Camping

We started this week out by heading down to Grants Pass to camp with some good friends. We stayed on our friends grandparents property which was loaded with fun for everyone. There was a pool and a play area, a golf truck and a back hoe, chickens and plenty of grass to play ball(or play with balls)in. There was a kitchen for us to use inside the shed as well as a fully functioning bathroom. It was not hard core camping but it was really fun.



I LOVE getting out of dodge and leaving behind the cares of daily life. I love watching my little play with all the other littles and laughing with friends that are really more like family.



I have always wanted to try out living communally and this was as close as it gets living out of tents-all circled up close together-for 4 days and 3 nights.





We ate together and discussed life from the mundane all the way to the fantastical. We played tricks on each other and wore silly hats. We loved on each others kiddos and played like we were kids ourselves.


It was great to get away. And now its good to be home just the three(and a sprout)of us.

#2

We are officially entering a new season of wonder around here. We are headed into the unknown and navigating away from normalcy, ease, familiar, and comfortable.

We are expecting our second baby!! That's right folks I am pregnant, with child,in the club, whatever you want to call it and I couldn't be happier!

It has taken me a long time to feel "ready" to get started on expanding the family but here I am with baby on board and I am as ready as anyone can really be. It is definitely grace that has me in this place of peace and I am intensely pleased to be receiving it.

So far this pregnancy is really different from my first. I am feeling the "morning sickness" all day long. I am craving meat all the time and lettuce... kinda weird but healthy enough... I am also feeling the strain(tiredness mostly and headaches)a little more through out the day. All in all things are going OK. I am able to power through most days on my own which is good.

So there you have it... The "sprout"-that's what we are calling the baby for now-is out of the bag.

The Great Urban Race!!

All I can say about this "race" is WOW. So its not really a race per-say but more of a-crazy long hard adult type-scavenger hunt. MG and I went with Lisa and Jacob(a couple we love dearly). The plan was guys against girls and who ever finishes first gets bragging rights... well.... as it turned out none of us do(OK MG does)

The race was in downtown Portland on Saturday the 12th of June and ranged from the pearl to the waterfront and up by PSU. It was supposed to be a 10k most people just tried to get the clues figured out in a decent time while walking it,some really hard core people actually ran it and got all the clues!(that may I add was not us).

Here we are on the MAX heading in with high hope and spirits soaring!


Good old P-town how I wish I would have taken time to learn more about you before this adventure!

Here is our clue sheet... we figured out all the clues using our brains and an i-phone... finding the places the clues led to...that was a different story.(at least for us ladies)


Here are Lisa and me ticking off some of the required items on the clue sheet...


Posting by rose bushes


Finding Hot lips Pizza and eating some...


Shaking a dogs paw...

Jumping off this bike statue...

Pretending to dive into a fountain...

(These were not even half the clues but this post is already huge so I figured you would get the gist.)

And at some point in the adventure Lisa and I realized we had probably already walked about 8 miles and we had only done half of our list and we were once again clueless as to how to get to our next clue... So we called in the men folk and had them rescue us...

It went really smoothly after that. MG knows his way around Portland like a well oiled machine. The dudes had already finished all but two of there clues so they lovingly showed us the way to the rest of ours and we finished the race what I am sure was close to dead last.

We didn't mind. The Guys took us out to dinner and we all laughed about the day and complained about sore feet.








Incandescently This brewery has an awesome GF menu! They even have really yummy GF buns for their burgers! Also the home made ginger ale is outstanding(maybe I was just super hungry and really loving food)But this place Rocked!



Tired faces.



All in all it was a good time. We have vowed to never separate ourselves from our better halves during a scavenger hunt again though.

Owen 3.5

Owen you are 3.5 now!! Oh my word how you have grown in the last 6 months. I am always amazed at your development. Not only intellectually but physically too(as cliche as this is to say)you have actually shot up like a weed.

