Texas, Day 1

We had an amazing time in Texas with Mike. The kids and I flew out on July 2 to Dallas and jumped in the rental to drive to Gatesville to spend the night so we could pick up Mike and Tyler the next day. Our flight went well and the kids were amazing on the plane.

The PDX carpet picture that everyone seems to be doing

Our plane we flew on. Fun fact, we flew on the Shamu plane when we went to Florida and went to SeaWorld before Mike's last deployment in 2008.

On the plane and ready to see our guy!

In the rental car on our way!

Rest stop selfie. Texas has very nice rest areas too!

The boys did a little late night swimming the night we were in Gatesville. It was pretty funny because the pool had quite a few large bugs in it and the kids were very hesitant to get it. But, their love of swimming won and they were swimming around in no time. Our first day was a success and we went to bed very excited to see Daddy the next day.

I've already fallen behind!

The last time I posted was the 17th and it seems like that was already so long ago. We survived our first week without Mike pretty well. The running around slowed down quite a bit and we settled into our new life as Mom and two boys, talking to Daddy when we can. I was fortunate enough on Friday the 20th to attend a dear friend's birthday celebration without kids. It gave me the time to talk to adults without the kids around and enjoy some time to myself. I love my children dearly, but it is definitely nice when we get some of our own time. On Saturday the 21st, we went to the races out at Banks Speedway. My mom and grandpa were both racing and Mom needed someone to tow her car to the track. We had a ton of fun! It was fan appreciation night so they had all the cars out on the track and they let the fans go down and meet their favorite drivers. The boys got to ride in Mom's car onto the track and thought it was the best thing ever. It was fun to see all the fans showing appreciation to the drivers and vice versa. There was also a newspaper there that interviewed the family and ran a story. That was pretty neat. We got home late that night and everyone was more than ready for bed. It is always fun spending time with the family at the race track. Something I hope we do more of this summer. We've been attending church the last few Sundays with a friend of ours. We have gone three Sundays now and think we are settling in wonderfully. The kids absolutely LOVE church and that makes my heart so happy. I am so proud of them for asking about God and having such a passion to learn about Him and his word. I am grateful for friends that introduced us to a church where my kids feel comfortable and that is so accepting of us all. On Monday of last week, we went swimming with friends at their pool. The kids all had a BLAST and us moms got BURNED. You'd think we'd know better! BUT the kids were all good and NOT burned, so we got something right. This last week, nothing much really happened. We are gearing up for our big TEXAS trip to see Mike and most of our time has been spent getting ready for that. I am sure I won't write while there but will have a lot of updates and pictures when we get back! For some reason I can't figure out these pictures tonight. Or how to actually show the paragraphs I have written separately because I sure didn't write this to run all together. Maybe that can be for another day.....

Busy busy!

We have not had much time to stop and do "nothing" for quite some time. I am tired, but really, I am thankful for this. We were grateful enough to have time with Mike before his mobilization. It seemed like we ran the whole time he was home and honestly, we haven't stopped. I am grateful we have things to do to fill our time. Sitting around the house is not what we need to be doing right now. I've been saying YES a whole lot, even when I want to lie around and say NO. But, we always come home and feel accomplished and energized from spending time with people outside the three of us. So, I will not complain that we are tired of the running, but grateful we have people in our lives that need us or want us to be around so we are able to fill our days outside the house. Right now, I think that is just what we need.

2014

The last time I posted was well over a year ago. A lot is starting to happen here so I am hoping to get this blog going again and keep it up this time. As of right now, the boys have just finished SECOND grade and KINDERGARTEN! It's so hard to believe I have a third grader and first grader on my hands. School just got out last Wednesday so we are easing into summer vacation! We have had a lot going on lately but things are starting to calm down some. Some big news we've had is as follows, -I quit my full time job in December! There were numerous factors in the decision but one of the biggest ones is that.... -We are doing this deployment thing one more time. Mike is deploying again to Afghanistan. I am glad I will be able to be with the boys full time during this deployment although we will be missing Daddy dearly. I am hoping to keep up on this blog regularly so that he can follow our adventures and feel connected to us a bit more. We have some fun stuff planned for this summer. I can't wait to write about our days here!

The yearly blog???

