Riley Jonathan is Here (Jane's Baby, Not Mine)!

Jane and Jon's new baby boy, Riley Jonathan, made his entrance into the world on Friday afternoon, Sept. 12th (his due-date)! Riley weighed in at 7lbs, 6 ozs and was 20" long. We are rejoicing with our friends at the birth of their first baby, and such a cute one too! Jane was blessed with a pretty easy delivery (the epidural sure did help :) As you can see from the photos, Jane doesn't even look like she just gave birth! Congratulations Jane and Jon!

New mommy with a tired smile. Only 4 more days for our new baby to be here!

Congratulations Kyle and Haley!

My brother and his girl, Haley, officially became engaged this past weekend! We are thrilled Kyle found such a wonderful girl to marry. The wedding will be Dec. 28th, 2008 (less than 4 months to plan)! They've asked Weston and Grace to be the ring-bearer and flower girl for the occasion and me to be a bridesmaid. We feel honored they would include us in the special event. Grace is thrilled about her upcoming job. Weston is not so thrilled, but I think he'll come around and get excited. He does remember how he received G.I. Joe toys for being in Eric and Christi's wedding :) The wedding will be pretty convenient for us as her family has lived in Gresham for over 30 years and all the festivities will be close by ;) After the wedding Haley will move to Georgia where Kyle is stationed with the army.

The beautiful ring!

Garden Veggies

Here's a photo of the kids holding some of our garden produce. We're now getting some ripe tomatoes, zucchini, and carrots. My spinach never did well. Unfortunately I had to pull all the sugar snap peas, sweet peas, and morning glories out as they had powdery mildew. By the time I realized what it was, it was too late :( We did get some good lettuce, but it's getting tough at this point. I was pulling the entire head out to eat until Julie informed me that you just clip leaves off to eat and the plant will continue to produce more. Hmmm...good thing I've got someone next door to tell me these things! I've also discovered Elsie likes to squirt the little tomatoes rather than eat them. She squirt herself in the eyes tonight and screamed until I washed them out. :)

This past weekend was spent planting a variety of shrubs and trees in our yard. The guys planted over 40 shrubs in two days which included 17 potentillas out in the area by the road. We finally got rid of the dandelions! I'll have to take and post some new photos of our yard and garden soon before it all starts to die.

Let me know if you want tomatoes, they will be coming out of our ears next week about the time the baby arrives!

8 More Days!

Only 8 more days until our baby boy is born (unless God has other plans)! My c-section is scheduled for the morning of Friday, Sept. 19th. I'm pretty uncomfortable at this point, but I'm doing pretty well. I've planned little things or get-togethers almost every day to keep busy and keep my mind off the waiting. My friend, Jane, came by today for a visit. Her due-date is Friday the 12th but she has an induction scheduled for the 19th. How funny if we end up having our boys on the same day! The bummer is that we wouldn't get to visit each other in the hospital (she'll be at Meridian Park and I'll be at Kaiser). I'm hoping, for her sake, that she doesn't go a week overdue.
We'll be excited to introduce little "Taco" (real name TBA), to all our friends and relatives in a week!

ABC's Terry Moran Flub About Obama's Parents on Nightline

Wow, what a moment for the history books!

2's Company and 3's a Crowd?

After our summer vacation we went ahead and moved Elsie into the "big kid" bedroom. We decided to move the three together and let the baby have his own room so that he won't keep others (except Mom and Dad) awake during the night. It was pretty wild the first couple of nights as Grace and Elsie were pretty excited to be sleeping so close. As the newness has worn off they've all been doing great and haven't been waking each other up. We'll most likely move Weston into a twin bed in the "boy" bedroom once the baby is sleeping through the night. For now, Elsie loves her little bed and has been staying in it until their nightlight turns on in the morning (it's their signal they can get up).

You can see why they had a hard time sleeping the first couple of nights :)

Summer Vacation Part 1 - Olympia, Renton, Seattle

On Friday, August 1st we headed out on our annual summer vacation. About 20 minutes into our vacation, near the Clark County Fairgrounds, I was pulled over by a police officer for speeding for the first time in my life (13 years of driving without being pulled over. Not to say I haven't deserved it)! The officer gruffly asked my why I was speeding (I won't say how fast) and I meekly replied, "lead foot". I think he was trying not to laugh at the very pregnant mom in the mini-van with the very red face. He decided he wasn't cranky enough to give a pregnant and embarrassed mom her very first ticket ever and let me off with a stern warning. Whew! What a way to start vacation!
Friday night we made it to Olympia to spend the night with Mike's Uncle John and Aunt Marion. We visited the new Cabella's store with Aunt Marion that evening and were so impressed with all the animal displays. The kids thought it was even better than the zoo as none of the animals could move or hide! Thanks Uncle John and Aunt Marion for your hospitality!
Saturday afternoon we packed up and left for Renton, WA where Mike's Uncle Jack and Aunt Elaine (pictured above) live. John and Marion and Mike's brother, Tim, also met us there for a barbecue before the guys took off to the Mariner's game. Weston had a great time at the game despite the horrible loss by the Mariner's. :( Apparently, Weston was able to stuff an entire cotton candy in his mouth in about 2 minutes which entertained the other fans sitting nearby. He still had a blue mouth when they got back to Renton at 10:30 pm.
At about midnight on Saturday we heard the phone ring and Uncle Jack informed us that Mike's cousin, Jeff, and his wife, Tawsha, were at the hospital in labor with their first baby. About 5 hours later Tawsha gave birth to Colton James Connell and Jack and Elaine became grandparents! Were weren't able to visit the new baby before leaving town due to heavy traffic and Jeff and Tawsha being so exhausted from a night labor and delivery. Hopefully we'll get to meet him soon!

