2013: Lots of Firsts for the Leingang Family

Andy turned 18 this year and for the first time we now have two adult children. How did that happen???

Andy had a really nice birthday that you can read all about HERE

 

We were in an accident without actually being in an accident. In fact I think I can safely say that this was not only a first but probably a once in a lifetime situation! A freeway overpass sign fell right in front of our van while we were driving on I5!!! One of those times where you could see God’s hand at work!

It’s a pretty exciting story and you can read all the details HERE!

 

The boys have never been skiing before. So when Andy’s grad group went on a ski trip to White Pass, Chris took Andy and Will for their first ski trip ever! Chris and Will skied and Andy went snowboarding. They had a blast and can’t wait to go again this winter!

For the rest of the pics, look HERE

 

This is probably the first and last prom any of our children will go to. Andy’s grad group held their prom at the Flippin Castle in Clatskanie. First they had dinner, followed by dessert and dancing. Chris and I got to go, too!

You have to see the rest of the pictures of the beautiful location and dresses HERE

 

Andy’s very first fencing tournament was very fun and he even got his picture in the local paper!

The rest of the info is HERE

 

The weather this spring was so mild that we were able to take a day hike out to Sauvie’s Island. I’d never been out there and there is a lighthouse on the island that we didn’t know existed. So we went out to check it out…

The rest of the pictures and story are HERE

 

For the first time in years it was sunny enough on Easter Sunday to have the church Easter egg hunt outside! It was gorgeous!

And for the first time, we had a baptism on Easter Sunday!

What a glorious celebration of our Savior’s resurrection!

2013 Part 2

For the first time, we noticed one of our chickens had an “issue”. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was wrong but Andy figured it out one day while she was wandering in the yard. I thought she was the bravest chicken ever not being one bit afraid of Betsy. But when she walked clean off the rock wall, Andy figured out that she was blind. She’s still doing great, lays eggs now and then but can’t live with her sisters… they almost pecked her to death the last time we tried. :o(

 

Wow! Our oldest kid is not only an adult but isn’t a teenager anymore! He is now also the same age I was when he was born! For the first time we feel SUPER old! LOL

 

I have always wanted the chickens run to be covered. It is always messy and muddy and it makes the girls miserable. This year for my birthday, Chris made me a lovely covered run! It’s perfect and for the first time, I wasn’t a muddy mess every time I went out to collect eggs in the rain! Thanks, Chris! I love it!

Oh, I also finally finished the laundry room and got the red washer/dryer I always wanted… thanks to a few cans of spray paint!

 

Andy graduated from high school. Not a first for our family but a first for Andy. He did so well and we had a great grad group with the homeschool group! It was a lot of fun and we are so proud of the man he is becoming!

Pictures of the Sr dinner and ceremony are HERE

 

Both Zack and Andy graduated from LCC in June, making it the first time they have graduated from college! They both graduated with honors and we are so proud of how well they did!

You can see the rest of the pictures HERE

 

This summer was a very big first for our family! Zack and Tatum got engaged! He even arranged for some friends to take pictures so we could all see the happy moment! We are so excited for Tatum to be part of the family and for their wedding in August!

 

I think that Walt and Dena have asked us to go to Vancouver Island on their boat every year since we moved here. And the year we finally did it for the first time! The weather was very nice, the gardens were lovely and it was quite an adventure!

Read about our adventure: Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3

2013 Part 3

We haven’t been backpacking in years and we decided to go again this year. The weather this summer was perfect and we found a place just south of us along the Lewis River near Mt St Helens. It was gorgeous! It was the first time we’d been there and we will be going back!

To see more of the spectacular views along the trail and the story of our trip, go HERE and HERE. We also visited Ape Caves, which you can read about HERE (next time you see me, you can ask to see the scar on my knee… LOL)

For the first time we have THREE boys in college! William is now at Lower Columbia College finishing up his last two years of high school and Zack and Andy are at Western Oregon University. We moved them into their apartment at the end of September.

This also means that for the first time in a very long time, we are a family of three at home. Very quiet and very hard to get used to. It helps that the boys have been home nearly every weekend since they left… :o)

You can read about the big day HERE

 

Chris teaches for an on-line homeschool academy based in North Carolina. Every fall they have a teacher’s conference and this year we got to go! That meant we got to go to North Carolina for the very first time. And since all those southern states are so small, we also got to go to Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky for the first time, too! It was a fantastic week and we can’t wait to go back again someday!

You can read and see all of our trip: Day 1 & 2 , Day 3 & 4, Day 5 (part 1), Day 5 (part 2), Day 6 (part 1), Day 6 (part 2) and Day 7

 

This year, Chris and I started running for the first time. Running stinks! So in order to make it a little more fun, we registered for our very first 5k race. There was bacon in the name, it had to be great, right?

It was! It made all that miserable running worth it and William even came to run with us! He had a great time and finished fourth in his age category! Not bad for not training at all beforehand.

We all got medals and bacon, of course! We are already looking forward to next year!

 

I’ve always wanted to see how cranberries grow. We found a u-pick cranberry farm on the Long Beach peninsula with cranberries for only $1/pound! After school, Will and I drove out and got 70 pounds of cranberries and got to see a real cranberry bog for the very first time! Then we made a whole lot of cranberry sauce!!!

You can read the whole story HERE

On the Road in 2012

2012 started out to be the year of home improvements. In fact, we got several big projects done!

Painted the living room…

Cleaned out ALL of the closets…

Put all the music stuff in the schoolroom and the desks in the boys’ rooms and family room…

Painted the basement bathroom…

Painted Chris’ office…

Started painting the laundry room…

And that’s where it stopped…

We realized that while we’ll have all the time in the world to work on the house, the boys won’t be at home much longer. So we decided to spend the year traveling as a family instead!

In February we went to Cannon Beach…

I attended the Pastors’ Wives’ retreat at Warm Beach…

But the real  travel didn’t begin until after Zack’s graduation in June…

OH YEAH, Zack graduated this spring! He even spoke at graduation! We are so proud of him!

  The weekend following graduation, Zack and the other grads all went up to the San Juan Islands for their senior trip…

Then it was time for Bible Camp at Warm Beach…

  Andy played in the talent show

Before we knew it, it was off to Creation…

  August brought the annual convention in Fergus Falls. The boys hadn’t been back in 5 years, so we made a road trip of it…

First stop, Yellowstone…

  Second stop, Fargo and Space Aliens…

Then Fergus and the CLB convention…

After driving home straight through from Minnesota, we turned around the next morning to go with the youth group on the Great Escape to Leavenworth…

Since we hadn’t done enough camping, the boys and I camped for a week down at my parents’ place at the  creek…

While we were there, our niece Olivia was born!

  we also did some hiking in the Gorge

  

and we went tubing down the river

After fall started, we did some traveling closer to home.

Mt St Helens…

But in October, Chris and I celebrated our 20th anniversary with a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii! We stayed with our friends the Osbornes and had the most FANTASTIC time imaginable!!! We can’t wait to go back someday…

         Now the college visits have begun! First, Western Oregon University…

The whole family went on the road for Thanksgiving this year! We rented a house on Devil’s Lake at the Oregon Coast! Although there were 25 of us, there was plenty of room for everyone! The weather was even good enough that we could use the kayaks and long boards out on the lake!!!