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.
1/7/12-1/8/12
It has become an annual tradition for us to take a trip to the Oregon coast in January. It started a few years back because it turned out that we could get a condo through our friends the Mansius family for really cheap in January, since it's the off season. And surprisingly we always seem to get the best weather whenever we go in January! So we've kept up the tradition. This year we got a condo at Seaside again and we went at the same time as the Mansius family so we could all hang out together! It's a great little break after the holidays in the middle of boring January, which has nothing really going on anyway!
Well, the first day the weather wasn't so promising...but it got better!
Even though it was cold and blustery, we spent some time playing on the beach, taking pictures, and a few of us got up the guts to go swimming in the heated outdoor pool...no, not the ocean!
But the next day, we got this:
niiiice blue skies, sunshine, and warm temps.
(the view from our condo balcony)
Of course, it had to be a Sunday! Hahaha.
After church we enjoyed walking on the beach, taking pictures, and had dinner and games with our friends.
This is Tara and I with my new (to me) dslr camera. It is Tara's old back up camera and we traded about 50 pounds of free-range, grass fed, organic beef for it.
(I bought the 1/4 cow from a local farmer friend, but then I realized that we hardly EVER eat meat, especially beef...so I was happy to trade, and she was happy to get a bunch of very high quality beef...soooo...PLEASE send your favorite beef recipes my way because I STILL have a lot of beef!)
It was great to be out on the beach with our cameras together so she could teach me more about how to use the thing! (I did take a photography class in high school, so it's coming back pretty quickly).
Here are some pictures we took:
she took these of Ollie and I with her big professional camera.
...and I took these of her with HER big professional camera. Pretty great, huh? ^She's the professional, and I'm glad to say that I have a lot to learn!
Anyway, these are with my camera:
Here is my 15 week pregnant belly, just in case you were wanting to see it!
This camera does need a new lens...I'm excited to see what kind of pictures I can take when I get one! Hopefully I can get that all ready before this baby comes so I can get some great pictures! Yay!
a cute 'lil toddler!
