We Love Berries!

Last summer, I really wanted to go pick some berries, but I was so sick with my pregnancy that I just didn't get around to it. This summer, I decided I had to go. There are so many u-pick places around here, with everything from strawberries to marionberries to blueberries. My friend Kara is the ultimate berry picker, so she invited me to go with her the end of June for strawberries. Then, I went with her again in July to pick raspberries. The marionberries were finally ripe, so Lori and I went twice and picked some. I've made jams, pies, cobblers, and frozen some for future smoothies and treats. Here are a couple of pictures of Austin and Landon picking berries (usually more ends up in Landon's mouth than in his bucket! Thanks Lori for the pictures!)

Memories

I saw this on another friend's blog and thought this sounded like fun.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together, or one of the first memories you have of me. It doesn't matter if you knew me a lot or a little, anything you remember.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Cousins, Rice Cereal, Elephants, and Swimming Lessons

It has been a couple of weeks since I've posted on here, so I thought I would put a few miscellaneous pictures up here to show you what we've been up to. Just after my last post, I went to Utah for a Morris family reunion while Shane went to Chicago for a work training. Shane took the camera, so I didn't take any pictures of the reunion, but we did meet up with Keither, Alexys, and Laci, my nieces and nephew who are visiting from Alaska, and Shane's parents in Salt Lake one evening. Here is a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren.

All the kids - Landon and Laci are both 3. They were pretty funny together, trying to hop on one foot and jabbering away.

Just after returning from our trip, I decided it was time to feed Davis some solid foods. Shane did the honors. Here are a couple of pictures of him eating some rice cereal. You can see that Landon (and rocket) had to be in on the action as well.

And, just because we had to, here is a short video of Davis's first solids. You'll notice in the video the big pile of rice cereal on the high chair. Davis got a little excited to see the food, and he knocked over the bowl just as Shane set it down on the high chair tray. We also had to give Davis a spoon to hold onto himself because he kept trying to grab it out of Shane's hands. (Warning: This video is not too exciting. Intended mainly for grandmas and grandpas, and maybe an occasional aunt or uncle)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1002857158344779060&hl=en

Landon woke up one morning this week still a little sleepy I guess, because he walked out to the living room with his blanket, curled up in this chair, and lay there for about fifteen minutes. He didn't ever fall back asleep, but I sure thought he had for how quiet he was laying there!

On Saturday, Landon found a sock out of Shane's drawer and wanted to be an elephant. He wanted me to attach it to his face somehow, so I found a headband I put around his head. Don't worry, the sock was clean.

For the past 2 1/2 weeks, Landon has been going to swimming lessons. Let's just say he is less than excited about it. Usually he is fine once we get there. Luckily, his friend Austin Woodley is in the class, and I can usually convince him to go with the reward of going to the park with Austin afterwards. The first picture is of him about to put his ear in the water (he hates doing it), and the second is of him blowing bubbles in the water. I think we're going to need just a few more rounds of lessons before he is a swimmer. :)

No More Newborn

Davis is officially no longer a newborn. Here are some of the signs:

1. He does not stay on his blanket. I don't even know why I put one down anymore. The other morning, I put him down on the blue blanket you can see in the picture, and just a few minutes later, I found him over by Landon. He rolls, rotates around on his belly, and even is starting to try to push himself with his legs.


2. He can sit up! (with some assistance). We went to visit some friends yesterday, and their little baby was sitting up on a blanket, playing with some toys. I sat Davis down next to her, and he sat there for about a minute by himself! Today, he sat for awhile in the boppy. He seemed pretty proud of himself to be sitting up!

3. Finally, last but not least, twice today he got up on his hands and knees. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of this one. I still think it's awhile before he's crawling (hopefully!), but I'm sure we'll see him change more and more everyday.

An Ashland 4th of July

We had a great Fourth of July in Ashland this year. We went to the crazy Ashland parade, listened to the band in the park while eating our lunch, and enjoyed the great fireworks up on the college lawn. While Landon was sitting downtown in his chair, waiting for the parade to start, my dad said, "Landon, you are getting so big!" Landon quickly replied, "Yeah, I was two for a lot of times but now I'm three." :)

Here are a few pictures of our trip! (I should have just done a slideshow! I realized as I was adding them there were more than I thought!)Landon dancing to the band. He loved the instruments in the parade, and he had Shane take him down to the bandshell so he could see them up close. Grandpa even got out his old trumpet and played it for him when we got home. He thought that was pretty cool!

