It's True

He's home. For a LONG time. I am overjoyed.

In January Doug's company announced it was moving it's corporate headquarters from Portland to Chicago. Thankfully Doug's job at the plant here was not going anywhere, but he was given a major role in this huge undertaking. He has done an AMAZING job with the project. He even got a promotion in the middle of it... no doubt because of the work he has been doing. I am so proud of him.

It didn't come without a price, however. Countless hours of extra work, increased stress, and travel have taken him away from us the past 6 months. For 2 weeks in May and for the past 4 weeks (well, 20 out of the last 25 days) he has been in Chicago finishing up his part of the project. He has worked 70+ hour weeks under pressure and not sleeping or eating well. I have held down the fort here, with kids who miss their dad terribly and who are both in challenging phases of their development.

For both Doug and I, it was hard. Brutal some days. Frustrating other days. Good days were peppered in between. I would be lying if I said we did fine. But we did it. Only by the grace of God. And by the love shown to us. We are so thankful for friends and family who have been praying for us and caring for us while he was away. From meals to phone calls, from emails of encouragement to a friend mowing and edging our lawn... our "village" rocks! (And it really does take a village, ya know!)

He came home last night with no plans to return to Chi-town for a while. We both shed tears. Happy tears. Exhausted tears.

We are excited to get reconnected as a family. I am excited to get more time with my husband.

Absence does make the heart grow fonder. I am so in love with my amazing husband, even more honored to be his wife.

It's true.

Swimming Lessons

Evelyn started swim lessons this week, her first lessons ever (other than the mommy/baby classes we took a few years back). I was curious how she would do and hoped she wouldn't be frightened or get too cold. Both were issues in our together class. I decided to leave Matthew with Jody for the first day of class so I could be more available. Just in case.

Well, she was so excited to go to the pool that first day and I had NO problem convincing her to go get in the water when the teacher called her name! She is LOVING lessons and teacher Blair says she is already ready for the next level of class.

So proud of my big girl!





Hoping to get pool time with her this summer to keep practicing! Excited to have her be a strong and safe swimmer!

Graduation Time!

It's a tradition on my mom's side of the family to have a big party when one graduates from high school. I have such great memories of all my aunts and uncles and cousins coming down from Washington to come to my graduation. This year my cousin Brooke graduated.. she's my youngest cousin on my mom's side. (There are 10 of us total). We took a day trip up to Snohomish to celebrate my beautiful and talented cousin.

Once again, I struggled to get pictures. I did get a few and then stole some from my sister. Thanks Shell!!

Told you she was beautiful!! She is headed to WSU in the fall. That makes me feel really old!

The graduate with her momma (my amazing aunt Carolyn) and niece Sedona

Grandma Jean. This is my uncle Scott's mom. I heart her. More than words can say! That beautiful baby is Aurora, Scott's son Brandyn's newest bundle.

My cousin Hayley with Carolyn. Hayley will be a senior at Pepperdine in the fall. That makes me feel old, too!

As usual, there was lots of good food. Matthew loved his chicken "popcicle"!

So... my aunt Chris bought some hula hoops and had them in the backyard. To say they were a hit is a HUGE understatement! We spent most of our day in the backyard (another reason I don't have lots of pics from the rest of the party!)

Trying to figure it out...

Doug showing the kids how its done! I love this picture.. he cracks me up!

My beautiful niece Abby

Daddy loves his kids....


... very much!

Grandma, Evelyn and Audrey (my cousin Justin's little girl) watching the action.

I love that when Evelyn is with her cousins, she is completely herself. She doesn't try to impress and isn't shy around them. She has freedom just to be herself. The gift of family....

Her and Cole being silly!

They really are such good buddies!

Sweet Peyton. My cousin Justin's oldest. He and Evelyn have always had fun when they get together, and this time was no exception. Peyton has AMAZING hula hoop skills! He and Evelyn have become pen pals, too.. they send pictures and notes to each other in the mail. I love it!

Evelyn was so excited to see her aunt Michelle! Better yet, they are coming here to visit next week!! Boo Ya!!

SO very thankful for my family. Every day!

Sunday in Rickreall

Every year for the past 14 years, Doug has helped out with sound reinforecment/emcee at his good friend John's swap meet down in Rickreall, Oregon (the Polk County Fairgrounds). It is a very tight knit group of friends and family who are involved, and it usually brings out lots of people for a great day. It is not uncommon for it to be raining on Swap Meet Sunday, but we DO get a sunny day sometimes, and this year was on of those years!

Doug usually goes on Saturday to set up/test with his dad helping, then stays with his parents (Dallas is a 10-15 minute drive to the fairgrounds) overnight. He and his dad then get up early (like 4am early) Sunday morning and go set up for the day.

The kids and I went to church and then headed down south to meet up with Doug and the Swap Meet crew.

Daddy time and snack time... apparently NOT picture time!

She loves Daddy's Swap Meet hat and wore it most of the day!

Daddy showing Matthew on of the many cool cars at the "Show and Shine"

We know the owner, so Matthew got to "test drive"!

Us and Doug's parents. They are one in a million!! We love them!

John and some of his family

John's mom Darlene. She is a peach! She runs the raffle station!

John's sister Jeanine and her husband Eric. Love these two!

The whole crew. A great group of people who I am blessed to know and love!

It was a fun Sunday, as it is every year. Looking forward to next year!

A Taste of Summer

Yay!! Finally some hot weather for us rain weary Oregonians (and it really takes A LOT of rain to make us weary of it!)!

Evelyn really wanted to play in the sprinkler, so we got our suits on and went out. Matthew got in the sprinkler only once last summer and really seemed indifferent to it, so I was curious how he would do.

At first, he was fine. He got a a ball and was putting it in the sprinkler.

Then the tears started. I am not sure if it was just too cold or the fact that he was barefoot (I don't think he likes it... need to get him water shoes for sure!) but he did NOT want to get wet any more.. he just wanted to sit on my lap.

Evelyn, on the other hand, went crazy and had fun with it. She is like her daddy and loves to be barefoot in the grass.

Her cute Speedo suit was only $5 at Ross. Score!

My pretty girl....

I got shoes on Matthew and he still didn't go in the water, but he was MUCH happier and did other things... like play with the swing.

.. and play in the rocks!

Silly boy!!

BEST photo of the day! They both climbed in the wagon and I wanted to get a picture. Matthew wasn't cooperating and Evelyn as impatient. LOVE her face!!

SO glad to get some vitamin D today. Even more glad to have fun time with my sweet kids playing in it!!

Thank You Colleen.. 10 years later!

Ok.. so that's not entirely true. I know I sent her a thank you card way back then, but didn't really understand how AWESOME this particular wedding gift was:

Our friend Colleen got this for us as a wedding gift, along with a sweet card saying how she saw it and thought of us and knew we would have fun with it. Sadly, it went into storage until we moved into this house and has been tucked away ever since. Both Doug and I love ice cream, but I guess just felt it was easier to just go get a half gallon at the store. We have talked about using it many times, but just didn't seem to do anything about it. Until today!!

It. Was. Time.

The gift reciept. From Meier & Frank! Still taped to the box. July 2001.

Coleen also got us this book to go with it. And I am SO glad. The recipe in the book that came with the machine is SO complicated. This book's basic recipe is SO easy. And really, can you go wrong with a B & J recipe?

$1.40 for a huge box of this at WinCO. Perfect!

The mix took, oh, 30 minutes to make (I made chocolate, and had to melt it and cool it.. that took the most time). Adding the ice and salt is a bit of a chore, but really didn't take too long, either. And off it went!

About and hour later.. ready!

Amazing chocolately goodness. Heaven on a spoon.

I'm not that picky about ice cream. But I honestly don't think I have had homemade ice cream many times.. cuz I had NO idea how good it was. Oh, my goodness!! Seriously, I may never buy a half gallon at the store again!! ;)

Evelyn also had fun in this process (she picked the flavor!) and LOVED the ice cream.

What a fun gift.. 10 years later! Ugh!

Thank you, Colleen!! We will use it often the next 10. I promise!!