Happy Birthday Ethan; he passed his driver's permit test today.

Merry Christmas

Ava got bathtoys for Christmas

Santa Tracking Site

Ever wonder where Santa is?
This will answer it for you:
http://www.noradsanta.org

Ava's happy to announce that the baby in Mommy's tummy is a Sister

waiting to see Santa @ The North Pole

peanut butter cookie dough is a new favorite

Bridgeport for Christmas

Vacuum

Daddy's lil helper

Christmas tree

 

10'4" Christmas tree that Ethan picked out at the tree farm

here's Pee Wee - 12 wks

Ava's favorite Chair

I've been meaning to get this up for a while. About a month Ava developed a new interest in a rocking chair that my Grandpa Farr re-caned years ago. Every day she climbs up on the chair and just hangs out. 

over Portland

Happy Veteran's Day, thank you to all who do & have worn the uniform; here's a cool thing Zerox does every year for our troops- www.letssaythanks.com

Ethan & Tim on the way to the beach.

Ava got some new bows from Auntie Mel.

Good news... Looks like Ava

Good news... Looks like Ava is only getting one bro/sis; no twins

Happy Halloween

Ethan's jack-o-lantern

it's official, Ava's gonna be a big sister, just saw the heartbeat today for the first time. Yippee!

Ethan's off to Homecomming

Ava's first Birthday party

Happy Birthday Ava

It's no fun not having

It's no fun not having power; however the candles being lit are quite nice; it's time to invest in solar power

pray for sun on Friday, it's Avas first birthday and we're having the party outside

Ava brushing her teeth

Birthday Breakfast

look I got an IV
yippee

Today Ava is 11mo. old
Only one month to go until her Birthday party

date nite with the lovely Alison

Ethan's off for the first day of High School

Ava's newest talent

fun at the Palmer house turn up your volume

the Jeep's home

Ava's first bouncy gym

editing wedding photos takes a long time

Facebook

Ok, I just joined www.Facebook.com. Figured I'd join the 21st Cent.

Hopefully it won't be as frustrating as Twitter

Camping at Roaring River

Just got back froma great camping weekend with Alison, Ethan, Ava, Rosco, and Christian (one of Ethan's friends). We went up on the Clackamas River to a place called Roaring River. Very cold swimming (someone measured it @ 48) but very fun.

Also, Alison rode her scooter ahead of us and this is a good comparison of how big our tent is.

Ava's first fountain

Last weekend Alison and I took Ava to the Pearl District to play in her first water fountain.

Hawaii Picts

Finally got the pictures from our Hawaii trip posted. Click here: Hawaii

And here's video of our sunset cruise.

Yahtzee!

Alison catching (or trying to) a frog

The frog Alison tried to catch

Alison and Mel BBQing our dinner at the community pit

out for a morning walk

Friday

It's 6pm her in Maui (9pm back home). Another perfect day (weather wise) the only downfall is the sunburn on my back. That I got while snorkiling. Just a short walk off the beach and instantly a brand new world of coral, clown fish, and Moray Eels. Tomorrow will bring more Bud Light, more snorkling and hopefully less sunburn (it itches).

It's the end of a

It's the end of a very long day. We just had sunset here in Maui. The weather perfect and the room is incredible.
More updates to come tomorrow.

leaving PDX this morning @ 6:30am

Latourell Falls

From top of Vista House

Alison and I went for a hike in the Gorge yesterday. This is the view from the top of Crown Point. The building is now open for visitors.

Ava's second plane ride (from S. Cal)

Here's Ava on her second plane ride. A flight from Orange County (right by Disneyland) back home to Portland. We flew down for Ben and Ashley's wedding.

Camping

Memorial Day weekend brought Ava's first camping trip. Alison and I took her up to Fish Creek, which is off the Clackamas River. Ethan didn't want to come he wanted to hang out at a friends house for the weekend. But Ava loved it, we had awsome weather and even scored a free 6 man tent from an older couple that decided that they never wanted to go camping again.

Lots of rafters and kyackakers up a that area, I think we'll be going back for more adventure.

Victoria

Finally got the Victoria pictures all done and uploaded. Take a look at: http://www.adaptiveimages.com/victoria.pdf, it's 7mb so it might take minute to download.

For those of you that don't know Alison and I went up there for our 9th anniversary, a couple of weeks ago. My parents watched the kids for the weekend, it was a little hard being away for Ava for the first time. But Victoria is beautiful, and we had awsome weather.

leaving USA
next stop Canada

on the train
just outside of Vancouver

Before I was a Mom

Alison sent me this yesterday, I thought it was pretty cute. Before I was a Mom, I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations. Before I was a Mom, I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night. Before I was a Mom, I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep. Before I was a Mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom. Before I was a Mom, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy. Before I was a Mom, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom .