Halloween Fun!

 Cody really wanted a spooky pumpkin to light on Halloween so he and Jason worked together on this one.

Cody and his friends from church all dress as Ninja Turtles and I couldn't resist this cute strawberry costume for Karis!

We enjoyed the Fall Festival at our church and Cody had lots of fun with his ninja turtle friends!



 Wonder Women!

 It's a tradition to take a group picture of the boys in the photo booth! 

I didn't take pictures of actually trick or treating but we continued our tradition of having our friends, the Balls, over for pizza and trick or treating.  Cody wasn't interested in trick or treating after a few houses (he could care less about the candy) but Karis picked up really fast on walking up to the door and getting a treat! It was really cute. We had fun enjoying the October activities with our friends!

Yesterland Farm

  We headed to Canton to spend the afternoon with 3 other families at Yesterland Farm! It was so much fun! These boys are so sweet and we are thankful for the friendship these families bring! Cody adores these boys!

The babies had fun too!

   They had an adventure getting stuck on the roller coaster. Jason and Cody are in the last car leaning back....just a little push and it was working again.

 If there's music...there dancing! 

Cody and his buddy Hudson! Such special friends!

 Sweet girl loved the pumpkins! 

 Karis is the only girl with this crazy group of boys but she doesn't mind!  

Cody's 1st Field Trip

 Cody got to go on his first field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. He was so excited to ride on the school bus and had a blast with his friends. I stopped by to hang out with them for a couple hours and enjoyed watching him with his school friends!



Two of his favorite school buddies!

 He LOVED feeding the animals! He could have spent the whole time with them. He evenly poured the food in his hands and did his best to make sure each animal got some.

He worked hard to find the perfect pumpkin!

Oregon

We ended our summer with a trip to Oregon to visit Jason's parents...aka: Grandpa and Grandma! Jason and Cody went 2 days earlier than me and Karis because I stayed behind for my grandfathers funeral.  Cody had fun helping Grandpa mow the grass and Grandma collect eggs from the chickens. They have a beautiful home and we always enjoy our retreat out to see them.

Cody had been asking to go camping again so we decided that it would be fun to take a couple days and drive to the coast and camp. We stayed in a camper trailer since Karis was still so little. Uncle Darrell and Aunt Darby joined us for our little camping trip and Cody enjoyed being entertained and spoiled by them.

Cody really enjoyed building a campfire each night and morning. Karis learned to say "hot" because we constantly reminded her that the fire was hot.

The Botanical Gardens were beautiful and Karis' had fun sniffing all the flowers. Cody loved running up and down the rows and rows of flowers.

We took some time to explore the tide pools at the coast and this was a highlight for Cody for sure! He had fun looking at all the different living things in the pools and collecting sea shells....and Jason enjoyed teaching him about all the different things he found! I am not sure who had more fun...Jason or Cody! This was something Jason really wanted to do and couldn't wait to show Cody the tide pools. We had so much fun exploring and climbing!

We enjoyed this little beach by our campsite. Cody loved to watch the waves come in and out!

He loved to see how close he could get to the waves and then run really fast back to the sand. It was fun to watch him and the excitement this brought.

Karis got to read books with Grandma. She enjoyed the sand at the tide pools and was entertained by Aunt Darby and Uncle Darrell so I could explore with Jason and Cody. She did get to play in the sand...we just didn't get any pictures.

Cody sure loves his Grandpa! This picture is a little blurry because the smoke from the campfire was in the way but I am glad I captured this sweet moment.

We always enjoy our trips to Oregon and making memories with our family there!

Norway Cruise

Jason, Cody and I packed up and headed to The Netherlands for a cruise through the Norwegian Fjords. This was a work trip and we had fun bringing Cody along with us. My mom kept Karis and they had a fun week together. Cody is such a good traveler and the 10 hour flights were no problem for him at all. He loved his headphones and picking movies to watch. When he was tired he curled up in the seat with his head in my lap and slept comfortably.

 

We flew into Amsterdam and got an afternoon to tour the city. This is one of the oldest windmills still standing.

Cody was excited to ride the city bus around.

He was so tired after 20 hours of travel and a big time change but was trooper while we explored.

A replica of Noah's Ark that was built using only the Bible as reference for dimensions and detail. It was really neat inside to picture how Noah's family lived.

Look how little Cody is next to the ship! We were excited to board the Rotterdam!

Looking for our state room....Cody got really good at navigating the ship.

Our balcony...

We had a great room that was right at the back of the ship. The couch flipped into a bed for Cody.

All the ministry staff was treated to a special lunch at a lighthouse in Oslo and we took this little boat ride there. 



This is the Dyna Lighthouse. It's beautiful.

We had an awesome view right by the window...

The Dyna Lighthouse

Some of my favorite friends (and co-workers!) We have so much fun on these trips together!

We had 4 ports that we stopped at: Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger and Flam!

My sweet guys!

The beginning of the beautiful Fjords!

We took a train ride into the mountains while we were in Flam! This was a highlight for Cody.

The waterfalls on the train ride were beautiful.

The trolls were everywhere.

Cody loved exploring the ship. This time we were at the very tip top.

Swimming was by far Cody's favorite activity on the ship. He swam for hours. His favorite memory is when we were in choppy waters the boat was rocking a lot and the pool water would slosh from side to side and make big waves. He loved sitting on the ledge and waiting for the water to come and cover him up. 

It's always neat to see a lighthouse in action, especially when it's foggy out.

On of the entertainers we took with on our ministry trip was Buddy Greene. Buddy has traveled on several trips with Jason and I and we have gotten to really know him a little bit. Buddy is a famous harmonica player (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJB1j5PFsQg) and is also known for writing the lyrics to the Christmas tune, Mary Did You Know. Cody LOVED Buddy and enjoyed watching him perform and even got a harmonica of his own.

Love this kid and taking him on adventures!



Some of our favorite traveling friends!

We are so thankful that we get to go on these working trips and experience the adventures that go along with it! And an extra blessing is getting to take Cody and someday Karis along with us!