All about Ashlyn: July 2014

The summer has been busy as usual! We're still working around the house as much as possible. The property sometimes feels like one BIG weed! My garden is looking pretty good. A couple weekends ago we spent about 6 hours pulling out every single weed, big or small. I do mean every! With our two main camping events pretty close together and all this beautiful weather we've had the weeds went crazy!

We had a great Father's Day camping trip with Uncle Jim and Aunt Maggie. We took Mom and Ed's quads and had a blast on the sand dunes. 4th of July camping was also a lot of fun. Ashlyn had a lot more freedom this year than years previous. She was allowed to go the park with the other kids as long as she checked in periodically. They all did great and were always where they said they would be. We went to the lake a few times because it was warm at the coast! Ashlyn (in her life jacket) swam out to the dock (its a pretty good distance) three times this year with little to no assistance. We were very proud of her! She didn't like jumping off the dock though. Maybe next year.

We did some backyard camping at Grandma G's the other weekend. It was Grandpa's 83rd birthday. Ashlyn was excited to play with her cousins Grace and Gwen. We lit a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmallows (of course!)

Grandpa's garden looks amazing! All of his veggies are twice the size of mine. He told me his secret is chicken poop and high nitrogen fertilizer rototilled in before planting. So next year we'll definitely be spreading chicken poop! I'm planning to do some canning soon with some of our haul from the garden. I'm pretty excited for that, it will be my first time doing it on my own. I'm hoping for green beans, carrots, pickles, salsa and probably tomato sauce and juice. Neither Jered or Ashlyn likes tomatoes (crazy! I know) and I don't think I'll be able to eat them all on my own.

What's up next for us? Ashlyn will be spending the first few days of Aug with two nieces and Mom at the fair. Bailey and Macy are showing rabbits this year. We have two weddings this year and one of them is coming up in Aug. I bought a really cute dress last weekend when we were in Woodburn Grandpa's birthday! :) We are helping out at Forest Grove Uncorked again. Our good friends Gary and Dawn spear head the whole thing with Dawn's parents. Jered and I are the set-up crew. So we'll be setting up tables, chairs, tents etc. Its the middle August so there's a pretty good chance it will be super hot! Its a very fun event and for sweating through three hours of set up we earn ourselves free entry and a wine glass. Jered is running in the Hood to Coast relay race again. That will be Aug 22-24. He'll be gone all weekend so Ashlyn and I will have to come up with something more fun than yard work to do!

Ashlyn starts school on Aug 25. Yikes! I'm not ready!!! This is going to be such a big change for all of us. Both Jered and I are having to rearrange our schedules a bit. I'm now working 7am-330pm. Ashlyn will go to school from 750am-330pm and be off on Fridays. Jered will do drop off and I will do pick up. That will be a big change for Jered because he's used to being able to go into work when ever he wants. Its not unusual for him to go in at 4am. We have an appt with an at home daycare on Mon. Hopefully it goes well because its in Corbett and Ashlyn would ride the bus to and from the daycare and would be there on Fridays as well. Ashlyn is excited but I think a little nervous too. Obviously a big change for her, since she's been at WeeCare since she was 3 months old.

A few pics from the last few weeks for your viewing pleasure: