SOCCER season has begun!

Today, Carter and Hayden had a soccer jamboree at their Elementary school. Each of them played 2 games. I have really been struggling with this whole soccer thing. Don't get me wrong. I love soccer! I played soccer for 8 years and would play again if I were in shape, but I am not. Anyway, there is only one soccer club out here where we live and so if you don't join here, you have to travel to another city and play. Matt has been wanting the boys to play soccer for a very long time and I have been holding off insisting that they will be fine to wait to start in a few years. Well, I was wrong. Soccer has come a long way and these kids are amazing players. When Matt went to the soccer office he called me and told me that it was going to cost us $250 to get started. Then today, we were told that we had to do a fundraiser to sell candy bars or if we chose to we could pay $50 for Carter and Hayden to opt out. I said, "even if we don't want to do the fundraiser we still have to pay." He said, "Yes". Money doesn't grow on trees you know. Well, as the morning went on, I stood there cheering Carter and Hayden on and I felt the excitement of soccer again. I couldn't even sit in our camping chairs because I was so excited. I then began to forget about the money and watch the boys run all over and have so much fun. It was a great morning.

The boys this morning before we left to their first games.

Carter has always loved Bulldozers and so playing by this one was very exciting to him. He is the one in the white shirt.

Carter's team had just scored and he was very excited for them.

Carter has another red shirt under his white shirt. I told him to take off the red and put on the white one only and he said, "Mom, I am not taking off my shirt in front of everyone."

Hence, 2 shirts on a muggy, warm day.

This picture of Hayden speaks volumes. This is Hayden's personality. The ball was all the way down at the other goal and he was jumping up and down and laughing. I love this boy!!

Here is Hayden chasing the ball before his opponent gets it. Keep going buddy!!

#19

ZOO Trip

Last week we took the kids to the Portland Zoo. We invited my friends 2 little girls and Madalyn brought a friend. We thought that it was going to rain all day, but it ended up being the perfect day. We had a little sunshine and over cast skies. The kids saw almost all of the animals except for the grizzly bear. Before we went into the zoo, we ate lunch in the back of our 2 cars in the Zoo parking lot. We wanted to make sure that the kids had full bellies. They all walked around without complaining and enjoyed seeing the animals. It was a great trip.

The kids eating their lunches the back of our Previa.

The lunch crew.

We have a year membership at the Zoo. Do you see this long line? Well, they let us bypass that and go right in. I love being a member of something!! There are perks.

Looking at the OWL!

Our friendly neighborhood Bears.

The kids loved the Polar Bear.

He knew how to entertain the crowd.

Matt and Carter fished at the Zoo and this is what they caught.

Standing by the water hole.

Hayden had this fascination with his Zoo map.

We designated him our Zoo guide. He knew his way around the Zoo quite well.

Matt and the girls.

The new baby elephant that was born this last winter.

Isn't that precious?

Morrison Family Reunion

After arriving from Hawaii, Matt and I hurried and grabbed 7 hours of sleep and then headed off to another family reunion. This time the reunion was for my side of the family. We all traveled to Hood River on the Colombia Gorge and stayed in a 7 bedroom cabin. It was so much fun. All of my family was there except for my younger brother Sean and his family. We hiked up big hills, swam, played kick ball, tennis, Settlers (of course), ate, laughed and talked. I love my family very much. Just so you know, I posted a lot of pictures again because when I put my blog together as a book, I want to have all of these family pictures in it.

My sister Megan set up a tennis match for all of us. Here is the whole group getting ready to make some noise on the tennis court.

Yes this is Beth Agassi. Watch out!!
I was beat in all 3 games.
I need to brush up on my skills.


Dave and Christine

We all played a mean game of Dodge baseball.

I think that the men were more intense than the little children. Look at the look on my brothers face. ALL GAME!!

Go Hunter!

One evening we all made up skits. Every family had to bring 5 props. Then we scattered to different rooms and had 10 minutes to make up a skit. This is my brother Dan and his fiance Sandy pretending to be pirates. We all got a huge laugh out of this one.

Matt and I sang a song with all of our props.

We took a hike one morning and let me tell you, I need to start exercising. WOW!! The kids did so good. My philosophy in life is that anything you work hard for is worth it every struggle and frustration. This was a hard hike and we will all never forget it. Good work everybody.

The three cousins.

Brynlee, Amanda, and Madalyn.

We finally reached the top of the hill and the wind felt so good.

Matt with his girls.

My brothers Dave, Matt and Dan and

my sister Megs.

On Saturday, I took pictures of all of our family members.

Starting from the top, my Mom and Dad.

My little sister Meg and her husband R.J..

Their two little ones, Hunter and McKenna.

Matt and I with the kids.

This was the very end of all the pictures and our kids were done.

Can you tell?

My brother Sean, his wife Melissa

and their 3 boys, Joshua, Nathan, and Issac

(They weren't able to come, sadly)

My brother Matt with his wife Carda.

Their 4 children, Jarom, Amanda, Caleb and Rachel.

My brother Dave with his wife Christine.

They have 6 children.

Austin, Parker, Brynlee, Spencer, Carson, and Riley.

My oldest brother Dan with his fiance, Sandy.

Their babies name is Desi.

Here is the whole group.

The men acting like wierdo's.

Matt and Carda re-enacting their wedding pictures.

Pucker up!!

Lining the children up for our traditional round of hit the pinata.

All of the kids got a punch at the pinata.

They are scrambling for candy.

Of course, we played Settlers of Zarahemla. This time we put two game boards together and made up some new rules. It was very fun!!

