Congratulations Wagners

bordOur good friends the Wagners just got some great news on their long term status in the USA and it looks like they will be staying! YIPPIE! They were so thrilled they took some of their close friends out for dinner. The food was delicious but the company is what made this night so spectacular. Congratulation guys!

Sometimes at dinner you just need your head lamp..........I mean if you're Nicole!

Saying good-bye

We have been very fourtuanate to not have to say good-bye to many close friends so far, but as the Cannon finished school we had say our first Good-byes. Chad and Nachelle were already one year into school when we got here. About a year ago they move into our complex and we have been hangin' out ever since.


We went out bowling and for appitizers at a place called, AL'S. It was so much fun to have one last night out with our friends, we sure will miss you guys!


We played Boy against Girls, and we seriously got our butt's kicked! But it was so much fun it didn't really matter!


The boys played a little pool while we waited for our appitizers and the girls did the usual, CHIT CHAT!

Grandma Moje & Grandpa Zo

My parents came down for another visit this month. We ended up being their last stop on a wonderful road they took up the coast. They started out in California and worked their way up to us, hitting all the major attractions and cities along the way. LA, San Fransisco, Disneyland, Universal, Alcatraz, the Redwoods, and much much more. But I'm sure if you ask them what their favorite leg of the trip was they will undoutably say: PORTLAND

You just can't find boys as cute or doughnuts as good as we serve up here in Portland Oregon. Since Dust and Lynz were up in Canada for Beckams fake surgery Mom and Dad were able to stay at their place, which was so fun! No running back and forth to a hotel just right downstairs if they wanted a nap or need to get something.

Since we were at the end of their trip we decided not to go all over town but to just relax around here and enjoy each other company. We did hit up the Saturday market, which was so perfect! The weather was beautiful, the food delicious, and the boys had a blast playing in the fountains. (to bad I left the camera in the car!)

We also went to the fish hatchery on Saturday with Holly and Dan. AJ loves seeing all the fish and wanted Grandpa to meet Herman, the 10 foot sturgeon. It was beautiful out and we enjoyed seeing all the jumping fish, although there were NO FISH on the fish latter! A bit of a disappointment but still a successful trip in the end!


Another fun spot we hit this time was Imagination station. It's a wooden park where the kids could run and play for HOURS! They love it, I'm not sure why we don't go there more often actually. Anyways we took Grandma & Grandpa to the park and let them kids wear them out for an hour or so. All I can say is thank goodness there were 4 of us because they had more energy than one adult could handle! Miles couldn't get enough of Grandpa Zoe, they were two peas in a pod!
Miles wants to do EVERYTHING than AJ does, he just doesn't understand that he is smaller.

Hide and seek with Dad. Not so great for Aaron since AJ fits in all the nooks and crannies and we......Don't!

Look at those boys, seriously so cute! I know my opinion is a little bias but honestly, how could you denie the cuteness factor!?!?!?
Thanks for spending a few day in Portland with us Grandma & Grandpa, we love having you here and showing you our Portland World, missing you already!

First day of pre-K

After much debate Aaron and I decided to send AJ to Head Start. Head Start is a preschool program for 3 & 4 year olds in the state of Portland. We applied last spring and found out he was accepted in late August, but once he was in I started to panic.

How could I send my little AJ off to school for 5 hours 4 days a week? Would he like it? Was he ready? Was this the right choice for him and our family? These are all questions we went over and over before we finally decided that yes, he was ready and it was the right thing to do.

We went to meet his teacher and the other kids one week before his first day. It was great! He loved Teacher C and all the kids, he couldn't wait to go all by himself. He talked about it non stop for the last week and when the big day came he did really well. He was a little teary eyed but his teacher said he did happy right up and by the time I picked him up off the bus he was happy as pie!

My eyes were full of tears as I watched him hop off that bus. Tears of pride and a tiny twinge of sadness as I watched my little boy and realized just how grown up he already is.

