Wallowa Lake
For my birthday, my in-laws took us to Wallowa Lake for a tram ride and a nice hike. We would have loved to hike more, but the kiddos can only take so much.
I think Chance did a pretty good job though. He hiked over two miles at 8,200 feet without complaining. He’s a trooper! Here’s a short video of some of what we did.
Here’s photos of our whole Wallowa experience!
Labor Day in La Grande Photos
I just realized I didn’t post the rest of our La Grande photos. So… here they are.
Most of them are from our trip to the playground.
Grandma Peggy’s 85th Birthday Party
This past weekend, we had the privilege of celebrating Brian’s Grandma Peggy’s 85th Birthday in Cove, Oregon.
We went back to where he grew up. It’s always a nostalgic trip for us. It’s the only time I (kind of) wish I grew up on a farm. Here’s a photo of the house Brian grew up in (it was on 55 acres of cherry farm). Oh… and if you didn’t know… they also BUILT this house… like hammered in the nails in THEMSELVES!
And here’s a photo of the house they rented WHILE they were building the big house on the hill.
Below, in the collection, you’ll see the view surrounding the house. I wish we had money so we could buy this house back. Can you imagine waking up to this view every day?
The best part of the trip was seeing the WHOLE family. Here’s one of just Brian’s family: Kevin (Brian’s big brother), Dennis (Dad), Linda (Mom) & Brian.
Here’s 4 generations of Clayville Men: Kevin, Dad, Grandpa Bob, Brian, Chance & Paxton.
Here’s Grandma Peggy, Grandpa Bob and their children: Dennis, Don, Doug, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Peggy, Diane.
Here’s Grandma Peggy, Grandpa Bob, all their children & grandchildren:
Back Row: Dennis, Don
Middle Row: Caleb, Doug, Grandpa Bob, Grandma Peggy, Diane
Front Row: Cherylyn, Camilyn, Kevin, Brian, Ben
Here’s Grandma Peggy, Grandpa Bob and all their children & grandchildren & GREAT grandchildren (we’re missing just a few): From LEFT to RIGHT:
Back Row: Dennis, Don, Selena
Third Row: Caleb, Doug, Robert, Peggy, Diane, Rachelle
Second Row: Cherylyn, Camilyn, Kevin, Brian, Ben
Front Row: Joseph, Matthew, Chance, Paxton, Luke, John
And here’s the whole family… well… the one’s of us who were there (of course, Chance is the only one goofing around – that would be MY genes):
From LEFT to RIGHT:
BACK ROW – Me, Brian, Linda, Casie, Kevin, Ben, Diane, Renwil, Wilma, Doug, Sue, Selena, Caleb, Matthew, John, Danielle, Luke.
FRONT ROW – (A very limp) Chance, Dennis, Peggy, Paxton, Robert, Don, Joseph, Cherylyn, Rachelle, Camilyn.
It’s amazing to see four generations running around all on one property. I haven’t honestly really picked up my Nikon D70 for quite some time, but this weekend, I couldn’t seem to put it down. I wanted to capture EVERY SINGLE moment. These moments are rare… and one day, I hope I can see four generations of my own bloodline.
God has greatly blessed Grandma Peggy! What a privilege to help honor a woman who has sacrificed and loved the best she knew how. She is TRULY amazing.
“Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” So God granted him what he requested.
Here are all my photos from this weekend – from just hanging out at Brian’s parents house to visiting the old house and cherry farm… and maybe picking some yummy cherries (we didn’t have a container for the cherries… all we had was an umbrella *shrugs* it worked):
What do you want your legacy to be at 85?
Beach Trip – Day One
Our good friend, Angela, invited our family to join her and her kids at her family’s (her Mom’s, actually) beach house for the next few days.
We walked in to see THIS:
I can’t believe I got such good clarity of the sunbeams in this photo since I took it with my iPhone.
It’s been less than 24 hours since we’ve been here and we already feel like some of the weight that has been “resting” heavily on our shoulders has been lifted.
