A perfect moment

Logan and I had just finished our lunch of quesadillas, yogurt, pureed veggies (ok, maybe I didn't have that), raisins, and peaches. I gave him a graham cracker to round off his meal and got myself one of the truffles from Tyson that I've been hoarding since our anniversary.

And Logan and I leaned back in our respective chairs and enjoyed our sweet treats in a beautiful silence.

Or at least silence plus the sound of an 11-month-old chewing a cracker. Close enough. We looked at each other and smiled and I reveled in our shared joy.

Then Logan threw his sippie cup on the floor and life began again.

I've been trying to focus on these moments as we're entering a stage of fits and tantrums. He doesn't understand why I won't let him crawl down the stairs, play with scissors, or stick his finger into a socket (don't worry, I bought plug covers).

It's become a new adventure of trying to understand each other, through mostly trial and error, and enduring to the end.

On a positive note, I have never appreciated the blessing of naptime as much as I do now.

Staycation, all I ever wanted

I decided a few weeks ago that I wasted too much time playing spider solitaire. I started thinking of all the things I should be doing while I was sitting on my bum being lazy. So I did it. Walked away. Cold turkey.

Now I play Mahjong.

Anyway, as you know, we just celebrated our 5 year anniversary, and while a romantic dinner which included broccoli being thrown at our heads and picking cheerios up off the floor was nice... we thought such a special occasion could have probably used a little more pizazz.

Speaking of pizazz, our first anniversary Tyson took me to Snowbird where we spent the night, ate at a delicious bistro, rode a tram to the top of the mountain, did a zip line, and alpine slide. Way fun.

This year our gifts to each other included a door stop and towel bar.

So, you know, things change. I'm not complaining though. Now I don't have to drip all across the bathroom floor!

Ok, where was I? Pizazz. We needed more of it. So we decided last minute to go to the beach.

Too bad no one told us there was going to be an 800 team volleyball tournament there that weekend and it would be nearly impossible to find a hotel room. But, by calling 12 hotels and spending more money than we were originally intending (whoops!) we were able to finally secure a room right on the ocean at Cannon Beach.

As soon as we got there (after spending a torturous hour and half in the car with a baby who would not sleep) we went straight to the beach to have lunch.

My first order of business (after trying to roll the stroller across the sand, um, no) was to immediately nerdify myself by rolling up my pants and rolling down my socks. Logan didn't even have the decency to pretend my legs weren't blinding him.

I look forward to the day when he makes fun of me/pretends I'm not his mom.

We wandered around town for awhile after that then called to hotel to see if we could get into our room a little early. I made sure to have Logan near the phone so they would understand how desperately we needed to get him down for a nap. His screams were heard by all and we got in.

Ah, the view!

I danced and sang on the balcony for a good 10 minutes before I remembered that I had to chill out and put Logan down for a nap.

After nap time we hit the beach! I'm sure you can imagine Logan's reaction to the water, although he did enjoy "walking" around on the sand. I about cried too though when the waves hit my feet and they went numb. Warm air does not equal warm water, especially in the northwest.

Tyson was excited to get in the water though. After his skim boarding success in Michigan...

...he wanted to get one of his own for the water here.

I didn't get a picture of it, but he actually did really well. Didn't even fall in once. The fear of hypothermia would make me a better skim boarder too.

We were excited the next day because low tide coincided perfectly with Logan's awake time before his first nap. There were some tide pools around Haystack rock that we were excited to explore. Mostly I wanted Tyson to distract a ranger while I touched a starfish.

If only I had a mermaid costume. The rocks behind us were perfect for luring mortals into the sea with a song.

And with that...

Our vacation abruptly ended.

We intended to walk around town after Logan's nap, exploring and getting food before heading home around the time Logan would be ready to sleep again. Unfortunately it was so crowded we couldn't find parking anywhere and before we knew it we were out of town. That wouldn't be such a problem except that traffic was so bad coming back in that we would be in a jam if we tried. So we headed to Seaside about 10 minutes north of Cannon Beach.

4 miles outside of Seaside the traffic stopped. We couldn't get in there either!

And that's how we accidentally left our vacation four hours early.

Logan was thrilled that we waited for him to nap, only to strap him into his car seat immediately after. We did our best to pacify him with graham crackers and Wilson Phillips.

"someDAY someBODY'S gonnamakeyouwannaturnaroundandsaygoodbye-eye!

'til then smphdifhaoifjiemafeagnlpurphyaieh make you cry!"

Overall, staycation was a success!

Michigan, the final chapter

If there was one thing that Logan did love about our trip to Michigan, it was the water park. This has opened up a whole new interest in the world of water for him including the sink, hose, and washing machine. The day he discovers the toilet will be a turning point in my life I'm sure.

