Lightening Our Load & Paddle Boarding

The past two weeks have flown by! We have been spending a lot of time indoors recently because of the thick smoke that is in the air. The smoke has been blowing in mainly from the 600 wildfires in British Columbia, Canada, but we have also had smoke from fires in Oregon and Washington. The air quality has been pretty bad and being pregnant it affects me more than it normally would. Bubba loves being outside and he has not enjoyed being cooped up.

A boy and his chickens.

Two weekends ago we decided to dedicate our Saturday to cleaning the garage. The garage wasn't finished when we purchased our home. I can't tell you how many hours have been spent insulating it, hanging sheet rock, mudding, taping, installing lights, building shelving and creating an attic space-- it's been a ton of work, mostly for Andy. In the meantime we have had stuff strew all over the garage, I cringe inside every time I walk in there.

Andy decided that he really wants to put a gym in the garage. I told him I was on board with that if we could get it cleaned up. I told him money for his gym equipment could come from anything we found in the garage that we were no longer wanted and sold. We sold over $150 worth of stuff in a matter of a few days that was pretty awesome. We have a lot more to sell yet. We took a trunk and a half of stuff to Goodwill and Bring Recycling. When you look at the garage it doesn't look like we did much, but we both know we made some serious progress.

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This past weekend my Mom came down to visit, this was the first time she had been down in quite some time. We took her paddle boarding on the McKenzie River, she had never been before. Aside from the smoke (the smoke rolled in right before we were scheduled to board and it was the thickest smoke I think I have ever seen in my life), she really enjoyed it.

My Mom.

Andy and I tried to take Bubba out on the board but he wasn't having it. Each time we tried to push off into the river, he would freak out. At least we got some cute pictures of him sitting on the board.

Andy went out on a board for a few minutes. When he went to push off into the river, Bubba decided that it was a good time to try and run to Daddy. He biffed it and ended up floating in the water (he was wearing a life jacket). He swallowed some water and started to panic, I scooped him up as quickly as I could and put some dry clothes on him. We feel very blessed that we were all kept safe.

Afterwards we went and grabbed some lunch at Mucho Gusto. It seems like that is the place we go each time my Mom comes to visit (she loves it).

The rest of the evening was spent playing board games, making and eating black bean brownies and visiting with my 85 year old neighbor and friend, Barbara.

The next morning my Mom headed home and we went to church. We were glad my Mom was able to make a trip down, it's always a treat when family comes to visit.

Nesting

I think I am beginning to understand what nesting is. We bought our house just before Bubba was born and I was adamant that we weren't going to unpack our boxes until after we painted the entire house, yes the entire house. When we came home from the hospital a lot of stuff was everywhere and still in boxes, so I didn't really go through the nesting phase.

This time around though, I am definitely nesting. I have this desire to purge and go through everything and I mean everything. I want to go through the cupboards, closets, boxes in the garage, the bookmarks on my laptop and all the files saved on my computer and our server. We need to update our insurance, resell items we no longer use and meet with an attorney to draft up a will. I want to digitize all of our cds, yes we still listen to cds. I want all of our projects finished: staining the fence, repairing the chicken coop, cleaning the garage, fixing my car (the alarm has randomly been going off at all hours of the day), pressure wash the house and walkways. I want my pantry shelves filled, the canning done and meals in the freezer when this baby comes. It doesn't help that I am a neat freak (that's a trait I inherited from my Dad and I am grateful for it) and that everything in my house needs to stay clean in the process.

Then there are the fun things I want to do like hike, camp and paddle board before this baby comes.

I have been feeling quite overwhelmed lately and have been struggling to find a balance between the need to get done list and the fun list. I decided to unplug from social media for a week to try and help me get stuff done and it's been working. I'm not sure how long my social media fast will last for but it sure has been nice.

A Wedding & Silver Creek Falls

This weekend was fast and furious. Andy had Friday off and so we were able to get some things done that had been needing attention. We stayed up until 2:00 am Saturday morning canning applesauce, we hadn't planned on staying up that late but we wanted to get the apples finished. We were up at 7:00 am and out the door before 8:00 am to head up to Portland for my cousin Cooper's wedding. He was sealed to his sweetheart Natalie in the Portland Temple. We are so happy for them and proud of the decision they made to be sealed in the temple. You could tell that Cooper was really happy, he was all smiles.

