Busy but wonderful summer.....

Its been such a great summer! The weather has been fantastic! We've been taking advantage of the nice weather on our stay home days (my day off during the week.). We've been going to the park, doing a little yard work, watering flowers. Ashlyn loves to water the flowers! Sometimes she gets more water on the sidewalk or the grass than on the actual flowers but oh well! At school they take the kids on walks to the park and nature walks. She loves it when she gets to go to Normandale Park. 

Ashlyn has grown SO much this summer! She went from a size 8-1/2 to a 10-1/2 shoe. We've bought a lot of shoes this summer! She's still squeezing her feet into some of her summer sandals, she says "its ok if my toes hang over Mom, its ok!"  I tried some jeans on her the other day that we bought just last winter. I wanted to make sure they fit her for our trip to Ireland. She must've grown a good 2-inches because they're a little short. Good thing she'll be tucking them into her Bogs anyway!  

Her language and vocabulary has also exploded this summer. Sometimes the way she talks, she sounds like an adult! She asks questions about everything and I mean everything. :) She's really into driving and switching lanes and taking exits. She wanted to know why some lines are yellow, some are white, some are dashes. She'll see a dashed line and tell me, "Mommy, lets switch lanes!" She's all about direction too. Which way is it to school? Which way is it home? Have been this way before? Where does the sun rise? Where does the moon rise? 

We've been practicing sight words at home. Sight words are words that schools and teachers expect kids to recognize just by looking at them, not by sounding them out. Are, Am, Away, All, etc etc. She's doing really good and gets really excited when she gets them all right. Right now she probably knows about 10-15 words, but we've still got a whole stack to get through! She loves to read so we read a lot of stories at home. Lately its been a lot of princess stories. She likes for us to read to her then she 'reads' the story to herself. Sometimes if she's in her room and its too quiet, I think I'm going to find her doing something naughty but nope, she's just sitting there reading her books to all her stuffies (her stuffed animals). 

Jered and I have been trying really hard this summer to give her more responsibilities, even though some of it is just easier do ourselves. Its her job to feed the dogs at night when we get home from work and its her job to keep her room clean and organized. I'm happy if everything's just off the floor. If she doesn't pick them up, then we go in her room with a bag and those toys get to stay in Mommy and Daddy's room until she earns them back. At first I don't think she really cared but then a couple of times she lost things she really loved. Like her Disney Princess book or her Princess Celestia My Little Pony. When she does really well she earns extra stories at night and that makes her super excited!

She loves to "help" so she'll swiffer or help unload the dishwasher, help me hang clothes on the hangers. Also she has to make sure her clothes are right side out when they go in her dirty basket. Mommy does not flip clothes. They go in to the washer the way they go into the basket. Her last load of laundry was pretty much all inside out, she spent a while helping me flip them right side out! :) Now she says she's figured out a way to take her clothes off and keep them right side out!

A few pics:

McKenzie, Ashlyn and Brady: Ready to go to the pool!!

Playing in the arcade Ice Cream truck

Ashlyn and McKenzie saying goodbye to

Great Wolf Lodge

Ashlyn and Brady

Of course we went to Cabela's!

Playing on the dance floor with Paisley

Looking sweet!

This is Ashlyn taking a picture of her Unicorn pillow pet. 

Her name is Rainbow and she lights up the ceiling at night.

Ponies, wave pools and water slides.......

I bought a Groupon a few months ago for a 1 hour pony lesson. It was all the way out in Newberg but I figured it would be worth it. Its a place called Oregon Dream Ponies and I highly recommend it if you don't mind the drive.  http://www.oregondreamponies.com/Pony_Rentals.php  The couple that run it are awesome! Cowgirl Kim and Cowboy Bob :) Cowgirl Kim used to be a middle school math teacher and you can tell. She was great with the kids. Ashlyn can sometimes be so shy but she wasn't at all with Cowgirl Kim. There was just one other little girl there so it was really perfect. It was a full lesson about how to appropriately introduce yourself to a horse, how to comb the horse and the mane, how to saddle the horse. Then it was riding time! They have a large paddock so Cowgirl Kim lead Ashlyn around on her pony Smokey in big circles, over some logs, around some barrels. They did airplane with their arms to learn their balance. They played a cool game where they leaned over and picked up an orange cone off the barrels. Ashlyn had a huge smile the whole time! She loved it and wanted to stay the whole day. We'll definitely go back!