What is it about getting away that allows you to breathe?
Here are some of my favorite photos from this mornings’ walk on the beach & from some hangout time at the house.
They’re also posted on MY FACEBOOK account. You can check them out HERE.
So… other than Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett dying today, it’s been a pretty great day for us.
A Team That Plays Together…
… STAYS TOGETHER.
After the Exponential Conference in Orlando, Florida last week, Matt took us to Universal Studios for a day and a half. We did this for multiple reasons:
- We were already across the street from Universal… so why not.
- It was an EXCELLENT way to let all the information we just heard really soak in before heading home to jump back into life.
- In real life, we don’t get as much time to just “hang out” due to work. It was a good way to just enjoy one another’s company.
- We love roller coasters. There is something really bonding about screaming together on a roller coaster.
Here are some pictures of our time together (Matt, Brian, Paxton & Me):
The boys.
Our first ride at Universal was on The Mummy.
The best part was the “Child Swap” lines. This helped us get to the front of the lines for all the rides… but one of us was always left out to watch Paxton. Here I am… not happy about it.
There’s a whole land just for Krusty. Gross.
This ride made me and Matt REALLY motion sick.
The Hulk.
We rode this ride 3 times.
Jurassic Park.
I think this is a Pterodactyl leg. Is it sad that I only bought this because I wanted the picture? I didn’t finish it either. Way too much food!
Scorpion Lollipops. Gross! I threw up in the store.
Poseidon’s Fury. Apparently, not furious enough… it was HOT there.
Holding Kobe Bryant’s hand.
Hard Rock Cafe.
Universal Studios Logo. The midst kept us cool.
NBA City… I was almost as tall as this statue. Really…
Matt’s thoughts on screen for all to see.
It was a BLAST!!!
So you tell me: ”All work and no play make me a (fill in the blank).”
Exponential Conference 2009 – Day 2
I took notes today but I’m not posting them up tonight because of a million factors (one factor being Craig Groeschel kicked my booty across the room… twice… so I need to just let that sink in first), but I DID Twitter a lot of it.
However, today, I want to focus on the people portion of the conference. I have gotten the privilege of meeting some really AWESOME people. Most of them, I have been following via Twitter or blog for quite some time… so it’s more like reconnecting with an old friend.
I got to meet Dave Ferguson (@daveferguson). First thing he did was come up and give me a hug. Second thing, he says: “You Twitter a lot about food!” HA! He’s right, ya know. I think that’s how he’s been introducing me to people too. HAHA!
Also met Mary Beth Stockdale (@mbstockdale), who is just about as cute as a button. Ever met a person who just has the “glow-of-Christ’s-love” on them? Yeah… that’s her. When she talks to you, she makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room. I need to learn how to be more like her when it comes to people.
Then, there’s Eric Bramlett (@billshazzar) who is SO funny, he just about makes me pee my pants from laughing so hard. Seriously… every time he opens his mouth, only KUH-RAZY comes out. There is something NOT RIGHT about him…
But the coolest couple we’ve had the privilege of meeting is by FAR are Justin and Trisha Davis (@justindavis33 & @trishadavis23). It started with me standing in the main worship auditorium. Justin and Trish walk by and Justin stops, looks at me for a minute and says something like:
“Hey… you’re Jenni Clayville?”
I think I started to sweat. I was, like, um… ruh-roh… what did I do now? But I replied, “Yes…” Was I supposed to know him? Cuz seriously… the babies took away ALL my memory brain cells… every last one. Could have been a REALLY awkward moment!
Long story short, they went to high school with Matt Payne (@mlpayne) and are also good friends with Pete & Brandi Wilson (@pwilson & @brandiandboys) who are friends with Brent & Tammy Hodge (@inworship & @inprogress) who are my friends frienemies enemies people (whatev!).
Nice full circle, right?
Their story of how God has restored their lives from a place of complete brokenness humbles me. You can read their story HERE!
