Hiatus

Apparently blogging for a week straight wore me out and I took a little blogging hiatus.
Brian was on a business trip for a few days and I always go a little crazy when he's not here. My poor girls were probably wondering what the heck was wrong with me, I was tired and plum out of ideas for ways to teach and entertain the girls.
But he's back now and all is well :)
Last year I started working on our family photo albums through My Publisher and I absolutely adore them, I completed 2009 and 2010, started 2011 and then went on a hiatus. I guess that's my MO. But a few days ago I finally picked up in 2011 and I have been going full steam ahead. That was the year Reese was born so it's been really fun to go back and see that time in our life, almost made me want another one (ALMOST Lanie, don't get any ideas!). I have to finish November and December and then the book will be complete, then I wait to order it until they have a huge mega sale. And I'm hoping I can get 2012 done before I run out of steam :)
Some random pictures from the park:

Last weekend I jam packed my schedule in preparation for Brian being gone and one of my outings was having dinner and drinks with two girls that were my absolute best friends in middle school, Rhandie and Katherine. Most people don't think fondly of the middle school years, probably because we are all going through awkward phases and have braces and our hair is hideous and we have no boobs...those might all be specific to me but I'm sure some can relate. Anyway, I actually look back at middle school with the best of memories and it's all because of those two girls. They were my very best friends and we did everything together, a majority of it included laughing hysterically and acting ridiculous. We would walk down the halls and purposely trip each other just to laugh. Yeah, we weren't popular, at all. But we could care less because man did we have fun!
Sadly after middle school we all went to different high schools, darn our parents for moving! So we lost touch completely and then through the magic of Facebook (and a chance meeting between Rhandi and Katherine at the Zoo) we made a date.

Peeps, we didn't even skip a beat. We were laughing and making the same stupid jokes and loving it. It felt good to be with gals that knew me way back when :) What is so funny to me is that we are actually kind of different in a lot of ways, but I guess we are the same where it counts.

Me, Katheirne, and Rhandie back in the day

Me, Rhandi, and Katherine today :)

I'm telling you, we are incredibly random, and super hilarious :)

 Now that we are in touch again we're going to try and stay that way, Rhandie actually lives up here in Tigard and Katherine is in Salem which is an hour south, but she is hoping to move up to Portland soon. Such a small world that we may all end up in the same area after all the years, very serendipitous.

Friday

*Eeek, this weekend started early Friday and was crazy busy so I didn't even have a chance to post my Friday daily journaling, so here it is a little late!

I'm glad I do this journaling but I'm not going to lie, I'm tired of actually doing it ;) But today is the last day, wahoo! I'm sure if you aren't a Mom you are surprised at the monotony of our days, I think in the beginning of Motherhood I was as well. But now I love our days and routine and every once and awhile we throw in random beach trips or something like that. Usually though, this is what our days/weeks look like.

6:30-7:15-Bootcamp kicked my booty and I liked it.

7:25-9 am-Come home and hear Reese calling for me so I go and get her, Bria gets up at the same time and we go wake up Daddy :) I make coffee and we start our day with the normal: see Brian off, breakfast, and then get ready for the day. Bria starts the very sad cry about missing Daddy so we call him.

9-10:30 am-I am in a mood where I feel we need to be creative so I get out paper, glue, random objects, stickers, and stamps. The girls create for awhile and when they are getting bored of that I take our big roll of paper outside and all our paints and we paint. This is Reese's favorite activity, when I ask if she wants to paint she yells so happily and loudly I'm sure the neighbors think I bought her a pony.

10:30-11 am-I get Bria ready for swimming with Tracy and we drive over to the gym to drop her off. She starts crying about missing Brian again and I feel horrible. Normally I'm impatient about that kind of stuff, but it's such a sad cry I feel so bad for her. But I know swimming will get her mind off of it.

11-11:30 am-Take Reese to Starbucks and we share a chocolate chip cookie. She is in heaven and I keep thinking how adorable she is, I'm that annoying Mom ;)

11:45-12:30-Reese gets my undivided attention at home, we do puzzles, 23 different games (she loves matching the cards to board games like Candyland, Memory, etc.), magnetic letters, and then I tickle and chase her until I'm tired. She watches a little bit of Daniel Tigers Neighborhood while I catch up on emails, blogs, and facebook then we head off to get Bria.

12:45-1:30-Pick up Bria (she had a blast of course) and go home for some lunch. Then it's nap time and quiet time.

2 pm-I hear the front door open and am thrilled that Brian is home already! He goes into Bria's room and she is ecstatic. She clings to him and doesn't let go. They watch tv together while I nap (this bootcamp thing is exhausting!) and then go to the mattress store to exchange ours (Brian needs a firmer mattress).

