Gimme an "F", Gimme an "A"...

It's rare the whole family is together at the same time to be in the same picture.

Kirks: Krista, Noah, Karey

Thompsons: Tanner, Troy, Donna, Jared

Smiths: Ryan and Kayshia

Arnolds: Ashleigh, Drew, Claire

Wilsons: Dan, Dayna, Alaina

Wood: Garey and Janiece

And the family will just keep getting bigger...

Silver Falls State Park

Just a few of the the waterfalls we saw on our hike. You can go behind several of them. Tell me again WHY I don't still live in Oregon? This place is beautiful!

Family Campout 2012

The 2012 Wood Family Campout was held at Silver Falls State Park. If you've never been, you really need to check out this place. An 8.7 mile loop hike takes you past 10 different waterfalls. The weather was perfect (maybe even a bit cool); the scenery was exquisite, and the time to reconnect with busy family members was priceless.

13 years ago, Dan & I got the honeymoon tent. 3 years ago, it was shared by Drew and Ashleigh. This year...the rose petals and tissue flowers went to Ryan and Kayshia.

Some crazy games of Pit and Spoons kicked off our first night.

In the middle of the game, we were surprised by this rainbow. (It was actually a double...beautiful!)

Some of the crew went geocaching...a first for some of them.

I guess Dan called my Dad a "Dirty Dog" one too many times.

Uncle Troy gave Dayna some pointers. She really enjoyed spending time with him.

Ashleigh made the theme cake this year. While the "Wood Family Olympics" didn't happen, we still enjoyed the Olympic torch cupcakes.

Ryan is adding his link to the family chain.

Cape Kiwanda

We also got to spend a beautiful day in Pacific City. I have never spent much time here and was pleasantly surprised at how nice everything was without being a huge tourist draw. A particular treat was eating at the Pelican Pub and Brewery. Amazing fish and chips and some pretty tasty brews as well.

Mom, Dad & Dan were enjoying another kind of view.

Meanwhile, Dayna & I worked to make a sandman.

Looking across the Pacific to where our sweet girl waits for us.

Dayna, Dan & I somehow made it up the HUGE sand dune.

Dayna has been checking out books about tidepools all summer. We saw many sea anemones.

But the real treat was getting to see this starfish under the rock right before we left. Dayna LOVES starfish right now, and I really wasn't sure we would see one. In my heart, I was trying to figure out how to console her when this little guy showed up for us. Thank you, God!

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Last September, my niece Kayshia got married in Maine. We were blessed to be in Oregon to celebrate with them at their reception. Welcome to the family, Ryan. And Kayshia...you are a BEAUTIFUL bride!

The Kirk Family

Wishes, love and advice from family and friends.

From the Redwood Forests...

I got to show two of my favorite people the Redwoods for the first time. There just really aren't words to describe the grandeur, and it would take my computer 3 months to upload all the great pictures. Here are a few:

San Francisco, Part 3

And no trip to San Francisco would be complete without seeing the Golden Gate Bridge.

Of course, it was incredibly foggy.

And the fog cleared as soon as we went across to the other side.

San Francisco, Part 2

While in San Francisco, we also enjoyed showing Dayna around Chinatown.

That's us on the left in front of the gate.

Decent food...it seemed a "safe" Westernized version of Chinese food...not so sure about using mayonnaise on shrimp, though...