Oregon Coast 2011: Days 1 & 2

Yeah, this little trip happened two months ago. And I'm finally blogging it. Don't judge.

Our little trip started out on a Tuesday. We got up, loaded the car and were on our way. Ha!! NOT!! I think we had, like, 10 stops before we even left Vancouver. Ok, maybe just 4 or 5. I lost track after going to the grocery store, Sean's work and stopping to get some lunch. We headed down the 5 (I-5, that is) and decided to make an attempt at getting a picture of Long Haul, the decepticon Transformer that watches over a stretch of I-5 just south of Salem. There were several failed attempts - we decided that, since we had the time, to turn around at the next exit and have another go at it. This was the outcome:

Fail.

Fail.

Fail.

Success!! Sorta... If you look closely, you can see the purple decepticon logo on the door. But, whatever, Ethan loves it!

We followed our Google map into Newport and had to laugh at the ridiculous directions. In a small town like that, everything is pretty much right off the main road, unless it's down on the bayfront. And yet, the map took us through about 15 turns in a residential area when, really, we only needed to take a right onto the Coast highway that goes right through town and then a left into our hotel parking lot. Stupid Google. Or maybe it was Yahoo maps. I don't remember. Either way... lame!

We checked into our hotel. Ok, it was a motel. A Travelodge to be exact. Nothing fancy. And the best we could get considering we booked our room just the day before we wanted it and we weren't willing to pay an arm and a leg for a fancy oceanview room. Seriously, everything in that town was full. Or overpriced. But our room was nice and clean and newly updated. The only thing it was lacking was a little more floor space and AC. Say what?! Heat, but no A/C. Hmm. We had a late-night dinner at the Newport Cafe. Definitely not what I would normally gravitate to, but we wanted to go local. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint!! Yummy diner food with huge portions. I had the Newport scramble with eggs, peppers, onions, bacon and roasted potatoes. I ate my fill and then still had plenty of leftovers for breakfast Thursday morning. Sean had a burger - and couldn't finish it. And Ethan had the "kids" pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. Supposedly one scrambled egg - yeah, it had to have been at least three eggs!

Full bellies, a long drive and a long day. Think we would've gone right to sleep, right? Wrong! Sean went out just before the Freddies up the street closed and bought a box fan to help cool off our room and give us some white noise to help us sleep. It wasn't really hot, but we were definitely missing the hum of the A/C and prefer a chilled room to a warm one. Ethan slept pretty well, though. Sean convinced him to sleep on the air mattress in his own little "cave" which left the King-sized bed to ourselves. It was comfy.
In the morning we got up, got our free breakfast (slim pickings compared to the Travelodge we stayed at in December in Provo), showered and got ready to go to the Aquarium!
Thank you, Groupon, for the good deal on tickets to the Aquarium! Ok, I'll stop talking for a while and just show pictures - there are a LOT...

* We loved the underwater exhibits - where we got near 360 viewing of the fish and sharks.

{There are so many things I love about this picture.... The shark in the upper right corner, Sean in the middle of everything and Ethan on all fours peering through the window!}

{And I thought this picture was cool because it really gives an underwater effect - kinda looks like sunlight that is giving the outline of the shark.}

Yikes!

* The sea lions are always my favorite.


* And Ethan loved the touch exhibit of the tide pools. Sea anemones, sea stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. And get this, I could actually remember quite of few of their names, thanks to my freshman (high school) Marine Bio class! That was 14 years ago!!
* There were lots of cool exhibits inside the main building. Along with the tide pool, we saw jellyfish, more fish w/ kelp and an "Animals of the Amazon" exhibit.

{It took more than one try to get these shots of the jellyfish. No flash and a high ISO are what did the trick, I think.}

* This grossed me out...
* We didn't see much of the otters, but were able to watch them being fed.


* The "play area" was our last stop.

{Our one and only family shot of the day. Enlisted the help of a stranger, so ignore the guy behind my head taking a picture of his kid!}

* And a couple more random pictures from the Aquarium....

{Ethan's first smashed penny!}

{Saw this at the gift shop and Sean couldn't resist taking a picture! I am all about recycling, but this is a bit extreme!!}

{Other than a magnet, some postcards and a little souvenir toy for Ethan (their shirt selection for little boys wasn't that great) we got this book at the gift shop. So cute! I love that all the animals are from the Pacific Northwest.}

After the Aquarium, we went back to our hotel for a late lunch - PB & jelly sandwiches, apple slices, go-gurt, crackers and/or whatever other little snacks we had brought. We had a little down-time and then went out exploring at the Newport bayfront.

