Daniel's 32!

I can't believe Daniel is 32! We had a fun birthday party for him. His friend Kirk came over for dinner and then a few of the neighbor kids came in to sing happy birthday and eat cake.

This how Daniel really felt about his party

This is how he smiled after he got "the look" from me. Much better don't you think?

Isaiah and Kirk's dog

Daniel and Kirk

Evening Golf Outings

This summer has been a lot of fun. One of the greatest things about it is Isaiah's age. I know that sounds wierd, but it is really nice to be able to go and do things together as a family that we all enjoy, and that we all can do. Daniel started golfing every Thursday with his boss. I was feeling a little left out so we got a babysitter and went a couple times together. The problem was we wanted to go every week and it's hard to find a babysitter and it gets expensive. So we decided to take Isaiah with us and see how that worked out. It was great! Isaiah had a really good time and he walked all nine holes with us and never complained. We took him three times and he got better each time. He has his own ball and his own tee and he just loves it! It was so cute to watch Daniel teaching Isaiah how to line up his putt. I had to teach Isaiah that when other people are getting ready to hit, he has to be quiet. Isaiah is still working on both of those.

Those of you who know Daniel know he is not too fond of the camera. If you look closely you can still see the ball is still on the tee. This is not his usual form either.

It was pretty funny at times to watch Isaiah put his tee in. He had a hard time putting it in straight so his ball would roll off the tee several times before he could steady it.

He left quite a few divots along the way.

Daniel let Isaiah use his left handed club, yet Isaiah is standing on the wrong side. I don't remember how this shot worked out???

It was a practice swing I promise:)

It was a beautiful evening. We even saw a rabbit on the fifth hole. We came upon it as we were looking for my ball in the bushes.

Although we had a great time, I have to say this is my worst score ever!

Dual Immersion

Isaiah is in the Dual Immersion Kindergarten class this year. Half the day is taught in Spanish and half the day is taught in English. His school is very highly populated with Mexicans. There are about 6 white kids in his class and the rest are Mexicans and then there's Isaiah.:) The best part of his school is whenever there is a parent meeting to attend they always serve dinner. For Daniel it's like being in Mexico. He loves it. Actually now that I think of it that is probably the main reason why he goes. Last time they served homemade Tamales that were amazing. Tonight they served Tacos with a whole bunch of yummy fixins' that were sooo good. Daniel and I went back for thirds!

Isaiah's Style

I promised myself, and Isaiah, I would only force him to wear what I wanted him to wear the first day of school and on picture day. Today he picked out his own outfit. I have to admit I like his whole style of "not matching." I mean it is the new style right? I still think he looks so cute and I was always a little "different" when it came to style myself. I must say the Superman socks make the outfit.

He was so mad at me for taking a picture of him at school:)

Isaiah's 6th Birthday Party

Isaiah had his 6th birthday party last Saturday. We were in town for my two nephews baptism so we decided to throw him his bash while we were there. Here are a few pics of his guests, and some of the fun they had. I put the names and ages of the kids because that's the kind of stuff I always like to know. When the wife's name is first it's one of my sisters. I thought Daniel would think that was funny:)

Jeffers 2 - Lindsey and Adam Ordyna's

I think he looks like me as a toddler. Now that they cut all his curls off you can't see it as much.

Dallin 3 - Michele and Rich Preim's

Jarem 3 - Debora and Hodge Kerr

These two are inseparable. Jarem lives in Bend and Dallin lives in Beaverton so they get very excited when the family gets together.

Natalie 2

Natalie is the cutest little girl. I think she had a thing for Max:)

Her parents Jed and Crystal Foutz


These are some of our friends that used to live in Corvallis but moved to Hillsboro. They are awesome friends. As you can barely see they are expecting their second child soon!
Gilbert, Nicole, Sam 4, and Max 2

Max's cheeze is classic! I love how red Sam's face gets when he plays. He puts a lot of energy into it!

Emma 4 - Again Lindsey and Adams

This girls a brute but...believe it or not she quite soccer because a girl pushed her.

Lindsey and Adam, parents of four of the 19 kids there that night.

