The Journey

Soccer

2010-11-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

Fall=Soccer! It was so fun watching Garrett play a second season of soccer. He is so good at it. He handled the ball so well and was awesome at making goals! Ryan and I are seeing a very competitive side to Garrett. He is very determined and is a great about encouraging his other teammates. I see so much of Ryan in him! Super competitive!! We find ourselves encouraging him to keep it on the field and to remember to encourage the other team, be a good sportsman. Since this year he wasn't tackeling anyone we thought we were doing good. He is such a sweet, cuddly little boy and I love that he wants to do well at what he is doing. He loves soccer and said he can't wait for soccer again! Good Season, way to go Puma's!

Swimming

2010-11-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

This summer and fall many hours have been spent at the Juniper Swim Center. Madi is planning on going out for swim team this summer and is brushing up on her technique. Garrett is moving up in his swimming and Addyson and I took a parent/tot class. Our family loves the water and have enjoyed swimming together and watching the kids improve on there skills. Madi enjoys doing laps and has a beautiful back stroke! We are enjoying attending sporting events and look forward to next summer watching them compete. I can't believe it but I don't have one photo of Addyson's lesson. Go figure with the third child!

Summer Nights

2010-11-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Wow! Where does time go? We have been non-stop busy since we moved to Bend. Between us having people in town visiting, traveling to Portland for Ryan's Reserve weekend, school starting, sports or being sick I haven't had time to update our blog. Well I finally have some extra time. Be prepared for some "overload" on the pictures and entry's. These are some fun pictures of our family enjoying some summer nights in our new home. Enjoy!

Bend or Bust!

2010-09-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

Deschutes River not far from our house.
Broken Top Mountain one of five mountians.

Mt. Bachelor

Mountain range from afar at Sunset.

Our home.

I know it has been so long since I have posted any news or pictures. I do have an excuse though. We have moved! We are so excited to have moved to one of the most gorgeous places on the planet and a very special place Bend, Oregon. Ever since Ryan and I have been together (were going on 16 1/2 years) our desire was to raise a family in a place where people still new your names and wasn't over populated. Where football games on friday nights were still important and we were active outdoors. We love the sun and we love the snow! So what better place then Bend. We had spent many weekends visiting friends, family vacations and ski trips to know Bend was where our heart was. God did not see fit to put us in Bend right away. We have been waiting for a perfect job (if there is such a thing) and time for our family to move. God made that happen June 6, 2010 (my birthday) for Ryan to be offered a job as a City Engineer for the City of Bend! Woohoo!! Thank you Lord was how we responded. It was an awesome offer and we took it, knowing the path the last three years had been tough with Ryan's current job and how God made this very evident to us this was his timing. I'm still amazed as I look at this Journey he has taken our family on how in the end his timing is more than perfect. What a great blessing we have to know he has it all worked out and he knows the desires of our heart. Though Ryan and I both have had desires and prayer requests not turn out the way we wanted them, we still hold fast to his plan being perfect! Our house we are living in now is a rental and we will call home for the next year or two until we find the right lot, property or home for us. We are happy and feel very fortunate to live in such a great home and great neighborhood. We feel so fortunate to have friends already here so our transition has been very smooth for the kiddos. So to sum up we love, love, love Bend! We feel so grateful that we are here. Also, we love visitors. So if East Coasters ever want to experience the west in the mountains with some Cowboys this is your spot! For all you West Coasters who love Bend come stop by we would love to see you!

Addyson

2010-03-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post some pictures of Addyson. She is growing so much and is very much a mommy's girl. She keeps up with her big sister and big brother very well. Out of all the kids she seems like she has grown up the fastest. She is anxious to do everything her siblings are doing, putting on her own clothes (trying atleast), climbing, riding a bikes, going down the slide all by herself you name it she want's to do it. Makes a little sad knowing she is the baby. She has a bit of a serious side to her but once she warms up to you is so cute, cuddly, funny and super sweet!!

Garrett's 5th Birthday Party "Army Style"

2010-03-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well our little man turned "5" on February 26th. I really honestly can't believe it! I remember thinking to myself that he would take forever to grow up. Now he is getting ready for kindergarten. He is such a sweet, energetic and funny little boy. Life would not be the same without him. He is truly a little blessing and has his challenges ahead of him smashed between two sisters! Garrett wanted and Army Birthday this year. So we took about 30 people up to Ft. Vancouver and had a party "Army Style". It was easy since Ryan does his Reserve weekends up there and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was cool but sunny. He chose vanilla and choclate cupcakes with sub sandwiches, chips and root beer. I now think we own every Army toy ever made! He also got a wonderful gift that was made for him. My friend has a business making purses, bags and hats and she took some of Ryan's BDU's he wore in Iraq and made Garrett this really cool bag! She used all of his patches too! It was a great day and hopefully a birthday he won't forget.

Madi's 8th Birthday Pajama Party

2010-03-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

Madi had her 8th birthday in January. I know this is a little late. I just finally getting around to it. We still can't believe she is "8"! Where does time go? We had a very simple party this year. She chose to have a pajama party. We did home made pizza's, cake and ice cream, girl movie and of course a girls favorite manicures! April Ryan's younger brother was awesome and helped paint nails. I don't know what I would have done without her! We had a house full of girls. I thought maybe there could be a little bit of drama, but they all got along and Ryan and I were amazed at how eight little girls were actually more quiet than Garrett all by himself. We had fun and most of all Madi had fun with all her friends.

Getting a Christmas Tree

2010-02-02T15:12:00.000-08:00

Picture this little family walking up the hills looking for the picture perfect Christmas tree. Singing Christmas Carols and rejoicing in the outdoors that God created for enjoyment! Sounds awesome doesn't it! Well that's not how it was for us, in fact it was completly opposite and it is the same way every year!! We spend an hour getting the kids dressed up in warm clothes and get them in the car to find yourself yelling at your kids while there screaming because they are to hot or there clothes are to tight while telling them to be quiet so we can go out and find a Christmas Tree! That it's going to be fun and to stop!! I swear every year I share nicely with my husband that if we find a great tree we should stop cut it down and head out. No, not an Oster! It is something they are born with I think, this feeling that if they leave with the first tree they find it's a failure because they haven't hunted long enough or something. I actually had found this great tree, the first one of course and like always there was this long pause and then a comment that came from my wonderful husband that sounded a little bit like "Do you think we should keep looking for another one?" So like always we kept walking through the hills above our house at a Christmas Tree Farm and the kids of course already had started complaining that "my toes are cold", "my feet hurt", my hands are cold and so on. I swear we had looked at twenty trees, and finally we found one and agreed to one towards the middle of the hill and it was perfect or so we thought! We decided after Garrett's going crazy wild and yelling (which I swear all of the West Hills heard) so he could hear is echo, we should stop and cut it down and get out of here. So we took a quick picture and started cutting down the tree before dark. Poor Ryan always has the task of cutting the tree down and every year there is "something." This year he was on this slope and the tree stump was huge at the bottom. It didn't look like it at the time but this tree was huge! Why is that tree's always look smaller until you get it into your house? So as the kids kept complaining and crying I said to Ryan I will hike back into the car and you will have to follow. 30 minutes later poor Ryan was hiking up the hill with the tree, I was standing with the owner of the farm and he commented "You must have a big room in your house cause that's one of my biggest trees!" Yeah that's just it we didn't and our goal was to get a tall skinny tree. Needless to say it hung over front and back and both sides of our van, and when we got it into the house hit took up half our family room!! We had trim so much off the tree to make it fit and we still had to put it behind our couch. We laughed later that night giving eachother a bad time about our ability to pick a good Christmas tree, but hopefully our kids will remember the funny and fun times we had getting our tree. Enjoy the pictures!

8 Days with NO KIds...

2010-01-12T21:58:00.000-08:00

Well we did it! We left all three kids for eight days, or should I say eight lovely, romantic, much needed days with the love of my life!! You might be asking yourself who would take three kids that aren't there's for eight days? Well Ryan's parents offered to take all three children and come up and stay at our house so we could go celebrate our 10th/11th Anniversary. I know that's sounds funny, but last year we celebrated our 10th Anniversary and just had four weeks earlier had a baby. So it was going to be hard to get away on a trip let alone a dinner together. So last year we planned to go to Mexico for a week with no kids. It sounded great at the time we planned it but as time came closer for us to go I got a bit anxious about it. I had never left them for eight days, the longest had been 6 days. I had a few good friends of mine Kim, Jill and Zephyr who a few times had to talk me down about my worries and said to go and enjoy our time together and once I got there it would be so fun that it would all go away. Wow was it nice! I have to say this was probably to date the best vacation we have taken together. We are at a different point in our marriage and we were able to talk, laugh and cry together. It truly was a growing week for Ryan and I just being "one together". I found myself looking at my husband still seeing that nineteen year old boy I married but realizing WOW what an awesome MAN God has blessed me with and seeing how God has molded him and changed him into the person he is today. I feel like we were able to really capture and talk about what has gone on in our life these last eleven years of marriage and fifteen years of being together and how far we have come. Boy has it come far. This has been a growing eleven years. God continues to put things in our lives that we find ourselves saying "Really God?", "Why this?" But then you come out of that and you see behind you this story he is creating for you. He has showed us this awesome glimpse of how wonderful life is when you leave it in his hands and let him carve this path for you. Those of you who have walked through some of toughest times of our life like Ryan going to War, loosing our sweet Mackenzie, a job loss, the stress of Ryan returning from war and several moves. We want to thank you for your friendship, prayer and support. This has been a major factor in us getting through these years and our marriage coming out stronger. Thank you! God is good and continues to be good! I am excited for the coming years to see what he has in store for us. Enjoy our pictures.

November Fun

2009-12-15T12:14:00.001-08:00

November came and went so quickly this year. It was a busy time. I found myself waking up every morning going "wow time is going by quickly". Ryan and I found ourselves blown away at how fast our kids are growing and how I would like time to slow just a little. It is excited to see all the milestones that take place in our childrens lives and how much of a blessing it is that God has blessed us with so much love for our children. Recently I had come across a bible study I had done in the past and it talked about "children" I now know how just a glimpse of the love that God has for us and what an awesome thing to beable to experience this love for our children the way he shows and loves for us everyday!

Madi experienced her first Birthday Party Tea at her friend Tessa's house. It was so fun to see her pick out a dress and ask to have her hair curled and put lip gloss on. She loved every minute of that party having tea sancwiches and little cakes. I love having little girls!! Addyson is all over the place we find that she has so much curiosity climbing stairs, getting into everthing. As I cook dinner in the evening's I find that I have a little buddy that always sits herself in my warming drawer below the stove and jibbber jabbers at me. Garrett has found the love of Lego's and of course his daddy loves everything about that. They spend many evenings creating all sorts of things. So as we wrapped up this November we found ourselves thanking our heavenly father for all that he has blessed us with. My hope and prayer is that you too had a wonderful November and found many blessings that God has blessed you with.

Halloween

2009-11-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

Halloween was a bit of a downer this year at our house. Friday evening we had to take Madi into urgent care and turned out she was sick with the rest of West Portland and Beaverton with H1N1. I felt so bad for her. She spent the better half of the weekend on the couch watching movies. So this year Garrett and Addyson went trick or treating with Ryan through the neighborhood while I stayed home with our sick little girl. Madi was still happy that she had gotten candy from Ryan's work at the little Halloween party they have. Needless to say Garrett made out well with the candy this year having gone to Ryan's work and out through the neighborhood. Next year will be better and hopefully we won't have a sick kid. Here are some pictures of Garrett and Addyson.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

Fall, I love it! We made our annual trip with the our good family friends The Kellar's and Putz families to Lakeview Farms in North Plains to the pumpkin patch after we enjoyed the rest of the day eating lunch and dessert together. Our kids all range in ages from 7 years-9 months and we had alot of fun. We started going as couple's when Margaret and I were pregnant with our older girls Madi and Zoe. Now there seven and growing like weeds. It is so fun to have these very special friends to share such fun traditions and outings with. We love them like family and are so blessed to have them in our lives. Thanks guys for being such great friends!! Here is a glimpse into our day together. Pictures still don't express the funny little things that eight kids can do. Enjoy and Happy Harvest.

More Soccer Pictures...

2009-10-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Soccer, Soccer and More Soccer!

2009-10-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

Well it has offcially started we have two kids in sports!! Let me just say that comment that I have heard many mom's say "I live in my car going from one practice to another" is so true! Every day except friday I'm in my car going to drop someone off or pick someone up. Thank goodness I have a van with a DVD player to keep all my children and those I'm carpooling occupied while driving through town. I have mastered eating between games and practices while making sure all kids have appropriate gear with them and on them. Who new this could be such a chanllenge. Ryan coached Garrett's team and had alot of fun. He said to me he wasn't looking forward to the season ending. So this fall has been a busy one and from what I understand I'll be doing this for the next eighteen years. Wow! We have enjoyed watching the kids play this season. What a fun stage of life were entering!!