After the sealing we took photos outside on the temple grounds and it started to rain. Bubba loved the rain! He ran around splashing in the puddles.

Then we headed to a buffet in Beaverton for lunch. Bubba ate a little bit, but he was mostly interested in grabbing all the "dirty" napkins he could find and putting them in the trash-- this is one of his favorite things to do. Strangers got a kick watching him. A few people stopped me to ask what we were all celebrating and what church we went to, it's always fun to have missionary opportunities.

There was a break between the luncheon and the reception so we went to look at a double B.O.B. stroller, it came home with us. Then we headed to our hotel to try and catch a few ZZZs.

The reception was held outside in a family friends backyard, it was beautiful! I was amazed by how many people attended the reception, it was a good turnout. I loved being able to visit with a lot of my extended family.

I found these gems on Andy's phone of Bubba at the reception, they aren't the best quality but I love them! My baby isn't a baby anymore. 

After the reception we headed back to our hotel for the night. Bubba was adamant that he was not going to sleep in his pack and play so we pulled him up into bed with us-- I am not sure how other people do this, it was a very crowded queen sized bed (our bed at home is a king). None of us slept well that night. Bubba kept putting his face in my armpit and kicking Andy, it was rough.

Bed head.

The next morning we went down to the hotel pool to swim, Bubba loved it! They had a pool that came up just past his waist, it was perfect. As he was running across the toddler pool to Andy, he ended up stumbling and his face went into the water. A split second later his legs were pointing down, his mid section was floating on top of the water and he put his arms down to try and push himself up, but they didn't reach the bottom of the pool-- thankfully Andy was able to pull him out of the water before he inhaled any of it, drowned or freaked out. The Lord was looking out for us.

Looking extra pregnant this day.

We decided that since we were in Salem, we might as well make the most of the day and enjoy spending time together as a family. We headed to one of our favorite hiking trails that was nearby, Silver Creek Falls. We strapped Bubba into the backpack and hit the trail. Bubba loved the waterfalls! I tried taking some pictures of him and Andy and Bubba refused to look at the camera, his eyes were locked on the waterfall behind him. When Bubba wasn't looking at waterfalls, he was stealing Andy's hat and knocking on his head like it was a door-- silly boy!

You could tell that we were hiking during the dry season, one of the big waterfalls was non-existant and the vegetation was covered in dust from all of the people who have walked the trail this summer.

I loved being able to take in the beauty around me. God really is the master creator. I can't help but marvel at the plants and vegetation and think of God when I am out in nature. I am grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

When it was all said and done we hiked about five miles. Bubba did great! I was a little worried about how he would do in the backpack, this is the longest hike we have taken him on so far. I think it is safe to say we were all very tired and ready for bed by the time we got home.

Canning & White Water Rafting

This weekend was a busy one, but it was a good one. On Friday night Andy and I set out to can apple juice from the apples we had picked last weekend. Things didn't go the way we had anticipated, the apples didn't seem to have any juice, I didn't even know that was possible. We quickly changed our plans and decided to make/can applesauce. We stayed up way too late to finish one of the three boxes of apples.

The next morning was an early one for us, as we had previously made arrangements to go white water rafting on the McKenzie River with my brother Jake and his girl friend Larae (it was her birthday present). Larae had never been rafting before and Jake told her she was going to be in a boat all by herself, she was a little freaked out until she learned that he was pulling her leg.

The water was really cold! I chose the best seat in the raft, I stayed the driest. We all had a great time and can't wait to go again!

"The Face"

In case you were wondering, I asked my doctor if I could go white water rafting and she said I could go until I was 24 weeks pregnant. We cut it close by going at 23 weeks.

On our way back from rafting we stopped at the fish hatchery to see the sturgeon and feed the trout (my brother loves fishing and thoroughly enjoyed this).

Then we grabbed some Mexican food for lunch and headed home to see Bubba who was with the babysitter. Bubba had a blast with the babysitter, I don't think he even missed us.

We stayed up late with Jake and Larae and played board games. We don't get to play board games very often these days, but when we do we sure enjoy ourselves.

This is his favorite puzzle! He gets so excited each time he puts a piece in.

Helping Mom clean the humidifier.

We were sad to say goodbye to Jake and Larae. Bubba loved playing with both of them and so did we.