So here are some random and lovely pictures of my precious...this might catch us up...just a little bit.
This picture was taken at Spaghetti Warehouse. It was Benjamin's going off to Ricks, I mean BYU - Idaho, family dinner. We also celebrated the one year anniversary of Becca and Aaron's lovely nuptials and kind of ate a little of the top tier of the wedding cake. On the way to the restaurant, we told Jadyn that she wouldn't see Ben for awhile and she started sobbing uncontrollably...Ben was of course flattered that he was going to be missed so much. I wonder how her saying goodbye for two years is going to go???
So of course my daughter, the lover of pink, had to be something fabulous for Halloween. Jennifer and Michelle just happened to be on their merry way on visit to Texas...can you say pink cowgirl boots? Anyone? Well Jenn called me up from the western store and told me how much the boots cost - I was like...what????? Jenn said, no Kathryn she has to have them. I was like how many times could she possibly wear them. Well Jenn, being the favorite aunt, purchased these fabulous pink boots, for an early Christmas present. They of course completed the outfit. And she ended up wearing the boots almost every single day. She wore them today in fact. She loves them. One time when she first got them, she tried to wear them in the bathtub...she wanted to jump in puddles...well that is one big puddle...My parents are headed to Texas next week, and another pair of pink boots is on their to do list...are you reading this Mom?
I just had to include this picture, because really, what is she doing. Is she miming a hat? Her imagination is fantastic. She found a pair of gloves and did a magic show.
The fantastic five year old birthday celebration....speaking of the number five, Rebecca told me that she was talking to Jadyn and she was saying her numbers...and the number fivety was mentioned...not fifty, fivety. Cause really, ok ten, makes sense, twenty - well I don't know why it's not twoty...well maybe I do, but they thirty not threety, and then forty...ahh, that one makes sense, so then it must be fivety, because I know it is sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety...why would they switch back after forty and before sixty...it's gotta be fivety! I have no idea why she does it, but it's cute.
One Sunday, after family dinner we all walked to the park. Was it a Sunday? No probably not. We were walking back and she wanted to pick every dandelion. The great part is, she didn't have a container, so she started looking through all the debris along the walk for the perfect container for her flowers...this was not her first choice. The first one I told her absolutely not, that is filthy! I guess it is true, one man's trash is my little girl's treasure. 
The next two pictures are on our mini-vaca to the beach this past May. We stayed in a Yurt. It was fantastic. You just walk right over the dunes to the freezing cold Washington beach. The first picture cracks me up. It reminds me of Kanye West...maybe it is just the glasses and the straight face. The second picture was from the next morning...she woke up at 6am and wanted to go to the beach, well it is freezing and all the clammers were out there, so I told her we needed to wait. So we waited until 7am...hehe...girl loves the beach. We were so cold even with all are blankets. I finally had the idea to dig down in the sand and make us a buffer...it helped immensely and we just hung out building castles in the sky, well no, we built them in the sand...but I get song lyrics stuck in my head...and I also ramble. We had a great day! Can't wait for the Beach this weekend...yippee!
Just one I thought I would throw in...her hair is always so great. I had french braided her hair and it was starting to fall out and she decided she would fix the straggling pieces of hair by cutting them. She waited till I was in the shower, got the scissors and sheared her bangs, then cut the ends of the braids off to where the pony tail ended, and cut the hair that was hanging out by her ears...this was in November I think. It always looks so great growing out. Needless to say, she couldn't touch scissors for quite a long time. Even now, when she asks to use the scissors, she promises me she will not cut her hair...I say you better not...with a very scary face...and she hasn't...yet. But I just love her sweet look in this picture.
The pre-school she goes to has a program every year with fantastic pomp and circumstance. There is a Kindergarten graduation, and all the classes perform. Last year Jadyn didn't even attempt to sing the songs - even though she knew them all. This year, she moved her mouth and her body to the songs...I feel that is some serious progress...she is shockingly shy about somethings, and then she converses with complete strangers everywhere we go...it's a mystery. This is her pre-performance...no jitters. Calm, cool, and collected.
And the last one for tonight, cause frankly...I am tiziered...for Benjamin's "Farewell" aka speak in church on Sunday, sometime before he leaves on his mission, all us girls wore brown, and the grandchildren both had on yellow...this was completely un-planned, can you really see me trying to set up matching outfits, needless to say we had to take a picture. Aren't they the cutest?! Jadyn loves her baby cousin, often that love is so powerful, she forgets Adelyn's name...mostly she refers to her as "my baby cousin"...she will get it one day. Jadyn has been sick this past weekend and when we went to Sunday dinner at Mom & Dad's, I told her she can't hug or kiss the baby. She was devastated and it took her about 15 minutes to even talk to the rest of us...she was having one of her infamous dramatic episodes...it wasn't a fit of despair, but a nice calm and quite devastation.
Ahhh, so precious...nighty night...until next year! LOL! I promise to be more dilegent, and at least get all my painting done so I can post some truly terrific after shots!
some went rafting, we enjoyed an nice winter storm, and visited Sonic. Yes there is a Sonic in Bend - it was wonderful. I would like a route 44 Diet Dr. Pepper - thank you very much. It was funny, it was the grand opening weekend for the Sonic (we don't have these in the Northwest yet - in case you were wondering why Sonic made the list of things we did - and my dad thought we were crazy for going on a special drive just to get a drink - but I am ok with being a little bit crazy. That crushed ice is over the top wonderful - anyway I digress...where was I??? let me end these parenthesis first.) so we definitely had to stop there, but let me just say - it was crowded and had a wait - Sonic, the heartbeat of Bend. Then it was time to go home and we stopped at the Silver Falls State Park which was really cool and did some hiking - at which I sucked at - the straight paths are ok the vertical paths - I need to get my butt in shape. These falls were amazing and worth a trip. 
Then it was back to Portland for more shopping - have I mentioned our love for tax free shopping - if not you might have discovered our vicious little secret - we love Portland and tax free shopping. Tell the world...but in addition to all the dry goods we bought - I have some great shots of the trip. On the way down, Jenn gave Jadyn the camera to play with I guess. 
I have about 50 shots of the sky and 10 shots of this red truck,
not to mention the countless pictures of Jadyn's feet 
(she is obsessed with them - or it would seem from the quantity of pictures she took). One morning when she was up at 6:15 and the rest of us (me) were still trying to sleep, Jadyn snuck into my purse, took out the camera and went to the bathroom to take pictures of...you'll never guess...her feet. 
I was dying. At least the bathroom floor of the vacation house is now immortalized, because I can't delete that picture....sneaky sneaky Jadyn.