Oster Family Sunriver Trip

2009-09-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

We spent our first week of August like we always do with The Oster Family in Sunriver Oregon. Justin and Jesse (Ryan's older brother and his wife) along with the newest member of their family, Lucy, came from Montana. Ryan's parent's and younger brother Jeff also were there. Ryan's parent's are so generous to rent a home for a week for the whole family to come together. This year we also experienced Madi bringing a friend with her! She brought one of her best friends Raegan (who's parents are some of our dearest friends). We enjoyed our week swimming, bike riding, watching thunder and lightening storms, eating good food, shopping, golfing, fishing and going to the High Dessert Musuem. This year we experienced five children on vacation. Needless to say we ate in shifts since there were with two infants and three school aged kids! It was fun and noisy!! We look forward to this trip every year. Here are some pictures of our wonderful trip!! Enjoy!

Garrett on his way to Fly Fishing

Madi in all her glory digging up dinosaur bones

Garrett, Raegan and Madi High Dessert Museum

Addyson and cousin Lucy eating lunch together Garrett and Raegan building a Fort

2009-09-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

More Sunriver Pictures....

Sweet Baby Addyson

2009-08-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Addyson is fast approaching her first birthday in November. I find myself wondering where this year has gone and why it has had to go by so fast. Addyson has been a wonderful addition to our family. She is happy, energetic and sweet! She is full on crawling and pulling herself up onto everything and we find her occasionally letting go and standing all by herself! She is even walking along walls, coffee tables, bathtubs and beds! "Oh boy" is all we can say. We will soon have a walker in our home. She now says "Ma Ma" all the time. She understands the words "Danger", "NO Addyson", "Ma Ma", "Da Da" and nummy time!! It has been so much fun watching her grow. She has become a little helper. Whenever she hears the dishwasher open I will hear little hands and knees coming across the hardwood floor and a babbling happy little girl wanting to grab whatever she can get her cute little hands on. Needless to say our sweet little Addyson is even more than what we could have asked for. I'm so happy we have her and can't imagine life without her. What a blessing.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July was spent going to our hometown parade with good friends. We went back after the parade to some good friends home had a BBQ lunch and then went home to greet our friends who were coming for a BBQ at our house I think at one point we had about 30 or people here with all there kids! It was a blast. We ate visited and spent the evening enjoying fireworks and alot of laughs. What a blessing it is to have good friends. We enjoyed our time watching our kids share in some of the traditions Ryan and I had growing up!

Putting in a Playstructure!

2009-07-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

We decided to put up a play structure. We have been wanting to get one but found out how spendy they are so Ryan and the engineer that he is wanted to do one himself. So after many long night discussions and our friends wanting to put one in as well, we decided on a set of plans and did it! Ryan and our friend Jon ordered the kit's, ordered the wood and went to work the weekend before the fourth of July and put two play structures up in one weekend!! Needless to say I was so proud of them. Jeff, Ryan's younger brother offered to come and help, though I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into. They all started at 8:00am and ended roughly around 10:00pm Saturday and 9:00pm Sunday. Thanks to Grandpa Oster coming over and also offering his help they were able to push through the second day a little faster. With alot of sweat, hammering, cutting and hard work they did it! The kids love it, mom loves it (they can go out and play and I can be making dinner in the kitchen it's so lovely) and dad seems pretty happy with his work. We still need to stain it a nice color (that will come this weekend) but it turned out great. Job well done Ryan, Jon and Jeff. Thank you uncle Jeff for helping out!! Enjoy the pictures!

Fun Weekend with Friends

2009-05-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Wow I can't believe May came and went. We spent the weekend having fun in the sun hanging outside and going to a Birthday Party for our good friends girls Zoe and Eve. We enjoyed are time watching all our kids play. It is so fun to be back in Oregon with family and good friends. Summer is one of my favorite times because you get to just hang out and enjoy friends and family. Enjoy the photos!

My Girls

2009-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well I walked into Addyson's room to find that she was sleeping on her tummy! She has been rolling over for about 2 1/2 months now and we never found her in her crib except on her side or back. It feels like once they hit this stage they don't seem as little anymore. This makes me excited but also a bit sad knowing I will never experience another small baby rolling over in there crib! I do find myself snuggling a little bit longer just to soak it all in. Madi enjoys reading to Addyson (which is good practice for her) and Addyson enjoys listening. Madi is Addyson's second mommy always making sure she is tended too, talking to her, singing to her and caring her around! Only if she could change diaper's. I love my girls and look forward to one day sitting and talking with them as friends. I feel so blessed.

