Grandpa into taking him golfing!

And even talked Grandpa into letting him drive the cart!

By the end, there were lots of tired kids, sun drenched faces, and smiles!
After our fun-filled week at the ranch, some went straight home, while the rest reconveined back in Portland for a couple of nights. We hyped up Tualatin's own Crawfish Festival and stared the day off by convincing our family to march in the parade for our friend who is running for Congress - they were of course great sports! Then (in 100 degree heat) checked out what a crawfish festival is about - it was our family's first year attending, so hyping it up was pretty risky. Luckily it wasn't a huge dissapointement.

Of course we had to eat crawfish! Bet you didn't know it's the oldest Crawfish Festival in the U.S. (We all have a fame to claim!)

Dad shows us how it's done.

Caden wasn't a fan.

But the week earned two thumbs up - definitely a hit and fun for everyone. Our family is truly one of our greatest treasures. They are simply wonderful. Thanks to all of them for traveling to our neck of the woods for this one...we're looking forward to the next time!

Enjoying the Harvest

2010-09-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

End of summer means time to pick what we planted! Our garden won't be featured in BH&G by any means, but I still get giddy when I glance over at it from my kitchen window each day. I was especially tickled with our little improvements to it this year - we built up a little stone retaining wall and made it into an actual "raised" bed...
and planted a load of new things...
I'm not sure what happened to my pictures of cabbage, peppers and carrots in 6 different colors! The zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes are just beginning to ripen...and will be coming out of ears soon! Hey, for someone who has a black thumb - you can't blame me for being excited!

Cuteness

2010-07-26T22:31:00.001-07:00

My very talented photographer friend (http://www.shondabarlowphotography.com/) came across a new must-have prop when she went antique shopping. She wanted to give it a test run - she just needed a cute-one-year-old-boy to fit inside...hey! I have one of those! I think it turned out perfect, even if he wouldn't smile.

We're Back

2010-07-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

I don't know where the last 3 months went...mostly baseball is to blame. But for anyone who really follows my blog - rest assured I haven't gone permanently missing (like some people we know - jyl - not to mention any names). But now that we're not spending every night of the week eating dinner out of a bag, spitting (or swallowing as my little ones do) sunflower seeds, and cheering on our older two ball players - I actually think I miss it! - and I actually have enough time to download pictures off my camera and blog. Because I like to slurp my blog into a book at the end of the year (my version of scrapbooking) I have posted the things we've been up to (besides baseball) in seperate posts. So keep scrolling down a ways! You even have to click "older posts" to get to page 2! And don't worry, I'll post end-of-season baseball pictures shorlty after the end-of-season parties are wrapped up! Now we're enjoying long summer days swimming at grammy's, working in the yard and soaking in summer - until football starts the second week of Aug! Welcome to my world.

4th of July at Black Butte

2010-07-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

After months of baseball and a slew of cold, wet weather, we joined my sister and her family in a trip to Black Butte to finally kick off the summer. We didn't include a whole lot of patriotic celebration (some BBQing a a little lesson in the hottub about our amazing country), but managed a lot of biking, swimming, tennis and relaxing - what we do best at Black Butte Ranch. The older kids loved that we let them go do some activities themselves - kids becoming independent can be a great thing! Besides Luke getting sick, we had a great time with our raggedy bunch.

Stake Youth Trek

2010-07-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

Bart and I got a little taste of the rough outdoors as we joined the youth from our church on a Pioneer Handcart Trek. After 3 days of pulling our belongings a total of 18 miles and sleeping under the stars, I can truly say that my appreciation and adoration for my pioneer ancestors has grown tremendously. As did my faith and hope in the next generation - the youth on the trek were amazing! I have never been so impressed with a group of teenagers! They never complained and took on every challenge each day with gusto and spirit. We saw some amazing scenery and ate incredible food (which was the only part of the trek not very realistic - we had a fleet (literally) of cooks who made delicious homemade gourmet food for the group of 350 in an self-constructed outdoor kitchen (water hauled in and everything) - you had to see it to believe it.) Walking mile after mile on the dusty trails in the hot sun gives you a great opportunity to think long and hard about life - I was reminded after this experience about how simple life can be to still be joyous and fulfilling. I have SO MUCH. And because of this experience, I now feel I have so much more.

