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Sunday, September 19, 2010

As promised ;o)


Jered and Cole 'rock climbing'
beautiful lake
I couldn't resist taking this picture. I mean seriously? Our two would've been in the water in about 2.2 seconds. This dog stayed on that tube the whole time.
Cole and Jered playing the frisbee game. Love the look on Jered's face ;o)
Edward Cullen <3
Convo with Daddy
Dancing with Grandma K
pictures with cousin Grace
hold my hand Grace
that's better
I'm a cutie!
love how Grace is looking and smiling at Ashlyn

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Long time no blogging....

I know its been a long time since I've blogged and posted new pictures. I have tons of pics still in the camera to download from the last few weeks, I've just been really lazy! I will get to it..... I promise....hopefully tomorrow???

Jered's new job is going great. He's really liking it and settling in well. Its sounds like its pretty stable which is awesome. They hired him as a Project Manager even though they were only looking for a survey tech. He went to school with his boss, which just proves it pays to have connections. The only negative is the commute. The job is in Vancouver and we live in Beaverton so he's driving about 30 miles each way. He says its not too bad though and he gets reverse flow of traffic. I'm just really happy to be getting a paycheck again and so is our savings account, which took a pretty huge hit during the 3 month summer vacation Jered took! I start to get real nervous and anxious when our savings account gets below a certain level, so now its time to start building it up again :)

Work for me is the same as ever. People are still sick and people are still pregnant, job security! I worked graveyard shift last night for a little overtime. I was not excited about it but then I thought about our too empty savings and went to work. What can I say? I'm a glutton!

Ashlyn is doing awesome!! I really do think she's the best kid ever :) She's so darn funny sometimes and makes us laugh every day. Before you have kids you never really get it. Now that we have Ashlyn, we can't imagine life without her and love her more and more each day. Watching her grow and learn is so amazing. Just 5 minutes ago she climbed up on the seat of  her train, stood up and laughed out loud because she was so proud of herself. This kid has no fear of heights, she loves to climb on things, she loves to run and jump on the couch or our bed. She loves to run back and forth on the benches on the deck. She's super curious and wants to look behind every door, cupboard, curtain. She loves to look at books and be read to. She loves music and to dance. She shakes her little booty and especially likes it when we dance with her. She loves to color and use pen and paper. Her language skills are exploding. She almost always says please when asking for something, though still needs a little prompting. Usually includes the thank you and even sometimes your welcome after you give her what she wants.She is repeating everything we say and I mean everything. Her retention is surprising me everyday too. We drive over the Marquam bridge every evening to get home and lately every time we're over the river she yells "Big Boat!". I don't think she can see any boats except we did see a big boat a couple of weeks ago when crossing the bridge and now relates the bridge to big boats. She repeats (sometimes a thousand times a day) "Hi Mommy, Hi Daddy!" The first time she told me "Wuv you" I got teary. She is getting very bossy and will hold her hand up to the dogs and say "STOP" when they are getting too close. If they're in her way she says "beep beep" and pushes her way right through. They rarely move out of her way, its almost like they're saying hey we were here fist, you can go around! She is seriously stubborn and independent. She does not need nor want your help, especially when eating. If you try to help her eat something she'll just refuse to eat it all together. She can be super picky but almost always eats her fruits and veggies. Wee Care was super excited the other day when she ate a few bites of a hamburger and Jered and I were excited when she ate some spaghetti at Glady and Floyd's. We don't push it, we just put it on her plate and she either eats it or doesn't. Some of her favorites are grapes, raspberries, blueberries, raisins, peas, green beans, potatoes, bananas. She loves to play games, one of her new favorites is hide and seek. She loves to 'find' us and loves for us to chase her. This kid loves to run and will yell "run" when we're walking outside. She loves to be outside! She's still a really great sleeper and when she's ready for bed will say "nigh night, nigh night" until you put her to bed. She hates to brush her teeth, hates to have her hair rinsed, hates to get her hair done in the mornings. She's also started to be really shy with people she doesn't know or hasn't seen in a while.

We spent Labor Day in Bend with Jered's cousin Cole and his girlfriend Neva. Ashlyn stayed with Grammy and Grandpa and Macy and Bailey. She was running a bit of a fever most of the weekend so I felt a little guilty leaving her with my mom but mom said she did fine. Jered and I had an awesome time in Bend! We watched the football game and went out to two different bars Sat. night. I don't remember the last time we went bar-hopping! And we were up way past midnight! On Sunday we attempted to do some fishing but really just went driving around some lakes on the other side of Mt Bachelor and did some shooting before meeting up with Jillian and Pieter in town for lunch. After lunch we headed back to Cole's place and we played some sort of frisbee game in the backyard. I really hate frisbee, seriously! But I did play one round with Jered before we headed inside to play the best game ever....Categories! My stomach hurt from laughing! We hadn't laughed so much or had so much fun in a while. It was a really great weekend and we were so glad we ended up going.

We got the chance to see Kari and Grace the other day. We hadn't seen them in a while, they were down for overnight at Grandma K's so we went down for dinner. Grace has changed so much. She is getting so big! Looks just like John too.

Ok so tomorrow....hopefully....pictures :)

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Pictures of Canada.....

5am....and on the road!
Biggest chair we've ever seen!

Our first stop was Hell's Gate in the Fraser River Canyon
We road down in these gondolas, even Grammy!
There's Daddy out in the river fishing.
But this is Mama's salmon!!!
Mama and Daddy before they left for their boat trip
Daddy pulling in the crab pots
Some of their catch
Playing with Grandma Mac
giving kisses!!
That's Grammy and Grandma out on the dock. They went swimming in the lake with Mommy while I was napping in the house.
That's Papa and Grandma Mac's house in the middle and the dock by the lake.
I liked looking through this door when people were on the other side. FUN!!
Hanging with Grandma
Family day on the boat, I loved looking at the water!
Grandpa made sure I didn't fall in
Its really pretty in the channel
Sitting in the hotsprings
Papa Mac jumping into the water
Our last night, Mama and Daddy on the dock
They were watching the sunset
This is me and my cousin Macy
Going down the slide all by myself, weeeee!!!
This is how I found Ashlyn sleeping the other night. She is such a tornado when she sleeps.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Canada and beyond....

Our trip to Canada was a success!! Ashlyn did amazing in the car. She napped well and we stopped every couple of hours to let her run around (and for Mom and I to pee!) It was a LONG drive. We left at 5am on Thursday morning and drove into Steve and Patsy's driveway at 6pm Friday night. We stayed one night in Williams Lake and it was so smokey because of a forest fire in the area. A relatively uneventful drive until Ashlyn had a blowout in the car. There's something about the carseat that makes a holy mess. We stopped in Prince George at a gas station and I jumped out fast because I really had to go so Jered changed her in the backseat. When I came back out to the car he'd used a handful of wipes and was struggling to get her clothes off without getting any poop on her or more on himself. It took both of us to get her clothes off and finish cleaning her up. Ugh!!! It was so gross! I wanted to throw the outfit away but my mom wouldn't let me. She rinsed it in the gas station bathroom, put it in a plastic bag and washed it when we got to Steve and Patsy's.
We fished on the river, we went out on the boat and fished, we went to hotsprings, we swam in the lake, we caught crab and a few fish and ate a lot of seafood. Yumm! I caught the first and only salmon of the trip and boy was he delicious. We ate him that same night for dinner and he might've been the best salmon I've ever eaten! It was so great to see Steve and Patsy and have Ashlyn spend time with her grandparents. She had a really great time too. Two days in a row both Jered and I were gone fishing and she really missed us. Then the third day I stayed home to hang with Mom and Patsy while the guys all went out fishing again. The fourth day we all went out in the boat "family day" for more fishing and we saw whales! and went to another hotsprings and swimming in the ocean. The ocean was so COLD and the hotsprings felt so good! It was a great end to a too short week. Ashlyn loved the boat, she did amazing on the boat! She liked looking out the window when we were going fast and she really had fun at the hotsprings. She checked out every nook and cranny and even helped Jered with his fishing pole. She was so good she even took a nap on the boat!

Before we knew it it was time to turn around and drive back. Another two days driving to get home. We stayed Friday night at our house then were up going again Saturday morning to make it to Monroe for a 40th wedding anniversary for Aunt Jean and Uncle Hugh. 40 years is amazing, I hope Jered and I get there too! Saturday night we went to the Scandinavian Festival with a bunch of my cousins and then I went back again with my mom on Sunday. Ate way too much food but it was all so good! Sunday night was another cousin's wedding. The wedding was so nice, it was at the same place Jered and I got married! I loved seeing it again, such a beautiful place to get married, it brought back all the memories of our wedding and how much fun we had. I wish I could do it all over again!

Monday was Jered's first day at his new JOB!!! Yay! Our checkbook is as excited as we are! He was off for 3 long months. It felt longer to me and him too probably. He did work part time for the last month for a guy out of Beaverton but he just recently got paid for that so it didn't seem like he was working. And not qualifying for unemployment either really put a drain on the ol' savings account. The check was in the mail when we got home from Canada thank goodness! I teased him that the Beaverton job was his dream job, it was anything but! So if you hear us talking about his dream job you'll know its a big joke. He feels good about this new job and is hoping its going to be a positive step in his career. I'll miss my house hubby though, the house was so clean, the laundry always done and the yard was looking fantastic before he went back to work.

