I blame summer {and the end of an adventure}

There's no question, I've been a dodgy blogger this summer, that's for sure.

I blame summer itself. It's been full, and most of the time I'm either too busy to even think about writing, or I finally have a free down day and want nothing other than to play and read in the sunshine (or into the wee hours. OR BOTH.)

Stuff's been going on though, fun stuff!

This past Saturday, Kendall and I woke up at 5 am to drive 3 hours to find and surprise my mother who was on her second to last day of her TransAmerica Trail ride across the States. She knew we would all be at the coast to cheer her at the finish line on Sunday, so wasn't expecting us 30 miles out of Sisters on her way to Eugene at 9am in the morning. Kendall and I spotted her bright pink jacket in the distance, pulled over and jumped out of the car, and then had to flag her down as she almost biked past, not even glancing over at us! Once she did, she wobbled and almost fell over as she burst into tears and jumped off and ran over to us. (Commence Wilson Women Cryfest 2015. We were a MESS.)

{Warming Mum up in the car before she took off again - after downing the Dutch Bros. caramel latte we brought her :) 

{one of these things is not like the other...}

It was so so wonderful. Kendall and I followed Mum all day, stopping to cheer her on every few miles, picnic lunch together, then go out to dinner together in Eugene before heading home, just to drive back down 3 hours the next day to await her arrival in Florence, Oregon.

TOTALLY WORTH IT.

{The adventure ends with a wheel dip in the Pacific ocean}

{Celebrating afterwards at Bridgewater Fish House}

 
I'm so happy to have my partner-in-crime-and-late-night-shopping back again. And my dad, oh he's a happy fella! Life is good, folks.

I can't say the blogging is going to pick up again regularly in the very near future. We are about to enter "Vacation Month" - taking 3 trips in the next 5 weeks (something that will help my growing dread of the end of summer and back-to-school... waaaah!) So, I'll check in when I can when I'm not doing something more fun ;)

Awkward and Awesome

Awkward
- Joining periscope (new live video social media app by twitter) on a whim and trying it out for the first time, and utterly failing (couldn't even figure out how to stop the live video for like, 30 seconds.) Awkward awkward awkward. I may never get back on again, but I have to admit, periscope is a little bit addicting (and ALOT bit overwhelming.)

- Also. Joining twitter again in order to get periscope, even though you are still utterly confused by it 90% of the time. Make that 95% of the time.

- Forgetting to use the bathroom before heading to the track with your family to workout together (someone's starting junior high cross country soon!) and then squeezing your way through 6 laps of power walking because you don't want to make everyone go home again right away. Darn bladder.

Awesome
- Rocky movie marathons on Netflix. Not for me. For Russ and the boys. This is awesome because Kendall and I are now free to read together uninterrupted all evening for several nights in a row. Win-win!

- Best friends who make sure you aren't missing your fave summer show (So You Think You Can Dance) and who also don't make fun of your dorklife confessions.

- Finding out your biking-across-the-States mother is only THREE DAYS away from finishing her almost 3 month trek - a whopping 18 days earlier than originally planned, because she's too legit to quit! (Literally, she just won't quit riding!) Following her and Sarah's journey's on facebook has been my favorite activity all summer long. I'm so proud of them both, and so excited to drive down to the coast Sunday to meet Mum as she finishes by dipping her wheel in the pacific ocean!

{Starting at the Atlantic Ocean in Yorktown, Virginia, this is every state she's crossed since she began in May,

except Kansas - apparently they had no state welcome sign!}

Returned {Mexico 2015}

The house my husband and daughter helped build in less than a week down in Mexico, with the family they built it for! 

Russ and Kendall returned Sunday night, tired and happy and full of tales of their amazing trip. It's so good to have them home. 

And they not only brought home stories (and a lot of dirty laundry), but fun gifts too.  

Signs of a TOTALLY AWESOME dad: shark tooth necklaces and a shark jaw for the boys' wall! 

Signs of a husband and daughter who know me well: a cute scarf and headband for mama :)

Did I mention it's so good to have them home?

I MISSED MY PEOPLE.

The Friday Photo Dump

Remembering back to when I had the will to cook healthy and delicious meals for my family. 

(Otherwise known as last week when half my people weren't in Mexico.)

This is what happens when the two biggest eaters in the house are gone for 10 days. I buy frozen pizza and other not-so-healthy-but-easy-to-fix meals because I DON'T WANT TO COOK ON STAYCATION. 

Yes. I decided if Russ and Kendall are in Mexico, me and the boys are vacationing. From chores. 

Which leads to this: s'mores under the broiler in the oven. YES PLEASE. 

