Retreatin'

Here's where I was this past weekend!

^^awesome shot by my friend Maggie^^

And it was pretty darn fabulous. 

Our church women's retreat is on Mother's Day weekend every year (initially because it was the only weekend available all year at our awesome conference center in Cannon Beach) and it's a true getaway. Relaxing, fun, and easy, with powerful sessions and worship and plenty of free time in between. I look forward to it every year! 

^^Shiree, Jana, Kelly, Tricia, and me^^

I drove to the coast with these lovely ladies and we stopped for dinner at the Screw & Brew... a restaurant/pub inside the local hardware store! Our waiter wore denim bib overalls, and seeing as that he was well over six feet tall it was quite the sight let me tell you. Bonus: the food was really good!

One of the best things about the weekend is getting to spend it with my mother and sister...

And my two sisters-in-law. (We missed my mother-in-law big time this year, as she was off gallivanting around the state on a retiremoon with my newly retired father-in-law. Which I guess is a legit enough excuse...)

And on top of those important ladies in my life, I get to hang out with all my girlfriends too! 

There is nothing hard about this weekend, let me tell you.

Sunday morning we stood out on the sand and watched two precious ladies get baptized in a little water inlet on the beach.

Annie used to play on Russ's basketball team and has been at OSU for two years now. We stayed up late Saturday night talking and when she shared her awesome testimony Sunday morning it totally made me cry sentimental proud tears, I just love her!

And I love these retreats :)

A happy mama's day

Mother's Day was a delightful affair, from start to finish. I came home late Sunday afternoon from the women's retreat I was at all weekend with no expectations for my family because my present was the getaway, with plenty of spending money to boot.

Yet my husband still filled my love-tank by making sure the house was spotless, there was a cute card waiting for me with notes and pictures from everyone, and then:

A special pedicure from Kendall

With dinner by Cooper (fried egg bagels), and a back massage and hairdo session from Blake (who kissed me at least 20 times and told me he was never ever going to leave our home ;)

And if that wasn't enough, after the kids were in bed Russ patiently sat and listened to me gab and GAB about all the details of my weekend, without a hint of boredom. BLESS HIM.

The only disconcerting moment was when I opened a handmade card from Cooper and read this:

Upon questioning though Cooper assures me he wrote DARN... that's just a squished R and N!

Getaway pictures coming tomorrow :)

Friday photo dump

A quick glimpse at life lately.

Around the yard

snowies after school (because it felt like summer)

lunch dates at the park

Hay Day fun with auntie Sarah

caught snoozin'

caught camera stealin'

Subtle clue found in my kitchen that my kids want me to bake sugar cookies :)

grocery shopping partner in crime (who I totally bribed with Dutch Bros. to come with me ;)

Gold Rush marathonin'

Annndddd... I'm back in the saddle. Hello, old friend! Looking forward to change. 

Also looking forward to my weekend at the Oregon Coast starting in T - 2 hrs! 

Road trip! Girls weekend! Mother's Day shopping! My favorites have collided in a fabulous way :)

Happy weekend.

A little update

"Little" because I've spent the past 24 hours trying to get my internet working and am so over it now! Though I'm happy to report that a tech guy just drove off with a very corroded piece of something from our electrical box outside after replacing it and I am finally back in service!

Hi. I've been a sketchy blogger of late and I blame life in general and too much Hay Day in particular ;)

We had a fun/crazy weekend though and I even took some pictures so I am choosing to power on and get a blog post up already, sheesh!

First of all, here we have a couple of cedar trees from the back of our property being driven off to get milled into decking for our new porch. Exciting business. (It may look like Russ is leaning against one of the trees, but I can assure you he is not because they were crawling with biting ants. Very creepy.)

And in even more exciting news, the basketball court project began! Along with a new power and water line from the pump house (closest gray building) to our house behind it in the picture (which is really in front of it because this is a view from the back yard). (Confused?). This involved a giant ditch being dug between our driveway and back door and since we can't use our front door right now because there's no decking on our porch, our life currently consists of daily ditch-hopping until the track hoe comes back in a week.

^^option B: you can also walk the plank^^

Speaking of track hoes, we accidentally ripped our water line with it on Friday, Russ fixed it that night, and then managed to break it again Saturday. So yeah, that was fun. 

Luckily I took myself off to a couple of baby showers Saturday and wasn't home to hyperventilate at the sight of my boys literally rolling around in all that dirt and then not being able to have them wash immediately upon stepping inside.

^^Noelle (soon to be mama) and her sister Nicole, party host extraordinaire^^

I failed to take pictures at the 2nd shower, or the potluck we went to at a friends later that evening (after water was restored and every single member of our family had showered), but it was a fun day. Followed by piano recitals Sunday, helping a friend pack Monday, work, bible study, working out, the kids' hunters safety classes (finally over after today, hallelujah!), and lots of other regular life stuff. 

I think that sums it up!

I'll be back later with my regular What I Wore post. Happy Wednesday, guys! 

Awkward and Awesome - it's Thursday!

Awkward
- when your broken-armed 6-year-old blatantly disobeys his Grandma who's watching him and his two boy cousins, and climbs in her almost-empty swimming pool, fully clothed, and gets his cast wet.
- and then strips naked and runs around the front yard like a two-year-old hooligan. Oh boy.

Hmmmm, they don't look very guilty!

- when you get nervous about using the restroom in the very back nether-regions of your work office without first locking the front door when you're the only one there (you know, in case of ATTACK), and then come out to discover a male co-worker locked out, a co-worker you've never actually met before because you usually work alone, and for inexplicable reasons you introduce yourself by launching into the exact reason why the door was locked. OVERSHARE.
- when you call your sister at work to ask if you can stop by her empty house to pick up the waterproof cast covers she had previously offered you, and can't get a hold of her, but you're right by her house, so you stop anyway since you have a key, and while mid-rummage through her bathroom cupboard, you hear a tentative "is someone in my house?" called out, by your poor sister who drove home to get her cell phone she accidentally left there (which explains the unanswered calls), and walked into a home invasion.
- THIS WAS TEN KINDS OF AWKWARD.
- you should know that even when you are the bestest of friends and super close with a person, and have basically no boundaries with each other, it still looks very suspicious when you are caught unannounced rifling through their belongings. #lessonlearned.

Awesome
- summer weather at the park in APRIL.

- 26 days of school left till summer break. Oh yes, this will be a weekly feature until school is out, my friend.
- this hilarious video from a Pastor in Washington. We have sooo many friends who have adopted children and these are all excellent points!

- And this blog post about what good moms are. Yes, good moms work at home, from home, away from home, home on the range, they breastfeed, they don't breastfeed, they feed themselves chocolate, YOU GET THE POINT. Be kind to each other and don't judge.

(Especially me, who ate 8 homemade cookies yesterday.)