Duck Racing at Tulip Festival

Tulip Festival

Friday we went to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn. I didn't take any pictures of the tulips or the girls in them because it was extremely muddy out in them and of course I didn't have their boots. But a few weeks ago Lila and Joel took them so she got some shots of them then, which I will post when she emails them to me. ( no pressure Lila) Here is Eliana on the fun horse tire swings.

Ride 'em cowgirl!
Eliana at the rubber duck races. Pump that water! Sorry you can't see the rubber ducks or the whole race tracks. See video of Eliana's duck in other post.
Some of the cousins as tulips. From left to right: Eliana, Siosi and Alyssa.
Kenzie with her cousins. Not the best posing from the cousins though.
Joe getting ready to rope the cow, but Eliana is riding it.
Eliana going down the PCP pipe slide. It wasn't as fast as it was last year.
Kenzie and Alyssa trying to climb up the slide.

Snow In April?!?!

The weather here has been crazy this last week. Last Saturday it was 80 something degrees and then it got really cold the next week. Monday we went to Silver Creek Falls and did a little picnic and hike with David's brothers (Bryan and his wife Heather and kid Ashlynn and David's other brother Justin all from BYU-Idaho) who were visiting and we got hailed on and saw snow. (I forgot my camera so I didn't have any pictures of that trip). We went to the zoo on Tuesday and got hailed on again and froze. (see below). We went camping at the coast Thursday and Friday and we were very cold. (also see below). Saturday we got hail again and some snow flakes. Sunday morning we got snow flakes again and they stuck for a little bit. I got some pictures of the girls playing out in the snow. Eliana said "Is it Christmas time?" See even she thought it was weird to have snow towards the end of April. Crazy stuff.

It wasn't really sticking on the sidewalk or the road but you can see the snowflakes coming down and the pile up on the car.
Here is our house.
Eliana showing me the snow on her boot.
Kenzie playing in the snow.
Our daffodils with snow!

Hatfield Marine Science Center

When we were in Newport camping we also visited the Marine Science Center. The kids really enjoyed the fish and stuff. They have a tide pool that you can feel all the creatures in it. Eliana was a little hesitate at times, but Kenzie just loved it, mainly just because she could play in the water. I got a few pictures while at the Center, but for some my camera was on the wrong setting, so sorry if the pictures are blurry and dark.

Here are the cousins looking in the tide pool, I tried to get them all when touching the water, but of course it didn't work. From left to right: Eliana, Alyssa, Siosi, Kenzie, Ashlynn and Grandma.
Kenzie all pooped out from a long exciting day.
Me and the girls in front of an aquarium, sorry you can't see the fish very well.
Kenzie and Siosi at the tide pool.
Kenzie and I going in for a feel.
Eliana and I getting a good look at the creatures.
I was scared when Kenzie was reaching over like this, I thought for sure she would fall in. She wasn't touching the ground with her feet. Eliana just pulled her hands out and Siosi with her hands in and smiling for the camera.
One of the fish in the tide pool. Also in the tide pool were starfish, sea anemones, mussels and other creatures.

Camping at the Coast

On Thursday and Friday we went camping at the coast in Newport. It was sort of a family reunion since Bryan and Heather (David's brother and his wife) and their baby Ashlynn and Justin (David's brother) were in town and who knows when they will be back to visit again. We did lots of stuff with them, even though the weather was horrible this last week. David's family was all there except his sister Vanessa and her family. Oh we wish they could have been there too. So, we rented these yurts which are these little shelter things that are heated and have beds for 5 and a table and chairs. They have a nice deck with a picnic table outside too. They were really nice and very necessary since the weather was so cold. David's dad brought his boat and people fished and crabbed in it (they were only able to get crabs). It was a lot of fun. I didn't get any pictures of the crabs, but I got it on video camera, I will maybe try to post that later. Eliana was kind of scared of the crabs at first but then was enjoying it a lot.

Me, Eliana and David's brother Dan on the boat.
David pulling up a crab pot.
The girls and I all bundled in the boat.
Eliana trying to see things better, her hat was getting in the way.
From our campsite we were close to the beach so we took a walk down there, but it was so windy we didn't spent too much time down there. Kenzie playing in the sand.
Eliana on the beach. Those strings were from the kites we were flying. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the kites.
Since the kids wanted to play in the sand we found a little hill we could hide behind and they were able to play without having the sand blow in their eyes.
Eli, Siosi, Dan and Alyssa on the top bunk in the yurt.

Portland Zoo

Also while Bryan and Heather and Justin were here we went to the zoo in Portland. I love it there. It was freezing cold and it even hailed on us, but it wasn't crowded at all. ( I wonder why no one wanted to be there on that miserable day. We really had a good time though. The girls and I in front of a peacock that was just roaming the zoo. I was pretty nervous when it started to come closer and closer to us as we were trying to take this picture.
All the cousins in an eagle's nest. I couldn't get a good picture and I am not good at editing so here were the two best.
This one is missing Ashlynn because she was crying.

The sea otters.
The girls looking at the elephants.
Kenzie all bundled in the stroller.
Eliana all bundled and cold.
Some of the cousins' heads looking in at the penguins. Notice all the poop on the glass, how gross.

Eliana

Eliana is growing so fast too. She is quite the chatter box. Lately she is really asking the question why because she loves to find out about things. She is also always asking me what we are going to do next. Her reminds me everyday now that in the summer she can go to the water park and her cousin Kylie is coming in the summer ( so her grandparents told her). The other thing Eliana likes to talk about is going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Smith in Las Vegas, she wants to go on an airplane again to visit them. She sure does miss them! Eliana is quite the reader and loves to be read to. Here she is in her bed reading some books before she goes to sleep.

She is always posing for the camera and when I took a picture of Kenzie in the bathtub she wanted a picture of her too. So here she is on the potty, but she is fully dressed.

Kenzie

Kenzie sure is growing up fast and gaining such a fun personality. Lately she has gained an obsession with books. She loves to read and gets very mad if she brings you a book and you don't read it. Her absolute favorite book is Go Dogs Go and she will say "Go Dogs Go" when she sees that book. She has learned many new words, including book, Lila, Joe, Sisi (Siosi), Kalo, Cookie, PooPoo(which she says quite often, when she toots or has actually gone), and many other words. She seems to understand basically everything and is getting to be quite independent. Here she is fast asleep with a book.

Kenzie loves to take baths and she often climbs in when the shower curtain is open, which I try to keep closed for looks and for the reason that she doesn't hurt herself when climbing in.
Kenzie's hair is finally growing!

IT"S A BOY!

Welp, I had my ultrasound today and we are having a boy! Here are a couple of the pictures they took.

Movie Stars?

Just look at these girls all dressed up. How cute, well at least I think so.

Watermelon

I bought a watermelon the other day and these girls have been eating the whole thing. They love it. Just a note: Kenzie loves to eat at the table now and Eliana loves to eat sitting on the table. Kenzie is obsessed with the booster seat so she hasn't been eating much in her highchair lately. I am debating whether I want to put it away for a while or not.

Eliana's lovely camera smile.