Blake attended a local vacation bible school this week, a really super awesome one, and based on the following conversation he had with his 5 year old cousin tonight, I believe he picked up a thing or two about God that he might not have heard before...

Elijah: You're house is noisy.

Blake: It's not the house that's noisy, it's the people IN the house... we are the house... just like we are the church!

Elijah: blank stare.

HA. 

Minions movie date! Popcorn counts as a meal, right? 

Wednesday night I was blessed to go out with my friend, Cindy, to help her shop for some vacation clothes. Cindy hates clothes shopping and I love it so I went along to help make it easier and more fun for her. I think I succeeded! And she bought me a Dutch Bros. iced coffee so it was a double-win kinda night ;)

Cooper's on a new kick. MAGIC TRICKS. He is all magic, alllll the time. 

This somehow led him to believe he could swipe one of my good drinking glasses and SUPER GLUE the rim for a trick.

 Oh ho ho ho. NO. 

(There may have been a scene.) 

And I'm throwing this one in here because I'm ready for my cute hubby and daughter to come home! 

(I kinda like to stare at it ;)

My people are in Mexico

Well, two of my people.

Russ and Kendall left last Friday morning as part of a short term mission outreach from our church to build a family a house in Baja California, Mexico. It is both of their first time to Mexico and first mission trip!

We went down in our jammies to send them off...

Hahaha, they did give each other a real hug after this :)

Russ's mom came down to send them off too... I'm not sure exactly what is happening here except, my people are weird. 

The teen girls on the trip - including Kendall's cousin Debby!

The team drove down, sleeping on church floors Friday and Saturday night, and arrived in Mexico on Sunday, where they took this cool team picture at the camp they're staying at with YUGO Ministries. I'm so excited for more updates and to hear more about the family of 6 that will be moving into the house at the end of the week!

And as a kinda cool little side note... this is the 20th year our church has sent a team down, and 20 years ago 15-year-old me was part of that very first team.

It's the ciiiircle of liiiiife.

Awkward & Awesome

Awkward
-when your son explains that the tooth he just pulled out is now lost "somewhere under the couch" after he put it back in his mouth so he could fake punch himself in the face and then spit it out "like in the movies" over and over again.

-when your son (yes, the same one) discovers parkour, becomes enamoured, and all of a sudden your couch is empty of all it's cushions and you find them on the front porch where they are now a "landing zone", and your kitchen stepping stool is missing because it's out in the backyard being "jump and rolled" off of. I will not be surprised if this results in a broken limb.

{being the awesome mom that I am, I let Coop talk me into taking him to the park on a 92 degree afternoon so he could parkour to his little heart's content. Or more accurately, for 25 minutes.}

- when this hilarious meme is 100% spot on and the cause of constant frustration within your own kitchen:

Awesome
- when you get to pick the game for family night (PICTIONARY! WOOT WOOT!) and totally dominate, no matter what kid you're teamed with.

-fancy hair-do's by amazing 13 year olds.

- living on a river when the temp is in the 90's for the third week in a row.

- and little swimmers who graduate out of their lifejacket (under strict supervision) after showing they can swim all the way across with their face in the water! Go Blake!

The 2nd best holiday of the year

Listen. Nothing tops Christmas. But my second favorite holiday to celebrate is the Fourth of July! Ours was HOT and pretty laid back and tons of fun.

We started our holiday weekend on Friday with a double date with our friends Dane and Kristie, paddleboarding 3 miles down the Willamette River.

I'm not saying you should be completely jealous of my awesome paddleboarding skills, but maybe a little jealous. Because I only fell in two times from the wakes of passing ski boats and OTHERS WHO DON'T NEED TO BE MENTIONED fell in quite a few more times than that. Just sayin'. ;)

Kristie is my friend because she understands the importance of the selfie

and brings a plastic ziplock on purpose for her phone ;)

Please note that paddle boarding is my new favorite activity and I would like to go once a week, please. I kept saying over and over, "this is the most fun I've had all year!" It helped that the water was really calm, it was hot out so the water felt really good, and we were in great company! 

That same evening we went to a surprise birthday party for Russ's sister, Cara - thrown at her own house by her husband, Tim! So much fun! She had no idea until a bunch of family and friends started showing up in her living room :)

The morning of the Fourth we watched our small town street parade, as per tradition, then went over to my sister's for brunch afterwards (hopefully a new tradition because QUICHE.)

Well this is new! 

Breakfast á la Kelly

And this is where we spent our afternoon! 

Backyard fun, playing at the river at the back of our property. 

Blake

Russ

Coop - somersaulting 

We ended the evening by barbecuing with friends, then watching a movie at home with the kids and the rodeo fireworks from our trampoline.

Easy holidays are the best :) Hope you had a great weekend yourself!