Family

When you come from a large family it is a very rare occurrence to have everyone together at once. Well this week ended up being pretty special. Dan's brother Cory and his wife Hayley were in town with their little boy Maddox and so even though not all of Dan's siblings were here (April lives in Oregon) all of the Linn grandchildren were! So of course we could not pass up this opportunity for a picture (the last Linn grand kid picture only has 6 kids in it - I would say we have grown a little!) I could not pass us this chance to get pictures of Livy with her hair on FIRE. The sun was just too perfect!

Maddox was finally starting to warm up to me and then they left. Of course.

Ashley, Ryleigh and Jayda have become extremely close this past summer (we do live 2 doors down) and it has been so great for all of them. They are all a great influence on each other and I love them so much!

I told you so

In my last post I admitted that I didn't have any pictures of Olivia swimming because she is an absolute psycho in the water. She needs to be far away from the pool if I am busy taking pictures. Well last time we went swimming Dan went with us and I remembered to bring along the camera to capture her amazing LOVE of the water.

So.. with Olivia there is no gradual acclimating yourself to the water - she just takes of running full speed into the water - the game is to get to the water before her (last night I ended up in the pool fully dressed - thanks Liv).

At Dan's parent pool there is a large top step so she has a HUGE shallow end that she can swim on. She feels like a big girl because she can play on it all she wants without being held (she hates to be held and she REALLY HATES those stupid floatie things) but this can only hold her off for a short time.

Before long she is anxiously awaiting a turn for the diving board!

She loves jumping in the water, she at least gives us a little countdown but we don't know what number she is going to jump on.
one...two....free.... or two...free....one.... or free....one...two...

After a while the diving board is just too pathetic so she has to move up! To the rock platform! The problem with the rock platform is she needs help getting to the top. Usually she can talk someone into taking her up. Okay she doesn't really talk but she stretches out her arms at you and says "Peeese!" So you just can't resist!

Can you hear her squeal of delight?

Then once she has been on the rock platform she remembers that there is a rock slide! And for whatever reason she prefers her Uncle Ammon to take her down the rock slide. She even learned how to say Ammon (maaamn) just for this occasion. Thankfully Ammon is a great sport and has taken her down the slide more times than I can count. She even had little road-rashes on her elbows from the slide!

After I watch her be a crazy in the pool I think to myself that she is amazing and where on Earth did she learn this behavior, then I see Ethan....

She really loves Ethan.

Fun in the Sun

We have been here a month officially. All of our bill have been due and paid already so it is really setting in that we are home and not on some really long vacation. It has been HOT! It even got up to 116* one day. We have decided that we really really need TINT on the windows of our black car with black interior!

We have the good fortune of living within a 1/2 mile of family with a pool- a great pool - even. Usually we take the kids over at least twice a week. They are all little fishies. Olivia is especially crazy about the pool. She is actually psycho about the pool. She loves to go down the slide by her self, jump off the diving board by herself and jump off the rock platform by herself. She HATES being in floaty things and she doesn't even like to be held. She finds it hilarious when she gets to go all the way under the water. As a result of her bravery she cannot be in any pictures, because if I am busy taking pictures she has to be safely on the other side of the fence.

Super Fun

This past weekend we had FUN! Our friends, Ethan & Jen, invited us to go with them to Eagar, Arizona for the 4th with another couple and their 2 kids. Of course we accepted! We were so excited to hang out with friends again (it has been since Texas that we have really had good friends to hang out with) So we piled into the van and drove the 3 1/12 hours.
On the 4th of July the town of Eagar has a huge parade down main street - so we took all the kids (we had 9 kids!)
How cute are these 2 little boys? They are the boys of the other family that was there.

When the "floats" and cars and horses would drive down the road they would throw things at the kids, mostly candy but sometimes it was otter pops and Frisbees.

Then after the parade we took the quads for a little spin. The kids (especially Olivia) got SO DIRTY!

Boys and their toys....

The boys had fun playing Frisbee in the out and open.

The older kids (Ryleigh, Tayler, Kylie, Spencer, Ethan, and Everett) wanted to climb the hill so we let them. They made it about 30 feet up the hill and turned around, but it kept them busy for a while.

Then we went out for fireworks and has SO MUCH FUN! We had some of our own that we lit and enjoyed and then the town of Eagar put on their own show and it was really impressive. We had so much fun!!

All in one piece

We did it! We really did move this time.... it took lots and lots and lots of time and saving but in the end it was totally worth it. We are home and it feels amazing. I love this place and I am so happy here. The weather has been great - in the 90's since we got here so it seems like the desert is welcoming us in. We found a house almost immediately and we are loving it. It is a little smaller than we originally wanted but the schools are great and so is the location. It is less that a 1/2 mile from my parents new house and Dan's parents house (both of which have pools!) and 2 doors down from Dan's brother and his family. That means that we have kids that are going to the same school as them too. We discovered that at the elementary school they would have Linn kids in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade! We are taking over the school!!!! So yeah...we are super excited!

