Baby Cole

Our BEST gift of the season!!


Cole Russell Dickson
Arrived: December 4th at 2:20 pm
7 pounds 14 ounces, 21 inches long

December 4th - Cole's Birthday

Delivery Day

8: 30 am - Bart and Mandy head

out the door to the hospital but

pause in between contractions for a quick photo.

2:20 - Cole arrives safe, healthy and as sweet as could be.

Caden and Tyler hold their new

baby brother.

Bo greets Cole with a big wet kiss.

The Dickson's. Now a family of 6!!

FALL FUN!!

Fall time means fun...with leaves. And our new (20 year old) home in a classic american tree-spotted suburb has lots of them coming down day after day. Who says Saturday work days are a drag? This crew will have you raked up in no time!

Soccer Studs

Tyler's first year on a soccer team!
Although most games
were more comical than competetive, we were impressed
with the speed and big foot of our rookie star. Snacks afterwards are still the highlight of the sport at this age. Great year Yodas!



















For Caden's 2nd year of soccer, it was all about the score and winning. Even though they technically never kept the score of games, you better believe he knew EXACTLY how many goals were score and who won each weekend. The hardest part for him was having to be benched now and again because he couldn't help but shooting goals and running the score up on the other team! The Golden Knight/Mud Hogs (name changed depending on the weather) were hard to beat with our little lighting foot that plays every position at all times! Go Caden!

A Happy Halloween!

Bo the Lion and Contruction Worker Daddy at the ward Trunk-or-treat activity. Can you tell what Bo is excited about?

All the cousins ready for trick-or-treating. Sketleton - Drew (2 1/2), Raphael Ninja Turtle - Tyler (5), Leonardo Ninja Turtle - Caden (7), Princess - Madison (5), Flower - Brinley (1), and Lion - Bo (2)...What a frieghtful bunch!!

Caden as Leonardo Ninja Turle...remember when mom got to choose the cute little costume the kids would wear for Halloween...yeah, those days are long gone for this boy...but having fun is all that matters!

Bo's favorite part of Halloween night was coming home for homemade doughnuts, cider and best of all the carmel apples.

It was a SWEET Halloween indeed.

Our little Pumpkins!

Showing off the "less-than-creative" carvings. ALL our little jack-o-lanterns!!

The traditional Family Home Evening activity Monday before Halloween - pumpkin carving! The boys were a little dissapointed in mom who didn't go out and get a HUGE pumpkin for every family member to carve...instead we used the 2 free ones we got from Tyler's Kindergarten Pumpkin Patch Field Trip. But regardless, ALL our little jack-o-lanterns turned out great!

Dickson Family Summer 2007

Oh how the summer flies by...here are a few highlights from ours

Backyard Training Facility
Baseball spring training lasts all summer at our house. Despite his older brother's frustrations, Bo gets right in the middle of the action. He insists on wearing a batting helmet even though it is generally more of a hazard than a help. Be ready major leagues, our little sluggers are training and headed your way!



Tyler's 5th Birthday
was celebrated with 18 holes of mini golf and dinner in the club house with his buddies (& cousin Madison). He even got his own set of clubs!! Big day and fun times.


Portland Rose Festival Starlight Parade
We braved the crowds and spent some family time on the sidewalk in downtown Portland to watch this annual event with floats and marching bands all lit up and sparkling in the night

--Grammy holds up Bo to help him see the floats go by.
--Bart, still sweaty from the 5k run he participated in to kick off the parade, watches with Caden.
--Bo's favorite part was the bag of candy we let him at to help keep him happy late into the night.

Sister's Rodeo

We didn't miss our yearly tradition to the "Biggest Little Show on Earth". Even though dad had to stay home for church duties, mom and the boys joined Mandy's family to Sisters, OR for a gallopping good time. Left: Papa and Cade await the favorite opening act, the wild horse races. Right: Tyler and Madison cuddle up under a blanket to keep warm during the show. Yeehaw!!



Wedding Bliss
No summer is complete without a wedding! Mandy's youngest sister Haley and Andrew Ellis were married in the Portland, OR temple on June 15th with a big party to follow at the Oregon Golf Club. Pretty dress, beautiful flowers, yummy cake and cute neices and nephews - perfect!



A new house - A BIG new project!!
Just to make sure we didn't run out of things to do, we bought a new house and started a few projects that eventually led to a pretty major remodel - both inside and out. We have made some huge changes and have a growing list of more we'd love to do...when we find the time and money that is!! Here's Bart ripping up flooring in the entryway. Tyler and the rest of the priest quorum from our ward at church helped clear out some trees and shrubs in the yard.



Camping with friends
Moving or not, no one misses a chance to go camping with friends. 5 great families, 14 kids (oldest is 8 yrs old) equals one memorable time in the Great Northwest outdoors!

--Left: top row starting from left - Chase Carley(5), Julia Fox(5), Nicole Williams(2), Heidi Williams(5), Alex Fox(8), Kyle Carley(2). Bottom row starting from left- John Fox(1), Annie Fox(3), Bo Dickson(1), Elise Evans(3), Caden Dickson,(6) Isaac Evans(5), Tyler Dickson(5) (missing is 1 yr old Paige Evans)
--Give Bo some shovels and dirt and he's good for hours.
--How do you keep 14 kids entertained in the woods for 3 days?...painting rocks helps for about a 1/2 hour!!


Family Reunion at Newport Beach
Mandy was in charge of the Weaver Family Reunion this summer - it was a wild weekend of fun camping at South Beach in Newport, OR. The weather was great and the company was even better. The best part about it was voting on who was next in charge and handing off the reigns. It was a lot of fun to plan (a group effort by all of Mandy's family) and a great time.





Beaver's Baseball at PGE Park
We promised the boys all summer to take them to the Porland Beavers (triple A) baseball game...we made good on our promise just before the summer was over and the season home games were finished! It was worth the wait and a fun family night under the summer sky watching baseball. One of the players broke his bat on a hit and Bo talks about it still!!





End of Summer Dream Vacation
With Bart being the Bishop of our ward and a busy fall fast approaching, we decided to sneak away for almost a week over labor day weekend to Mandy's parents house at Black Butte Ranch. Even the threat of evacuation from the growing forest fire only 1 mile away couldn't squelch our fun. Bike rides, tennis, lots of swimming and relaxing made 6 days fly by like hours. We cherish family time together these days and love the memories we make at Black Butte. It might just be our favorite place in the world!!! A great end to a great summer.

--An amazing sunset with the smoke plume just off in the distance - all we could say was, "we are not leaving until our vacation is over!!"
--Bike rides happened at least 3 times a day, even for pregnant mom! Bo had the easy ride.
--Cade lost his 5th tooth while we were there...he is now our little jack-o-lantern since they are falling out every-other!!




--A little treat from the general store while we watch the horses
--Bo trying to lose his teeth with a bedtime snack of sour gummy worms!!
--By the last night, the air was getting pretty thick with smoke...the scene at sunset each night was unbelievable...but the evacuation for the forest fire held off until the afternoon that we were planning to leave anyway.

If only summer lasted all year.
Stay tuned for more to come this fall!!...