HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALVIN

"Finally" is Calvin's thought as he turns 4 today. Calvin has been longing to turn 4 for about five months now. It is far too frequently that we have hear the phrase "When I'm four......" We are so proud of you Calvin! You are such a kind young man and oh so smart. You are a great big brother to your best friend Oliver. Thank you for bringing so much flavor to our lives.

Yes all of the boys received hair cuts. Calvin has also been wanting to go to Incredible John's for some time. We told him we would for his birthday. Incredible Johns is kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza place. It is buffet style and has them rooms to sit in and finally an arcade/amusement park area. Small roller coaster and carnival style games. They loved it.

The kids chowed and of course for a birthday dinner the menu was pure pleasure.

A Bit of Catch Up

Tonight Mommy and the boys made chocolate chip cookies! They are always anxious to help when it comes to making something tasty. Calvin and Oliver have learned good manners as when ever they go to push chairs over to the counter they do remember to say "excuse me please" Especially cute sounding coming out of a two year old.

I attempted to unite the ward Elders Quorum last Friday night. We had our first annual Elders Quorum family camp out. We went somewhere very close (Beal's Point at Folsom Lake) for convenience. We still only had 3 other families show up.

We still had fun though getting to know each other a little better. I guess we have become negligent in our picture taking as these two with Oliver and Megan are the only shots we have of that camping trip.

Then the next night we were invited over to Kimberly and Rick's house for a bar-b-que. It was a really good time. They had some of their friends from work come and we laughed and joked well into the night. The friends had a cute 2 year old girl named Sydney their who got along great with Oliver. Thanks again Kimberly and Rick.

?? You tell me!!??

Oregon Ride

This year we were 5. Our friend Wolf joined us. He and Aaron and Ryan came up from Utah. Ryan came up with his family a couple of days early to do some visiting.
Christi, the boys and I came up on the day before the ride. Christi was able to do some fun visiting of family while we were on our ride. (See Idaho post)

From left to right, me, Ryan, Wolf, Aaron , Dan

Whitney, Ryan and Paxton

Dan and Sarah. We all met at there house, they were (as usual) incredible hosts. Thanks Dan and Sarah for all you did for us.

Wolf was over on the sidewalk waiting patiently for us to get our stuff together.
Seemed like he had to wait on us quite a bit. Thanks for your patience with us all Wolf.
Of course when it came to rolling down the highway we found the waiting was the other way, that Harley wasn't quite built for some of our riding habits.

The boys apparently had a melt down as we all pulled away.

"Riders on the Storm"
Aaron took this shot, love it!

Every year we find some old abandoned building to explore. This year was no different, Aaron caught this out of the corner of his eye and we turned back to investigate.

Kicking out the fire at campsite #1 This was near Prineville OR.

Below is our first breakfast stop, this was in Redmond, OR

We stopped for night #2 at my Dad's ranch near McMinnville, OR

In McMinnville you can go to the Evergreen Museum to see the famous Spruce Goose
We took some time to check it out.

This is an old World War II bomber, an SBD. My grandfather flew one of these in the war along with a couple others that we got to see in the museum like the fighter plane the Corsair.

Aaron and his usual antics.

After our stay at Dad's we rode out to the coast, we rode from Lincoln City down to Gold Beach. This picture was taken in Depot Bay where we picked up some salt water taffy and watched some whales just off shore.

The picture above is where we decided to camp for night #3, great spot. We found it after riding about 20 miles up along the Rogue river where a black bear jumped out on the road and ran across right in front of my bike! Because of that Ryan chose to sandwich himself between everybody and even thought he might where his helmet to sleep in. The picture below is where we woke up that next morning after get rained on at 1:30 am.

The fourth day's ride found us going over a mountain pass that looked like this. Not exactly rain but we were all pretty soaked after 25 miles of it.

We rode on to Grants pass and then Medford where we stopped in at Tom's Bronco Parts. Tom himself gave us a tour of the facilities. From there we rode past Klamath Falls and on to Lakeview. Dan and I split from the others and went north towards burns. The others headed east and eventually over to Winnemuca and on to Utah.
Dan and I found ourselves with about 145 miles to get to burns, it was one of the most desolate rides ever, and we fought a head wind the whole way. Upon stopping to top off my tank with a jerry can we noticed Dans tire going south. We limped it in to the town and ended up getting a room. When morning came we found no tires to be purchased at all. The only option was to get a UHaul truck and carry his bike back. So we put them both in there and got to chat for the last 160 miles of our "ride". Kind of a sorry way to end it but I loved the opportunity to visit with my brother and my friend.If you look close you can see metal threads coming through on Dans bike. (on the right)

Another great trip and as usual I wish we were still on it. So, time to start planning next years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHERINE!!

Happy Birthday!
All encompassing Katherine, this is the only picture I could find of you! I thought of you and I and our placement in the family and how in general we really don't have a lot of pictures together!

This will have to change, no doubt. My sweet, sweet sister, I have so many things I want to say to you! When I was very little, in my mind you were the perfection of beauty! I remember when you came home from the Dairy pageant wearing that crown, I thought, I have the prettiest sister in the world! You still are that symbol of beauty in our family that everyone compares themselves to! But this beauty you possess is not only an outside figure, it's an inward nature that is manifested outwardly.
As a sister, your encouragement, thoughtfulness and generosity speaks volumes and reassures how much love you have for each one of us.
As a wife, you have proven that relationships built on love, trust and understanding can withstand the tests of time. No matter where you live!
As a mother, your greatness has shown through in so many capacities; your service, unconditional love and celebrating your children's lives reinforces that you value what is most important. Our greatest challenge is our greatest reward!
I love you and hope that you had a fantastic birthday! My thoughts were with you this day!

PS J-P says Happy Birthday Too!

Idaho 08

First day of our arrival to Idaho! Tis a sweet reunion, the girls together agian!

Tanya and Christi in the park! It seems like I'm wearing those shorts in every shot, I swear I have other clothes!

Katie(Tanya's sister), Tanya and Scott. Fortunately, we crossed paths as they were headed on to Utah to drop Katie back to school and attended a family reunion!

Cousins partaking of forbidden food, forbidden meaning "devil food"!

Oliver's first experience eating cotton candy, I think he was undecided whether he liked it or not.

Cousins just having a ball, look at those smiles!

Sweet Rebecka paling around with Oliver!

Oliver in the mint field killing time while Calvin is on the tractor harvesting.

At the Still steaming the mint leaves to extract that essential oil, so fascinating what Farmer Steve (Sarah's Dad) does. Acres and acres of mint leaves for dozens of barrels of oil! So simple, but yet amazing!

Potato digging! We took a dozen of potatoes and gave some to family and then took five home. I made Kale and potato soup, it was so yummy--due to of course by the fresh Idaho potatoes!

Calvin and Pax interning with Farmer Steve! It's in that Bastian blood!

Mint feild minutes before they boarding the super duper cool tractor!

J-P posted the pictures, so they are out of sequence, but this was later at Grandma and Grandpa Kerlees Ranch. Oliver actually wanted to ride on this tractor!

Combine ride.

It was enormous, the sheer size is intimidating, but not for the little ones. They were brave!

Kerlees Ranch.

Grandpa and Grandma Kerlee enjoying the grandkids after a long days work! Those two never quit unless it's eatin' time! Thats the grandparents I was talking about, but I guess the kids too!