Cast and pumpkins

A few weeks ago we took a trip down south to WildLife Safari. I hadn't been in years, probably since I was in grade school. It was SO cool! We had a really great time. I had a Groupon which made it even more worthwhile.

We decided to tie in a few more passport stamps on our McMenamins passports on our way there so we made a few stops in Eugene and got the only stamp for southern Oregon in Roseburg. On our way back we met Mom and Ed for lunch in Eugene for Mom's birthday. We managed to do quite a lot in just two days!

Ashyn's had her cast on now for 3 weeks. She didn't get to choose a color, just plain white. She was a little bummed but the next day at school her friends all signed it so she was happy about that. She's drawn pictures on it, we signed it of course and Gma and Papa Mac signed it. Its so dirty now after 3 weeks everything looks like its just blending together! It comes off next Wed, fingers crossed.

Waiting for McMenamins to open. 

Why use the stairs when you can climb a hill?

 Grandma and Papa Mac gave her some $$ to spend

on our trip and she chose these two stuffed giraffes. 

Their names are Pink Posey and Purple Posey

Family selfie before the leaving the hotel.

Pink and Purple Posey sitting in Ashlyn's sling.

Cast day

McKenzie and Ashlyn with the pirate at the 

pumpkin patch. Brady's tucked in their behind Kenze.

 Walking through the corn maize. 

It was Jake and the Neverland Pirate themed.

Ashlyn loves Jake so she was pretty excited, all 

three of the kids were.

 Kenze and Ashlyn in the patch. They picked out 

best pumpkins in the entire field!

OUCH!!!

A few pics from Aunt Lavonne's wedding. It was H-O-T!! and HUMID! We had a blast! The wedding was beautiful, they looked wonderful and so happy. The reception was a lot of fun too. Lots of food, wine, champagne and dancing! We boogied till pretty late. We didn't get back to Woodburn till almost midnight I think.

 Our attempt at a third generation picture:

Gwen, Ashlyn, Cherise, Nolan, Grace and Louie

Cousins being silly

Ashlyn and Nolan being silly at Aunt Lavonne's wedding.

It happened. Ash Crash (her nickname at WeeCare) took a crash off the retaining wall in the front yard. She's always climbing all over, up the waterfall, jumping off etc. We gave up months ago trying to get her to stop. She just loves to climb! We warned her many many times if she fell off it was going to hurt.....bad! Monday evening I was working in the kitchen. I had just picked two huge bowls full of veggies from the garden and was planning to do some more canning. I could see her climbing around on the waterfall and the retaining wall out the front windows. She let out the worst, loudest highest pitched blood-curdling scream ever. I went running outside (with no shoes on), I could hear her but I couldn't see her. I followed the sounds of her screams and found her in a crumpled heap on the ground next to the 5 foot or so retaining wall. She was holding her arm and I thought to myself "Uh oh!" She was bleeding from her forehead, her wrist was swelling instantly and she had scrapes all down her left side. I stripped off all her clothes so I could get a look at her and see if there were any other injuries. There didn't appear to be any but her head was bleeding and dirty. So put her quickly in the shower and the whole time she's just crying. I called Jered and told him we were going to have to take her in. She's just crying and crying and I'm totally freaking out! I was planning to take her to Legacy Mt Hood, its the closest ER to us but Jered convinced me to take her to a Providence Immediate Care. I was sitting in the parking lot of Mt Hood hospital at this point. She had calmed down some, wasn't crying as much and was falling asleep (which freaked me out because I was afraid she might have a concussion). So out of the parking lot and onto immediate care. Jered met us there and carried her in. She was pretty happy to see her Daddy. We didn't wait too long before they took us back. They evaluated her for concussion, she didn't show any signs. At this point she was awake, walking on her own and talking. They took the xray and she was so brave! We waited a little more and the nurse came back in and said "Yep its broken. She has a distal radius fracture." They put her in a splint, wrapped it up, put her in a sling, gave us some info to call a sports medicine doctor the next day to have a cast put on and sent us home. We were all exhausted by the time we got home!

Ashlyn and I stayed home on Tues so she could recover a little. I called the sports med clinic and they said it was best to wait at least week for all the swelling to go down before casting her arm. We have an appointment Oct 1. In the mean time, she cannot get the splint wet and she has to be in her sling at all times. This means no PE or recess at school. She's handling that part pretty well. Wearing the sling at all times though is going to be a bit of a battle for the next few days. The sling is a little too big and her arm is constantly slipping out of it. She's pretty good about pulling her arm back in. She's promised us not to climb on the retaining walls, at least until her cast comes off. Last night Grandma (Patsy) found her climbing up a chair or something in the back room. Sheesh! I am looking forward to next Wed when she gets her cast on so her arm will be more protected!

