Almost THREE Weeks????

Its been almost three weeks since I've posted! Time sure does fly. Now that summer is officially over though it seems like our lives are slowing down a little bit. The summer is always so hectic and busy, I look forward to fall.

Last weekend we took Ashlyn to the pumpkin patch with some friends of ours. She had so much! She loved picking out her pumpkin and riding daddy's shoulders for the corn maize. There were lots of animals for her to look at and a hay maize for little kids that had mom feeling a little claustrophobic and daddy crawling on his knees to get through. She thought it was hilarious though and laughed the whole way through. Thank goodness we had a flashlight because it was DARK!

This weekend was mine and Jered's weekend away. Mom and Eddie brought Bailey and Macy up on Sat so we could go out. We went up to Hood River and did some wine tasting, ate some awesome sushi and stayed the night at a really cool hotel. If you ever get the chance to stay at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, do. It was really cool and I'd definitely stay there again. We'd heard good things about the brunch buffet but we both thought it was overrated and too expensive. Ashlyn had a blast playing with Bailey and Macy. The girls are so good with her and she loves being able to play with the big girls. She was sad when they all had to leave though. She cried and said "I go! I go!" We'll see them next weekend though when we go down for Halloween.

On Friday I made our reservations for our Kauai trip!!! I drove my friends at work nuts singing, "I'm going to Hawaii, I'm going to Hawaii!" We're going in May so its still about 7 months away but when you're using a timeshare you have to make the reservations quite a bit in advance. We are so excited!! I've already started reading the guide book, realized I have a 4th edition and there's a 7th edition so I ordered it from Amazon :) I like to be well prepared for vacation so that we can see and/or do everything! I don't want to miss anything, especially since it'll probably be a few years before we get the chance to go back.

Ashlyn is talking up a storm and will repeat everything you say. And I do mean everything! Jered has taught her "What does a Beaver say Ashlyn?" and she raises her little fists in the air and says "Touch Down!" Its so darn cute we keep trying to get it on video but she won't perform. A duck apparently only says "Quack" but I'm trying to teach her say "Number 1!!" Its a work in progress. She's starting to be real interested in the potty and likes to sit on it but has yet to actually go. The whole idea of potty training is pretty overwelming but she's ready so I guess we'll be starting that soon.

Here's some pics from the pumpkin patch and a couple of me and Jered from this weekend.

 with Mommy and Daddy in the corn maize

 photo-op

 riding in the wheelbarrow with McKenzie

 which pumpkin do I want???

 this one looks good!

 Yummy sushi!!

 In the hotel

at the hotel bar

Birthdays, zoo animals and bless you...

We had a great week! Wednesday was my day off and Ashlyn and I went to the zoo! She was so much more excited this time. Last time we could tell she really liked it because she was just in awe of all the animals. This time she was excited! We saw the monkeys, elephants, bears, fish, giraffes, zebras. She was excited to see the sea otters (we have a book from Grammy about sea otters) but they weren't out. So she said "sea otters night night" "sea otters night night Mommy". Where does she come up with this stuff?


Friday night after work we met up with Sam and Eli for drinks and chicken wings at this great wings place in Portland. It had been so long since we'd seen them. Do the summers get busier and busier, or is it just me?? I think we only saw them one time this summer. Ashlyn acted super shy with them even though she sees pictures of them at our house and knows their names. Lately she's got this shy thing going. If there's a lot of people or people she doesn't see a lot of, she acts all shy. She had fun though because there were some other older kids at the restaurant and she just watched them the whole time. She's an observer!

Last weekend was my mom's birthday so we headed down to Monroe. We spent Friday night in Woodburn visiting both Grandma and Grandpa Lendhardt and Grandma K. Then onto Monroe where Mom and I got pedicures. Its football season so Jered, Ashlyn and I went over to cousin Traci's to watch the Beavs and the Ducks game. We hadn't seen Traci the last couple of times we were down so we were excited to have time to hang out over there this time. I made enchiladas and Trac got all the snacks and drinks. Ashlyn wore her Ducks cheerleader outfit Grandpa got her last year and when we walked in the door, Dylan was pretty upset with us. He said "Its Beavers Day! Why is she wearing that?" I told him it was most definitely Ducks day as well! Jered wasn't wearing his Beavs gear either and Dylan made sure he changed his shirt....quick! Sunday was Mom's birthday, so she made dinner for us. Huh?? Yep, she made her own birthday dinner and it was great. My cousins Kourtney and Melody came over and then Aunt Jean and Uncle Hugh showed up too.


Ashlyn is a little copycat lately, so watch your language! She is a little talker, unless there are people around she doesn't know. I've had a head cold this week and a little cough. This morning I could hear Ashlyn in her room talking to herself, I coughed and I heard "Bless you Mommy". So dang cute!! She thinks a cough is like a sneeze.

coloring in my color book, one of my favorite things to do!

watching cousin Dylan be silly

Happy Birthday Grammy!!

Giraffes!!

I didn't want to walk on the road like most people, I like doing it the more difficult way :)

this looked like a great place to eat my snack

self portrait with Mommy....I've still got a little learn on self portrait skills

the only sea otter we saw at the zoo

playing with Daddy