Hello from Sunriver

We're nearing the end of our stay here in Sunriver... and as always I'm starting to get the "I don't want the vacation fun to end" blues.

It has been an excellent trip.

Including...
Multiple bike rides
3 turns down the waterslide
1 nose full of water
2 trips to Goody's ice cream parlor
1 shopping trip to Bend
3 late nights of games, movies, and hot tubbing
1 loooong trip down the lava caves
Too many lemon cream bars (if that's even possible)
One of the best vacations ever.
And 1 more day to go :)

(Grainy shots courtesy of my cell phone!)

Makin' me happy

- Finding my daughter lost in the world of reading on a warm summer evening.

- Starbucks coconut white mochas (nonfat, single shot, no whip, perfect). I believe I've talked about these before. I may have a problem.

- Online shopping for our soon-to-be-completed master bath to get design ideas... oh the possibilities!

- Our new puppy - she is the snuggliest, cuddliest, sweetest thing!

- The warm weather. I am not one of those "Fall is my favorite season" kind of girls. I'm all about SUMMER! (Which means I am very much dreading back to school in another week and a half.)

- Celebrating this guy's 34th birthday today.

 Happy birthday, husband! I wrote you a poem!

You are sexy, smart,

and sweet

You have really gigantic feet

 (It's true, he does. Size 13!)

You are my hero

in so many ways,

so I guess the big socks can stay.

(turned right-side-in of course, 
IN the laundry hamper ;)

- Leaving for a much anticipated vacation... today! Sunriver, here we come!

- The giant zit that developed smack dab in the middle of my forehead the day before leaving for vacation. Oh wait, that does NOT make me happy! (Or attractive!)

No matter, I shall ignore it and enjoy the next 5 days of vacation awesomeness... Happy weekend, friends!

Awkward & Awesome Thursday

Awkward

1. Wandering outside in my shorty short pj's first thing in the morning to take the dog potty, and not noticing the Christmas tree workers trimming trees at the edge of my backyard until I was within 20 feet of them. With no bra on. Awkward, awkward, awkward.

2. Answering the door and talking to the drywall guy coming to give us a bid for our house addition and then checking to see how I looked in the mirror afterwards and making this unhappy discovery:

Nothing like a clip-on tie to spruce up your lounging tee.

Apparently Blake clipped this on me when he was climbing all over me like a monkey and I never noticed (I was on the computer and not paying very much attention. Obviously.) Stop laughing... this was very embarrassing, people!

3. Fiber One brownies. Not the eating of them, or the taste, which is unfortunately darned good for only 90 calories, but the after-effects. 

And If you're not sure what I refer to, just look at the first word in the name and take a wild guess. I'll leave it at that. (I would have to buy the giant box of them at Costco too!) 

Awesome

1. Our master suite addition finally getting worked on again after a very lengthy hiatus due to THE TEETH WORTH MILLIONS. (Not really, maybe worth a year of college?). Yay for the end being in sight!

2. The glass subway tile I picked out for our bathroom back splash. There will be pictures next week hopefully... soooo excited about it!

3. Russ going to pick up this sweet bike trailer we found advertised for $50.00 on Craigslist (which is a great deal), and bringing it home for $35.00 :)  

Perfect for Sunriver!

The man has a gift, I tell ya.

I ate an entire elephant ear and I don't care who knows it!

Because that's what you do at the fair - you get an elephant ear. I'm pretty sure it's a requirement. 

What's not required, but is also delicious: BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and blended coffee drinks. Mmmm.

But enough about me! Our day at the county fair last Saturday was really all about Kendall. 

Kendall joined our local 4-H club this year and entered 6 items in the fair... earning herself 4 blue ribbons, 2 red ribbons, 2 champion ribbons, and 1 special award... along with $13.00 in prize money. Quite the haul for a ten-year-old!

Left to right: Kendall's skirt, poem, story, pastel drawing, pajama pants, and watercolor painting - which is going to the State Fair.