 Leaving immediate care she was all smiles

Buckled in and ready to go home

Getting ready for school. Daddy did her hair and 

yes this is really how he sent her to school. 

Kindergarten

DISCLAIMER! I thought I posted this last week but it was stuck in my drafts file. OOPS!!
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We've got ourselves a real kindergartner these days! Today is the end of week 3 and I think she's getting her rhythm. She rides the bus to and from the sitter's house every morning and afternoon. She loves it at the sitter's house and has made a couple of friends there. She's never ready to go when I get there to pick her up so I think that's a good sign. She talks a lot about a girl named Ava from school. I think her and Ava both like to talk because at the beginning of school her and Ava were seated at the same table. But now they're at separate tables. :) She seems to like her teacher, Mr Lewis and gets very excited when Mr Lewis gives her a star. He writes their names on the board and then when they get 10 stars they get to pick a prize. Most nights she is super tired and ready for bed before her bed time. There have been lots of nights she tells us she's "too tired for story". I know she's tired when she tells us that because usually she's begging us for another story and another story!

 Somebody lost her first tooth, actually two teeth. 

One of them fell out and we didn't find it. 

The other one Jered pulled out before she knew what was happening. 

She didn't even cry and it only bled a little bit. 

She was SO excited!

She left a note for the tooth fairy explaining 

the missing tooth just in case. The tooth 

fairy was pretty generous, $5 for each tooth.

Next time the tooth fairy won't be quite as

generous! ;)

Doing chores

We celebrated the last day of WeeCare with

our favorite ice cream. Have you tried

Salt & Straw? If not, you should! Its

DELICIOUS!!!

 First day of school

In the classroom

Second day with her puppy purse she 

bought with her tooth fairy money.

Third day, tired of the pics already

Playing at the new sitters house. Squirt guns on the

airplane teeter-totter.

Fourth day and the last day of the 

first week. 

Horses, birthdays and ice cream.....

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: 

 I bought a groupon for two horse riding lessons. Ashlyn

was super excited. She got to ride a big horse. 

 She loved riding!

 Steering

 Father's Day camping. Roasted marshmallows are a necessity! 

 Ashlyn and Nolan playing in the sand

Daddy giving them rides on the quad around the camp site

 Making cute faces with Paisley

 Ashlyn's friend Gemma (middle, back in turquoise dress) is

moving to Arizon so her Mom had a "Popsicles in the Park" party.

Ashlyn and Gemma have been together at WeeCare since they

were tiny little infants. They started just a couple weeks apart.The

little boy in front, Rory, has been with them since the beginning as well.

The little girl on the right is Elsie. She is one of Ashlyn's best friends. Ashlyn

is always so excited when Elsie is at school. 

4th of July bike parade

 Jered and I tried Salt & Straw ice cream a few 

weeks ago. OMG!!! Delicious!! Ashlyn I needed 

to burn some time before going to a co-workers

birthday party so I took her S&S. She agrees with

us, its delicious!

 Grandpa and Caleb's birthday

The second horse riding lesson. She said her favorite

part of the day was riding the horse! 

Family Party

Ashlyn's school had a family party a few weeks ago and both Jered and I were able to go. She was so excited to show us around, even though we've seen it all before. The kids sang songs to us, showed us their garden, read us a story. It was all very cute! The most special part, according to all the kids, was at the end of the party they got to have popsicles!! They rarely get to have sweets like that at school, occasionally if its someones birthday the parents will bring cupcakes or cookies, so this was really special for the kids. 

 Picture of a picture of when the class went to the fire station

 Pic of a pic of most of the class, Ashlyn front and center

 This is one of  Ashlyn's bff's, Elsie

 This is Evita, another of her bff's

 and this is Gemma, another bff. Her and Gemma have 

been at WeeCare together since the very beginning. Gemma

started about 3 weeks after Ashlyn.

Ashlyn showing us her playground. 

