Kate's blog: September 2013

One-year-old Gabey is keeping with the tradition of climbing into the dishwasher!

We love to see the Reptile Man when he visits the public library in the summer. Zach got to be a
volunteer and get this reptile wrapped around him!
The Reptile Man not only brings snakes, but tortoises, lizards, and an alligator!

Mike has been pretty serious about running the last couple years, doing 10 Ks and half marathons. He talked the rest of the family into running (David and Gabe got to ride) the Independence Day 5K. It supports cancer awareness and research. When he finished running, he came back to walk with Zach, Brooke, and me.
The we stayed for the parade that is always lots of fun.

Fourth of July Picnic and Fireworks at the Nissinen's home:

Brooke picked out some fireworks she was excited about.

The wind picked up and it got really chilly.
The Jacobs, Beth Brown, David, Bishop Knighton, Holly Knighton.
(Brother Long and Brother Burke in the background)

Pyromaniacs!!
Rosie, (Aaron), Ashley, Zach, Jacob, Kayla, Nicholas

Kayla, Nicole, and Nicholas shooting fireworks.

Aaron went a little crazy on his firework show! This is about half of them. It took over 3 hours to light them all.

And some were SO BIG!

Gabey in his birthday outfit from Aunt Sara

Nicholas, Gabe, and David hanging out

A crazy carrot that grew in our garden

One -year-old Gabey-cuteness!

Since Nicholas is turning 12 and will be passing the sacrament, he needed a suit. So Zach got one too.

Handsome Zach!

Handsome Nicholas!

Brooke (4th from left) taking another dance class from Kayla Brown. She loves it!

Zach went to a basketball camp in a friend of a friend's yard.
(Zach is first red shirt guy from the left in back row)

Zach and his buddy, Deion, at basketball camp

Nicholas learns to mow the lawn! And he does a fantastic job!

David's birthday party:

Since David's and Nicholas' birthdays are one day apart, David had his party the weekend before and
Nicholas had his the weekend after.
We had a water party in the backyard with a slip-n-slide at the end of the slide, squirt guns,
water bombs, and water balloons.
(l to r: Mathias, Peter, Kai, David)

David, Kai, Mathias, Peter, Brooke, Ji-uk

Checking out the gifts

Everyone holding the gift they gave David

David's Birthday:
We went camping at South Beach near Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast and happened to be there over David and Nicholas' birthdays. It's a great campground for bike riding and has lots of paved trails too.

All the kids have wheels now!
David got a bike for his 5th birthday.

Hooray for training wheels!

Brooke has to be a tough girl to carry this kid!

Unfortunately, the beach was SO windy that we couldn't play longer than 5 minutes before sand was in everyone's eyes.
The beach was totally empty too, which is very unusual for a sunny day.

Brooke was determined to find a sandy spot not on the windy beach to bury herself in!

Zach (10) and David (5)

Traditional camping dinner, right? Crockpot chicken and broccoli.
I'm not much of a fan of cooking over a fire.

Perfect climbing tree in our campsite.

Nicholas' Birthday:

The next day was Nicholas' birthday and we had to do something out of the wind.
We went to the Marine Science Center. This hands-on display allowed the kids to build a Lego city...

...and then someone else (Zach) could be behind the controls to create tsunami waves.
The idea was to see if you could build a city to withstand a tsunami.

This hands-on display allowed you to create waves on a sandy beach.

Gabey and I checking out the Science Center.

After we got home, Nicholas had his birthday party:

He only wanted his friends to bring their Magic card decks and play (along with lots of junk food).
Back: Joe, David, Riley
Front: Warren, Nicholas, Zach, Nathan

Mike gave Nicholas the Aaronic Priesthood with the assistance of the Nissinens, Bishop, and Uncle Adam.
B, Aaron, Jacob, Bishop Knighton, Mike, Adam
Joe, Nicholas
B and Jacob are 2 priests in Mike's priest quorum and Aaron is one of his counselors.