Brian and I seem to be surrounded by friends who are calling it quits in their marriage. The sin that has crept up in their lives or the brokenness that seems to be irreparable looks too difficult to conquer. Forgiveness and redemption appears impossible. Then, we meet Justin and Trisha… a couple who made is making it. A couple continuing to CHOOSE to make it every day after pain and brokenness beyond any describable words.
I think that may be my next tattoo: CHOOSE LOVE.
When was the last time you CHOSE love?
The Garage Project
So by now, most of you know we were up in Seattle on Friday and Saturday to help my Mom clean out her garage.
Brian & I build her shelves (mostly Brian) and I went through as much of her stuff as possible within our allotted 24 hours to help her decide what to keep and what to throw out. Poor Mom… Renee & Helen had really helped clutter up.
Let me show you pictures:
Let me tell you what this is compiled of:
- 1/2 is my Mom’s stuff. Half of HER boxes in here have moved with her from house to house the last 25 years (6 large boxes of unused yarn, 4 boxes of unused fabric, an unopened, unused record player… seriously!). The other half were EMPTY boxes she was keeping for who knows what. She said she thought she would NEED them for something.
- 3/8 is Renee’s stuff. Renee pretty much moved her WHOLE apartment into my Mom’s house about 8 years ago and hasn’t come back to sort since. It’s difficult though… she lives in L.A., so how is she supposed to do clean? However… in the times she DOES visit, she doesn’t sort either. She’s a bit of a hoarder, like my Mom. Fortunately, Nae gave me permission to go through her stuff and dump/donate/recycle according to my discretion.
- 1/8 is Helen’s stuff. Helen has actually MOSTLY cleaned out her room and sorts through her stuff every time she come home
Brian hung shelves with chain, plywood and screws. We hung off the ends of them to make sure they were strong enough. It held 200 lbs. PER chain, so I think we’re good.
While Brian was building… and taking 14 million trips to Home Depot (seriously… WHY CAN’T YOU PLAN ACCORDINGLY SO YOU ONLY MAKE ONE TRIP???)… I went through my mom’s stuff. Here are SOME of the goodies I found:
400 pairs of shoes (this was only ONE shoe rack). There were MANY more shoe racks around the garage. A Coleman camp stove. Mom doesn’t camp.
WHAT THE??? This one made me scream out loud. I looked in the bag and saw this decapitated doll with blinky eyes, and another baby doll wrapped up in plastic to the right. Admit it… you screamed when you saw this pic too!
These pictures are of ALL the boxes and bags we found in the garage. We broke them down so we could FINALLY dispose of it all. My mom has multiple weeks of loading up her recycling bin. Oh… and there’s a barbeque grill to the left of all this. Mom doesn’t barbeque.
We arrived Friday afternoon and left on Saturday night. Here’s how we left in on Saturday night:
Look!!! You can see the garage floor 
This is the RIGHT side of the garage. Shelves are up. Everything you see in the RIGHT half of the picture are things that need to be donated or given to family members. Hopefully, that will all be cleared out the next time I’m up there.
This whole side of the garage could LITERALLY be filed in 4 catagories: (1) Recycling. (2) Renee’s stuff (3) Helen’s Stuff (4) Things that still need sorting. I couldn’t get through all of it in time.
Here’s another picture:
Far LEFT is recycling. Shelf #1 on the left is ALL Renee’s stuff. The dresser is Nae’s too… and it’s placed in front of MORE of Renee’s boxes. Shelf #2 – top half is Helen’s stuff. Bottom half is Mom’s gardening stuff. Mom doesn’t have a garden. Shelf #3 is stuff that still needs to be sorted. Shelf #4 – Household items (lightbulbs, paintcans, etc.) and a couple of boxes full of my Dad’s old stuff. Yes… that’s a rocking chair and TWIN fertilizing thing-a-ma-jiggies. Mom has no lawn.
