A wonderful trip to Oregon...

Wednesday afternoon we got back from a 6 day trip to Oregon.  It has been too long since we went back to see Clint's family so we set the dates and made it happen.  It was really great.  We had a wonderful visit and got to spend some good, quality family time.  Be prepared...  there are going to be many, many pictures of family and kids on this post!

To try to make traveling with the little ones easier, we left Montana at 1 am on Thursday morning.  The kids were actually pretty good.  Dane was so excited to see Nana and Grandpa.  Although I did ride the last 30 minutes in the back seat with them.  Clint said he couldn't pull into his parent's driveway with me in the front seat.  (just kidding!)  The kids had actually reached their threshold so it was time to switch things up a bit.  It took about 14 hours and we rolled in at 2 pm their time (1 hour behind us).

The first night we just relaxed and since Clint drove the hard shift (1 am to 5:30 am) he was pretty tired.  Here he is with Dane...  catching up on some zzzz's.

On Friday, we stopped by Bill and Sheri's cabin and then headed out to do a little fishing.  Dane caught a few mud cats, a rainbow trout, and some whitefish.  He got a new fishing pole (a real kids pole) from Grandpa and it was a total hit.  We got him a fishing pole for his b-day but it was a regular one so this is a lot easier for him to cast and reel.  Although we aren't using his new pole, here we are reeling in the "big one"!

We pointed out the "pokeys" on the catfish for Dane because he really likes holding them and we don't want him to get poked.  Funny story...  Sheri, Kimber and I ended up leaving the boys to finish fishing.  When Dane got home he said that one of the fish "wasn't nice and poked him, but Grandpa poured beer on it, so it didn't hurt anymore!"  Now I know why it's so important to always have beer when we are fishing! 

That night (Friday) Sam, Shannon, Porter and Wyatt headed out to Bill and Sheri's after Sam got off work.  They came out for dinner and ended up spending the night.  As you can see Bill was cuddling with the boys and we just kept adding kids...

Bill, Dane, and Wyatt

Bill, Dane, Wyatt, and Porter

Added Kimber to the mix

Then we woke up on Saturday and all of the boys went fishing.  Here is Porter with one of the mud cats.

After they got back, we went down to Sam and Shannon's house for a night.  It was nice to catch up with them and the kids had a very fun time playing and hanging out.

Here are some pictures from our visit.

Aunt Shannon, Wyatt, and Kimber

We put Dane to work mowing the yard... 

Clint and Wyatt

We only suffered one injury over the weekend.  Dane got about 3/4 of his big toenail ripped off.  But, by the next morning he had bounced back and although it was sore he still played and had a great time.  Here he is cuddling with Daddy.

Uncle Sam, Kimber, and Wyatt all snuggled in!

Kimber enjoying the nice weather.

Wyatt and Porter do SO GOOD for pictures.  Dane, not quite as happy to oblige.  He was being kind of obstinate, but we did get one where they all sat still and looked the right direction.  Except for Kimber, and once we added her, things went downhill again.  Too many kids to organize!

Sunday afternoon we went back to Bill and Sheri's for the remainder of the trip.  They have a new house and it is truly beautiful.  It was also very comfortable and they did a great job baby proofing so the kids could just play inside and out.  Here are some other pictures from our stay.

Grandpa and Kimber

When I told Dane (2 weeks before the trip) that we were going to see Nana and Grandpa, he got really excited and asked to make "hands".  They had made jello hands the last time she visited and he thought that was super fun...  I passed on the request and they got to make cookie "hands" several times.  Here they are cutting out the dough. 

One morning after it rained, Grandpa took Dane worm hunting.  Here was the harvest!  They did quite well!

The next 3 pictures are of Porter, Wyatt, and Dane.  Can you say "trouble comes in 3s"????

Kimber hanging out in the grass

Then it was time for the trip home...  Since we stopped at Cabelas in Post Falls it took us about 14.5 hours.  A long ways no matter how it goes.  We did get up super early and were on the road at 1 am their time so that helped.  Here is Dane at one of the stops burning off some energy.  Both he and the dog would run like crazy every chance they got!!!

I know that I'm repeating myself, but it was an incredible trip.  It was so fun to catch up with family and let the kids hang out.  I really look forward to the next opportunity to see everyone. 

Besides that, not much is new.  Now it's just settling in and getting back into routines.  Spring looks like it might be coming soon and Clint is on day shift, so we are all pretty excited about that.  Here in a couple weeks we will start having days off together so then we probably will start taking some fishing trips!  Gotta love Montana!