Saturday night was the fashion show, in which Kendall wore her pink skirt and "coordinating outfit" and posed on stage like a supermodel. 

I would show you pictures, except I don't have any.

I was videoing. 

And I'm nowhere near savvy enough to figure out how to put a video on my blog.

But here's a picture taken right after... Kendall is smiling mostly in relief that it was over because, Girlfriend was NERVOUS!

It was the cutest thing you've ever seen.

We also enjoyed watching a juggling comedian, the flying K-9 show, visiting all the animal barns (very Charlotte's Web), browsing the shopping booths, and some live music.

(We decided to forgo the carnival since we'd just spent the day at Oak's Park 4 days prior. That, and the rides were about as exorbitant as the cost of gasoline.)

Watching the juggling act.

Mooooo.

This guy was impressive!

With Grandma and Grandpa, who came to support the little fashionista.

OH and let's not forget about those elephant ears. Reason alone to go to the fair in my books.

Teri and Mum think so too.

A married dialog

Remember the crawdad feed we had a couple of weeks ago? The one where we boiled 120 crawdads in our new crab pot on the back porch? 

After the boiling water was empty of the cooked crawdads, I watched Russ take the pot and walk out several feet into our yard. Seeing where this was going I quickly tried to intervene...

Me, alarmed: "Don't dump the water in the grass, Babe, it will kill it!"

Russ, scoffing: "No it won't. Grass can handle a little hot water."

Me, now also scoffing, but refraining from calling my husband crazy: "No it can't, it'll make it die."

Russ, pouring out water anyway: "It'll be fine..."

Me, in annoying sing-song voice: "No it wo-ooont..."

WELL. 

I'm sure you can guess what happened.

"The Spot"

That's right, two days later I walked out to find this lovely patch of completely dead grass. 

Dead as dead can be.

Now, I'm not a grass nazi and I don't really care that there's a dead spot, our lawn is huge and it's just one spot. What I DO care about is being right, and making sure my husband knows it ;)

So of course I had to lay out on a blanket with a book in the nearby shade so that when Russ came home and walked over to talk to me I could kindly point it out to him in. 

Russ: "Hi, honey, whatcha doing?"

Me: Oh, just hanging out. Hey babe, notice anything peculiar when you look around?

Russ (glances around quickly): "Ummm...  OH, niiiice." (laughs sheepishly)

Me (grinning wickedly): "Not to tell you I told you so or anything, but um, I TOLD YOU!!!"

And Russ had no comeback. 

And then we held hands and talked about our day and all was right in the world.

Because the lady is always right :)

A fun-filled day of parks and puppies

Kristie with her girls Sarah and Grace, and us.

This past Tuesday my friend Kristie and I took our kids to Oaks Park for the day, a Portland area amusement park. We wanted to get an early start so we planned to meet there at 9:30 am sharp (translation: as close to 10:00 am as possible). 

Fact: It's always a good idea to check online for park info about the day you're going... in case you show up and find they are having a special PRESCHOOL ONLY morning, for 6-year-olds and younger. 

Bummer Summer. 

We decided to pay the entrance for Blake and Kristie's 3-year-old daughter, Grace, so they could go on all the kiddie rides while waiting for the full park to open to the general public at noon. Kendall, Cooper, and Sarah (Kristie's older daughter) were excellent sports about this, watching from the sidelines, and we rewarded them with delicious deep-fried carnival food and cotton candy for lunch.

(Or at least, that was our excuse so we could eat some ourselves.)

And then the real fun began!

Fact: I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS.

Kendall braved her first full-loop coaster and lived to tell the tale, while Cooper was kicked out of the line for being too short. He made up for it by going on the Screamin' Eagle however, something his sister was not quite up for. And Kristie and I made sure to get our fill of rides too, since we won't have great equilibrium forever.