While we were at the park we also took him on a slide for the first time, let him swing, and even gave him a taste of flavored ice.

Not gonna lie, blue raspberry was the favorite of the day.

My mom's comment when she saw this picture was that you can tell who the parents of a baby are, and who the single college student is just by looking at our eyes. I guess that even a sugar rush can't erase all the tiredness.

A great thing about going home (besides seeing my family of course) is seeing friends that I haven't seen in forever. Chanda and I haven't seen each other in, oh, about 10 years? It was so fun to connect again. And seriously, what are the odds that we would have our first babies within ONE DAY of each other?

Logan thought Kalyn was great.

Unfortunately his "drool here often?" pickup line was ultimately...

rejected.

Guess she knows his weakness for crawling.

Our trip ended with a fireside that Adam spoke at which was all about his mission. We saw pictures and videos from his time in Taiwan and heard more stories.

There was a great turnout and the cake was delish!

And with that, we finished up our trip and headed back home.

Cinco!

A friend came up with a ploy,

to set up a girl and a boy.

They went on a date

and man, it was great!

To be with each other was joy.

It didn't take long to see,

that together they wanted to be.

So within 6 months time

they said you'll be mine,

And wed for time and eternity.

Happily ever after began

while away went the honeymoon tan.

School and work were both hard,

but their love was not marred.

Of wedded bliss they both were a fan.

School ended and real life came,

and then nothing was much the same.

New house, job, and place,

they needed more space,

for a new player was joining the game.

And now they're a family of three,

the major change being more pee.

For things only got better

with their little bed wetter,

who joined their five year anniversary.

Michigan Continued

Since this was our first time getting all together in over two years, we decided that this would go down in history as the first ever family reunion. And, as being such, it needed what all good reunions need.

Matching shirts.

And, because we are not dorks at all, we all wore them at once.

In public.

While bowling.

Does it make me more or less cool if I say I totally loved it?

And that I've worn that shirt 3 times since.

Sadly, Logan wasn't as enthused as I was about the whole thing. Something about the thunder of the balls and the shrieks from his mother got him upset.

Tears = drool

Tyson and I thought it might have been a fluke so we took him bowling again on Saturday. He only cried at the beginning.

Speaking of things that Logan doesn't like...

Not a fan of swimming.

Dad/Grandpa was able to coax him in after a while though and even gave him a ride on the skim board.

All that swimming putting your toes in the water makes a little boy tired!

A sleepy snugly boy is a grandma's dream.

Hijack!

My wildly entertaining account of our trip to Michigan is going to have to be put on pause because my latest project is just dying to be seen!

I think you're gonna like this one.

We got this table/cabinet (what is this called?) for free while we were living in Utah. Our neighbors were moving and were gonna throw it away but they offered it to us first. Well, we needed a place to put our cups while eating dinner in the living room and the thought of trashing such a beauty was just ridiculous, so there really was no choice. We took it as a temporary addition to our lives.

It was featured in many events in our lives, such as the great Easter egg hunt of 2008,

the Christmas where Adam reigned as king, (it's hiding shyly in the background on this one)

alien vs. crochet,

and it held my flowers after my miscarriage.

So I guess no one was really surprised when it showed up in Washington without being invited.

Temporary was becoming permanent.

Finally, after realizing that somewhere between new house and new baby, new furniture wasn't gonna happen, I decided it was time to make our hexagon work.

My mission was twofold.

1. Make it look better.

2. Stop putting random crap in there.

I'd been discovered one too many times when my secret stash of junk was displayed to the world by curious children.

It would be beautiful (or at least tolerable) and it would be useful. This was my decree!

So I sanded.

And sanded.

And somewhere around the back area I decided sanding was stupid and what was primer for if it didn't help me to sand less anyway.

So then I primed.

And forgot to take a picture.

Then I painted it black.

And in case you're wondering what Logan was doing all this time...

He was enjoying his cheerios in his stroller.

Actually, most of the time he was playing with my neighbor in our front yard, but for a few of the little touches he was in the garage with me.

Getting high off the fumes.

Not really.

I hope.

Anywho... heh heh heh, after painting it black I thought it needed a little something more. A little extra. A little... damask.

And so it became...

This.

My eagerness to take a picture is evident in the fingerprints that I forgot to clean off after Tyson and I carried it, sweaty handed, back into the house. And I know it still looks pretty beat up (although it doesn't look quite that pock-marked in real life) but isn't it so much better!?

My decor could use a little work; do you love the baby monitor? We don't live in a magazine, people!

And the best part? Ok, second best after the damask.

It holds all the baby stuff! Will it stay in there all nice and neat? Of course not! But for now it works and it's appropriate for the babies to get into.

love.