Fruit picking w/ Nana on Sauvie Island

Located 13 miles north of Portland, OR lies Sauvie Island, a lovely rural place which boast of many family owned farms, U Picks and pretty beaches. While Grady did some work on Nana's bathroom flooring, she took the opportunity to take the older kids to some farms to pick Peaches, wild blackberries and Blueberries~ As you can probably tell by the photos, they had a wonderful time and brought home some lovely produce for Mama.

 

 

you wouldn't think that this lovely place is only miles from busy Portland

 

 

they start their day at the peach orchard

 

then took a leisurely walk where they found a plethora of blackberries to pick

 

 

 

Blueberries were next!

 

 

when they arrived at the blueberry patch, the worker told them to enjoy as many as they wanted..

down in Portland it is the end of the blueberry season

Ryan took full advantage of the offer!

 

Here Grant is hard at work, picking yummy blueberries

well, and eating them of course!

 After picking (half a bucket??) Grant is very tired..

 



Or at least pretending to be! :-)

As they head out of the blueberry farm, the girls noticed these beautiful dahlias

What a picturesque island!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Beach Trip

 

To celebrate Ryan's birthday, we headed to the coast for the day. On our way out of town, Grant requested that we stop at the dollar store in order to purchase buckets and shovels for Grace and Laura with his own money. What a sweetie! It was a windy day but we were blessed enough to find a place on the beach near a sandy hill which blocked much of the gusty gales! The children enjoyed the time there so much.. the little girls are already begging to go back. :-)

 

 

 

Special Time Together

 

 

It was a windy day but this sand hill provided some protection from the wind

Two Best Friends

 

This was the best shot out of like, 10. The girls were particularly wild this day!

 (The little ones, not the big ones :-) )

 

 

Sweethearts after all these years!

Since we were located so far from shore, near the bank, we all took turns heading to the water to gather water for the little girls to dump and play with.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord gave Ashley and Amanda the  opportunity to talk with these sweet girls.. they spoke with them for over an hour together about the Lord. It was a precious meeting.

Ryan brought along his beach cruiser.. unfortunately, it didn't 'cruise' very well on the beach! LOL!

 

Such a glorious day!

 

 

 

 

Happy 15th Birthday Rye-Bo!

 

 

 

Ryan has become such a wonderful young man.. so respectful and helpful. He has a great desire to please the Lord in all things and sets such a godly example for his younger siblings. We are all so blessed by his quiet, strong presence in the home. Grady and I feel so honored to be parenting such an amazing young man

 

 

Ashley makes her brother's birthday cake~ She and Mandy decided that a fishing theme would be fun

Grant provides creativity consultation

Daddy gets ready to bring him the cake

Can he really be 15? Our baby boy! *sniff*

 

 

So cute!