I wasn’t totally faultless either. Here’s a picture of the stuff I left at my Mom’s house:
Yeah… ONE POINT FIVE boxes were mine. I shared one with Renee.
I write all of this with a light heart. It was actually sort of fun to do… though tiring. I LOVE my Mom and want to help her with things like this. Things that help her live easier. She deserves to sit back and enjoy life a bit now.
After I was done though, I DID write my sisters an email titled, “You Guys Owe Me!” and ended the email with, “You Guys SUCK!” Both returned emails to me with LAUGHTER in the body of the text.
Nice.
I’ll head back up in a few weeks to help sort the remaining boxes. I’m pretty sure that even though my Mom said she would sort through stuff, she probably won’t. I DID donate a few things my Mom had a difficult time parting with. One whole car trip was full of bags and boxes I didn’t ask permission to donate. Sorry, Mom… I’m sure you won’t miss it. And if you do… I’ll buy you a new one.
Eagle Crest Wrap
It’s taken me awhile to load all my photos from our Eagle Crest trip. It’s also taken me awhile to settle back into life once we returned home.
We’re almost there…
Vacationing at Eagle Crest with my in-laws was SO relaxing.
We played Super Scrabble & Cash Flow. I won at neither. Here’s a picture of our board when my Father-In-Law won. You can click on any of these pictures for an enlarged view.
Brian and I got massages. Then we played tennis. We had fun… but we are not so good at it.
There was also a crazy windstorm while we were there. Chance kept saying he was scared because he didn’t want the wind to “break him”. He could have actually been picked up by the wind, it was so crazy.
The wind actually knocked down a tree in front of our condo. It almost hit our car:
Mostly… we just got to spend time with family and slow down a bit. What a relief after two months of craziness. Here are some pictures from the week.
The Clayville Men (Kevin, Brian & Dennis) snowmobiling.
Paxton breaking out the smiles at 7 weeks.
My two cutie boys just hanging out together.
I caught Chance being such a sweet, loving big brother.
Me, taking a moment with my camera. It was so windy there, tumbleweed had blown into our patio area. It was wedged in pretty well. Made for a good photo
The one promise you know will always be kept.
Chance watching Louie Giglio preach in his “How Great Is Our God” DVD. I LOVE this photo.
Frozen Waterfall #1 – me taking photo opps again
Frozen Waterfall #2
And Chance copying what he sees me doing all the time. He’s actually taking a picture of the same waterfalls in this picture.
Now, we’re back to life… back to reality. Remember that song???
Aaaaaaand… We’re Connected!
We have internet access here in our room.
I’m quite pleased…
… I’m also quite pooped so I’m going to bed now.
Last Beach Trip of the Year
Our friends, Matt & Jenn Wilson, treated us to our last beach vacation with their family.
They’re good friends, so it’s always a blast being with them. We left on Monday and just came home about 30 minutes ago. We rarely even go out to Lincoln City since it’s so much closer to hit Cannon Beach or Seaside… so it was nice to have a “new” beach to visit.
Here are some pictures:
I guess that’s all I have for now. :)
At the Beach
I’ll post pics later… but I just wanted to report that at this very moment, Brian and Matt are down at the beach with the kids. Jenn and I are sitting that the kitchen island with our Macs.
We’re working… on our vacation.
What the…
Labor Day Weekend
Brian’s parents came into town for Labor Day weekend to spend some time with us and celebrate Chance’s 3rd birthday. This will also be his LAST birthday as an only child. LOL!
One of the big things we did this weekend was go to Rockaway Beach. Here are some pictures:
I had to include the ONE picture of me, even though my hair is everywhere. Oh well. That’s what happens when YOU’RE the “picture taker” of your household… you have a limited amount of pictures of yourself.
Some of these pictures are really sweet. I’ll have to photoshop some a bit, blow them up in black and white and hang them in our house somewhere.
I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.
The Beach
Sorry I haven’t been as “bloggerific” as normal… but I haven’t been feeling all that great.
