Parents!

I have a lot to catch up on from this month, but to start off, my parents came to visit us last week!  We were very excited to have my mom AND dad come to see us.  My dad never made it to Pittsburgh, so it had been at least 2.5 years since he'd come to see us, so that was a real treat!  The boys were very excited and were happily surprised to hear that Grandpa was coming along too. :)  Our weather was all over the place and very different from what was forecasted, so we changed plans a few times, but still had a wonderful visit.

Thursday we went to Sauvie Island, which is a river island and is one of the largest river islands in the U.S.  Who knew?  So we left the house and it was sunny and then got there to some seriously dense fog.  I was bummed because I had heard it was so beautiful, but we couldn't see much.  I should have known better than to assume it would be sunny there, but I learned my lesson.  

We still had a fun time. They had farm animals and a HUGE pumpkin patch, hay pyramid, corn and hay maze, hay rides, etc.

I didn't pack coats for the boys, (or even a sweatshirt for Connor), so we had to improvise...

 Hahaha, my mom shared her jacket with Connor.  Best picture ever.

 On top of the hay pyramid...

 I love this picture of Anna and my mom!

 Haha

 Yes, Connor also wore Anna's hat for awhile:

It was chilly, but when we got back home it was sunny!  Friday we just stayed close to home.  We went to our neighborhood park and rode bikes and walked around, played on the playground, and then that evening we went to the temple, the visitors center, and then out to dinner.  It was very fun!  My dad brought his nice camera so we took a LOT of pictures.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Then Saturday we had originally planned to go to Multnomah Falls, but the forecast said fog and clouds, so I didn't think that would be a good idea.  Well, we woke up to no fog and only partly cloudy skies so we decided to go the opposite direction (west) to the Tillamook State Forest and check out the Forest Center.  It would have been fun to continue on to the coast and tour the Tillamook Cheese Factory, but we had a late start and didn't make it that far.

When we got there though, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day!  The Forest Center was really fun.  It was their Fall Festival that weekend, so they taught us all about bats and then had a bunch of crafts for the kids to do, which they loved.  It was neat to hear about the forest.  They had a huge fire in the 40s and then in the 50s they planted 72 MILLION trees (!!!!) to rebuild the forest.  Totally amazing.  After we looked around the center we went on a little walk along the river and ate our lunch.  It was a fun day!

Sunday we had a long morning relaxing and playing together (our church isn't until 2pm).  My parents were able to attend Sacrament Meeting with us before they had to go and it just so happened to be our Primary Program!  Eli was awesome!  So far any time the primary has sung or done anything he has refused because he's been too scared.  But he went right up there this time and sat with his little Sunbeam friends (4 yr-old class) and sang and everything.  I was so proud! :)  The sunbeams even had their own little musical number and he did great.  Way to go Eli!

Anyway, we were sad to see them go, but excited we get to see them again soon. It's always fun to have our parents come visit.  They love us and love our kids and we always have a good time.  And it's really nice to have other adults around the house! Oh, and I forgot to mention Friday and Saturday night we rented a couple end-of-the-world movies.  My parents are party-animals! We watched Oblivion and World War Z, and they were both pretty good!  I about died of suspense-stress in World War Z, but it was exciting.  Good times.

I'll try to get caught up on the rest of this month's happenings sometime soon...