{Took this picture for Ethan's friend, Sarah.}



{We love the sea lions - even if their barking is loud!}

{Smashed penny #2!!}

{We couldn't figure out which way the hat was supposed to be worn. Either way, it had us laughing!}

Dinner was just at Burger King (super exciting, I know) and then Ethan went off to bed and Sean and I play another round of Scrabble Apple (I won. Again. :)

Primary Program Success and a Nosebleed

NOT at the same time. Thank goodness!

So, the ward Primary program was yesterday at church. Which means my Primary class and I sat in chairs in front of the podium. One teacher for 12 kids that were totally on display to the congregation. Yeah, that was fun! It also meant that Ethan had a small part to say in his very first Primary program. Ay-yi-yi! I have yet to figure out if me being in Primary is beneficial or a hindrance to Ethan. The first practice was less than ideal. Ethan freaked out and would not sit in his chair on the stand, let alone say his part. Sean had to come get him and then the Primary president stepped in and made him her littler helper for the day. That helped. The next week practice went a little better. Ethan said his part one of the two times they ran through the program, but still had a hard time sitting still.

Yesterday was the program and Ethan did great!! He sat with his class. He said his little part AND you could understand him!! Woot woot! No fits, no crying, no trying to come sit with mom or dad. Yay! Is it possible there was a little bribe involved? Absolutely! And I am not above saying it!! It started last Sunday before church. Sean told him if he was good for the practice for the program and then good for the actual program, he would get a new Transformer car. You don't mess around when a Transformer car is on the line.

Oh, and the nosebleed?? Totally random. Just before church got over, they got me from the Primary room because Ethan had a nosebleed! What?? No reason (he wasn't hit or anything). Blood all over his white shirt, hands and face. It took a couple minutes for the bleeding to stop completely and there were lots of concerned kids and adults (we were sitting just outside the Primary room), but once it stopped, Ethan was loving the attention. We even got him to say, "you should see the other guy!" a few times. Ha ha! That was good for a laugh!!

Uhh... Ditto to the last post.

Seriously. In my mind I have only neglected our blog for a couple days. A week tops. Not the whole freakin' month!! I am so embarrassed and must. catch. up!!!

This week was a little different, though. Ethan and I were at my family's house for a couple days and their computer hates my SD picture card so there was really no point in trying to upload any pictures for a new post. Plus, we were busy visiting with friends, grandparents, my aunt, my sister, etc. AND it was my parents' birthday. AND my beloved Grandma Mary had a mini/minor stroke and gave us a bit of a scare. She is doing good now, but did have to stay in the hospital 2 nights. I was bummed to not get to spend more time with her and try to redeem myself in another game of Rummy. My mom and I both lost to her last time!!

Let's see... I finally got my book ['Matched'] back from Lizzy. Got it for my birthday in May, but was right in the middle of a couple different series. Then I let Lizzy borrow it for their road trip in August and now I finally have it back!! And I am only 100 pages from the end. And it's been nice to have something to read. I took a good month+ break after reading The Help and I have been anxious to read something new. I think this will bring me up to 12 books read this year. That's pretty much a record in recent years! And I've still got several I'd like to read this year. I think next up is 'City of Bones' - especially because I saw the other books in the series at Costco last time for less than $7 each.

I have been busy working on Christmas gifts, ideas, etc. It feels good to actually be ahead of the game - usually I don't really start planning until November. This year I already know what I am doing and just need to get supplies. We're (I'm) doing a lot of homemade this year... partly because I love what I found and have the know-how to do it and partly to keep the cost low. Funds are tight... again. And we want to be able to make the drive down to visit Sean's family in SoCal. And that means sticking to a budget.

This weekend we don't really have any plans. I'm sure we'll do something. The Duck game is tomorrow at 12:30pm and Sean has some sort of Elders Quorum breakfast/football thing in the morning. We already went to the Pumpkin Patch {pictures to come... I promise!} so I'm sure our pumpkins will probably be carved within the next few days. Other than that, our Primary Program is on Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed that Ethan can make it through all of Sacrament without any major fits and {if we're really luck} will actually get up and say his part. No promises!

Signing off for now... Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you enjoy the new Fall-inspired blog header and background!!

I swear, in my mind, it has only been a couple days since I last posted...

...NOT almost TWO weeks!! GAH!! Where has the time gone?!?! And what's really depressing is I have been home the whole time. No day trips, overnight trips, nothing. I have been HOME. And we haven't even been sick! Seriously, I don't know what I can blame my lack of posts on. Pinterest, maybe?! He he he!! Just kidding. Sorta. Well, it is kinda my new addiction....