After every ride Cooper would announce that he "hated it!" and was "never going on it again!". 5 minutes later he'd decide, "actually, that was kinda fun". And then 5 minutes after that it was, "Awesome! My favorite ride EVER!".

Fact: Cooper loves roller coasters after the initial terror has faded from his memory.

We had a really fun day and came home exhausted, only to leave again within an hour to go visit some puppies!

(My years of putting off getting a dog because I had children in diapers were finally over after Blake was potty trained in March. I'd dragged it out as long as I could, 12 years in fact, and the time had come; Russell declared this "the summer of the puppy.")

Fact: I am not a natural-born animal lover. I'm sorry. It's just the way it is.

But after a lengthy process of searching online, I decided what kind of dog I was willing to put up with I thought I would like, and we set up an appointment for 6:00 pm in Portland to see some mini schnoodle puppies that would be ready to take home Sept. 3rd.

Fact: mini schnoodles are a mini schnauzer/mini poodle mix - making for a small, non-shedding, affectionate, kid-loving, easily trained, extremely intelligent dog. Or so they say.

Back to our appointment Tuesday night though, when I did a last minute check online before leaving, we found a new listing for schnoodles much closer to home and for HALF THE PRICE. They were ready to go home immediately, and we drove there first "just to see them". In the process we forgot Blake's shoes at home because we got him up from a quick nap to go, and while out, one of Russ's flip flops broke and he couldn't wear it anymore.

Fact #1: We looked like rednecks.

Fact #2: It is virtually impossible to visit adorable puppies and not buy one.

Which is how we left with a new puppy and not a single thing for it yet! Never fear, off to Petco - with a still-shoeless Blake and single-sandalled husband, to buy $90.00 worth of puppy food and equipment!


Fact #1: We still looked like rednecks, DANG IT.

Fact #2: Despite our questionable appearance, Petco loooved us because we bought whatever they said to. 

And we didn't mind either... we were all in puppy-love and totally besotted by our sweet new girl.

We still are. She's the sweetest thing ever.

(translation: we're still in the baby puppy/sleeps all the time stage... check back later for my thoughts on toddler puppies ;)

The Help

Saw it.

Loved it. 

Cried a bajillion tears.

 With TWENTY girlfriends.

(If you're going to cry and laugh out loud all movie long, why not do it with a bunch of other women who are all doing the exact same thing?)

Those of us that read the book first...

And some of those that didn't (but still LOVED the movie).

How a little word of mouth can go a loooonngg way - almost everyone who went.

Had one of the best girls nights out Eva. 

Yogurt Shack helped ;)

(And let's be honest, so did the Breaking Dawn movie trailer... woohooo!)

Monday Confessional

If given the right opportunity, I can squander time like nobodies business. 

Last Thursday I went grocery shopping with all three of my kids. The goal (set only because I like to set goals, not because I had anything else planned that day) was to leave by 9:00 am and so I set my alarm for 8:00 am.

(Yes, I need an alarm to wake up that late in the morning. We have turned into the hugest sleeping-in family you've ever met this summer and IT'S AWESOME.)

Anyway, woke up at 8:00 am, snoozed till 8:15 am, showered, got ready and dressed by 9:15 am... hey - not too shabby!, yet somehow didn't leave the house until 1:10 pm IN THE AFTERNOON. 

Don't ask how that happened... I couldn't tell you at the time, and certainly won't be able to now, a whole 4 days later. All I know is that somewhere in there was budgeting, laundry, and reorganizing Kendall's closet. 

But back to our departure. We made a quick somewhat lengthy stop at my sister's office, stopped for gas, then a Dutch Bros. coffee for my sanity, and by then we were up in town and it was 2:15 pm. At which point I was all, "Look at the time, guys! Daddy's off work already, shall we call and and see if he wants to meet up and take you kids back home with him so you don't have to grocery shop with me?" (I only asked because I knew they would say yes, it wasn't really an option.)

