2014: December Fun

October 14, 2014: Kaden with his new bass guitar to play in his band class at school.

 December 11, 2014: Kaden's first band concert.

I couldn't get a close shot, but he's the tallest kid standing in the left of the photo.

 Pax and Josh ready to watch the concert.

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 December 16, 2014: Paxton getting ready for his kindergarten class' "Gingerbread Performance"

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 December 20, 2014: Josh singing Karaoke with his bandmate Sam, in honor of Sam's birthday.

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December 22, 2014: Gingerbread Construction with our friends the Hammons.  

Thanksgiving 2014

 November 2014: I love the boys turkey art.

Above: Versii's - Below: Paxton's

October 2014

 October 13, 2014: 

Paxton's Class and their teacher Ms. Alanis on their field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

 He learned about the different animals, 

ran through a hay maze and got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.  The only rule was, they had to be able to carry it back all by themselves, without the help of an adult.

Paxton and his pumpkin!

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October 19, 2014: Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch with "Mimi", Josh's Mom.  The boys climbed trees, we went through the Corn Maze, rode the cow train and picked pumpkins!

 About to enter the Maze.

 Riding the cow train.

 Mimi and Paxton

On the drive into the patch and on the way back, Paxton thought he was pretty "hot" stuff wearing this mask Mimi brought...trying to scare every one we passed along the way.  It was pretty hilarious!

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 October 26, 2014

Grandma was sweet enough to take the boys to pick out costumes this year, as Josh and I were so busy working on the house that I didn't have time to help them put together costumes.  This is what they chose: Superman and well...if you can't tell what Versii and Kaden are, you wouldn't be alone.  They chose to be "unknown phantoms".  

October 27, 2014

Paxton was super excited about carving his pumpkin.

I helped a little, but he mostly did it on his own.

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 October 31, 2014

Halloween night! 

The boys out Trick-or-Treating!  

End of August 2014

 August 25, 2014: Paxton eating pizza during a late night working on the house.  I just love that face!

 August 28, 2014: Kaden at 6th Grade Orientation, testing out his locker.  Top lockers are the best!

 Versii and Paxton meeting their teachers and checking out their classrooms on Back to School night.

 My sister Julie, her husband and kids flew up to surprise me for my birthday.  I had no idea they were coming!  It was fun to spend time with them. Austin and Ashlyn came to back to school night with us.

 Striking a pose of the school stage.

August 30, 2014: My 35th Birthday!

August 31, 2014:  The problem with surprises is that we didn't know Julie was coming when we bought our concert tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amplitheater.  So we had to leave my sister behind for the night. We are not giant Dave Matthews fans, but touring with them was one of our favorite bands: Blind Pilot.  And I really wanted to see them.  Although, I was disappointed that they didn't perform on the main stage.  I was so sure they'd be part of the main show, we ended up missing the first part of their set.  We had so much fun on our overnight date!  Thanks to Mom for watching our kiddos while we were away.

Beautiful Gorge views.

August 5, 2014: Our Day with Rainey

 July 28, 2014: Just picked Kaden up from the airport, after his 6 weeks in Colorado.  The boys were so happy to have their brother home!

 August 5, 2014: Enchanted Forest with my niece Rainey.

 Enjoying dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory.

The boys loved spending time with their cousin!

Mustache Men!

July 26, 2014 

Josh brought home a set of stick-on mustaches.

The boys had so much fun with them.

These boys have so much fun being silly with their Dad.

...And I love this!

July 26 2014: Pittock Mansion Tour

July 26, 2014: Mom and I had the opportunity to go on a rare "Backstage Tour" of the Pittock Mansion, where you get to go into parts of the mansion that are generally closed to the public.  It was definitely neat to see the mansion in it's entirety.  Thanks Mom!  I really enjoyed learning more about the Pittock's and their home.

 The Coach House

 Pittock Mansion

 The grand staircase: the detail is amazing.

I love the wood floor of the Smoking Room.

 The Living Room

 Most of the bedrooms also have an attached enclosed porch, which also includes a bed.

 Mr. and Mrs. Pittock's personal bedrooms:

They each had their own room

 In between the center of Mr. and Mrs. Pittock's rooms is the master bath, with his and her closets.

 The nursery: used by Mr. and Mrs. Pittock's grandchildren.

 The Kitchen.

 The view from the kitchen is amazing!

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...And now for the "Backstage Tour": The Basement

 On a usual tour, you can glance through a glass window to the laundry and get just a glimpse of the room.  On this tour, we walked through the laundry, which also has a service area that is used by caterers during mansion events.

 Next we saw the original electrical panel, which is still fully functional.

 Also in the basement, is the motor for the elevator, the steam room for heating, the mansion's central vacuum system and the "valuables" room.  The walls are about 1 foot thick.

 As a youth, I have toured the mansion on several different occasions and I had heard that the maid's quarters were in the very upstairs.  I have always wanted to climb these stairs and see what it was like.

 Today, the "maid's rooms" are used as offices by the current mansion staff, so they no longer have beds or period items in them.  However, this is the view from one of the rooms.  Pretty amazing really.

 A closer look at the view of Mt. Hood from the window.

 The Servant's Bath: very spacious.

 The cedar lined linen closet.  Just beautiful!

 Also, the top floor of the mansion housed Mr. Henry Pittock's personal office.  I love the built-in cabinets.

 The entire roof of the mansion is made of concrete tiles.

And the window sills are made of copper.