With some really special help, I’ve finally figured out how to post pictures, so here are some from our beach trip last week.
It was obvious a bit foggy that day… but pictures still turned out pretty decent.
Of course I’m not in any of the pictures since I’m the family photographer.
I’ll take pictures of Chance’s newly painted room tomorrow. I promise to get you all caught up soon
Disneyland
We’re home.
We got home yesterday but we were so exhausted, we barely unpacked.
I’ve loaded almost all of our Disneyland pictures into an album on the right side. That took long enough so I’ll load the wedding pictures (which more than triple the number of Disneyland pictures) later.
Disneyland was AWESOME. My mom & Helen (baby sister) went with us. It was a long 12 hour day. We started at 9am and got back to the hotel at 9:30pm or so. Chance survived without a nap all week in California and rocked it the day of Disneyland. 
Though ALL of Disneyland was awesome, the best part was seeing his face light up when he saw Mickey Mouse at Mickey’s house in Toontown. I’ve posted pictures, but I’ll have to post the video later… it was so sweet.
I loved that I wasn’t pregnant enough to NOT enjoy Disney… but at the same time, I definitely experienced some uncomfortable contractions from after dinnertime on. It was perfect timing when we went home. I just felt bad that Brian and Helen didn’t get more "big kid" ride opportunities.
Don’t judge the binkie people… it was a long napless day and only needed the binkie after dinner on.
The rest of our trip pics and videos may or may not make it up on my blog before I leave for Houseboat Camp on Friday morning, so be patient. I’m sure you understand… I’d rather hang out with my family the 2 days I have before I’m gone for a week.
L.A. Wedding Post #2
I’m definitely posting a lot less than I expected… but… I’m not sure what I was expecting.
It’s late here. It’s 11:04pm right now… and will be much later by the time I’m done with this post. I’m exhausted, but I really wanted to get something out tonight.
Since I last posted, we had the wedding rehearsal, the rehearsal BBQ and the rest of my family came in. Since then, we (Brian & I) took 143 pictures. YEAH… crazy.
Internet connection at the hotel isn’t the quickest, so I’ll post an album of it all when we get home to Verizon FIOS!!!
Here are a couple pictures from the rehearsal:
Here’s the WHOLE wedding party lined up and goofing off.
The facilities at Calamigos Ranch is absolutely gorgeous.
This is how Chance, Helen and I will be going down the aisle. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be going down at all.
After the rehearsal, we went and BBQ’d at the Mytar’s house (Jason’s parents, Renee’s soon-to-be in-laws house).
Here’s Helen & Yii-Ann being themselves in the pool.
Here’s the three white people in our family. Chance, Jason & Brian. LOL!
Today was the bridal shower. Here’s are the bridesmaids and all the food we prepared for the party before it started.
And now, a picture of my current pregnant state (this is for you, Crystal!).
I’d post more… but it’s taking forever to load these photos and I’m exhausted.
See you on the flip side!
L.A. Wedding Post #1
It has been SO busy here in L.A. I really haven’t had the chance to post till now.
My sister, Renee, has us scrambling. Our hotel is literally on the opposite side of L.A. from where she’s staying which just means we end up driving a lot… but it makes for really fun and entertaining car rides with the other girls. It also means quality time with whoever is in the car (Mom, Dad, Helen, etc.)
We’ve gotten a lot done though. I’ve been really bad at taking pictures (again… it’s cuz we’re uber busy) but I did capture a few.
Here we are assembling placecards and programs.
From left to right: Yii-Ann Chen, Helen Wong (my baby sister), Gloria Chang & my Dad. All bridesmaids but Dad, obviously. My Dad is totally bored with this project. Can you tell?
Here are the placecards. Renee asked me to write them out by hand. I totally felt honored cuz she likes my hand-writing
I’m pretty exhausted right now. It’s tough running around in a city I don’t know, running errands I’m somewhat unsure of and helping diffuse the disfunction that surrounds our family… all while I’m pregnant. My body just doesn’t always do what I want it to. But it’s really nice being with the WHOLE family in spite of it all.