Here's Uncle Tim and Grace in front of Jack and Elaine's home. They have quite the view from their patio which overlooks the lake in Renton! Tim treated us to lunch at Red Robin on Sunday before we left to head back to Gresham. We also managed to fit in some Cold Stone ice cream after lunch. Hey, we're on vacation!

Mike and Tim thought this Trans Am was so funny. They were certain the driver of the car had a mullet and a mesh cut-off shirt. It was in the parking lot near Red Robin and the driver didn't show up so we'll never know. Too bad!

Mike informed me we will one day own a car like this. I informed him we will not pay money for such a car.

Vacation Scenery Post

Here's some scenery from around Joseph. I took several photos of this barn as it was so pretty. The air in the country was so fresh and the crickets were chirping. I could get used to scenery like this!

Same barn from different angle.

This was the view on the other side of the road, across from the barn.

The sunset from the next night on another drive :)

Summer Vacation Part 2 - LaGrande, Joseph, Wallowa Lake

On Monday morning we packed up again and headed out for part 2 of our vacation. On the way to Wallowa Lake we stopped to visit some friends who live in LaGrande, Steve and Beth Koza and their 3 children. We had a great time visiting with their family and playing on their farm. They were kind enough to feed us dinner and entertain us for the afternoon, although they'd had a very busy weekend.
Sarah, Grace, Weston, Elsie, Timothy (Baby Becca not in photo)

Here's Grace showing off the mini-kitchen in our little apartment/cabin in Joseph, OR.

Elsie taking a much-needed afternoon nap.

Exploring Joseph, OR on Tuesday morning. Joseph is famous for it's bronze sculptures like the cougar pictured here.

Tuesday afternoon we took off for Wallowa Lake and went up Mt. Howard on the tram. We traveled in a little gondola/tram over 8,000 ft. up the mountain. I don't consider myself afraid of heights, but I have to admit it made me a bit nervous to have my family suspended so high in the air supported by little cables. The view was amazing! We took some time to walk around on the summit enjoying the scenery. I kept thinking of the verse from Psalms, "the mountains declare the glory of God". We saw plenty of mountains declaring God's glory in Eastern Oregon!

More view from the top of the mountain.
There were groundhogs, squirrels, chipmunks and birds on the mountain that were quite used to being fed people-food. They were pretty aggressive and it would not have surprised me if they had jumped in our lap. We tried to keep some distance between them and the kids. :)

We enjoyed breakfast and lunch in our mini-kitchen at the cabin and then dinner at a wonderful local restaurant (the food was so good we went there both nights!). I had the BLT + avocado sandwich twice as it was so yummy! They also had a nice outdoor seating area shaded by large trees.

Elsie being goofy at the restaurant!

The deer at Wallowa lake are so tame they will eat from your hand. The ranger told us every year tourists are injured by deer who are angry they aren't being given food. We took this photo from the safety of our van :)

Weston having fun at the lake on Wednesday afternoon. We were a little disappointed in the condition of the beach. There were large rocks, stagnant little pools of water, and goose poo-poo's everywhere. The kids didn't seem to notice, but Mike and I were a bit grossed out.

There was also a pair of young bald eagles perched in a nearby tree. The rangers set up a telescope for viewing. Weston and Mike spent some time checking out the birds.

Elsie having fun!

Grace having fun!

Mike, Elsie and their new friend.

After time at the lake we came across a place where the kids could ride horses. This was the first time on a horse for both Weston and Grace. As you can see Grace was thrilled and had a great time!

You can also see Weston was not very thrilled and wanted to get off after being led around only once (Grace went for as long as she could). At this point Weston tends to be a bit more cautious than Grace. :)

We traveled through the little town of Anatone on the way up to Spokane Thursday. We thought this sign was funny. I guess they have to update the sign every time some one's pet dies :)

Summer Vacation Part 3 - Spokane

On Thursday we packed up the van once again and drove up to Spokane to Mike's parents' house. The drive was a bit scary as part of the way was switchbacks through a steep canyon with very little guardrail. We had to stop a couple of times as we were all feeling a bit carsick.
We had a great visit in Spokane and treasured our time with Mike's family. A few of the highlights were the new trampoline Papa and Memaw splurged on, a visit to the wild cat animal park, Weston "hunting" with Papa in the woods, Grace and Elsie playing with new dollies, and playing on the slip 'n slide we brought from home. We were all pretty spoiled!
Papa John picked this little tractor up at a garage sale for only $20! The kids had a blast riding it around. Grace was pretending it was a combine (like we saw near LaGrande).

This photo of Uncle Eric, Aunt Christi, Grace and Weston turned out really good. They are all sitting on the trampoline. We had some great "visit" time with Eric and Christi all weekend. Friday night we all feasted on salmon, snapper and halibut that Eric and Christi caught up in Alaska recently. It was delicious!

Big news! It's been over 25 years since Papa John shaved his mustache (Mike has no memories of seeing his dad without it)! He surprised everyone Sunday morning by appearing with a bare upper lip! We were amazed and we all think it makes him look 10 years younger :)