The Month That Got Away!

Hi blog world. I'm back...did you miss me?

Not to make excuses for my absence, but September was the busiest month of my life.  I didn't realize how used to my summer schedule I was until the new school year started and I was launched back into the full-time work day.  Although I had such wonderful intentions to blog... anytime I had a moment where I could have sat at my computer I fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion! 

September also saw a couple pretty big decisions for us as a family.  The biggest one of which was our decision to accept the position of college age pastors at our church.  This launches us fully back into youth ministry and since we're still heading up the worship department and all our other responsibilities too, our plate is beginning to resemble more of a serving tray!  But we are also really excited - we just have to figure out how to balance it all with our family time too!

Rather than try to recap the entire month I'm just picking my three top events of the month to talk about today.

1.  FAMILY CAMP
Our annual trip over Labor Day weekend with approx. 150 people from our church is ALWAYS a blast.  And this year with the beautiful 90+ degree weather every day made this trip one of the best yet. We swam, we played LOTS of games, we hung out with friends just relaxing, and we enjoyed the air conditioning in Dave's mom's tent trailer that we borrowed for the weekend.  Besides the fun of being with my family and close friends ~ Hayden also learned to ride his bike (actually pedaling alone) and Elijah figured out how to walk behind a little push toy which kept him quite occupied the ENTIRE weekend!

2.  WARRIOR DASH
Earlier this year Dave heard about this extreme obstacle race called "The Warrior Dash" and got really excited about participating in something like it...then we found out it was coming to Portland and so he got a small group of friends to register with him and on September 11th he competed and conquered his first Warrior Dash.  It was a 5k race with 10 different obstacles throughout including jumping over logs in waist-deep water, climbing over piles of wrecked cars, climbing cargo nets, running through tires, climbing over walls and then crawling through a mud pit under barbed wire - and Dave did GREAT.  Over 7000 people competed in the event, with heats of 400 racers starting every 30 minutes over the course of two days.  Some people competed for best time.. most competed to say they did it, and the funnest part was seeing all the crazy costumes as groups of people came dressed to impress. 

3.  Baby's First Steps.
I should point out that these three highlights were listed in chronological order, not in order of importance... because I'd put this at the top of the list otherwise!!!
Elijah took his first steps on Wednesday, September 28th at 16 months, 4 days old while in the church nursery with his Auntie Jodi and Grandma.   I thought I'd made it ABUNDANTLY clear to the child that he should let me be present for this milestone... but I missed it by 2 minutes.  But I've definitely got to witness plenty of it since then...so I've decided to forgive him.  I videoed this clip the next day as he showed off his new skill.

 

And that's a wrap people! 

Here's to a slower October...hahaha...who am I kidding?!

It's a miracle...

I was looking through old pictures last night... when it struck me:

 
It is a miracle that these two people:

Miss Serious ~ 1 year

Mr. Scary Hair ~ 1 year

 
Made this:

Mr. Super Cute ~ 3 years

And this:

Mr. Adorable ~ 1 year

Dear God,

Thank you for giving my boys good genes... 

but not necessarily strong resemblances to me or the hubby.  

That was really good thinking on your part!

Amen!

Time Well Spent

This past weekend was our first in over a month where we had NO plans ~ so we decided to call it a "family" weekend and focus on our boys and doing things together.

Friday we had a low key dinner on our patio, watched a movie and snacked on rice krispie treats that my evil friend Amy baked earlier in the day and then sent home with me.

I'm helpless to their power...
she knew that...
and she STILL sent them home with me!

Saturday we took the boys to the Portland Children's Museum.  It was the first time any of us had been there and it lived up to the hype.  They really have made it such a fun and interactive place for kids - and we'll definitely visit again.  My boys both loved splashing in water, digging in dirt (well fake dirt, it was actually recycled and chopped up tires... much cleaner), grocery shopping in a kid size store complete with beeping scanner for checkout, art studios, music rooms, face painting - Hayden was in hog heaven and the only bummer about the day is that the battery on my camera was dead... thankfully we have camera phones.

The children's museum... this was actually as we left thus Hayden's painted face!

Now that's a picture!!

Turning all the gears to make water pour out different ways

"Rubber duckie, you're the one... you make bath time (or any water activity) so much fun..."

I loved the water proof aprons they had for all the kids to protect their clothing... GENIUS!!!

He could have played with the watering can all day.

Building our own track for the ducks and the boats to float down.

