a late paddle

After church today it was sunny and quite warm, so Walter declared that he needed to go paddle boarding.  And so he did.  Out on the river right below the house.  We yelled greetings from the deck and took (not great) photos.  A quick adventure.  

last game

family night

A simple night at home.  Just the way we like it.  The ducks were on (and won), we had picnic dinner in front of the football game, and lots of hanging out in jammies.

trophy

Our last week of soccer with a great bunch of kids.  And our first trophies.  Pretty happy boys.

minnesota instagram

minnesota

Another fun and successful trip to Minnesota is complete.  And Fritz is wishing every day that we could go back.  He and Vivian had a special bond this time around and to say Fritz is smitten is an understatement.  I found him staring at Vivie's school photo the other day, he looked like a love sick sailor.  The next morning he asked me if he could marry Vivie.  Pretty cute.  And of course we all fell in love with new baby Betsy.  Love those Kershners!  

rock climbing

A lovely hike at Smith Rock with Gramma and Grandaddy.  We watched the hundreds of rock climbers scaling the walls and one very crazy person slack lining.  The last picture doesn't even do it justice, he was on the tallest peaks there, it was totally nuts!  

chainsaw

Well, it finally happened.  At long last we own this house in Bend.  We rented this house with no intention of buying it, the thought hadn't even crossed our minds.  But it's funny how occasionally life happens in a very serendipitous way.  Two weeks after we moved into our new rental a foreclosure notice went up on the door and started a long string of events that slowly, slowly, slowly led to us claiming this as our home.  Though it was an agonizingly tedious process (we had the deluxe tour of the housing crisis in Bend thanks to the previous owners) it came with a happy ending.  For our entire married life it has been a seemingly unrealistic dream to live on the river here in Bend.  We are feeling very thankful.  

And now on to a long list of things that need work here at the river house.  First order of business, cutting down the grass jungle that was taking over the house.  Boys and daddy and a chainsaw, out clearing brush.  Good fun.  

pumpkin patch 2012

It was a good day and we were tired.  The end.  

Go. Team. Go!

Our soccer team, the Dragons, has been a ton of fun for our whole family.  Coach Sarah has been amazing, so kind, fun and generous with her time.  Here are the best shots we got for team pictures.  Let's just say that taking photos with seven 4 and 5 year old kids at 5pm on a school day is NOT easy.  But pretty hilarious!  

steam engine

Two days in a row we heard a kind of crazy noise outside but couldn't figure out what it was...until we finally saw this from our deck.  It was an old fashioned steam engine.  An exciting moment for a house full of boys.  (Couldn't get a picture of the engine, but here is his trail of steam.)