A Day at the Zoo

2009-05-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

We spent the morning at the Zoo with our good friends The Putz Family. We enjoyed watching our kids run around looking at animals while visiting and laughing at the fact we now have six kids between us! We have known Jon and Jill since we have been newly married and were apart of a small group Bible Study together. In the photo below the Sea Lion took a real liking to Garrett. He kept swimming right by him and doing flips in the water! It was hilarious how he would get up close and kind of look at Garrett. I wonder if they can see through that glass? Garrett seemed to think he could and it made is day. Needless to say we enjoyed our time with our friends eating lunch and walking around. Here are a few pictures we snapped on our outing!

Addyon's Get Away, Rice Cereal and More!

2009-04-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

Well I was downloading some pictures and remember when I said the other week Addyson had rolled under our bed and I was shocked to see her gone, well here they are. Her little smile says it all. It was her way of saying "hey mom look at me, I'm OK!" I still chuckle when I look at these pictures. We also started Addyson on rice cereal and some veggies. Boy does she like those! She also enjoys Madi reading to her. It's great having a seven year old who enjoys sitting down and playing or reading to her little sissy. What fun it is to be there mommy, not the easiest always but truly is a blessing!

Fun Family Day

2009-04-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

We woke up a couple of weeks ago and Ryan wanted to take us to breakfast and the Zoo. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Rose's Deli on 23rd in Downtown. Turns out we didn't go to the zoo due to the weather. It's a good thing we didn't at one point we looked out and saw it hailing. So instead we went to the Children's Museum and had so much fun! Garrett got to be like "Bob the Builder" and Madi was in heaven playing and socializing with other kids. Gee I wonder who she gets that from? You can see she really enjoyed her face paint! It's so fun to watch your kids using there imagination. We enjoyed the day as a family. Ryan and I sometimes still look at each other and wonder how we got here. Wow time flies!

2009-04-15T15:01:00.001-07:00

Our sweet little Addyson

2009-04-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Addyson is growing so fast. I look at her and it seems like I just had her. Time is flying by so quickly. She is already five months old and seems to change daily. She is rolling over from front to back and back to front. The other day I layed her on her mat in our bedroom to play so I could switch the laundry over and when I came back there was no Addyson!! I freaked for just a moment thinking "OH MY GOODNESS GARRETT DID SOMETHING WITH HER! Then I heard a little cooing and as I got closer she had rolled herself under our bed! When she saw me she just gave me a big smile. She is such a happy baby all smiles whenever we walk in the room and is laughing and cooing when she is playing. One of her most favorite things to do is play in her jumper and take a bath. We can already tell she is very fond of her brother and sister. She is very aware when they are around and often giggles at her big brother as he plays with her. We took her for her four month check-up and she weighs 14 pounds and 25 1/2 inches long. The doctor said she is 50% for her weight and is 90% for her height! I think she has some Oster in her! Addyson is a wonderful additon to our family and we love her very much. God has truly blessed us!

2009-03-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

So this is my first Blog. Since we just got back from Disneyland a few weeks ago I thought this would be my first entry. My husband thinks I'm crazy for adding one more thing to do so I will see how this goes. Disneyland was so much fun! Ryan's parents took the family down to Southern California for a one week long vacation. It was a ton of fun. The kids liked it, the weather was pretty good and the time away from real life was awesome! This was Garrett's first time remembering Disney so this was a fun experience for him and fun for Ryan and I to watch him have. He loved all the rides and the "pirate stuff" as he put it! It's so fun to watch your kids experience Disney for the very first time, it takes you back to being a kid. Madi loved it also. She has been a couple of times before to Disney world but it was still so much fun to watch it through a seven year old's eye's. We also discovered Madi is a bit of an adrenalin junky like her Dad. She loved all the fast rides, she was easily bored by with the little kid rides. She even went on California Scream in, for those of you who haven't been to Disneyland recently it is a roller coaster that goes from 0-55 mph in seconds! She loved it. I was totally amazed that my little Madi would want to experience something that big and scary. I was so proud of her. Now if we could just get her to ride her bike with no training wheels! Addyson was no that impressed with Disneyland, she spent most of her time in the Baby Bijorn or her stroller but we found out we got lucky again with another good traveler. So needless to say we had a great time in Disneyland and can't wait to experience it again. Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa Oster we had fun time!

2009-03-16T11:15:00.001-07:00