Me and my cowboy

Our adult cart

The youth were divided into groups of 8-10 per handcart with one girl and one boy per handcart acting as a "ma" and "pa" to simulate family life along the trail. The leaders were bringing up the rear with our adult handcart - which consisted of an amazing group of people I now consider great friends.

There were moments that felt all too real along the trek - like here where one of our wheels buckled (far from anywhere that a car with tools could get to us). So we did it the pioneer way with our homemade "jack" and using pieces of wood off the side of our handcart to reinforce the wheel. With a lot of care (and prayer) our handcart made it through the final day still in one piece!

Great Grandma

2010-07-15T23:54:00.001-07:00

One of God's tender mercies found it's way to us recently. It helped us remember what really matters most and gave us a sweet opportunity to enjoy the love that exists in families.

After years of suggesting and asking, my 90 year old grandma finally moved to Portland 8 months ago to be closer to us - her family. She lived alone in an apartment in a retirement home and all of us grandkids and greatgrandkids had the occasion to visit or talk to her much more frequently than years prior. She had been doing quite well for her age, and then we all noticed her beginning to grow weaker and frailer - just about the time my parents were scheduled to leave on a 2 week trip to Europe. Wanting to put my parents at ease while they were away, my sibling and I made a schedule and the once frequent visits turned to often and then to daily. Pretty soon those daily visits involved helping her with every task of daily living. We could tell that her time on earth was drawing to a close. And as her need for help grew more and more, our love for her did too. My parents made it home in time to see her through her last weeks, but honestly, I am grateful for their time away. It required me to step out of my "busy" life for a while and just serve. And that serving was my tender mercy - those hours of cooking, dressing, cleaning for and helping grandma to bed were some of my hours best spent in my life this far. Serving someone out of love truly does lift you and strengthen you. In a matter of days after my parents return from Europe, she fell into a deep sleep and never awoke. I love this lady. I am grateful for the chance to serve her and have that love deepen. I am grateful for the fond moments I can reflect upon while I wait to see her again someday.

We had some precious moments with her during her last few days.

We took the trip to the Tri-Cities to hold a funeral for her and it was touching to see our children look at Great-grandma during the viewing with smiles and good memories in their hearts.

Her passing helped refine even more the love that I have for all the wonderful people in my life.My amazing Father - I just LOVE him.

My mother is LOVE personified. No one does it better then she does.

My brother gave a beautiful graveside prayer.

Do cousins get any cuter than this?

Bo always pays attention to the little things

Luke just like attention period

Cole is our typical boy - being too rough with the flower, now he has to find a way to get the top back on!

We love you Great Grandma. Thank you for moving closer, even if it wasn't your favorite idea. Thank you for letting us be near you and love you. It has truly blessed us far more then we probably blessed you. We miss you.

Tyler's Baptism

2010-07-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

Tyler was very excited to get baptized and had a very special day. His grandparents from Florida and Aunt & Uncle from Tacoma even made a trip to Oregon to be there for him. After a morning of baseball games, we switched gears and prepared for his big event. The baptism service was memorable as the power went out in the church half-way through. It was very nice, even in the dark! A day we hope he will always remember.

After the baptism we had a fun and roudy (always) family lunch at Grammy and Papa's. The perfect end to a perfect day.

We love you Tyler and are very proud of your choice to follow our Savior.

Happy 8th Birthday Tyler

2010-07-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

Tyler turned the BIG 8! It is a pretty big birthday at our house since it is the age to get baptized in our church and start cubscouts. This kid just loves any reason to party. So party we did.

We took him a happy meal for lunch at school and cupcakes to share with his friends. Then had a blast at Pump It Up with a huge group of his buddies later in the evening.

Luke wanted in on the action!

It was a great party (and no hassle or clean-up for mom! My birthday present to myself!) with all his favorites - friends, pizza, ice cream, and lots of love and attention!