Anyway.

The truth is, we just haven't been up to much around here. September is notorious in our house for having a severe lack of pictures. Seriously. It's like my camera just wants a vacation after all the fun, sunny photo ops of the summer. In fact, I was just looking through my picture files and realized I have not even uploaded my photos since September 13th! That's just sad. During the summer, it's at least twice a week. What's even more sad is that I'm not going to share any with you today because I need something to share in my September Recap that is still to come! Lame, I know.

So, what have we been up to?? Well......... In the last couple of weeks we have:
* Put out our Halloween decorations.
* Made peach jam.
* Signed Ethan up for Preschool (starts next month)
* Been counting down the days until Uncle Tory comes home (just over 4 weeks!!!!)
* Been eating home-cooked meals together at the dinner table almost every night (a far cry from our summer when Sean had weird work schedules and we were gone a lot).
* Organizing and cleaning the house (a constant battle).
* Been settling into the cool, Fall weather. I nearly missed my opportunity to put out my spiced apple Yankee candles (that smell so, so good!!) and have already moved on to the spiced pumpkin. Mmmmmm.... Love the soft glow from the candlelight in the even and the warm, spicy scent in my house.
* Sean has been crazy-busy adjusting to having the number of piano students doubled since the recital - up from 5 piano students to 12!!

Please forgive my lack of posts... My goal is 10 posts per month which equates to a new post every 3 days or so. Yeah, I've got some catching up to do!

The Help

Can I just start out by saying, "I want some of Minny's caramel cake!!" Oh, and her fried chicken.

Sean and I saw the previews for this movie and knew immediately that we wanted to see it! Such a refreshing change from the big budget blockbusters of the summer. Plus, we are fans of Emma Stone. So we made mental note of it and put it on our "must-see" list - oblivious to the fact that it was based on a book! Ha! Fast forward a little bit to then end of July. My family is getting ready to go on a road trip and my sister wants to borrow my brand-new-never-before-read-had-to-wait-until-I-finished-the-Harry-Potter-series book 'Matched'. Say what?! That's MY book. MY birthday present. I haven't read it yet and you want to borrow MY book?! So I was searching for alternatives for her to borrow and on a whim picked up 'The Help' at Costco, thinking I would let her borrow that and read it when she was done. Well, I caved and let her borrow 'Matched' {which she still needs to return!!! Hint, hint, hint!!} and kept 'The Help' on the bookshelf for Sean and I. Yeah, we both made it our next-read and were reading the beginning at the same time! I let him finish it, though, and then I read it.
Such. A. Good. Book!!! Seriously, a must-read. And I purposely bought the book with the original cover, not the movie poster version. I wanted to read it independently of the movie. This book was a real page-turner and I couldn't hardly put it down! This really surprised me because I had just come from reading the suspenseful, action-packed Harry Potter series and couldn't believe how drawn in I was by the story in 'The Help'.

After we had both finished the book, we saw the movie and loved that, too!
So well cast and acted. And stayed very true to the book. I would say, if you have time, read the book first - but seeing the movie first will not ruin the book. Either way, ENJOY!!!

August Recap

Why I wait until the end of a month after the month I am recapping, I will not know. Do you realize how hard it is to remember things from almost 2 months ago?! Luckily, it was the beginning of August that I started sending Tory emails on his mission with a little weekly recap - so I'll be going through those to help me remember!

* Non-existent-date-night-movie-of-the-month. Sean was busy working for the 1st half of the month and we spent the 2nd half of the month doing things together as a family - outside and enjoying the summer weather. So our date-night got put on the back burner in favor of BBQs and swimming at the lake and game-nights w/ friends.

* Events already covered: There is a lot of stuff I have already blogged about.
- Oregon visit (first week of August)
- Ethan's first Testimony
- We met Michelle Kwan
- Clark County Fair
- Ward Camp-out

* Still to come: Our trip to the Oregon Coast! Lots of fun pictures... I'll get on that soon!