Homebodies

I know I haven't posted in a long while. Its just that we don't do anything anymore, except work at the house! We have been doing so much outside and no matter how much we do, there is still a ton that needs done. We've been trimming, weeding, mowing and planting. We've got the rose beds looking 100% better than when we moved in. Jered has trimmed up quite a few of the trees and those are looking a lot better. We've got some though that need cut down completely. We got our garden planted and already have some sprouts. Ashlyn is very excited about the cantaloupe and pumpkins (cross your fingers)! Jered set us up with a soaker hose for the garden with a timer so we don't have to worry so much about watering or for us its more like not watering. The bathroom remodel got put on pause because we've been doing so much outside. We've had such beautiful weather this spring, we've really taken advantage.

Also I've been working a lot of overtime. A few weekends. a few late nights, working on my day off. I'm tired! There is a light at the end of this overtime tunnel though! We've hired a couple of new people to cover the shifts we're all working OT for and I'm switching my hours at the end of the month. I will be working 5 days a week 7am-330pm. I needed to switch hours when Ashlyn starts school but I'm really looking forward to getting off those couple hours earlier through the summer as well. Right now we usually get home about 6pm and we like to do stuff outside for a bit before it gets dark. Before we know it, its after 8pm, we haven't eaten dinner and Ashlyn needs to be in bed. Needless to say, most nights she's been up a little later than usual and she's been eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, cereal and/or yogurt for dinner! :)

Most of you probably saw the huge surprise we gave her the other weekend. My friend at work was selling her step-sons quad because he had outgrown it. She asked me if we wanted it for Ashlyn and she gave us a super good deal so we went for it! My friend and her husband were able to bring it over a couple of weeks ago and we kept it hidden for about a week before we showed it to her. She was SO surprised!! Jered took her for a ride first and then when we put her on it for her first solo ride....oh boy! She took off with the throttle pushed all the way in and almost ran over Jered! Thank goodness my friends husband Craig had put a governor on the throttle so all we had to do was tighten the little screw so she couldn't go so fast. She's been riding a bit in the driveway, learning to turn and how to do slow down, how to start it etc. Her hands are too little to reach the brake and be able to squeeze it hard enough to slow down but letting off the throttle is working for now. She asked me, "Mommy did you ever wreck when you were little?" I told her "yes I did, many many times because I was going way too fast!" She has no fear though and I didn't either. I can remember riding for so long my thumb would hurt from pushing in the throttle. My cousin Traci and I would ride and ride and ride when we were growing up. Except we were only on 3 wheels, with no helmets and we'd be gone for hours at a time riding all over the farm. There were quite a few times we came home a little bruised and bloody, more afraid of getting in trouble for doing something to the 3-wheeler than we were for ourselves. My brother ran me over once and made me promise never to tell Mom. The scratches and bruises on my back were a pretty big clue though! :) How did we survive? :)

We just got back from our annual Father's Day camping trip. We had the best time! So relaxing and fun. After our first ride out to the sand dunes and to the beach, when we got back to camp Ashlyn said, "THAT WAS AMAZING!!!" Sums up the whole weekend. We didn't make it home till 11pm Sunday so we're all a bit tired and there's lots of clean up to do but it was all worth it!

Ashlyn will be going to Vacation Bible School again at my mom's church the week of June 23rd. So Jered and I will be footloose and fancy free for a week!! :) We'll miss her like crazy of course but we're both looking forward to it too. We'll go to a few restaurants we've been wanting to try but aren't exactly kid friendly.  Maybe even stop for a drink after work. No plans really but I'm sure we'll find something to do! :)

Of course we have the 45th (?) annual Ballard family campout/reunion for the 4th of July coming up in a couple of weeks. So we'll be headed down to Florence again. No quads though, just lots of family and fun. Our friends Justin and Steph and their two kids have come with us the last couple of years. They're coming again this year too. After a couple years in a row you're a regular! The kids have a great time, the adults do too! ;)

Just two short months and Ashlyn will be in kindergarten. I'm not ready! I'm not ready!! Stop the clock!!! I asked her the other day if she would just stay 5 forever. She told me she couldn't because she's gonna be 6 soon.

Summer is here and we plan to make the most of it!

 I think she was a little surprised :)

 Pure joy

I think this face is excited shock!

Such a big girl these days

First solo ride, she's feeling pretty good!

New haircut and a crazy face

 Playing in the ocean. Its impossible to keep a 5 year old 

out of the ocean, no matter how cold the water is. And really, 

why would you want to?

 Nolan finally arrived at camp on Saturday afternoon. These

two play so well together and always have so much fun.

Getting to ride together on the same quad. They both really

wanted to ride together, so Jered put-putted them around camp

 a few laps.