Crater Lake--I Think

 Still doing make-up pictures since the blog is taking them now.  Over Thanksgiving weekend we headed up to Crater Lake when Drew was on his way back to college.

 We always have to stop so David can take pictures at the river..

 I sure do miss this guy when he is at school.  But we are very proud of the man he is becoming!  And the way he has handled the adversity of this lung issue he is dealing with.

 Can you tell it was cold?  Thankfully Harrison slept through the whole thing under that blanket.

 Yes, read the sign.  There was a steep drop off to the lake below in the fog.

 As you can see we did not listen very well.  And yes that is a large hole that I fell into and everyone was laughing hysterically, Drew so hard he did not even help!

 Such a beautiful picture of Crater Lake--NOT.  But what a nice family!

 Ryan, Danielle and Harrison.  Danielle kept saying this is why she lives in Santa Barbara!

 Drew with his girlfriend, Courtney, who came and enjoyed Thanksgiving with us.

 Love this picture--they look mischievous.  But then again that pretty much describes Drew's whole life:)

 David took about 100 pictures of Ryan, Danielle and Harrison trying to get Harrison to smile.  I was exhausted afterwords from all the jumping around and yelling his name.

This was my favorite.  I have a cute grandson, what can I say!

A Little Break

 Last week we were treated to a couple of days in Bend, courtesy of our big kids for our anniversary.  Yes, we took the littles on our anniversary trip!  Hannah and I with the Rabbit Ear formation behind us in the clouds.  As you can see we have been having fun with yarn extensions this holiday.

 David's overload on pictures.

 We were all packed up to go cross country skiing, but no snow at any of the mid elevations.

 So we enjoyed lots of nice long walks enjoying the tremendous beauty and quietness of Sunriver in the off season.

 We played lots of games and watched some football and Christmas movies.

 It was a great distraction for the kids waiting for Drew's arrival home from college for break. 

 Today we are enjoying a laid back day watching it snow out our own window here in Medford.  Not something it does very often.  Some school will get done, but right now it is Stratego time for Drew and Caleb after a tramp though the snow.  Interestingly Hannah does not seemed bothered by not playing, she is just happy to be near everyone.

 Danielle, Ryan and Harrison traveled to Hawaii this week to spend the week with Erinn and Michael.  I am excited for them to have this time together. We will miss both the girls and their families this Christmas.  Part of the hard stuff of raising a family.

 We have been watching Caleb grow in leaps and bounds, not only in height as you can see, but spiritually and emotionally.  He is learning to slowly recognize his emotional turmoil for what it is and is often times open to discussing what is going on.  Not always,  but who of us is. We are excited to see where the Lord is leading him.

Hannah is bouncing along as usual.  Not much bothers her most days, though recently she complained of a stomach ache like she was going to throw up, and we realized that the stress of Caleb getting into trouble was causing it.  She is very connected to all that is going on around her.  We are going to try to seek out the right place for her to get some strengthening and coordinating training in January.  She so much still looks like a colt trying to get her legs under control!

The last few weeks my blog has not allowed me to post any pictures and I thought I was going to have to do a new one, but I was thankful today it allowed me to.  Maybe in the near future that will have to happen.

Catch up from LA and Tahoe

 My last pictures of everyone meeting Harrison, were taken during our week long vacation.  Here is the cheering squad for Drew at the PAC 12 meet in LA.

 Cougars warming up!

 Here are the PAC 12 teams.  For cross country, many of the top teams in the nation are represented here along with the last two national champions.

 I always love the colorful starts of cross country races.

 Great picture of Drew in the croud.

 Love the intensity he shows when he is racing.

 Four cougars all packed together.

 This race was from late October and we knew Drew was battling some type of lung issue.  They were treating it as either an allergy to the smoke from the forest fires that had settled in the Pullman area or a smoke induced asthma.  He was struggling with chest tightness and inability to breath correctly when he was really pushing his body.

 We were all hopeful that the abundance of medication and inhalers they had him on would relieve it enough for him to race well here.  Sadly to say about 2/3 of the way through the race it came on full force and he finished about a 1/3 of the way back in the pack.  He was hoping for top 20.

 Gotta love perfectly timed pictures.  Spitting is just part of the game in racing, as well as spike wounds and snot rockets.  Lovely, I know.

 After a couple of days with Danielle, Ryan and Harrison we headed to Lake Tahoe.  Love the pictures when kids are trying to figure out how to smile.  I think he is transitioning to wanting to find a 'cool' smile instead of a 'sweet' smile.  I don't think he succeeded!

 I love my family.  This little 4 day break from everything was much needed for David especially.  It was wonderfully relaxing.

 David loves photographing God's beautiful creation.  I think I am going to try and do the upstairs hallway full of his photos.

 Yes, the kids kind of played in the water at the end of October in Tahoe.  The weather was wonderful~

 Sunrise and moon setting over the lake.

 Isn't God's creation amazing?

Isaiah 55:12

 “For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

 This little island reminded us of Crater Lake here by us.

 We were amazed to get cell coverage so far up in the mountains.  We were thankful to get an update from Drew and what the doctors were going to try to get him to regionals and then to Nationals if he could run well at Regionals.  They got very aggressive an moved all the meds to max and put him on some new ones since there was not time to schedule with an allergist or pulminologist they were just shooting in the dark.

 Our amazing, innocent Hannah showing pure joy!

 What a treasure she is!

 I am blessed!

 

 Beautiful spawning salmon.  One of the joys of the Pacific Northwest.

 A quick stop at kids museum in Reno thanks to our museum pass, was a great break on the trip home.

Meeting Harrison

 Grandpa got to meet Harrison for the first time a few weeks ago.  I think it was love at first sight for both of them.  If you look closely you can see that David's shirt has already been 'initiated' with Harrison's spit-up!

 Uncle Caleb---let me tell you this guy is a natural with kids.  You would have thought he had tons of experience with little ones, but this was the first baby he had ever held!

 Auntie Hannah did so much better with Harrison this time.  Having her big brother to watch gave her lots of confidence, plus the fact that Harrison is quite a bit bigger now!

 You gotta love Drew's contribution to Harrison's wardrobe!  He wore it out to watch his Uncle Drew at the PAC 12 Championships in LA.

 Harrison trying to 'talk' to Caleb!

 Isn't it interesting that babies are so cute, even when they are yawning!

 Uncle Drew's turn!  and at 20 years old this is the first baby he has ever held!  Harrison was not so sure of the stinky Uncle and all the bright sunlight.

 So many of my blessings in one place.  It makes a mom's heart sing.

 A beautiful October day on the Santa Barbara beach with my oldest daughter and oldest grandchild.  I am one blessed woman!

Fun watching these two in the last week of October building a sand castle close to the water's edge.  They never did move it back, they just kept rebuilding.