InstaFriday

Today started out with a barfing child and ended with swimming at Grandma's in almost 90 degree heat (with no barfing, in case you can't tell that I'm saying the day got a lot better THANK YOU JESUS). 

Who's loving summer? We are, WE ARE!

Movie date with my boys.

(We saw Epic. Without Kendall. To say that she was mortally offended at this slight would be an understatement. But she has seen it now, so all's good!)

Rainy baseball night in the "hen house" with my girls. Love them all!

How daddy does haircuts.

Almost at 56 miles for the month!

Blake at swim lessons - his first lessons ever - after which he told me with disgust in his voice, "I can't even swim yet!" Oh bud, it takes more than a single time through level one I'm sorry to say.

Last game of the year! Love them handsome Halverson men.

Closing out Costco with Mum, who accompanied me grocery shopping SANS kids! Double bonus.

After her 2 month hike in boots with gators, this is what her legs look like - I laughed every time I looked down at them :)

Blake got new goggles and wore them half the day. With a ski hat. 

New pool toys at Grandma and Papa's bumped up the awesome value x 10.

Ahhhhhhh!

Enjoy the weekend!

10 things on thursday

It's been a while since I've done one of these... let's get random!

1. Today is Blake's last day of swim lessons, which I've been taking him to daily for the last two weeks. Based on the fact that he started out strong jumping in all on his own off the platform, and has now regressed to crouching on the side of the pool with his arms stretched out to hold the teachers hands before stepping in, I'm not really sure how much progress I've seen... but he's loving it and we get a free swim coupon when he's done so I'll take it.

2. Last night was Cooper's last baseball game of the season. His team made it to the pre-county playoffs and lost. To which I texted my sister-in-law the following message: "We lost! Hallelujah :)" Sorry, but c'mon, it's practically July. Baseball has to end sometime.

3. Our sheep all sold in one fell swoop last weekend. Me and the kids were out at the time so didn't get to say goodbye, which I think actually made it easier on the kids. Since then we have been a tiny bit sad but mostly all rejoicing in the fact that our driveway gate can stay open and no one has to jump out of the car every time we leave or return.

4. Candy Crush Saga. You know your level of addiction is high when you actually mention it in your journal writing during devotion times. (Mainly to look back at one day and laugh at yourself, but still).

5. I am loving our summer hours - the kids have successfully converted to the sleeping hours of 10 pm to 9 am (with an earlier bedtime for Blake unless he's had a nap that day) and I'm back to my favorite routine of staying up till midnight or 1 am and sleeping in till 8 or 9 am myself. I function very well this way and have a daytime routine/chore chart written out for the kids that makes our days pretty smooth when we're not out and about for the day. Not that things are perfect of course (see item #4). 

6. Since Mum's return last Saturday I've hung out with her every day except one. I missed that woman!

7. Russell and I are watching a little bit of Braveheart each night on Netflix before bed (that's a dang long film!) and while it's always been one of my favorites, I forgot why it's so very deserving of it's R rating! Sheesh with the nakey boobs and flashing Scotsman behinds! 

8. It's been cool and rainy almost daily for the past couple of weeks so I am not going to complain about this forecast:

{Nice!}

9. Counting today I have 4 days left this month to finish the #56milesinjune challenge. I'm at 43 miles (FORTY THREE MILES!) so thats... hang on I need a calculator... 3.25 miles per day to make it. Doable. I'm going for it. 

10. During the writing of of this post, I have taken two Candy Crush breaks. I AM SAD.

The return of superwoman

Well look who's back!

I would just like to brag on my mother, who is finally home (never to leave for months at a time again if I have my way) from her backpacking adventure.

She completed her life's dream... hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail (all 2,660 miles) SOLO. 1500 miles last summer and the remainder this spring/summer.

Taking off at the Mexican border back in April

Summiting Mt. Whitney - the highest mountain in the continental U.S. (14,505 ft.)

Crossing Forester Pass, the highest point of the Pacific Crest Trail

One of almost 2000 pictures she took along the way

Reaching Hwy 49 near Sierra City, CA - the point where she started last summer and hiked all the way to Canada

Excited that she DID IT!!!

She is amazing.

AMAZE-ING.

(And skinny. Really, really skinny.)

Oh the stories she had to share. Rattle snakes, bears, treacherous water crossings, broken equipment, high winds, storms and snow, desert heat, caring and friendly people, new friends, breathtaking beauty, sharing the love of her Savior and feeling His presence and protection the entire time.

What an adventure. What a superwoman.

A very thin and brown superwoman :)

we like each other

Thursday we celebrated our 14th anniversary (a week late) with another rousing edition of "let's do everything fun we can think of!"