4 pm-Reese is up from nap time and we start getting ready for our friends to come over (Jimmy came up with the kids because Erin was doing the Portland to Coast) and then we asked the Buell boys to come over (Amanda was working) so Bria just had a bunch of boyfriends over ;)

5-8:30 pm-We eat pizza with our friends, play loudly all over the house, walk to the park, come back home for more running around craziness and then finally put the kiddos to bed.

Yay, I blogged for a whole week! Now we will return to normal bloggingness :)

Thursday

6:30-7:15 am-Boot camp baby!!

7:20-Come home and get a cup of coffee, heavenly. Bria is upstairs in our bed while Brian is getting ready for work.

7:30-Reese wakes up and her and I snuggled on the couch, she drinks her milk, I drink my coffee, and we learn about manatee's from the one and only, Cat in the Hat. Shortly after, Bria comes down and we say goodbye to Dad as he heads off to work. Each girl demands hugs and kisses from him, and there are big meltdowns if they don't get them...I may or may not be included in this ;)

8 am-Get breakfast for both girls and myself.
8:30-9:45 am-Put a movie on for the girls and go shower and get ready for the day, then get the girls ready and head off to Target for some essentials. Stop at Fred Meyer on the way home for produce (our Freddy's has the best produce)

11am-We are finally home and after some thorough hand washing (shopping carts gross me out) we do lunch (apples for Bria, greek yogurt for Reese, and turkey/cheese quesadilla for all of us)

11:30-12:30-After a delicious lunch we count the money in Bria's piggy bank...she has been wanting a Merida doll (she has the Barbie sized one but she wants the doll sized one, she is so deprived ;) for awhile and saw it and Target so I told her we would count and see how much she has. She is about $7 short (I didn't count the nickels and dimes though) so I told her she needs to continue saving. We play and then look at our family albums (the girls love doing this) then it's on to nap time and quiet time!

12:30-3-Bria does quiet time and I try to take a snooze but she keeps making random requests to stall her quiet time. Eventually we come downstairs and color together.

3 pm-Reese wakes up and is in a pretty good mood, we all play dolls together and then around 3:30 to our surprise, Dad comes home! I am LOVING his coming home early thing :) The girls play in Bria's room together, I put away laundry that has been clean for a couple days now and Brian does more work. Then the girls bombard Dad and request he smell their feet:

Why? I have no idea, don't your kids do that?

5-6 pm-Brian puts pot pies in the oven, we eat dinner (the girls devour it) and then play. We do some concerts together, scare each other, and even skinny dip in the pool in the back...the girls do anyway :) Also, we pulled two carrots from our garden and they weren't half bad. Not the huge carrots I was hoping for but it was our first try.

Look at our little guys ;)

6-7 pm-Watch AFV (America's Funniest Videos) together and eat popcorn. Then it's off for bedtime routine. I'm chatting with my Mom on the phone so Brian does it all and I get to cuddle Reese and sing to her before putting her down.

Popcorn with my girls :)

Now it's 7:30 pm and I'm really wanting a glass of wine but trying to be good and only drink on weekends...I'll let you know if I stayed strong ;)

Wednesday

6:55 am- Bria comes in our room to wake us up (no boot camp on Wednesdays, sad, but it was nice to "sleep in"), we tell her to go back to her room until her clock glows at 7:05 am, she reluctantly does.

7-8 am- Girls wake up, Brian gets ready for work and we do breakfast

8-8:30 am-Sit on the couch with the girls and watch Super Why

8:30-9:15 am- Get ready for the day

9:30-1 pm- Playdate at the Buell's! Haughton's and Briley's are there too and Bria is thrilled to see Kenzie as always. After some adorable pleading, Bria convinces me to go back home and get our swim suits so we can go swimming at the Buell's neighborhood pool with them.

Reese taking a break from all the chaos to watch Tinkerbell

1-2 pm-Swim and swim and swim. We start off in the little pool that's only a foot deep, perfect for a little warm up :)

Then we headed to the big pool. Bria has been going with Tracy and Heather on occasion to swim and WOW, she is a serious swimmer now. Backstroke, front stroke, head under water and all. Super fun to watch her. Reese is comfortable in the water and will swim freely with her life jacket on, she also enjoys the back float.

2-3:30 pm-Bria does quiet time and I take a snooze.

4-430-Brian comes home early, yay! We watch tv and I get ready (date night!)

4:30-5:15 pm-Reese wakes up, Brian rocks her for awhile (she has a hard time waking up from naps) and I give Bria a shower then do dinner for the girls. I'm embarrassed to admit it's cereal. Don't feel bad though, our girls have my unhealthy obsession with cereal so they are ecstatic. Heather arrives and we head out the door (we are BEYOND lucky to have her here and willing to watch the girls so often!)

