2015 Memories

2015 was a fantastic year! We made so many fun memories as a family of 6! Some of these are out of order, but I will explain them as we go. The beginning of the year we were still in Utah where we enjoyed the snow with cousins!

Kelly was surprised by friends for her birthday and we went and saw a movie with friends and our kids.

We were able to spend spring break in the Seaside resort and celebrated Caden's 2nd birthday.

Dallin had a basketball tournament at the beach so we all went!

Crystal came to visit with Tina and we had such a good time exploring and spending time together. We are so glad they come out.

Jeff coached Dallin and Bryce this year in soccer.

We went to a really great pumpkin patch as a family and it was a perfect day! They have a train and a boat ride and we really enjoyed time together!

Emily turned 11 and I surprised her by picking her up from school with her friends and we went to a karoke place and they sung their little hearts out!

Jeff and Kelly were able to go on a ski getaway together and stay overnight with an outdoor pool in the snow!

On our way home from Utah it was Jeff's birthday and our friends the Eltons surprised Jeff with a cake on our stop in Boise!

Jeff signed up to run a 10k series and used it to stay active.

Caden loves trains, just like Dallin did. It's so fun!

Emily still misses Grandpa John and makes projects to remember him.

Dallin still loves playing basketball and is pretty successful at stealing, scoring and dribbling!

On Valentines Day, we did an I love our Family Day where we did a scavenger hunt and spent the whole day together.

Dallin had an unfortunate accident at school where he tripped in the parking lot and landed on his face. He was pretty upset but was shown a lot of love!

Jeff and Kelly went on An Amazing Race date with good friends! It was a very fun night of silly adventures!

Emily was able to be in Mary Poppins in the new theater!

Jeff and Kelly did a race together in March.

Kelly performed with friends in singing in a talent show. Kelly did her famous Vanilla Ice Rap!

Kelly was able to go on a field trip to OMSI with Bryce and his classmates.

Kelly and Jeff went on a 10 mile run on the waterfront for Kelly's birthdays. We didn't know then that it would be their last run together, so it was a great one to end with. Unfortunately, Jeff hurt his back later doing Crossfit and would not be able to get back to running.

Here is Caden turning 2. It really was a great week at the beach with family and many friends came to visit!

Jacie and Rex are cute neighbors and there was a fun pretend wedding.

We went on an Easter Egg hunt.

Bryce went to celebrate his good friends Bah Mitz Fah. I love that they support each other.

Dallin and Bryce both play baseball!

Kelly went on a girls weekend to celebrate Steph's 40th birthday!

Kelly made a Boston Marathon attempt in June, but it didn't quite work out. She knows she will get there someday. It was still a great weekend with friends.

4 kids at the temple! We love spending time together.

Jeff and Kelly went on a few bike rides together since there was no more running.

Kelly was able to go on a field trip with Emily to spend time on the Willamette River in a kayak.

Kelly helped with the Fun Run at the Charter School.

Mom and Harold and Aunt Brenda came to visit and we brought them on the boat!

Bryce had a big day and he was baptized. Jeff baptized him and he celebrated with his good friend Alice.

We went to the zoo with friends!

We still love spending time on the boat and bringing friends!

8:23 is my lucky time I need to qualify for Boston. I know it will happen!

We went to Silverwood as a family when Dallin had a Hoopfest 3 on 3 tournament in Spokane.

Emily was in the play Aladdin!

We rented a beach house in California and had an amazing week with cousins and grandparents. We spent so much time boogie boarding and we did stand up paddling and made so many memories! We were there for the special event when Tina and Don'Asia were adopted by their loving parents Crystal and Tony. We also went to a baseball game.

We traded in our family boat that we had for 11 years and bought a new one with a tower. It is fun to have a new toy!

Emily was in a play and loved it! This is SIster De long, one of our favorite adopted grandparents!

Start of the new school year, Emily had a broken wrist and switched from the Charter School to the local elementary school. She is in 5th grade.

Dallin is now in 8th grade.

Kelly brings Caden to preschool time at Oaks Park just like she did with the other 3 kids. She is so grateful she is able to do this!

Kelly decided to go to California for her good friend Laura's sealing. She runs into her good friend Jenni and knows it was not coincidental.

Jeff took the kids to the football game, BYU of course!

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. Kelly went to Time out for Women with her sisters, Aunt Marlynn and Mom and it was great!

Emily sang with

Caden finally got a haircut. I was so sad to cut his curls. The kids were glad no one will mistake him for a girl anymore.

Caden loved going to the fire station to visit with Santa. Of course he asked for trains.

Emily performed in Nutcracker for the first time! So fun to see her on stage.

We joined the Evans' tradition of going Christmas caroling and singing for the Senior Citizens and then sharing yummy food together.

Jeff was not feeling well over the Christmas holiday, so on Christmas Eve while Caden was napping I took the 3 older kids ice skating. It is one of my favorite memories with them. Bryce was so good at falling and sliding and getting back up. I had fun racing the kids and showing that I could beat Dallin at something. :-)

On Christmas Eve night we decided to check out a neighborhood light show. It was pretty awesome with music and lights and even snow!

We rode the train with Caden and he loved getting a train ticket!

Christmas 2015!! All in their pajamas.

The family present was this arcade style basketball game.

Nobody else wanted to go to the Zoo lights, so I made it a day with me and Caden and we had a great time!

We took the family to check out the new bridge in Portland, the Tilikum bridge. It is not for cars, but for pedestrians and mass transit. Does that sound like Portland or what?

Kristi Smith came in to town and we were able to go for a run- Yeah! I miss her!

Playing at Safari Sam's!

We decided to have a New Years Party last minute and it was so much fun! The Laphams, Christensens, Jones', Youngs, and Werles came.

Here is what my mantle looked like! I love the stockings with our names now that our family is complete. And who knew Caden would be so in love with trains?!

Bring it on 2016!!