Getting Crafty

2010-07-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

My little sister is really crafty and sometimes she lets me in on a fun project. We had both been wanting to make a birthday banner - so we did some blog surfing to find the perfect design to "copy", took a stressful trip to the fabric store together (aren't all trips to the fabric store with kids stressful?), and found an afternoon to craft away.

This was the final product! We were pretty tickled with ourselves. And just in time for a birthday. Oh - what do you know? MINE! And my Ty who I share a birthday with! We just might keep going and make a slew of them for every occasion.

Weekend - Cougar style

2010-07-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Half of our crew headed to Provo, UT and celebrated Memorial Day weekend cougar-style. We had heard about the BYU Fathers & Sons basketball camp being great - so Bart and our oldest two set out to decide for themselves. ZERO disappointments! They spent 4 days sleeping in the dorms, eating in the Cannon Center, meeting new friends from all over the country and playing every kind of sport imaginable. They have decided that not only is this camp worth two thumbs up, but that it will become a Dickson family tradition every year. (In 7 years when Luke is old enough to join in...that works out to be a good deal for mom. A weekend all to herself! Of course I'm supporting this new tradition.)

An early morning in the cafeteria fueling up for a day of playing

Tyler gets some one-on-one time with Jimmer Fredette

When mom's away...the boys will play! A late night trip to DQ for treats

BYU does everything top notch - so the boys enjoyed a top notch Sabbath with a special sacrament meeting with L. Tom Perry, walk around Temple Square and BBQ lunch at This Is The Place State Park

Happy Birthday Lukers

2010-04-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

My baby is 1. I can't type much else because I'll start to cry.

His brothers helped him rip into gifts which he of course didn't care as much about as he did the wrapping paper. He clapped for himself and loved all the attention.

And he knew right what to do with that yummy cupcake!

Happy Birthday sweet boy - we are so blessed to have you in our family.

Easter 2010

2010-04-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

Papa hands out bags and instructs the kids on the easter egg hunt rules and etiquette

Cole's first find

Bo knew it was a race against the clock...find as many eggs as possible before the bigger kids are allowed to join the hunt. He's pretty proud of this purple one.

General Conference Sunday and Easter all in the same beautiful day. It was simply - lovely.

Derby Night

2010-04-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

The annual Cubscout Pinewood Derby is an event that all little boys (and Big boys) look forward to. This was Cade's 2nd year. He knew a little better what to expect and came with a car prepared to win! Here's Cade and his "pit crew" doing a little last minute adjustements.
Cars loaded on the track, ready to race. Cade's is the UofO car in the middle, not the BYU car, much to his parents dismay...some battles are just not worth fighting.

While not the owner of the winning car, this little competetor did well and had fun!

Another good car built and another year of Pinewood Derby down, only 13 more cars to build and 13 more years to enjoy this event!

Spring Fever for Spring Training

2010-04-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

What to parents of 5 boys do for a cure from a boring, rainy spring break in Oregon? Fly across the country to Florida to visit family and watch as much Spring Training baseball as possible.

Our starting lineup - at the Portland airport all geared up for a fun trip ahead

Our veteran and our rookie

We arrived in Tampa late at night to hugs, kisses and this amazing welcome basket full of clubhouse collectables.

The boys found piles of toys to open the next morning - it was like Christmas in March!

Tampa Bay Rays lose to the Philadelphia Phillys
Spring Training Game #1

Cade and Ty talk to Colina as he autographys their baseball

Showing off their autographs and enjoying the Florida sunshine

Grandma Debbie and her first-round draft pick

Trying out the zoom on Evan Longoria - Bart accuses me of checking him out! Three days later, he was a triple short of hitting for the cycle and made a diving catch in foul territory right in front of us!

Eat your heart out Phillies...actually they did eat their hearts out of these ballcap-ice cream bowls

NY Yankees beat the Washington Nationals

Spring Training Game #2

A future Yankee looks on at his new favorite team

Grandpa John chills with the boys before opening pitch

When grandparents are around, the spoiling never stops and neither do the ballpark snacks. They ate their weight in hotdogs, cotton candy, and peanuts.

