Just the High Points {Life Lately}

I'm just going to start off by saying that yesterday I finished off the last of a Costco-sized bottle of A1 sauce on my elk steak that Russ cooked for dinner, and after tossing the bottle in the garbage and eating my meal, I realized I couldn't remember a time before that bottle of A1 sauce was sitting in our fridge door, so I retrieved it to check out the expiration date and was horrified to realize it was in 2007. That's expired in 2007, not made. DEAR SAINTS ABOVE.

And... I'm alive today so I figured, hey, maybe I should blog.

The last two weeks have been incredibly busy for us as a family. The weekend before last we were in Redmond, Oregon for the 1A volleyball State Finals, where Russ and I cheered on our daughter's team (we won the championship!) and also helped cook the team meals all weekend; I came home to a full week of last minute planning and preparation for Scrap Around the Clock, the huge 33-hour scrapbooking event I'm in charge of twice a year; we watched the elections and our minds exploded, along with the rest of the country; I ran Scrap Around the Clock with my scrap crew, the same weekend that we celebrated 4 different nephew's and niece's birthdays; basketball season just started up again; and oh, our dog Miley had puppies.

PUPPIES!

So here's a little pictoral recap:

Scenes from Redmond

Scenes from Scrap Around the Clock

And the best part of all...

6 little boys! We are in for a fun next couple of months :)

Summering along {life lately}

The kids have been on summer break for two weeks now, and things have not been more calm and relaxed hectic and chaotic!

(Celebrating the last day of school totally in sync.) 

Baseball continues on (forever and ever until I die.)

Summer league basketball has finally taken over ALL of our lives. The last two weekends in a row were 3-day tournaments and with a daughter on the team I finally had no excuse to avoid helping out down there.  (Look. I PAY MY DUES during the regular season. I like to pretend summer league isn't actually a thing and stay home and do more useful things like read and watch Netflix ;) That being said, I have to admit I really enjoyed myself. It's a fun environment!

Even more fun though is watching the African Children's Choir! They visited our church to perform on a Wednesday night and my own excitement was only surpassed by Blake's, who would join the choir in a heartbeat if they would let him. He helped entertain the front row but sitting on the floor up front and doing his best to copy every dance move they made. Don't grow up, Blake!

This is the breakfast the kids made Russ for Father's Day last Sunday. They are stepping up their game! Kendall made the apple flower (dipped in melted butter and cinnamon) while Coop cooked the bacon and eggs and Blake toasted and buttered the bread :)

We found Dory! We were all enchanted! We ate at Five Guys! It was a great Father's Day. 

And then Kendall left for team camp in Eastern Washington (at 6:30 in the morning) and I promised her I wouldn't watch When Calls the Heart without her for the next 4 days and it was VERY, VERY HARD. 

At yet another baseball game (remember: till I die), Blake decided to bring me "flowers" in the form of a whole weed bush. They were... pungent. I gave him a hug and a kiss and then made him take them far away from me. 

They came, they came! I am now a crunchy, granola, Birkenstock wearing mama! Miley approves. 

Taken at 7:08pm this week. A good sign we've been playing hard this summer! 

Next up: Halverson family beach trip! Weeeeee!

Poopageddon

Fact: Miley doesn't like going outside in the rain. Even when she's eating for seven (nursing mama) and hasn't gone potty in hours, and it's bedtime and her last chance to go out and she KNOWS IT.

I tried three times last night, walking out onto the porch with her while she trotted to just under the edge of the porch roof that was being beaten with monsoon-loud rain and then looked up at me like, "that's a solid pass, lady", and high-tailed it back inside. So I said, "fine then", and went to bed.

And thus, last night will long be remembered as Miley's pooping reign of terror.

7 PILES.

ONE OF THEM FOUND HALF STEPPED IN.

On the plus side, my house now smells like the inside of a Pine-Sol bottle because I was forced to go on a sanitization rampage. Good times.

Also on the plus side: the puppies have opened their eyes! They are two weeks old now and growing like weeds and are the cause of much wasted time due to their adorableness. It's a real problem.

My kind of problem.

PUUUUPPIES!

