Oh and ...

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!
We love to celebrate America's Birthday!

What...Oregon Humid!?!?

When we were asked if Oregon was humid, of course my response was no. Humid? Are you kidding me? Especially not compared to Hershey...where humidity is part of life. But lately...people have been talking about the humidity level in Portland and today, it's higher than Hershey. That's right. Our highs have been in the low 90's. Thursday it was 94 degrees. Today it will be 91 degrees and the humidity is 74%. That is really high. Hershey's is only 50% today. So again I ask, "Are you kidding me?" I know the humidity will go down, and really...Portland's humidity levels are usually 35% or so...nothing compared to Hershey's 80-100% humidity. But wow...July is sure starting out HOT and WET!!! (this from the girl who went from free air conditioning to no air conditioning...we are drowning in heat!!!)

A comment from Anja.

Fischer loves to put anything in his mouth.  While doing house work in the kitchen, the kids were outside.  I kept the door open to see them.  Anja was outside with Fischer.  In a loud voice (that sounded a bit jealous), "Mommy, Fischer is eating chocolate!"   "No, he's not Anja...it's dirt."  "Oh," as she walked away.  I quickly went and rinsed his mouth out.  

Our 3 Kids

The THREE Morgan Kids

This picture was taken for Clinton's graduation.  I LOVE it!  Thanks to my talented friend Jenni...we got beautiful pictures of us at graduation.  We miss you Jenni!  And all of our other friends.  Who will I get to take wonderful pictures of my family?  Will you guys just move to Portland when it's your turn?  We know you probably won't be our neighbors...but at least the same city would be great.

Clinton Graduated. We Moved.

Clinton Graduated!!!Wow. What an amazing feeling. Attending medical school graduation at the Milton S. Hershey School Founder's Hall. (not much leg room between benches future graduates...but very cool place). Clinton's parents and grandma and Alexis's parents celebrated the event. We are so proud of Clinton!

The next day (Monday) we headed on our way. This is our moving truck at Clinton's grandma's house right before the maxima was loaded on the trailer. A very long tow!

Carter was our great little traveler. He sat in his seat, watched movies, read books, slept, ate, and played games. We told him that on Friday we would be in Portland. Needless to say, at some point everyday he would ask, "Is it Friday yet?"

We stayed in hotels along the way. We woke up early every morning. Carter loved it because the hotels had pools. Every night he would go swimming with Dad and Grandpa.

Since Alexis had never driven across the country (and never plans to do it again) and she had never been to Nauvoo, we stopped for a quick sightseeing. We saw Carthage Jail, the Nauvoo Temple, and Historic Nauvoo. We experienced Nauvoo life with their historic village and watched a musical put on by the Senior Missionaries...hilarious!!!

By the time we made it to Portland, we were tired. We arrived Friday evening, unloaded the truck Saturday--where we met up with Anja...Opa brought her to Portland. Said goodbye to Clinton's parents (thanks for everything!) on Sunday. After church went to see Fischer (big thanks to Oma and Opa for watching Anja and Fischer)..stayed until late Monday afternoon. Spent Tuesday unpacking and Wednesday morning. Saw Oma and Opa again on Wednesday when they helped us pick up our new couch (we love it!) Bright and early Thursday left for Burley, Idaho (9 hours more of driving) where we spent a week relaxing, visiting with family and friends, and eating great food (thanks Lois for those 3 extra pounds...worth every bite!) A week later on Friday drove back to Portland. Cleaned house Saturday. Alexis and the kids traveled to Astoria on Sunday after church--hung with Oma and Opa. Went clam digging on Monday. The kids LOVED it! True Oregonians. Planned to leave Tuesday...but then our lovely van was hit on the drivers side. Poor parked van...crazy farm driver! :) Called Clinton...came to Astoria. Clinton was happy to clam dig on Wednesday. Had fun cleaning clams with Grandma Timmerman. She loves to be helpful. Visited with Oma and Opa one last time. Saw all the hard work on their house. Traveled back to Portland on Wednesday late afternoon. Have been here every since.
Tomorrow will mark our first full week in Portland since we moved out 1 month ago. We love it. We've met some wonderful people who have welcomed us to the area. Thank you to our new friends!
We miss our friends in Hershey. We think of you often and the kids talk of you often. And we miss our block parties. Those were a blast. We love you Hershey Friends!

We Made It!

We just wanted to let all of our friends and family members know that we made it to Oregon. Hooray! Thanks to the help of my parents and Clinton's parents...we were able to make the 3,000 mile trip...in good fashion...and with relative ease. (though I never want to drive across Nebraska and Wyoming ever again). We are visiting family now and are loving our new house.
We REALLY miss our friends from Hershey. In more ways than one is Hershey 'the sweetest place one earth.' Love to you all!

Birthday and Going Away Party

Thanks to Oma, Carter had great Soccer Party gear to throw a fun birthday bash.  And since Carter and Anja are moving (along with the rest of us) we thought we would have a going away party too!

Here is Carter posing with the soccer sign.

This was so cool.  The kids had a great time sticking their heads threw it!  We got lots of fun pictures.  (I will email the moms soon with those)

And we thought it would be funny to take pictures of the babies too.  

Fischer is the boy on the left.

A picture with the group just before we began singing Happy Birthday to Carter.  (check out those TWO dinosaur cakes...what a cool mom!!!)

And a moment for the history books.  Carter is tasting a small piece (but a piece nonetheless) of chocolate frosting from his piece of the dinosaur cake.  Yes...he is making progress.  Hooray!

Before we move...

Before we leave Hershey we went to visit some local sites.  In this picture we are at the the Lititz Pretzel Factory.  Did you know that pretzels began in central PA?  Cool...except I can't eat a pretzel...gross.

On the Move

Hello Family and Friends--wanted to give you a quick update on our moving status.  We are packed...just finishing touches today and we will be set.  We are so excited to move to Oregon, but will miss our friends in Hershey SO MUCH!  We are leaving early next week to drive to Portland and will arrive at our house on Friday...unloading Saturday.  WOW!!  Since we will be busy..probably only 1 or 2 more post before we go.  Plus we have to pack our computer.   We look forward to seeing family and friends in Oregon!

Heat Wave

Last week we had GORGEOUS weather.  I'm talking in the 80s.  It was perfect.  Hot during the day and warm in the evening.  We got to put on our shorts and t-shirts and go outside.  In the evening we would go out and relax for a bit.  It was in the low 70s and was just lovely.  Fischer enjoyed playing in a blanket in the grass.

Carter was 'ready to roll' and zoomed around on his bike a ton!

Anja sported her sun hat...but it didn't keep her from getting a great tan! That's right...in the month of April we got great tans!  Even Alexis got a great tan...yeah!

I'm posting this on our blog because now the sun is gone.  It is wet wet wet.  Now don't me wrong, I'm all for the rain.  Puddles, cute raincoats, sweatshirts.  But when mother nature switches the weather all the time...it can get a bit confusing and tricky with the wardrobe.   I did check the forecast and it shows 70s during the week.  Yeah.  Perfect outside weather!