Summertime

This summer has been a strange (but good) one. First, it's been ridiculously hot, which means we've stayed indoors in the air conditioning with blankets. Second, there's something about having a baby that makes summer go by very quickly and very differently than previous summers. And third, we were gone six weekends in a row which also makes time fly by. Here were some of the things that filled our weekends.

There was Emerson's first beach trip and our fourth anniversary.

Emerson's great grandpa C. finally decided she was big enough to hold her (he was sweating bullets though!)

Then there was my family reunion and my grandparents's 60th wedding anniversary:

She pretty much steals the show ;)

My dad (and EJ), my uncle and Blake.

Ladies talking

My grandpa and my dad (and EJ again)

My uncle, my dad (he was sharing the baby at this point) and my grandpa

My aunt (my mom's sister), my mom and my grandma holding Emerson

She did sleep quite a bit.

Celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary!

Cutting the cake - my great aunt Dorothy (left, my grandpa's oldest sister) made that beautiful cake!!

I got a turn with her ;)

Chatting with aunt Sandy

After the reunion, Emerson and I stayed at my parent's house for the week. It was fun (but busy with wedding prep) and there was no shortage of hands ready to snuggle miss EJ.

Getting ready for bed.

There was a lot of this... people sitting around adoring our little girl :)
This is Blake's grandma and mom

I never get tired of her sweet sleeping face :)

We love sitting up! Not that she's doing it by herself by any means, but
she tries and if you're holding her, she'll pretty much demand that
you hold her upright so she can look around.

Mommy and Emerson

Then there was my brother's wedding.

Then we went back to my parents' house so Blake could go Tuna fishing. They caught 20 Albicore Tuna (five each)! That's a LOT of tuna! In a few weekends our project will be thawing and canning most of it.

Blake's friend Brian, my dad and Blake.. with just one little Tuna

Emerson and I met our friends Whitney and Lincoln in the mountains and took a little day 'hike' to Franklin Falls (I hesitate to say hike.. it was only 2 miles round trip). It was so fun to see them and spend the day on a blanket with a picnic lunch, the falls in the background, lots of people watching and momma to momma conversation. I think we're going to try to do this again at least once before the weather turns on us. We had great weather the whole day, and just as we were getting in our cars it started to poor rain!

Nice little falls with WB I-90 in the background. It was really a great little 'hike' -
great for kids and we even saw a few somewhat elderly people. 

We set up our spot, sat down, I snapped two pictures and then my
phone died (aka the only camera I brought) 

Fortunately, Whitney's phone had plenty of battery. I love how Lincoln is trying to grab (and then eat) Emerson.
Blake saw this picture and said, 'hey there Lincs, watch it!' ;)

On our way home Emerson got the hiccups (happens at least three times a day) and something went wrong which triggered a vomit reflex (also happens at least once a day). I know some people say that milk coming out of a baby is spit-up.. but this is true gut-heaving, stomach-acid-filled vomit. It kills us to watch her to it (but rarely fazes her), and usually we both end up soaked (over 4 ounces one time! I weighed our clothes wet and then again after washing and drying and that was the difference). Our doctor says that the only reason to worry would be if she wasn't gaining weight - which she clearly is.. so we just have to wait for her to out grow it. Anyway.. This was a major one and it soaked her shoulder to ankle and soaked the bottom of her car seat to the point of filling up the base under the car seat! I had to pull over and change her, poor thing... and I had to snap a couple of pictures too.

'I don't know how it got there mom'...

Looking guilty.. and a little hungry now.

And finally, we wrapped things up with our Labor Day camping trip!

Whew! What a summer! Now we have to spend the weekend catching up with all the weeds in our garden and flower beds.. hot weather, automatic sprinklers and no weeding leads to full-blown weed take-over!

Stay tuned for our annual beach trip with the Sauras next weekend, eventually I'll get an update up on how I'm adjusting to and loving mommahood and soon I'm going to start a 30 day blog post challenge to maybe keep this little space updated a little better!

Garden Update

We've been enjoying our garden and all the produce it provides us. So far the harvest includes: zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce varieties, kale, beets, carrots, radishes, potatoes, green beans, snap peas, tomatoes, jalapenos and other hot peppers and more tomatoes. Still to come are: winter squashes, onions and tomatillos.

