The day has come!

Today was the day we have all been waiting for! Tori finally lost her right front tooth - after wiggling and jiggling and pulling with yarn, it finally came out (along with the hard root that was longer than the tooth itself). She's asked the tooth fairy not to take it since it was such a freaky tooth!

Movin' on up!!!

It was another busy weekend for our family! Saturday morning we cheered Ryan on at his football game vs. Wilsonville. The Canby Cougars won 18-13!

Then, we all headed up to Vancouver, Washington where we drove around the city and surrounding area! Matt has been offered a position at a dealership in Vancouver so we will be moving north (once again) as soon as our house sells! The kids are very excited and have all put in their requests for the next house we buy!

Sunday we spent the day cleaning out the attic and closets in preparation for our move!

Sunday night was "Silly hair night" at AWANA for the kids! Ryley has the funky wig, we dyed Ryan and part of Tori's hair with koolaid. The rest of the kids went for the green hair spray!
It was all to exciting for little Miss Sarah! She fell asleep reading a book.

It's all about the sports!

Well, fall is here, school has started, and the rat race begins with our weekends of endless sports activities. We spent our morning at Tyler's soccer game, here in Canby. Then headed straight to Hillsboro for Ryan's football game. Then it was a quick dash home to watch UofO vs. Fresno State --- GO DUCKS!!!!!!!!

Tyler throwing in the ball to his teammates.
"If it moves, kick it! If it doesn't move -- kick it until it does!"
Ryan and Sarah cheering for Tyler!

Ryan "Red Shoes" playing running back!
Ryan playing outside line backer! Final score 28 Canby 12 Hillsboro! Go Cougars!!!!

On a sad note, during Ryan's football game against Hillsboro, one of the other team's players took a really hard helmet to helmet hit. An ambulance had to be called to the scene, and the player was taken away for evaluation. He had movement in all four extremities which was a positive sign. Our prayers go out to the family of that player as well as the team.

It is back to school for the kids!

The kids were all eager to head back to school today! Only Tyler wanted me to walk with him to class! They are all growing up way to fast!!!! It was fun to walk to school and see all our friends and neighbors again. Summer went by so fast, it really felt like a short break and not a long vacation like it usually does!

Brandon is in 6th grade and attending Middle School! Yikes! His favorite thing about school today was having different teachers and classes and his own locker. The worst part of day he decided was how hot and stuffy the school gets.
Tori is in 4th grade! Her favorite part of the day was getting to see Mr. Van Acker (she got the teacher she was hoping for) and visiting with all of her friends. She said the worst part of the day was having to leave!
Ryley is in 5th grade! His favorite part of school today was going to music class because they played a game where the teacher played a song on the piano and you had to guess what the song was. For the worst part, his comment while walking home from school sums it up, "I think my teacher is a little harsh....he gave me homework on my first day!"
Tyler is in 2nd grade and in Spanish Immersion! His favorite part of the day was singing in music class. His day was so fabulous he can't think of a "worst" part.
Ryan is in 5th grade! His favorite part of the day was "art class" because he got to start making paper mache` masks. The worst part of the day was taking the math test "because at the end it was really hard".

Labor Day at Silver Falls State Park

We spent Labor Day in Sublimity, Oregon at Silver Falls State Park hiking to waterfalls and the kids played in the streams!

Matt, Sarah, Tori, Tyler, Brandon, Ryan and Ryley in front of South Falls (177 feet).


Matt and the kids at the base of Upper North Falls (65 feet).

Another picture in front of Upper North Falls!

Upper North Falls

North Falls (136 feet) -- behind the waterfall you can see a ledge where a trail is cut out of the cavern so you can walk behind the falls!

The back view of North Falls (from inside the cavern).

A trip up the gorge!

The weather was beautiful today, so we headed up the Columbia River Gorge for some sight seeing and a little hiking!

We stopped at Multnomah Falls. It is the second tallest year-round waterfall in the nation!
Our family at the base of the falls!

We hiked the trail all the way to the top of the mountain and found there is another little waterfall at the summit, that you can't see from the base.

This is the view from the very top of the waterfall! We are parked in the parking lot along the Columbia River int he picture.

The view of Multnomah falls from our parking spot! I can't believe we climbed to the top of that mountain!

After hiking we decided to drive further east to Cascade Locks and drive over the Bridge of the Gods. You can go to this link http://www.portofcascadelocks.org/bridge.htm for the history of the bridge.

View from driving over the Bridge of the Gods!

Picture taken from Marine Park of the Bridge of the Gods.