Church Hayride and Potluck

We had the most amazing privilege of spending last Sunday evening with our Church family! A wonderful family in our church invited the whole church to their ranch for a hayride through the hills and a potluck dinner in the barn. SO MUCH FUN!!! Enjoy the pictures.

Nathaniel was quite antsy to get on the trailer.

Our chariot :-)

LOVE this picture, except you can see Nate's slobber falling on Paul's head! Ha ha ha!!

Nathaniel and his Belford siblings...yes, Nathaniel's 2nd last name is Belford! :-)

Nate was enthralled with large tires

The group all loaded up and ready to go! We are such a good looking bunch of people! :-)

This picture was taken right after we started moving. The expression on his face says it all!!

I love my little family!!!

Nate checking out...well...nothing! He just loved the binoculars!

More cute faces

True Nebraskans! :-)

Nathaniel and one of his Belford "sisters"

This was about as close as Nate would get to the cow. :-)

Vacation Part 9 - Auntie She-She, Dominic and Desi

Nathaniel LOVES his Auntie She-She and his cousins Dominic and Desi. You can see from their smiles in the pictures that they love him too! :-)

Nate with Autie and Desi

Nate and Desi. Desi was such a good sport! Nate's favorite thing to do was to pull Desi around by the arm. She was such a good cousin!

At Harris beach near Brookings, OR

Looks like Dominic and Desi are playing "Keep Away" with Nate! :-)

With Dominic. Nate just adore's Dominic. A normal conversation always centered around Dominic and how he plays the drums!

Digging in the sand. Yes, that is me. I felt like a little kid again enjoying the beach with my son!

Vacation Part 8 - Papa, Grandma & G-G in Oregon

After the trip west and a week with my family, we traveled to Southern Oregon to visit with Paul's family.

Nathaniel loved to go in the spa with Grandma G-G (FYI they set their spa at the temperature of a pool, so it is not hot. I figured mom's like me would want to know that).

Paul's mom celebrated her 60th birthday while we were in Rogue River! We had a "surprise" birthday party for her in the park.

Eating lunch at the Station in Rogue River for Grandma G-G's birthday! The strawberry shortcake it a MUST HAVE!!!!

Nate teaching Grandma G-G how to play xylophone! :-)

G-G teaching Nate how to play the guitar! :-)

Vacation Part 7 - Visiting With Friends

Although our focus for our trip was spending quality time with family, we had the priviledge of visiting with some very dear friends.

Toby...I mean Abdiel & Ashley Robles! :-) Nathaniel was convinced that Abdiel's name was Toby and he wouldn't believe anything different. The funny part is, Nathaniel doesn't know anyone named Toby!

The amazing Zach & Tabitha Badley and their beautiful new little baby Sterling!

My sweet friend, Cheryl and her adorable new baby girl Lauren!

Bob & Cheryl are Associate Pastor at a church near Rogue River. We are so blessed to call them friends!

We were surprised to run into Rusty at the Station! It was great to see him again. Such silly boys!

We had a picnic in the park with Augustus & Karlie Garcia AND their 5 girls!! Nathaniel was in heaven!

Nathaniel and the girls feeding the geese....

...and still feeding them...

It was great to see our long time friend Melisma the afternoon before we left Oregon.

We truly are blessed with such wonerful people in our lives!

Vacation Part 6 - Great Grandpa and Great Grandma

One of the most important stops on our trip was visiting with my Grandparents. My grandma had a stroke this last spring, and I was very anxious to see and spend time with her. We were so thankful for how well she is recovering! Thank you Lord!

Nathaniel really loves his Great Grandparents! Great Grandpa helped him put together an airplane!

Nathaniel likes to smile and say cheese for a second and then quickly look away. As you can see from his smile, this is exactly what he was doing in the picture.

Of course he looks at the camera when he is being silly with a sticker on his nose!

Vacation Part 5 - Grandma Amen, Clare and the Baseball Game

It is always a wonderful time when we are with Grandma Amen (my mom)! Nathaniel just adores her (and so do we)! This visit we visited our dear family friends, Joan & Dave, and went to Nathaniel's very first baseball game!

Nate made another friend. He just loves dogs, and they love him too!

Visiting with Joan at her home. The Robinsons are very special to our family.

Nathaniel at the baseball game. Go Tacoma Rainers!!!

Notice we are representing my son's obsession of Mt Rushmore :-)

CRACKER JACKS BABY!

Nathaniel having his very first taste of cotton candy. Paul kept saying, "Don't forget we need to double brush his teeth before bed." Stink! We forgot!!

Ok, so as I said before, my kid is terrified of people dressed up as characters. Rhubarb the mascot for the Rainers was no exception. He didn't even have to be close for him to start screaming and crying. As you can see from my face, I am trying not to laugh, and of course Paul just wants to make sure to get a picture of it! :-)

Our first baseball game as a family! I promise Nate loved it, although he doesn't look like it in this picture.

Vacation Part 4 - Papa Goodell and Jim

We were able to spend some time with Papa Goodell (my dad) and Jim. Nathaniel was so excited to see them and spent much of his time saying their names just to get their attention and asking to go to their house!

Meeting Papa Goodell at Ivars for lunch in Seattle. Nate ran up to him and gives him and hug and says "I'm Nathaniel!"

Nate's mask from lunch. I thought it was pretty cute!

Papa and Jim gave him a dinosaur. When you hug it or squeeze it's stomach it roars. Nate loves it!

Nate's favorite place to sit at Red Robin was right in between Papa and Jim! :-) While we were waiting for our meal, someone dressed up as the Red Robin came around to visit with kids. Nate is terrified of characters dressed up like that. Luckily the person got the picture and went out of sight.

Nathaniel was telling Papa a very important story. He was very passionate about what he was saying!