The Rest of Our Time on the Oregon Coast

The next day, June 25th, was Ellen's birthday!  We had great plans for the day!

 

The low tide that morning was a super low tide which meant tide pools!  I had read that the far southern end of the beach at Cape Lookout had some pretty good tide pools, so we headed in that direction.

 

 

 

We found some!

 

Most of the starfish were this purplish brownish color so they were pretty well camouflaged.

But some were bright orange!  All of the little orange spots on the cliff wall in this picture are starfish.  There are lots and lots more that were purple.



This time we were a little more prepared to get wet.

Well, the rest of the day didn't quite go as planned.  We went on a hike to go to the top of Cape Lookout. 

We started out pretty good, but ended up very cold and wet and well, not very happy.  When we finally got back to camp the wind had picked up again and our tent was not looking so great.  And most people had left the campground.  We decided we had better leave to.  The sooner the better.  So while Naomi and Noah entertained Spencer in the van, the rest of us packed up as quickly as we possibly could while the wind tried to blow everything away.  It was a little crazy!!!  We finally got all packed up, checked out, and headed away from the coast.  We didn't know quite where we were going, and were all a little sad.  Especially Ellen. 

We remembered a restaurant on the other side of Tillamook that had caught our eye.  We went there and had a great dinner and let Ellen open her presents.  After that we drove a little farther up the highway and found a forest road, took it, and found a place to camp.  Then, once again, we got crazy busy and unpacked and got all set up in our new campsite.  Whew!  It was a long day!

The new campsite was a lot better because there was no wind!  But there was still some rain and some mud.  Not so great, but a little easier to deal with.

 

 

Since it was still so rainy, we decided to go to the Tillamook Air Museum. 

The next day was actually kind of sunny!  We couldn't believe it!  We were all out of clean and dry clothing though so we had to do something about that first.  We drove into Tillamook.  James and the 5 bigger kids dropped Spencer and I and our laundry off at the laundromat, then they all went to the Tillamook Cheese and Ice Cream Factory.    

Then we headed back to the beach!

 

Stephen and his Boogie Board

Even though it was sunny, the water was still COLD so the kids would come out and cover up with the warm sand for a while to get warm again before heading back out.

Annie made a Mermaid Tale over her legs.



 

There were lots of ferns around our campsite.  The day we packed up to leave the coast and head to Uncle Mark and Aunt Julie's house turned out to be pretty warm. 

8 September 2013

Stephen just read "The Eye of the Storm" by John Groberg.  It's the Other Side of Heaven story.  He really enjoyed it and has his mind on Tonga now.  

Spencer went to nursery for the first time yesterday!  He went without any problems!  I was holding him as we walked in.  There were already a few kids in there playing with toys and as soon as he saw the toys he wanted to get down and go.  He turned around and looked at me once, but it was a look like, "Can I really just play with all these toys?"  He was not sad at all.  I saw the Primary President right before Relief Society and she told me he was doing great.  I taught RS yesterday so when Spencer needed a clean diaper they brought him to James.  James said that when he took him back to nursery, he just walked right in and started jabbering to the other kids.  Yay!

 

 

After visiting the fish hatchery, we made our way through Portland (with only one slight mistake that didn't turn out to be that bad anyway) and on to the coast!  We found our camp site and set up camp as quick as we possibly could. 

 

The kids were dying to get their first look at the ocean and the beach. 

 

Can't we go yet?????

 

Our first sight of the ocean.



The water was COLD, but everyone had to get wet anyway.

Spencer was just happy to be there and run around.

 

Happy, happy family!

 

After getting all wet and sandy everyone took a quick shower.  We finally ate some hot dogs around 8pm.  We were so sure that we were all going to sleep like rocks.  Little did we know what lay in store for us that night.  About 10pm the wind really started blowing.  We would hear an eerie whistling sound for a couple of seconds and then a huge gust of wind would hit and shake the tent like crazy.  Poor James had to get up a few times to re-pound stakes into the ground or re-tie ropes that had come untied.  The kids slept pretty good through it all, and I got a little bit of sleep, but I don't think James really got any sleep.  It was a long night!  

Bonneville Fish Hatchery

 

On our way to the Oregon Coast we stopped at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery about 40 miles east of Portland.  It is such a neat place!

 

We fed lots and lots of rainbow trout.

 

 

 

 

Drank out of a really cool drinking fountain. 

 

 

 

 

 And looked at a neat fountain with lots of help from Annie.

 

 

We fed some more trout.

And then we saw the sturgeon.  They were HUGE!

 

 And a little funny looking.

 

And really cool to watch! 

   

 

 They also had some beautiful hydrangea bushes, perfect for taking pictures of beautiful girls in front of them.

Morning Scripture Study

This is a slightly blurry, but extra happy picture of the kids one morning about a month ago.  We get them up at 6am every day so that we have time to study the scriptures as a family before the madness of breakfast and trying to get everyone out the door on time sets in.  They usually aren't as smiley as they are in this picture.  Although lately they have been much happier about it than usual.  I think it's because now it is light when I get them up.  That helps a lot!  Right now we are reading in the Book of Mormon and just finished Ether a few days ago.  We are almost done with the whole Book of Mormon!  I don't know how many times now we have read it as a family. 

