CAMPING IN SILVERTON....camping with 5 small kids is a lot of work, but Matt and I would do it over and over...just cause we love it. We thought this road sign was hilarious, but no kidding...the road was like this for miles. It had the most breathtaking views and I mean my breath actually left my body.

This is right from our camp spot...absolutely beautiful. Our spot was at elevation 10,500 ft.

The little town of Silverton...when no tourists are there...population 400

Another view of the road we traveled

fishing was defintely the highlight of the trip for the kiddos...even though we didn't get anything

oh the anticipation

ok is that not the most serene place to be?

the other favorite for the kids was chipmunk chasing...they carried around a pocketful of sunflower seeds to try and catch them...where are you Alvin, Simon, and Theadore?

The babies are accidents just in the making...poor Macy's nose is trashed from face-planting on the driveway before we left and Miles got a fat lip from falling out of his camping chair

Ok so I'm sorry to all of you who have subtly mentioned that you want to hurt me for not posting more often...seriously? If people only knew what goes on in this chaotic house! Well, anyway in no certain order, here's what I could come up with. Enjoy!!

Hiking while older 3 kiddos were in school

This is an updated photo of Sammy...she's growing like a weed...just like all the other peeps in this house

Miles before his first haircut

and after with Amanda...our pro hairstylist....he's thrilled.

So this is our most exciting post...this was our backyard one year ago when we moved in. We really loved it, but hated all the rock around the patio...we are not rock people. The kids would have to gingerly step over the rock to get to the grass...which grass is the whole point of having a back yard.

So here are the before pictures.

So we dug up rock and laid sod....so much fun!

Here's the after pics!

We also made a flag stone path to the tramp for the kids

To the left of the path we are going to be putting in a flower bed...I love flowers and this yard needs some more color!! I'll post more pics when I get that part done.


Macy of course helped...

and Miles

Meeting up in Vancouver, WA with some friends since high school for a wedding

My best friend and husband for 11 years. We had a great weekend with just the two of us in Portland where we lived when we got married. It was a wonderful time for us to remember the person we fell in love with. I'm so thankful to have him in my life.

Me and Nikki, the beautiful bride

Thank you to Tami and her family for keeping the three older kids, Carolyn and her fam and the Hawley family for keeping the twins!! (pretty sad you have so many kids you have to split them between so many peeps!! hahaha) We would've never been able to go and enjoy ourselves without people that we know and love to have our kiddos. Thanks again!

Sports are underway in our family!! We spend two evenings a week at Tball with Eman and Saturdays at the soccer field for the girls. Here's some action photos of our baseball player!

fielding a ball Waiting on the bench to go up to bat...

finally up to bat running home for the run!

A while ago, but thought the pictures were fun...this was the NFC Championship game we watched and the kids had a great time cheering for the Vikings...made Dad proud!

These next pictures are for all the Veeks!

Ok if you haven't noticed we're dorks and make our kids become the same dorks we are...

but we love it

The new line up for next year's team

Matt and I knew we wanted our kids to grow up with a dog, but after our traumatic experience with Sparky and having twins we decided to wait awhile. So here is our newest addition...her name is Sammy.