Grocery shopping

The dig pit

"This is too much fun!"

Digging in action... Hayden was going so fast he's just a blur

Filling up the scales

Loading up the dump truck

"CHEESE"

They let the kids paint their own faces... oh dear.

My super cute moustached clown face boy!

We also had a beautiful BBQ dinner with Dave's mom, took walks around the neighborhood in the boys wagon, ate fresh zucchini and tomatoes from our garden, welcomed home one of my best friends who just moved home after 5 years away and shared lots of laughter with my boys...

but my favorite thing of the whole weekend...
two days in a row..
two hour naps in the afternoon for all FOUR of us!
It was HEAVEN!

I think I'm declaring the month of August family month - especially if the naps continue for this mommy!

How was your weekend?

My Life in Collage Form

Because this month has been so busy, I decided the most effective way to recap without making this post a mile long was to put everything together in collage form. (Click on any collage to see it bigger!)

So here's my look back at life in the first two weeks of July.

Dinner at our house & pictures taken at church together.

My Uncle Matt & Aunt Jenny spent a month in Oregon with our family.  They've been living abroad in England for the last two years and were on their way back to New Zealand before moving to Australia for the next couple years so it was great to catch up with them.  Matt is my mum's older brother and it was their first time visiting us since we've been living in the States.  They picked a fun time of year to come, and we had a great time introducing them to all things America over the 4th of July weekend, showing them around, making them letting them play with our kids and I really enjoyed getting to know them on an adult level instead of the relationship I remember as a little girl.  I feel like I really fell in love with them in a whole new way during their stay, and can't wait until the next time we're together.

Hanging at the Rodeo with Mum & Dad, Russ & Jodi, Matt & Jenny - and about 1000 other fans.

Saturday the 3rd we hit the Molalla Buckeroo... cowboys, cattle ropin', bull riding, barrel racing, bare back broncos, elephant ears & fireworks ~ that's what we call a rodeo!!

Some of the friends & family we "paraded" with this year.

One of my very favorite holidays (second only to Christmas) is the 4th of July.  This year we started our morning at our good friends (and new neighbors) Rob & Shay's for a french toast breakfast before heading to the Molalla Grand Street Parade, conveniently within walking distance of our house and watching it with our family and friends.  Hayden finally got the hang of the "candy getting" this year and stood excitedly with his plastic bag waving and cheering for the floats as they went by.  We told him the more he waved the more candy he'd get and sure enough - he came home with an impressive stash.

Tractors, horses and an occasional driving outhouse... that's what Molalla Parades are made of!

The parade was filled with the usual... tractors, horses, rodeo queens, Ronald McDonald and a couple favorites, the Clinkscales portable toilet and the Kell's Irish Bar Highland Band with their bagpipes.  But this year I was especially excited to see my dear friend LaTonya with her family walking in the parade representing her husband's insurance company... go Feauf's go!!  There they are in the middle left with the Country Financial sign.

Following the parade two of Dave's brothers and their families stopped by for lunch and a visit. It was the perfect weather and we ate lunch on the patio, the kids ran around playing and we relaxed!  Thanks Dom, Syb & Jesse for stopping by ~ it's so fun to be together!

Fun & friends at my parents BBQ

Then that afternoon/evening we had a big BBQ at my parents with family and some close friends. The kids swam and played on the slip n' slide, the adults sat in the shade and then around the fire pit as the day progressed.  We ate until we almost burst and had a wonderfully, relaxing, easy time together.  And Hayden for the second year in a row was terrified by the fireworks.  I really thought he'd be okay with them this year but no... poor little guy shook and trembled and clamped my hands over his ears while shoving his face into my chest... not quite the reaction we'd hoped for.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Mary Poppins at Keller Auditorium

One of my birthday presents this year from Dave was a ticket to Mary Poppins on Broadway with my sister and good friend Jana.  Wednesday, July 6th our day finally came and it was the perfect night... all the way from the weather, to the exquisite dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (Thai Crunch Salad... if you haven't tried it yet, it's a must).  We also learned that if you see a lovely woman waiting outside the theater and you notice that unbeknownst to her, her lovely black sheath dress has ripped completely up the back seam exposing her rear end and some lovely purple panties... the kindest thing you can do is tell her and then walk conjoined-twin-close behind her all the way back to her car so she can rush home and change. This is the type of kind gesture that my sister did for this poor woman... and she was incredibly grateful (and also mortified) that she'd stepped forward and let her know.  The play was wonderful - the props and set were unbelievable and the acting and singing was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!  I couldn't get past watching the young boy & girl playing Michael & Jane Banks, knowing they were the same age as my niece & nephew blew my mind for all the lines they learned, choreographed dances and songs.  The whole night was amazing!