5:15-9:45 pm-Date night! We go and see The Butler with Scott and Randi. Highly recommend the movie, it was so good. Very sad, but wonderfully done. Arrive home and chat with Heather.

Cintetopia is the only way to see a movie now!! Best seats in the house.

10:30 pm-Crawl into bed, gotta get my beauty rest for Boot camp in the morning!!

Tuesday

7:30 am-Get home from boot camp, Bria is eating breakfast and Brian is bringing Reese her sippy cup of milk (she was apparently in our room throwing a fit because Brian wasn't holding her)

8-10 am-Finish breakfast, get ready for the day, get the girls ready, cuddle on the couch
10:30-1 pm- Play at our friends house! Believe it or not we didn't take any pictures, which is totally not like us. But the kids were busy having fun and we were chatting it up. Amanda made lunch for all the kiddos (Gracie and Roxie came too!) and then we headed home.

1:30-2:30-Bria has quiet time in her room and Reese plays in her crib (what is happening?! this is a first, she ALWAYS takes a nap, my theory is she was overtired)

3 pm-I think Reese finally falls asleep, Bria watches a movie on the iPad while I rest, check email, blogs, etc.

3-4 pm-While Reese finally naps, Bria and I hang out, I sew some of her pants that had holes in them (that's what I get for buying $1.97 yoga pants at Fred Meyer clearance sale) and Bria helps. She makes a necklace from thread and a needle threader and is so proud of herself, I'm still wearing it :)

4-5 pm-Reese wakes up, we go out back to swim and that lasts 2 minutes, we come back in and play. I start dinner.

5:15 pm-Brian comes home and I head out right away because I scheduled a blood donation at 5:30 pm.

Notice my super cool necklace :) And yes, I have my swim suit on.

5:30-6 pm-I donate blood, eat some snacks while they make sure I'm not going to pass out, then head home.

6-7 pm-We go for a family walk to the park then head home and hang out on our front lawn for awhile, we're random like that.

My phone totally warped our heads haha!

7:15 pm-Start baths, have family cuddle time on Bria's bed, read stories and lights out for the girls.

Now it's time to sit our butts down on the couch and have quality tv and relax time :)

Our days

Every once in a blue moon I journal our day to day lives. It's boring for readers but I do it for me, it's fun to look back on and see what our days were like and certain points in our lives. So this week my goal is to journal every day. It may not be a coincidence that I chose to do it this week, my first week doing a boot camp class in the early morning...I want to look back and at least be proud I made time to work out!

Monday:

6:30-7:15 am- Boot camp class (awesome Groupon deal and it's like 5 minutes from my house, score!)

7:30 am- Get home, Bria is in bed with the iPad playing a game and Brian is getting ready for work. I make coffee and do the dishes.

7:45 am- Snuggle with Bria on the couch then get her breakfast 

8am- Reese wakes up and I get her breakfast

8:15-9 am- Put Peter Pan on for the girls while I go shower and get ready for the day then blog a little while sipping my coffee...it's the little things.

I didn't clean up at all (as you can tell), just keepin' it real

9-9:20- Get the girls ready for the day then head out for a walk

9:45 am-Run the half block home carrying Reese who just fell and smash her head hard on the sidewalk.
9:46 am-She has stopped crying and lets me wipe off the gravel with antiseptic stuff and apply neosporin and a rockin' Crayon band aid.

Ouch

Good as new

10-12-Head to a park, the girls don't want to play at it though (of course), after my initial annoyance with it, I grab a blanket from the car, an apple, our water and 2 books then place it all in the shade and we end up having a fabulous time.

12:15-1-Lunch then I let them play with the colored rice while I eat and clean up a bit
1-4 pm- Naps (specifically Reese's), quiet time, and bonding time for Bria and I (played princesses, painted her toe nails, and chatted it up)

4-5 pm- Swimming in the backyard, laundry, bathroom cleaning, straightening up and dinner prep

5-5:30 pm- Dinner and dinner clean up
5:30-7 pm-Brian takes the girls to REI and Heather's house, I return stuff at Kohl's and get groceries at Winco
7-8 pm-Girls have some bread, clean up their toys, and then we do bedtime

Phew, now we get to relax for a little while before it all starts again :)

Around Mt. Hood-CHECK

The past 2 summers Brian has hiked around Mt. Hood. I call him crazy because every time he comes back he is blistered, sore, and swears off hiking forever. Then a few weeks later, once he is healed, he starts talking about it again and soon he is planning yet another trip. 

Somehow he roped me into doing it this year with him. I enjoy hiking and enjoy my husband so it sounded like a win win. Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I didn't want to let my hubby down and I didn't want to die. Ya know?

Weeks leading up to it we finalized our packs and had everything we needed. The night before we excitedly packed our bags and got all ready for our big adventure.

