Oregon 2014

So sorry, but this post is going to be picture overload. But be thankful, if I had Chris's phone, there would've been more. In all fairness, this trip was to Oregon. Seriously one of the most stunning places in the country in my opinion. It was my first time, and most definitely will not be my last. 

So let's start our journey.

Our destination: Olivia Beach, Lincoln City, Oregon. Da Beach House.

Our drive started out looking like this:

Then we encountered this:

We played a lot of games, crafts, and movies.

Five hours later and we made to Ontario, OR. Just over the border from Idaho. Happy-I'm-Out-Of-The-Car-Kiddos.

The next day I was doing a lot of this:

The teenager comes out in me when I think of the drive along the Colombia River. I can't. I can't even.

We made it!

We also headed up to Portland for a couple nights on the way home. We hit up food trucks and VooDoo Donuts of course, but the rain really came down on our Portland Parade. The children's museum was awesome. But other than that, we needed to plan a little more when it comes to bringing our kids to Portland. I would love to go back and walk the farmer's markets and food trucks for hours without kids in tow. 

So we ended up checking out early and headed to Boise. On the way to to Oregon we had passed a water park just outside of Boise, in Meridian. So we beat the rain and headed for the sunshine. Roaring Springs was a blast!

I know I say it a lot about our family trips, but this one will go down in the books. A few things we will do or won't do again when it come to the Oregon Coast. 

• We will definitely stay in Lincoln City again. It was central, clean, and most important, not too crowded. We went at the end of July. The weather was great, a little cool, but not much rain at all. And we basically had the beach to ourselves for three of the four days.
• We will stay more than four nights. This place easily deserves a week vacation.
• You only need to drive to Astoria once. We will not do that again. We should've learned from our last trip on the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Fran. IT IS MUCH LONGER AND WINDIER THAN YOU THINK. Which is all fine and dandy and beautiful, but not so great to spend half the day in your car with three littles when your vacation is only five days long.
• The drive. Will we drive again? I don't know. Most likely yes, because we might not have a one year old ever again. And we saved some dough! So we will see.

GO VISIT OREGON!

Life Update

I forgot to post this like two weeks ago. I admit I have been horrible at posting pictures lately (thanks for the kick in the butt Rachel) so here are a few to show what's going on around here. 

 Millie is still doing dance every Tuesday. 

 This one loves every single thing that enters her mouth. 

 Yummy.

 Even more yummy.

 Oh, we snuck away to Disneyland in December. 

 I just love/hate this one because it shows how big our big girl is getting.

 Uh, hello loves of my life.

 And more yummy. Are you full yet? Didn't think so.

Jack started basketball and is in love.

You are caught up. That quick. 

Oh alright, I guess I could also tell you about the past few months too. Lots of it has been spent inside this house for me. Trying to get the bambino on some sort of schedule so Chris and I can someday, anyday soon or far, go one a date lasting longer than two hours. Seriously, this girl has set a fear in her grandparents. Not cool, Laney. Also the air quality is so horrible I haven't wanted to take the girls out in it. Like everyone else, we spent the last few weeks of the year with the nasal yucks. And once Laney kicked it, we did not want it to come back. And Mills can get little asthma flare ups, so we have been confined.

Chris and I have also been tackling some projects around the house. Millie's room has been painted and is super cute. I just need to take pictures. But first we need to get her bed back in her room. Why is her bed not in her room you ask? Let's circle back to the bambino who likes to yell for help every two hours at night. SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! MILLIE! I KNOW YOU ARE ACROSS THE HALL! HEEEEELP! So yeah, Millie has been in J's room for two months. They love it though, so we are in no hurry to put her back in.

We also built some built-ins in the office. More storage, yay! I will have pictures of that posted soon. It reminded me of how I like the idea of painting and then you quickly get reminded of how bad it stinks to paint all those angles. No more painting furniture for awhile. 

A final quick round up of the family…the kids are in school and their activities, but we are thinking of starting them on an instrument or music class?…we still watch tv, but good tv is hard to find sometimes!…. I am room mom for the whole first grade, yow-za….speaking of school, Jack continues to excel with a 4.0 and is on a fourth grade reading level….Millie is doing well in preschool, but that left hand is really throwing us for a loop when it comes to writing and drawing……Spike is still alive…..Chris and I workout in our room every few days doing crunches and push-ups. The burn does NOT mean its working. #weknowweareindenial…. and Laney just continues to be yummy. Have I said that already?

Favorite Moments of 2013: Family Edition

Here are some random photos that round out our 2013. Some I may have posted, some I may not have. Either way, take a look at how seriously, ridiculously lucky I am.

Never Underestimate You

I have promised many upcoming posts, and this isn't one that I was planning on. I knew it would eventually come, but it is always more difficult when it arrives.

My grandpa passed away a little over two weeks ago. This is the reason for my absence from the blogging world because my mind has been elsewhere. Being there for my mom, traveling to Colorado to clean out one of my most adored places, and attending his funeral service.

I tried my hardest to make it out before he passed, but with Chris out of town for work and my flight not arriving until Friday, he just couldn't wait to be with my grandma and passed on a Tuesday night. All in all I am happy that they are together. The sadness for me comes from closing a chapter that was filled with many memories that filled the house on 1214 Mountain, Fort Collins, Colorado.