Family Temple trip

As a missionary effort the Portland temple has been offering 30 minute Temple tours for the past two weeks. It is a great opportunity for members to bring their friends to the Temple to feel the spirit and learn more about the importance of Temples and why we have them.

Since Dustin is the ward mission leader he extended and invitation to all the members to come out after church and attend a tour with our families and any non members that might be interested. What a great way to spend a beautiful Portland afternoon!

The weather was perfect and although we didn't get any investigators out with us we did have a great time learning about the Portland temple and teaching our kids more about the plan of salvation....and the life of a lady bug. Who new one little bug could be so darn exciting! I thought this was such a great picture of these two, they look like a little old man and lady out for a walk
See that stud? Yeah I'm married to him!

Poytress men.
Me and my boys at the Portland Temple. Can't wait to take them in one day.
Some people stop to smell the roses, like Megan and AJ.

Others stop to sample their fertilizer.
Columbia River Ward Temple trip crew.
Have I ever mentioned that AJ winks. All the time, to everyone. He can wink with both eyes and in the right contexts. IT IS HILARIOUS! He winks across a room to someone, winks at his doctor, winks after he tells you a secret. So cute, and here it is:

Poytress family September 2010 (Miles fell and smashed his face on the concrete right before this was taken, poor kid!!)

So tired & big boy beds.

We are no strangers to the sleepless craze that has been haunting all parents for thousands of years. Some kids won't take naps during the day others are up all night, leaving parents jumping at any chance they get to catch a few Z's. We'll do whatever it takes to make those babies sleep, bounce them, swing them, drive them, cry it out, pick 'em up, blankie, soothers, sound machines, blacked out windows, night lights, unplugged phones, running vacuum, on and on the list could go.

So here it is our current situation:

Miles 14 months sleeps only in his crib with a rainfall sound machine, blacked out room and a bottle to fall asleep. (please don't mention the bottle in the crib it is something I swore I would never do but..... Miles made me!)

AJ 3 year old hates the dark and going to sleep. Crawls into OUR bed every night and falls asleep snuggling up to Mom or Dad with the lamp on and the door open. we move him to his bed but sometime between 3:00-5:00 he always seems to make his way back to our room.

Solution = BUNK BEDS.

We moved Miles crib under the top bunk and draped a blanket over it so he was still in the dark, got AJ a night light, and kept moving him back to his bed after falling asleep with us. After a month of that annoying route we arrived at today. Today we moved our 15 month old into a big boy bed.

We have switched from bottle to sippys and decided to put both boys to bed at the same time, (7:00) every night and let them fend for themselves until morning. It might take a few nights but I am confident that it will be a success, pray for us!

Date night with the Wagner girls

The Wagner girls are like family around here. I basically think of them as my nieces which AJ might find a little weird since he fully plans on marrying Megan one day, ha ha ha. Anyways my boys (nephews included) love playing with the Wagner girls, when they get together the fun can last for hours and hours.

Every day when Megan and AJ are done school they all meet outside and ride bikes back a forth between our apartments for at least an hour. You hear Megan and AJ calling to each other, "Coming Cowboy woody" "You bet Cowgirl Jesse" both wearing cowboy hats and pretending their bikes are horses.

They also love playing house at the Wagner's, or helping bake cookies ANYWHERE! The other day I pulled out the craft supplies and overhear:

"AJ I think I will do make a picture out of paper clippings what are you going to work on today?"
"I'm just painting an abstract picture today."
"Oh, that's a good way to use your imaginations"

WHAT!?!? How old are you kids, it was so hilarious. I asked AJ where he learned what abstract art was and he told me Megan taught him ALL ABOUT IT. ha ha ha.

Another favorite past time these little ones share is MOVIE NIGHT. I am not sure what they like more the movie or the treats but either way they all love it. Here they are watching Piglets big movie and enjoying some popcorn. AJ doesn't like popcorn so he had chips but he was still happy to help in making a popcorn mess in the movie nest.
Constantly on the look out for my lazy eye.....Nope I think we just caught a weird eys moment.
Seriously how cute is my little Miles!?! I just can't get over him!