* Ethan flooded his room. Literally. It was not a good day. It was hot, so Ethan had been playing outside and at one point had asked to use the hose to clean off some of his trucks. No big deal. He's always been very careful to keep the water on the lawn.... Well, I'm not sure what happened this time, but Ethan's window was open. He came inside {Sean and I were still oblivious that anything had happened} and after a while Ethan goes in his room and then comes back out to let us know there was "a little water" on his floor. Oh, boy. We knew this couldn't be good, but did not prepare for the worst. There was water EVERYWHERE!! It was a good thing Sean was home, or I think I would've lost it even more than I already had!And, the saddest part - his bookcase was directly below his window. I just about had a panic attack when I saw all the wet books. It took at least 7 towels to mop up the mess and we had to almost completely empty the room. ALL of his books ended up outside, spread out on a tarp. I wiped down each individual book and then propped it open to dry. It was a long process. {And the picture below was after the books had been outside for awhile - originally, though, they were in direct sunlight.} Ethan helped by laying all of his toys out on towels to dry in the sun. Luckily, the extent of the damage to the books was not nearly as bad as I originally estimated. We were able to keep all of his books, just some are a little worse for wear. Needless to say, there was a little furniture rearranging in Ethan's room the next day.

* Klineline lake: The third week of the month (Sean's first bit of time-off after working in Salem and then straight to working at the fair) was spent hanging out and going to the lake. I've got a ton of pictures, so I'll save most of them for another post.
* Ethan decided to embrace swimming! He's always liked the water, but was pretty hesitant about anything that got too deep - especially at the beginning of the summer. It was like pulling teeth to get him to swim in the Dahls' pool (which came up to his shoulders), even with a life-jacket. Toward the end of August, it was like someone had flipped a switch. We were at the Dahls' again and suddenly he was all about swimming in the pool and didn't even mind doing it without me in there, so long as he had a life-jacket on. Wahoo! I'm hoping to start swimming lessons this fall. If you'll recall from last year, our first attempt(s) did not go so well!

This is him climbing up the ladder so he can jump in, not get out!!

See?! We have splash-down!!

Thank You

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words on my previous post.

I know we are not the only couple to have problems trying to conceive, so I appreciate all your words of encouragement and sympathy. I have read and re-read all of the comments and I know they were sincere.
So, thank you.

You will all be some of the first to know if our situation changes! And, of course, our fingers are always crossed that that will be soon. :)

In the meantime, I am head over heals for this little guy!

This wasn't our plan...

You guys love me because I keep it real, right? I show you pictures of my dirty couch from when my vacuum was broken. I show you the fun we have together as a family {too many to link up for that one - just read my blog on a semi-regular basis!}. I show you the very weird mail we seem to attract. Well, bear with me today. I'm going to keep it very real. And talk about something that I never, ever, ever intended on sharing with the blogging world. Over the past 6 months or so, though, my thoughts have changed - in fact, I "started" this post (titled it and decided to write it) over 3 months ago. That being said, it's not any easier to write about.

It wasn't our plan to...
* Have our children spaced over 5 YEARS apart. Yep. Do the math. Even if I were to get pregnant this month, the baby wouldn't be due until June. Two months after Ethan's fifth birthday.
* Have our children spaced so far apart that they may not even go to elementary school at the same time.
* Have Ethan be an only child for this long.

This summer marked two years. Two YEARS. While many of our friends and family had their 2nd child about the time that their first child was turning two, we knew we weren't ready to start trying again when Ethan was just over a year old. So we waited. We waited until after he was two and then that summer, the summer of 2009, we started trying again. We figured Ethan turning three and having a newborn would be just right for our family. It was a difficult summer, though. Sean had just been laid off from OSB because they closed the school down. He was on unemployment. I had Girls Camp and was in the stake YW presidency. Sean started working in McMinnville and was commuting and staying in a motel a couple nights a week. We were struggling financially and yet, we knew the timing was right. Tory {our good friend who is like a brother to us} received his mission call and we were all convinced I would be pregnant before he left in November. Well, with Sean working so far away and being gone a couple nights a week, sometimes it was hard to get the timing right. And then Sean interviewed for and got his current job, in Washington. We packed up our stuff and moved in January 2010. We thought surely it would be easier to get pregnant now that we were all living under one roof 6 nights a week (I was still commuting down to Eugene and sleeping at my parents' Wednesday night). And then it was summer again. It had officially been a year of trying and there was no chance of having a baby in 2010.
{Tearing up now.... having a hard time seeing the screen.}

But then I stopped working in October last year. I was home (though looking for a part-time job) and finally a full-time wife/mom. Surely now.....
{Sorry, I had to stop typing for a few minutes.}