Jered ran in a relay race called the RAGNAR last month. Its very similar to the Hood to Coast race but its held in Washington. He had a lot of fun but I'll never understand why he does it! If he trained a bit more I'd understand. I just don't want him to break himself! Ashlyn and I kinda like him and we'd like to keep him around for a while! :)

What else have we been up to? Well, we helped our friends out with catering a wedding a few Saturdays ago. Wow, was that a lot of work! I would not want that job that's for sure!

We also spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa Lenhardt's a couple weeks ago. Kari and the girls were down so the kids had a blast. They played and played, Ashlyn was super tired that night. :)

A couple weekends ago Mom and Ed came up and stayed with Ashlyn on Sat night so Jered and I could have an overnight date. We had the best time! We stayed in Portland at the White Eagle Hotel, its another McMenamins property. It supposed to be haunted but we didn't see any ghosts. Though Jered tried to trick me by rattling the bathroom door handle. The bathrooms are down the hall (shared bathrooms) and I thought he was in the room, not roaming the halls! :)

We started out by going downtown to the food carts to get lunch. We went to a place called the DumpTruck first. They had recently been on the food channel and Jered really wanted to their cheeseburger dumpling. It was pretty tasty! Next we got some handmade asian spicy noodles. YUM!  Then we went to our favorite gelato place on NW 23rd called Alotto Gelato. They had my favorite, pistachio! YUMMY!! Next up we drove over to the East side and decided to have a margarita at Casa del Matador. They definitely know how to make a good marg! We had a Groupon for a place next door to our hotel called Mint/820. We had been there once before a few months ago and it was really good! The owner is a mixologist (yes that's a real word) and she's known around the country for her cocktails. I love the pineapple jalapeno margarita! Its spicy but not too spicy, believe me its really good. I also tried the avocado daiquiri, I wasn't too impressed with that one. I rarely send anything back at a restaurant (I waitress-ed in college) but when you're payine $9 for a drink I think its valid. The waitress was really nice about it too. We shared an appetizer, crab cakes and split a really yummy cheeseburger for our dinner. We were both still pretty full from our lunch.

The next morning we wanted have to breakfast before we went home. So we tried Pine State Biscuits and kept right on driving past it. The line was out the door and wrapped around the block. Next choice was Tasty n Sons. There was a line but not as long so we decided to stay. They served us coffee and bloody mary's while we waited! The food was SO good! I would definitely go back, the next time I want to drive to the East side to eat breakfast. ;)

Jered is playing softball again with the some people from his old job. He's played with the same group for quite a few years now. Its definitely beer-league softball! Ashlyn and I have made his last few games and they have a lot of fun! She just likes being outside and running around! She yells and cheers for Daddy every time he's up to bat!

This weekend we went to Great Wolf Lodge with some friends and their kids. It was our first time but our friends have been quite a few times so they knew where all the good stuff was. It was the most fun we've had since I don't remember when. Seriously, Ashlyn LOVED it! We were afraid she wouldn't be in to the wave pool and we were pretty sure she wouldn't do the slides. We were SO wrong! We couldn't keep her out of the wave pool! When we would finally convince her to go to the slides, she wanted to do them over and over and over. Mom and Dad definitely got some exercise this weekend, those slides come with A LOT of stairs! :) Ashlyn went down every slide they had, multiple times, except the tornado/cyclone one, she wasn't tall enough (thank goodness because that was the only one Mom didn't want to go down!). She was barely tall enough for the other slides. They measured her and gave her a special wrist band so she wouldn't have to measure every time she wanted to do a slide. We told her she needed to stand really tall and stretch her neck up as high as she could, she just skated through at 42". :) I don't have many pictures, we were having too much fun in the water to be taking pictures, but if you haven't been yet, I suggest you go ASAP! Ashlyn is still wearing her bracelet, she's afraid when we go back they won't know its ok for her to be there. We'll definitely be planning another trip after the first of the year and hopefully we'll convince Ashlyn to take off her bracelet between now and then! ;)

Here's a few pics from the Pony lesson:

 This is my horse Smokey. I'm introducing myself

 I'm so happy to be on a real horse! And Smokey was

just my size!