We've also grown a ridiculous crop of weeds. Every kind imaginable and a much greater variety than last year. Oh my! We pulled hundreds.. if you recall that was how I spent the morning that I was in labor.. but alas, when you just have a baby certain things just slide and weeding the garden was one of them. We eventually resorted to essentially mowing them with the weed eater but now we've all but given up and are resolved to just wading through them.

Can you believe the before and after:

Before..  you can hardly see the 30+ tomato plants because they're so small..

Now you can't see the tomatoes because the grass completely hides even their cages! The beans are
looking good, and the cucumbers have been generous.

The dark green 'bush' is our purple kale plants! They're huge! 

I haven't taken many produce shots but just today I decided to dig up some
potatoes to see how they were doing.. I'd say we might be a little late on harvesting these!

We will definitely miss this garden space next year. Our house sitting/rental term is up when the owners get back from Russia at the end of May. Hopefully there's room for a garden whenever we move to. We've enjoyed the fresh produce (and obviously haven't been too bothered by the weeds)!

Labor Day Camping

We continued our tradition of camping over Labor Day weekend, we went with my cousins again but this time in Eastern Oregon at Union Creek Campground near the old mining town, Sumpter. They are known for their holiday weekend flea markets, so we spent the day walking around to see what it was all about. It was a cute town with some great antiques in the market and best of all.. fair food. I might have had a hand-dipped corn dog and some curly fries... BUT I did share them with Blake. My favorite thing was the Sumpter Museum and Library. It was the coolest old building with the front half left rustic for the museum and the back half modern for the library and it was cool how they blended together.

In the tent, ready to take on Sumpter!

In front of an old building

Inside the museum

We were a little disappointed by the lake. We were looking forward to swimming and the campground was advertised as having a little beach and a good swimming area. Apparently because it was such a dry year, the lake was extra low because it was a reservoir for irrigation.

This picture pretty much says it all. Boat launch, buoys.. no water. 

Trying to enjoy the lake with some skipping of rocks.. and Joie tried to
swim but mostly got stuck in the mud trying to get to the water.

We walked part of the 'Shoreline Trail'.. apparently sometimes the shoreline is up this high.

That evening there was a great sunset, so we raced off to find a good spot to take pictures. My cousin Macey is a photographer and my cousin Danielle got a new DSLR recently (same one as mine actually) and is learning how to use it :)

Photog girls

Then it was time to sit and enjoy the campfire (until it rained and we moved our card game inside their trailer)! At least we got to enjoy a s'more first! ;)

In support of the first Cougar football game :)

Enjoying the fire with daddy

And later with mommy

My cousin's flaming mallow, or as Joie calls it, "smarshmallow" :)

It was a fun weekend. Emerson did great, I'm not sure she even noticed that she wasn't at home. Car camping just makes me itch to go backpacking ... there's something about loading up your car with all the comforts of home and setting up camp three trees away from some strangers that just takes the rugged outdoorsiness feel out of camping for me. I like to be more of a minimalist and to sleep in the woods where the only way in was on your two feet. Glamping or not, we had a great time with family!

Family Wedding

My older brother got married on August 17th. Ironically, they also got married at my parents' house and they had also known each other for many, many years. I can remember finding out that his new wife liked him way back when he was in high school! Here are some pictures from that weekend... it might be true that Emerson kind of stole a little of the spotlight from time to time ;).

Rehearsal and dinner:

Proud grandparents :)

Wedding Day

My mom and my brother headed up the isle

EJ during the ceremony

This is how Theresa and her dad made their entrance - in her dad's mudding Jeep!
The crowd loved it, it was very fitting for them :)

My dad saying a prayer

Vows

My parents

:)

She loves her Grandpa

Cutting the cake

Their cake was so awesome. Also very fitting. The horses look like their horses,
the dress is very close, they have a red barn (love the little hay bales) and my brother
always wears a black hat and carries a gun. It even tasted good!

Toasts (my younger brother giving his best man speech)

First dance

Father daughter dance 

At our wedding the DJ played the wrong song for our first dance,
so my brother had their DJ play our song for us and gave us the floor.
(He also played the wrong song for a few seconds - but as a joke)

EJ joined us

Group hug :)

The bride (my new sister-in-law!) was gorgeous, the ceremony wasn't too long, the food was super delicious and everyone had a great time! And best of all, my how happy they are!