It goes like this:
- drop off kids at Mike & Linley's (cool cousin babysitters) right after lunch for an overnight stay

- hit up Dutch Bros. for a white mocha fix

- do a little shopping
- undress for a relaxing hour long couple's massage

- get pedicures together

- eat dinner and dessert at a new-to-us restaurant (Cypress! Yummy and intimate)
- drive to the mall for a movie (Now You See Me)
- get crazy and go see a second movie right after the first (After Earth)

- take your tired and happy selves home to a quiet and child free house and sleep in the next morning before picking up the kids, and possibly a second round of white mochas :)

And like always, we had an absolutely fantastic and amazing time. My top tip for enjoying your anniversary celebration? Be each others best friend. Then you'll always have fun together no matter what you're doing. It's worked amazingly well for us :)

Interpreting Blake

How to interpret Blake's often peculiar way of talking...

a blower = someone who smokes ("Mom, remember when we met that blower on Grandma's road?")
a long time ago, except not that long = yesterday
"that place that you're going to tell them not to put ketchup on my cheeseburger" = Wendy's
I blessed = I sneezed ("I just blessed a whole bunch of times, Mom")
an overall = an oval
football field persons = football players (obviously)
our chuthers = each other ("we're eating the same thing as our chuthers!")
the junk = the dump ("I know where robbers live, Mom. At the junk!")

Sometimes it takes a while to interpret what Blake means even when he's not using made-up words...

(Conversation with Blake after he struggled with the driveway gate for a couple of minutes, trying to get it to shut right so it would latch)

Me: Good job for not getting frustrated and giving up, Bud, I'm proud of you!

Blake: thanks. I'm like a snake.

Me: huh?

Blake: you know, that snake whose egg gets stolen and it never gives up. The cobra.

Me: huh?

Blake: you know! On the movie with Blue! The cobra never gives up until it gets its egg back!

Me: HUH?!!

Blake: YOU KNOOOOW... with Blue! And the boy who is a fox.

Me (after some brain-racking): Do you mean Baloo? And Mowgli... the boy raised by wolves? In The Jungle book?

Blake: Yeah! That movie!

Me: I don't remember the snake having an egg... 

Blake: Yes, she does. I'm sure.

Me: Okaaaaay.

And that's where I gave up because I got the point. He's like a snake that never gives up. AWESOME.

Father's day ball game

This is what we did for Father's day:

And this is how it happened:

First, the kids made Russ a questionable breakfast of salty scrambled eggs, a pear fruit cup, and a glass of pink lemonade. (This is Russell's fake thrilled face).

And then they surprised him with a certificate saying "We're taking you out to the ball game!" and this is his for real thrilled face.

So off we went to Volcanoes Stadium to watch the Volcanoes play the Hillsboro Hops, along with Grandpa Duke, my dad, my brother, and my sister and her family as well. 

 Our first time at a professional baseball game!

Testing their throwing speed... 69, 35, and 25 mph, respectively.

We love our dad! 

It was a really fun and special day, which is what I was hoping for. And Red Robin for a late-night dinner and dessert afterwards? Icing on the cake ;)

Monday Confessional - thank you, i mean it!

I am OFFICIALLY the worst thank you card sender in the world. I mean, I'm terrible. Terrible at sending them myself and terrible at having my children write and give thankyous out as well. I always mean to do it. But you know, procrastination. It's my thing.

So Cooper and Blake celebrated their birthdays in March and what is it now, June or something? And I swore that we'd do them this time!

Enter Tiny Prints. I was offered a chance to try their products and didn't immediately ignore this offer like I do others because they are part of Shutterfly, and have you ever printed a photobook on Shutterfly? They're awesome. So anyway, I thought I'd actually check out Tiny Prints custom card options and, DARLING.

Check it:

{CUTE ALERT!!!}

So I ordered Cooper and Blake their own custom cards and we set to work. And being as that their birthdays were a full THREE MONTHS AGO, work it was, trying to remember who came and what they were given!

(Don't be like me.)

Blake signed his own name at the bottom of each note and colored in the names on the envelopes. Cooper added a personal note to each card and a doodle of some sort because boy's a crazy doodler.

All done! Coop got his handed out before school ended the week before last, and Blake's were all ready to hand out to his little friends at church two Sundays ago. Then we forget them at home, and there they sat on my dining room table for a full week, staring at me.

Until yesterday! When we got all but one handed out! With a small reminder that three months ago there had been this birthday party... remember?

(Don't be like me.)

(p.s. Thank you Tiny Prints for the awesome cards!) (p.p.s. so I guess it's "the rules" to include some type of disclosure if you are sent something for free in exchange for blogging about it? *Disclosure alert* I got my cards for free!!! Yaaaay freeeeee!)