Oliver and Company

At the end of August we took our only trip of the summer to the little coastal town of Birch Bay. We rented a beach house and invited Grandma and Grandpa Oliver (and their boat) to join us. It was the perfect vacation for our little family which ranges from 7 to 18 months. Our time was spent fishing, swimming, building sand castles, flying kites, throwing rocks, cooking smores, catching crabs, eating ice cream cones, talking by the campfire and playing games. If you ask me it's the kind of stuff happy childhood memories are made of. I'm glad Grandma and Grandpa came along to share in the memories and take all these great photos (our camera bit the dust on day 1 of the trip). Get comfortable and enjoy ALL the pictures!

It always starts out as "just take your shoes off and get your feet wet" and ends up as this!

I would love a big piece of driftwood like this in the backyard for the boys to climb on and for us to pose on every now and then.

Carson's "big catch" a dog shark (fish)

Spencer's designated napping spot on the boat

It only takes one kid to screw up an otherwise nice family picture

 I better understand why Nick prefers to fish solo.

The excitement of a boy's first catch.

Throwing rocks with Grandma

Building castles while everyone is off fishing

He's cold and hungry and tired but he'll throw a fit if you make him get out of the water. 

The End! See you again next year Birch Bay!

12 ladies crammed into 2 vans each running 3 legs in a 189 mile relay race in 24 hours makes for 1 memorable weekend!

We ran from Blaine, WA (nearly at the border of Canada) down to Langely, WA. Most of the legs were near the beautiful coastline and we got lucky with the weather!

Our team was called "Therapy on the Run" with the slogan "Run 3 times and call me in the morning". And although it may not have been my first choice for names it really is true for me. I do find running, especially training for long distance races my quality "me time". And I feel blessed to have found several great friends who feel the same way. Braid my hair and put me in a van with other girls for 24 hours with very little sleep and I feel like I'm in highschool again! Seriously look at this picture below I look like I could be either 31 or 12.

Here's the game face. Actually this is before my first run and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get through the next 24 hours with this throbbing pain in my lower left leg. Lots of stretching and Ibprofen maybe???

We made it! So happy to have run it and yet so happy to be done. . . we all need showers, food and sleep!

Okay so it turns out that the throbbing pain is my body's way of saying "STOP". I knew I had an injury beforehand but didn't know how bad. Honestly, I didn't want to know. . . I had been training so long and really wanted to participate and not let the teamates down. I now know there is a fine line between heroism and stupidity and sometimes when you squint that line is really blurry and so you run anyway. And then you find out you had a stress fracture all along and you have to bargain with the doctor so you don't have to be in a cast for 6 weeks. And when you tell others it was still worth it you move yourself even closer to that line of stupidity.

Much too busy enjoying the sun with our sons. . . will blog later.

I can't believe he's seven already! Carson is our Renaissance Man, he loves sports, science, writing stories, playing XBOX, making art, weapons and taking care of his little brother. He is perfectly suited for his role as oldest child in our family and we love him so much.

He asked for a LEGO cake for his birthday. . . this one suffered a bit in a long car ride and a couple hours in a warm car. Our favorite part was that the minifigs were holding the birthday candles.

With the passing of the 4th of July holiday, summer has officially begun in the Great Northwest. Nevermind that my boys wore raincoats and snow hats to the fireworks show last weekend. What matters is that the temperature has jumped 30+ degrees, not a cloud in the sky and we are loving it! Just in case you needed some proof. . .

Nick and I (along with 27,000 others) ran in the Seattle Rock 'n Roll half marathon last weekend. Good times despite the fact that we had to get up before 4 am, run 13 miles and pay to do it. Nick's time was especially impressive as he placed 650th out of 17,000+ runners. I like to partially take credit since I was the one who talked him into training for the St. George Marathon with me nearly 7 years ago.

Here are some friends I've been training with. . . notice we're all smiling because we're yet to run.

Yippee! We made it AND were able to find each other through the crowds of people. One thing I've learned is you earn some serious cool parent points with your kids when you come home with a medal.

Well we figured this would be the big event of the weekend and made plans to lounge around on the couch for the rest of the day. However, kids have a way of keeping life interesting and several hours later Jamison and I made an appearance at the ER. He took a fall down the front steps onto the cement chasing Grandpa and busted his head good. 3 hours, 2 doses of baby Valium (which didn't slow him down in the least) 1 new teddy bear and 4 stitches later we were back in the car headed for home.

Pretty surprising that in a family of boys we've made it this long without stitches. However, not as surprising this little ball of energy was our first.

Dads always have a way of making things more fun. . .

I often catch myself saying how much I look forward to the next stage of childhood for my children because certainly it must be less frustrating than the one we are currently experiencing. I mean what parent after 14 months doesn't want a full night of sleep on a consistent basis? I for one do! But recently I have been thinking how when I wish them to be older I also wish away the innocence and sweetness that comes with being young. Recently,Carson came home from school and wanted to spell 3 and 4 letter words for us at dinner wanting to know which ones were bad to say (they were ALL bad words). A big reminder that my little ones won't be little for much longer. And soon enough Carson won't use half a bottle of gel on his hair to make himself handsome and hold my hand while we go on a date together. Spencer won't beg to help make cookies or read books together. And as much trouble as Jamison gets in, he is too cute for words. Each day brings more teeth (12 to date), new tricks (defying the world of child-proofing") and more smiles.  Here's to living in the moment and loving what this stage of life offers, even if it comes with very little sleep. . .

Because it's my day and I can ask for mommy-kind-of things like wearing matching church clothes without complaining.

Jamison has spent the better part of his first year of life fussing and until recently I couldn't figure out why. But it seems that this little boy LOVES being outdoors. Actually "love" isn't the right word, it's more that he REQUIRES it. It's not that he feels cooped up in our rainy Northwest home. He doesn't like being inside anywhere, be it the car, the house or the store. This boy wants out to wander and roam in the fresh air. Doesn't matter if it's the park, backyard, baseball practice or laps around the church building he's happy. We let him play barefoot in the rain in my parents backyard in Chicago, the kid was in heaven! Just look at the pictures, it's written all over his face!

The problem is that every happy outdoor time must come to an end. And unfortunately this little boy has a well developed tantrum which includes but is not limited to fist pounding, shrieking and throwing oneself dramatically to the ground. I was pretty sure this developmental stage was reserved for the terrible two's but apparently it can be learned as early as 13 months! Heaven help the mother of this boy!