The Bryans Do Oregon 2017

It's about time I catch up a bit :)

End of June...
We picked up and headed out of town just shortly after Abby got back from girl's camp.

She was exhausted and a bit ornery (sorry Abs but 'tis true).

The first 30-45 minutes on the road she told us all about her adventures and then promptly fell asleep...after insisting that she is never able to sleep in the car :)

Ben also zonked as we drove north.

He's still getting used to a booster seat instead of a car seat.

We drove all day long and the kids were champs!

We stopped in Pendleton Oregon for the night and the next morning drove into the Columbia River Gorge...

Bonneville Fish Hatchery

Splashing in the water with cousins...

Ben checked out the funny metal bird...

When we walked under the bridge to get to Multnoma Falls a train passed right overhead.  It was incredibly loud but we thought Ben would be excited to see a real live train.  We couldn't get him to look at it but Andy sure enjoyed it :)

I took the older kids up to the falls while Andy stayed down with Ben.

It was so packed up on the bridge...

...but we finally got a turn to take pictures in front of the falls.

We came down to find Ben asleep in Andy's arms.

Since we had just been there two summers earlier we didn't feel like we had to spend too much time being tourists.

We had more driving to do so we hopped back on the road and arrived at the coast early evening.

This was our cute little house (Breeze on Inn) for a few days.

We stayed at Bella Beach just north of Depoe Bay.

It was such a quaint little neighborhood.

The view from the balcony off of Abby's room.

Grandma Bryan thought of everything and brought trains for Ben to line up and keep him happy.

That evening while Andy went into Lincoln City to pick up some dinner, and Ben lined up his trains, the other kids played some games and I cuddled up with a book.

It felt good to be out of the car and be able to relax.

Fathers

For Father's Day I made a sign for Andy that included a few of the many sayings of which he likes to remind us, his family.

I debated which technique to use to transfer the words.  After experimenting a bit I ended up rubbing pencil lead on the back of the printed paper and lightly tracing the outline of the words onto the boards.

Then I just used a paint pen/marker to draw directly on top of the pencil marks and fill in the letters on the boards.

The guys of the family on Father's Day.

Love them all SO much!

Abby experienced her first Girls Camp this summer!

Wow was she excited and wow did she have a great time.

And speaking of Fathers...

Andy was asked to speak at a devotional one day so we were both able to go up and hang out with the girls for a bit.

The idea or theme of the devotional was how we can each beat our own Goliaths.

Their cute leader Katie had made 4 large Goliaths

After Andy spoke for 20-30 minutes about how, through our Savior we can overcome our trials and

problems in life (he did a great job by the way)...

...the girls were split up into different groups...

...and using slingshots, chucked paintballs at the Goliaths.

It was such a cool idea and girls had a lot of fun with it!

Abby's Ho'ike 2017

Abby's hula recital was lots of fun as always...

Sheba...their fearless leader

Abs got to perform on stage with the poi balls this year, which was nice since her first dance was on the sidelines.

A Cello and Quilts

Late in May Josh had a cello recital.  This one was super fun because I was able to accompany him.

We played The Piano Guys Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends.

I love playing with him!  I hope this is just the first of many duets to come!

He did a fantastic job by the way :)

A few days later I was able to go with Andy's secretary to the Utah shop hop!

I had never really done one before and was only able to do one day this time but we were still able to hit 6 shops over the course of the day.

It was super fun!  Dawn is a blast to hang out with :)

Just a few of my favorite things I saw in the shops...

This is my loot I brought home...

There was too much fabric that just called to me :)

Maybe she and I should make a tradition out of this...

Birthday Boys

We arrived home from our Hawaii stint the night before Andy's birthday.

Nancy had helped the kids decorate our house before they left to take the kids to their house where we joined them after our trip.  It was really decked out!

It was a low key kind of a day and I wish I had more pictures but we did celebrate and Andy even made sure the kids had treats even though he couldn't eat any.

It was the big 4-0!

This was my favorite gift I gave him...'With a body like this who needs hair?'

 Ben's big day was two days later...

The last day of school.

This is his favorite part of birthdays...blowing out the candles.

Since he doesn't do sugar, he couldn't eat his treats either but honestly, he doesn't even seem aware anymore.

He seemed less aware that it was his birthday (he calls it 'me day') than he has in past years.

Usually he gets into the unwrapping of gifts but we had to do some serious helping along with every single one.

He wasn't interested in getting his picture taken either so out came the tickle monster and we got a blurry smile.

I can't believe Ben is 8!

What a blessing he has been in our home.

We all love him to pieces!