 Giving Smokey a big hug after a great ride!

This is a story Ashlyn told to her teacher.

They had went to the library and Ashlyn

repeated her version of the story they

had heard from the librarian.

Not sure how well you can see this

but its pretty cool that she could remember

all of that!

Wedding weekend palooza!

I'm exhausted!!! Ashlyn is exhausted!! Jered is exhausted!! We had a four day wedding palooza in Monroe. One of my favorite little cousins got married on Friday. Well I guess she's not that little anymore, she's 24 with a 2 year old of her own! A wedding in the Ballard family means visiting relatives. We had family in from Wisconsin and North Carolina. The bride had family in from Reno and Ohio and friends in from South Carolina (I've never been called ma'am so many times!). It was a family filled weekend!

We drove down on Thurs after work and as soon as we got there we started working on wedding appetizers. Friday morning it was time to start decorating! They got married at the same place Jered and I got married. Such a beautiful venue! Once the ceremony was over it was time to make sure things ran smoothly. Jered and I were refilling waters, making sure the salad bowls were full, etc. After it was time for clean up. It was a whirl wind! I know there were lots of people that helped behind the scenes with our wedding and I just want to say another big THANK YOU!! Its a lot of work! ;)

All weekend we were up till 2 or 3 am. Ashlyn was up till 11pm a couple of nights, yikes! We went wine tasting (of course), we had bbq's, we went swimming, we had a bonfire. It was a very fun tiring weeeknd.

Ashlyn got to play with her cousin Arie from Wisconsin. They were thick as thieves all weekend. They even had a slumber party on Sat night. Arie is just 2 weeks older than Ashlyn. They're both bossy as can be but they got along great. There were only a couple of fights and tears. Mostly there was lots of play and giggling!

 Grammy and Grandpa in the photo booth with

their three granddaughters

Mommy and Daddy

 the happy couple "tying the knot"

 me with the bride's little sister Kourtney

me with the bride, Ashley

 Ashlyn and Arie having a water toast

Cheers!

 relaxing

 playing in the pool, the raft was their "island"

I love this picture of Ashlyn. She is having SO

much fun!

4th of July, Family and Fun

We had such a great week camping in Florence at Honeyman! We got over there on Wed afternoon and Ashlyn hit the ground running. She really pushed her boundaries this year. There were many trips to the park with her cousins, she ate lots of marshmallows, we walked in the parade, we stayed up late, it was pretty awesome! One of my cousins counted 161 family members. Yep, 161! Crazy, I know. All of my mom's brothers and sisters were there and almost all of my cousins. We went to the lake a couple of times, I even swam out to the dock. Jered tells me its a yearly tradition to do it at least once. We celebrated two anniversaries at the coast. My Aunt Gwenda and Uncle Louie: 57 years! and my Auntie Andi and Uncle Rick: 35 years!!

So I was a total loser and forgot my camera this camping trip. Most of these pics were taken with my cell phone or I stole them off Facebook so I don't have as many as I'd like:

 I found this one on Jered's phone. 

Him and one of his co-workers at one of his job sites

This is just a small portion of Grandma and Grandpa Lenhardt's yard.

I'm constantly talking about it and now you can see it. Next time

I'll take a picture of the garden. This is where we get all the yummy 

vegetables and fruits, baked goods etc and all of our flower baskets.

 Ashlyn's first concert: Old Crow Medicine Show at the Zoo.

It was HOT but we had a great time!

 Packed and ready for camping! We didn't forget anything!!

 Ashlyn and Paisley after the parade

I couldn't get both of them to look at the same time!

 Playing at the lake with Paisley.

 That's Krissy and baby Ivan in the background. 

