Visisting Great Grandpa

After we left the Lake on Saturday morning we went to visit M.G's grandpa in Spokane. We all had a nice time chatting about our visit to the lake and hearing about Grandpas happenings. But Owen had the most fun when he discovered the chair that "gives you a ride"



Wooohooo this chair is fun...


Saying good bye to Great Grandpa(who is in his own moving chair coincidentally)

saying good bye to the chair..."see you next time chair"

Priest Lake 2010

Every year in August we go to Priest Lake in Idaho with M.G's family. There is something magical about this place for me. Maybe it is because M.G proposed to me there or maybe its just the lakes peaceful natural beauty, or it could be watching Owen grow up in the same tradition M.G grew up in every summer on this very same lake. Whatever it is I love it there and am extremely grateful to M.G's family for letting us come along every year.

One of Owens faves the lake side sand box.


This year Owen was fearless about jumping into the lake(into waiting arms) he would just fling his little body off the dock over and over again until he was shivering and blue lipped.






Owen watching from the dock as I save his papa (who is floating in this little floaty) from going too far out to lake



M.G's cousin John took us out on his boat for a fun ride around the lake. He did swivels and bumps for Owens sake but it was fun(and a little scary)for all of us. Owen loved it!




Owen and Uncle Daniel had fun together in the paddle boat. They went on adventures to the nearby water spring and played basket ball-from the paddle boat-which was funny to watch, and they even came to the swimmers rescue when we got too far out in deep water and needed a tow back to the shallows.


I haven't done any research on the matter but I honestly think this may be the most scenic sand box around. Owen loves the proximity to the water and the plethora of toys for building cities. We all had fun helping him make good use of it.

We had such a lovely time together at the lake this year. Owen is so much fun to play with and to watch as he finally grasps the wonders around him in this beautiful place.

Summertime

It hit me the other day day that this is my last summer with just Owen. It is a strange thing to try and imagine another person in the mix(exciting and terrifying all at once)thinking about how I will divide my attention and take photos of more than one. So I thought I had better document at least some of the fun things we have been doing in the last month or so. I only have so much time left to camera stalk my one and only while he is still the one and only.


Trips to the A.C. Gilbert house(a little children's museum here in Salem)we go about once a month but in the summer we try and go more often because the have a rad play area out side.


Play dates with Owens friend "K-love". They are really enjoying the rock garden this year...maybe not the way I had anticipated this area to be enjoyed...but hey they love to play "struction workers".


Weekly walks down the the Wednesday market. Sometimes we buy fresh local berries,sometimes we buy flowers,but most of the time we just stroll through and look at everything while drinking lemonade and coffee.


Dirty little summer feet that beg to be photographed. He loves to be out side with as few clothes on as possible and NEVER shoes.


Water parks. there are about four of these parks with built in sprinkling devices in this area and we love them! Its so fun to watch Owen as he try's to discern how it all works(and then try and stop it from happening)he is truly a wonder to behold.

48 hours

This weekend my big brother Devon and his film crew-which included M.G this time-entered the 48 hour film fest in Portland.They got the genre of movie they were to make on Friday night and then worked like mad men to produce a short film in 48 hours.

While they were doing this my sister and I were busy watching the three cousins.

It was a weekend to remember for sure. we made pillow forts and watched Elmos green plant and drank lots of caffeine.

We read princess stories and watched movies about ballerinas. We all piled in the car together.



They were three peas in a pod all weekend-mostly because we kept stuffing them in to tight spots with each other-even if they did squabble over toys,books and random things like the highly coveted tape measure.


By the end of the weekend I had a new found respect for mothers of multiples(like twins or triplets)and thought hats off to you ladies who have three three year olds all day long for your whole life! I feel extremely blessed to have only one little who will be four years, two months and 1 week older than his soon to be sibling...nice big gap. Not sure I have the temperament for triplets(which means I don't at all). But it was fun and the cousins loved having time with each other and there favorite aunties.

Reality

This is the reality of my life right now.
4 hampers(and counting)full of clean unfolded laundry just hanging out in the living room-well technically they are in the office now because we had friends over last night and instead of folding them I moved them-waiting for attention

My sofa bed. I sleep here on the sofa every night alone because our attic convert bedroom is way too hot for my pregnant body.

One happy little. Just glad to be. He is a huge light in my life and I am so lucky he is such an easy going little guy.

So there you have it... the world as I know it. I would like to say that I am going to sign off and dig into that laundry but the sad truth is that I am just too tired and I am going to lay down on my sofa bed and pray for some sleep.

This week

This week has been a doozy.. do people say that word any more? Doozy? Well I do so here it goes...

My sweet father in law has been in the ICU at providence since Sunday. He was on a road trip to Cali with my two brothers in-law when he got really sick. They took him to the hospital in eureka California and he was admitted. He had internal bleeding in his esophagus and his liver was some how to blame(its a really long complicated explanation). There was a space in time when we didn't know what hospital he would end up in(but the doctors thought probably San Fransisco) so MG and his mom started driving to Cali on Saturday night. Charlie(my father in law)was life flighted to providence in Portland early Sunday morning. He under went a couple of pretty intense procedures and a few really stress filled days in the ICU.
Charlie is out of the the ICU and recovering really well now so thank the Lord for that(every step of this process has been in His hands and I can see that as I look back).

During all this mayhem my amazing Grams (who is fighting off some really gnarly cancer in her whole body)fell down and broke her hip. She under went hip surgery and is doing well in recovery. She may have to spend some time in a rehab facility-which will not suit her-but I'm sure will help her be able to move much better which she will like.

Needless to say we have been stretched this week. Owen and I spent a lot of time alone and a lot of time up at the hospital visiting MG and his family. We are all together now(at least in the evenings) which makes things feel so much more normal.

I have been thinking a lot about things to be grateful for during this time of upheaval. Blessings to ponder and to praise... and remarkably there are SO many!
#1 Charlie is in Portland only 20 minutes from his home.(not San Fransisco like they originally thought)and is recovering like a super hero!
#2 My grams has a great attitude and is recovering well.
#3 I am able to comfort those around me and love them through this all.
#4 Owen has been a really easy kid during this time.
And here are some other praise worthy images...

#5 being a member of CSA(community sponsored agriculture)-if i would have had my own garden it would have gone to pot a long time ago.

Getting flowers from a sweet husband just because I have felt the pregnancy yucks for so long.

Cousin sleep overs! These are some seriously good times.


Unyielding love for his papa. This kid LOVES his papa more than anything!

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things
Philippians 4:8

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.