Happy Birthday to our lucky baby 7/7/07

Eva,

Yesterday you turned 4 years old!!! Where did the time go? You are such a Fabulous Four year old-the perfect combination of sugar and spice and you keep every minute in our home interesting. I remember the second you were born. You came out screaming-and the second they put you in my arms-you became calm and peaceful. I love how much you trust us. You are remarkably patient for a four year old and you are especially patient considering the pace of our household. You LOVE each family member with all of your heart-and your heart is a big one. Whenever someone is hurt or sad-you immediately turn into a mother hen-protecting and nurturing them. You are keenly intelligent and observant. You are endlessly capable and those things that are hard become your hearts challenge. You LOVE a challenge and you have huge amounts of courage. Eva-you can run for miles and never tire. I'm pretty sure that warp speed will be the pace of your life because you've got things to do and just not enough hours in the day to do them. We love your big, sweet eyes, your contagious smile and laughter and your ability to love. There is just something about you that is magical and you have allowed us to feel life's wonder through your existence. You captivate people with your joyfulness. We LOVE you so much and are thankful we've had four amazing years as your parents-but we can't wait to see all the rest....except maybe teenagehood because yesterday you were making your barbies make out. That scared us. Please stop now.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Independence is Fabulous!

We are thankful for Independence Day! We love celebrating the 4th of July, and we decided to couple it with a final INDEPENDENCE FROM CHEMO!!! Yeah! It made for a very special day and a final goodbye to Cancer.

SO many updates, so little time...

We have enjoyed the summer so much already even thought the weather in Portland has not caught up. Here are some updates


Today we picked up Tanner from a week-long summer camp called Camp Ukandu. It is put on by the Children's Cancer Association and is for children with cancer and their siblings. Since you are require to be 8 yrs or older Grace is waiting until next year.


Tanner had a blast, but even before we saw him camp counselors and staff came up to tell us what a great boy Tanner is and what he did for one brave 8 year old girl. As we found Tanner we hugged him and met his friends, looked at his awesome bunk in a cabin on stilts overlooking the forest, went and saw the horses he rode, the pool he swam in, and the river beach where they had campfires and played games. He then told us of the amazing time he had and the many special tributes they had for children who have lost their lives to Cancer. As we were walking through the enormous camp, we would hear constant yelling "see you Justin Bieber!" "Justin Bieber, I am going to miss you!", "I love you Justin Bieber!" as Tanner would smile and waive to them. Another counsellor stopped us and said that this was the first time he had seen Tanner without a group of girls following him since the beginning of camp.


As we walked Tanner related how he met a young 8yr old girl at the camp who was blind due to cancer. As he described her his eyes welled up, but he proceeded to tell us how this little girl loved Justin Bieber, and once came up to him, feeling his face, to ask if he really was Justin Bieber. Tanner's answer was, "I kinda look like him, but that is just my nickname." Feeling an enormous amount of love for a little girl his sister's age who was not quite as fortunate in the face of Cancer, Tanner planned a performance where in the middle of lunch in front of the 200 or so campers, Tanner grabbed a microphone and sang this girls favorite Justin Bieber song to her with the music which he borrowed from a counsellor at camp. He would relate to us that he never saw her do anything but smile the entire camp although she was battling for her sight and that when he was singing she touched his face to see who was singing. Here is the newspaper article in the camp paper showing pictures of the incident. We are still trying to hunt down the video and will post it if we get it.


He was deeply touched and inspired by this camp, made tons of friends and had a great time. We are so grateful for opportunities like this from organizations like the CCA.

The girls have been loving summer by having friends over and enjoying the warm weather and sun.

We are so excited for Grace's baptism and are looking forward to spending some more time in Utah with all our family and friends on that special day.

Max was recognized as an all-region firstbaseman at the SLC Bees game. We had a great time eating hot dogs, cotton candy and spending time with our family.

We had so much fun getting together for everyone, especially on such short notice. The cousins had so much fun playing at the park.

We are so proud of Max and Gate for graduating. Both of them worked extremely hard and we grateful that we were able to make it.

Sam, Grace, and Eva made Max and Gate leis that had their favorite things, including McDonald's cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, and many other sweets.

Rockaway Beach May 2011

“Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach.” -- Michelle Held

Thank you, Omi for a wonderful, fun filled weekend at the beach!

Happy Birthday to JR

At the Heathman Hotel!

Easy to see why she metabolizes food instantly...

Jr celebrated his 31st bday on May 13! Such an old man.

Shele and Glen were kind enough to give us their voucher for

a night at The Heathman hotel. We had a blast swimming,
going to dinner in the city, playing in our fancy hotel room,
opening JR's gifts, and sampling some awesome cake from

Portland's best cake bakery "Piece of Cake." There are MANY

reasons to love JR-far too many to name, but here are at

least of few of them.

-Best sense of humor!

-Hot, super hot...sorry JR, but it's true.
-An incredible, hands on dad and husband.
-Incredibly thoughtful, compassionate, quietly spiritual.
-Activist in all things he believes in.

-Appreciates the finer things in life, such as sushi and Chuck

Norris.

-Incredibly intelligent and can do anything...literally anything

he sets his mind to.

-The most sincere and genuine person I know.

-Fiercely loyal.

-My best friend in the world.

-So hard working and passionate about life, family, and friends.

-Is married to a super awesome woman, of course.