The Ballard's

back row: Uncle Bob, Aunt Jean, Aunt Judy, Uncle Gary

front row: my mom, Uncle Rick, Uncle David, Aunt Gwenda and Uncle Jerry

VBS and Singles Week

SUCCESS!!!

We all did great during our singles week! Ashlyn had a blast at Grammy and Grandpa's house. She went to two birthday parties, five days of VBS, played with her numerous cousins, went swimming, shopping with Grammy and who knows what else! 

Jered and I went out every night, yep every night! We met friends downtown for dinner, met some other friends out at Edgefield one night after work, we tried new restaurants and we went to two weddings. It was a whirl wind of a week but we really enjoyed ourselves. We were exhausted at the end of the week!

I'll admit though there were quite a few times when I really missed her and wished I could give her a squeeze. She on the other hand really didn't have much time for us. We talked to her every night and she would talk for a few minutes and then it would be, "ok bye, love you!"

Here's a few pics, mostly taken off Facebook:

 having fun with Paisley at her birthday party. 

These two are little bff's in the making!

 Ashlyn in the front row in the orange dress with
her VBS class

being silly!

 coloring in class

last day of class, same orange dress :)

 at one of the two weddings we went to. In the Gorge, 

90 degrees, everyone was a little shiny!

one of our nights out, dressed to impress

 so happy to have her back!

she was TIRED after her week away

We leave Wed morning for 4th of July Honeyman camping. We are SO excited! This is our big camping trip every year. We've been "staging" in the back room for a week now with all of our camping essentials, groceries and toys. I've been WinCo, Costco (twice), Albertsons (three, probably four times) and Target (at least twice). Today Ashlyn and I baked three different kinds of gluten free cookies. We did good ol' chocolate chip but fancied it up a little with some cream cheese and cornstarch to make them really fluffy and yummy. Brown butter, oatmeal, butterschotch and toffee chip came next and then last but not least peanut butter sandwich cookies with Nutella, marshmallow cream cheese frosting. Yep, I think we're ready!

Father's Day Sand Camp

How is everyone enjoying the beautiful weather??? We are loving it at the McGrath House! Ashlyn loves to help water the flowers, especially in the front, because she gets to run around on the sidewalk. We have some strawberry plants in the front and she loves to pick them and eat them. They went pretty quick this year!

We have continued the yard work extravaganza. We mulched the whole front yard and it is amazing what a difference it makes! I told Jered we've got curb-appeal and its time to put it on the market :) We still have to find a spare weekend to do the back yard, but its looking pretty spiffy!

Father's Day weekend we did our annual Kacalek camping trip. This year we went to Florence and camped at Siltcoos Sand Camp. I've never camped in the sand and I think it was actually less messy than camping in typical campground sites. We borrowed the quads from my mom and Ed and we had a blast! We were a small group this year. Just Uncle Jim, Zach, Leslie, Nolan, and us.

Jered's cousin Zach was there with his son, Nolan. Nolan is just two months older than Ashlyn and they always have the best time together. Nolan was pretty anxious for us to arrive on Friday morning. He kept asking "when is my friend going to get here? when is my friend to get here?" He called Ashlyn "my friend" all weekend. Those two hit the ground running as soon as we made it to camp. They enjoyed the little bit of freedom they had and were constantly pushing the boundaries. We were the only ones camping on Friday so we let them roam a little further than we normally would. They climbed and played all over the quads, they pretended the quad trailers were pirate ships, they pretended the sand was fairy dust. They "wrestled" in the sand and didn't seem to mind a bit that they had sand in every crack and crevice. They got to eat a lot of sweets and treats, watch movies in Uncle Jim's trailer and stay up super late.

Uncle Jim brought a 3-wheeler, it was our camp bike, and they loved getting rides around camp on it. Uncle Jim had also brought a swing that he looped over a tree and they were constantly on that thing. They only got in a couple of fights over it and we just let them work it out. I think they both probably learned a thing or two from each other that weekend. Some good, some not so good! :)

At one point they were on a walk-about in some tall grass and trees and we heard Nolan say, "Lets go over here and look for monsters." Ashlyn said a little timidly, "ok, but if we find any are you going to take care of me?" Nolan said with all confidence, "Yep I'll take care of you!" Luckily, no monsters were found.