Almost all of your babyisms are gone, you have used the toilet day and night for the last 6 months,you only sleep during rest if your sick,you do puzzles like a mad man, you sing songs (and make up your own),and you can memorize books now!! You you still have a bit of trouble saying your L's they come out as W's and your R's are still really soft(which I love and hope they always are).

There are still funny things that you say...your sandals are your "samples" chocolate is "choclick" you mix up she and her... so a common sentence is "we go see she?" or "is her coming too?" you still say "amimals" and when you say zoo it sounds like jew.



You LOVE the show Kipper-which is the most mellow T.V show ever-about a English dog and his animal friends. You also enjoy Veggie Tales and Pink Panther quite a bit.

You have always loved to read-well being read to and looking at books- but now you memorize the stories. This week your favorite is Miss Lucy had a Baby.

Owen you ask us "why" constantly. It can be exhausting,and sometimes, I don't know the answers to your questions...last night you asked your Papa "why I poke myself in the eye"...things like that no one really understands buddy.

I really love you and your inquisitive nature. I love that you don't just sit and let life pass you by. You are active and curious about everything, qualities I think will take you far.

Gulty Pleasures

We all have them...
For some its wine,chocolate,Harry potter,Sex in the City, Brittney Spears, or American Idol...There is seriously so many things to be school girlishly giddy about. For me (I am slightly embarrassed to say but not really) its The Twilight Saga! EEK-OK-its out there now... so do what you want with it now that you know. I love those silly vampire romance books(and movies) written for teen-aged girls and I am out of the closet about it.

So I was just a tiny bit (OK pretty much a lot) excited when my dear seester Lindy brought me a ticket to go go with her and some other ladies to see the newest installment on opening night! I would never buy tickets for opening night myself but it will be tremendously fun to see it with Lindy and the girls!
Here is the nifty little ticket.

Oh yes you wear it around your neck....

I am laughing at myself right now...So feel free to join in. I am aware how silly it is but I simply don't care.

Lemon Cucumber and Mint Water

I couldn't think of a clever title for this so there it is...
This water is yummy,refreshing and super fun for company.

Just slice some lemons and cucumbers then crush or cut up some mint then throw in a pitcher or ice tea jar and chill for a few hours. Drink the same day its made as it does not save really well(mint goes kinda slimy).

Enjoy!

"Summer where are you?"

It is June 3rd and it is cold and rainy in the northwest. I for one really enjoy gray weather. I like the way trees and flowers contrast with a gray background and seem even more alive. I am not a huge fan of the technicolor vibe a bright sunny sky gives everything (too surreal). I know I am completely on my own in this thinking but the rain and grayness really do suit me. It does not however suit Owen who has asked me repeatedly when summer will get here and when "spring rains" will end. He loves the sun and he loves to be outside. He loves to be naked with the heat beating down on his body as he jumps through the sprinkler. SO I am ready for the sun -for him, not me- to make its debut in this part of the world. Anytime now summer we are ready.
While we wait...

My boys keep me in fresh hand picked bouquets of flowers. This vase is worth so much more than the 25cents I paid for it. It is tiny and the perfect shape to hold the offerings of a sweet little 3 year old boy.



We watch our vines produce fruit!



And we make potato leek soup

Original recipe by Dana Gay
6-7 smalish-medium Yukon golds
5 leeks
2 large shallots
1 small sweet onion
1 package yummy bacon(uncured apple wood smoked or maple) regular or turkey
1-1.5 boxes chicken broth or approx 4-6cups home made broth. (give or take depending on how thick you want it...)
Half cup white wine
Salt pepper to taste
Bunch of fresh chives
Cook bacon set aside
Saute onions leeks and shallots in butter and a small amount of bacon drippings about 5-10 minutes.
Add wine stir let simmer 5 minutes
Add chopped and pealed potatoes and chicken broth into pot and let simmer until potatoes are tender.
Serve this way or puree in food processor or with immersion blender.
Top with bacon and fresh chives