Stephan 6 - Debora and Hodge Kerrs

Isaiah loves Stephan to death and was so glad he could come all the way from Bend just for his birthday part:) His older brother Justin was baptised that day with his best buddy, cousin Tanner.

Boys playing wall ball

Boys playing soccer

Daniel using a new technique to get a rebound.
The squatting move.

Max taking a break with his hand on his hip

First Day of School

Isaiah's first day of school was yesterday. It was also is 6th birthday. As you can see from the photo he wanted waffles for his birthday breakfast. I was excited for Isaiah that he gets to start school, but sad that he is growing up so fast. I was telling Daniel that it was hard to believe that all his years at home with me are over. He will go to school for the next 12 years! Of course Daniel didn't have a lot of sympathy for me. It really made my day when Daniel called me at 10:00am to ask how Isaiah's first day of school was. I answered the phone and Daniel said, "Don't get too excited, but I wanted to call because I am excited about Isaiah's first day of school and I want to know how it went." He likes to play things off like there no big deal:)

Isaiah was a little goofy before school started. I think it was his nerves.

I think I was right. Can you see how excited he is to be at a new school!

I did manage to get him to smile for a picture though.

I thought it would be fun to take a picture of the shoes Isaiah wore his first day of school (If you saw my shoe closet you would know why). Daniel laughed at me when I showed him. I know boys and girls like different things, but I just couldn't resist. I love converse.

Meat Eater

This post is mainly for the enjoyment of my little sister Monica. When Isaiah was about 18 months old we fed him some steak for dinner one night. This began the many photos of Isaiah devouring meat, apparently he really likes meat. Well Monica, 5 years later and he is still loving it!

Isaiah 18 months eating steak at home

Isaiah 5 years old eating ribs at Local Boys

"Fred"

Yesterday Isaiah discovered his first mole. He was so proud of his discovery so I asked him if he wanted to name it. You can see what he chose by the above picture. Next time you see him ask him where Fred is. He'll probably get embarrassed and mad at me. He's reaching that phase in his life where he embarrasses easily.....I am loving it! Does that make me a mean mom?

Vrtiska Family Reunion: Part II

While we were staying in Eden, Utah we had the chance to visit Temple Square. I have been there several times so I was excited to take Isaiah for his first visit. I can't say that it was super spiritual, because as you can see from this photo we had a lot of little ones with us (Kate also there but not pictured). I can say that I think it was a good time for the kids and time will only tell what they got out of it. Oh, now I have to correct myself. This was Isaiah's second visit. He went with Grandpa and Grandma Vrtiska last year. Funny story. Right before we took this shot of the kids we were trying to get the stroller all set up and organized and Mindy didn't see Jack (he's the cute little guy facing away from the irritating sun). As she was saying, "Where's Jack?" We all immediately turned around to find him with his drawers dropped to the ground peeing in the daisy bed. All we could do was laugh and let him finish. You can't stop a kid once they have started. This was the worst part because by now newcomers are walking by and they don't realize that we didn't let him pee there but now we are standing there watching him as if we gave him the go ahead to begin with. If Dallin, Mindy's husband, would have been there he would have been in trouble. They are from Idaho and Dallin has pretty much taught Jack that he can pee wherever he can find a nice spot. I guess Jack thought the flowers needed watering.

The rest of the time at Wolf Creek was pretty much spent at the pool and trying to catch bugs. The kids had so much fun, and when the kids are having so much fun, it is a lot easier for the adults to relax!

Emma Jumping to her daddy.

Connor jumping to his daddy.

Isaiah jumping to Uncle Adam. Honestly he doesn't need water wings. Maybe he thought he looked cool???

Stephan jumping to Uncle Adam.

Hey where did the rest of the Uncles go? Oh I remember. Hodge and Rich were working on their tans and Dallin and Daniel were avoiding the Vrtiskas as long as possible. Actually they really had to work and Hodge and Rich are both very good Uncles:)

Starting on the left: Justin, Isaiah, Tanner, Evelyn, Claire, and Jarom. These kids spent hours looking for Praying Mantis. They did a pretty good job catching them too.

More to come....