Anyway. This summer marked two years of trying to have a baby. Two years of rollercoaster emotions. Two years of wishing and hoping and heartbreak and sadness. I've experienced a wide range of emotions. Initially I was so hopeful. I mean, we got pregnant with Ethan the FIRST month we tried. I didn't dare think it would be that easy again, but I figured no more than 6 months. Each month I would look at the calendar and figure out when our potential baby may be due. I would look at when we may start telling people our news and see if it could be linked with a holiday or birthday. I would dream of clever ways to tell Sean, tell our parents, tell our family and friends. I would dream of writing to Tory on his mission and telling him the good news. I would dream of a fun and unique way to tell my blog readers. Or what I would write in my Facebook status. I looked for any signs or symptoms I could be pregnant. Stomach issues? Tiredness? Extra moodiness? Even boob tenderness? {Yes, I just wrote boob tenderness.} We've had several hold-our-breath-for-a-few-days-and-wait-to-take-a-pregnancy-test close calls. I was always very regular. So when I was 2, 3, 4 and even 5 days late a few times we were so hopeful. There was even a point last winter when I was late, but almost out of tampons {keeping it real here, folks} and I remember being at Target and deciding between buying a pregnancy test or a multi-pack of feminine protection {is that better?} because I felt silly buying both. I choose poorly. Another negative test and I had to go back and get the multi-pack.

I think it wasn't too much after that that I had a change in emotions. Almost a 180. I became very bitter and almost cynical. While we were still trying, I had lost my giddy hopefulness. I stopped paying attention to the calendar other than to keep track of my cycle. Several year ago, I heard someone describe the non-stop rollercoaster when a couple is trying to conceive. It's always something. Every two weeks you're either trying to get pregnant or on your period. Back and forth. Constant. Nearly impossible to not be thinking about it. And I was frustrated and bitter and losing hope.

I haven't made another 180 yet, back to the near-giddyness, but I've gotten better. More hopeful again. I've changed my thinking. I've stopped focusing on a non-existent baby that I want to join our family and have tried to step it up as a mom and focus on the beautiful, wonderful, amazing little boy I have right in front of me. I'm trying to savor the time I have with him in case he's all I get.
{Oh boy, here come the tears again...}

In case this is the one crack at motherhood I get. I sure don't want to screw it up. At the same time, I'm blessed with a feeling of peace and comfort that our little Ethan will not be our only child. My patriarchal blessing says children and I feel there are still precious spirits waiting to join our family. It may take a while, but Sean and I would love to have at least 3, maybe 4 or 5 kids. And we've already talked about not waiting to try and get pregnant again once we have baby #2. So, just know, there may be back-to-back-to-back babies at our house. Oh, I hope so!

Dates are the hardest. Getting past that point in a year {you know, March or maybe early April, with an end-of-December due date} where we are no longer be able to have a baby in that same year. Or towards the end of the year, not even being pregnant within that year {we're at the end of our 3rd year in that sense}. Or birthdays. Another reminder that Sean and I are getting older and that Ethan won't stop growing. I was 24 {almost 25 - my birthday was the next month} when Ethan was born and {again, back to the "if we were to get pregnant this month" scenario} will have turned 30 before we have another one. Or the fact that Tory comes home from his mission in about 6 weeks. And I try to fight the thoughts I have that he's been gone on a mission for TWO YEARS and I have no toddler, no baby and not even an embryo to show for it. Before he left, we would joke that "little Gracie" {Grace is my fave girl's name} would be a year old before "Uncle Tory" would even get to meet her. Well, "little Gracie" is not even in the works yet.

And then there's people who ask, "When are you going to have another one?" And it's ok. I'm not offended. I'm 100% honest and tell them, "As soon as we possibly can!" With Ethan, we wanted a Spring baby. Now, we could care less. Doesn't matter the season, we just want a healthy baby. On a similar note, Sean and I both go through extreme emotions when we hear of others getting pregnant. On one hand we are genuinely happy and excited for them, but on the other hand, it always seem to hit like a punch to the gut when we hear the news. That's not to say that we don't want to hear everyone's happy news! Please, don't be afraid to tell us! We want to share in your joy and will be first in line to hold and snuggle your baby if we get a chance.

I worry, too, about the large age gap between my sisters and I. Six years between me and Christine and another eight years between Christine and Lizzy (making a 14-year gap between her and I). It makes me nervous that there is some family history there. Lizzy was a planned baby and (I think) it took my parents 5 years to get pregnant with her. It wasn't until we started having issues that I finally asked my mom how many kids she had wanted to have. I really had no idea that she would've liked to have more. I don't know why that thought had never crossed my mind. She was/is a great mom. She could've handled more little rugrats. :)

It saddens me that Ethan has noticed his lack of a sibling(s). On more than one or two occasions. It's actually become a somewhat regular topic lately. In November of last year, I made note on the calendar of the following conversation.

Ethan (completely out of the blue): "I would be nice to my brothers and sisters."
Me (a little confused): "But you don't have any brothers and sisters (yet)."
Ethan: "But where are they?"

