The Arctic Lady...

Many of you know that my dad is a commercial fisherman in Alaska. Yes, just like the guys on the Deadliest Catch, except his boat is even bigger and better! :) Anyway, every few years, the boat spends a few months in Portland getting routine maintenance done on it. That is one of the reasons for our visit to Portland, to see him and the Arctic Lady. The summer after I got home from my mission I went up and worked on the boat, tendering salmon with him for the summer. It was so much fun and I have a lot of fond memories working with my dad and his crew on the Arctic Lady. It really is my dad's first child, not me. :)
Here's the wheel house:

Tucker in the skippers chair:

I let Kayla in on the little secret candy stash that is always kept full in one of the cupboards in the storage room. :) We took advantage! :)

Me, my mama and baby Taylor:

Papa and Tucker

My beautiful baby girl...


Here we are out on the deck of the boat. Because of the construction going on, we had to wear hard hats.

No worries that my daughter is on an upside down garbage can close to the edge of a commercial fishing boat. Totally safe, right? :)

I love the Arctic Lady and being in Alaska with my dad was such a great memory that I always love to go back and visit the boat when I can.

Multnomah Falls...

So, Kayla and I picked up my mom in Milton-Freewater and headed to Portland. But only after finding out that she is MARRIED! It was a little bit of a shock to hear and it made for some interesting conversations over the course of our weekend. But we tried to still enjoy our time together as we worked out this little bit of news.
But onto more important things...the next stop on our weekend trip. :) Multnomah Falls. Multnomah Falls is a beautiful double waterfall right outside of Portland. We have been going there as a family since I was little little. BUT...for those twilight fans out there, YES it is the waterfall in the background during the baseball scene in the twilight movie. (I don't remember which movie.)
Anyway, it is beautiful and every time I go I am always amazed at the beauty of this earth! The Portland area is just gorgeous! You can hike to the upper bridge and then actually hike all the way to the top. We only went to the bridge this time, but if you ever go and have time, go all the way up to the top, it is gorgeous! We hiked up while my mom stayed in the lodge with Taylor. :) Thanks grandma!
Here are some gorgeous pictures:

My dad had been working in Portland and so he met up with us there.













Gorgeous.

Trip to Portland, first leg

When Kayla was here in April, we planned a trip to Portland. Kayla actually got her return flight ticket out of Portland, just so we would for sure make a trip there. Kayla wanted to see my grandparents while she was here, so we thought it would be perfect to stop on our way to Portland.
Here are me, my mom, my grandma, and little Taylor Rae. 4 Generations:

Me and my baby girl (Just over 2 months old):

{Remind me to not take pictures of myself after driving in a car with two children all morning!} :)
The other thing on our 'to-do' list in Milton-Freewater was to see my best friend from elementary school!!! Her name is Coco and I hadn't seen her since we moved away after the 6th grade!!! We had recently been back in touch through facebook and she still lives in Milton-Freewater with her husband and two adorable kids!!! It was so so so great to see her! Even if it was only for a few minutes in Dairy Queen! :) (reliving some of the good ol' days!) :) I think that I am the only person ever to have had two best friends in my lifetime named: Coco and Cookie! :) Coco was my best friend in elementary school and when we moved to Spokane, my best friend in Jr. High was Cookie! :) I guess my love for food extends into the people I choose as my friends! :) It was so great to see her again, she was still Coco, and it was like no time had passed at all!!! We were able to reminisce about my 10th birthday when we went to see 'Beaches' in the theater and Coco leaned over and said to me 'it's ok if you need to cry, Taraka, I am here for you.' :) What a good friend! :)
Anyway, Tucker got a hold of my camera while we were in Dairy Queen:

{He had to get a few close ups}

And one of Aunt Kayla:

Oh, and one of Coco:

OK, here we finally are!!! :)

{Again, remind me to never take pictures of myself after traveling with small children for any amount of time!} :)
The rest of the Portland trip is one for the books! Not sure that I would like to relive it again, but stay tuned because, for posterity's sake, I will be posting about the rest of our trip!

Campbell Grandbabies...

While Kayla was here Allen & Kelli also came up to see her. Having all 5 of the Campbell grandbabies together made for some great photo ops. There were like at least 30 pictures I wanted to post, so I put them into a collage...

Tucker, Keyton, Carter, Cassidy & Taylor Rae
Such cute babies. 5 babies in three years...crazy! I can't imagine what we did without them now! :)

Spring...

I love April for many reasons, but one of the reasons is these beautiful flowers!

Every April they come and make my back yard beautiful for a few weeks and we love it!

The first spring we lived here, I wouldn't let anyone touch them because they were so beautiful! Then they are gone so fast I decided the next year we had to take advantage while we had them and now we make as many bouquets for as many people as we can during the month of April. I do feel guilty clipping them, but they just die after a few weeks and get all old and limp.
And they are perfect for photo ops...

Thank you April for bringing these beautiful flowers to us.

Too bad our Spring this year has lasted like 7 months. Ugghs! Today is June 25th and just yesterday I had to wear a sweater and jeans because of the cold wet rain. And today I got a sunburn!!! Go figure! :)

We heart the Y...

My mom and I took Tucker to a kid festival thing at the Y back when Kayla was here. It was like a 10 station course and he got a prize at the end. You know promoting kids health, yada yada yada. :) He had a good time and took the task very seriously! :)

Look at this strong boy...

hopping on one foot...



running...

doing a squat...

After it was over, the prize was a little YMCA tattoo. Tucker looked at the tattoo, looked at the girl and asked her where his real prize was. She then fumbled through an old box on the ground and produced this really cool straw. The upgrade seemed to satisfy Tucker and we were on our merry way to go get our ice-cream. :)

Mom can't come into town without a visit to PF Changs; Not on my watch, anyway. I am just glad that she shares my love of that place. :)
This little handsome fellow came with us this time.

As did this handsome fellow....

He opened his fortune cookie and said, (like he was reading it) ' Tucker, Keyton is a really good boy and loves his grandma.'

Tuckers trip to the dentist...

Someone went to the dentist for the first time...

You were all nervous that it was me, weren't you! :) So, yes, I finally took my THREE year old to see the dentist. I think the suggested age is 1?! oops! I felt one was a little too early, but really meant to take him by his second birthday. That didn't happen either! They're just baby teeth, right! :) j/k!
Anyway, he did SO SO SO good! I was really nervous because he can just be a pill sometimes. But he did so great and I was SO proud of him! He even got x-rays and sat on my lap the whole time being such a big boy! :) It really gave me hope for his future. It was looking bleak there for awhile! :)
BUT...not so great news... he had a cavity! Yes, I felt like mother of the year! He has a cavity on the back of one of his front teeth. AND...he has to go in in July and get a crown put on his FRONT TOOTH! My first thought was OMG! I am going to have a child walking around with a silver front tooth! :) Luckily they have tooth colored porcelain ones, and that is what he will get. I feel so bad. When he goes in in July, they are going to put him completely under. Like with gas (i think). They do that so that he doesn't hate the dentist office and will want to come back!
But as you can see above, we have to keep that smile bright and shiny! :) And he loved getting a new toothbrush, and he actually likes flossing his teeth! :)
What a champ!