It was an all-star studded lineup for the Yankee team - Jeter and A-Rod, but no Kate Hudson or Madonna sightings.

We even got to see closer Mariano Rivera finish the game.

Not sure about the peace signs, but VERY sure he had a good time!

Luke made sure to get in his sleep - even in the folded position - and managed to pull down Grandmas nearby china collection.

Busch Gardens

Spring break isn't complete without a trip to the amusement park - and this amazing park is full of amusement!

Bart and Cade ascend up the steep climb of the Gwazi roller-coaster

The first pink thing you'll find our boys admiring - flamingos

Cade and Ty and Cole (a rookie to rides) join Bart on the log plume ride
Down they go!

Cole's shrieking is still ringing in our ears. Bo was glad at this point that he'd chosen to stay out of the fun and just watch.

The favorite part of the day - the tree top trials in Jungala.

I zoomed in on this bunch of monkeys way up there

Luke enjoyed watching all the animals and excitement as well as the back of his eyelids - He was a real trooper throughout the day and we were able to stay longer than we ever imagined we would.

Cade takes Cole for a flight that's more this 2yr old's style of ride

But then it's on to another roller-coaster.

This time the little boys watch while Cade and Mandy experience the sting of the Scorpion.

Cole catches a nap inbetween animals and attractions

Luke soaking his tired feet

While Bart and Grandpa took the 3 oldest boys to a third Tampa Bay game I stayed back to help my amazingly talented mother and sister-in-laws prepare wedding flowers for a job the next day. Well, I "helped" watch kids at least and did a lot of watching and learning

The week flew by and it was time to get geared up the to fly home.

Luke plays on the flight toys at the Tampa airport before take-off...if only this cute smile could last for a cross-country flight.

A bunch of baseball, a little relaxing and whole lot of fun add up to one excellent spring break for this team!

Un-Caging the Animals

2010-04-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

On a rare un-scheduled, sunny Saturday in February between basketball and baseball seasons we took our animals to see the animals. It was Bart's first time to the Oregon Zoo - it was hard for him to control his excitment.

Ty and Bo in the Eagle's nest - we told them to get practiced up for when they are in their Eagle Scout nest! Always a teaching moment around here!

A little rat escaped his cage!

The glare off of this bald dad's head is obsuring the photo of the bald eagle behind him

At the elephant look-out. Bart especially loved the smells

Our littlest animal is pooped after a fun day.

Great Grandma

2010-03-15T21:51:00.001-07:00

My Grandmother (dad's mom) turned 90 on March 4th. Many of our family and those closest to her were able to celebrate this milestone year with a party in her honor. We are so blessed to have her still with us and be touched by her example and strength. We are especially blessed that she moved from Washington State to Portland last month and we can have her close by and enjoy many more special moments with her as often as possible. We hope the night was as special to her as she is to us.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then gathered in the great-room to visit and watch a video my sister had prepared with pictures from Grandma's life. It was a wonderful night to honor such a great lady who has touched our lives in many ways.

Grandma with all of her grown-up grandkids. My cousins made the trip from out-of-town to honor her for her special event.

After dinner, it was time to pile on the couch for pictures. Here's Grandma with all her Great-Grandkids! What a lucky Grandma, and even luckier Great-Grandkids!

Grammy (my mom) had typed out questions for us to ask Grandma after dinner about her life and memories. Grandma is a fairly private lady, so it was fascinating and heartwarming to hear her tell about younger days, favorite times and family secrets. It was precious how the older grandkids sat so politely and eagerly listened to her tales.

Grandmas sweet hands

I just had to snap these shots of her as she told the stories of her life - these images just show those details about her that we will never want to forget - priceless.

Happy 90th birthday Grandma - you are an inspiration to all of us!

New Things

2010-03-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

Where did January and February go? At my house it seems like these months got lost in: tissue that wiped all the snotty noses of kids with colds, late nights soothing tummy aches, baby tylenol bottles to dull teeth-cutting pain, fieldtrips for school, putting together a ward talent show, hectic sports/piano/cubscouts schedules, canning food at the home storage center, cleaning, cooking, helping with homework/book reports/speeches and more cleaning. We fit some new things in too, and even managed to get some of life on camera...