We parked at the bottom of Cloud Cap and met up with Craig and Jessica. Craig is Brian's friend of like 15 years and we love him like family. Jessica and him have been dating for a few years, this was our first time meeting her. 

The day started out with 3 miles up hill and just got better from there ;)

I won't go into every single detail, partly because I can't remember every single detail but also that might get boring. So I will do highlights of the trip.

1. Elliott Glacier-

    It's washed out and there was even a sign saying, DO NOT DO IT. But we don't like rules so we did it anyway.

It was tough, and I slid multiple times

Jessica and me breaking the rules

We all survived the big wash out and believe it or not, even though it was tough I kind of enjoyed it. We had to be creative and use teamwork which is kind of fun.

The fire that happened two years ago destroyed a huge part of the forest

Gorgeous views!

Star flowers! Had to take a picture for the girls :)

The first day, around 5 pm or so I hit my wall. Meaning, I was convinced I couldn't do it. I was in so much pain and mentally I felt defeated. We had passed our original campsite an hour or so before thinking we were rock stars and would go to the next one. Well, the next one was quite a bit further than we had thought. So I just wanted to cry. Brian carried my pack and told me stories about our girls' births and it helped a lot. We eventually ended up camping at a little spot we found and Craig ran and got water for all of us. On the mountain you use a water filter and pump water at creeks you come up to. As soon as we started getting our tent set up the thunder, lightning and rain hit. And because Brian we wanted to save weight in our packs, he we didn't bring our rainfly. 

We got soaked. It was like sleeping in a waterbed...without the bed. It was miserable. And in the morning we had to shove all our wet stuff back into our pack. It wasn't very cool.

Later that day Brian hit his wall and I'm positive the rain contributed to his mental defeat.

2. Devil's Punch Bowl aka Toilet Bowl
   Insane. It is sooo steep I couldn't believe it. You would literally free fall to your death if you stepped off of it.

Craig clearly has no fear of heights

Pictures just don't do it justice, it's crazy high.

Fortunately you don't have to go out on the ledge, like Craig did. We just kind of looked at the view from the safety of the secured trail. We camped at Paradise park (more info below) and in the morning Brian was passed his wall and ready to go on.

Another great view

3. Paradise Park
    Apparently this is a gorgeous view of the mountain and down below it...I say apparently because the day we climbed it, it was insanely foggy. You couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. So I feel a little jipped.

Crazy awesome waterfall

4. Timberline Lodge
   Around lunch time on the 3rd day we got to Timberline Lodge and had a real meal. It was fabulous and filling. We also got to call and check on the girls and touch base with friends. Due to the severe thunderstorms and missing hiker (his name was Ian and we actually passed him on the trail, fortunately it ended happily as he was found alive and well!) we let everyone know we were okay and kicking.

5. Newton Creek
    We got a little ahead of ourselves. We planned to camp at Newton Creek and the guys assured us, it was just around the bend. So we went around the bend and down and it was not Newton Creek. It was the creek before the big huge ass climb, around the bend. I almost hit another wall at this point. I was tired, ready to take my shoes off and not only were we not at our camp spot but we had quite a hike to go.

But we made it. And that last night was the best night ever. No rain, very little wind, best camping spot, and Craig even built a fire. It was glorious.
Plus, we saw a little Fairy house!

Clearly women had built this, it was complete with flowers and every detail was thought of.

I had to take a picture for Bria, I knew she would love it!

Our set up

Sittin' by the fire

We popped some pain pills after a fabulous campfire and went off to dreamland. This is the night that made me want to go on tons of hikes!

6. The Climb
    The last day was straight up, UP. 7,100 feet elevation and crazy views of Mt. Hood. Brian and I had a BLAST. We were taking pictures, dancing, singing, and being straight up goofy kids. My favorite day. Who needs couples therapy? Just go for a 47 mile hike together!

Hiking up...

...and up...

Glorious

...still more up.

Well, hello! We did all that!

My best friend in the whole world. 

Craig

Just adjusting my poles, don't mind me :)

Criag being Craig:

Last 2 1/2 miles down Tilly Jane to our cars, fabulous!!!

Glacier water is the bomb

So we made it. We survived. We have some blisters, a little sore for a few days. But overall we feel awesome and I'm looking forward to the next hike. A different one this time, I feel I already conquered this one so I'm ready for the next. I will say I enjoyed the change of scenery on this hike. Everyday we were in different terrain and I really liked that. I loved all the creek crossings, they took some team work and the guys were always helping us across. I'm so happy we did it and did it safely!

*This hike was made possible by very special people whom we love to the moon and back: Grammy, Heather, Tracy, Amy, and Kayla. Without these ladies we couldn't have done it and we are forever in their debt! Thank you thank you!