The Festivities

Even though I am not a fan of Halloween we had alot of fun this year.

It started off with a fun Halloween party with our playgroup.

We also decorated pumpkins. Kason was SO excited. (I should have known better than to give Asher a marker, even for 20 seconds. Good thing it was a washable one though.)

Kason was really into getting all the guts out.

Asher, on the other hand, wasn't quite as sure about it. This is funny since it is so different from their personalities where Asher is into everything.

The finished product.

Next up was our church's Halloween party and trick or treat.

Asher was a pirate.

Kason was so so excited to be Robin Hood.

Another pirate friend for Asher.

It's been a super busy, but fun week!

Monster Mash

Being that I do live in Track Town USA and running is practically a religion here I started running awhile ago. It's free, you don't have to drive anywhere to do it, and I like it! Now, I don't love it like some people do, but I am liking it. There are so many millions of paths here through parks and trees, so it makes it fun. It also makes it easier to get out there (in the rain now) if there's a race coming up, so Saturday I ran the Monster Mash 5k. It is a fun race by Autzen stadium(Go ducks!) and along the river. Costumes are allowed and it was fun to see all the different ones. All of my creativity, though, only got me wearing orange and black - although the shirt did have a trick or treat ghost on it.

Before

The start was slightly chaotic. We had to wait to line up at the last second, 10kers were supposed to be one side and 5k ers on the other. I lined up way too far back and was stuck for awhile at the beginning.

Right before the finish

Not my most attractive face, but I did beat that girl by one second.

Some friends who also ran it.

My time was a little over 25 min and I was happy with that. I beat my last 5k time by about 45 seconds. Hopefully I can get faster though. I was 2nd in my age group and 46th of 209 overall.

46 274 Lindsey Swensen 25 F 2/22 F2529 Eugene OR 25:30 8:13

Lately...

Lately we have been keeping very busy...

...enjoying some great Oregon Ducks football!!,

...keeping up with this boy and his extreme curiosity and messes,

...reading books, books, and more books,

...doing our favorite activity to do right when Dad walks in the door - wrestle!,

...with peals of laughter,

...figuring out how to do the classic "cheese" face for the camera,

...wanting to watch TV after waking up from nap,

...helping Kason develop his photography skills,

...having a "daddy son date" in a fort,

...and loving the beautiful still SUNNY weather we have been having.

Family Fun

Isaac's parents and younger brothers came out for a visit. We made our way to the coast again. We love the Oregon coast! The first day we went to some fun tide pools, but I guess I didn't take the camera out to brave the crazy wind and sand. There were some fun caves and starfish pools we found though. We camped the night in a yurt, which is now my favorite way of camping. You still get the campfire/sleeping bag experience, but you get to sleep in a round canvas type thing that has bunk beds, heat and a lamp!!

Hiking up the sand dunes

Isaac and his brothers Levi and Oliver having some fun on the dunes.

Kason was SO excited for the giant marshmallows we got for smores.

In the yurt - Kason got the top bunk.

Heading out into the rain the next day.

Crabbing! This was a first for me and it was exciting!

Yep, I was a wimp and was too scared to pick one up. Kason just shot them with his squirt gun.

The winner we brought home. (ok, it was given to us, we caught lots but had to throw them all back because they weren't big enough or were female)

Male bonding time...gotta love the video games...

We had a GREAT time and are so glad they came out for a visit and didn't mind cramming into our teeny apartment all together!

School starts Monday for Isaac (even though he has been there almost everyday this summer) and that always promises to be pretty intense so we are glad to have had one last hurrah with people we love at a place we love!

The Coast!

We love the coast and we love it even more when we get to go with family. Mckay and Katie and their cute kids were coming out for a vacation and we went to Newport with them for a day. The coast was pretty nice, windy as always, but pretty sunny and we loved it.

This was Asher's 3rd time at the coast, but it was a whole new experience for him now that he could walk around and get wherever he wanted. He made the most of it and had so much fun and got so sandy...

...soo sandy.

I love that these boy cousins love each other so much. They could not get enough of each other and Kason was sure to not leave out their other cousin either, by affectionately calling Payton, "Kade" almost the whole time.

I love this picture.

We also made it to the aquarium, where the underwater shark tunnel was a hit.

They couldn't look around fast enough!

I love Kason's face in this picture.

The best we could do at a "group shot"

We had a great time and love Oregon in the summer!