The best is having Brian and Chance around. Brian is my calming sweetheart and Chance is just my pride and joy… not to mention an AWESOME distraction There’s nothing like having Chance around to put it all into perspective in those awkward moments.
Other than some small but equally awkward "bridezilla" moments, Renee has been pretty bomb diggity. The best was when she paid for all our manicure/pedicures today. It was a nice surprise and a really sweet gesture.
Chance has mostly been shying away from everyone (there’s a LOT of people), but he’s taken a special liking to his "Yea-Yea" ("Grandpa" in Chinese – my Dad) and Auntie Helen (who lives in Hong Kong).
Here are a couple of sweet pics of Chance and my sister before he went to bed tonight:
They were watching T.V. here in our hotel room.
Here he is "getting-her-nose".
Ok… I’m exhausted and need sleep. Tomorrow is the wedding rehearsal, rehearsal BBQ and who knows what else.
I’m hoping Chance doesn’t freak out from lack of naps. I just want him to make it through to Disneyland on Monday.
YAY Disney!
And… We’re Off!!!
My friend, Aaron, and I flew Chance to La Grande yesterday evening.
I took some pictures but for some reason, they’re not wanting to load right now. Sad.
Anyway. Chance LOVED the plane ride. During the ride, I let him out so he could walk around a bit. Aaron let him "fly" for a bit and Chance was so thrilled about that. He sat on my lap and pointed to everything below.
Once he was all settled in with Nana and Papa (which took all of 15 minutes… Chance was practically shoo-ing me out the door), I headed back home to pack.
I didn’t even cry when I left him. AMAZING!!! But I DID hold him for a long time, give him a lot of kisses and told him I loved him so much.
I’m leaving now, for Mexico for a week. You can check out what I’m doing HERE and we’ll probably update from that site during the week (at least we’re hoping to).
Pray for us!!!
MOMS Retreat
I’m headed off to Sunset’s MOMS Retreat on the beach tomorrow.
I love the beach. I’d like to die there… preferable NOT in a tsunami, but I’m aware that’s not really my choice.
Holly (HOLLYRESNICKdotCOM) and I are rooming together (btw… Holly… stop stalking me at work! You’ve shown up every day since I started. I have to keep lying to my boss, telling him that you’re there to see him).
Holly is a bad influence on me. Hols and me being together all weekend means we’ll get very little sleep and probably get in a lot of trouble.
Don’t let her innocent looking face fool you! She’s a naughty one. She does things then blames it on me. Oh well. I still like her.
We’re leading worship for this weekend and I’m really looking forward to some time to “just be“. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop for quite some time now. Even when things are “slow” my mind is still racing. I haven’t been so aware of that until this week. I’m exhausted, so a retreat just what the doctor ordered.
Which doctor you ask?
Dr. Never-you-mind!!!
Clayville OUT!!!
We’re Home… it’s LATE!
We’re home… FINALLY!!!
Though Thanksgiving is always relaxing and one of my favorite away trips in the year, I have to say it’s nice to be home. There’s no place like home, right?
Chance didn’t really sleep the whole 5 hours we drove home. *sigh* He was okay most of the time, but sometimes, it’s like he all of a sudden realized how tired he was and threw a temper tantrum. We had to pull over at Multnomah Falls (when we’re almost home in comparison to where La Grande is) and let him pretend drive for about 10 minutes. He sat in his Daddy’s lap and worked the steering wheel, making noises and farting. What the… ?
He just wanted to get out of his car seat… wouldn’t you? It was really cute… I wish I had pictures… but my camera hates me.
*sigh*
Well… I’ll post the pictures I DO have tomorrow from our trip and fill you in more then. Right now… I’m gonna crawl into my bed and hopefully pass out till morning.
Happy 4-Days-Passed ToFurkey Day!
Jenni on Skype: jclayville 