The call was made, Russ was happy to oblige because he's WONDERFUL, and all of a sudden I was switching car seats in a 76 station parking lot and making sure to kiss my husband goodbye in case anybody thought we were one of those divorced couples that meets in public places to swap kids. 

Believe it or not, that's not even part of my confession - I'm just really weird. 

No, my confession is that after a nice leisurely stroll through Nordstrom Rack and Target, I made my way through Costco and was all set to check out with a cart full of groceries when I glanced over at the book table on my way past and saw a book that caught my attention. 

The girl who was kidnapped at age 11 and held captive for 18 years.

I stopped. 

I picked it up and read the back.

I opened it up and read the inside jacket. 

Then the preface. 

Then the introduction.

AND THEN THE ENTIRE BOOK. 

Yep, that's right. In Costco, standing in front of my loaded shopping cart, with tears streaming down my cheeks in many parts. It was just that mesmerizing. And awful and horrifying, and insightful and inspiring and full of hope. In a nutshell.

Now, I have never done this before and when I finished, and realized what I'd done, and how much time had gone by (an hour and a half!), I glanced around very sheepishly, feeling quite guilty. And this feeling was made much worse when I hurried to check out and didn't even buy the book! (I'd already maxed out my shopping budget!)

Am I a terrible person?

Don't answer that.

I am a black hole of time, people.

(Post script: I'd like to add that I'm not necessarily recommending the above book... the early stages are quite descriptive and detailed in ways I did not think necessary - along with the language used during those scenes, so some of it I skipped over. But the overall story is still very amazing.)

Practical joker

Yesterday the kids and I stopped at a garage sale (or five) while out running errands, and one of the things Cooper picked up was this little softcover book of kid's practical jokes.

He immediately read it cover to cover, came home on a mission, and has since tried almost every single one of them on us. In succession.

Luckily for me, I've been given a pretty good heads up to whatever the coming trick is by dead-giveaway questions such as, "Mom, where are the balloons?" or, "do we have a fake spider?" proceeded with, "this is going to be sooooo funny... no one come back to Mom's bedroom door/the bathroom door/Kendall's bed/dad's car yet!!" 

Quite sly, that kid.

It is hilariously cute. 

And also the reason why it was so funny when this guy actually got me!

(Only because I barely saw him from the corner of my eye as he FLUNG down at me when I opened the bathroom door.)

On close inspection it appears to be taped onto the door trim with CHEWED GUM. Niiice.

Time to take a litle looksey-loo at that book to see exactly what else might be called for as a prop in the instructions!

Occasional hillbillies

Last Sunday night Russ took the kids, Kendall's friend Sarah, and our oldest nephew Ben down to the creek behind our church for a little crawdading fun (that's crawfishing to the layman).

(Alright, neither of those terms are real words. But they should be.)

Crawdading: (verb) the act of catching crawdads (freshwater crustaceans); either with traps, or more commonly, your bare hands - at the risk of multiple fingers and toes.  

(from Jodi's New Country Dictionary)

After catching 120 of the little guys within an hour, they brought them home in buckets and we used our new outdoor crab pot/turkey fryer to cook them and have an outdoor crawdad feed!

Blake wasn't so hot on the "holding a live crawdad" idea.

great $25 garage sale find

Russ and Ben taught the kids and I the fine art of cracking open the shell to get the tail meat, which we dipped in melted butter before chowing down.

It was a lot of fun, though I couldn't help but wonder if we were on a show like Swamp People if city folk would shake their heads at us and be grossed out.

And as you can see I was really bothered by that thought ;)

Still, I feel the need to tell you that last night we ate out at a country club, sitting on the back verandah looking over the golfing greens while enjoying steak, prawns, and BBQ ribs, with creme brulee for dessert.

Delicious!

The Farmstead Inn at Arrowhead Golf Course

So we're not ALL hillbilly. 

