Trip home to Washington

Kayla and Chase.

Nick, Reid, and Jenna. Reid is really attached to Nick and wants him to sit by him and play with him all the time. It's really sweet!

Little Emma Hempel. (My sister Tara's little girl.)

What's lunch without a seed spitting competition? Here the Oregon State Fair Women's Watermelon Seed Spitting Champion (my Mom) steps up to the challenge! (Her winning spit at the fair was like 38 and something feet!) Don't ask how I did...Does choking on the seed win you any sort of prize?

Jenna and I. Jenna is 14 yrs. old and is so fun! What a personality!

My family on the tour bus at Northwest Trek. It's a wildlife reserve where we see elk, bison, rams, mountain goats, birds, and all sorts of animals amongst nature. It was fun!

Nick and I.

Mom and Dad. Aren't they cute?

A cougar at Northwest Trek. This guy was in a cage...not roaming freely in case you were wondering. There were also bears, foxes, lynxs, bobcats, and more.

Nick and Jenna.

Jenna and Emma at Reid's baptism.

Kayla giving me a look. Next to her is Randy and Kenadi. (Tara's hubby and other little girl.)

Mom and Aunt Vicki.

Reid and Dad before Reid's baptism. Reid was worried he would lose another tooth while being baptized. Luckily, that didn't happen. Reid was nervous and excited for his baptism. He did so well! His baptism day was very special!

Tara played the piano...To invoke reverency amongst the friends and family waiting for the baptism to start, she would pound on the keys every once in a while...very effective in keeping the environment spiritual and holy I must say.

Missing two of my brothers and my Dad but quite the good-looking family don't you think?

Jenna holding chicken "Haley". I don't know why my family named her after me. She lays colored eggs...Maybe our baby girl will come out blue or something.

Tara, Jenna, Randy, Nick, and Kayla playing spoons. (I had lost already.)

Mom with her game pose. She is super competitive!

Randy about to tee off.

Reid would run around the course, come back and hit the ball, and then he was off again.

Tara with Emma in the wrap. Looks kinda alienish.

Kenadi riding a bear. She is so cute and has the sweetest little voice!

Randy tried showing Kenadi how to use the club but it just wasn't working for her.

Jenna waiting her turn.

Tara and Emma at Jenna's soccer game. Is that Tara's slobber or Emma's?

Jenna out on the field. She did great!

Here we are on an awesome hike we went on!

Trucking it up the hill.

There were tons of Red Alders everywhere! They were gorgeous! They are barkless and the wood is really hard. Apparently bowling balls/pins used to be made out of them.

We finally conquered the terrain and reached the top!

A Red Alder. Cool huh?

Randy looking out from the top at the scenery below.

Jenna, Reid, and I.

Kayla and Randy stopping to rest on their way up to the top of the hike. This section was actually pretty steep. We had to hold on to trees and branches to make it up. As you can see, there were tons of Red Alders on the hike which made everything so beautiful. (You can't really see how red the bark is in this picture for some reason.)