Through the Airport

The trip back to Oregon was uneventful. We enjoyed our trip very much.

Grandma and Grandpa Lawfer. Grandpa Ron Lawfer went to be with Jesus on Sunday, December 18th, 2016. He was a wonderful man and will be greatly missed. We are glad we visited him one last time before he passed away.

Snow in a state where they don't shut the world down

Still in Illinois, visiting Brian's extended family. Another pool picture. Norah really learning how to say "cheese" and smile at the same time. Silly girl. 

At Great-grandma's birthday party! And one of Norah's favorite person's, Auntie Sarah!

There is a time to work, and a time to play! And we did both. Got to shovel snow and make a wonderful snowman for great-grandpa Ron to look at through the living room window.

And a little sledding!

Off to Illinois!

A few weeks ago, Brian, Norah and I headed to Illinois to visit Brian's extended family. 

Waiting at the airport was a lot of fun! We headed up to the airport on the day a "snow-storm" was headed to the Pacific NW, so lucky for us, NO TRAFFIC! Except then we had three hours to wait at the airport.

Feeding the many cats is one of the fun things to do while in Illinois. Here Norah is with Grandma Karen and Aunt Sarah.

A visit out to the dairy farm is also in order when we visit. It's the coolest, robotic milking barn we've ever been too!

Norah's first swimming lesson came while in Illinois. Our hotel had a great pool! And Norah had a great teacher, Aunt Sarah!

Christmas Tree Hunt

The first weekend of December we headed to a Christmas Tree farm for a tree hunt. Here we are walking through the trees looking for the perfect tree!

Found our first Santa to get a picture with!

Fall time in Oregon

We headed out in the "rain" with the umbrella. 

Our annual pumpkin carving party. This was the best I could do at sticking her in a pumpkin. 

Here is her impression of the pumpkin she helped me carve. 

Jeremiah carved these little things and stuck them in a bigger pumpkin.

And...here they all are!!! All our pumpkins for 2016!

Happy Halloween 2016!!

We headed out to trick or treat with Gwyndolyn, Jeremiah and Ike. See the picture above, we have a few rock stars, a bumble bee, and a mummy. 

Adam's Wedding

Norah and Wendy and I set off on the 950 mile drive down to San Diego to see our good friend Adam get married. We took off at 5 p.m. and Wendy drove for the first 5 hrs and then I took over for the night. It was so nice because we were in LA by 10 oclock the next morning. We were so excited because so many good friends were all coming in this day and we were all staying at a large conjoined apt building together. We also had many awesome plans for the days leading up to the wedding.

At our rest stop outside LA we had to "use" the phone to call lots of people. Norah did so well on our car ride down to Cali. 16 hrs in a car is asking a lot of a 2 yr old 

It all paid off for the little girl as the day after we arrived, we went to the famous San Diego zoo. Lions, tigers and bears oh my. Norah was so excited to see all creatures great and small.

First stop... Monkeys!!! It is hard to say what is the most enjoyable animal to see, however it can be argued that monkeys are the most entertaining. 

 Where is that hippo? Surely he can't be too hard to see. 

 Oh... found him. Wow he sure is big. 

 Because elephants in the wild walk 20-40 miles a day. They wear down the nails on their feet. However in the San Diego, they get pedicures. 

Here is the cheetah with his best friend the dog. The dog actually calms the cheetah down and they stay together 24 hrs a day. 

 Next day we went to the beach on Coronado island. Playing in the sand and water was quite nice. California beaches are a little warmer than Oregon beaches. 

Norah just lounging in the warm sun. 

The wedding was pretty and not too hot thank goodness. We afterwards had a fun picnic after the wedding and prepared for the reception at the beach. 

  

We made our way over to Del Mar for the reception which was right on the beach. We had to snap some selfie shots before the party began. 

Norah had a ton of fun checking out these sea lions that called the Del Mar beach their home. She tried to talk to them and imagine they were talking right back. 

Norah turns 2

We had a small party for Norah's 2nd b-day party. We invited just a handful of beloved family and friends. Pizza and an interesting dessert(more on that later) were had by all as we celebrated 730 days of our wonderful gift from God. 

So Norah was very sure that cake did not stand up to a "big cookie". She had been talking about a big cookie for a couple weeks before her birthday. Wendy delivered in amazing fashion. 

Wasting no time digging in. I'm not sure if she is bobbing for chocolate chips or just pretending to be a piggy.

Noah managed to get all the desserts on his plate at one time. Ice cream and two different kinds of big cookie. 

After eating Norah opened some presents and we played around the house. Truly a really fun time with family and friends with whom we were so happy to share Norah's special day. 

Fall Beach Fun

 Our Brother in law Abraham won a weekend at the beach at a charity raffle. It was to be a quick yet fun trip. The weather was typical fall Oregon coast, but we still braved the outside and had a sweet time.

I was sure that I could build a giant castle using a 5 gallon bucket... round 1 didn't go so well. 

Wendy's obligatory picture of a local buzzard... oh wait I mean Eagle. 

Noah and Norah playing on some oversized driftwood. 

The next day we drove down to the Newport aquarium for some fishy fun. It really is a fun aquarium and it is all by donation so it doesn't empty your wallet. (and yes we donated... we aren't total cheapskates)

Fun feature that showed kids how water flows from high points and pools in low points. You can change how the water sits by disrupting sand. 

More sandcastle fun right in from of Moe's clam chowder restaurant. 

Oh how cute... A man and his offspring. 

Gwyn and Miah attempting a well timed jump picture. The well timed thing didn't really work out.