What I Wore Wednesday

Hi, Wednesday friends!

Nothing too exciting going on in the clothing department this week... in fact it was such a dud week of outfit cuteness that I added a couple of girlfriends to the lineup!

Meet my sister-in-law Cara, who recently started recreating her clothes, and turned an old pair of bootcut dress slacks into sassy matchstick pants! 

How cute are they, and how cute is she?!!

Her shirt was her father-in-law's, her pants were old, and I believe her belt and sandals were thrifted - and look what a trendy outfit she put together!

Then Kendall (who is now 10 and officially a "girlfriend" ;) joined the sewing bandwagon after receiving a new sewing machine for her birthday and, with a little help from her Grandma, sewed this skirt in a single day yesterday.

ready to enter the 4-H fashion review at the county fair this weekend!

(That's it, I'm practicing while she's asleep so I can join the club too!)

And on to my outfits, which there are only three of...

green tee: Shade Clothing, white tank: yard sale, Old Navy jeans and sandals: thrifted, bracelet: Premier Designs

entire outfit except necklace & sandals: thrifted. (Sandals: Target, necklace: Premier Designs)

top: Romy, skirt: thrifted, belt: Dressbarn, wedges: Target, bracelet: Premier Designs

Pairing the animal print belt with the floral patterned top on this last one was a stretch out of my comfort zone... but I really wanted to wear a skinny belt, and it's the only one I have! I think I liked it :)

I'm linking to Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy, head over for more outfit posts!

She's 10!

*Editors note: After writing the following post, I went to load the pictures off my camera and add them here when I discovered that every single picture from the party yesterday has been DELETED. By the evil new video camera that I describe below as cute and an awesome purchase. Well I take it all back! That camera is from the devil! Why oh why did I loan Kendall the SD card out of my camera to play with in her new toy at the end of her party???

Off to cry a river of tears now... continue on.*

Kendall turned 10 on Saturday... and partied like a rock star. Without her parents, who weren't even invited to join the TWO work party picnics that she went to with her brother! (Thank you Grandma Tracy and Mum and Dad for taking the older kids all day though, it was actually kinda nice ;)

I'm sure you can guess the fun they had.

a quick pic with Grandma and Papa before they went back home and slept for 10 hours straight to recover from a day of fun with my children.

When they came home we gave Kendall a special gift - a new bible (with a little surprise inside), before making mallow magic popcorn (highly addicting) and watching a movie together.

Note: do not let your children pick "Fred: The Movie" for a family movie night unless you want to be so annoyed by the main character that you would consider shooting yourself just to end the misery. How did that kid get a show on Nickelodeon?!

Yesterday was the official birthday par-tay... a girls-only pool party at my folk's place. And of course the sun didn't come out, nor did it get above 72 degrees. However, the will of 7 young girls prevailed and the swim fun went on. As did numerous games of hide and seek, sardines, and "hot potato".

the cake I made and thankfully took a picture of with my cell phone so I could send it to 3 different people. Sometimes, just sometimes, it pays to be a show-off.

Our big gift to Kendall was a cute blue handheld camcorder that also takes still pictures - and oh.my.word was it ever a HUGE success! Yay me, for waiting till Sunday night to buy her gift and finding it on clearance while looking for something completely different!

Of course, if we had given it to her at the beginning of the party we wouldn't have had to plan any entertainment at all, because if you want to know the perfect age for girls to want to video themselves and each other acting completely goofy and laughing their heads off at it, it's 10.

After the party fun was over we headed to Russ's parents for a lovely dinner and a special gift-giving for the big girl. 

A very, very special gift-giving. 

Grandma and Grandpa sure are wonderful!

In fact, I'm wondering how I can get in on that awesome gift action! You better believe I'm going to relearn how to sew so I can get some use out of that puppy too! 

Oh, it's good to be 10.

Not so much to be a picture-taking mama who loses all her party pictures... whaaaaaaa!