I'm beginning to think I should just change the name of this blog to the Yearly Blog. I'll post a few times each January and forget all about it until the next year! Wait!!! I already do that! I'm going to try to be better....yet again this year. Here goes nothing! It is now 2013, February 10th to be exact. We have just gotten home from a trip to Bend, Or. We had a blast! We stayed at Seventh Mountain Resort. This is our second time there and our first bringing the boys. The resort is great! I can see it being a yearly or bi-yearly destination for our family as Bend has so much to offer during the winter and summer seasons. We arrived late on Friday and settled in. Saturday ended up being a fairly early wake up of about 7am. Everyone seemed to be ready to be awake and get our day started. Who was I to complain! Let's play in Bend! After breakfast we met Matt, Susan and Mia and went sledding at Wanoga Sno Park. It was SO much fun. The hill was PERFECT for our first time sledders and was nice and wide so there was plenty of room for multiple families to sled without having to wait at the top of a long skinny hill. Even though there is a nice warming hut on location, we had to physically leave the park to get the boys off the hill. They were having a BLAST. Mason got pretty daring, while Morgan preferred to walk about halfway up the hill and go from there. His main problem was he couldn't manage to get himself completely on the disc before it would start down the hill which ended up with him having some scratches on his face from the snow. He didn't seem to care though. Just kept on going! After sledding, we changed and warmed up a bit and then headed into town for lunch. We ended up trying Cascade Lakes Brewery and are happy we did. Their food and beverages were amazing. I got a taster tray of their beers and was quite surprised to find the glasses a tad bigger than other places I've tried before. I will definitely remember to ask how big their tasters are! No complaints here though, they were all delicious and I'm glad I chose that route. Once we were back at the resort it was pool time! Seventh Mountain has these amazingly warm outdoor pools. The sun was shining and I was bundled up in my ski jacket, but the kids were in their trunks swimming in the kiddie pool. The kiddie pool was the best kiddie pool we've seen to date. It was slanted and went from a slanted walk in gradually deepened to 2 feet. A 2 foot deep pool is perfect for my non-swimming kids and for their momma who does not want to swim in February, regardless of how warm the water is (I mean, you still have to get OUT of the pool!) The kids loved their pool time and were in there over an hour before I called their wrinkly little bodies out of the water and back to our room. We discovered when we checked in that our specific unit was actually owned by a couple and not just the resort. It was so nice because this couple had taken the time to stock it with games, movies, books and an outdoor toy box. We all enjoyed this immensely. We had some time to kill before dinner so Mike and Mason partook in a chess lesson. That was quite interesting. Morgan sat nearby and soaked in the information as well.

Dinner was set for Tumalo Feed Co with a few other couples that were also staying at the resort. I've heard rave reviews but have to be honest in saying that our family was very underwhelmed by our experience. We didn't feel the food lived up to the hype or the price! But it was a fun time and we enjoy trying new places. One more to cross off the list! After dinner it was back to resort to try out ice skating! Mike and I enjoyed this activity last year when we came to the resort but were unsure of how the boys would do. I have taken them roller skating before and that left me a ball of anxiety the entire time thinking we were going to leave with a broken arm. I am happy to say though, ice skating was a MUCH better experience. The boys seemed to do much better with ice skates than roller skates. We all had a blast. On our way back to our room we stopped off at one of the outdoor fire pits they have on the property. We warmed up our cold hands before heading back to our room. Once in our room it was time for jammies, popcorn, movie and relaxation. We all fell asleep rather quickly thanks to our cram packed day. This morning was time to leave. We took our time packing and enjoying our quiet sunny morning. We let the kids go swimming one more time for a short time before getting back on the road. The drive home was pretty and we are home relaxing and ready to rest up for the week.

January Fun

The weather lately has been unseasonably nice. This weekend it wasn't raining and after spending the morning de-cluttering the house, we needed to get out. We met up with Susan, Nancy and Mia for a walk on the Springwater Trail. Mia hung out (and slept) in her wagon while the boys rode their new scooters. It was much colder than we expected, but the boys didn't care. They were bundled up and moving and Morgan actually got pretty sweaty at one point.

On Sunday it was sunny out! We got a few things done around the house and then headed out to dig the bikes out of storage. We headed back to the Springwater Trail to ride bikes for the first time of the year. I am so excited that the boys are older this year and this first bike ride made me that much more excited for this summer.

Hopefully I will get my pictures off my phone soon so I can add some pictures.

Oregon Ducks are Rose Bowl Champions!

For the first time since 1917! We watched the game here at home. Mike is a Beavers fan and even wore his Beaver gear for this game. We had some fun with pictures during the game. :)