Mom and Dad with almost all of the grand kids.

HAWAII

Matt and I just returned from a relaxing vacation to Hawaii. We went to Oahu. I have been wanting to go to Hawaii for a long time. We are celebrating our 15th year anniversary this year and so we planned a trip. We asked Rich and Julie to go with us and show us around the island. We had a great time. We swam, ate, snorkeled, body surfed, boogie board, rode scooters, shopped, went site seeing, ate malasadas, listened to great music, saw Pearl Harbor, read, slept, played Settlers, visited the P.C.C. and much more. It was a great trip. Thank you Rich and Julie for introducing us to so many new things. We loved it. There are many pictures. Enjoy them all!!!

Matt and I flying from Portland to Honolulu.

Rich and Julie flew in from Arizona. I was so excited to get them flower laies and so I took Matt on a wild goose chase before they arrived at the airport. When we all met up, they had bought us 2 beautiful laies. Great minds think alike!!

The airport.

My first touch of Hawaiian sand.

Our kitchen.

Waikiki Beach

Having a day in the sun.

Rich's birthday was on Wednesday and so we went to a nice restaurant on the north/west area of the island that night. Look I am drinking my lava flow. They are so good. The best ones that we tasted were at Turtle Bay Resort. Ohhh so goooooooood!!

This restaurant was open to the outside air.

It felt very good with the wind blowing on us.

Early in the morning, Matt and I would play Settlers of Zarahemla. Love this game!

At night we would play too. A couple of the nights, I couldn't keep my eyes open so I would go to bed early. Less competition for Matt, Rich and Julie!!

This is a grapefruit that Matt ate. It was huge.

This was the front of our duplex.

Heading back inside to get ready for the day.

Matt would play solitaire while he waited for us.

We met up with Rich and Julie's friend Carol at P.F. Chang's in Honolulu. Very good food. We hadn't eaten there yet. We will have to go again. In Oregon that is!!

Night life at Waikiki Beach.

This was an amazing place at night.

Music, food, shopping, many people, and entertainment.

We went on a jungle expedition one day. I wasn't excited about it, but it ended up being really fun. Our driver was crazy. I am glad that we got into her jeep. Very fun.

This was my favorite plant. It was called the sleeping plant. When you touched it, it collapsed.

Julie and I at the top of the hill on our expedition.

These white birds would sit on these cows backs and just hang out. Wild!

My favorite tree in Hawaii. It is how I picture the Tree of Life.

Hang on tight.

The P.C.C.

The island of Fiji.

Matt got help from this missionary serving with his wife at the PCC. He is from Clayton, Idaho where we had just returned from our Toomer family reunion. Matt bought a ukulele while we were there.

Covering ourselves from the small outbursts of rain.

Matt got picked to go up front at the Tongan village and perform. He was hilarious.

Matt and Rich with the main guy at the Tongan Village.

The evening Lu ail. Drinking from a pineapple. OH so good!!

Waiting to get our food.

Waiting for the evening show to begin.

If you can ever go, you should. The P.C.C. was very good.

The performers.

Hanauma Bay.

Sitting on the beach waiting to get the courage to snorkel.

Julie reading.

She had this nifty device that she could put books on and it was so efficient.

The Bay.

Rich and Matt snorkeling.

On Sunday we went to a ward in Hauula.

This was our Tiki in the drive way of the place we stayed.

Pearl Harbor. Matt pretending to be a missile shooter!!

This was the inside of a retired submarine.

The memorial at Pearl Harbor.

USS Arizona.

Riding the ferry over to the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

Mighty MO as they call her.

It's wierd to think of a ship as a girl but that's what they told us.

A view of the Pearl Harbor memorial from the USS Missouri.

Aboard the USS Missouri who was retired in 1992. Huge ship.

Matt and Rich looking at everything.

Playing a quick game of checkers.

The sleeping quarters. Pretty tight quarters.

The ships replica that was made recently.

Our faithful yellow jeep.

This was a sacred spot that Rich took us to. 250 years ago it was a Hawaiian temple.

Very interesting place.

This is Waimaia Bay.

This is the view from where the sacred temple site was.

The sun was setting and it was beautiful.

At the same spot overlooking the Bay.

Matt eating shrimp.

Giovanni's famous shrimp.

We stopped on our way to another beach.

Matt getting ready to boogie board.

He did really good.

Julie riding the wave!!!

Cleaning off the sand. Hanging loose!!!!

Cholo's Mexican restraunt.

Getting dessert at McDonald's.

This McDonald's had a water fall.

The Hawaii Temple that they are renovating.

It is closed until September 2010.

Rich had a great little cafe that we ate at twice called the Hukelau.

Yummy!!

Banana pancakes.

BYU Hawaii campus.

We rode scooters our last day there. It was so relaxing and fun.

I had never rode them before. We spent 4 hours traveling to the beach, hotels, view points and great neighborhoods. So much fun.

Waiting at a stop sign.

Ohhhhh Leonards Malasadas. We ate malasadas almost every day.

Hence weight gain!!!!! They are to die for.

Loved them.

For my birthday, Julie bought me a shirt.

I love it.

Matt and Rich at Diamond Head.

We rode our scooters to a hotel that has turtles, sting rays and dolphins swimming in the middle of it. WOW!!!

The dolphins.

Matt jumping off rocks into the ocean.

He had a major adrenaline rush doing this rock jump.

A hamburger joint we ate at.

Matt and I in front of our duplex in Hauula.

It was time to say goodbye to fun times, great company and delicious food. Mahalo Julie and Rich.