Ugh! Rip my heart out! Another time, after wrestling with the neighbor-boy and the neighbor-boy's dog and getting a little roughed up by the dog (it bit and tore a new shirt), Ethan was quite distraught and informed me that he didn't want a dog. He just wanted a baby brother! {Oh, me too, bud!!} Since then there have been conversations about why mommy doesn't have a baby in her tummy. And how he would be happy with a baby brother or a baby sister. And questions as to why he doesn't have a brother or sister. Sigh....

I can't really think of anything else to say. It's taken me two days to write this and I'm sure I have other thoughts on the matter, but this is the best I can do for now. Sorry if it's jumbled and random - I'm doing very little editing and just typing what comes to mind. I am amazed if you read all of this. I know it is a lot, both in the actual length of the post and the topic. It's a lot to take in, and I get that. It's part of the reason I really hesitated to even write this and put it on the blog at all. I'm still doubting myself as I finish it up and am unsure about actually posting it. Please know that countless prayers and fasts have been made on our behalf, by both Sean and I and also our family and friends. We love you and appreciate your support. We also welcome continued prayers, and it's not often I will say that. Please also know that this was extremely personal and difficult for me to talk about. If you're going to comment, I ask that you are thoughtful in what you write.

Ok, I'm working up the courage to post this....
Going to push the "Publish Post" button...
[Deep breath...]
[Holding my breath...]
3...
2...
1...

BOYS

I'm just going to say it. Sean has rock-star like status with some of the young men in our ward! Seriously. They love him. [Which, believe me, I totally understand!] Every time we go to Klineline lake, all the boys want to know if Sean is coming too (he often meets us there after piano lessons, work, etc.). I can't be certain, but I have an inkling it's because he's willing to do stuff like this with them:

a three-man totem pole!!!

And here's a little bit of the action surrounding the totem pole...First, after a few failed attempts, they discovered it was easier to build from the top down. So Brandon would get on Dallin's shoulders...

And then Dallin would get on Sean's shoulders!

And then it would all come tumbling down! (Sorry for the blurry photo... we were at low light with the sun setting and I didn't have time to mess with the settings to try and get an action shot.)

So there you have it. Proof (in some people's eyes) I am married to a rock star! Well, he was Prom king back in the day. I'm just sayin'! :)

Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend!!

Stake Conference

Stake Conference was this last weekend. I LOVED the adult session. And not just because it was only an hour and a half! The whole theme was on overcoming trials and the talks were all excellent. Our stake president spoke last and had a different take on it and focused on our relationship with our spouse and becoming selfless. It was a really great session and I loved that there were no kids to distract us. Just me and my sweetie sitting next to each other, listening to the speakers and feeling the spirit. After conference, a few of the couples went to Shari's - of course, I had to have the lemon meringue pie. One of my favorites. Sean had a chocolate peanut butter shake and then we shared an appetizer sampler. Seriously, this brought back memories of my youth and time in the singles ward. Shari's was always a favorite post-dance hang-out spot.

The next day, Sunday, our stake conference was split into two different sessions. We had the afternoon session, but Sean had to be there early to help direct traffic {the parking situation there is horrible!}. Ethan and I had a good 45 minutes inside the chapel to wait for things to start, so we got a good seat and waited. I hadn't realized our conference was going to be a broadcast, so they had a countdown going to when the broadcast would start. Initially, there was a picture of Christ up on the screen with the countdown, but sometime before it started the picture of Christ disappeared and it was just the minutes ticking down. Ethan looked up at it and said, "When will Jesus come back?" I smiled and said, "I don't know." Ethan was getting kind of tired and snuggled up next to me and said, "Oh. Will you tell me when he comes back?" I told him, "Yes, I will."

It was such a beautiful and simple little conversation and he had no idea the depth of what he was saying, but it sure touched my heart.

Ward Camp-out 2011

The last weekend of the fair also happened to be our ward camp-out. Sean and I have never been to a ward camp-out since we've been married. I went back and forth on the idea of going. On the one hand, we hadn't had an opportunity to go camping all summer and on the other hand, Ethan and I would be going at it alone since Sean wouldn't be home until late Friday night and then have to leave early-ish Saturday morning. Well, peer pressure won out - all of our friends were going on the camp-out which would leave Ethan and I to hang out by ourselves {yet, again!} so we packed up our gear {correction: I packed up our gear} and headed to the campground...

Our home away from home for the night. It was kind of nice to have the tent up, off the ground. It made it much easier to put up, take down and get in/out of. Our neighbors were the Dahls, Walkers, Blake and the Kestners were just outside our campsite.

