Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Our Christmas Service

Dear Ray, Krissy, Kate, Jack, Lily, and Owen,


We are so sorry to hear you have been so sick. Having just been through it a couple weeks ago we know how awful it is and just how miserable you feel. We sure hope you get to feeling better soon and can enjoy the rest of your time off from school!

Since we were so sick it was really hard for us to do our Family Christmas Service before Christmas! We were so excited to be able to give the gift of service this year and we are so happy to share with you what we decided to do. We brain stormed many fun and wonderful things we wanted to do – but narrowed it down to one thing. Since Makenna, Porter, Charley and Campbell’s cousin Hatcher was born, he has had to spend many hours, days, weeks and months in the hospital. Over the last 5 years there have been so many people who have visited him and brought him gifts to make being in the hospital a little bit less hard. We thought that it would be a fun service to bring a homemade blanket and gifts for 1 boy and 1 girl who are currently at the St. Charles hospital in Bend.

We picked out a fun soccer ball printed fleece for the boy and a fun polka dot print for the girl.
We cut slits in the edges and then tied knots all around the edge of the blankets.


They were so cozy and we could just imagine those kids in their hard hospital beds feeling a little more comfy with those blankets.
Our next outing involved going to the dollar store and picking out gifts for each of them that we thought would be fun to do while lying in a hospital bed.  For the boy we picked a mini pool table game, silly putty, a glow ball he could put together,   and a dry erase board that had lots of different games on it.  For the girl we picked silly putty, a glow in the dark necklace, two different colors of nail polish, and the same dry erase board with games.  We put all of the stuff into 2 big sparkly gift bags and headed out for Bend.
When we got to the hospital we weren’t exactly sure where to go.  One of the hospital staff directed us up to the 5th floor – the pediatric unit, where the sick kids or kids recovering from surgery were. We got up to the 5th floor and ended up running into a friend of mine who is a nurse. She showed us where we could find the head nurse. We gave her our gifts and asked her to give the gifts to a boy and a girl who could really use some fun activities. As we walked out of the hospital that day we all felt so good and happy. It makes us excited to do more service and think of others ways we can give and serve.
We want you to know how much we love you all and how grateful we are to have you in our lives. We love you! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

"I'm Campbell and I Know it!"

One day old
Born on April 18th, 7lbs 15oz. 20 inches
Hey look at my body! Hey look at my body!
Hey look at my body ......yeah, I drink milk.
Diaper, diaper, diaper, diaper change
Diaper, diaper, diaper, diaper change
Diaper, diaper, diaper, diaper change
Hey, I make poop!
I'm Campbell and I know it.

11 weeks old
 
It's amazing just how fast little Campbell is growing - well maybe not growing so much as aging. She will be 3 months old next week and it kind of blows my mind. (She's a little bit of a peanut still, but slow and steady wins the race right?)

We have had our wild and crazy days - but in spite of it all . . . .

This little girl is sure loved!

More pictures to come soon! I can't find the cord to my camera, fortunately I have the one to my phone!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Happy Easter!

She's getting to this stage: "Please don't post that picture I look bad." Sorry Kenna! The coveted movie "Hop" - it's been the buzz word around here for months!


My two handsome boys

After stake conference. Thanks for snappin' this Haley!


Hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your fams! The best footage I got was on my phone of 12 cousins sprinting to Krissy's house from Maria's house for the big egg hunt. All the dads hid almost 2oo eggs! Thats some dedication!


Spring Break at the OR Coast

Feelin like I should probably do a little catch up before baby arrives - due tomorrow and I'll need to post some pics once she decides to come! We spent the last weekend of spring break on the OR coast this year and had a super fun time. Even though I was 8 1/2 mos pregnant and walked on the beach way too far, I sure loved getting away - and so did we all.


We brought Josh along which was a special trear for Port - he loved having his cuz/best buddty there to dig in the sand and explore with.





The condo we stayed at had an outdoor pool and if the kids weren't beach combing this is where they wanted to be!




I didn't swim but Peter was the hero spending hrs in the pool with the kids while I relaxed in the condo.
















Ocean view from the pool - pretty cool!



Part of a rainy afternoon we we spent inside Ripleys Believe It or Not. Believe it or not Makenna was the one who got the most freaked - she always has had a phobia of realistic looking fake people!

















Sand dune jumping - the boys were all over it!







They found this cool little clear specimen - stiil don't know what it was!






Sunday, September 11, 2011

Porter got Baptized!

Porter got baptized this past Friday and it was a wonderful day. He was baptized on the same day as his best friend Ryun and it really couldn't have worked out better for those two cute little boys! Jodi (his mom) and I both gave talks, Aunt Krissy led the music, Grandpa Liddell and Uncle Eric were witnesses, Makenna and Elise (Ryun's sister) sang a song with the boy's primary teacher Brother Anderson (so sweet), Aunt Trish played her flute while the boys were changing (soooo beautiful), Peter gave a wonderful, sweet, emotional confirmation blessing, and Grandma Liddell gave the closing prayer. We feel so blessed that so many members of the family were there - and we know those that live far away were there in spirit.






Peter had to wear a double xl jumpsuite because the lady in charge had forgotten her key and had only brought a few sizes - he didn't mind though, it was extra roomy! In fact he's thinkin' it might be nice to have one of those at home to lounge around in!

The best attempt at a family shot after the baptism - Charley did not want to cooperate and Porter did not want that shirt tucked in anymore!








We're proud of you Porter, way to go! It really is "great to be 8"

Friday, August 19, 2011

Rango and a Birthday

Peter had a birthday, shout hooray!


We love you love love love you!



The other exciting news in our family is that we got a cool new pet! It all came about in a rather interesting way . . . but let's just say "Reptopia" was great incentive for a little boy who had a big tooth problem. Once that tooth was out we gladly welcomed "Rango" the chameleon into our home!



He loves to climb and perch - Makenna loves it too!





Charley however, was not quite so sure about the climbing and the perching!





I'd say they're quite a pair, wouldn't you? They even wore matching shirts!
We've learned lots of fascinating things - but the most fun thing to watch is Rango sticking out his long fat tongue to eat crickets! Wowee, that sucker's fast! He also shed his skin about a week after we had him, completely cool to watch. We love our new pet!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

B'ham Trip 2011

So our annual trip to Bellingham proved once again to be SO MUCH FUN AND JUST WHAT THE DR.ORDERED! A little beach, a few games, long walks, good food, great weather, what more could we have asked for? (Accept for maybe Peter to be able to come!!) We were so glad we could be there for Papa's last two home games with the Bells. The kids loved everything about it: the yummy peanuts, cheering for Pops and Kai from the stands, watching Papa sign autographs after the game, getting to run the bases with him, getting to go in the dugout, grandma doing face paint, hangin' out in the bleachers with all the fam - and of course the fireworks show on the final night!

The pictures in this post are all mixed up and out of order - but quite honestly I don't care! I'm pretty proud of myself that I got pictures on the blog!








She wants this coat for school so bad! I should have just got it!


Birch Bay





Annual trip to the "C" Shop








Let's go fly a kite!
















Getting a signed ball from all the players was one of their favorite things, but I think they would have felt the same if only Kai had signed it - they sure adore him!





The kids were standing off to the side watching Papa be famous and give out autographs, they thought that was pretty awesome!


Dinger the Belling"Hamster"

Give you one guess who's glasses Kenna is wearing!





Downtown Fairhaven




















Papa and a bag 'o Peanuts = Port's in heaven









Thanks for all the fun Mom and Dad! We always wish we could stay longer!