Davis fell asleep for his morning nap minutes before the sirens came by in the parade, and then he never went back to sleep. When we got up to our blanket in the park, he just lay there for a long time, looking around, not making a peep. After about twenty minutes, he rolled over and fell sound asleep!


Relaxing in the park and listening to the city band.

We went ona walk through Lithia Park again on Saturday. Here's a picture of us on one of the many bridges going over the creek.

I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but this duck had about ten ducklings swimming around with her. Landon loved to watch them swim around!

Landon wanted to climb up in this rope jungle gym, with some help from Grandpa. He didn't want to stay up there too long though!

My great friend Bethany and her cute family were in town the same time as us, so we got together at Garfield Park and talked while the kids played in the water and the sand. Thanks Beth! It was so great to see you!!!

Here's Landon with his sparkler Saturday night. He thought they were pretty cool, and went through about five of them himself.

Me, Landon and Mom watching the firework show in our driveway. Dad and Shane did a pretty good job, except they were missing the famous crazy outfits my brothers always wear! You can see Landon's feet are up in this picture - he kept putting them up and asking me if it was okay to put them back down!

On Sunday, Landon did his usual game of taking off all of my mom's couch cushions and playing with them! I don't know why, but he always does that with her couch!



Davis and Landon on the living room floor.

My Little Caterpillar

In my previous post, I mentioned how Landon loved to find the caterpillars at the Oregon coast. Well last night, he was ready for bed, lying on the floor, and he said he was a caterpillar. He still had some toys out from the day, so I asked him if the caterpillar could pick up some toys. He is one clever boy, because his answer was, "No mom, I'm a caterpillar, so I don't have any hands. I just have toes and a mouth." But, being the even more clever mom that I am, I quickly answered, "Well then, little caterpillar, I guess you'll have to clean up your cars with your toes and your mouth." And he did! He put his cars in his mouth, then dropped them in the bucket. Then he picked some up with his toes.

Yesterday, he also took these ABC stickers I had got in some junk mail and asked if he could play with them. I said sure, and then went back to what I was doing. Next time I saw him, he looked like this.
He thought he was pretty funny. You'll have to check out the picture. Today, he found this horse puppet that we have, and he has been wearing it on his hand all day. He talks with it, and it helps him do things, like eat his dinner. Tonight, he said his prayer before going to bed, and the whole time, he had the horse in his hand "talking" too. I'm not sure if that's being completely reverent, but oh well!

Nothing like the Oregon Coast

This is where we spent all of last week . . . at the Oregon coast! It was such fun. Shane's parents exchanged their timeshare for this one in Newport, Oregon at the Embarcadero Resort, right on Yaquina Bay. We could see this bridge out our window every morning. It was gorgeous weather the entire time we were there. We were so lucky! We did all kinds of fun things like flying kits, riding ATV's on the sand dunes, playing at the beach, visiting the aquarium, swimming in the pool, playing games, taking a boat ride, searching for beach life, visiting the lighthouse, shopping at the outlets, and visiting the Tillamook Cheese factory. Here are a few pictures of our trip, and the last one is a slideshow if you want to see more! Thanks again Kent and Christie for a great vacation!

At the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Davis was a big fan of the Bjorn last week, and was pretty much in it anywhere we went! Landon loved seeing all the fish and animals they had there.

The very first morning we were there, Landon discovered a little caterpillar on the ground outside our room. That was just the beginning of a week-long hunt for caterpillars. He would fill a paper cup full, bring them inside, then have fun knocking them down if they got too high in the cup. It became quite a challenge to convince him to let them go each time!

Everyone liked to play with Davis and enjoyed his great smile! Of course, sometimes, they also enjoyed his pouty face, although we didn't see that too often!

This picture is of Landon out on our balcony observing some starfish.

Here's Landon and Shane at the beach flying their kite. It was almost too windy for kite flying!

Shane, Kent, Landon, Mark, and Melanie all went on a boat "cruise" out on the ocean.

Shane and me on our ATV's on the sand dunes. I almost didn't go because I was going to stay with the kids, but Christie's back hurt and Kent didn't want to go, so I decided to be brave. I was a little intimidated at first when I saw the huge sand dunes, but soon I figured it out and had a lot of fun driving around. I only had to have Shane and his brothers help pull me out once or twice. :)

Here is a slideshow of the rest of our trip. Hope you enjoy!