I haven't even looked at a blog in months.
For one thing, I never get on the desktop computer anymore now that I have an iphone. And even though it doesn't document our life as well, facebook and instagram have taken the place of all the documentation I used to do on the blog. Go find me- Kate H Jefferies and spideylark...if you haven't already. ANYWAY... I'd really like to get back into the blog again, just so I can finally get around to making a book out of our most important milestones.
Another reason is that we have been extremely busy moving...moving! Holy moly! What a summer!
Back around the time I last posted, in May...Brent learned that he FINALLY got accepted to the post-doctorate fellowship that he was hoping (read: fixated on) to do since he had graduated 6 years earlier. Well, this fellowship happened to be at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. So we packed up 6 years of living in Oregon and moved back to Utah! It was bittersweet. One the one hand, so happy to be living close to our old family and friends again! So happy to experience all our old fun spots! So happy that Brent was finally getting a chance to do the research he had been hoping to do for years. But sad to leave the beautiful, green lands and the friends we have who are like family to us.
Well, we moved to Utah at the end of June ... and it was apparent almost right away that the research program he had been dreaming of was not the same one he had dabbled in during school. Maybe it changed in 6 years, or maybe Brent changed...but the biggest factor in him not liking it was that he realized that it would require much more of our family time than we were willing to sacrifice. So, Brent resigned just a few weeks into the program...with a heavy heart...but early enough in the fellowship so that they could still replace him. We really wanted to stay in Utah, but after looking high and low we found there were not many jobs open in his field (much to our surprise!). There were a LOT of jobs open back in Oregon, so we packed it up and moved on back! This time we are residing at the beautiful, wild coast!! We arrived in Lincoln City the very beginning of September.
Our summer in Utah was a great big, fun vacation!
All CrAzY, all bittersweet...LOTs of big changes for us and our kids in a short time. We are really hoping to settle in here and stay for several years though, and think we will be really happy here. It is the smallest town we have ever lived in. It is very touristy! The BEACH is only 1 block away from our house now.
Come visit!
7.25.12
Indian Beach
Brent decided to try surfing his little white water kayak in the shallow waves. I liked it because it feels a lot safer to me than being on the river. He liked it becasue it was, well...fun! I think we have a keeper!
all ready to shove out to sea
It was Oliver's first year really getting to *play* at the beach. Last year, he was hardly mobile and we kept him in a pack and play for safe keeping. This year he LOVED it. Absolutely. And it is the lowest stress activity to do with all our kids. We set up camp and stay put, and they stay put and can play for hours. Easy! This is Ollie playing at the little stream, which flows across the beach into the sea.
Here Brent was pushing the kids around in the calm, ankle deep water.
a little more than 3 weeks old here
we set up the small tent on the beach this time, and that was the best idea ever!
Ollie eating snacks in the tent, not such a great idea.
This was about as close as Toby would get to being in the boat and the water. Maybe next year?
7.11.12
Just a little more than a week after Milo was born, we finally got to have a family beach day. It was beautiful, fun and relaxing. We love the beach!
Milo & I
an instagram self portrait
The kids played, we had a picnic, and I planted it on a blanket and watched it all.
Fun times were had by all!
It's kind of amazing to look at these pictures now and see how much Milo has already grown! I thought he was big then...wow! He looks tiny.
cutest little pudgy toddler foot EVER!
Someone took an accidental swim...and it wasn't too warm!
I love the bold, bright colors!
Our first pictures together with baby...how did we not get any earlier?
Indian Beach, Ecola State Park.
A new favorite...mostly because it is the absolute closest non-city beach.
And also because someone was playing the bagpipes up on a cliff above the beach one time.
The boys had a big spring break this year, and when I say big I mean long! They had two weeks scheduled this year, which other years they only have had one week. And spring break ALWAYS falls at the same time as Joshua's birthday. For the past several years we've had some pretty amazing trips over spring break. We've gone to see family in Utah a lot, since a lot of mission homecomings and weddings seem to fall over Spring Break. And then last year we decided to take a real family vacation down to Southern California and Disneyland, but we were cursed with LOOOONG lines and rainy weather. So this year we held off until the very last minute to book anything. As soon as the forecast looked like it was going to be anything but rainy, we made some reservations up north so we could visit the Tacoma Zoo, the Seattle Zoo and the Pacific Science Center for free with our reciprocal memberships. That was the plan, anyway. And if we wanted Brent to have enough days off in a row for this trip AND have Joshua's birthday off, it turns out that we would need to celebrate Joshua's 10th birthday in Seattle!
3/24/12
We had the aspiration to drive to Tacoma by noon so we could go to the awesome zooquarium there at Point Defiance. It's been too long since we visited (it was Toby's 2nd birthday the last time we went). But dang it! We did not leave early enough to arrive by noon and have enough time there to make it worth our while. So instead we took the kids to this little park in Tacoma, which is right next to the hospital where Brent was born!! The last time we were there was when Joshua was 2.
I think that they were happy just to get out and play for a while without wet, cold weather.
{doesn't that Ollie have the sweetest face?}
We stayed that night in Gig Harbor and went to church there the next day, which was very awesome! We love going to church in different areas and seeing what it's like. We met a lot of friendly people!