Ethan was in little boy dirt heaven! It's not very often that he gets to play with so many boys and they were loving their time in the dirt playing with and "sharing" the trucks that each had brought. Ethan's monster truck mysteriously disappeared within a couple hours - supposedly thrown into the bushes - and then reappeared the next morning just as we were leaving. Hmm. Glad he got it back, though!

Funny side story: Notice the little boy in white shirt in the bottom, right picture. Yeah, his mom said she specifically dressed him in white so he'd be easier to spot against the green and brown of the trees, grass and dirt. I had to laugh. I had just dressed Ethan in what I wasn't worried about getting dirty/ruined - a BROWN shirt and CAMO shorts!!! Oops! Didn't even realize I had him dressed for a black ops mission. Oh well, live and learn.

Scenes from around the camp. The girl in yellow (upper left) is in my Primary class and the girls in the bottom right totally posed that way without prompting!

Dinner. Since I decided to go on the camp-out so last minute, I had just picked up Subway for my "foil dinner". Well, my friend Jenn was nice enough to make me one of her famous hobo dinners. Yum! She puts ground beef, carrots, peppers, onions, tator tots and pepperoni in hers. The pepperoni keeps everything moist and adds a nice bit of flavor. She also put bacon in them, but I like my bacon super crisp, so I opt for just the addition of pepperoni. With a little squeeze of Ranch or ketchup these hobo dinners are so good! I gladly saved my Subway for lunch the next day. Ethan's foil dinner was mac-n-cheese w/ hot dogs.

After dinner we had a ward fireside w/ a brief devotional and s'mores. The kids LOVED it!

I was very lucky, Ethan went down for the night very easily just after 9pm. Actually, the only real problem I had with him the whole time was a couple of potty accidents. We've been working on remembering to go potty - he's gotten into the habit of being too distracted playing and waits and waits and waits to go until it is too late. Well, with so many kids to play with, he had 2 accidents. Actually, the first one was just outside the bathroom and it was because the door was stuck, so not really his fault. Anyway. After kids were in bed, the adults stayed up and played cards. Funny how it ended up boys on one side, girls on the other!

Our BEAR story: So, while we were all playing games, there were a couple of older kids playing around the campsite - throwing rocks and pine cones into the bushes. And then they heard a growl. And a rustle of the branches. And what do they do? Continue to throw pine cones. Well, the growling continued and they got scared and came to the adults. By then, the growling and rustling were loud enough that we heard it too. Whatever animal they were throwing things out was angry! Eric thought it was maybe a raccoon, but then they heard it again and it sounded much bigger than a raccoon - maybe even a bear! I was totally freaked out, but it was kinda funny to see everyone's different reactions. Jenn jumped up and stood behind me, Eric and Todd jumped up and went towards the woods. Eric said, "where's the bat?!" while Todd said, "the one time I'm not packin' (a gun)!" Ryan went the opposite direction of the angry animal and the whole time I was thinking, "what do I do? What do I do? Ethan's asleep in the tent. Do I go get him and try to get to the car which is too far away? Or should I just quietly get into the tent with him and pray for the best?!" Well. Turns out our "bear" got scared when he heard Eric asking for the bat and finally revealed himself. Yeah, it was none other than...

Brian Coleman!!
Yeah, he got us pretty good!

Ethan and I were up bright-n-early. About 7am, give or take 15 minutes. Breakfast was pancakes, eggs, sausage, Tang and hot chocolate. Thank you to the Brethren for cooking it!

After breakfast, the kids had sack races and practiced lassoing while the adults packed up tents, sleeping bags and all the other gear.

This was just as we were getting ready to leave - I'd say we were still in pretty good spirits for having survived without Daddy. Though, he was greatly missed!

Ethan totally crashed on the 15-minute ride home!

I woke him up when we got home, though, because he was in desperate need of a bath. Specifically, a bubble bath! We hung out around the house the rest of the day and then made homemade pizza and rented movies in the evening.

Clark County Fair 2011

So, this is our 2nd summer in WA, but it was our first time at the Fair! Actually, it was Ethan's first time at any fair. Last year we were going to go, but when we figured out how much it would cost to get our family into the fair, our car parked and a few rides done, it wasn't worth it. This year, Sean actually worked at the fair. Not the most glamorous of jobs, but with how tight are summers are financially with Sean not working the whole time, it helped pay the bills. He worked ALL 10 days at the fair. His original schedule was to work until 5pm, but by Sunday the booth manager asked if Sean would work until closing. For the next 8 days, Sean would leave at 10:15am and not be home until after 10:30pm. Ethan and I sure missed him, but we are very grateful for how hard he works for our family!!