Mike & Linley Meisch - June 9, 2011

And then lastly on July 9th I was the wedding coordinator for my cousin Linley's wedding. Hayden was a ringbearer, along with his cousin Blake and Kendall was the flowergirl/Jr. Bridesmaid.  The kids did GREAT, and it was a really fun wedding that totally screamed Mike & Linley,, including wedding "planking" during the photos!  The only bummer of the day was my ill-chosen shoes that tormented me for 90% of the day!!!

My extremely talented friend Shay of Be Photography did all their photos and I can't wait to see the finished product  I stole a couple of her shots she posted on Linley's facebook page for this collage!

And folks... you're basically caught up!  Whew!

Now I'm going to go harvest some incredible fresh herbs and veggies from my garden (pictures forthcoming) and get dinner going for this family of mine!

6 years + 2 kids = beach trip!

This past weekend we celebrated both our 6-year wedding anniversary (actually on June 11) and Father's Day by taking our family of four to the Oregon Coast for the weekend.  Our actual anniversary was spent at the funeral of a dear friend so this weekend seemed like a far better time to enjoy some time away.

Here we are six years ago:

June 11, 2005 ~ the beginning of the rest of our lives!

Weren't we cute?!

So fast forward to Friday, and we packed our car and drove west to stay at a beautiful house in Rockaway Beach owned by some good friends of ours.  And bonus, it was just one block from the beach access with beautiful ocean views from the balcony's.

Our beach house

The view from the living room balcony

Friday when we arrived it was in the 70's... sunny and perfect for hitting the beach - so after a quick lunch we packed up the kids, our kites and sand buckets and set out.  Upon spotting the sand and the waves Hayden declared he loved the beach house and wanted to stay there forever!!!  What a great afternoon we had; Elijah loved the sand, Hayden loved playing in the waves, we had fun finding sea shells, we flew kites, we built sandcastles and we relaxed.  It was the perfect day at the beach.

Ready to hit the beach

So excited to be here

First introduction to sand... and he's a fan!!

Professional sandcastle builder in the making!

Nothing beats wave jumping with Dad!

Practicing his surfing pose for the incoming waves

My water boy!

"Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height, let's go fly a kite and send it soaring...."

Mommy's turn with the orange octopus

 

Checking out the waves

Such a happy boy

Playing with daddy

Burying Hayden in the sand

"I'm stuck.... HELP!"

Tired snuggly boy

We were here!

 

After enjoying the beach we discovered the Pirate Festival was in town complete with carnival so we walked around and enjoyed the sights and sounds and all the costumes.

Saturday, the beach remembered it was in Oregon and we woke up to rain, wind and much cooler temperatures.  Sigh.  So it seemed like the perfect day to go visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory, a first time visit for me and the boys.

Don't be deceived by this photo... I took this on Friday as we drove past. 

Ahhhhh yes... here it is on Saturday.  I liked the blue skies better.

"Really mom?  You're gonna make me pose IN THE RAIN??!!"  "Yes, Hayden I am... now smile!!!"

The Jelly Belly bus was visiting that day so between samples of their newest flavors, and then Tillamook's free ice cream samples (blueberry cheesecake), samples of some of their most popular cheeses (gotta love squeaky cheese!) and then lunch at their deli we rolled ourselves full and happy out of the factory a few hours later.

Our "Cheesy" family photo :)

Where the cheese making happens!

Tillamook ice creamery!

My cute boys

Free cheese samples... hello squeaky cheese... I love you!

Smiley fries from the deli cafe

 

Sunday morning was Father's Day so we went out to breakfast at a little cafe in town called Cowbelle.  The boys gave Dave their Father's Day card that morning and we had a nice relaxed meal together before packing up and heading back towards home.

But we couldn't go home without stopping by my parent's house for a Father's Day BBQ, and surprising Dave with his Father's day present.

Dave's own charcoal grill for the "authentic" taste he's been craving

"Surprise babe!"

 

Thanks Dad for putting it together for me while we were gone so it was more impressive than just the box!

It was a wonderful weekend from beginning to end and I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family to share it with!

 Dave, Hayden & Elijah... you are my life and I love you with ALL my heart!