3/25/12
After church we took a leisurely drive up the Kitsap Peninsula on a lovely afternoon. We drove around Bainbridge Island and up to our lodging destination for the night: Kitsap Memorial State Park. We had a neat little cabin reserved up there with enough beds for all AND a microwave and fridge. It was perfect. But the most perfect thing about it was that NO body else was there... It was total solitude and serenity.
The view from the campground over the Hood Canal, of the Olympic Mountains. Someday we will climb there, yes.
This is the inside of the cabin. We decided after the last time we stayed at a yurt (which is like these cabins in that the beds have foam mattresses covered by vinyl, and you put your sleeping bag on top), that we were grossed out by the mattresses and other people's dead skin cells, etc...so this time we brought sheets for all the beds. It was SO much more comfortable!
BIG belly picture...at 26 weeks...
I swear that style of dress makes the belly look bigger than it is even now at 30 weeks.
the walkway down to the beach from the campground
skipping rocks on the Hood Canal
another view of the Olympic Mountains
checking out all the oysters and other sea creatures on the beach
Ollie was in his stroller (for his safety), but wanted in on the action!
{See how the belly doesn't look as big in a normal shirt?}
the kids had a great time finding the biggest shells and Ollie had a great time sitting on Brent's lap and throwing rocks into the water.
the sunset over the mountains and canal...ahhh!
Toby and I were just sitting there taking in this sunset alone together. It was a sweet little moment. Toby told me that he loves how quiet it is here and that he would like to buy some land here and build a house...haha! Me too!
3/26/12
the boys in front of the cabin
Brent making breakfast and hot cocoa.
We had to tag team between cooking and watching Ollie.
playing at the playground that was across the camp from our cabin
Unfortunately I could not keep up with Ollie all the time (he has just started running), so he got to wander and explore and play quite a bit and then I put him in his stroller the rest of the time. Thankfully he is so content sitting there watching his brothers play.
we went back to the beach at low tide, and found little crabs under every rock.
here they are scoping out those crabs
Oysters!
when you ask Ollie to smile, he is now doing that smile with your eyes thing. It's so cute!
He has a pretty nice smile when the pacifier is out too.
we were told that there was a nice little village called Port Gamble with a penny candy store and a free museum, so we went to check that out.
LOVE it!
here we are outside of the penny candy store. I think the boys will always remember their candy buying experience with fondness...since it doesn't happen very often.
{sorry Tobe, I'm not stepping on that scale in public!}
the view off the north end of the Kitsap Peninsula...such a beautiful place.
And THAT belly picture is a little more accurate.
The next thing on the agenda was a ferry ride across the puget sound to Widby Island. It was a very quick ferry ride, perfect actually. Just enough to have that ferry experience with the kids, but not too much to tire a pregnant lady out.
Ollie didn't like the confinement of Brent's shoulders very much...
he LOVED running around exploring instead!
after we got off the ferry and drove up Widby Island, we stopped at Deception Pass...a place we've read about but have never visited. It is the very narrow inlet of the Puget north of Widby Island. When the tide is going in or out, the water flows very rapidly here, like a raging river. This picture is at pretty much the best view point.
we arrived at our next cabin site (Bayview State Park...meh.), and we decided we needed to go for a drive up the Chuckanut Drive and find a city to buy a few groceries at. So we caught the sunset up the Chuckanut and drove to Bellingham, Washington...which is the farthest north in Washington we've ever been. What a great little city! Hopefully we'll drive back through here this summer on our way up to Vancouver, Canada!
3/27/12
Joshua's 10th Birthday!!
We woke up fairly early in our lovely cabin accommodations, and took off for Seattle. The plan was to visit the zoo and the science center (for free with our reciprocal passes).
Well, we got to the zoo and discovered that we no longer get in for free with our Oregon zoo pass, but we did get a good discount. Instead of paying $80, we only had to pay $20.
Ollie snacking on oranges
I really like the exhibits at the Seattle Zoo, even more than the Oregon Zoo (which is great too). They both have pretty natural habitats, but the habitats are almost too natural at the Oregon Zoo and it's often difficult to see the animals. The Seattle Zoo has very natural habitats, yet the animals are easy to see. I don't know, maybe the animals like not being seen better.
After the zoo we drove over and found parking at the Seattle Center, which is home to the science center and other famous attractions (most notably the Space Needle!). It turned out that the science center is not open on Tuesdays during the winter (BOO!), which made Joshua very sad. That was what he REALLY wanted to do on his birthday. So we had to come up with another cool idea, fast! We all decided on taking the elevator up to the observation deck on the Space Needle instead. It was cool, and also expensive! But at least Joshua will always remember that experience on his special day.
Seattle Center
all ready to go up the Space Needle!
oh the views!
we forgot Ollie's shoes in the car, so Brent had to carry him everywhere...
Joshy was wanting one of these souvenir space needle soda cups for $9...I told him we'd take a picture with it instead and get a smaller treat at the snack bar...which thankfully he was happy with.
just as we were leaving the Seattle Center, it started pouring for the first time on our whole trip...we ran out of there in a flash and drove home.
We sang happy birthday to our big 10 year old, ate chocolate cheesecake and opened presents.
Joshua got some toys, books and games from the Portland's Science Museum gift shop, all of which he absolutely adored...but I think this gift has been the biggest hit by far with Joshua, Toby and all of Joshy's friends. It is called the
Perplexus. Trust me on this one...if you need a gift for a child this age, this is PERFECT.
Happy Birthday to my sweet, innocent, smart, funny, quirky, brave, loving, fun Joshua.