I wrote a little speech to read at the service. The many ways that he and my grandma influenced my life. Having many speakers who wanted to say something about the man who contributed to a whole community and helping with the kids, I just didn't make it up there. But I am okay with that. I think they know what they have done for me. Not just for me, but the many who stood up to speak about a man who served his community, his church, his country on the front lines of Normandy, and above all, his beloved wife.

Never underestimate the power of you. The way you choose to live your life can impact your grand daughter who lives 450 miles away or your local Ace Hardware cashier. 

I learned many things from the both of them. To never stop laughing. And the best laughs can come from the most clean of all jokes or pranks. 

To give to your community. This is a difficult one. It is easy for all of us to go places and be in and out, give a quick wave on the way to drop off your kid at dance, stay in your house, your own backyard, your own circle. This is one I am trying to work on all the time. And I will try to always have Ted in the back of my head telling me to tell just one quick joke before I rush on my way.

The most important one of all is something that I took in from the both of them over the past thirty years. Not something I just observed as a young adult, but something that I took notice of from a very young age. It was to find someone like they did. Find some one who makes me laugh until I cry, pinches my tooshie, hugs me often, calls me on the intercom from the basement just to ask how I am doing, respects me above all else, and has that look when they see me, whether we are 25 or 75. I have never and maybe will never again see what I saw between my grandparents. 

Even though I married my high school sweetheart and many would think that is the easy way to go, it wasn't. There was something there from the time we were 15. And I am not just talking love. We laughed a lot. We respected each other and what we both stood for and came from.  We were best friends. We had difficult times. Some really good times. And eventually a time where we gave each other a hug good bye and decided to be friends and see where life took us. And we were okay with that. In the back of our minds we both knew where we would end up. Here today, with two kids and one on the way. A dog. Him kissing me on the cheek good bye in the morning. Me making him dinner.  

I can only thank my lucky stars my grandparents taught me what they did about love and marriage by the time Chris came along. Because there is no one else in this world I would want pinching my tooshie as I pass him in the kitchen.

A Month!

Yes, it has been that long since a post. And it kind of feels like it. Over the month I have wanted to get on and post a thing here or there, but it just hasn't happened. And that is probably a good thing. But now here we are. It's good to see you again. I noticed a few of you have some new posts too. Must have been that kind of month for all of us.

The past month has been full of a few things so I will quickly go down the list.

The whole job thing. I am liking it. It has been fun to remember how to deal with the public again and making new friends! I am a little rusty in that department and for once in my life have felt a little awkward at times when trying to have a conversation with co-workers or clients that come in. I never thought that would happen! I mean it isn't all the time, but when those long pauses come in conversation I tend to be the one who throws out the (probably) inappropriate joke or movie line. We are working on it though. 

I work two nights a week, this week it is only one day. So we will see how long this lasts. If they over hired I'm sure I will be one of the first ones to get the boot. Which in the end is fine. I like the job, but there are others who want this as a career and kudos to them, I always wanted to go into interior design.

I also watch my niece Rylie (aka Ry-Ry, or Jack's nickname, my sweet baby). He adores that little girl. We have her two days a week. And she is one of the easiest babies ever birthed on earth. Love her. And all my other little darlings, too. 

Other little things include working on the kiddo's halloween costumes. Jack is SUUUUUUPPER into dinosaurs lately (thank you Lord for the break from cars), so obviously he is a t-rex. And obviously he convinced his sis to be a triceratops. And obviously that means Spike has to be a stegosaurus, duh. We will see if Spike pans out though, the little turd. He has cost more this year in medical bills (knock on wood) than our whole family combined. He is arthritic, still has liver issues stemming from an infection six months ago, needs two teeth pulled this week, and lumps removed. Oh, and he may be going blind. Wha? I know, I know. Everyone and their dog has told us to go get the rifle. We just arent' there yet. He is still spry and not too grumpy, so I hope we have three or four years left. He will be the big 1-1 in December.
Jack is also really picking up on his reading and math skills. We never thought it would be so tough to teach this kid to read. And it has been easy, but we thought he would pick it right up and be reading more by now. Our first parent-teacher conference was last week and he is right on track. We have definitely learned to sit back and enjoy the process more with Jack now than we used to. He is so dang smart and we found ourselves putting unnecessary pressure on him for just about everything. I feel sometimes when you have a good kid and/or smart kid you start to do that. So we are backing off.

We have also hit up Lagoon, Creatures of the Night at the Nature Center and other fun weekend adventures. Who'da thought October would pan out to be such a busy month.

I think this also contributes to why the ole stork hasn't made a delivery yet. Just lots going on. And the only reason I bring this up, is because this has been a topic of conversation for our kids for the past couple months. BABIES! We want babies, mom and dad. Jack wants a boy, then a girl. And Mills weally wants a baby sister. I'm pretty sure she has no clue what that entails. When I am feeding Rylie she will tell me in the sweetest voice,"I fink baby Rylie is full. Put her on the blankie and play barbies. Mmm'kay?" I am in for it if number three ever shows. They have even gone to lengths to find out what the stork likes to eat, getting the clouds to go away so the stork can see our house. PRESSURE, people. We will get there though. Whatever the path, we will get there. Do I need to remind you that we are in my dad's basement? I'm sure that helps too. Sarcasm!

Here's to November and the six months of winter that will ensue. BOO!