I've Got A New Bugg
Speaking of viruses and bugs...I've got one - a different kind of bugg. This little gadget is helping me shed those extra baby pounds (times 5 babies)! I love this thing! It measures your calorie burn in a day so that you know just how many (or little- if you're like me and don't love or have time to exercise) calories to burn and how many calories you can eat and still lose weight. I think I might actually be addicted to something good for me! I'm posting about it here, so that if I ever get back to where I was, I can look back at my enthusiasm about the bodybugg and rekindle some motivation.

Newest Mural

I got to pull out my dusty paints and help liven up this cute nursery. No, it's not mine...no purple and flowers in any room at my house! My sister's friend had the idea of adding a full sized tree to the corner of her baby's room.

I sketched it roughly until we had the scale and general idea right, tested some paint colors until we found just the one, and...up it grew!

She now plans on hanging small frames with pictures from the branches. I can't wait to see it all complete.

A close up of the hightlights and shading that add those perfect finishing touches. It was fun to be an artist for a day.

He's Mobile!

It seems strange that a face this cute could be the cause of so much distruction. Lukers is now officially speed-crawling and in to EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe anymore. But I love this stage when babies are so curious and full of life. If only I could keep up with him.

He Sang!

Bo actally joined his class on stage for his preschool Valentine's Party and sang! Well, moved his mouth anyways, but hey, we'll take it! For a kid who is the celebrity at home, he sure doesn't want to be in front of a crowd. He's still the cutest Valentine there is.

Bo helped me make chocolate lollipops for his classmates and heart-shaped sandwiches filled with strawberry jam and cream cheese for preschool snack. Sometimes creative-craftiness is lost on little boys, and I'm no Martha (or Ashley Rawe) but we try. It brought smiles anyways - at least to my face.

The Final Buzzer Blows on Another Sports Season

Caden's life is sports - he eats, drinks and breaths it - all types and forms. But after this first season of getting to play real city-league basketball, I think he has found a favorite. He tore up the court this season and had a blast. One of the highlights to cap off a great season was getting to play a scrimage during the half-time of the high school game. Our little Lightning Bolts got to line up with the varsity players at the start of the game.

Caden was in 7th heaven playing in front of crowded gym. They announced his name over the speaker (Bart's fantasy that he has lived for since we first found out we were having a boy and in fact the way that we chose all our boy names - by how they would sound over a loud speaker at a sporting event) as he put on his point-guard show that included behind-the-back dribbling. I thought Bart and I would have to buy new shirts since our buttons were bursting so badly! We had to tone down our pride a bit when he came back to sit with us - his head doesn't need to get any bigger! The cutest part of it for me was how excited Tyler was for his older bro. Lots of fun. Then home to bed for an early morning Sat game.

The next weekend (after baseball tryouts were over - whew! On to the next sport!) was the end-of-the-season basketball party. Caden had 2 wonderful coaches (the kind that put all other coaches to shame) who truly loved the boys and shared great memories and words of praise for each boy. The players recieved a framed collage of pictures from the season and a dvd slide show. Little brother Lukers just liked the pizza bones!

Caden watches the slide show of the season complete with Rocky music. He looks like he is in serious reflection - I think just a bit tired from a long day.

Training-time?
Coley has been independently showing interest in the toilet lately- telling me (usually at the most inconvenient times) when he wants to go, and complaining often of a yucky diaper. So, this reluctant mom is wondering...is it training time?

Reluctance is an understatement. There are not many things I like worse than potty-training. So if there are any pros out there who would like to adopt this 2-yr old and return him in a few weeks "trained", I'm all in. Actually, I'm very proud of my little guy and I'm getting geared up to help him be diaper free...just AFTER our spring break trip to Florida (we only take one thing on at a time in this household)! Keep your fingers crossed for me that perhaps after all the pain and suffering I endured potty-training older brothers, these youngest ones will be a breeze!