5 things

We are getting down to our final hours in Oregon. I can't believe it is finally already here! I complain a lot about Oregon, I know, but I just thought I would say a little adieu before we part ways...forever.

Here are the 5 things I will MISS the most about Oregon, specifically the Willamette Valley.

~ Sybaris & Pepper Tree:

Sybaris we happened upon by accident when I was pregnant with Livy. My mom, sister and I were looking for a yummy local place for dessert and we were wanting to try something new. I found sybaris online and so we decided to give it a try. We ended up eating dinner too! It was amazing, and our waiter was AWESOME! Ever since then Dan and I have tried to get to Sybaris once a month because the menu changes every month to correspond with what the local farmers are bringing in. If you are ever in the area I recommend this place highly! Date night mostly, no kids menu and it is very romantic. The tomato sampler appetizer in the late summer months is crazy delicious.

The pepper tree is a totally random little shack of a food joint! They are called Pepper Tree Sausage House. He obviously specializes in Sausages like bratwursts and Italian sausages but he also does breakfast. His dining room only seats 9 people at a time but it is worth the wait. The owner is the cook/waiter/entertainment everyday. He actually makes the sausages himself so they are amazingly fresh. Dan and I usually go once a week on my day off of work and we actually got my entire family addicted. The best part is: its super cheap! Dan, Livy and myself can all eat and drink sprites for around $11. He has a little saying in the dining room that says "A grumpy German is a Sour Kraut" and it sums him up pretty well.


~ The Coast:
It has been really really cool to be able to pack up a picnic and head over to the coast for the day. We live about 50 minutes from the coast so it is accessible to us all the time. Nothing makes you feel truly small like standing next to the ocean. It is so beautiful and peaceful.



~My girlfriends:

We have moved a LOT, with Dan in the Military we said goodbye to many friends along the way but it is different here. My girlfriends here don't move every couple of years, the are not used to having long distance friendships from all over the United States. When they make friends they keep them and they are friends forever. So when I leave it is different, they will all stay here. My last day of work was torture because I am going to miss these girls so much! I have so many hilarious memories with these ladies (and some others that didn't make it!) and I will always have a place in my heart for them.

~Oregon State University:

Okay, I had no idea how much fun it is to live in a close-knit college community. When I was growing up we lived within 15 minutes of ASU but there was never a camaraderie like there is here. I am sad for the students that go to a school like ASU because the don't understand the love that a town can have for its school. Here we shut down on game day. EVERYONE is wearing their orange and black and we get into it! We are the BEAVERS! Whether you go to the school or not we love our beavers and it is so cool. I never knew how much I loved college sports until we lived here! I will totally miss OSU!

~Green:

They have a saying "if it doesn't grow in the Willamette Valley then it doesn't grow" (I actually found that to not be true - you can not grow good citrus here!). It is outta control green here! Everything grows and blooms. I didn't know that trees came in pink, purple, red, orange, yellow, white, and green. I didn't know that blackberry bushes could be weeds.. I also didn't know my allergies could kill me. The green is absolutely beautiful to look at and so much fun in the summer when the Farmers Markets start coming out. Last year we even grew a garden and we didn't even know what we were doing but it grew anyways and it was delicious in spite of us.

OH oh oh.. but there are thing.... there are things that suck so bad about Oregon that I will definitely NOT miss....

~Oh mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun...what the heck happened to you???:

Black, cloudy, dreary, freezing cold days for the majority of the year is harsh. I knew moving here that it would be rainy a lot and Dan tried to warn me but I thought I could handle it because I love rainy days in Arizona. Yeah, well the rain is different here. There is no thunder and lightening and the rain is freezing cold and most of the time it is like a mist. Not so fun.

~No Air Conditioning:

Since we use the heater for 10 months of the year most houses do not come equipped with air conditioning. It gets really really really hot inside in July and August. Last year I think it got up to 94* inside our home. That is miserable.

~The Coast:

I know I said that I would miss the coast, but I also won't miss that it is freezing! We literally wear our winter coats to the coast all year long. The coast does not warm up in the summer. It maybe will get to the low 60's and that is not factoring in the winds! I am ready for a warm beach!

~Hippies:

Oh my gosh. They are everywhere here! Every Saturday they get together at the Town Hall and protest...everything. They used to protest Bush and the war but now it is Obama... will they ever be happy?

~Blue State:

Really? I mean...duh.. no wonder we didn't make it here. Have you met us??

My beautiful Babies