My favorite part of our morning scripture time is when we actually stop reading and start talking about the things we have been reading and what they mean to us and what we can learn from them.  That doesn't happen very often, but it's great when it does.  Usually the kids and James are all struggling to keep their eyes open and I'm struggling to keep Spencer on my lap and quiet enough that we can all hear whoever it is that's reading in their barely awake, very quiet, voice. 

Just the other day as we were finishing the book of Ether we read about the final duel between Coriantumr and Shiz, and how Coriantumr was then left all alone.  We talked about how hard that must have been and how he could have avoided that if he had listened to the prophet.  Then we talked about why we have trials, some that we choose and some that we don't.  We asked the kids what kinds of hard things they have had and what they have learned from them.  Naomi jumped right in with, "Jobs!"  Ellen talked about getting to school.  We asked Stephen if he had been through anything hard and then learned from it.  He said, "I don't really know."  So we talked about how sometimes we have trials and hard things and don't realize what we have learned from them until years later.  The kids didn't do a lot of talking, and I really don't know if they have given that whole conversation another thought.  But I thought about it all that day and throughout the week.  Maybe someday they will remember it when they need it. 

Determination

This is Spencer eating with a fork.  He started using a fork a couple of months ago when he noticed that everyone else was using a fork and he didn't have one.  He really wanted a fork!  He doesn't always use one but when he does, he really works at getting the food onto the fork and then getting the food into his mouth. 

And now he is learning to walk and boy is he just as determined as ever!  He just keeps trying and trying!  I need to get pictures of it! 

Watching him try so hard and still fall over and over again has made me think of President Uchtdorf's talk in the Priesthood session from this last General Conference.  Specifically this part:

"We have all seen a toddler learn to walk. He takes a small step and totters. He falls. Do we scold such an attempt? Of course not. What father would punish a toddler for stumbling? We encourage, we applaud, and we praise because with every small step, the child is becoming more like his parents.

 

Now, brethren, compared to the perfection of God, we mortals are scarcely more than awkward, faltering toddlers. But our loving Heavenly Father wants us to become more like Him, and, dear brethren, that should be our eternal goal too. God understands that we get there not in an instant but by taking one step at a time.

 

I do not believe in a God who would set up rules and commandments only to wait for us to fail so He could punish us. I believe in a Heavenly Father who is loving and caring and who rejoices in our every effort to stand tall and walk toward Him. Even when we stumble, He urges us not to be discouraged—never to give up or flee our allotted field of service—but to take courage, find our faith, and keep trying.

 

Our Father in Heaven mentors His children and often sends unseen heavenly help to those who desire to follow the Savior."

 

Personal History

Just a couple of weeks ago James was able to get a book he has been wanting for quite a while. It is called "I've Been Thinking...and other writings of Walter Marion Everton". It is a compilation of articles James' great-great-grandfather, Walter Marion Everton, wrote for the Logan Herald Journal  during the 1940's about family history and a few other things as well. I wanted to share one of those articles here.  I find it very inspiring, and hope that others may as well.

ABOUT WRITING YOUR HISTORY

We assisted in writing a short biography of one of our early settlers a few years ago. Among other things there was a story of how she had worked as a "hired girl" for a number of weeks and had received a nice woolen petticoat as pay for her work. When she took it home she washed it and hung it on the line to dry. A stray calf came along and chewed her petticoat and she was never able to wear it.

As the subject of our sketch listened while we read her own life's story she stopped us to raise objection to this story and a number of similar stories being included in her biography.  "It's not important enough to bother to write it down," she said.

When you write your life story, do not spoil it, I pray you, by leaving out interesting stories because they are not important.  The best parts of the family history that I have been able to gather are the simple little stories which often reveal more to me about the kind of men they were than do the funeral sermons that were preached when they died. 

There is the story of the boy who refused to stay at the saw mill boarding house and instead built a little shack and "batched it".  The big leatherbound history of Thomastown, Maine records th fact that the boys at the mill poked fun at him, saying that he "cooked his doughnuts in a tin lantern".  It is easy to understand why it was that he became president of the bank. 

And then there is the story of the ancestor of mine who could not attend church services for a while because the services were held on the day of the week, and the hour of the day when it was his custom to wind the clock.  Even now, in the sixth generation of this family, there are some who are rather set in their ways.

Write the stories of your childhood though it takes a hundred pages.  Write the adventures of your young manhood or womanhood.  Write of your likes and dislikes.  Write of your faith and your hopes and your joys.  Write of your sweethearts, your wives and your children.  Write of the things you like to do and the things you like to eat.  Write of your ability, your accomplishments and your failures.  While you are writing all these, let your writing abound in human interest stories, little incidents which happened to you, or which you caused to happen. 

But in all your writing, write your life story that the memory of you may not perish from the earth when you are dead.