Home, home on the farm...

So last week I had two unplanned trips to Oregon. One you already read about. Ben, the kids and I headed back up Sunday afternoon for my sweet Grandma's memorial.

Monday we met up with extended family and friends to celebrate my Grandma's life. The service was awesome. Maddie did an awesome job sitting through the entire thing. I was a little worried about all the crinkling of snack bags but she made up for it when the slide show was played. As pictures of my Grandma flashed across the screen, she exclaimed, "Grandma Evie!" over and over, and when it was finished, she said "AGAIN!" So sweet.

A reception was held at the church I grew up in. What an amazing group of people who loved and supported our family through the weeks surrounding the service. Hot meals, love, care, pastoral visits, cards--great to see the body of Christ in action! Thanks SBC!

I just love this candid shot of my Uncle Mike, Grandpa Bob, and Dad, sitting around and laughing. There was such joy in the midst of our sorrow, both in knowing Grandma is no longer suffering but in a better place, and also just in celebrating decades of memories together. I really enjoyed catching up with my cousins and aunts and uncles. It had been too long!

Lucky for us, it snowed all week long! Not only did we get to play in the snow, but my mom got two snow days out of the deal and was able to stay home from school and play with us!

These pictures were snapped about 4 and 2 seconds before being plowed by an enormous snowball. My girl knows how to play!

As the snow gave way to melty puddles, the kids had a lot of fun tearing around, mucking it up, and getting VERY wet and muddy. You can see snowballs in their hands--the game involved picking up snow and throwing it into the puddles. You can only imagine how quickly the game turned from fun to freezing. Red, cold little hands.

Can we just pause for a moment to admire this sweet little guy? He is such a dreamboat baby. Happy, easygoing, delightful, and delicious.

And sweet Maddie. What a big girl she is! So grown up, so helpful. She really started working on her letters this week. She has started writing "books," sounding out words and putting them together on the page. It is remarkable. She wanted to spell "teamwork" and sounded out TMWRK by herself. She is also drawing more and more elaborate pictures with her stories. Love it!

One morning we had so much fun playing outside. Sam loved running through the snow, exploring in the Christmas trees, jumping off stumps into snow and crawling around. He was absolutely hilarious.

Maddie loved jumping off stumps, throwing snowballs, and pulling snow off branches.

And now for a few pictures around the farm:

thaw

calf through the barn door

icicles!

Mt. Hood gave us an especially good show this week

My mom wanted me to snap some photos of the family as we all played together on Saturday. As you can imagine, snapping an in-focus photo of five kids didn't go as smoothly as planned. I'll have to try again next time! :)

My brother Ben and his wife Michele:

And the lovebirds themselves, Mom/Grammy and Dad/Papa:

Such a fun, fun trip that was totally unexpected and such a gift. Great times reminiscing, celebrating, playing, resting, and enjoying each other!

Less than 3 weeks until we see them again. Mom, Dad and Uncle Joe are all coming to celebrate Sam's 2nd birthday with this month! Yippee!

P.S. One more day for the giveaway! Have YOU commented yet?