I Needed Some Black and Whites

These were just a few pictures I wanted in balck and white and I think they turned out great!!
By: Ashley

Who Said We Couldn't Take More Pictures?!

This was taken from the side as it was falling.
This was taken right above the mini waterfall.

We Took More Pictures!!!

The last two pictures were taken from almost having the camera touching the water.

More Beautiful Pictures

Two more beautiful pictures!!

Ashley's Waterfall Pictures With Sara Savage

Sara is one of the Jr. High Staff members with me, and we went to Multnomah Falls and some of the falls around there and took pictures. We were very tired because just that moring at 2 AM got back from a Seattle Mariners Game. These are some of the wonderful and beautiful pictures we took.
By: Ashley

Justin's Football Career

This is just the start of Justin's Hall of Fame Football Career. He has decided to play football and as a result, Jake got asked to help coach. Not only could he not let Justin down, (who by the way pumped his fist and said, "Yes, I think it would be so awesome if Dad would coach!") but was also put in the postion of being Offensive Coordinator. So- the boys go off to practice four nights a week, Jake has coaches meetings on Friday nights, and Saturdays are games. By the way - Justin's position is tight-end.

Meanwhile, the girls stay at home, keep the boys full with yummy dinners, wash their clothes drenched with sweat and rain, and be the encouragement they need when they get home and are thoroughly tired! It's a family affair! This is the season of life we are in...and we are tired but enjoying our kids' lives to the fullest!

Is it a surprise that Jake's voice can be heard above all the other coaches, and even by the parents on the sidelines watching practice? When Jake calls a play...the boys hear it!

Just so you know how into this he is, Jake has several key plays taped to the door of his office so he can glance up and go over the play again in his head that he will be teaching the boys that night.

Above, Justin, the tight-end, is the player closest to the camera on this end of the line. He is the one that doesn't have any bare legs showing, wearing his game socks, so that makes it a little easier to pick him out until we get his name printed on the back of his jersey.
Above...Jake called a play and the boys are getting into position, he is standing in the top right corner here with the head coach observing how well the boys pull it off.
Above - Jake is once again barking out what went wrong on the last run of this play. For those of you who know football well...maybe you can figure out what play they are set to do. I have no idea! (Mom)
The boys, and Jake run back to the sidelines to get a quick drink of water and take a breath. Justin is looking pretty stout in his uniform. Jake looks like he is getting ready to bring them back out to the field for more punishment. Awww...football!

Hanging in Between Practice Drills

These are few sideline pictures showing what happens in between practicing plays.
On these hot days the boys were encouraged to drink loads of water. Justin listened.
I was told once when I tried to help Justin out of his pads and shirt, "I can't be seen having my mom help me!" Well, a close second is being photographed with one of his coaches helping.
Let's see...Jake's mouth is open... everyone around him is laughing...hmmm...do you think a smart remark just came out of Jake's mouth? Ding, ding, ding...you are correct!

Is He Working Hard Enough?

With having his second week of practice in 90 - 100 degree weather, Justin and the rest of the team (not to mention the coaches) were drenched in sweat by the end of practice. Justin was pretty proud of the fact that he got so sweaty, so he had to show it off for the camera, although Ashley and Christy were not so thrilled with the smell of him when he got home. Football season has arrived!

The Ride

This ride is fun because although you drive over these bridges all the time you really dont get to stop and look at the scenery.

So, here is a great view off the Marquam bridge back into Portland.



Justin taking time out to look off the Fremont.


Looking off the Fremont back towards town.


End of Ride. Justin and Dad sit on the rocks and eat a bagel.
We had a very nice morning riding through Portland.

Bridge Pedal over Portland

Alright. First thing Sunday morning Justin and Jake got up and ready to leave for the Portland Bridge Pedal. It is a pretty incredible thing really...... the city of Portland shuts down nearly all bridges for about 4-5 hours and there is a huge charity riding event.
Justin and Dad decided to do the 24 mile ride that covered 8 bridges. Our family has planned to do this ride for 3 straight years and this is the fist time that anyone actually made it.

The camelback. If you look closely, you can see the camelback that Justin is wearing on his back. For a ride this short, I normally wouldn't bring a camelback but Justin was so excited to wear and drink from it that we let him wear it. I filled it up with some ice and about 60 oz. of water thinking that would be plenty.



Well.... I was wrong about 60 oz being enough. On just the second bridge (about 4 miles (maybe 5 miles TOPS!!) Justin told me that all the water was gone!
We literally had to stop at the first rest stop and re-fill the camelback. Unbelievable.
Before noon that day Justin visited the restroom a total of SIX times.
Next time we will have to monitor the water intake a little better.





Here is Justin ready to ride. He is using Mom's bike this morning as it is a little lighter and faster than his mountain bike.

Rock Climbing?

The kids decide to rock climb on our last time to the beach. It was a foggy day as the sun had decided to go away and wasn't coming back. You could hardly see the ocean and the beach. It was strangely eerie, watching people come into focus on the beach when they would walk into our view.





I love the Oregon Coast in August.

Where do you put these pictures???

I can't leave them out, but I don't know exactly where to put these pictures. Yes, we are biased about our kids and we freely admit it.

The first two are in the kitchen. We love it when the kids spend time on the stools visiting with us when we are busy in making something.




Here the kids are at the beach. You can just see the mischeiveous look on Justin's face. Yeah.... he never gets in trouble.



Ashley collecting shells. It never fails that when we come home from the beach we have a bag stashed somewhere in the car with wacky looking shells, maybe some kelp flowers, rocks, and whatever other interesting items she can find.


By the way, about that bag that is stashed in the car, it is not uncommon for this bag to be left somewhere in Ashley's room for maybe a month or two. At this point we find the bag out of sheer necessity as the contents of the bag begin stinking.... badly. After that, the bag is banished to the burn barrel. So much for the shell collection.

Ashley's Castle vs. the Ocean

Every time we make it to the beach there is the obligatory "let's make a castle and watch as the surf finally overtakes it."
This time it was Ashley taking the reins of the design and build for our castle.

You can see in the background Justin just hanging out and burying himself in the sand, letting Ash do all the work.





It doesn't matter how big we make the moats or how large we make the castle the pounding of the surt always win.