We had a blast riding the quads! But our first trip Friday morning was a dismal failure. I was pretty nervous and so was cousin Leslie. I've never ridden on the dunes and climbing the steep ones really freaked me out. So of course they take us up a steep hill the first day! I was following Leslie and Jered was following me. Leslie went up and turned a little to the left, I thought that looked good because it looked flatter to the left so I followed her. She got stuck in the sand, I stopped my bike and it died, Jered was behind us and almost made it to the top when he realized we were stuck, so he stopped and got stuck. Total train wreck! My bike wouldn't start again, like nothing, no turn over at all. We stood around for a few minutes twiddling our thumbs and then Jered and Uncle Jim decided to tow my bike back to camp. He came back without Jered, Jered stayed in camp trying to get my bike going. So now we're on top of the hill and we decide to go for a little short ride. I've got Jered's bike and Ashlyn on the back. Ugh, I was not confident enough for that. Made me super nervous. I climbed no more hills and just tooled around a little on the flats. We headed back pretty quickly because Leslie kept getting stuck. I tried to act cool, but it was not a fun first trip out. Ashlyn loved it though!

We hung around camp, ate some lunch, etc. A while later, the guys start talking about going riding again. I looked at Leslie, she looked at me and she said "Yeah, I'm just gonna stay in camp." I quickly agreed with her, "Yep me too!" :) The kids were playing in our tent so we let the guys sneak off before either of them wanted to tag along. We thought they would be mad but they just both poked their heads out of the tent for a minute and went back to whatever it was they were doing. The guys were gone for quite a while and when they came back Zach was dripping wet and Jered was clutching his shoulder. I think all three of them were glad they got to have a guys ride even if they did come back with war wounds!

On Sat a friend of Zach's came over with his wife and 6 yr old son. They had one of those bigger 4-seater things they wanted to try out in the sand so we made another trip out. This time Jered took me up the side of that first hill and I was able to make it because it was not quite as steep. We headed out for the beach and when we go there the kids wanted to put their feet in. Before we knew it their boots were wet so off came the boots and pants. Nolan and Ashlyn were running around in their sweatshirts and underwear. It wasn't long before the sweatshirts were soaked as well, but you should have seen the two of them running and screaming and laughing and jumping in the water. They had so much fun and neither one of them seemed to mind having to wear their wet clothes back to camp.

We took another ride later in the afternoon and this time I was a little bit braver. We rode around for a while then Uncle Jim wanted to show us a spot where you could see for miles and had excellent of the sunset. The only problem, it was up a steep hill. Steeper than the other hill I was afraid of. So Jered went up it twice, once fast and once slow. Ugh, I was not excited but he said I would make it and it was flat on top. So I pushed the throttle in all the way and just went for it! I didn't let up on that throttle till I was at the top. Whew!! It was exhilarating and Uncle Jim was right, the view was incredible.

All in all a very successful weekend!

We dropped Ashlyn yesterday morning with my mom. I was sad, but I know she'll have a great time.It worked perfectly that next week is VBS. My Aunt Jean and my cousin Kourtney are going to help out by dropping her off  and picking her up from VBS. Aunt Jean will have some of her grandkids and they're all within a few years of Ashlyn so I know the kids are going to have a blast. Mom (me) is going have fun as well but I know I'm going to miss her like crazy! Jered has started calling it our "Singles Week!" We've already made plans with some friends to see a concert at Edgefield Tues night. There's an awesome restaurant/bar close to our house called Fireside Grill that's adults only so we'll definitely be hitting up that. We're going to enjoy our time together but miss our kiddo like crazy at the same time.

Here's a few pics of V's wedding and Sand Camp:

The beautiful bride: my friend Virginia and her husband Justin

Ashlyn loved seeing her name on the place setting

The aftermath: Ashlyn ate most of the chocolates at the table

Having fun with old friends

 Sassy Ashlyn

 Sweet Ashlyn

Multnomah Falls, always beautiful

 Playing on the camp bike

 The guys: Jered, Zach and Uncle Jim

 S'mores Time

Too tired, passed out watching a movie