This Friday is our 5th anniversary! Yay for us! We don't have too much planned, we both have to work and Jered said he's going to make me dinner :) Lucky me, I usually do the cooking so it'll be nice to have a night off.

I'll try to post pictures of our trip soon!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Four Day

Well my four day was pretty fantastic! We had a lot of fun. We went to the Oregon Brew Fest on Friday afternoon with some friends. Another friend of ours babysat Ashlyn, which was so nice of her since we called kinda last minute.

Saturday we wanted to go fishing, so we drove up the Wilson River trying to find a nice fishing spot. I forgot the camera so I don't have any pictures but it was an awesome spot. Jered was getting his pole all set up right about the same time the dogs took a flying leap into his fishing hole. We should've known better than to take two water dogs fishing. Needless to say we didn't catch any fish, but the dogs had an awesome time! So did Ashlyn. We splashed around the shallow parts of the river and after being a bit hesitant, she really had a lot of fun.

Sunday we met Mom and Eddie in Rickreall and drove over to Lincoln City. My cousin Kourtney came along too as did half the population of Oregon. It was crowded! and foggy and a little windy. We went down towards Depoe Bay to have lunch and ran into Jered's Aunt Edie and cousin Shelly. After lunch we spent a couple of hours hanging out on the beach. It was still a little foggy and windy but not so cold that it was uncomfortable. We walked around Depoe Bay a little, had some ice cream, got some fudge and taffy, did a little shopping and then headed home. A great day!

On Monday we took Ashlyn to the zoo. We're zoo members so its nice to be able to go for just a couple hours which is about all Ashlyn can handle right now anyway. She really likes the fish and she really liked the orangatan this time too. We stayed till we started to get hungry and Ashlyn was ready for her nap. We got some take-out sushi and went to Washington park for a picnic. Ashlyn napped and we ate our sushi and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a great end to a fabulous weekend.

Then it was back to work, four days in a row. Ugh! By Thursday I wasn't sure if I could do one more day. I did of course. We got a call from some of our very best friends on Wednesday night. They were going to be in Olympia visiting their Aunt this last weekend and wondered if we would drive up and stay the night Friday night. They live in Calgary now and we hadn't seen them in almost three years. A lot of things have changed since the last time we saw them. They have two boys, we have Ashlyn, we're older, smarter (I hope), more responsiblities. But as soon as we're together again its just like old times. Mike said to me "you guys are exactly the same, there's just three of you now". Their Aunt wasn't going to be there until Saturday so we had her big beautiful amazing house all to ourselves. She lives on the peninsula in Olympia right on the water, I already posted a few pictures of the view. We stayed up too late Friday night talking and drinking wine but it was worth the headache the next morning. We spent most of Saturday hanging out, went to the glass museum in Tacoma (a little disappointing but some beautiful pieces), had a seafood lunch and then drove home. Short and sweet but totally worth the trip.

Jered dropped me off at a bacherlorette party for my friend from work. We had a lot of fun! Had a few drinks, ate some appetizers, people watched and danced a lot.

Today I'm just starting to get ready for our trip to Kitimat. We're leaving super early Thurs morning and we're getting really excited. The best news we got this last week though: Jered got a new job...Yay!!! He'll have to commute but its a pretty good oppurtunity and he's pretty excited about it. I hope it'll be a good move for him. There's oppurtunity for growth and a lot of overtime if he wants it. He can be a workaholic so I'm sure he'll take advantage of some of it.

I'll have a long post and pictures of our trip after we get back! Have a great week and wish us luck on our long drive :o)

Pictures are in the previous post....

Pictures....

Here's some pictures from the last couple of weeks. First Grandpa Floyd's birthday party. Then pictures of our trip to the coast, the zoo and to Olympia to see our friends Mike and Carrie:

Playing with Daddy's drum sticks!
Hello
I love my Daddy!
Did you know you can swim in the bathtub??? Its a lot of fun!
Riding on Grandpa's shoulders at the coast
With my Mommy and Daddy! We had a lot of fun at the coast even though it was a little windy and kinda foggy.
Laying on the blanket with Mommy
My sisters....aren't they pretty?
I was trying to touch the fish.
Look how tall me and Daddy are....almost 7 feet!!

Its kinda hard to see through the class but this orangutan was laying on the floor of his pen staring up at us.
I thought he was SO cool because he kept looking at me.
We went up to Olympia to see our friends from Calgary and stayed at their Aunt's house on the peninsula. This was the view of the sunset on Friday night.....not too shabby of a place to spend a night with awesome friends, drinking a few bottles of wine, looking at this!

This was the what we woke up to. Beautiful!
I had a lot of fun playing in the yard, running around with my new friends Tate and Owen.
On our way back last night we dropped Mommy at a party with her friends from work. There's Bri, Ally, Denise, Mommy and Jenna.