Miley's babies arrived Tuesday night, under pretty perfect circumstances. We were all home, set up and ready, and on HIGH ALERT after Miley kept trying to hide under our porch all day. By 8:30pm we finally had her settled in her whelping box (small kiddie pool lined with towels) in our bedroom, which is where she is used to sleeping. Once we shut the door to the chaotic boy noise going on in the living room, she starting pushing and it didn't take long before Russ and I, and eventually the older kids (Blake was in bed already), were witnessing our very first puppy birth! It was amazing. And just like Christmas, because we didn't know how many were coming or what they'd look like. We were literally like giddy little school kids and may or may not have facetimed a few family members who wanted to watch too ;)

Everything went perfectly... and I didn't really have to assist at all. Turns out Miley is an excellent little momma! I have been so proud of her, and love watching her care for her babies so well. And we got six of 'em! 4 boys and 2 girls, named (temporarily, until they go to their future homes) by each member of our family plus Cooper's buddy Judah who is staying with us this week while his mom recovers from surgery.

Let me introduce you to...

Ace 

Cody 

Huck 

Ava 

Ruger 

and Marlow.

Man, do we love to watch them! I am OBSESSED. Miley had her final puppy at 11:30 pm and I finally dragged myself into bed at 1:45am. They are just so peaceful to watch, and their little noises are so darling.

This is going to be fun, guys.

Another Monday Report

It was a lovely weekend and I feel like there's a few things I should catch you up on around here... so here we go!

- First off, I saw the Intern last night with my sister-in-law, Tricia, and we LOVED it. Oh man, it's just the cutest and funniest movie and I'm sure you need to go. Do it. Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway are golden together.

- We are expecting! Miley is due in about 3 weeks and we couldn't be more pleased. Or nervous. Mostly pleased. (And nervous.) Like other expectant mamas, Miley is sleeping a lot, eating for two, and experiencing some weird pregnancy cravings. Let's just say the bathroom garbage is officially off limits and residing out of reach on the counter at this time. Ahem.

- Over the weekend I embraced my inner Laura Ingalls and finally picked our grapes to juice and make jelly. My Mum came over to help and in just one afternoon we ended up with 6 gallons of juice!

{special shout out to the Ove Glove - best way to handle the hot jars!}

- Mum and I celebrated by starting a 1000 piece puzzle, which we then worked on into the wee hours because we are old enough to really love a good puzzle, but apparently not old enough to have any puzzle self-control.

And that's the report! Have a wonderful Monday :)

Awkward and Awesome

Awkward: 
- my affinity for quoting Far And Away movie lines, to which next to no one understands the reference. (My favorite and most watched movie from 1993 until 2000, when it was temporarily eclipsed by Bring It On... a circumstance that I can not explain except to say that I was a high school cheerleader. I'm sorry.)
"He's keeping himself to himself, that one"
"Ah, very wise, very wise"
"all chests are equal in the eyes of the Lord"
"Tell me ya like my hat!"
"That there was the oldest horse I ever saw in my life"

- the number of pictures of Miley currently on my computer since getting my new camera... mostly because she's my most willing (and present) subject. Seriously though, it's ridiculous.

- when this happens to your new $20 phone charger that you were so excited about because 1. it was 5 ft long and 2. it was pink, after only one week of use: 

LAAAAAME. I'll return it, but still. What a pain. 

Awesome:
- Kendall and Cooper are finally done with their basketball seasons. I loved watching them play, but this is the first time since last summer that I have ZERO kids to run to practices several times a week! This brief period of glory is only going to last a month however... Cooper just signed up for baseball.

Hash tag: glutton for punishment.

- the upcoming state playoff games for our Varsity boys and girls teams this weekend... it's the first year both teams have a really good chance of making it to the finals in Baker City... one of our favorite family trips! (I know this seems conflicting after the previous paragraph. That's because I'm a conflicted person.)

- realizing that it's basically spring here in the Willamette Valley and we somehow managed to skip winter all together. No snow! No ice storms! No huge freezes! Weird!! (I loved it.) I wore sandals today. 

End of Summer Friday Photo Dump

What we have here is a whole pile of instagram shots taken over the summer that I never got around to "blog dumping" at the end of each week.

I have now determined that I will not feel complete until I get them on here, because you know I will eventually get around to printing my blog into a book for my family, and without these included there will be MISSING PEICES OF OUR LIVES that won't capture important things like the nine thousand pictures I took of my coffee drinks.

So there's the intro. Will it help if I make the pictures more compact? With less words? Like, barely any?

(The first week of school has been okay, by the way. I know you were worried about me with all my crying and mourning and such.)

1. Pool swimming. LOTS of it this summer.

2. Homemade strawberry shortcake & whipping cream. I'M FANCY.

3. Meeting up with Jana at the pool so we can do some dubious supervising while rehashing So You Think You Can Dance.

4. Enjoying a little concert in the park with Blake while big brother's at Royal Rangers.

5. Kendall's sketches.

6. My parents garden, aka: my favorite summer market.

1. I indulged in several of these this summer... Nutty Coconut on a sugar cone. YUM.

2. Miley feelin' the summer breeze.

3. Russ & Kendall out on a daddy-daughter date.

4. Fishy catchin' at the river.

5. The Music Man broadway show with girlfriends!

6. Russ brought this teeter-totter home (I call it a see-saw but am a bone on my own). It's been QUITE the hit. 

1. Date night at the Markum Inn. Little did we know a month later it would burn down. So sad!

2 & 3. A Black Rock coffee drive-thru goes in around the corner from my work and I become a big fan.

4: PLEASE CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA.

5. Mum and I arriving at the hospital for my nephew's birth. Priorities.

6. Enjoying our new deck. And an iced white mocha, of course. 

1. Reunited with one of my best friends from highschool after 10 years! One of my favorite days of the whole summer.

2. The new deck almost complete!

3. Jana and I at the pool again, this time accidentally dressed as twins.

4. The face of concentration.

5. Taking Kendall for a shopping spree for her 13th birthday.

6. And then dismayed at her lack of stamina! There's no sleeping on a shopping spree!

1. Forgetting my husband's birthday till the day of, and saving the day with a banner & trail cameras :)

2. More fishy catchin' at the river, this time by a crawdad!

3. When the lego magazine arrives and all is quiet and at peace in the world.

4. First day of school! 8th, 1st, and 6th grade, respectively.

5. Documenting my first professional manicure EVVVERRRRRR. Shellac is my new love.

6. Adorable birthday rainboots from my sister... now how can a girl get some rain around these parts?

The Friday photo dump

1. Kendall's 7th grade team after their 1st playoff game win Monday night. They were pretty pumped! They played again last night and lost by only 1 point in the final seconds of the game - it was so exciting and a great end to their season.

2. Russell getting his coach of the year award at the district playoffs last weekend, where four of his players made 1st & 2nd team all league. (Woot woot!)

3. ANNDDD his team won the district championship game! They play tonight to make it to the State finals in Baker City next week! I AM A BALL OF NERVES.

4. And this is what Russ has been doing all week: game prep. Apparently sitting as close to the TV as possible is necessary when watching game film ;)

A few weeks ago a stylist girlfriend of mine asked if she could come over and do me up pretty to take pictures for her bridal work portfolio - and to please invite some friends too. To this request I clapped my hands and said, "yay!", because I can be ridiculously girly and that sounded AWESOME, and then looked forward to this past Wednesday for two weeks. I invited these two lovely ladies over: Heidi & Mikayla, made grilled chicken salads with parmesan pita wedges for lunch, and enjoyed myself immensely. Kerisa (my talented stylist friend) isn't pictured but we had so much fun getting dolled up by her, she is pretty amazing! 

Closeups.

1. Help me Rhonda... Hershey's came out with coconut creme kisses. I didn't dare buy the bag because I knew exactly what would happen to it if I did! (see #4 below).

2. Our neighbor's subtle new lawn ornament. Smack dab in the middle of their lawn and literally as tall as their house. The good news is our house just got a whole lot easier to give directions to! 

3. Miley's favorite position in the car: copilot. She has amazing balance and never falls off!

4. I made the mistake of buying these last week. And then ate the entire bag (minus the three I gave my kids) in four days. I swear, Easter candy is my downfall!

Today at 3:30 pm we'll be at Clark park for a balloon release ceremony for Ryan while his funeral is happening simultaneously in Kansas at 5:30 pm central time. His favorite color was orange so we're going to fill the sky with orange balloons in his memory. I think it's a perfect way to end this week. 

Have an amazing weekend.