On Thursday, Ethan and I went to the fair with the Dahls (minus their Ethan) and Amy. {This is Ethan and Sarah as we walked to the entrance to the Fair. Aren't they so cute?!} We were able to get free passes, so no entrance fees. Yay!We got there right around lunch-time, so our first stop was to get food! Sean was working at the Boppin' Bo's burger booth, so I got a burger and fries there. They were nice enough to give me a "family discount" (per the booth manager) and I got my burger for free. Let me tell you, that was a dang good burger! And one order of fries was enough for two people with more to share. Ethan opted for the lunch I brought him, plus a large frozen strawberry lemonade that we all shared. Sean took his break right when we got there, so it was nice to spend some time with him.The kids weren't much into the rides, so we explored the rest of the fair...

* Clown Circus Act: "Jest in Time"
* Fire Trucks (through the years) display
* 4-H displays {Where I saw the "Please Do Not Take Pictures of the Photos" sign in the photo contest area after I had already take a couple pictures! And where we ran into the clowns from the circus act.}
* The Cows and other animals
* And the Carnival area. Jenn (Dahl) actually took her two girls and Amy on the Ferris Wheel after lunch while Sean and I took Ethan to do the paint-ball target practice that he was dying to do! {But, I was lame and totally forgot to take a picture of Ethan at the paint-ball booth.}We left sometime in the late afternoon and we were all exhausted!! It was a very fun day. And tasty, too! We had elephant ears for dessert {Jenn and I tried ours with raspberry jam - good, but they put way too much jam on it} and then got some kettle corn on the way out!

Book Review: Uglies series

Have y'all read this series yet?? And do you remember that I don't read anything unless it's worth my time? Therefore, if I recommend a book/series, you know it's gonna be good! I started this series last year. My friend Vicki started the series and let me read the books as she finished them. Well, she gave me the first book (Uglies) and I let it sit on our side table for weeks (maybe months) before I finally picked it up and read it. Surprise, surprise, I loved the book! I couldn't hardly put it down. So I got the next book from her right around Christmas time, thinking I would have all this extra time to be reading while we went on our big road trip to visit family. Ha! I didn't pick it up once - we were much too busy having fun with our family! I think sometime in late Spring of this year I finally read Pretties, then I immediately read Specials and then I got on the waiting list at the library to read Extras. Yeah, my turn on the waiting list came up right after I started the Harry Potter series again {literally, I had just started book 1}. So I picked up Extras from the library and pretty much let it set on the side table all summer while I finished reading Harry Potter. I think I renewed it twice {luckily there were no holds on the book, so no one was waiting for it} but when I went to renew it a third time there was a hold on it, so I knew I better hurry and read it! I admit, it was a little slower going than the first 3 and harder to get into, but I kept reading and the last half was definitely worth it. Great, great series! Set in the future, it was interesting to hear the characters talking about previous generations and then realize they were talking about us! It's got a corrupt "government", rebellious teens, hoverboards and awesome futuristic technology - not to mention a strong cast of characters. I loved the moral dilemmas between being pretty (post-surgery) but essentially brain-washed and ugly (pre-surgery, natural) but with all your own thoughts in tact. Not as good as the Hunger Games series, but if you liked (LOVED!) that series, you will like these too.

Happy reading!

We met Michelle Kwan!!

Totally random, but a couple weeks ago I got an email from Red Robin saying that Michelle Kwan was going to be at the PDX airport location for a Special Olympics event - I think she was presenting a check to Special Olympics on behalf of Coca-Cola and Red Robin, or something like that. Let's see, a chance to meet one of my all-time favorite ice skaters {who totally got robbed of the gold medal!!} just 15 minutes from my house - sounds good to me!

So Ethan and I went by ourselves (Sean was working at the fair) and we got to chat with Michelle, get our picture and she signed postcards that they were providing. We didn't get there in time for the check presentation, but they'd had a whole free brunch buffet set up for the event too.
Of course, Ethan was way more interested in the promise I'd made him that he could play one arcade game when we were done and just said a polite "thank you" when Michelle commented on how cute he is and his pretty blue eyes. After we got our picture and Ethan played his game, he picked out a red balloon {red IS his favorite color} and then we decided to treat ourselves to Yo-Cream.At Yo-Cream, Ethan got his with oreos on top. As usual, I wen the all-berry route. Mmmm... Love me some Yo-Cream!!